Granted Patent B2

US 8,984,094 · App. 13/711,984 · Granted Mar 17, 2015

Abstract

Claims (66)

1. A method of providing content to a plurality of content consumers, comprising:

receiving at least a portion of a broadcast or a Webcast generated by either of a broadcaster or a Webcaster, the broadcast or the Webcast at least including:

a plurality of non-replaceable programming content segments, a plurality of replaceable programming content segments, and a plurality of replaceable non-programming content segments;

receiving a request from each of the plurality of content consumers for a respective personalized mediacast;

for each of the requested personalized mediacasts, selecting a number of replacement programming content segments based at least in part on at least one content consumer selected content consumer replacement programming selection criterion logically associated with a respective one of the plurality of content consumers;

for each of the requested personalized mediacasts, selecting a number of replacement non-programming content segments based at least in part on a replacement non-programming selection criterion;

generating the personalized mediacast for each of the received requests, each of the personalized mediacasts at least including: the plurality of non-replaceable programming content segments from the broadcaster or Webcaster, the respective selected replacement programming content segments, and the respective selective replacement non-programming content segments;

detecting a start of a given non-replaceable programming content segment of the broadcast or Webcast;

determining that a processing of previous content segment to generate a respective one of the personalized mediacasts is not complete; and

in response, buffering the given non-replaceable programming content segment of the broadcast or Webcast for the one of the respective personalized mediacasts.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving a request from each of the respective plurality of content consumers includes receiving the requests which each include at least one value indicative of the at least one content consumer selected content consumer programming selection criterion.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein receiving the requests which each include at least one value indicative of the at least one content consumer selected content consumer programming selection criterion includes receiving the requests with at least one value indicative at least one of: a song, a musical artist, a performing artist, a dramatic artist, a musical group, an album, a musical work, a theatric work, a film work, or a television work.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the selecting a number of replacement programming content segments includes selecting the replacement programming content segments based on the replacement programming content segment satisfying both the respective content consumer selected content consumer programming selection criterion and a broadcaster or Webcaster programming playlist.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein selecting a number of replacement programming content segments includes selecting the number of replacement programming content segments based at least in part on at least one broadcaster or Webcaster programming selection criterion.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein selecting a number of replacement non-programming content segments includes selecting the replacement non-programming content segments based on at least one of: a market demographic value associated with the respective one of the plurality of content consumers or a geographic value associated with the respective one of the plurality of content consumers.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein selecting a number of replacement non-programming content segments includes selecting the replacement non-programming content segments based on at least one of: a market demographic value associated with the replacement non-programming content segment by a third party; a geographic value associated with the replacement non-programming content segment by a third party; a respective content consumer prior purchase history value associated with the replacement non-programming content segment by a third party; a respective content consumer replacement programming content segment value associated with the replacement non-programming content segment by a third party; a respective content consumer self-reported attribute value associated with the replacement non-programming content segment by a third party, or demographic properties which characterize a respective content consumer.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein selecting a number of replacement non-programming content segments includes selecting the replacement non-programming content segments based on at least one of: a prior purchase value associated with the respective one of the plurality of content consumers; an Internet Protocol address associated with the respective one of the plurality of content consumers; a result of a survey of non-programming content segments associated with other content consumers within a delineated area of the respective one of the plurality of content consumers; a result of a survey of programming content segments associated with other content consumers with whom the respective one of the plurality of content consumers has indicated an association; a result of a survey of purchases associated with other content consumers with whom the respective one of the plurality of content consumers has indicated an association; and at least one self-reported value associated with respective one of the plurality of content consumers.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein selecting a number of replacement non-programming content segments includes selecting the replacement non-programming content segments based on at least one of: an income value associated with the replacement non-programming content segment; a public service value associated with the replacement non-programming content segment; and a legal obligation value associated with the replacement non-programming content segment.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

detecting a start of another non-replaceable programming content segment of the broadcast or Webcast;

determining that a processing of a previous content segment with respect to the other non-replaceable programming content segment to generate a respective one of the personalized mediacasts is complete; and

in response, incorporating the other non-replaceable programming content segment of the broadcast or Webcast into one of the respective personalized mediacasts.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining that the processing of previous content segment to generate the respective one of the personalized mediacasts has completed;

in response, delivering the given non-replaceable programming content segment of the broadcast or Webcast from the buffer; and

incorporating the given non-replaceable programming content segment of the broadcast or Webcast into one of the respective personalized mediacasts.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

continuing to buffer a portion of the given non-replaceable programming content segment of the broadcast or Webcast in the buffer while delivering another portion of the given non-replaceable programming content segment of the broadcast or Webcast from the buffer.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

apportioning at least some of the respective personalized mediacasts into a plurality of fragments; and

causing the plurality of fragments to be cached on a content delivery network.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

apportioning at least some of the respective personalized mediacasts into a plurality of fragments; and

causing the plurality of fragments to be cached on a content delivery network; and

indexing the location of each of the plurality of fragments for each of the respective personalized mediacasts stored on a content delivery network to generate a respective personalized mediacast manifest for each of the respective personalized mediacasts.

15. A content delivery system to deliver personalized content, comprising:

at least one communications port communicatively coupleable to receive a broadcast or Webcast from a broadcaster or Webcaster, respectively, the broadcast or Webcast at least including: a plurality of replaceable programming content segments, a plurality of replaceable non-programming content segments, and a plurality of non-replaceable programming content segments;

at least one non-transitory processor readable medium that stores a number of processor-executable instructions;

at least one processor communicably coupled to the at least one communications port and communicably coupled to the non-transitory processor readable medium to execute the processor-executable instructions, which execution causes the at least one processor to:

for each of a plurality of requested personalized mediacasts logically associated with a number of content consumers, select a number of replacement programming content segments based at least in part on at least one content consumer selected content consumer replacement programming selection criterion logically associated with a respective one of the content consumers;

for each of the requested personalized mediacasts, select a number of replacement non-programming content segments based at least in part on a replacement non-programming selection criterion;

generate the personalized mediacast for each of the received requests, each of the personalized mediacasts at least including: the plurality of non-replaceable programming content segments from the broadcaster or Webcaster, the respective selected replacement programming content segments, and the respective selected replacement non-programming content segments;

detects a start of a given non-replaceable programming content segment of the broadcast or Webcast;

determines that a processing of previous content segment to generate a respective one of the personalized mediacasts is not complete; and

in response, causes the given non-replaceable programming content segment of the broadcast or Webcast to be buffered to a buffer.

16. The content delivery system of claim 15 wherein the at least one processor receives the requests for personalized mediacasts from the content consumers, at least some of the received requests which include an indication of the respective content consumer programming selection criterion selected by the respective content consumer, the content consumer programming selection criterion indicative of at least one of: a song, a musical artist, a performing artist, a dramatic artist, a musical group, an album, a musical work, a theatric work, a film work, and a television work; and

the at least one processor selects the replacement programming content segments for the respective personalized mediacasts based on satisfying both the content consumer programming selection criterion included in the respective received request and a broadcaster or Webcaster programming playlist.

17. The content delivery system of claim 15 wherein the replacement non-programming selection criterion is indicative of at least one of: a market demographic value associated with the respective one of the plurality of content consumers, or a geographic value associated with the respective one of the plurality of content consumers; and

the at least one processor selects the replacement non-programming content segments based at least in part on information for the respective content consumer satisfying the respective replacement non-programming selection criterion.

18. The content delivery system of claim 15 wherein the replacement non-programming selection criterion is indicative of at least one of: a market demographic value associated with the replacement non-programming content segment provided by a third party; a geographic value associated with the replacement non-programming content segment provided by a third party; a respective content consumer prior purchase history value associated with the replacement non-programming content segment provided by a third party; a respective content consumer replacement programming content segment value associated with the replacement non-programming content segment provided by a third party; and a respective content consumer self-reported attribute value associated with the replacement non-programming content segment provided by a third party; and

the at least one processor selects the replacement non-programming content segments based at least in part on information for the respective content consumer satisfying the respective replacement non-programming selection criterion.

19. The content delivery system of claim 15 wherein the replacement non-programming selection criterion is indicative of at least one of: a prior purchase value associated with the respective one of the plurality of content consumers; an Internet Protocol address associated with the respective one of the plurality of content consumers; a result of a survey of non-programming content segments associated with other content consumers within a delineated area of the respective one of the plurality of content consumers; a result of a survey of programming content segments associated with other content consumers with whom the respective one of the plurality of content consumers has indicated an association; a result of a survey of purchases associated with other content consumers with whom the respective one of the plurality of content consumers has indicated an association; and at least one self-reported value associated with respective one of the plurality of content consumers; and

the at least one processor selects the replacement non-programming content segments based at least in part on information for the respective content consumer satisfying the respective replacement non-programming selection criterion.

20. The content delivery system of claim 15 wherein the at least one processor further:

detects a start of another non-replaceable programming content segment of the broadcast or Webcast;

determines that a processing of a previous content segment with respect to the other non-replaceable programming content segment to generate a respective one of the personalized mediacasts is complete; and

in response, incorporates the other non-replaceable programming content segment of the broadcast or Webcast into one of the respective personalized mediacasts.

21. The content delivery system of claim 15 wherein the at least one processor further:

determines that the processing of previous content segment to generate the respective one of the personalized mediacasts has completed;

in response, causes delivering the given non-replaceable programming content segment of the broadcast or Webcast from the buffer; and

incorporates the given non-replaceable programming content segment of the broadcast or Webcast into one of the respective personalized mediacasts.

22. The content delivery system of claim 21 wherein the at least one processor further:

continues to cause a portion of the given non-replaceable programming content segment of the broadcast or Webcast to be buffered to the buffer while delivering another portion of the given non-replaceable programming content segment of the broadcast or Webcast from the buffer.

23. The content delivery system of claim 15 wherein the at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium stores the number of replacement programming content segments.

24. The content delivery system of claim 15 wherein the at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium includes at least one remote data store communicably coupled to the processor via at least one intervening network connection.

25. The content delivery system of claim 15 wherein the at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium stores the number of replacement non-programming content segments.

Assignments (8)