A method and apparatus for secure transfer and playback of multimedia content enables the secure transfer of multimedia content from a digital video recorder (DVR) to a personal computer (PC) and further to a handheld device. A DVR determines which devices on a Local Area Network (LAN) are authorized to share and/or retrieve content from the DVR. The DVR receives a connection request from a PC on the LAN, authorizes the connection request and establishes a secure connection between the DVR and the PC. Once the secure connection is established, the DVR receives a request for multimedia content from the PC, prepares the multimedia content for transfer and transfers the multimedia content to the PC.

A method and apparatus for secure transfer and playback of multimedia content enables the secure transfer of multimedia content from a digital video recorder (DVR) to a personal computer (PC) and further to a handheld device. A DVR determines which devices on a Local Area Network (LAN) are authorized to share and/or retrieve content from the DVR. The DVR receives a connection request from a PC on the LAN, authorizes the connection request and establishes a secure connection between the DVR and the PC. Once the secure connection is established, the DVR receives a request for multimedia content from the PC, prepares the multimedia content for transfer and transfers the multimedia content to the PC.

A method and apparatus for displaying branded video tags. An advertiser provides additional content associated with broadcast advertising content to a service provider that downloads the additional content to a digital video recorder (DVR). The service provider inserts command tags into the content that are intercepted by the DVR and interpreted as commands that instruct the DVR to perform specific actions when the DVR receives the stream from a broadcaster. The DVR intercepts and translates any tags inserted into the content stream while the DVR is playing the content stream. Tags can cause the DVR to display a branded video tag to the user which is a displayed icon that requests an interaction by the user and has an advertiser’s logo(s) displayed in its vicinity.

A method and apparatus for displaying branded video tags. An advertiser provides additional content associated with broadcast advertising content to a service provider that downloads the additional content to a digital video recorder (DVR). The service provider inserts command tags into the content that are intercepted by the DVR and interpreted as commands that instruct the DVR to perform specific actions when the DVR receives the stream from a broadcaster. The DVR intercepts and translates any tags inserted into the content stream while the DVR is playing the content stream. Tags can cause the DVR to display a branded video tag to the user which is a displayed icon that requests an interaction by the user and has an advertiser's logo(s) displayed in its vicinity.

A method for execution by a customer premises receiver, comprising: receiving a signal that carries an original media stream; determining a location of the receiver; obtaining an identifier of an authorized region for the receiver; determining whether said location is contained within said authorized region; if said location is determined to be contained within said authorized region, outputting the original media stream for conveyance to a user; if said location is determined to not be contained within said authorized region, outputting a second media stream that is sufficiently corrupted relative to the original media stream as to degrade the user's viewing experience while being demonstrative of non-malfunctioning of the receiver. Also, a method, comprising a service provider releasing towards a plurality of customer premises receivers information regarding a respective geographic region within which each receiver is authorized to operate, wherein different geographic regions define coverage areas of different sizes.

A recording initiation signal in relation to video content may be received. One or more generated patterns for audio and/or visual watermarking of the video content being may be sent. Cryptographic representations of one or more video content segments may be received. One or more additional video content segments may be received. It may be verified whether the received video content segments correspond to the cryptographic representations of the video content segments. The received video content segments may be processed to analyze whether the watermarking within the received video content segments match the generated patterns sent to the device.

The present disclosure provides a method for processing a live stream in web real-time communication (WebRTC) and a stream-pushing client. The method includes collecting an original live stream, and loading the original live stream into a temporary video tag, thereby playing the original live stream through the temporary video tag; creating a temporary image tag and loading a preset watermark image into the temporary image tag; creating a temporary drawing tag and drawing a current video frame in the temporary video tag and the preset watermark image in the temporary image tag into the temporary drawing tag; and acquiring a canvas video stream corresponding to the temporary drawing tag, and based on the canvas video stream and the original live stream, generating a watermark live stream with one or more added watermarks, wherein the watermark live stream is configured to be transmitted to a resource server through a WebRTC connection.

A method of determining a quality measure for a processed video signal generated from an original video signal. A statistical metric for a value for a set of pixels of the original video signal is determined, and the statistical metric for the value for a corresponding set of pixels of the processed video signal is also determined. The quality measure for the processed video signal is then determined by comparing the statistical metrics for the original video signal and the processed video signal.

Methods, devices, and computer-program products are provided for adding data to a digital video signal in a visually imperceptible manner. For example, a region of pixels can be identified in a video frame, and one or more pixel characteristics of the region of pixels can be determined. Based on the one or more pixel characteristics of the region of pixels, at least one pixel characteristic of a subset of pixels from the region of pixels can be modified in order to encode a set of data into the region of pixels. An output frame can be provided that includes the modified at least one pixel characteristics for the subset of pixels.

A digital information recording apparatus includes a recording circuit for recording information of a retention period included in the digital information and indicating a period for permitting the digital information to be held in the recording medium, starting with a time at which the digital information is recorded on the recording medium; and information of a playback permission period included in the digital information and indicating a period for permitting the digital information to be played back starting with a time at which the information is reproduced initially following recording of the digital information on the recording medium, permitting temporary recording or copying for the information permitted for “copy never” or “copy one generation.”