Celebrity Inventors
Magician Harry Houdini patented a "Diver's Suit" enabling the wearer to "quickly divest himself of the suit while being submerged and to safely escape and reach the surface of the water."
PatentStorm News
Make the Most of Our Site
See this month's Top Inventors and Most Cited Patents.
Stay on top of the latest innovations by subscribing to an RSS feed.
Registered users: Manage your profile.
| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7496553 | Method and apparatus for identifying unique client users from user behavioral data A method and system are provided for identifying a current user of a terminal device from a group of possible users. The method includes providing a database containing multiple user input pattern profiles of prior user inputs to the terminal device. Each of the pos... | 02/24/2009 |
| 7490343 | Method and apparatus for keeping track of program indexes in an interactive delivery system Indexing techniques to maintain track of IPG pages and allow a terminal to determine whether a selected IPG is currently received and available, which regions are to be assembled together to generate the selected page, and which packet identifiers (PIDs) are to be p... | 02/10/2009 |
| 7487525 | Method and apparatus for gathering programs watched data A processor in a television program delivery system receives programs watched information from terminals in a television delivery system. The processor arranges the programs watched information in a database or programs watched matrix so that the frequency of progra... | 02/03/2009 |
| 7464394 | Music interface for media-rich interactive program guide Techniques for providing a music interface in a media-rich interactive program guide. In one implementation, an interactive music interface page includes one or more (e.g., two) display regions, a channel description region, and (possibly) a header region. The displ... | 12/09/2008 |
| 7434242 | Multiple content supplier video asset scheduling An apparatus and method for allocating management functions within an interactive information distribution system between service providers and content providers whereby content providers lease respective portions of available resources within the service provider a... | 10/07/2008 |
| 7433406 | Efficient encoding algorithms for delivery of server-centric interactive program guide A data structure for representing program data that includes a number of streams. Each stream comprises a group of pictures (GOP) having a first picture and remaining pictures. The data structure includes a first set of one or more elements for representing data for... | 10/07/2008 |
| 7412703 | Low cost, highly accurate video server bit-rate compensation A method, apparatus and system for adaptably distributing video server processes among processing elements within a video server such that video server operation may be adapted in a manner facilitating rigorous timing constraints. ... | 08/12/2008 |
| 7395546 | Set top terminal having a program pause feature A system for automatically pausing a video program in response to detection of the occurrence of a communications event or triggering event. In response to an incoming phone call, message, web page, or other communications information, the system pauses the video pr... | 07/01/2008 |
| 7394850 | Method and apparatus for performing digital-to-digital video insertion Techniques for seamlessly inserting a second compressed video stream (e.g., for an advertisement) into a first compressed video stream (e.g., for a program video), which can be implemented in an ad insertion processor that typically includes a real time encoder (e.g... | 07/01/2008 |
| 7392531 | Recommendation-based electronic program guides with user-imperceptible preferences A method and apparatus for enabling the operators of television broadcasting systems or other content distribution systems to effectively alter the program viewing patterns of viewers or subscribers to direct viewership traffic to selected television programs or oth... | 06/24/2008 |
| 7380261 | Method and apparatus for transmitting video and graphics in a compressed form An apparatus for compressing and transmitting both video and graphics portions of an interactive program guide (IPG). For an IPG that comprises a graphics portion and at least one video portion having audio associated with the video portion, the apparatus separately... | 05/27/2008 |
| 7373651 | Metadata structure for providing access to EPG features from within broadcast advertisements A data structure stored on computer readable media is presented comprising one or more data tags, each data tag used to provide information regarding a broadcast advertisement. Also provided are one or more electronic program guide action tags, each electronic progr... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7373652 | Server-centric search function in an interactive program guide Techniques for searching a program guide database. In accordance with a method, one or more search criteria (e.g., keywords) are received and a request for a search is then sent, along with the search criteria, to a head end of an information distribution system. In... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7363645 | Interactive electronic program guide for use with television delivery system An interactive electronic program guide is disclosed for use with a television delivery system. The guide is generated by a set top terminal that receives a television signal from an operations center and extracts from the signal individual programs for display on a... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7343614 | Program delivery system for VOD A novel network manager for use with a cable television system headend capable of monitoring and managing headend components and set top terminals in a television delivery system. The invention relates to methods and apparatus that manage and coordinate the receptio... | 03/11/2008 |
| 7342941 | Data structure, method and apparatus providing efficient retrieval of data from a segmented information stream A data structure, method and apparatus providing efficient retrieval of data from a segmented information stream. The invention utilizes a segmented data stream having an initial directory payload portion and a following payload portion including one or more object ... | 03/11/2008 |
| 7308602 | Method and apparatus for striping data onto a plurality of disk drives A method and apparatus for reconstructing lost data from a failed disk drive in a disk array. The disk drive array formed into at least one parity group including data extents divided into data segments and parity segments that are generated from the data segments. ... | 12/11/2007 |
| 7293279 | Advanced set top terminal having a program pause feature with voice-to-text conversion A system for automatically pausing a video program in response to detection of the occurrence of a audio communications event or triggering event. In response to an incoming phone call, message, web page, or other communications information, the system pauses the vi... | 11/06/2007 |
| 7277443 | Asynchronous serial interface (ASI) ring network for digital information distribution A digital information distribution system having a plurality of nodes that are connected to one another by counter-rotating data paths. Each node comprises a ring terminal that selects data packets from the data paths for use by the node and passes the remaining dat... | 10/02/2007 |
| 7269841 | Digital cable headend for cable television delivery system Several cable headend configurations that utilize digital technology are disclosed. The present invention provides greater capability and flexibility than existing cable headends. Specifically, a modular design for a cable headend and a combiner component for cable ... | 09/11/2007 |
| 7260829 | Terminal with multiple audio and video A novel advanced set top terminal capable of digital decompression, displaying picture-on-picture, outputting multiple video channels, outputting multiple audio signals, outputting multiple audio channels corresponding to a single video channel, and other advanced f... | 08/21/2007 |
| 7260147 | Data structure and methods for providing an interactive program guide A data structure suited to efficiently representing a plurality of image streams including common and non-common portions. Specifically, a plurality of similar group of picture (GOP) data structures representing the corresponding plurality of image streams including... | 08/21/2007 |
| 7254824 | Encoding optimization techniques for encoding program grid section of server-centric interactive programming guide An interactive program guide (IPG) may include a program grid section and a multimedia section. The program grid section typically contains program information organized in a grid with a time axis and a channel axis. The multimedia section may include video for adve... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7248581 | Method and apparatus for injecting information assets into a content stream A method and apparatus for transport encoded asset data and content data, multiplexing the transport encoded content data with a plurality of NULL transport packets to provide “place holder” for the asset data transport packets, and replacing the NULL transport ... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7243133 | Method and apparatus for reducing latency in an interactive information distribution system A method and apparatus for storing, retrieving and distributing multimedia information having frequently accessed multimedia information stored in solid state memory and less frequently accessed multimedia information stored in a mass storage device. ... | 07/10/2007 |
| 7225234 | Method and system for selective advertisement display of a subset of search results A method and system are provided for delivering content items to online users. The content items are to be displayed on user operated devices in response to a specified query. Subsets of items are generated from a set of content items responsive to the specified que... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7222090 | Method and system for parsing purchase information from web pages A method for parsing purchase information from code in a Web page. The method includes detecting at least one known product keyword and at least one product data string following that product keyword and being associated with that product keyword. The product data s... | 05/22/2007 |
| 7212252 | Method and system for enabling detection of signals in the presence of noise A method for transmitting data to a receiver comprises the steps of transmitting a pre-conditioning signal to the receiver, and beginning to transmit at least one data packet to the receiver within a given period after beginning transmission of the pre-conditioning ... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7207055 | Bandwidth allocation for a television program delivery system This invention is a method of allocating bandwidth for a television program delivery system. This method selects specific programs from a plurality of programs, allocates the selected programs to a segment of bandwidth, and continues to allocate the programs until a... | 04/17/2007 |
| 7207053 | Method and apparatus for locally targeting virtual objects within a terminal A method and an apparatus are used to target virtual objects to subscribers in a television delivery system. Programs are selected and virtual object locations are defined in the selected programs. The virtual objects available for targeting are categorized and the ... | 04/17/2007 |
| 7203201 | Logical node identification in an information transmission network A system for generating and sending a Logical Node identification signal as part of a data stream is disclosed. The system also includes subscriber stations capable of receiving and extracting Logical Node identification information from a data stream. The subscribe... | 04/10/2007 |
| 7174084 | Method and apparatus for performing sub-picture level splicing based on interrupts Techniques to effectuate splicing at sub-picture level. In one aspect, splicing is effectuated via an interrupt generated after each splice has occurred. The interrupt may be generated by either the hardware designated to perform splicing or other peripheral hardwar... | 02/06/2007 |
| 7167488 | Method and apparatus for processing variable bit rate information in an information distribution system A method and apparatus for managing both link and disk bandwidth utilization within the context of a multiple subscriber or user information distribution system by selectively providing variable bitrate and constant low bitrate information streams to one or more sub... | 01/23/2007 |
| 7168084 | Method and apparatus for targeting virtual objects A method and an apparatus are used to target virtual objects to subscribers in a television delivery system. Programs are selected and virtual object locations are defined in the selected programs. The virtual objects available for targeting are categorized and the ... | 01/23/2007 |
| 7165140 | Queuing architecture including a plurality of queues and associated method for controlling admission for disk access requests for video content A queuing architecture and method for scheduling disk drive access requests in a video server. The queuing architecture employs a controlled admission policy that determines how a new user is assigned to a specific disk drive in a disk drive array. The queuing archi... | 01/16/2007 |
| 7159233 | Method and apparatus for preprocessing and postprocessing content in an interactive information distribution system A method and apparatus for preprocessing and preprocessing content in an interactive information distribution system. Content is retrieved from a storage medium and encapsulated in accordance to an Internet Protocol (IP) format. The encapsulated content is then uplo... | 01/02/2007 |
| 7159235 | Method and apparatus for content distribution via non-homogeneous access networks A method and apparatus for streaming content to an access network in an interactive information distribution system. The method encapsulates the content in accordance to an Internet Protocol (IP). The content is then transcoded into a format supported by the access ... | 01/02/2007 |
| 7155711 | Method and apparatus providing remote reprogramming of programmable logic devices using embedded JTAG physical layer and protocol An apparatus and method for programming a remote programmable logic device. The apparatus comprises a processing system having a first file to second file conversion program stored therein. The processing system receives the first file from a first communications me... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7146628 | Messaging protocol for interactive delivery system Efficient messaging techniques that facilitate interactive program guide (IPG) delivery and allow a terminal to specifically designate requested items of information from a server. The IPG can be provided via a number of IPG pages, with each page including a number ... | 12/05/2006 |
| 7142567 | Rate generator in a video on demand system having multiple constant bit rate data A rate generator for generating a plurality of different frequencies that represent video requests in a video on demand (VOD) system. The rate generator comprises a plurality of parallel groups, each group comprising a phase accumulator module having a plurality of ... | 11/28/2006 |
