PROGRAM STORAGE, RETRIEVAL AND MANAGEMENT BASED ON SEGMENTATION MESSAGES

摘要

Segmentation messages indicative of locations of upcoming events, such as the start and end of programs and program portions, and/or rights related to the programs and program portions, are used by cable systems and the like to store programs and program portions for later retrieval and transmission to customers on request. Storage, retrieval and management of programming is thereby facilitated. Methods and systems are disclosed.

主权项

1. A method of storing expanses of portions of program signal streams by a program content distribution system, the method comprising:
receiving program signal streams from a plurality of sources of program content by a program content distribution system, the program signal stream comprising sequences of programs provided serially, wherein at least one of the program signal streams comprises at least one segmentation message defining rights-related information concerning an expanse of the program signal stream; determining whether there is a right to store the expanse based, at least in part, on the rights-related information in the at least one segmentation message, by at least one processing device; segmenting the expanse from the program signal stream by the at least one processing device as the at least one program signal stream is received, only if it is determined that there is right to store the expanse defined in the rights-related information in the at least one segmentation message; and storing the segmented expanse in memory.