Patent application number | Description | Published |
20120206423 | SEAMLESS TRANSITION BETWEEN DISPLAY APPLICATIONS USING DIRECT DEVICE SELECTION - Transitioning between display applications, including: retrieving a device identifier when a first device is selected using a first display application running on a second device; enabling the first display application to launch a second display application using the device identifier of the first device, launching the second display application customized to automatically select the first device, wherein the automatic selection of the first device using the device identifier allows to bypass a device selection process. Keywords include seamless transition and direct device selection. | 08-16-2012 |
20120209874 | DIRECT SEARCH LAUNCH ON A SECOND DISPLAY - Apparatus and methods to implement a technique for using a second display with a network-enabled television. In one implementation, this feature allows the native application on the second display to directly launch the second display application with a requested search term so that the user is immediately brought to a search page with relevant search results. The search term may be derived from the native application which in turn derives from the context of the IP TV. Such a context could be metadata from a currently playing BD from a BD player or TV channel. The second display application may be a web application or a native remote controller application. The second display could be a smart phone that can often be found beside the user, or a laptop or tablet PC, a desktop PC, or the like. | 08-16-2012 |
20120209972 | SYSTEM AND METHOD TO REMOVE OUTDATED OR ERRONEOUS ASSETS FROM FAVORITES OR RECENTLY-VIEWED LISTS - Systems and methods for creating and employing software to handle the playback of media, especially video, in browsers that, in addition to or instead of playing the media in the browser, may use second display protocols to instruct a separate display device to play the media. In one implementation, the software may be in the form of a web or other application. In particular, systems and methods are provided that describe ways to clean up bad assets from favorites or recently-viewed lists. In one implementation, systems and methods are provided that use an erroneous asset report from one user to fix other users' associated lists. In another implementation, the systems and methods employ data about defunct services, both local and global, to remove assets from those services from one or more user lists. | 08-16-2012 |
20120210224 | SYSTEM AND METHOD TO ADD AN ASSET AS A FAVORITE FOR CONVENIENT ACCESS OR SHARING ON A SECOND DISPLAY - Systems and methods for creating and employing software to handle the playback of media, especially video, in browsers that, in addition to or instead of playing the media in the browser, may use second display protocols to instruct a separate display device to play the media. In one implementation, the software may be in the form of a web or other application. The application or server infrastructure maintains a list of favorite content items and is configured to filter the list to include only those content items, or services with such content items, available for play back on a selected content playback device. In this way, favorite content items and services are made accessible using any second display registered with the user account. Such lists of favorites may be shared with other second displays. | 08-16-2012 |
20120210241 | REMOVAL OF UNAVAILABLE SERVICES AND/OR CONTENT ITEMS FROM A LIST OF FAVORITE AND/OR RECENTLY VIEWED SERVICES AND/OR CONTENT ITEMS ASSOCIATED WITH A USER ACCOUNT - Software is provided to handle the playback of media in browsers that in addition may use second display protocols to instruct a separate display device to play the media. The software can transmit the content or specify a network location of the same for subsequent playback on a content playback device. The software may be in the form of a web browser or other application that is configured for the playback of selected media types. The browser maintains a list of favorite and/or recently viewed services and content items and is configured to filter the list to eliminate those content items or services which are no longer available. In this way, favorite content items and services and/or recently viewed content items and services, as available to the user, are made accessible using the second display. | 08-16-2012 |
20120210276 | SYSTEM AND METHOD TO STORE A SERVICE OR CONTENT LIST FOR EASY ACCESS ON A SECOND DISPLAY - Apparatus and methods are provided for using a second display with a content playback device. This feature allows the user to permanently store a service, menu location, or content list, e.g., a category of assets within a service, as a shortcut for easy access in the future. The shortcut could be accessed in a list of shortcuts or could be specifically added to a section on the main screen so that the user can navigate to the service, menu location, or content list from anywhere in a second display application in just a single click. The user can also name the shortcut so that the same may be found by search tools. Such systems and methods may be particularly advantageous when a user normally only visits a few services in a long list of available services on a regular basis. | 08-16-2012 |
20120210345 | SYSTEM AND METHOD PROVIDING A FREQUENTLY-ACCESSED SERVICE OR ASSET LIST ON A SECOND DISPLAY - Apparatus and methods are provided to implement a technique for using a second display with a content playback device. In one implementation, this feature provides users a frequently-accessed service or asset list when browsing on a second display. Such systems and methods may be particularly advantageous when a user normally only visits a few services in an entire list of available services on a regular basis. The frequently-accessed list of services or assets may be populated by the user through the second display or may be populated by the server that is tracking service access by the user. The frequently-accessed service or asset list (or both) may be specific to the user account, a user profile within the user account, the second display, or the content playback device. In some implementations, the second display may be a smart phone that can often be found beside the user, a laptop or tablet PC, or the like. | 08-16-2012 |
20120210353 | SECOND DISPLAY INTERACTION WITH SOCIAL NETWORKING FEED - Systems and methods are disclosed for publishing data to one or more social networking services in which data pertaining to a user's behavior in browsing, selecting, and playing an asset (e.g., media) from particular sources on a particular Internet television platform (IPTV), is tracked so that a feed representative of such behavior may be transmitted to the social networking services for publication as recommendations. In response to the feed, information pertaining to the user, the platform, the selected media, and the service providing the media may be presented on one or more pages provided by the social networking service. Viewers of the pages can add a recommended asset to an IPTV list for playback, add the user as an IPTV friend on their social networking page, and launch an application on a second display which may be used to control the platform. | 08-16-2012 |
20120210375 | SYSTEM AND METHOD TO EASILY RETURN TO A RECENTLY-ACCESSED SERVICE ON A SECOND DISPLAY - Apparatus and methods are provided to implement a technique for using a second display with a content playback device. In one implementation, this feature allows users to easily return to a recently-accessed service when browsing on a second display. The most recent service may appear at the top of the list. Such systems and methods may be particularly advantageous when a user normally only visits a few services in an entire list of available services on a regular basis. The recently-accessed service may be specific to the user account, a user profile within the user account, the second display, or the content playback device. In some implementations, the second display may be a smart phone that can often be found beside the user, a laptop or tablet PC, or the like. | 08-16-2012 |
20130152125 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ADVERTISEMENT CHOICES USING A SECOND DISPLAY DURING CONTENT PLAYBACK - Systems and methods are disclosed that allow users to choose ads to be delivered while viewing content. In addition, the user can choose ads using a second display, thus not interrupting content viewing on a primary device. In this way, users may receive ads or ads within specific categories of their choosing. Ad choice may also take into account ads previously viewed, user preferences and interests, any purchasing history if available (including where items are merely browsed and not purchased, or where item barcodes are scanned, e.g., by a mobile phone camera), the content item playing during ad choice, previous content items played, interests or preferences determined from a social networking profile, and the like. User data as may be compiled is useful to advertisers and provides significant benefits to users because the ads displayed are highly likely to attract user interest upon playback. User choice provides similar benefits. | 06-13-2013 |
20130232374 | REMOTELY SERVICING AND DIAGNOSING ELECTRONIC DEVICES - Remotely servicing and diagnosing a client device, including: establishing a persistent two-way connection between a server and the client device using a messaging and presence protocol; reading and analyzing statistics and settings of the client device when the persistent two-way connection has been established; detecting any problem with the client device from reading and analyzing statistics and setting of the client device; addressing and fixing the problem with the client device. Keywords include persistent connection, and remote servicing and diagnosing. | 09-05-2013 |
20130251329 | SYSTEM, METHOD, AND INFRASTRUCTURE FOR SYNCHRONIZED STREAMING OF CONTENT - Systems and methods for synchronizing the playback of network media across multiple content playback devices, termed herein as “playback devices”, “clients”, or “client devices”. In one implementation, client devices are controlled to parse and buffer media content separately. Once all clients are ready, a controller may cause the client devices to start in a synchronized fashion based on signals sent by the controller. The controller adjusts the timing of the signal so that the outputs are displayed in synchronization on each client device. In other implementations, device lag times may be measured. In still other implementations, a master device may synchronize playback of media content on slave devices. In yet other implementations, devices may buffer and join playback of media content occurring on other devices. In further implementations, the systems and methods may be expanded to include steps of processing authentication for service providers prior to arranging synchronized playback. | 09-26-2013 |
20130262575 | EXTRACTING MEDIA CONTENT FROM SOCIAL NETWORKING SERVICES - Systems and methods are disclosed for extracting media content from social networking services and presenting the extracted content to an IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) user in a personalized and easy-to-consume manner. One or more feeds from social networking services that contain data pertaining to the user's social graph are monitored by a service in the IPTV domain for media content that meets preset criteria and preferences of the user. A social networking dashboard application is hosted in the IPTV environment and includes a user interface arranged with tools to enable the user to set preferences and specify tags that control various aspects of the media content extraction. The service can also monitor the social networking feeds in a real-time manner that enables creation of a knowledge base that is usable to present media content “trends” to the IPTV user. | 10-03-2013 |
20130263006 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTENT CHANNELS USING USER FEEDBACK - An apparatus and method of generating a content channel that includes accessing a list of content assets, utilizing one or more content assets as settings for the content channel, and selecting additional content assets. The selection is based on the settings. The content channel is generated based on the additional content assets. | 10-03-2013 |
20130263018 | EXTRACTING MEDIA CONTENT FROM SOCIAL NETWORKING SERVICES - Systems and methods are disclosed for extracting media content from social networking services and presenting the extracted content to an IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) user in a personalized and easy-to-consume manner. One or more feeds from social networking services that contain data pertaining to the user's social graph are monitored by a service in the IPTV domain for media content that meets preset criteria and preferences of the user. A social networking dashboard application is hosted in the IPTV environment and includes a user interface arranged with tools to enable the user to set preferences and specify tags that control various aspects of the media content extraction. The service can also monitor the social networking feeds in a real-time manner that enables creation of a knowledge base that is usable to present media content “trends” to the IPTV user. | 10-03-2013 |
20130263165 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR UPDATING CONTENT CHANNELS - An apparatus and method for creating channels dedicated to a particular type of content. The method includes acquiring seed content and using the seed content in the creation or updating of a content list. Additional content for the channel is acquired based on the common features of the content list. | 10-03-2013 |
20130263172 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANIPULATING CONTENT CHANNELS - An apparatus and method for creating channels dedicated to a particular type of content. The method includes acquiring seed content and using the seed content in the creation or updating of a content list. Additional content for the channel is acquired based on the common features of the content list. | 10-03-2013 |
20130263173 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTENT CHANNELS PROVIDING SELECTED ACCESS - An apparatus and method for creating channels dedicated to a particular type of content. The method includes acquiring seed content and using the seed content in the creation or updating of a content list. Additional content for the channel is acquired based on the common features of the content list. | 10-03-2013 |
20130263177 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTENT CHANNELS - An apparatus and method for creating channels dedicated to a particular type of content. The method includes acquiring seed content and using the seed content in the creation or updating of a content list. Additional content for the channel is acquired based on the common features of the content list. | 10-03-2013 |
20130263186 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTENT CHANNELS BASED ON SELECTION CRITERIA - An apparatus and method for creating channels dedicated to a particular type of content. The method includes acquiring seed content and using the seed content in the creation or updating of a content list. Additional content for the channel is acquired based on the common features of the content list. | 10-03-2013 |
20130263187 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTENT CHANNELS USING REFERENCES - An apparatus and method for creating channels dedicated to a particular type of content. The method includes acquiring seed content and using the seed content in the creation or updating of a content list. Additional content for the channel is acquired based on the common features of the content list. | 10-03-2013 |
20130303288 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING CONTENT TO A USER DEVICE - An apparatus and method for providing content to a user device. The method includes accessing at least one game application for providing game content to the user device. A management application is used to communicate with the game application to control operation of the game application. Execution of the management application provides game content assets to selected user device based on parameters of the management application. | 11-14-2013 |
20130304584 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING DATA TO A USER DEVICE - An apparatus and method for providing data to a user device. The method includes accessing at least one game application for providing game content to the user device. A management application is used to communicate with the game application to control operation of the game application. Execution of the management application provides game content assets to selected user device based on parameters of the management application. | 11-14-2013 |
20130311882 | CONFIGURATION AND MANAGEMENT OF MENUS - Customizing menus for a consumer electronics device, including: preparing menu definitions for the menus to be customized on the consumer electronics device; generating menu configuration information using the prepared menu definitions; and transmitting the generated menu configuration information to the consumer electronics device. Keywords include customization of menus and consumer electronics device. | 11-21-2013 |
20130311883 | MENU USAGE STATISTICS COLLECTION AND REPORTING - Customizing menus for a consumer electronics device, including: preparing menu definitions for the menus to be customized on the consumer electronics device; generating menu configuration information using the prepared menu definitions; transmitting the generated menu configuration information to the consumer electronics device; and monitoring and tracking menu usage data of the consumer electronics device. Keywords include customization of menus and consumer electronics device. | 11-21-2013 |
20130311911 | CUSTOMIZATION OF MENUS - Customizing menus for a consumer electronics device, including: generating a predefined menu identifier; preparing menu definitions for the menus to be customized on the consumer electronics device; generating menu configuration information using the prepared menu definitions; transmitting the generated menu configuration information to the consumer electronics device; and identifying a specific menu and menu items using the predefined menu identifier. Keywords include customization of menus and consumer electronics device. | 11-21-2013 |
20130311913 | USER CUSTOMIZATION OF MENUS - Customizing menus for a consumer electronics device, including: preparing menu definitions for the menus to be customized on the consumer electronics device, wherein the menu customization is tailored to a consumer; generating menu configuration information using the prepared menu definitions; and transmitting the generated menu configuration information to the consumer electronics device. Keywords include user customization of menus and consumer electronics device. | 11-21-2013 |
20130311918 | MANAGEMENT OF MENU CUSTOMIZATION ACROSS MULTIPLE DEVICES - Customizing menus for a consumer electronics device, including: preparing menu definitions for the menus to be customized on the consumer electronics device; generating menu configuration information using the prepared menu definitions; transmitting the generated menu configuration information to the consumer electronics device; and managing the menus on a plurality of consumer electronics devices customized with the menu configuration information. Keywords include customization of menus and consumer electronics device. | 11-21-2013 |
20140040971 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANIPULATING CONTENT CHANNELS - An apparatus and method for creating channels dedicated to a particular type of content. The method includes acquiring seed content and using the seed content in the creation or updating of a content list. Additional content for the channel is acquired based on the common features of the content list. | 02-06-2014 |
20140104385 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING INFORMATION ASSOCIATED WITH A FOOD PRODUCT - Certain aspects of an apparatus and method for determining information associated with a food product may include a server that is communicably coupled to a computing device. The server may deconstruct a three dimensional (3-D) image of the food product to identify one or more ingredients in the food product. Further, the server may compare the deconstructed 3-D image with a database of pre-stored images of food products to determine a type of the one or more ingredients in the food product. The server may determine nutritional information associated with the food product based on the determined type of the one or more ingredients. | 04-17-2014 |
20140115625 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR INSERTING AN ADVERTISEMENT IN A MEDIA STREAM - Certain aspects of a system and method for inserting an advertisement in a media stream may include a content access server. The content access server may receive the media stream from one or more content providers. The media stream may comprise one or more pre-determined positions for inserting the advertisement. The content access server may insert the advertisement in the media stream at one of the one or more pre-determined positions. The advertisement is selected from one or more advertisements in real-time based on a first metadata associated with the media stream, a location of the one or more pre-determined positions in the media stream, and one or more parameters associated with a user. | 04-24-2014 |
20140139736 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING A VIDEO SIGNAL FOR DISPLAY - A method and apparatus for processing a video signal is provided. The method and apparatus comprises a consolidator configured to consolidate a plurality of unutilized regions based on a determination of a difference between an aspect ratio of a display being generated and an aspect ratio of first content to form a consolidated display region. The method and apparatus consolidates the plurality of unutilized regions to generate an output video signal having the consolidated region and a first content region associated with the first content. The plurality of unutilized regions is consolidated by at least partially moving the first content region towards at least one edge of the output video signal. The plurality of unutilized regions is consolidated by scaling down size of the first content region associated with the first content. | 05-22-2014 |
20140143384 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR COMMUNICATING MEDIA CONTENT - Certain aspects of a method and apparatus for communicating media content may include a server communicatively coupled to a plurality of content rendering devices. One or more processors in the server may be operable to determine a set of configuration settings associated with the media content based on a set of parameters. The server may encode the media content and the determined set of configuration settings to generate an encoded media content. The determined set of configuration settings may be included in a header section of the encoded media content. The server may transmit the encoded media content to at least one of the plurality of content rendering devices. | 05-22-2014 |
20140152784 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SYNCHRONIZING OF 3-D DISPLAY DEVICES - Method and apparatus for generating a synchronization signal for a plurality of three-dimensional (3-D) image display devices is disclosed. The method and apparatus includes a synchronization manager configured for generating the synchronization signal utilized by the plurality of 3-D display devices for synchronously displaying respective content in accordance with a timing signal associated with the synchronization signal. | 06-05-2014 |
20140244827 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MONITORING ACTIVITY OF AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE - An apparatus and method for monitoring activity of a device. The method includes associating one or more monitoring devices with an electronic device. Rules that have been established to define acceptable content that can be accessed by the electronic device are accessed. Requested content, which is requested by the electronic device, is identified. The requested content is compared to the established rules. An alert condition is generated when the requested content violates the established rules. An alert signal is provided to the one or more monitoring devices based on the alert condition | 08-28-2014 |
20140250331 | REMOTELY TESTING ELECTRONIC DEVICES USING MESSAGING AND PRESENCE PROTOCOL - Remotely testing a client device, the method including: implementing an interface of a messaging and presence protocol; starting a connection of the messaging and presence protocol between the client device and a server; initiating a test to execute steps of the test over the messaging and presence protocol connection; indicating information regarding results of the test to send over the messaging and presence protocol connection. Key words include remote testing and XMPP. | 09-04-2014 |
20140258445 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SEAMLESS NAVIGATION OF CONTENT ACROSS DIFFERENT DEVICES - Certain aspects of a system and method for seamless navigation of content between different devices may include one or more devices communicably coupled to one or more servers through a communication network. The devices are capable of rendering content. The device generates the status information corresponding to the first content and communicates the status information to a server when the device navigates from the first content and/or to a second content. The device can render the second content based on a metadata associated with the second content received from the server. The server generates a metadata associated the first content based on the status information received from the device. The server saves the metadata associated with the first content. The server communicates the metadata associated with the first content to a device when the first content has to be rendered in the device. | 09-11-2014 |
20140258464 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ELECTRONIC DEVICE CONTROL - An originating device is controlled by a client device by receiving a media stream from the originating device over a network at the client device. The media stream includes media content and metadata such that the metadata informs the client device of at least one function of the originating device that is available for control by the client device. A control command is transmitted in the media stream from the client device to control the at least one function of the originating device. In response, the client device receives an altered media stream over the network at the client device such that the altered media stream includes media content altered in response to the transmitted command. The altered media content can be displayed on the client device. | 09-11-2014 |
20140366073 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTENT PLAYBACK USING MULTIPLE IPTV DEVICES - An apparatus and method for resuming playback of media content from more than one Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) device. The playback of a media asset or media content typically contains an asset ID and a start time. Based on the architecture of a second display device (e.g., a second IPTV device) the IPTV system determines the identity of an account and its associated IPTV devices. When a user pauses an asset, the system sends the asset identification (ID) and the stop time to a server operatively coupled to the system. The next time (within a predefined duration) the user requests the same asset ID, the pause time and the asset ID are returned. Using the pause time and the asset ID, the user can resume playback of the asset. | 12-11-2014 |
20150032736 | DIRECT SERVICE LAUNCH ON A SECOND DISPLAY - Apparatus and methods to implement a technique for using a second display with a network-enabled television. In one implementation, this feature allows the native application on the second display to directly launch the second display application with a requested search term so that the user is immediately brought to a search page with relevant search results. The search term may be derived from the native application which in turn derives from the context of the IP TV. Such a context could be metadata from a currently playing BD from a BD player or TV channel. The second display application may be a web application or a native remote controller application. The second display could be a smart phone that can often be found beside the user, or a laptop or tablet PC, a desktop PC, or the like. | 01-29-2015 |