US 11825139

US patent 11825139, titled "Bitrate and pipeline preservation for content presentation," was issued to OpenTV Inc. on November 21, 2023. The patent was filed on November 9, 2021, under application number US17/454,169. The inventors are Amarendra N. Gogoi, Sanjay Kumar Gupta, and Ravikant Swami.

Abstract:
The patent describes systems and methods designed to optimize the content change process, such as switching channels or selecting new content. A digital receiver initiates playback of a first piece of content. Upon receiving a selection for a new piece of content, the receiver transitions to the new content while maintaining the bitrate used for the initial content playback.

Plain-Language Overview of Independent Claims:

• Independent Claim 1 (Method): This claim describes a method where a digital receiver plays a first piece of content using a playback pipeline. When a user selects new content, the system transitions to playing the new content. It then checks if the new content is of the same format or type as the first. If the types are the same, the system decides whether to keep or replace the audio and video decoders within the existing playback pipeline. If the decoders are not suitable for the new content, the core components of the pipeline—a "source element" (which handles content downloading and bitrate) and a "demultiplexer" (which separates audio and video)—are kept, while the audio and video decoders are replaced.
• Independent Claim 14 (System): This claim covers a system with one or more hardware processors and storage containing instructions to perform the method outlined in Claim 1. Specifically, the system causes playback of content using a pipeline, receives a selection for new content, transitions to the new content, determines if the content types are the same, and, if so, decides whether to preserve or replace the audio and video decoders. If the decoders are not preserved, the source element and demultiplexer are preserved, and new decoders are obtained.
• Independent Claim 19 (Machine-Storage Medium): This claim describes a machine-storage medium (e.g., a hard drive or flash memory) that stores instructions. When these instructions are executed by one or more hardware processors, they cause a machine to perform the same operations as described in Claim 1. This includes playing content via a pipeline, processing new content selections, comparing content types, and conditionally preserving or replacing decoders while retaining the source element and demultiplexer.

Regarding litigation, the patent itself indicates that the family has litigation (as noted on the Google Patents page). However, a search of CAFC 2026 dockets for the specific patent number 11825139 did not yield direct results. The USPTO's patent litigation data is updated through March 2024 for district court cases, which does not cover CAFC 2026 dockets. Therefore, authoritative information on specific CAFC 2026 dockets for this patent is not available from the performed search.