Methods and systems are described for a media guidance application that limits the incentive for authorized users to share content with unauthorized users, while still allowing users to access content virtually anywhere. Specifically, the media guidance application allows an authorized user to receive only a portion of a media asset that he or she is authorized to access on a different device, after a designated time period, and/or when the remaining portion of the media asset is inaccessible.

A main stream contains successive content elements of video and/or audio information that encode video and/or audio information at a first data rate. A computation circuit (144) computes main fingerprints from the successive content elements. A reference stream is received having a second data rate lower than the first data rate. The reference stream defines a sequence of the reference fingerprints. A comparator unit (144) compares the main fingerprints with the reference fingerprints. The main stream is monitored for the presence of inserted content elements between original content elements, where the original content elements have main fingerprints that match successive reference fingerprints and the inserted content elements have main fingerprints that do not match reference fingerprints. Rendering of inserted content elements to be skipped. In an embodiment when more than one content element matches only one is rendered. In another embodiment matching is used to control zapping to or from the main stream. In another embodiment matching is used to control linking of separately received mark-up information such as subtitles to points in the main stream.

In one embodiment, a method of generating an electronic program guide for a user of an entertainment system is disclosed. The method includes retrieving, by a user computer in communication with the entertainment system, preference criteria corresponding to one or more user preferences describing payment requirements. The user computer receives a plurality of content listings, each content listing comprising a content title, an indication of a content source, and a payment requirement, and a search query including a content title. The user computer also identifies a subset of the plurality of content listings based on content title and the search query, and ranks each content listing in the subset based on a comparison of the preference criteria and the payment requirement of each content listing in the subset. A content entry in the electronic program guide is created comprising each content listing in the subset in ranked order.

In one aspect, a method for managing streaming of video content to a client device includes providing the video content to a content distribution network for storage in a plurality of geographically separated resources of the content distribution network and receiving, from the client device via a packet-based telecommunication network, signaling to have the stored video content streamed to the client device. In response to the received signaling, one or more files are transmitted to the client device via the packet-based telecommunication network, each of the one or more files being in a format compatible with a media player on the client device, the one or more files comprising (i) an identification of one or more of the resources of the content distribution network available to facilitate streaming of one or more segments of the stored video content to the client device, the identification being dependent at least in part on a relationship between a geographic location of the client device and geographic locations of the resources of the content distribution network, and (ii) an identification of an advertising server, the identification of the advertising server being dependent at least in part on a relationship between the geographic location of the client device and a geographic location of the advertising server, wherein the one or more files, when processed by the client device, cause the client device to communicate with the identified one or more resources of the content distribution network and the advertising server to cause the one or more segments of the stored video to be streamed to the client device by the identified one or more resources of the content distribution network and cause one or more advertisements to be streamed from the advertising server to the client device.

The various implementations described herein include methods, devices, and systems for detecting motion and persons. In one aspect, a method is performed at a smart home system that includes a video camera, a server system, and a client device. The video camera captures video and audio, and wirelessly communicates, via the server system, the captured data to the client device. The server system: (1) receives and stores the captured data from the video camera; (2) determines whether an event has occurred, including detected motion; (3) in accordance with a determination that the event has occurred, identifies video and audio corresponding to the event; and (4) classifies the event. The client device receives information indicative of the identified events, displays a user interface for reviewing the video and audio stored by the remote server system, and displays the at least one classification for the event.

Techniques for generating an interactive and dynamically updated content stream are described herein. Data assets that correspond to video segments provided by a plurality of content providers may be maintained. A video segment may correspond to a first portion of a full video segment for a piece of content from the plurality of content providers. A content stream may be generated that includes video segments provided by the plurality of content providers based at least in part on the data assets. The content stream may be presented via an application. Second input may be received via the application during presentation of the content stream that corresponds to a navigation command for displaying different content. The content stream may be updated to at least one of removing certain video segments or adding new video segments to the content stream based at least in part on the second input.

The systems and methods are described herein for playback of content based on progress point information. The systems and methods detect nearby media devices to transmit or request progress point information. Based on the communicated progress point information, the system may generate an option to play back content at a point within the content up to which content was last consumed. When content providers offer different versions of one content item and the user does not select to play back content from the content provider associated with the progress point information, the system determines a proper playback point in other content providers.

ACR is used to identify content viewed by a person watching an AVDD such as a smart TV. Content searches of multiple sources and source types may be conducted and the results arranged for presentation by weighting each item of the search result according to the ACR identifications of historical viewing.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a transmission method for enabling transmission of content using a broadcast and a communication channel includes: transmitting playback control information and service information using at least the broadcast wave, the service information being information for playing back content transmission using the broadcast and content transmission using the communication channel when the content is transmitted using the broadcast and the communication channel. The service information includes attribute information indicating that the first content data and the second content data constitute the content and location information that indicates a location for acquiring meta-information on playback control of the second content. The playback control information includes indexes of a relationship between the first content data and the second content data.

Methods, systems, computer readable media, and apparatuses for providing synchronous supplemental experiences are presented. According to one or more aspects, a video signal may be transmitted to a display device, and a sync signal may be transmitted to at least one other device. The sync signal may include an identifier of a program currently being displayed and a time value indicating a current point in time of the program. In at least one arrangement, the sync signal may cause the at least one other device to access content synchronization data; determine, based on the content synchronization data, that at least one supplemental experience corresponds to the identifier of the program and the time value; and present the at least one supplemental experience to a user.