Patent ID: 7644103
Filing Date: 2010-01-05
Classification: G06F,H04L

Abstract:
1. A method, comprising: creating descriptive metadata for a multimedia content item; creating acquisition information for acquiring the content item, wherein the acquisition information describes information about relationships to other pieces of content items to enable receiving and rendering different service types into a coherent presentation and to aggregate a large number of search items; presenting the content item in different view contexts, different platforms across multimedia program types and service types; storing an access to the descriptive metadata and an access to the acquisition information in a data structure assigned to the content item; wherein the data structure is digitally transferable as a token and a portable unit for enabling recipients of the data structure to access the descriptive metadata and the acquisition information; wherein the data structure can autonomously carry diversely created electronic programming guide (EPG) data, and acquisition information for a single piece of content, the acquisition information is usable with diverse services that can provide diverse types of multimedia content; wherein the token is presented in at least one of digital video recording (DVR) processes, Internet content rendering processes, multimedia search processes, video-on demand (VOD) processes, pay-per-view processes, or program guide rendering processes, includes information about relationships to other pieces of content, and provides information about how each different version of the content item is to be acquired and displayed; providing a smooth display of arbitrary content from a source by integrating the arbitrary content with information from another source in a seamless manner; and providing a new schema for provisioning service information to client devices that is open-ended and dealing with a present and a future proliferation of service types, different platforms, client types, and multimedia program types.