A cable distribution system includes a head end connected to a plurality of customer devices through a transmission network that provides data suitable for the plurality of customer devices. A traffic monitoring system receives from a customer support device a first data request for a parameter of one of the plurality of customer devices. The traffic monitoring system provides a second data request for the parameter of the one of said plurality of customer devices to a customer premise equipment management system in response to receiving the first data request. The traffic monitoring system receiving a first data response including the parameter from the customer premise equipment management system in response to providing the second data request to the customer premise equipment management system. The traffic monitoring system providing a second data response including the parameter from the traffic management system to the customer support device in response to receiving the first data response.

Described embodiments include a system that includes a network interface and a processor. The processor is configured to identify, via the network interface, a state of congestion in a communication channel between a base station belonging to a cellular network and a client device, to calculate, responsively to the state of congestion, a maximum sustainable encoding bit rate (MSEBR) for a video that is being downloaded by the client device, from a server, via the communication channel, the video being encoded at a plurality of different predefined bit rates, and to inhibit the client device, in response to calculating the MSEBR, from downloading a segment of the video that is encoded at any one of the predefined bit rates that exceeds the MSEBR. Other embodiments are also described.

A communication system 10 includes a head end 12 that generates a device list with channel or content authorizations. The head end communicates the list to a system gateway 26. The gateway 26 receives the list. A plurality of user devices 28 is coupled to the gateway 26. A first device of the plurality of user devices generates a channel or content request at the system gateway. The gateway 26 compares the channel or content authorizations from the list to the channel request from the first user device and communicates to the first user device a channel or content corresponding to the channel request in response to comparing. Thus, authorized users are able to receive the channel or content in response to the list. The list may be generated at a subscriber information module 52 and communicated with the content or channel through a satellite 18 or through a communication network 50.

An automated network-based test system for set top box devices is disclosed. According to certain embodiments, the network-based testing system using Simple Network Management Protocol facilitates remote testing of thousands of set-top boxes, where groups of these set top boxes can be located in various locations that are remote from a main controller server that is running the tests remotely.

Systems and methods are described herein for a media guidance application that recommends media content to a user based on the media content likely to be available to a user at a given location and the quality of service at that location.

A system and a method for simultaneous transmission of multiple media streams in a fixed bandwidth network are disclosed herein. The system is comprised of a central gateway media server and a plurality of client receiver units. The input media streams arrive from an external source and are then transmitted to the client receiver units in a compressed format. A state machine on the gateway media server detects if the network bandwidth is close to saturation. In one embodiment, the potential bandwidth saturation is measured by matching the time when the start of unit of media for each stream against the estimated transmission time for that unit. When any one actual transmission time exceeds its estimated transmission time by a predetermined threshold value, the network is deemed to be close to saturation, or already saturated, and the state machine executes a process of selecting at least one stream as a target for lowering total bandwidth usage. Once the target stream associated with a client receiver unit is chosen, the amount of data transmitted by the target stream is reduced, which could result in a lower data transmission rate. In one embodiment, the amount of data is reduced by a gradual degradation of the precision of the data, resulting in a greater potential for data compression, and/or by gradually reducing the resolution of the data of the target stream.

Systems and methods for saving and restoring scenes in a multimedia system with minimal configuration are provided. The techniques of the present invention can allow the states of the components in the multimedia system to be captured in a scene. Once the scene has been saved, the scene can be restored at a later time. A remote control system for recommending scenes by comparing states of components in the current scene with states of components in saved scenes is also provided. The remote control system can also recommend scenes based on usage patterns. Moreover, the remote control system can allow users to designate one or more saved scenes as favorite scenes.

A skip behavior analyzer is part of a media delivery system that allows for unbiased A/B testing of a plurality of versions of a song. The media delivery system stores a plurality of versions of a song and randomly selects, for each requesting device, a version of the song to associate with that device. Each time the device requests the song, thereafter, the media delivery system will provide the same version of the song for consistency. The media delivery system then gathers song play and skip information, calculates the differences in distribution of the skip behavior, and provides the skip information to allow a music composer to better determine which version of a song is more popular and why that is so.

A system for monitoring displayed content, such as advertisements, has at least one sensor that is used to monitor an electronic display and provide information about the operation of the display, such as the content being displayed or whether one or more components of the display are operating correctly. The sensor is selected, positioned, and/or otherwise configured to limit the its ability to collect information in the environment surrounding the display so as to reduce concerns about the use of the sensor in a private or secure environment. The system may be used to confirm that the hardware of the display system is operating correctly and displaying the proper content at the proper times.

Systems and methods for facilitating caching of programming data are provided herein, including receiving two or more programming data portions, storing the respective programming data portions, managing access to a storage component or a communication component based on programming data portions stored within the storage component, merging programming data portions with a database, and generating a sleep signal based on a period of inactivity which exceeds an inactivity threshold. In one or more embodiments, caching of programming data may include determining a programming data set based on user profile data, parsing the programming data set into two or more programming data portions, converting respective programming data portions into a binary format, transmitting a first programming data portion of the respective programming data portions, and transmitting additional programming data portions of the respective programming data portions based on a sleep signal.