Patent Application
20090049475
The present disclosure relates generally to media presentation systems and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus to transfer content to a mobile device.
Advancements in communication technology have led to enhanced media players (e.g., personal computers, home media centers, game playing systems, handheld media players, etc.) and content delivery systems (e.g., broadband, satellite, digital cable, Internet, etc.). Every improvement in processing technology, for example, allows developers to provide additional functionality to a system. Other advancements have led to enhanced storage devices. Specifically, smaller devices (e.g., handheld mobile devices) may be able to store and/or present large amounts of data, including multimedia presentations that previously could only be stored or presented on larger systems (e.g., a personal computer or set-top box coupled to a television).
Although the example apparatus and methods described herein include, among other components, software executed on hardware, such apparatus and methods are merely illustrative and should not be considered as limiting. For example, it is contemplated that any or all of the disclosed hardware and software components could be embodied exclusively in dedicated hardware, exclusively in software, exclusively in firmware or in some combination of hardware, firmware, and/or software.
The example methods and apparatus described herein may be used to transfer content to a mobile device (e.g., a personal media player (PMP), a compact disc, or a digital versatile disc (DVD)) from a media presentation system such as, for example, a home entertainment system including a media signal decoder (e.g., a set-top-box, a receiver, etc.) and a television or other media presentation device (e.g., a computer monitor). Moreover, the example user interfaces described herein may be implemented to facilitate an interaction between the media presentation system and the mobile device to which content is being transferred.
The example methods and apparatus described herein to transfer content to a mobile device may be implemented in connection with any type of media transmission system including, for example, satellite broadcast systems, cable broadcast systems, radio frequency wave broadcast systems, broadband transmission systems, etc. By way of illustration, an example broadcast system is described below in connection with
As illustrated in
In further detail, the example transmission station 102 of the example system of
To facilitate the broadcast of information, the encoded information passes from the encoder 116 to an uplink frequency converter 118 that modulates a carrier wave with the encoded information and passes the modulated carrier wave to an uplink antenna 120, which broadcasts the information to the satellite/relay 104. Using any of a variety of techniques, the encoded bitstream is modulated and sent through the uplink frequency converter 118, which converts the modulated encoded bitstream to a frequency band suitable for reception by the satellite/relay 104. The modulated, encoded bitstream is then routed from the uplink frequency converter 118 to the uplink antenna 120 where it is broadcast toward the satellite/relay 104.
The satellite/relay 104 receives the modulated, encoded Ku-band bitstream and re-broadcasts it downward toward an area on earth that includes the receiver station 106. In the illustrated example of
In operation of the receiver station 106, the reception antenna 126 receives signals including a bitstream from the satellite/relay 104. The signals are coupled from the reception antenna 126 to the LNB 128, which amplifies and, optionally, downconverts the received signals. The LNB output is then provided to the IRD 130.
The receiver station 106 may also incorporate a connection 136 (e.g., Ethernet circuit or modem for communicating over the Internet) to the network 122 for transmitting requests and other data back to and from the transmission station 102 (or a device managing the transmission station 102 and overall flow of data in the example system 100) and for communicating with websites 124 to obtain information therefrom. For example, as discussed further below, the IRD 130 may acquire and decode on-demand content and/or information associated with on-demand content from the on-demand source 115 via the connection 136 (e.g., a broadband Internet connection).
The programming sources 108 receive video and/or audio programming from a number of sources, including satellites, terrestrial fiber optics, cable, or tape. The programming may include, but is not limited to, television programming, movies, sporting events, news, music or any other desirable content. Like the programming sources 108, the control data source 110 passes control data to the encoder 116. Control data may include data representative of a list of SCIDs to be used during the encoding process, or any other suitable information.
The data service source 112 receives data service information and web pages made up of text files, graphics, audio, video, software, etc. Such information may be provided via a network 122. In practice, the network 122 may be the Internet, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) or a conventional public switched telephone network (PSTN). The information received from various sources is compiled by the data service source 112 and provided to the encoder 116. For example, the data service source 112 may request and receive information from one or more websites 124. The information from the websites 124 may be related to the program information provided to the encoder 116 by the program sources 108, thereby providing additional data related to programming content that may be displayed to a user at the receiver station 106.
The program guide data source 114 compiles information related to the SCIDs used by the encoder 116 to encode the data that is broadcast. For example, the program guide data source 114 includes information that the receiver stations 106 use to generate and display a program guide to a user, wherein the program guide may be configured as a grid that informs the user of particular programs that are available on particular channels at particular times. Such a program guide may also include information that the receiver stations 106 use to assemble programming for display to the user. For example, if the user desires to watch a baseball game on his or her receiver station 106, the user will tune to a channel on which the game is offered. The receiver station 106 gathers the SCIDs related to the game, wherein the program guide data source 114 has previously provided to the receiver station 106 a list of SCIDs that correspond to the game. Such a program guide may be manipulated via an input device (e.g., an remote control). For example, a cursor may be moved to highlight a program description within the guide. A user may then select a highlighted program description via the input device to navigate to associated content (e.g., an information screen containing a summary of a television program).
The on-demand (OD) source 115 receives data from a plurality of sources, including, for example, television broadcasting networks, cable networks, system administrators (e.g., providers of the DTH system 100), or other content distributors. Such content may include television programs, sporting events, movies, music, and corresponding information (e.g., user interface information for OD content) for each program or event. The content may be stored (e.g., on a server) at the transmission station 102 or locally (e.g., at a receiver station 106), and may be updated to include, for example, new episodes of television programs, recently released movies, and/or current advertisements for such content. Via a user interface, which also may be updated periodically, a user (e.g., a person with a subscription to an OD service) may request (i.e., demand) programming from the OD source 115. The system 100 may then stream the requested content to the user (e.g., over a broadband Internet connection) or make it available for download and storage. Thus, an OD service allows a user to view, download, and/or record selected programming at any time. While the acquisition of such content may involve a delay, the term ‘on-demand’ generally refers to a service that allows a user to request and subsequently receive media content. In other words, while on-demand content may not be immediately available, it includes content that may be requested for transmission (e.g., over a broadband Internet connection), download, and/or storage.
As illustrated in
To communicate with any of a variety of clients, media players, media storage devices, personal media players, etc., the example IRD 130 includes one or more digital interfaces 230 (e.g., USB, serial port, Firewire, etc.). To communicatively couple the example IRD 130 to, for example, the Internet and/or a home network, the example IRD 130 includes a network interface 235 that implements, for example, an Ethernet interface. Further, the IRD 130 includes a transfer controller 240 to manage and/or execute the transfer functionality described herein.
The example IRD 130 is only one example implementation of a device that may be used to carry out the functionality described herein. Similar systems may include additional or alternative components (e.g., processors, decoders, encoders, converters, graphics accelerators, etc.).
Having described the architecture of one example system that may be used to implement a content transfer function or feature, an example process for performing the same is described below. Although the following discloses an example process through the use of a flow diagram having blocks, it should be noted that the process may be implemented in any suitable manner. For example, the processes may be implemented using, among other components, software, or firmware executed on hardware. However, this is merely one example and it is contemplated that any form of logic may be used to implement the systems or subsystems disclosed herein. Logic may include, for example, implementations that are made exclusively in dedicated hardware (e.g., circuits, transistors, logic gates, hard-coded processors, programmable array logic (PAL), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.) exclusively in software, exclusively in firmware, or some combination of hardware, firmware, and/or software. For example, instructions representing some or all of the blocks shown in the flow diagrams may be stored in one or more memories or other machine readable media, such as hard drives or the like. Such instructions may be hard coded or may be alterable. Additionally, some portions of the process may be carried out manually. Furthermore, while each of the processes described herein is shown in a particular order, such an ordering is merely one example and numerous other orders exist.
As described above, a user interface may be provided to facilitate an interaction between a user, a media presentation system, and/or a personal media player. For example, to enable a transfer or review of the content stored on a media storage device (e.g., the storage device 225 and/or a media storage device coupled to the digital interface(s) 230 of
The list 304 includes graphics (e.g., textual or pictorial representations of content or data) associated with media content (e.g., stored television programs, movies, music, etc.) stored on a storage device (e.g., the storage device 225 of
As shown in
The information section 306 may include instructions regarding the operation or utilization of the transfer feature or a description of a selected (e.g., highlighted) program. The contents of the information section 306 may change depending on the state of the user interface 300 or the operation being performed. The source indicator 308 may indicate (e.g., via a logo) the provider of the media presentation system, a content provider, the provider of the transfer feature, or any other party responsible for the user interface 300 and/or the features or programming associated therewith. The device indicator 309 may indicate a title (e.g., a brand name or manufacturer) or other description of a device coupled to the media presentation system (e.g., a Sony PMP as shown in
The capacity indicator 312 may show the name, assigned designation (e.g., a nickname provided by the user), and/or manufacturer of a mobile device currently coupled to the media presentation system and selected for a transfer process. For example,
The menu 314 includes a plurality of options to control the transfer of content to the mobile device. For example, the menu 314 may include a ‘Mark All’ option and/or an ‘Unmark All’ option, which may select or deselect every program of the list 304 for a transfer process. Further, the menu 314 may include a ‘Continue’ option, which may cause the user interface 300 to progress towards a transfer process as described below in connection with
Additionally or alternatively,
When the user selects a device for transferring content (e.g., engaging a ‘Start Sending’ option of
As described above, a user may review and select programs (e.g., check or toggle a box associated with a program) from the list 304 of the main page 302 for transfer to a mobile device (e.g., a personal media player or DVD). The process 400 may track the selection of the programs and/or otherwise respond to user input (e.g., notify the user that a selection exceeds the remaining capacity of the mobile device) to manipulate (e.g., check all programs for transfer) or navigate through the content presented by the main page 302 (block 418). The user may also engage one of the options of the menu 314. For example, the process 400 may detect an engagement of a ‘Cancel’ option (block 420), upon which the process 400 may exit the content transfer feature (block 422). Alternatively, the process 400 may detect an engagement of a ‘Continue’ option (block 424), upon which the process 400 may present a confirmation screen to inform the user of the details of the transfer process the user has chosen to perform (block 426). An example screenshot 700 of the user interface 300 including such a confirmation screen is shown in
The example process 400 described above is one possible implementation of the example user interface 300. The process 400 and the user interface 300 may include additional and/or alternative features or aspects to facilitate a transfer of content between a mobile device and a media presentation system.
The processor 902 may be coupled to an interface, such as a bus 910 to which other components may be interfaced. The example RAM 906 may be implemented by dynamic random access memory (DRAM), Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), and/or any other type of RAM device, and the example ROM 908 may be implemented by flash memory and/or any other desired type of memory device. Access to the example memories 908 and 906 may be controlled by a memory controller (not shown) in a conventional manner.
To send and/or receive system inputs and/or outputs, the example processor unit 900 includes any variety of conventional interface circuitry such as, for example, an external bus interface 912. For example, the external bus interface 912 may provide one input signal path (e.g., a semiconductor package pin) for each system input. Additionally or alternatively, the external bus interface 912 may implement any variety of time multiplexed interface to receive output signals via fewer input signals.
To allow the example processor unit 900 to interact with a remote server, the example processor unit 900 may include any variety of network interfaces 918 such as, for example, an Ethernet card, a wireless network card, a modem, or any other network interface suitable to connect the processor unit 900 to a network. The network to which the processor unit 900 is connected may be, for example, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), the Internet, or any other network. For example, the network could be a home network, an intranet located in a place of business, a closed network linking various locations of a business, or the Internet.
Although an example processor unit 900 has been illustrated in
The apparatus and methods described above are non-limiting examples. Although the example apparatus and methods described herein include, among other components, software executed on hardware, such apparatus and methods are merely illustrative and should not be considered as limiting. For example, it is contemplated that any or all of the disclosed hardware and software components could be embodied exclusively in dedicated hardware, exclusively in software, exclusively in firmware or in some combination of hardware, firmware, and/or software.
Although certain example methods and apparatus have been described herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is not limited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods and apparatus fairly falling within the scope of the appended claims either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents.
