Live Content Buffering for Multi-Channel Event Alerts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems fail to effectively alert users to key events in sports or other programs across multiple channels, allowing users to tune in advance and experience the lead-up and aftermath of exciting moments, especially for casual fans or enthusiasts monitoring multiple games simultaneously.
Innovation Solution
A system that buffers live content and generates metadata for key events, enabling alerts before the event occurs, allowing users to switch channels in time to hear or see the event and its surrounding context, using a combination of delayed content playback and metadata processing in user devices like radio receivers or smartphones.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If users continuously monitor multiple channels for key events, then they can capture exciting moments, but they cannot hear or view the setup and context leading up to the events
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary buffering of content from multiple channels before key events occur. By pre-loading and storing content segments ahead of time, the system ensures that when a key event is detected, the surrounding context and setup are already available for immediate playback, eliminating the time loss issue.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary buffering system between content reception and playback. This buffer acts as a mediator that temporarily stores content segments, allowing the system to detect key events through metadata while having the actual content ready for playback with proper context, thus resolving the contradiction between event detection and context preservation.
2Speed
If users tune to channels in real-time to catch key events, then they experience events as they happen, but they miss the setup and lead-up to exciting moments
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-buffers content segments from multiple channels before key events occur. This preliminary action ensures that when users receive alerts about upcoming key events, the contextual setup and lead-up content are already loaded and ready for immediate playback, maintaining both speed and information integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds a time dimension to the problem by implementing time-shifted playback. Instead of real-time tuning, the system buffers content and plays it back with a delay, allowing users to access not just the key event but also the surrounding context and setup that occurred before the event, thus resolving the information loss issue.
3Loss of information
If the system buffers content for later playback, then users can hear setup and context before key events, but the content delay reduces real-time viewing value
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary buffering of content segments ahead of time, but only for the duration needed to provide context before key events. By pre-loading content in advance and using metadata to identify key events, the system minimizes the actual playback delay while ensuring context is available, thus resolving the contradiction between information preservation and time loss.
4Adaptability or versatility
If users monitor multiple concurrent games simultaneously, then they can catch all key events, but they cannot determine which games to tune to and when
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback by continuously monitoring metadata from multiple channels and providing real-time alerts to users about upcoming key events. This feedback mechanism automatically informs users which channels to tune to and when, simplifying the multi-channel monitoring experience without requiring users to manually track multiple games.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables the system to automatically manage multi-channel monitoring and key event detection without requiring user intervention. The system self-services by buffering content from multiple channels, detecting key events through metadata, and generating alerts, thus making multi-channel monitoring easy to operate while maintaining versatility.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, methods and devices are provided to alert a user of content delivered on multiple channels to events of interest occurring on channels other than the channel being listened to or viewed. Playback of content in which an event of interest or key event has occurred is time-shifted or delayed at the content transmission source or at the user device. Metadata that identifies events of interest in the content is transmitted to the user device. The user device generates alerts to the user based on the metadata in sufficient lead time to enable the user to not only tune to a channel on which an event of interest is occurring, but to do so sufficiently in advance of an event of interest so as to hear and/or see relevant portions of the content leading up to and/or following such an event.