System and method for recording and time-shifting programming in a television distribution system using policies
Various embodiments of the disclosed subject matter provide methods and systems to store a policy specifying rules relating to recording, storage or delivery of broadcast programming to a consumer of such programming, and to record, store or deliver broadcast programming in response to a rule. According to an example embodiment, a method and system provide for a subscriber requesting that a broadcast television program be saved for the subscriber upstream from the subscriber in a television distribution system, and that the program offered to the subscriber for saving is determined based on a policy established for the program. According to another example embodiment a system provides a computing device including a computer program to control the recording or delivery of a broadcast television program in accordance with a policy established to control the recording or delivery of the broadcast television program.
1. A method, comprising:
storing, by a system comprising a processor, a digital rights management policy specifying rules relating to how a particular channel of programming is recorded, how the particular channel of programming is delivered including defining permission on a per channel basis to fast forward the programming, recording for time shifting, storage of programming for a period of time, delivery of broadcast of programming to a consumer of such programming for a predetermined number of times, a subscriber's privilege to save programming, or delivery of rebroadcast of programming to a consumer of such programming for a predetermined number of times;
wherein the digital rights management policy comprises rules relating to determination of a total time period that stored broadcast programming is available to all subscribers for rebroadcast, wherein the total time period comprises an initial minimum time period and a subsequent delay period;
determining, by the system, the delay period in accordance with the rules, based on a number of subscriber requests for the stored broadcast programming received prior to expiration of the initial minimum period, whether the number of subscriber requests exceeds a threshold number, and a logarithmic expression having the number of subscriber requests as a parameter;
storing, by the system, the broadcast programming in accordance with the rules specified by the digital rights management policy; and
removing, by the system, the stored broadcast programming from storage after expiration of the total time period,
wherein the digital rights management policy specifies a type of subscriber that can save or view the programming via a subscriber device.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rules further specify how a particular time slot of programming may be recorded or delivered.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the logarithmic expression comprises a constant multiplied by a logarithm of the number of subscriber requests received during the time period.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the constant is empirically determined based on subscriber feedback and based on a system parameter.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the system parameter is storage availability.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising deleting the stored broadcast programming when there are no outstanding subscriber requests for the broadcast programming.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the digital rights management policy further specifies how a particular type of content may be saved.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the content comprises one of sports programming, news, late night television, reruns, old movies or new movies, or any combination thereof.
9. A system, comprising:
a memory that stores instructions; and
a processor coupled to the memory, wherein responsive to executing the instructions, the processor performs operations comprising:
controlling a recording or delivery of a broadcast television program in accordance with a digital rights management policy established to control the recording or delivery of the broadcast television program, wherein the digital rights management policy comprises rules relating to determination of a total time period that stored broadcast programming is available to all subscribers for rebroadcast, and wherein the total time period comprises an initial minimum time period and a subsequent delay period;
determining the delay period in accordance with the rules, based on a number of subscriber requests for the stored broadcast programming received prior to expiration of the initial minimum period, whether the number of subscriber requests exceeds a threshold number, and a logarithmic expression having the number of subscriber requests as a parameter;
storing the broadcast programming in accordance with the rules specified by the digital rights management policy; and
removing the stored broadcast programming from storage after expiration of the total time period,
wherein the digital rights management policy specifies how a particular type of content may be saved.
10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the content comprises one of sports programming, news, late night television, reruns, old movies or new movies, or any combination thereof.
11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the digital rights management policy further specifies how a particular channel of programming may be recorded or delivered.
12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the digital rights management policy further specifies how a particular time slot of programming may be recorded or delivered.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the digital rights management policy further specifies a type of subscriber who can save or view the programming via a subscriber device.
14. The system of claim 9 , wherein the digital rights management policy further specifies how many times a program may be delivered to an equipment of a subscriber.
15. The system of claim 9 , wherein the logarithmic expression comprises a constant multiplied by a logarithm of the number of subscriber requests received during the time period, wherein the constant is empirically determined based on subscriber feedback and based on a system parameter.
16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise deleting the stored broadcast programming when there are no outstanding subscriber requests for the broadcast programming, wherein the system parameter is storage availability.
17. A non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium, comprising instructions, wherein responsive to executing the instructions, a processor performs operations comprising:
controlling a recording or delivery of a broadcast television program in accordance with a digital rights management policy established to control the recording or delivery of the broadcast television program,
wherein the digital rights management policy comprises rules relating to determination of a total time period that stored broadcast programming is accessible to equipment of subscribers of a television distribution system for rebroadcast, wherein the total time period comprises an initial minimum time period and a subsequent delay period;
determining the delay period in accordance with the rules, based on a number of subscriber requests for the stored broadcast programming received prior to expiration of the initial minimum period, whether the number of subscriber requests exceeds a threshold number, and a logarithmic expression comprising a constant multiplied by a logarithm of the number of subscriber requests, wherein the constant is empirically determined based on subscriber feedback and based on storage availability;
storing the broadcast programming in accordance with the rules specified by the digital rights management policy; and
removing the stored broadcast programming from storage after expiration of the total time period,
wherein the digital rights management policy specifies how a particular type of content may be saved.
18. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the content comprises one of sports programming, news, late night television, reruns, old movies or new movies, or any combination thereof.
19. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the digital rights management policy further specifies how a particular time slot of programming may be recorded or delivered.
20. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the operations further comprise deleting the stored broadcast programming when there are no outstanding subscriber requests for the broadcast programming.