WO2003041383A2 - Provision of video-on-demand - Google Patents

Provision of video-on-demand Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2003041383A2
WO2003041383A2 PCT/IB2002/004629 IB0204629W WO03041383A2 WO 2003041383 A2 WO2003041383 A2 WO 2003041383A2 IB 0204629 W IB0204629 W IB 0204629W WO 03041383 A2 WO03041383 A2 WO 03041383A2
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
customer
video
video material
demand
mass storage
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/IB2002/004629
Other languages
French (fr)
Other versions
WO2003041383A3 (en
Inventor
Petrus Jacobus De Bruyn Roux
Merryl Ford
Original Assignee
Csir
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Csir filed Critical Csir
Priority to AU2002363546A priority Critical patent/AU2002363546A1/en
Priority to EP02802683A priority patent/EP1459542A2/en
Publication of WO2003041383A2 publication Critical patent/WO2003041383A2/en
Publication of WO2003041383A3 publication Critical patent/WO2003041383A3/en

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
    • H04N21/442—Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk
    • H04N21/44213—Monitoring of end-user related data
    • H04N21/44222—Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programs or purchase activity
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/60—Network structure or processes for video distribution between server and client or between remote clients; Control signalling between clients, server and network components; Transmission of management data between server and client, e.g. sending from server to client commands for recording incoming content stream; Communication details between server and client 
    • H04N21/63—Control signaling related to video distribution between client, server and network components; Network processes for video distribution between server and clients or between remote clients, e.g. transmitting basic layer and enhancement layers over different transmission paths, setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet between remote STB's; Communication protocols; Addressing
    • H04N21/637—Control signals issued by the client directed to the server or network components
    • H04N21/6375—Control signals issued by the client directed to the server or network components for requesting retransmission, e.g. of data packets lost or corrupted during transmission from server
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/25—Management operations performed by the server for facilitating the content distribution or administrating data related to end-users or client devices, e.g. end-user or client device authentication, learning user preferences for recommending movies
    • H04N21/254—Management at additional data server, e.g. shopping server, rights management server
    • H04N21/2543—Billing, e.g. for subscription services
    • H04N21/25435—Billing, e.g. for subscription services involving characteristics of content or additional data, e.g. video resolution or the amount of advertising
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/25—Management operations performed by the server for facilitating the content distribution or administrating data related to end-users or client devices, e.g. end-user or client device authentication, learning user preferences for recommending movies
    • H04N21/258—Client or end-user data management, e.g. managing client capabilities, user preferences or demographics, processing of multiple end-users preferences to derive collaborative data
    • H04N21/25866—Management of end-user data
    • H04N21/25891—Management of end-user data being end-user preferences
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
    • H04N21/433—Content storage operation, e.g. storage operation in response to a pause request, caching operations
    • H04N21/4331—Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/47—End-user applications
    • H04N21/472—End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content
    • H04N21/47202—End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/47—End-user applications
    • H04N21/475—End-user interface for inputting end-user data, e.g. personal identification number [PIN], preference data
    • H04N21/4756—End-user interface for inputting end-user data, e.g. personal identification number [PIN], preference data for rating content, e.g. scoring a recommended movie
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/80—Generation or processing of content or additional data by content creator independently of the distribution process; Content per se
    • H04N21/83—Generation or processing of protective or descriptive data associated with content; Content structuring
    • H04N21/845—Structuring of content, e.g. decomposing content into time segments
    • H04N21/8456—Structuring of content, e.g. decomposing content into time segments by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N5/00—Details of television systems
    • H04N5/76—Television signal recording
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N7/00—Television systems
    • H04N7/16—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems
    • H04N7/173—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal
    • H04N7/17309—Transmission or handling of upstream communications
    • H04N7/17318—Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N5/00—Details of television systems
    • H04N5/76—Television signal recording
    • H04N5/91—Television signal processing therefor
    • H04N5/913—Television signal processing therefor for scrambling ; for copy protection
    • H04N2005/91357—Television signal processing therefor for scrambling ; for copy protection by modifying the video signal
    • H04N2005/91364—Television signal processing therefor for scrambling ; for copy protection by modifying the video signal the video signal being scrambled
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N5/00—Details of television systems
    • H04N5/76—Television signal recording
    • H04N5/78—Television signal recording using magnetic recording
    • H04N5/781—Television signal recording using magnetic recording on disks or drums
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N5/00—Details of television systems
    • H04N5/76—Television signal recording
    • H04N5/84—Television signal recording using optical recording
    • H04N5/85—Television signal recording using optical recording on discs or drums

Definitions

  • THIS INVENTION relates to the provision of video-on-demand.
  • it relates to a method of providing video-on-demand, and to a video-on- demand system and sub-components thereof.
  • the applicant is aware of a method of delivery of video-on-demand, which includes streaming videos on request from a high performance video server.
  • a large number of " channels”, equal to the number of subscribers requiring videos is required.
  • a massive server or server configuration that is able to replay all the different videos that are being requested in real time is also required.
  • such a system is not really scalable due to bandwidth and capacity limitations and is extremely expensive, with a linear correlation between the cost of the system and the capacity for subscribers.
  • the applicant is also aware of a method for providing videos, in which the period of time a viewer is required to wait for a chosen programme is reduced, typically by broadcasting the same video material on several channels simultaneously, but offset in time by multiples of ten or fifteen minutes. As will be appreciated, this approach is however not true video-on-demand as experienced by the subscriber or user.
  • a method of providing video-on-demand from a service provider to a customer site including creating at least one customer profile associated with a customer site, the customer profile indicating the customer's preferences for video material having particular characteristics; selecting video material which is expected to satisfy the preferences of the customer, as indicated by the customer's profile; transmitting the video material to the customer site; and storing the video material on mass storage means or on a mass storage medium operable by the customer to retrieve the video material on demand, thereby to display the video material on an associated display device in true video- on-demand fashion.
  • Creating at least one customer profile associated with a customer site may include obtaining information on the customer's preferences in one or more video material characteristics selected from the group consisting of genre, actors, production date, language and origin.
  • Creating at least one customer profile associated with a customer site may also include obtaining ratings from the customer on previously viewed video material, e.g. ten movies. As will be appreciated, the more video material titles rated by the customer the more accurate the customer profile will be.
  • the previously viewed video material may include video material stored on the mass storage means and viewed by the customer.
  • the method may include modifying the customer profile, based on feedback information or ratings received from the customer after the customer has viewed video material stored on the mass storage means. Ratings by the customer may be scalar.
  • Creating at least one customer profile associated with a customer site may further include obtaining a wish-list of accurately identified video material that the customer wishes to view.
  • Selecting video material which is expected to satisfy the preferences of the customer may include using one or more collaborative filtering techniques. This may include using a panel of people to rate video material, whereafter the rating of the video material is compared with the profile of the customer to determine whether or not the video material is expected to satisfy the customer's preferences. This may also include dynamically updating the rating of video material, based on feedback information or ratings received from customers after the customers have viewed the video material.
  • the method may include prompting a customer to rate video material viewed by the customer.
  • the video material may be transmitted to the customer site in an encrypted format, typically in an encrypted digital format.
  • the video material may be transmitted at the same time to a plurality of customer sites and stored on the mass storage means associated with the various customer sites.
  • the video material may thus be stored in encrypted format on the mass storage means.
  • the method may include transmitting a unique decryption key to the customer site, for decryption of particular video material on the mass storage means associated with the customer site, on request by the customer.
  • the service provider may receive from the customer site an identification code for the video material to be viewed, and an identification code for the customer site, thereby allowing the service provider to generate the unique decryption key for the video material to be watched. This information may also be used to verify user details such as billing status or the like.
  • the method may include providing to the customer an indication of the expected rating, i.e. the degree of comparison between video material and the customer's preferences, as indicated by the customer's profile, of video material stored on the mass storage means.
  • the method may include providing the facility to a customer to request from the service provider video material, not present on the mass storage means operable by the customer, from a list of available video material, for substantially immediate transmission to the customer site and viewing.
  • the method may further include discouraging a customer from using such a facility, e.g. by pricing video material viewed in this manner higher than video material already stored on the mass storage means operable by the customer.
  • the method may include providing information to the customer on predetermined transmission times of video material. This feature can advantageously be used to reduce bandwidth requirements if customers are incentivised, e.g. by lowering the price for viewing such video material, thus reducing the occurrence of instances where customers are requesting video material for viewing which is not present on the mass storage means operable by the customers.
  • the method may include providing the customer with a catalogue of video material available from the service provider.
  • the catalogue may indicate whether
  • the video material is present on the mass storage means operable by the customer and selected by the customer as part of a wish-list created by the customer;
  • the video material is present on the mass storage means operable by the customer and recommended by the service provider for viewing by the customer according to the customer's profile;
  • the video material is available from the service provider but not present on the mass storage means operable by the customer.
  • the method may include segmenting a video material file before transmitting the video material to the customer site, monitoring a receiver signal at the customer site and reporting signal losses to the service provider.
  • signal blank-out e.g. during a thunderstorm in a satellite transmission area
  • lost profile segments may thus be transmitted again and the complete video material file reconstructed and stored on the mass storage means operable by the customer.
  • the reporting of signal losses is preferably done on a threshold and random backoff manner to limit the number of reports of signal losses.
  • an onscreen catalogue for a video-on-demand system the catalogue indicating at least two of the following information sets:
  • the catalogue includes all three of the information sets.
  • the catalogue may include information on the expected degree of comparison between at least some of the video material present on mass storage means operable by said customer and the customer's preferences, as indicated by the profile of said customer.
  • a video- on-demand system which includes a service provider head-end system and a customer site system, the service provider head-end system including a collection of stored video material; profiling means or a profiler to generate and keep a customer profile associated with each customer, indicating the customer's preferences for video material having particular characteristics, and to select video material from the collection of stored video material which is expected to satisfy the preferences of the customer, as indicated by the customer's profile; and transmission means or a transmitter to transmit video material from the collection of stored video material to customer sites; the customer site system including receiving means or a receiver to receive transmissions of video material from the transmission means; and mass storage means or a mass storage medium to store selected received video material, the mass storage means being operable by the customer to retrieve the stored video material.
  • the customer site system may include a set-top box or terminal providing a customer interface.
  • the set-top box houses a receiver, forming part of the receiving means, and the mass storage means.
  • the mass storage means may be a hard disk, e.g. a forty gigabyte hard disk or magnetic, optical or magneto- optical disks or magnetic-tape based storage media or the like.
  • the set-top box may also include a play controller, allowing the customer to retrieve the stored video material from the mass storage means.
  • the customer site system may include signal output means or a transmitter for sending a signal to the head-end system.
  • the video-on- demand system may be a bi-directional communications system.
  • the customer site system may include a processor configured to prompt a customer to rate video material viewed by the customer, and to transmit the results of the rating to the head-end system via the signal output means.
  • the profiling means of the head-end system may be in the form of a computer with appropriate programming and input means.
  • the head-end system may include one or more processors or computers or servers.
  • the head-end system may include one or more sub-systems selected from the group of sub-systems consisting of an operations management subsystem for overall management of sub-systems and communication between subsystems; a pre-processing sub-system for encoding, compressing and encryption of video material; an archiving storage sub-system for managing the collection of stored video material; a scheduling sub-system for scheduling the transmission of video material; a customer management sub-system for managing customer records, including authentication and billing; a content management sub-system for managing functions relating to content; and a security management sub-system for the generation and distribution of decryption keys to customer site systems.
  • a video-on-demand service provider head-end system which includes profiling means or a profiler to generate and keep a customer profile associated with each customer, indicating the customer's preferences for video material having particular characteristics, and to select video material which is expected to satisfy the preferences of the customer, as indicated by the customer' s profile.
  • the video-on-demand service provider head-end system may include a collection of stored video material, and may include a transmitter or transmission means to transmit video material from the collection of stored video material to a customer site.
  • a video-on-demand customer site system which includes receiving means or a receiver to receive transmissions of video material, including identification codes for different video material titles, and to receive decryption keys; mass storage means or a mass storage medium to store selected received video material and their identification codes, the mass storage means being operable by a customer to retrieve the stored video material; a customer site identification code identifying the customer site system; and a transmitter or signal output means to transmit the customer site identification code and a selected video title identification code to a video-on- demand service provider.
  • the video-on-demand customer site system may include decryption means or a decryptor to decrypt an encrypted video title on the mass storage means using a received decryption key which is associated with the identification code of said video title and with the customer site identification code.
  • the invention is expected to be particularly, though not necessarily exclusively, suitable for a satellite transmission environment, and even more specifically a digital satellite transmission environment.
  • video material is intended to include any other form of programming, such as music-on- demand, games-on-demand, advertising or the like.
  • Figure 1 shows a very basic block diagram of a video-on-demand system in accordance with the invention
  • Figure 2 shows a functional block diagram of a head-end system of the video- on-demand system of Figure 1 ;
  • Figure 3 shows a functional block diagram of customer site systems of the video-on-demand system of Figure 1 .
  • reference numeral 1 0 generally indicates a video-on-demand system in accordance with the invention.
  • the video- on-demand system 1 0 makes use of digital satellite transmission and includes a head-end system 1 2 and a customer site system 14.
  • the head-end system 1 2 broadcasts or transmits on a plurality of channels, indicated by reference numeral 1 6, via an earth orbiting satellite (not shown) to the customer site systems 14 of many customers, only one of which is shown.
  • the customer site system 14 stores selected video material and provides an audio and video output signal 1 8.
  • the customer site system 14 is also capable of communicating with the head-end system 1 2 by means of a customer feedback channel 20, e.g. telephonically.
  • the head-end system 1 2 includes a plurality of sub-systems, namely an operations management sub-system 22 for overall management of sub-systems and communication between sub-systems, a pre-processing sub-system 24 for encoding, compressing and encryption of video material 26 received into the head-end system 1 2, an archiving storage sub-system 28 for managing and storing a collection of video material received into the headend system 1 2, a scheduling sub-system 30 for scheduling the transmission of video material, a customer management sub-system 32 for managing customer records, including authentication and billing, a content management sub-system 34 for managing functions relating to content, and a security management sub-system 36 for the generation and distribution of decryption keys to individual customer site systems 14.
  • an operations management sub-system 22 for overall management of sub-systems and communication between sub-systems
  • a pre-processing sub-system 24 for encoding, compressing and encryption of video material 26 received into the head-end system 1
  • an archiving storage sub-system 28 for managing and storing a collection
  • the head-end system 1 2 further includes digital transmission means 38 for transmitting video material from the archiving storage sub-system 28, and profiling means 40 for generating and keeping customer profiles and selecting video material from the archiving storage sub-system 28.
  • the head-end system 1 2 includes a customer feedback processing system 42 for processing incoming requests or other information from customer site systems 1 4 on the customer feedback channel 20.
  • sub-systems such as the customer management sub-system 32 and the security management sub-system 36, as well as the profiling means 40, are in the form of software modules or programs operating on a computer or server or processor.
  • Other sub-systems, such as the archiving storage sub-system 28, include other hardware components, e.g. mass storage media.
  • the customer site system 14 is shown in more detail in Figure 3 of the drawings.
  • the customer site system 14 includes a set-top box or terminal connected to a satellite dish antenna and which includes a receiver/decoder 44, mass storage means in the form of a forty gigabyte hard disk 46, output means 48 for sending signals to the head-end system 12 on the customer feedback channel 20, a processor 50 configured inter alia to prompt a customer to rate video material, and to transmit the results of the rating to the head-end system 12 via the signal output means 48, a play controller 52 which provides a menu display and a user interface, a play-out sub-system 54 for receiving video material from the hard disk 46 and providing the audio and video output signal 1 8 for playing on an audio/video system, and a decryption subsystem 58 for decrypting video material on the hard disk 46.
  • the output means 48 in one embodiment of the invention, is a modem, allowing the use of cellular or fixed line telephone networks to be used to establish the customer feedback channel 20.
  • the customer site system 14 is connected to a VCR which is connected to a television set, or directly to a television set.
  • the play controller 52 and the processor 50 can provide a menu display and other messages or prompts on the television set.
  • the set-top box may however include a display means.
  • the video-on-demand system 10 together with a television set or the like provides users or subscribers with a complete end-to-end integrated delivery and display system for secure digital video-on-demand.
  • a customer subscribes to the video-on-demand system 10
  • the customer's preferences in genre, actors, production date, language, origin and/or the like are established.
  • the customer is also requested to rate a number of video titles that the customer has previously seen.
  • This information is fed to the profiling means 40 of the head-end system 1 2, which generates a customer profile associated with that customer.
  • the customer profile thus indicates the customer's preferences for video material having particular characteristics.
  • the profiling means 40 using techniques such as collaborative filtering, then selects video material which is expected to satisfy the preferences of the customer.
  • a panel of people is used initially to rate video material stored in the archiving storage sub-system 28 of the headend system 1 2.
  • the profiling means 40 compares the ratings of the stored video material with the profiles of each customer to determine whether or not the stored video material is expected to satisfy a particular customer's preferences or not.
  • An initial video title download list is then created as a combination of the video titles rated the highest for the customer by the profiling means 40, and a list of video titles selected for future viewing (a wish-list) by the customer.
  • the video titles are then transmitted to the customer site system 1 4 over a period of time, say one week, to replace a basic set of video titles that every customer site system 1 4 is installed with.
  • the forty gigabyte hard disk 46 can store about forty video titles of reasonable quality (VHS quality).
  • the initial download list of video titles can thus, for example, comprise twenty titles from the wish-list and a further twenty titles recommended by the profiling means 40.
  • VHS quality video titles of reasonable quality
  • the system 10 can cater for this situation by allowing a plurality of customer profiles to be generated and associated with a particular customer site system 1 4. An individual can then select his or her customer profile as the in-use profile when the individual expects to be the dominant user of the system 10 for a length of time.
  • the video titles which are to be transmitted to a particular customer site system 14 are programmed into the scheduling sub-system 30, which determines how to schedule the transmission of the various video titles.
  • the scheduling subsystem 30 then transmits the video titles in digital format through the transmission means 38, together with a schedule indicating which customer site system 14 should store which video titles.
  • the predicted ratings of every video title according to each customer's profile are also transmitted with the video material, together with a catalogue of all video titles available on the head-end system 12.
  • the customer is thus presented with a catalogue of video titles available in the archiving storage sub-system 28.
  • the catalogue indicates whether a video title is present on the hard disk 46 as part of the customer's wish-list and thus available for immediate viewing, or whether the video title is present on the hard disk 46 as a result of being recommended by the profiling means 40, and thus also available for immediate viewing by the customer, or if the video title is available from the head-end system 12 but not present on the hard disk 46, which means that the video title is not available for immediate viewing by the customer, but has to be downloaded first.
  • the catalogue also includes information on the expected rating of that title in view of the customer's profile.
  • the catalogue may include additional metadata on each video title.
  • the metadata includes a number indicating the sequence in which the video title was transmitted to the customer site system 14, the title of the video, the director, the actors, the date the video title was released, the genre, any reviews of the video title, a trailer of the video title, the rating of the video title by other customers, the rating of the video title by the profiling means 40, the date the video title was viewed previously, and the position of the video title on the customer's wish-list.
  • the applicant expects that it is very likely that a customer will select a video title from the recommended titles or the titles on the customer's wish-list, in which case those video titles don't h ave to be delivered on demand from the headend system 1 2 to the customer site system 1 4, but should already be available on the hard disk 46 of the customer site system 1 4.
  • the price of such video titles should be lower than the price of video titles available at the head-end system 1 2 but not on the customer site system 14.
  • the scheduling sub-system 30 gives priority to such true video-on- demand requests, and schedules other transmissions for non-peak times.
  • the processor 50 When a customer has viewed a video title, the processor 50 prompts the customer to rate the video title and forwards the rating to the profiling means 40 of the head-end system 1 2, via the output means 48 and the customer feedback channel 20. In this fashion, the customer's profile is updated and modified on a regular basis, and the rating of a video title is dynamically updated.
  • the video titles on the hard disk 46 of a customer site system 1 4 are changed after a customer has viewed a recommended video title, or if the customer's profile has changed to such an extent that a different set of video titles matches his profile better than those stored on the hard disk 46.
  • the video titles which are present on the hard disk 46 because they form part of the wish-list of the customer can however be changed or prioritised by the customer at any time to indicate to the head-end system 1 2 which video titles the customer might want to see in future. Only video titles already stored on the hard disk 46 are available at a low price. Whenever a video title on the wish list has been viewed, it can be replaced with the next video title on the wish-list that has not been stored on the hard disk 46.
  • the customer is prompted by the processor 50 to add to his or her wish-list.
  • more titles recommended by the profiling means 40 can be transmitted to the customer site system 40 and stored on the hard disk 46.
  • the play controller 52 provides the customer site system 14 with full VCR functionality, allowing fast forward, rewind and pause, bearing in mind that a video title being viewed by a customer is stored locally on the hard disk 46. Typically, a customer is billed for a particular video title only once the video title has been selected for viewing and a substantial portion of the video title has been viewed. Thereafter, the title remains available for any number of viewings within a limited time, e.g. twenty-four or forty-eight hours.
  • a video title identification number is transmitted to the security management sub-system 36 on the customer feedback channel 20.
  • the security management sub-system 36 verifies the customer details, such as billing status, and generates a unique decryption key for the particular video title on the hard disk 46 that the customer wishes to view.
  • the decryption key is transmitted by the transmission means 38 to the customer site system 14 allowing the decryption sub-system 58 to decrypt the video material.
  • the video title can be kept on the hard disk 46 or deleted, according to the customer's instructions. If the video title is deleted, a new video title will be transmitted to the customer site system 14 from the head-end system 12 according to the customer's profile as being recommended by the profiling means 40 or as forming part of the customer's wish-list.
  • Video titles to be stored in the archiving storage sub-system 28 are encoded, compressed and encrypted before being passed onto the archiving storage sub-system 28 for storage.
  • the encoded and encrypted video titles are transmitted by the transmission means 38 to the customer site system 14.
  • Copy protection in the video-on-demand system 10 is thus better than in most current video-on-demand systems, since every video title is encrypted with a different key and the dynamically generated decryption key can only work on a specific customer site system 14 and a specific video title.
  • transmission of the status of customer site systems 14 can be programmed to take place at different times for every customer site system 14.
  • the transmission of on-demand and key requests must, however, always be immediate.

Abstract

A video-on-demand (10) includes a head-end system (12) and a customer site system (14). The head-end system (12) broadcasts or transmits on a plurality of channels, indicated by reference numeral (16), to the customer site systems (14) of many customers. The customer site system (14) stores selected video material and provides an audio and video output signal (18). The customer site system (14) is also capable of communicating with the head-end system (12) by means of a customer feedback channels (20).

Description

PROVISION OF VIDEO-ON-DEMAND
THIS INVENTION relates to the provision of video-on-demand. In particular, it relates to a method of providing video-on-demand, and to a video-on- demand system and sub-components thereof.
The applicant is aware of a method of delivery of video-on-demand, which includes streaming videos on request from a high performance video server. As will be appreciated, when using this method, a large number of " channels", equal to the number of subscribers requiring videos, is required. A massive server or server configuration that is able to replay all the different videos that are being requested in real time is also required. As will be appreciated, such a system is not really scalable due to bandwidth and capacity limitations and is extremely expensive, with a linear correlation between the cost of the system and the capacity for subscribers.
The applicant is also aware of a method for providing videos, in which the period of time a viewer is required to wait for a chosen programme is reduced, typically by broadcasting the same video material on several channels simultaneously, but offset in time by multiples of ten or fifteen minutes. As will be appreciated, this approach is however not true video-on-demand as experienced by the subscriber or user.
According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of providing video-on-demand from a service provider to a customer site, the method including creating at least one customer profile associated with a customer site, the customer profile indicating the customer's preferences for video material having particular characteristics; selecting video material which is expected to satisfy the preferences of the customer, as indicated by the customer's profile; transmitting the video material to the customer site; and storing the video material on mass storage means or on a mass storage medium operable by the customer to retrieve the video material on demand, thereby to display the video material on an associated display device in true video- on-demand fashion.
Creating at least one customer profile associated with a customer site may include obtaining information on the customer's preferences in one or more video material characteristics selected from the group consisting of genre, actors, production date, language and origin.
Creating at least one customer profile associated with a customer site may also include obtaining ratings from the customer on previously viewed video material, e.g. ten movies. As will be appreciated, the more video material titles rated by the customer the more accurate the customer profile will be.
The previously viewed video material may include video material stored on the mass storage means and viewed by the customer. Thus, the method may include modifying the customer profile, based on feedback information or ratings received from the customer after the customer has viewed video material stored on the mass storage means. Ratings by the customer may be scalar.
Creating at least one customer profile associated with a customer site may further include obtaining a wish-list of accurately identified video material that the customer wishes to view. Selecting video material which is expected to satisfy the preferences of the customer may include using one or more collaborative filtering techniques. This may include using a panel of people to rate video material, whereafter the rating of the video material is compared with the profile of the customer to determine whether or not the video material is expected to satisfy the customer's preferences. This may also include dynamically updating the rating of video material, based on feedback information or ratings received from customers after the customers have viewed the video material. Thus, the method may include prompting a customer to rate video material viewed by the customer.
The video material may be transmitted to the customer site in an encrypted format, typically in an encrypted digital format. The video material may be transmitted at the same time to a plurality of customer sites and stored on the mass storage means associated with the various customer sites.
The video material may thus be stored in encrypted format on the mass storage means. The method may include transmitting a unique decryption key to the customer site, for decryption of particular video material on the mass storage means associated with the customer site, on request by the customer. The service provider may receive from the customer site an identification code for the video material to be viewed, and an identification code for the customer site, thereby allowing the service provider to generate the unique decryption key for the video material to be watched. This information may also be used to verify user details such as billing status or the like.
The method may include providing to the customer an indication of the expected rating, i.e. the degree of comparison between video material and the customer's preferences, as indicated by the customer's profile, of video material stored on the mass storage means.
The method may include providing the facility to a customer to request from the service provider video material, not present on the mass storage means operable by the customer, from a list of available video material, for substantially immediate transmission to the customer site and viewing. The method may further include discouraging a customer from using such a facility, e.g. by pricing video material viewed in this manner higher than video material already stored on the mass storage means operable by the customer.
The method may include providing information to the customer on predetermined transmission times of video material. This feature can advantageously be used to reduce bandwidth requirements if customers are incentivised, e.g. by lowering the price for viewing such video material, thus reducing the occurrence of instances where customers are requesting video material for viewing which is not present on the mass storage means operable by the customers.
The method may include providing the customer with a catalogue of video material available from the service provider. The catalogue may indicate whether
(a) the video material is present on the mass storage means operable by the customer and selected by the customer as part of a wish-list created by the customer;
(b) the video material is present on the mass storage means operable by the customer and recommended by the service provider for viewing by the customer according to the customer's profile; and/or
(c) the video material is available from the service provider but not present on the mass storage means operable by the customer.
The method may include segmenting a video material file before transmitting the video material to the customer site, monitoring a receiver signal at the customer site and reporting signal losses to the service provider. In the case of a signal blank-out, e.g. during a thunderstorm in a satellite transmission area, lost profile segments may thus be transmitted again and the complete video material file reconstructed and stored on the mass storage means operable by the customer. The reporting of signal losses is preferably done on a threshold and random backoff manner to limit the number of reports of signal losses.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided an onscreen catalogue for a video-on-demand system, the catalogue indicating at least two of the following information sets:
(a) which video material was selected by the customer and is present on mass storage means operable by a customer;
(b) which video material was recommended by a service provider for viewing by the customer according to a profile of the customer and is present on mass storage means operable by said customer and;
(c) which video material is available from a service provider but not present on mass storage means operable by said customer.
Preferably, the catalogue includes all three of the information sets.
The catalogue may include information on the expected degree of comparison between at least some of the video material present on mass storage means operable by said customer and the customer's preferences, as indicated by the profile of said customer.
According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a video- on-demand system, which includes a service provider head-end system and a customer site system, the service provider head-end system including a collection of stored video material; profiling means or a profiler to generate and keep a customer profile associated with each customer, indicating the customer's preferences for video material having particular characteristics, and to select video material from the collection of stored video material which is expected to satisfy the preferences of the customer, as indicated by the customer's profile; and transmission means or a transmitter to transmit video material from the collection of stored video material to customer sites; the customer site system including receiving means or a receiver to receive transmissions of video material from the transmission means; and mass storage means or a mass storage medium to store selected received video material, the mass storage means being operable by the customer to retrieve the stored video material.
The customer site system may include a set-top box or terminal providing a customer interface. Typically, the set-top box houses a receiver, forming part of the receiving means, and the mass storage means. The mass storage means may be a hard disk, e.g. a forty gigabyte hard disk or magnetic, optical or magneto- optical disks or magnetic-tape based storage media or the like. The set-top box may also include a play controller, allowing the customer to retrieve the stored video material from the mass storage means.
The customer site system may include a decryption sub-system for decrypting encrypted transmissions. The decryption sub-system may also be housed in the set-top box.
The customer site system may include signal output means or a transmitter for sending a signal to the head-end system. Thus, the video-on- demand system may be a bi-directional communications system.
The customer site system may include a processor configured to prompt a customer to rate video material viewed by the customer, and to transmit the results of the rating to the head-end system via the signal output means.
The profiling means of the head-end system may be in the form of a computer with appropriate programming and input means. Thus, the head-end system may include one or more processors or computers or servers. The head-end system may include one or more sub-systems selected from the group of sub-systems consisting of an operations management subsystem for overall management of sub-systems and communication between subsystems; a pre-processing sub-system for encoding, compressing and encryption of video material; an archiving storage sub-system for managing the collection of stored video material; a scheduling sub-system for scheduling the transmission of video material; a customer management sub-system for managing customer records, including authentication and billing; a content management sub-system for managing functions relating to content; and a security management sub-system for the generation and distribution of decryption keys to customer site systems.
As will be appreciated, many of the aforementioned sub-systems will be in the form of software, operable on the processors or computers or servers of the head-end system.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided a video-on-demand service provider head-end system, which includes profiling means or a profiler to generate and keep a customer profile associated with each customer, indicating the customer's preferences for video material having particular characteristics, and to select video material which is expected to satisfy the preferences of the customer, as indicated by the customer' s profile.
The video-on-demand service provider head-end system may include a collection of stored video material, and may include a transmitter or transmission means to transmit video material from the collection of stored video material to a customer site.
According to yet a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a video-on-demand customer site system which includes receiving means or a receiver to receive transmissions of video material, including identification codes for different video material titles, and to receive decryption keys; mass storage means or a mass storage medium to store selected received video material and their identification codes, the mass storage means being operable by a customer to retrieve the stored video material; a customer site identification code identifying the customer site system; and a transmitter or signal output means to transmit the customer site identification code and a selected video title identification code to a video-on- demand service provider.
The video-on-demand customer site system may include decryption means or a decryptor to decrypt an encrypted video title on the mass storage means using a received decryption key which is associated with the identification code of said video title and with the customer site identification code.
The invention is expected to be particularly, though not necessarily exclusively, suitable for a satellite transmission environment, and even more specifically a digital satellite transmission environment. Furthermore, although reference is only made to video material in this specification, the term video material is intended to include any other form of programming, such as music-on- demand, games-on-demand, advertising or the like.
The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which
Figure 1 shows a very basic block diagram of a video-on-demand system in accordance with the invention;
Figure 2 shows a functional block diagram of a head-end system of the video- on-demand system of Figure 1 ; and
Figure 3 shows a functional block diagram of customer site systems of the video-on-demand system of Figure 1 .
Referring to Figure 1 of the drawings, reference numeral 1 0 generally indicates a video-on-demand system in accordance with the invention. The video- on-demand system 1 0 makes use of digital satellite transmission and includes a head-end system 1 2 and a customer site system 14.
The head-end system 1 2 broadcasts or transmits on a plurality of channels, indicated by reference numeral 1 6, via an earth orbiting satellite (not shown) to the customer site systems 14 of many customers, only one of which is shown. The customer site system 14 stores selected video material and provides an audio and video output signal 1 8. The customer site system 14 is also capable of communicating with the head-end system 1 2 by means of a customer feedback channel 20, e.g. telephonically.
Referring to Figure 2 of the drawings, the head-end system 1 2 is shown in more detail in block diagram format. The head-end system 1 2 includes a plurality of sub-systems, namely an operations management sub-system 22 for overall management of sub-systems and communication between sub-systems, a pre-processing sub-system 24 for encoding, compressing and encryption of video material 26 received into the head-end system 1 2, an archiving storage sub-system 28 for managing and storing a collection of video material received into the headend system 1 2, a scheduling sub-system 30 for scheduling the transmission of video material, a customer management sub-system 32 for managing customer records, including authentication and billing, a content management sub-system 34 for managing functions relating to content, and a security management sub-system 36 for the generation and distribution of decryption keys to individual customer site systems 14. The head-end system 1 2 further includes digital transmission means 38 for transmitting video material from the archiving storage sub-system 28, and profiling means 40 for generating and keeping customer profiles and selecting video material from the archiving storage sub-system 28. Lastly, the head-end system 1 2 includes a customer feedback processing system 42 for processing incoming requests or other information from customer site systems 1 4 on the customer feedback channel 20. As will be appreciated, sub-systems such as the customer management sub-system 32 and the security management sub-system 36, as well as the profiling means 40, are in the form of software modules or programs operating on a computer or server or processor. Other sub-systems, such as the archiving storage sub-system 28, include other hardware components, e.g. mass storage media.
The customer site system 14 is shown in more detail in Figure 3 of the drawings. Typically, the customer site system 14 includes a set-top box or terminal connected to a satellite dish antenna and which includes a receiver/decoder 44, mass storage means in the form of a forty gigabyte hard disk 46, output means 48 for sending signals to the head-end system 12 on the customer feedback channel 20, a processor 50 configured inter alia to prompt a customer to rate video material, and to transmit the results of the rating to the head-end system 12 via the signal output means 48, a play controller 52 which provides a menu display and a user interface, a play-out sub-system 54 for receiving video material from the hard disk 46 and providing the audio and video output signal 1 8 for playing on an audio/video system, and a decryption subsystem 58 for decrypting video material on the hard disk 46.
The output means 48, in one embodiment of the invention, is a modem, allowing the use of cellular or fixed line telephone networks to be used to establish the customer feedback channel 20.
Typically, the customer site system 14 is connected to a VCR which is connected to a television set, or directly to a television set. Thus, the play controller 52 and the processor 50 can provide a menu display and other messages or prompts on the television set. If desired, the set-top box may however include a display means.
The video-on-demand system 10, as illustrated, together with a television set or the like provides users or subscribers with a complete end-to-end integrated delivery and display system for secure digital video-on-demand. When a customer subscribes to the video-on-demand system 10, the customer's preferences in genre, actors, production date, language, origin and/or the like are established. The customer is also requested to rate a number of video titles that the customer has previously seen. This information is fed to the profiling means 40 of the head-end system 1 2, which generates a customer profile associated with that customer. The customer profile thus indicates the customer's preferences for video material having particular characteristics. The profiling means 40, using techniques such as collaborative filtering, then selects video material which is expected to satisfy the preferences of the customer. In order to do this, a panel of people is used initially to rate video material stored in the archiving storage sub-system 28 of the headend system 1 2. Thus, the profiling means 40 compares the ratings of the stored video material with the profiles of each customer to determine whether or not the stored video material is expected to satisfy a particular customer's preferences or not. An initial video title download list is then created as a combination of the video titles rated the highest for the customer by the profiling means 40, and a list of video titles selected for future viewing (a wish-list) by the customer. The video titles are then transmitted to the customer site system 1 4 over a period of time, say one week, to replace a basic set of video titles that every customer site system 1 4 is installed with. The forty gigabyte hard disk 46 can store about forty video titles of reasonable quality (VHS quality). The initial download list of video titles can thus, for example, comprise twenty titles from the wish-list and a further twenty titles recommended by the profiling means 40. As will be appreciated, only video titles that have not been rated by the customer, and thus not already viewed by the customer, will be recommended for transmitting to the customer site system 1 4.
It is possible that more than one person, e.g. members of a household, will use the customer site system 14. It can be argued that the profiling performed by the profiling means 40 will be more accurate for an individual than for an entire household. The system 10 can cater for this situation by allowing a plurality of customer profiles to be generated and associated with a particular customer site system 1 4. An individual can then select his or her customer profile as the in-use profile when the individual expects to be the dominant user of the system 10 for a length of time.
The video titles which are to be transmitted to a particular customer site system 14 are programmed into the scheduling sub-system 30, which determines how to schedule the transmission of the various video titles. The scheduling subsystem 30 then transmits the video titles in digital format through the transmission means 38, together with a schedule indicating which customer site system 14 should store which video titles. The predicted ratings of every video title according to each customer's profile are also transmitted with the video material, together with a catalogue of all video titles available on the head-end system 12.
The customer is thus presented with a catalogue of video titles available in the archiving storage sub-system 28. However, the catalogue indicates whether a video title is present on the hard disk 46 as part of the customer's wish-list and thus available for immediate viewing, or whether the video title is present on the hard disk 46 as a result of being recommended by the profiling means 40, and thus also available for immediate viewing by the customer, or if the video title is available from the head-end system 12 but not present on the hard disk 46, which means that the video title is not available for immediate viewing by the customer, but has to be downloaded first. Next to each video title, the catalogue also includes information on the expected rating of that title in view of the customer's profile.
The catalogue may include additional metadata on each video title. Just by way of example, the metadata includes a number indicating the sequence in which the video title was transmitted to the customer site system 14, the title of the video, the director, the actors, the date the video title was released, the genre, any reviews of the video title, a trailer of the video title, the rating of the video title by other customers, the rating of the video title by the profiling means 40, the date the video title was viewed previously, and the position of the video title on the customer's wish-list. The applicant expects that it is very likely that a customer will select a video title from the recommended titles or the titles on the customer's wish-list, in which case those video titles don't h ave to be delivered on demand from the headend system 1 2 to the customer site system 1 4, but should already be available on the hard disk 46 of the customer site system 1 4. In order to promote the viewing of video titles which are already available on the customer site system 14, the price of such video titles should be lower than the price of video titles available at the head-end system 1 2 but not on the customer site system 14. Should the customer, however, wish to select a video title not present on the hard disk 46, this can still be done in the traditional true video-on-demand fashion, by being transmitted immediately from the head-end system 1 2 to the customer site system 1 4, after having been requested by the customer via the customer feedback channel 20. The scheduling sub-system 30 gives priority to such true video-on- demand requests, and schedules other transmissions for non-peak times.
When a customer has viewed a video title, the processor 50 prompts the customer to rate the video title and forwards the rating to the profiling means 40 of the head-end system 1 2, via the output means 48 and the customer feedback channel 20. In this fashion, the customer's profile is updated and modified on a regular basis, and the rating of a video title is dynamically updated.
The video titles on the hard disk 46 of a customer site system 1 4 are changed after a customer has viewed a recommended video title, or if the customer's profile has changed to such an extent that a different set of video titles matches his profile better than those stored on the hard disk 46. The video titles which are present on the hard disk 46 because they form part of the wish-list of the customer, can however be changed or prioritised by the customer at any time to indicate to the head-end system 1 2 which video titles the customer might want to see in future. Only video titles already stored on the hard disk 46 are available at a low price. Whenever a video title on the wish list has been viewed, it can be replaced with the next video title on the wish-list that has not been stored on the hard disk 46. Should the length of the wish-list become shorter than a preselected length, the customer is prompted by the processor 50 to add to his or her wish-list. Alternatively, more titles recommended by the profiling means 40 can be transmitted to the customer site system 40 and stored on the hard disk 46.
The play controller 52 provides the customer site system 14 with full VCR functionality, allowing fast forward, rewind and pause, bearing in mind that a video title being viewed by a customer is stored locally on the hard disk 46. Typically, a customer is billed for a particular video title only once the video title has been selected for viewing and a substantial portion of the video title has been viewed. Thereafter, the title remains available for any number of viewings within a limited time, e.g. twenty-four or forty-eight hours.
When a customer wishes to view a video title present on the hard disk 46 of the customer site system 14, a video title identification number, as well as a customer site system identification number and a customer identification number, is transmitted to the security management sub-system 36 on the customer feedback channel 20. The security management sub-system 36 verifies the customer details, such as billing status, and generates a unique decryption key for the particular video title on the hard disk 46 that the customer wishes to view. The decryption key is transmitted by the transmission means 38 to the customer site system 14 allowing the decryption sub-system 58 to decrypt the video material. After having viewed the video title, the video title can be kept on the hard disk 46 or deleted, according to the customer's instructions. If the video title is deleted, a new video title will be transmitted to the customer site system 14 from the head-end system 12 according to the customer's profile as being recommended by the profiling means 40 or as forming part of the customer's wish-list.
Video titles to be stored in the archiving storage sub-system 28 are encoded, compressed and encrypted before being passed onto the archiving storage sub-system 28 for storage. The encoded and encrypted video titles are transmitted by the transmission means 38 to the customer site system 14. Copy protection in the video-on-demand system 10 is thus better than in most current video-on-demand systems, since every video title is encrypted with a different key and the dynamically generated decryption key can only work on a specific customer site system 14 and a specific video title.
The reliability of the transmission of video titles is increased by segmenting each video file before transmission. The customer site system 14 monitors the signal received by the receiver/decoder 44 and reports signal losses to the head-end system 1 2 by means of the customer feedback channel 20. In case of a signal blank-out, e.g. during a thunderstorm in an area serviced by an earth orbiting satellite, the lost file segments can be transmitted again and the complete video file reconstructed in the customer site system 1 4.
To ease loading on the customer feedback processing system 42, transmission of the status of customer site systems 14 can be programmed to take place at different times for every customer site system 14. However, as will be appreciated, the transmission of on-demand and key requests must, however, always be immediate.
The advantages of the video-on-demand system 10, as illustrated, can be exemplified by way of the following comparison: In conventional video streaming, a channel of at least 1 .2 MHz will be required for every video that is streamed. For a true video-on-demand scenario, this means that 1 .2 MHz of bandwidth is required for every subscriber session. If it is assumed that a subscriber will watch one movie a week, and that 25 % of subscriber requests for movies will take place on a Friday evening, the peak bandwidth required will be equal to 1 .2 MHz x the number of subscribers x 25 % which is equal to 0.3 MHz x the number of subscribers. For 1 00000 users or subscribers, this means a bandwidth requirement of 30 GHz. Using customer profiling in accordance with the invention, it can be shown that close to 1 00 % of subscribers will be satisfied with what is already available on their customer site systems. If a catalogue contains 500 movies, it will take 500 x 900 megabyte = 450 gigabyte capacity to transmit, or one week through a 6 MHz channel. Using a 6 MHz channel, five on-demand sessions from the head-end system can be supported. If 0.1 % of the subscribers request such sessions, a total of 5000 users can be supported.
Further bandwidth optimisation and increased revenues can be achieved through a strategy whereby video titles that have already been scheduled for transmission, are made available at a discounted price. When such a video title is selected for viewing, it will naturally only be available at the advertised transmission time, but still be downloaded in the same manner as other video titles, without incurring any additional bandwidth requirement or loading of the head-end system 1 2.
It is an advantage of the system 10, as illustrated, that the customer gets video titles rated and recommended for viewing, without being confronted with a list of hundreds or thousands of video titles from which he or she has to select one for viewing. At the same time, an operator of the system 1 0 is faced with a reduced requirement for bandwidth and video server performance, and thus increased revenue.

Claims

CLAIMS:
1 . A method of providing video-on-demand from a service provider to a customer site, the method including creating at least one customer profile associated with a customer site, the customer profile indicating the customer's preferences for video material having particular characteristics; selecting video material which is expected to satisfy the preferences of the customer, as indicated by the customer's profile; transmitting the video material to the customer site; and storing the video material on mass storage means operable by the customer to retrieve the video material on demand, thereby to display the video material on an associated display device in true video-on-demand fashion.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1 , in which creating at least one customer profile associated with a customer site includes obtaining information on the customer's preferences in one or more video material characteristics selected from the group consisting of genre, actors, production date, language and origin.
3. A method as claimed in claim 1 , in which creating at least one customer profile associated with a customer site includes obtaining ratings from the customer on previously viewed video material.
4. A method as claimed in claim 3, in which the previously viewed video material includes video material stored on the mass storage means and viewed by the customer.
5. A method as claimed in claim 4, which includes modifying the customer profile, based on feedback information or ratings received from the customer after the customer has viewed video material stored on the mass storage means.
6. A method as claimed in claim 1 , in which creating at least one customer profile associated with a customer site includes obtaining a wish-list of accurately identified video material that the customer wishes to view.
7. A method as claimed in claim 1 , in which selecting video material which is expected to satisfy the preferences of the customer includes using one or more collaborative filtering techniques.
8. A method as claimed in claim 7, which includes prompting a customer to rate video material viewed by the customer.
9. A method as claimed in claim 1 , in which the video material is transmitted to the customer site in an encrypted format, and is transmitted at the same time to a plurality of customer sites and stored on the mass storage means associated with the various customer sites.
10. A method as claimed in claim 1 , in which the video material is stored in encrypted format on the mass storage means and which includes transmitting a unique decryption key to the customer site, for decryption of particular video material on the mass storage means associated with the customer site, on request by the customer.
1 1 . A method as claimed in claim 1 0, in which the service provider receives from the customer site an identification code for the video material to be viewed, and an identification code for the customer site, thereby allowing the service provider to generate the unique decryption key for the video material to be watched.
1 2. A method as claimed in claim 1 , which includes providing to the customer an indication of the expected degree of comparison between video material and the customer's preferences, as indicated by the customer's profile, of video material stored on the mass storage means.
1 3. A method as claimed in claim 1 , which includes providing the facility to a customer to request from the service provider video material, not present on the mass storage means operable by the customer, from a list of available video material, for substantially immediate transmission to the customer site and viewing, and which includes discouraging a customer from using such a facility by pricing video material viewed in this manner higher than video material already stored on the mass storage means operable by the customer.
1 4. A method as claimed in claim 1 , which includes providing information to the customer on predetermined transmission times of video material, and which includes lowering the price for viewing such video material.
1 5. A method as claimed in claim 1 , which includes providing the customer with a catalogue of video material available from the service provider, the catalogue indicating whether
(a) the video material is present on the mass storage means operable by the customer and selected by the customer as part of a wish-list created by the customer;
(b) the video material is present on the mass storage means operable by the customer and recommended by the service provider for viewing by the customer according to the customer's profile; and/or
(c) the video material is available from the service provider but not present on the mass storage means operable by the customer.
1 6. A method as claimed in claim 1 , which includes segmenting a video material file before transmitting the video material to the customer site, monitoring a receiver signal at the customer site and reporting signal losses to the service provider.
1 7. An on-screen catalogue for a video-on-demand system, the catalogue indicating at least two of the following information sets: (a) which video material was selected by the customer and is present on mass storage means operable by a customer;
(b) which video material was recommended by a service provider for viewing by the customer according to a profile of the customer and is present on mass storage means operable by said customer and;
(c) which video material is available from a service provider but not present on mass storage means operable by said customer.
1 8. An on-screen catalogue as claimed in claim 1 7, which includes all three of the information sets.
1 9. An on-screen catalogue as claimed in claim 1 7, which includes information on the expected degree of comparison between at least some of the video material present on mass storage means operable by said customer and the customer's preferences, as indicated by the profile of said customer.
20. A video-on-demand system, which includes a service provider head-end system and a customer site system, the service provider head-end system including a collection of stored video material; profiling means to generate and keep a customer profile associated with each customer, indicating the customer's preferences for video material having particular characteristics, and to select video material from the collection of stored video material which is expected to satisfy the preferences of the customer, as indicated by the customer's profile; and transmission means to transmit video material from the collection of stored video material to customer sites; the customer site system including receiving means to receive transmissions of video material from the transmission means; and mass storage means to store selected received video material, the mass storage means being operable by the customer to retrieve the stored video material.
21 . A video-on-demand system as claimed in claim 20, in which the customer site system includes a set-top box or terminal providing a customer interface.
22. A video-on-demand system as claimed in claim 20, in which the customer site system includes a decryption sub-system for decrypting encrypted transmissions.
23. A video-on-demand system as claimed in claim 20, in which the customer site system includes signal output means for sending a signal to the head-end system, the video-on-demand system thus being a bi-directional communications system.
24. A video-on-demand system as claimed in claim 23, in which the customer site system includes a processor configured to prompt a customer to rate video material viewed by the customer, and to transmit the results of the rating to the head-end system via the signal output means.
25. A video-on-demand system as claimed in claim 20, in which the headend system includes one or more sub-systems selected from the group of subsystems consisting of an operations management sub-system for overall management of sub-systems and communication between sub-systems; a preprocessing sub-system for encoding, compressing and encryption of video material; an archiving storage sub-system for managing the collection of stored video material; a scheduling sub-system for scheduling the transmission of video material; a customer management sub-system for managing customer records, including authentication and billing; a content management sub-system for managing functions relating to content; and a security management sub-system for the generation and distribution of decryption keys to customer site systems.
26. A video-on-demand service provider head-end system, which includes profiling means to generate and keep a customer profile associated with each customer, indicating the customer's preferences for video material having particular characteristics, and to select video material which is expected to satisfy the preferences of the customer, as indicated by the customer' s profile.
27. A video-on-demand service provider head-end system as claimed in claim 26, which includes a collection of stored video material, and which includes a transmitter to transmit video material from the collection of stored video material to a customer site.
28. A video-on-demand customer site system which includes receiving means to receive transmissions of video material, including identification codes for different video material titles, and to receive decryption keys; mass storage means to store selected received video material and their identification codes, the mass storage means being operable by a customer to retrieve the stored video material; a customer site identification code identifying the customer site system; and a transmitter or signal output means to transmit the customer site identification code and a selected video title identification code to a video-on- demand service provider.
29. A video-on-demand customer site system as claimed in claim 28, which includes decryption means to decrypt an encrypted video title on the mass storage means using a received decryption key which is associated with the identification code of said video title and with the customer site identification code.
30. A method of providing video-on-demand as claimed in claim 1 , substantially as herein described and illustrated.
31 . An on-screen catalogue as claimed in claim 1 7, substantially as herein described and illustrated.
32. A video-on-demand system as claimed in claim 20, substantially as herein described and illustrated.
33. A video-on-demand service provider head-end system as claimed in claim 26, substantially as herein described and illustrated.
34. A video-on-demand customer site system as claimed in claim 28, substantially as herein described and illustrated.
35. A new method of providing video-on-demand, a new on-screen catalogue, a new video-on-demand system, a new video-on-demand service provider head-end system, or a new video-on-demand customer site system, substantially as herein described.
PCT/IB2002/004629 2001-11-08 2002-11-05 Provision of video-on-demand WO2003041383A2 (en)

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WO2003041383A3 (en) 2004-05-27
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