Method and apparatus for managing multimedia content

1. A method for supporting gifting of media content on a service provider network including one or more servers, the method comprising:

receiving a request at one of the one or more servers, wherein the one or more servers comprise a common storage partition and a plurality of end-user storage partitions for maintaining end-user associations to media content stored in the common storage partition, and wherein the request identifies media content purchased by a first end-user to be gifted to a second end-user; and

storing an association to the media content purchased by a first end-user to be gifted to a second end-user in one of the end-user storage partitions associated with the second end-user.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the common storage and end-user partitions are implemented as physical partitions, logical partitions, or a combination thereof, in at least one of the one or more servers.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the common storage and end-user partitions are implemented as logical partitions in at least one of the one or more servers.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the common storage and end-user partitions are implemented as a combination of physical partitions and logical partitions in at least one of the one or more servers.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein an association to the media content purchased by a first end-user to be gifted to a second end-user further includes an authorization to the second end-user to access said media content.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

in response to receiving the request, determining whether the media content purchased by the first end-user to be gifted to the second end-user is stored in the common storage partition;

in response to a determination that the purchased media content is stored in the common storage partition, initiating storage of the association to the purchased media content in one of the end-user storage partitions associated with the second end-user; and

in response to a determination that the purchased media content is not stored in the common storage partition:

transmitting, to a source of the purchased media content, a request to retrieve the purchased media content;

receiving the purchased media content from the source of the media content;

storing the purchased media content in the common storage partition; and

in response to storage of the purchased media content in the common storage partition, initiating storage of the association to the purchased media content in one of the end-user storage partitions associated with the second end-user.

7. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

receiving a content retrieval request, by the second end-user, to retrieve the media content purchased by the first end-user to be gifted to the second end-user, wherein the content retrieval request is associated with an end-user device of the second end-user;

retrieving the purchased media content from the common storage partition; and

transmitting the purchased media content to the end-user device of the second end-user.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising modifying the purchased media content according to the end-user device of the second end-user.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request is received by a content server storing the purchased media content and configured for providing the purchased media content to another one of the one or more servers.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing at least a portion of the purchased media content in one of the end-user storage partitions associated with the second end-user.

11. A system for supporting gifting of media content on a service provider network, the system comprising:

one or more servers comprising a common storage partition and a plurality of end-user storage partitions for maintaining end-user associations to media content stored in the common storage partition, wherein the one or more servers are configured to:

receive, at one of the one or more servers, a request identifying media content purchased by a first end-user to be gifted to a second end-user; and

store an association to the gifted media content in one of the end-user storage partitions associated with the second end-user.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the common storage and end-user partitions are implemented as physical partitions, logical partitions, or a combination thereof, in at least one of the one or more servers.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the common storage and end-user partitions are implemented as logical partitions in at least one of the one or more servers.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the common storage and end-user partitions are implemented as a combination of physical partitions and logical partitions in at least one of the one or more servers.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein an association to the media content purchased by the first end-user to be gifted to the second end-user further includes an authorization to the second end-user to access said media content.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more servers are further configured to:

in response to receiving the request, determine whether the purchased media content is stored in the common storage partition;

in response to a determination that the purchased media content is stored in the common storage partition, initiate storage of the association to the media content purchased by the first end-user to be gifted to the second end-user in one of the end-user storage partitions associated with the second end-user; and

in response to a determination that the purchased media content is not stored in the common storage partition:

transmit, to a source of the media content purchased by the first end-user to be gifted to the second end-user, a request to retrieve the purchased media content;

receive the purchased media content from the source of the purchased media content;

store the purchased media content in the common storage partition; and

in response to storage of the purchased media content in the common storage partition, initiate storage of the association to the purchased media content in one of the end-user storage partitions associated with the second end-user.

17. The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more servers are further configured to:

receive a content retrieval request, by the second end-user, to retrieve the media content purchased by the first end-user to be gifted to the second end-user, wherein the content retrieval request is associated with an end-user device of the second end-user;

retrieve the purchased media content from the common storage partition; and

transmit the purchased media content to the end-user device of the second end-user.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the one or more servers are further configured to modify the purchased media content according to the end-user device of the second end-user.

19. The system of claim 11 , wherein the request is received by a content server storing the purchased media content and configured for providing the purchased media content to another one of the one or more servers.

20. The method of claim 11 , wherein the one or more servers are further configured to store at least a portion of the purchased media content in one of the end-user storage partitions associated with the second end-user.

21. A method for supporting gifting of media content on a network, the network comprising a service provider network and one or more third-party networks in communication with the service provider network, the method comprising:

receiving a request at one of one or more servers of the service provider network, wherein the one or more servers comprise a common storage partition for storing media content and a plurality of end-user storage partitions for maintaining end-user associations to some of the media content stored in the common storage partition, and wherein the request identifies media content to be gifted from the first end-user to a second end-user,

retrieving the media content identified by the request from the third party network that stores the requested media content;

storing the retrieved media content in the common storage partition of the service provider network; and

storing an association to the retrieved media content in an end-user storage partition associated with the second end-user.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the common storage and end-user partitions are implemented as physical partitions, logical partitions, or a combination thereof, in at least one of the one or more servers.

23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the common storage and end-user partitions are implemented as logical partitions in at least one of the one or more servers.

24. The method of claim 22 , wherein the common storage and end-user partitions are implemented as a combination of physical partitions and logical partitions in at least one of the one or more servers.

25. The method of claim 21 , wherein the method further comprises, in response to a determination that the media content identified by the request is not stored in the common storage partition of the service provider network, redirecting the request to the third party network.

26. A service provider network comprising one or more servers, each of the one or more servers comprising a processor and memory, wherein the one or more servers further comprise a common storage partition for storing media content and a plurality of end-user storage partitions for maintaining end-user associations to at least some portion of the media content stored in the common storage partition, wherein the one or more servers are configured to:

receive a request identifying media content to be gifted from the first end-user to a second end-user,

retrieve the media content identified by the request from one or more servers of a third party network that stores the media content identified by the request;

store the retrieved media content in the common storage partition of the one or more servers; and

store an association to the retrieved media content in an end-user storage partition associated with the second end-user.

27. The network of claim 26 , wherein the common storage and end-user partitions are implemented as physical partitions, logical partitions, or a combination thereof, in at least one of the one or more servers.

28. The network of claim 27 , wherein the common storage and end-user partitions are implemented as logical partitions in at least one of the one or more servers.

29. The network of claim 27 , wherein the common storage and end-user partitions are implemented as a combination of physical partitions and logical partitions in at least one of the one or more servers.

30. The network of claim 26 , wherein the one or more servers are further configured to, in response to a determination that the media content identified by the request is not stored in the common storage partition of the service provider network, redirect the request to the third party network.