Apparatus and methods for recording a media stream

Abstract

Apparatus and methods for recording a media stream for use by a rendering device. In one embodiment, a client device records live, unbound streaming media content from a Content Delivery Network (CDN) in “chunks” according to a data structure such as a manifest file. The live media content stream chunks are compressed and stored for later playback. The client device uses information regarding the chunks to generate a local manifest file, which it then uses to reconstruct the media stream. A video client may also dynamically insert and account for updated secondary content (such as advertisements) during each playback instance, thus enabling the service provider to realize commercial opportunities which were previously not possible. Various operational/business rules are also disclosed for e.g., enabling and disabling functions with respect to playback of the content.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A computerized method for recording a live digitally rendered media stream, the computerized method comprising:
 receiving, at a computerized client device in data communication with a managed network, at least one network data structure associated with the live digitally rendered media stream, the at least one network data structure (i) comprising a plurality of uniform resource locators (URLs), the plurality of URLs indicative of a plurality of respective first network locations of the managed network where a plurality of respective digitally rendered media segments may be accessed, and (ii) establishing a device-based security boundary around at least the computerized client device, the device-based security boundary enabling an operator of the managed network to maintain one or more content protection mechanisms over the plurality of respective digitally rendered media segments outside of the managed network;   based at least on the at least one network data structure, accessing at least two of the plurality of digitally rendered media segments from respective ones of the plurality of first network locations;   storing the accessed at least two of the plurality of digitally rendered media segments in one or more second locations accessible to the computerized client device;   producing a local data structure with data relating to the one or more second locations, the local data structure comprising a version of the at least one network data structure modified based on one or more parameters associated with a non-managed internetwork, the version of the at least one network data structure configured to maintain the device-based security boundary; and   utilizing the local data structure to access, without data communication to the managed network and according to the one or more parameters, the at least two of the plurality of digitally rendered media segments stored in the one or more second locations.   
     
     
         22 . The computerized method of  claim 21 , wherein the accessing of at least two of the plurality of digitally rendered media segments from the respective ones of the plurality of first locations comprises accessing at least the at least two of the plurality of digitally rendered media segments from one or more universal edge QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) devices. 
     
     
         23 . The computerized method of  claim 21 , wherein:
 the accessing of at least two of the plurality of digitally rendered media segments comprises accessing the at least two of the plurality of digitally rendered media segments from a portion of a virtual storage apparatus, the portion specifically associated with the computerized client device, such that only the computerized client device can access the portion of the virtual storage apparatus; and   the virtual storage apparatus comprises a plurality of discrete storage apparatus disposed at different physical locations but logically operative as a single storage apparatus.   
     
     
         24 . The computerized method of  claim 21 , wherein the storing of the accessed at least two digitally rendered media segments comprises storing the accessed at least two digitally rendered media segments at a cloud-based entity, the cloud-based entity comprising a network storage location of the managed network, the network storage location specifically designated for use only by the computerized client device or a user associated therewith. 
     
     
         25 . The computerized method of  claim 24 , wherein:
 the storing of the accessed at least two digitally rendered media segments at the cloud-based entity comprises storing at least one advertisement associated with the live digitally rendered media stream in a storage location reserved for storage of advertisements only; and   the computerized method further comprises executing computerized logic configured to:
 (i) ignore playback of the at least one advertisement based on the computerized client device being within a premises of a user of the computerized client device; and 
 (ii) cause playback of the at least one advertisement based on the computerized client device being outside of the premises. 
   
     
     
         26 . The computerized method of  claim 21 , wherein the storing of the accessed at least two digitally rendered media segments in the one or more second locations comprises storage in a local memory apparatus of the computerized client device. 
     
     
         27 . The computerized method of  claim 21 , wherein one or more of the plurality of URLs comprise one or more URLs punctuated with at least Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) tags or Javascript, such punctuation enabling at least one of: (i) advertisement insertion, and/or (ii) execution of complementary programming, the execution by the computerized client device. 
     
     
         28 . The computerized method of  claim 21 , further comprising consulting the at least one network data structure for one or more other digitally rendered media segments comprising a first advertisement;
 wherein:   the accessing of the at least two digitally rendered media segments comprises accessing the one or more other digitally rendered media segments; and   the producing the local data structure with the data relating to the one or more second locations comprises updating an existing local data structure, the updating comprising replacing, by the computerized client device, a second advertisement with the first advertisement.   
     
     
         29 . The computerized method of  claim 28 , wherein the first advertisement: (i) bears a logical or deterministic relationship to at least one of an operational or business parameter, and (ii) is encoded so as to permit delivery over a designated network distribution path. 
     
     
         30 . The computerized method of  claim 21 , further comprising identifying a portion of the at least one network data structure, the portion indicating at least two incompatible digitally rendered media segments that are incompatible with one or more capabilities of the computerized client device;
 wherein the accessing of the at least two of the plurality of digitally rendered media segments is based at least in part on the identifying, and the at least two of the plurality of digitally rendered media segments are compatible with the one or more capabilities of the computerized client device and configured to replace the at least two incompatible digitally rendered media segments.   
     
     
         31 . The computerized method of  claim 21 , further comprising:
 identifying a portion of the at least one network data structure that is incomplete; and   causing completion of the portion of the at least one network data structure, the completion based on at least the accessing of the at least two of the plurality of digitally rendered media segments.   
     
     
         32 . The computerized method of  claim 21 , wherein the producing of the local data structure comprises omitting at least one digitally rendered content segment that is incompatible with one or more capabilities of the computerized client device. 
     
     
         33 . The computerized method of  claim 21 , wherein:
 the accessing of the at least two of the plurality of digitally rendered media segments from the respective ones of the plurality of first network locations comprises accessing of the at least two of the plurality of digitally rendered media segments consistent with one or more network content delivery quality of service (QoS) guarantees configured by the operator of the managed network; and   the access of the at least two of the plurality of digitally rendered media segments according to the one or more parameters comprises accessing the at least two of the plurality of digitally rendered media segments to render the live digitally rendered media stream without the one or more network content delivery QoS guarantees.   
     
     
         34 . The computerized method of  claim 33 , wherein the accessing of the at least two of the plurality of digitally rendered media segments consistent with the one or more network content delivery QoS guarantees comprises accessing the at least two of the plurality of digitally rendered media segments according to a prioritized hierarchy. 
     
     
         35 . The computerized method of  claim 33 , wherein the accessing of the at least two of the plurality of digitally rendered media segments according to the prioritized hierarchy comprises accessing one or more digitally rendered content segments relating to programming content before retrieving one or more secondary digitally rendered content segments relating to advertising. 
     
     
         36 . The computerized method of  claim 21 , wherein the access, without data communication to the managed network, of the at least two of the plurality of digitally rendered media segments comprises access of the at least two of the plurality of digitally rendered media segments while the one or more content protection mechanisms are maintained. 
     
     
         37 . A computerized client device, the computerized client device comprising:
 display apparatus;   processor apparatus; and   storage apparatus in data communication with the processor apparatus, the storage apparatus comprising at least one computer program configured to, when executed on the processor apparatus, cause the computerized client device to:
 cause storage of a plurality of digitally rendered content elements at a plurality of network locations, the plurality of network locations enabling access to the plurality of respective digitally rendered content elements; 
 retrieve a local stream manifest, the local stream manifest indicative of the plurality of network locations and used by the computerized client device in rendering the plurality of digitally rendered content elements; 
 retrieve two or more of the plurality of digitally rendered content elements in accordance with the local stream manifest; 
 reconstruct a digitally rendered media content stream based at least in part on the retrieved two or more of the plurality of digitally rendered content elements; and 
 cause display, via the display apparatus, of the digitally rendered media content stream; 
 wherein the plurality of digitally rendered content elements comprise non-time-based media segments of irregular length. 
   
     
     
         38 . The computerized client device of  claim 37 , further comprising a software-based graphical user interface (GUI), the GUI configured to enable a user of the computerized client device to select media content based on at least one of (i) a subscriber-generated content descriptor, or (ii) a default content descriptor;
 wherein the at least one of the subscriber-generated content descriptor or the default content descriptor is descriptive of the local stream manifest.   
     
     
         39 . The computerized client device of  claim 37 , wherein:
 the at least one computer program is further configured to, when executed on the processor apparatus:
 receive input relating to a search term; 
 utilize the input to cause performance of a search, the search based on the search term; 
 display of a listing of playlists, the listing of playlists resulting from the performed search; and 
 receive input relating to a selection of a particular playlist from the displayed listing of playlists; and 
   the retrieval of the local stream manifest comprises retrieval of a stream manifest for the selected particular playlist.   
     
     
         40 . The computerized client device of  claim 37 , wherein:
 the at least one computer program is further configured to, when executed on the processor apparatus:
 record a plurality of digital media programs according to a pre-arranged schedule; and 
 automatically select one or more of the plurality of recorded digital media programs based on data relating to pre-defined selection criteria; and 
   the display, via the display apparatus, of the digitally rendered media content stream comprises display of the selected one or more of the plurality of recorded digital media programs.   
     
     
         41 . The computerized client device of  claim 37 , wherein the display, via the display apparatus, of the digitally rendered media content stream comprises display of the digitally rendered media content stream as part a continuous stream on a virtual channel, the virtual channel: (i) comprising digitally rendered content compiled from a plurality of different content sources, and (ii) personalized based at least in part on data relating to one or more preferences, the one or more preferences associated with at least the computerized client device or a user thereof. 
     
     
         42 . The computerized client device of  claim 37 , wherein:
 the local stream manifest comprises a plurality of uniform resource locators (URLs), the plurality of URLs indicative of the plurality of network locations where the respective plurality of digitally rendered content elements may be accessed; and   at least a portion of the plurality of URLs comprise one or more URLs punctuated with at least one of (i) HTML (HyperText Markup Language) tags or (ii) Javascript, configured to enable dynamic advertisement insertion.   
     
     
         43 . Computer readable apparatus comprising a non-transitory storage medium, the non-transitory storage medium comprising at least one computer program having a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions configured to, when executed on a processing apparatus, cause a computerized client device to:
 obtain, at the computerized client device, first data, at least a portion of the first data relating to a network stream manifest, the network stream manifest indicative of a plurality of locations of a network server apparatus from which a plurality of respective digitally rendered content elements may be downloaded;   based at least in part on the network stream manifest, download individual ones of the plurality of digitally rendered content elements from respective ones of the plurality of locations,;   store the downloaded ones of the plurality of digitally rendered content elements in one or more second network locations of a network storage apparatus of a managed content delivery network; and   cause at least one of (i) a generation, or (ii) an update of an internal stream manifest to identify the one or more second network locations, the internal stream manifest disposed within the computerized client device;   wherein the at least one of (i) the generation, or (ii) the update of the internal stream manifest is effected in real-time during the rendering of at least the portion of the individual ones of the plurality of digitally rendered content elements.   
     
     
         44 . The computer readable apparatus of  claim 43 , wherein:
 the download of the individual ones of the plurality of digitally rendered content elements comprises download of the individual ones of the plurality of digitally rendered content elements in accordance with one or more quality of service (QoS) requirements, the one or more QoS requirements configured by a network operator of the managed content delivery network; and   the internal stream manifest is used by the computerized client device in rendering at least a portion of the individual ones of the plurality of digitally rendered content elements without the one or more QoS requirements.   
     
     
         45 . The computer readable apparatus of  claim 43 , wherein:
 the obtainment of the first data comprises retrieval of at least one indication of an advertisement insertion time stamp associated with a digital media stream; and   the plurality of instructions are further configured to, when executed on the processing apparatus, cause the computerized client device to:
 select one or more advertisement content elements of the digital media stream for replacement according to one or more preferences, the one or more preferences associated with the computerized client device or a user thereof; and 
 during each playback instance of the one or more advertisement content elements, dynamically replace, via at least the computerized client device, the one or more advertisement content elements with one or more replacement advertisement content elements at the advertisement insertion time stamp. 
   
     
     
         46 . The computer readable apparatus of  claim 45 , wherein the plurality of instructions are further configured to, when executed on the processing apparatus, cause the computerized client device to:
 report, to a service provider and via transmission of a data message, when the one or more replacement advertisement content elements have been played such that the service provider can account for each view of one or more advertisements respectively associated with the one or more replacement advertisement content elements.   
     
     
         47 . The computer readable apparatus of  claim 43 , wherein:
 the plurality of instructions are further configured to, when executed on the processing apparatus, cause the computerized client device to:
 based on receipt of second data, retrieve the generated or updated internal stream manifest, the second data representative of a request for playback of a digital media stream; 
 determine whether playback of the digital media stream is authorized; and 
 based on a determination that playback of the digital media stream is authorized, cause display, at the computerized client device, of the digital media stream; and 
   the playback comprises reconstruction of the digital media stream, the reconstruction comprising (i) utilization of at least the stored ones of the plurality of digitally rendered content elements, and (ii) omission of at least one digitally rendered content element that is incompatible with one or more capabilities of the computerized client device.