Telephone calls, data and other multimedia information is routed through a hybrid network which includes transfer of information across the internet. A media order entry captures complete user profile information for a user. This profile information is utilized by the system throughout the media experience for routing, billing, monitoring, reporting and other media control functions. Users can manage more aspects of a network than previously possible, and control network activities from a central site. The hybrid network also contains logic for responding to requests for quality of service and reserving the resources to provide the requested services.

System and method for providing requested quality of service in a hybrid network

An electronic program schedule system with access to both stored television program schedule information and data feeds containing status information for live programs such as sporting events. The system includes a data processor for receiving program schedule information for a plurality of programs and data feeds containing status information for certain of the programs, and a video display generator for generating a display signal simultaneously comprising information from both the stored schedule information and the received data feed. The system is further provided with user control means such as a remote controller for generating user control commands and transmitting signals to the data processor in response thereto so as to control the content of the display signal. The display signal may be displayed on a display apparatus such as a television receiver. In addition, the program schedule system of the present invention utilizes category-specific user interfaces providing access to multiple services including television programs, received data feeds, home shopping services, and video games as well as the stored program schedule information.

Electronic television program guide schedule system and method with data feed access

A system and method of pushing user-selected data items from a host system to a user's mobile data communication device upon detecting the occurrence of one or more user-defined event triggers is provided. The user may then move (or file) the data items to a particular folder within a folder hierarchy stored in the mobile data communication device, or may execute some other system operation on the data item. Software operating at the mobile device and the host system then synchronizes the folder hierarchy of the mobile device with a folder hierarchy of the host system, and any actions executed on the data items at the mobile device are then automatically replicated on the same data items stored at the host system, thus eliminating the need for the user to manually replicate actions at the host system that have been executed at the mobile data communication device.

System and Method for Pushing Information from a Host System to a Mobile Data Communication Device

A client-server interactive television program guide system is provided. An interactive television program guide client is implemented on user television equipment. The interactive television program guide provides users with an opportunity to define expressions that are processed by the program guide server. The program guide server may provide program guide data, schedules reminders, schedules program recordings, and parentally locks programs based on the expressions. Users' viewing histories may be tracked. The program guide server may analyze the viewing histories and generates viewing recommendations, targets advertising, and collects program ratings information based on the viewing histories.

Client-server electronic program guide

When selecting a television program for recording, a user may configure the delivery of the selected television program and associated data and interactive applications to different user equipment devices in a home network, which may have different capabilities. Because the user equipment devices in the home network may have different capabilities, the user may wish to deliver different types and amount of content, different amounts of data, and different versions of interactive applications to the user equipment devices in the home network.

Interactive media guidance system having multiple devices

When a user accesses an original server using a user PC (12), a router in a center (4) receives a user access request, and transmits it to a reception and authentication server (2), and inquires of a CDN management server (1) whether or not the request can be accepted. When the CDN management server (1) determines that the user access request can be accepted, it detects a splitter/cache server (8) geographically closest to the user PC (12), and passes a one-time password to the splitter/cache server. The user PC (12) uses the one-time password to access the splitter/cache server (8), and successfully accesses the target contents.

Contents delivery network service method and system

A demultiplexer receives an MPEG1 system stream obtained by multiplexing encoded data of video and audio and separates the stream into elementary streams (ES) of video and audio. A packetizer forms packetized elementary streams (PES) of MPEG2. Finally, a multiplexer divides the stream into transport packets each having a prefixed length of 188 bytes and, after that, converts the stream to an MPEG2 transport stream (TS).

Apparatus for converting moving picture stream of MPEG1 to transport stream of MPEG2

The kind of medium owned by a user is stored in a service center system and a medium is determined by a request from the transmitting side in accordance with an inquiry to a receiver. Where a voice is used as a medium for the inquiry or the service, the sound piece data to which a descriptor is added and the sentence structure data for forming a single sentence by collecting the sound piece data and formed by a descriptor are stored. When the voice output request is produced, the sound piece data is obtained from the sentence structure data, thereby producing a voice of a desired sentence.

Multi-media response control system

An electronic mail processing device includes a magnetic disk with a control table. The device establishes a line between an originating terminal and a destination terminal designated by the originating terminal as a destination of electronic mail information and enters the destination into the control table provided on the magnetic disk as a wrong destination when the destination terminal performs no prescribed response operation to receive the electronic mail information. No electronic mail information is delivered to any of destinations entered into the control table. Thereby, once a destination is stored in the control table, a line is never connected to the destination terminal again, which prevents repeated wrong calls from being made to the same terminal.

Electronic mail system for transmitting information via communication network

A system provider has a data storing unit for storing at least one digital picture data block referred to as a minimum playback picture block (GOP: Group of Pictures) in each fixed-length area (for example, picture data for one second is composed of eight GOPs) and a detecting unit for detecting an address in the data storing unit for the picture data to be provided as playback picture data corresponding to a playback request received from a user.

Akihiro Okada

Papers

Contents delivery network service method and system

Apparatus for converting moving picture stream of MPEG1 to transport stream of MPEG2

Multi-media response control system

Electronic mail system for transmitting information via communication network

Picture reproduction position detecting apparatus for use with video on demand system