Patent Application
20120217293
Embodiments disclosed herein relate generally to providing and displaying multimedia content, and more particularly to utilizing one or more matrix codes to aid in the installation or configuration of one or more components of a distribution system.
Barcodes and other optical machine-readable data representations are often used in commerce to provide a quick method of obtaining information about a product or service. In general, a barcode consists of varying widths of lines that may be read by a scanner, where the widths and spaces between the lines of the barcode provide information, such as an identification number of a product. Because the information of a barcode is conveyed through the varying widths of the lines of the code, barcodes are often referred to as linear or one-dimensional (1D) codes. In more recent years, a matrix (or two-dimensional) code has been developed to provide additional information in the code by encoding information in both the width and height dimensions of the matrix. Matrix codes, one example of which is as a quick response (QR) code, generally consist of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background, the configuration of which provides information to a scanner or reader. In this manner, matrix codes may be utilized to convey information to any electronic device once obtained by the scanner or reader device.
One implementation may take the form of a method for configuring a device of a system. The method may comprise the operations of generating, utilizing an electronic device, one or more matrix codes including one or more measurements determined by the electronic device, transmitting, utilizing the electronic device, the one or more matrix codes to at least one display device and receiving the one or more measurements determined by the electronic device from a reader device. In addition, the method may also include the operation of providing instructions to configure the device of the system based on the one or more measurements determined by the electronic device.
Another implementation may take the form of a system comprising an electronic device and a reader device. The electronic device may comprise one or more processing units that generate one or more matrix codes including an identifier of one or more components of a distribution system and at least one output component in communication with a display device, wherein the one or more processing units transmit the one or more matrix codes to the display device utilizing the output component. The reader device may comprise at least one optical input component configured to obtain an image of the one or more matrix codes and at least one processing unit configured to decode the obtained one or more matrix codes to retrieve the identifier of one or more components of a distribution system. In addition, the identifier of one or more components of a distribution system may be utilized to encrypt one or more messages provided by the distribution system to the one or more components.
Yet another implementation may take the form of a method for establishing communication between two electronic devices. The method may comprise the operations of generating, utilizing a receiver, a matrix code that includes an identifier of a repeater device associated with the receiver, transmitting, utilizing the electronic device, the matrix code to a display device and obtaining, utilizing a reader device, the matrix code from the display device. In addition, the method may include the operations of retrieving the identifier of the repeater device associated with the receiver and utilizing the identifier of the repeater device to establish a connection between the reader device and the repeater device.
One embodiment described herein may take the form of a system or method for generating one or more matrix codes that may then be obtained by a reader device, the one or more matrix codes including information that may be utilized to aid in the installation and/or configuration of one or more components of a distribution system. In one embodiment, the one or more matrix codes may be utilized by the system to configure one or more aspects and features of a component of the system, such as a receiver or display device. In another embodiment, the one or more matrix codes may provide system information to a provider or an installer to verify proper installation of one or more components of the system. In general, the one or more matrix codes may be obtained and decoded by one or more devices of the system such that the information encoded with the codes may be determined. This information may include any type of information about one or more components of the distribution system to aid the system or an installer in configuring and/or installing components of the system. In another embodiment, one or more items accompanying the components of the distribution system may include the one or more matrix codes that contain information about the components of the system. Again, such information may be utilized by the distribution system and/or installer to configure and/or install the components.
The electronic device 101 may include one or more processing units 105, one or more non-transitory storage media 106 (which may take the form of, but is not limited to, a magnetic storage medium; optical storage medium; magneto-optical storage medium; read only memory; random access memory; erasable programmable memory; flash memory; and so on), and one or more output components 107. The output components 107 may be configured to communicate with a display device 102, including providing one or more matrix codes for display on the display device in addition to providing a multimedia presentation to the display. Additionally, although the display device 102 is illustrated as separate from the electronic device, it is understood that in various implementations of the system, the display device may be incorporated into the electronic device. The processing unit 105 of the electronic device 101 may execute instructions stored in the non-transitory storage medium 106 to dynamically generate one or more matrix codes (such as one or more QR codes), provide one or more multimedia presentations to the display and transmit the dynamically generated matrix codes and multimedia presentations to the display device 102 utilizing the output component 107.
In one embodiment, the electronic device 101 may be a receiver of a multimedia presentation distribution system. In such an embodiment, the receiver 101 of the system may receive an encrypted signal of a multimedia presentation and convert it into a signal that a display or other compatible device may recognize and manipulate in order to present the multimedia presentation to one or more users. In addition, the receiver 101 may provide the converted signal to a display device 102, such as a television or computer screen, for display to the user. In one implementation, the receiver 101 may receive the encrypted signal from a satellite or through a digital cable or network connection, collectively shown in
A reader device 103 may also be included in the system and may detect the one or more matrix codes displayed by the display device 102. The reader device may also decode the information contained within the obtained matrix codes, such as information concerning the electronic device and/or a multimedia presentation provided by the electronic device 101. The reader device may include one or more processing units 109 which execute instructions stored in one or more non-transitory storage media 111 in order to receive the one or more matrix codes and either provide the received matrix codes to the network 120 or decode the information within the matrix codes. The reader device may also include an optical input device 110 (such as a camera, a barcode scanner, and so on) for detecting the matrix code displayed by the display device as well as a communication component 112 for communicating with one or more networks to provide the obtained matrix codes or decoded information to one or more networks 120.
One or more networks 120 may also be included in the system 100. The networks 120 may communicate with electronic device 101 and/or the reader device 103. In one implementation when communicating the with reader device 103, the network 120 may receive the obtained matrix code. In another implementation, the network may receive the information contained within the obtained matrix codes after such information is decoded from the matrix code by the reader device 103. In addition, the network may provide information, such as the information received from the reader device 103 and obtained from the matrix code, to the electronic device 101 or to a third party recipient. For example, the information may be transmitted to a computing device of a managing entity of the distribution system. In another example, the information may be transmitted to an electronic device associated with an installer of the electronic device. Further, in the implementation where the electronic device 101 is a receiver of a multimedia distribution system, the network 120 may also provide one or more multimedia presentations for display on the display device 102. As should be appreciated, the transmission of information to or from the network may occur in any manner known or hereafter developed, including but not limited to, transmission through a network connection or a wireless transmission.
In various implementations, the electronic device 101 may transmit the one or more matrix codes by themselves to the display device 102 via the output component 107 for the display device to display only the one or more matrix codes at a particular time. However, in various other implementations (such as implementations where the electronic device is a television receiver, digital video recorder, or other such device that provides images to a display), the electronic device may transmit one or more images (such as a video stream of a multimedia presentation) to the display device via the output component. In such implementations, the electronic device may combine the one or more matrix codes with the one or more images and transmit the combination to the display device via the output component.
As mentioned above, the one or more matrix codes generated by the electronic device may be used to configure and/or install one or more components into a distribution system.
Beginning in operation 210, the electronic device may generate a matrix code for display on the display device. In general, the generated matrix code may include any information pertinent to the configuration or installation of one or more components of the system. For example, the generated matrix codes may include identification information of the one or more components, such as an identification (ID) number of a receiver or an ID number of a smart card (and/or other kind of security processor) associated with the receiver. In another example, the matrix codes may include one or more measurements received by the electronic device or other component of the system. In one particular example, the electronic device may detect a signal strength of a received signal, such as a signal strength received at the receiver from a satellite of a satellite distribution system, and encode such information into the one or more matrix codes. In general, any status information, identification information, measurements performed by a component, received information, and any other information that may be utilized by a system to install or configure one or more components may be encoded into the one or more matrix codes generated by the electronic device.
In operation 220, the electronic device may transmit the generated matrix code to a display device for display on the display device. As mentioned above, the matrix code may be displayed alone on the display device or may be incorporated into another image, such as into an image or frame of a video component of a multimedia presentation. For example,
Once the matrix code is displayed on the display device, the matrix code may be obtained from the display by the reader device in operation 230. As described above, the reader device may obtain the matrix code from the display device by capturing a still image or video of the display screen. Further, the reader device may be configured to locate a matrix code embedded within a displayed image or frame of a video component of a multimedia presentation. To obtain the matrix code from an image, the reader device may utilize image recognition technology to isolate the matrix code and ignore the portions of the image not including the matrix code. For example, the reader device may utilize edge detection technology to analyze the captured image and detect the edges of the matrix code to isolate the code. In another example, the reader device may conduct a pattern recognition analysis on the captured image to detect the matrix code. In general to obtain the matrix code, the reader device may obtain a still image (utilizing an optical device) or video (utilizing a video camera) of the display screen containing the matrix code.
In operation 240, the matrix code may be decoded to retrieve the information contained within the matrix code. In one embodiment, the reader device may perform the analysis on the obtained matrix code to retrieve the encoded information. As mentioned above, the reader device may utilize one or more processing units to decode the matrix code and retrieve the information contained within the matrix code. Further, although described above with reference only to a reader device, one of several components of the distribution system may be utilized to retrieve the encoded information. For example, in one embodiment, the obtained matrix code may be transmitted over the network to a recipient for analysis and decoding. In another embodiment, the retrieved information may be transmitted over the network to the electronic device for analysis. In yet another embodiment, the obtained matrix code may be transmitted unanalyzed through the network to an electronic device outside of the system, such as to an electronic device associated with an installer of a distribution system. In this embodiment, the electronic device outside of the system may analyze and retrieve the encoded information from the matrix code.
In those embodiment described above where the information of the matrix code is retrieved prior to transmission to the recipient, the retrieved information may be provided over the network to the recipient in operation 250. As mentioned, the recipient may be a component of the system, may be a third party component (such as an administrator device for the distribution system), may be a computing device of a provider entity associated with the distribution system, may be a computing device associated with an installer of one or more components of the system and so on.
Utilizing the system of
Once the detected signal strength is encoded in a displayed matrix code, the reader device may obtain the matrix code from the display device in a similar manner as described above. In addition, once the matrix code is obtained, the reader device may retrieve the signal strength information from the matrix code. Once decoded, this information may be displayed on a display device associated with the reader device such that an installer may read the signal strength from the reader device. In this manner, an installer may utilize the reader device to obtain and read the encoded signal strength information for use during installation. Further, the installer may use this information and adjust the position of the satellite accordingly to improve the signal strength received at the receiver. In other embodiments, the matrix code or decoded information from the matrix code may be transmitted over the network to a third party entity by the reader device. In such embodiments, the signal strength information or other component related information, once received by the third party recipient, may then be relayed to an installer near the component or interpreted by the third party entity and instructions given to the installer for adjusting the component.
In addition, the third party entity may be any party, such as a provider of content to the distribution system, the managing entity of the distribution system, or a related entity (such as a billing entity). Thus, the reader device may decode the obtained matrix code and transmit, over the network, the signal strength information contained in the code to the third party entity. This information may be received by an operator of the satellite distribution system. In response to the received information, the operator may contact an installer with the information and provide instructions to the installer on adjusting the satellite dish receiver to improve the signal strength received at the receiver. In this manner, the signal strength information provided in the matrix code may be utilized to configure one or more components of a system during installation or start-up of the system.
In general, any measurement and/or communication message obtained by a component of the distribution system may be encoded and provided in a matrix code in this manner to aid an installer in configuring one or more components of the system. For example, a received “success” message indicating successful communication between components may be encoded and provided in the matrix code. In another example, a status message of one or more components of the system may be encoded in a displayed matrix code. In addition, the generated matrix code may include one or a plurality of such measurements or messages, which may then be read and interpreted by the system in a similar manner as described above.
Other system information may also be encoded and provided in a displayed matrix code and used for installation and/or configuration purposes. For example, identification information of one or more components of the system may be encoded in the matrix code. Often during installation and operation of a distribution system, component identification is used to configure messages and content that may be transmitted through the system to ensure that the components of the system receive the correct information. For example, the information transmitted through a system may include identifying features that indicate which components of the system receive the particular information. Thus, to provide this information, the system may maintain a list of components in the system and an identifier for one or more of those components such that content may be encoded with the component identifications.
To obtain these identifiers, identification information for one or more of the components of the system may be encoded into a matrix code that is displayed on a display device. For example, an ID number of the electronic device may be encoded into the matrix code. Once displayed, the matrix code may be captured by the reader device and the ID number may be obtained from the decoded code. This identification information may then be provided to the system by transmitting the information over the network or by having the information provided to the network by an installer. In other embodiments, the matrix code containing the ID number may be transmitted over the network to a system administrator that may then decode the matrix code and obtain the ID number. Regardless, once the ID number is transmitted to the recipient, the information may be maintained by the system for installation and utilized for content and information transmission purposes.
In another example, a smartcard ID associated with an electronic device may be encoded into the displayed matrix code. Smartcards may be a unique identifier associated with a receiver of a distribution system to identify the receiver to the system. The smartcard ID may be utilized by the system to encrypt content on the system such that only specific receivers may access the encrypted content. Thus, through the use of the smartcard ID, the receiver may be identified to the system for any number of purposes. For example, as mentioned, the content provided by the system may be encrypted with the smartcard ID number. In addition, the system may utilize the smartcard ID as the receiver identifier for customer service applications, such as troubleshooting the receiver or providing additional content to the receiver.
Further, as mentioned, this smartcard ID may be encoded into a matrix code and displayed on the display device. In this example, the smartcard ID may be obtained from the display device by the reader device in a similar manner as described above. Once obtained, the smartcard ID may be retrieved from the matrix code for use by the system. For example, the smartcard ID may be transmitted to the system through the network to identify the receiver for use in providing content to the receiver. In another example, the smartcard ID may be displayed on the reader device to a user of the reader device. In this example, a customer may provide the smartcard ID number to an operator over the phone during troubleshooting or upgrading of the receiver to aid in correctly identifying the receiver to the operator. Alternatively, the reader device may provide the smartcard ID number over the network directly to the operator or a computing device associated with the operator upon retrieval. In general, once the smartcard ID is retrieved, such information may be provided to any entity that may utilize the smartcard ID during use of the distribution system.
In yet another embodiment, the matrix code containing information about one or more components of the system may not be displayed on the display device but may be available to be read from other items. For example,
In addition, the generated matrix code may also be utilized to integrate one or more components into a distribution system. For example,
The satellite system of
The system of
In a cable system configuration, the head-end may transmit the multimedia signal directly to the receiver 520 over a cable network connection. For example, the signal may be provided to the receiver 520 through a wired system connected, directly or indirectly, between the receiver 520 and the head-end 550. Alternatively, the signal may be provided over a network 580 connection, utilizing for example a modem 560 associated with the receiver 520.
Additionally, the head-end may utilize the network 580 to provide other communication signals to the receiver 520. For example, the head-end may utilize the network 580, the satellite 540 or other telecommunications connections to provide programming updates to the receiver 520. Similarly, the receiver 520 may communicate information to the head-end or to other networked devices. For example, the receiver may generate an instruction and/or information received at the head-end, within the network 580 or otherwise. In one implementation, the network 580 may be the Internet such that the signals transmitted over the network may include an Internet protocol (IP) address and may take the form of standardized packets of information for proper routing. In addition, the network may include and/or utilize various communication and networking topologies such as wireless, for example, WiFi, Bluetooth, WiMax, 3G, 4G and the like, and/or wired, such as a telephone system, LAN, WLAN, and the like, and/or any other known or hereinafter developed method to connect to the Internet.
In addition, the system may also include a repeater device 590 in communication with the receiver 520 and the network 580. In general, the repeater device 590 may be configured to receive one or more multimedia presentations from the receiver and subsequently transmit said multimedia presentations to one or more mobile devices by transmitting the one or more presentations through the network 580. In some embodiments of the distribution system, the repeater device 590 may be integrated into the receiver 520 such that communication with the network 580 may occur through the receiver modem 560, as described above. In at least one embodiment, the repeater device 590 may stream content to a receiving device, such as a mobile phone, for viewing by a user. One example of a repeater device is the SLINGBOX®, sold by Sling Media, Inc. of Foster City, Calif.
To receive the one or more multimedia presentations from the repeater device 590, the mobile device 550 may have access to the network 580 and, more specifically, to one or more components associated with the repeater device that may provide access to the presentations to a mobile device. Thus, the mobile device 550 may have some information that identifies the one or more components of the network 580 associated with the repeater device 590 such that the mobile device may receive the one or more multimedia presentations. Such identification information may include, but is not limited to, an internet protocol (IP) address, a finder name, a uniform resource locator (URL) address, or any other identifier of components associated with the repeater device 590 or any other identifier of the repeater device itself. For example, the repeater device 590 may provide the one or more multimedia presentations to a server of the network 580 that may be accessed by providing a finder name associated with the repeater device to the server. This finder name may be provided by the mobile device 550 such that the one or more multimedia presentations may be transmitted to the mobile device from the server.
Utilizing the systems and/or methods described above, the identification information of the repeater device 590 or one or more components of the network 580 associated with the repeater device may be provided to the mobile device through one or more matrix codes. More particularly, the receiver 520 may generate one or more matrix codes that include identification information for the repeater device 590 that may aid a component of the system with connecting to the repeater device. For example, the identification information may include a finder name or IP address of the repeater device 590, or similar information of a component of the network 580 associated with the repeater device. Once generated, the one or more matrix codes with the identification information may be transmitted to and displayed on a display device.
Upon display, the one or more matrix codes may be obtained by a reader device as described above. The reader device may also decode the obtained matrix codes to retrieve the identification information contained within. This information may then be retained by the reader device to provide access to one or more multimedia presentations provided to the reader device over the network 580 by the repeater device 590. For example, the reader device may be a mobile phone with the capability of receiving and presenting a multimedia presentation. Therefore, the reader device may utilize the identification information retrieved from the one or more matrix codes to connect to and communicate with the repeater device 590 to receive one or more multimedia presentations. These presentations may then be displayed on a display screen associated with the reader device for viewing by a user of the reader device.
Similarly, the retrieved identification information may be provided to and utilized by any component of the distribution system to receive one or more multimedia presentations from the repeater device. For example, the reader device may retrieve the identification information and may transmit said identification information to a mobile device 550 configured to receive the one or more multimedia presentations from the repeater device 590. This information may be maintained and utilized by the mobile device to connect to and communicate with the repeater device 590 to receive the one or more multimedia presentations. In another embodiment, the identification information may be provided to a computing device, such as a laptop or similar device, such that the laptop may receive the one or more multimedia presentations from the repeater device 590. In general, the identification may be transmitted to any electronic device by the reader device over a network such that the electronic device may connect with the repeater device to receive the one or more multimedia presentations.
In addition, once the repeater device 590 is in communication with the mobile device 550, the repeater device may provide a signal to the receiver 520 to remove the one or more matrix codes displayed on the display device. In this manner, the system may provide an indication to the user of the system that successful communication between the mobile device 550 and the repeater device 590 has been established and that one or more multimedia presentations may be provided to the mobile device for viewing by the user.
In the present disclosure, the methods disclosed may be implemented as sets of instructions or software readable by a device. Further, it is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the methods disclosed are examples of sample approaches. In other embodiments, the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the method can be rearranged while remaining within the disclosed subject matter. The accompanying method claims present elements of the various steps in a sample order, and are not necessarily meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.
The described disclosure may be provided as a computer program product, or software, that may include a non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, which may be used to program a computer system (or other electronic devices) to perform a process according to the present disclosure. A non-transitory machine-readable medium includes any mechanism for storing information in a form (e.g., software, processing application) readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). The non-transitory machine-readable medium may take the form of, but is not limited to: a magnetic storage medium (e.g., floppy diskette, video cassette, and so on); optical storage medium (e.g., CD-ROM); magneto-optical storage medium; read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); erasable programmable memory (e.g., EPROM and EEPROM); flash memory; and so on.
It is believed that the present disclosure and many of its attendant advantages will be understood by the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the components without departing from the disclosed subject matter or without sacrificing all of its material advantages. The form described is merely explanatory, and it is the intention of the following claims to encompass and include such changes.
While the present disclosure has been described with reference to various embodiments, it will be understood that these embodiments are illustrative and that the scope of the disclosure is not limited to them. Many variations, modifications, additions, and improvements are possible. More generally, embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure have been described in the context or particular embodiments. Functionality may be separated or combined differently in various embodiments of the disclosure or described with different terminology. These and other variations, modifications, additions, and improvements may fall within the scope of the disclosure as defined in the claims that follow.
