A remote storage digital video recorder (RSDVR) retains multiple copies of media programs so long as the copies are expected to be useful to at least one user. Rather than assigning copies to specific users at the time the program is recorded, copies can be assigned as the users request access to the particular media programs. Copies of unassigned programs can be deleted according to a schedule to reduce disk storage and processing demands on the system. A pool of program copies that are not initially assigned to particular users can be maintained until the user makes a specific request to view the program. This “late assignment” of program copies can substantially reduce the amount of data stored by the RSDVR system without substantially impacting the viewer experience.

Various arrangements for authorizing content viewing are detailed herein. Sports wager data corresponding to a sports wager placed by a user may be provided to a television service provider system. The television service provider system can perform a lookup action to determine a content event based on the sports wager data. In response to the received sports wager data, a user account may be authorized using a rights scheme for access to a television channel on which the content event is scheduled to be broadcast. The television service provider system may deauthorized the user account for access to the television channel by removing the rights scheme such that access to the television channel on which the content event was broadcast is blocked after the event.

Systems and methods are disclosed herein for storing configuration data as a set of master data and override data where one set of configuration data is defined as the master and every other set of configuration data is defined as override configuration data. A media guidance application may generate master configuration data including the most common configuration data used in the geographical region served by the media guidance application, and number of override configurations which contain only those data which differ from the master configuration data for a number of sub-regions of the geographical region. This reduces duplicative configuration data, and the media guidance application need only store one full set of configuration data, namely the master configuration data, and a number of smaller override configurations.

Techniques for reducing piracy of media content are described. In some embodiments, a collusion resistant method is performed at a device, where the device receives a first request for a base copy of a media content item. In response, the device determines a first transformation based on a statistical performance criterion and a viewing performance criterion. The device further generates a first copy of the media content item by replicating and applying a first transformation to the base copy, where the first copy of the media content item satisfies the viewing performance criterion, and the first copy of the media content item is statistically different from the base copy or other copies in accordance with the statistical performance criterion. The device then causes transmission of the first copy of the media content item in combination with a first watermark for the base copy of the media content item.

A system and method for facilitating communication between an assisted user (AU) and a hearing user (HU) includes receiving an HU voice signal as the AU and HU participate in a call using AU and HU communication devices, transcribing HU voice signal segments into verbatim caption segments, processing each verbatim caption segment to identify an intended communication (IC) intended by the HU upon uttering an associated one of the HU voice signal segments, for at least a portion of the HU voice signal segments (i) using an associated IC to generate an enhanced caption different than the associated verbatim caption, (ii) for each of a first subset of the HU voice signal segments, presenting the verbatim captions via the AU communication device display for consumption, and (iii) for each of a second subset of the HU voice signal segments, presenting enhanced captions via the AU communication device display for consumption.

Embodiments of the present application provide a method and an apparatus for sending information in a live broadcast room, and an electronic device, the method includes: receiving a service request sent by a user in a current room; formulating or selecting a screening condition for screening a target room by a configuration center according to service requirements; acquiring the screening condition and screening the target room according to the screening condition; and sending the service request to the target room so as to complete sending information in the live broadcast room.

A computer-implemented method for selecting efficient encoders for streaming media may include (i) predicting that an expected download demand for a higher-demand segment of a media file is higher than an expected download demand for a lower-demand segment, (ii) encoding each segment of the media file with an encoder that correlates to the expected download demand of the segment by (a) encoding the higher-demand segment with a more computationally intensive encoder that produces a more efficiently compressed segment compared to a less computationally intensive encoder that produces a less efficiently compressed segment and (b) encoding the lower-demand segment with the less computationally intensive encoder, and (iii) enabling streaming of the media file by providing the more efficiently compressed encoding of the higher-demand segment and the less efficiently compressed encoding of the lower-demand segment. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

A method of using applications of pattern recognition or image analysis is disclosed. A request for a content item is received. A version of the content item is selected from a plurality of versions of the content item based on one or more applications of one or more algorithms. The one or more algorithms include one or more image-analysis algorithms, pattern-recognition algorithms, or genetic algorithms. One or more of the plurality of versions has undergone transformation into a plurality of combinations of content segments that comprise the plurality of versions. The one or more algorithms target one or more success rates with respect to one or more metrics. The selected version of the content item is communicated to the device of the user in response to the request.

An apparatus may be configured to: transmit, to a client, an indication of one or more request-response overload capabilities; receive, from the client, at least one request for a plurality of media segments based, at least partially, on the indication of the one or more request-response overload capabilities; and transmit, to the client, at least one response comprising the plurality of media segments. The apparatus may be, for example, a media server, an HTTP overload handler, an edge server, a DANE, etc.

Methods, systems, and apparatuses for improved content recording and playback are described herein. A user device may concurrently record and output a content item. For example, the user device may be associated with a recording session. A session index may identify the recording session and indicate the user device is concurrently recording and outputting the content item. The session index may be used to ensure that a manifest for the content item is continuously updated.