Method, apparatus, and computer program product for controlling content distribution

• US 10,244,025 B2
• Filed: 08/11/2015
• Issued: 03/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Groupon Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Groupon Incorporated
• Inventors: Powers, Christopher, Aparicio, Mike
• Primary Examiner(s): Rubin, Blake J
• Application Number:
  US14/823,449
• Publication Number:
  US 20160050249A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,323 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/14 Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/027 Arrangements and methods specific for the display of internet documents
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1895 for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/65 Network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/75 Media network packet handling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/146 Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services

Abstract

The method, apparatus, and computer program product provided herein provide for distribution of customized content to displays in a network. A display may receive video content for display from a transceiver device. Channel configurations may be user-configured to include content from any number of sources. Channel content may be generated based on a channel configuration to incorporate identified content and the channel content may be provided to transceiver devices. Alert messages may be pushed to channels, and takeovers of transceiver devices to stream a particular channel may be performed.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for remotely controlling content distribution to at least one transceiver device, the method comprising:

receiving a channel configuration from a channel configuration module, the channel configuration provided to the channel configuration module via at least a user interface operative on a user device that is remote from the at least one transceiver device, and the channel configuration comprising (a) at least two uniform resource locators (URLs), and (b) at least one of (i) for each URL, indications of respective positions and sizing relative to a display screen in which content associated with each URL is to be displayed, or (ii) indications of respective durations for which content associated with each URL is to be displayed before a display controlled via the at least one transceiver device changes to display content associated with another of the URLs;

storing the channel configuration in association with the channel identifier on a content distribution apparatus;

receiving an indication of at least one transceiver device selected from a plurality of transceiver devices, wherein the indication indicates the at least one transceiver device is to be associated with the channel identifier;

associating the channel identifier with the at least one transceiver device, such that channel content generated based on the channel configuration comprising the at least two URLs and associated with the channel identifier is received by the at least one transceiver device via a network interface and transmitted by the at least one transceiver device for display according to at least one of the respective positions and the sizing or the respective durations indicated by the channel configuration provided via the user interface of the remote user device;

receiving via the channel configuration module an indication of a takeover channel identifier selected from a plurality of channel identifiers associated with respective channel configurations; and

controlling communication with all transceiver devices in a network such that all of the transceiver devices in the network access the at least one URL indicated by the channel configuration associated with the takeover channel identifier.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least one transceiver device is in data communication with a display and is configured to receive at least one of wired or wireless signals from the channel configuration module;

and wherein associating the channel identifier with the at least one transceiver device comprises causing the generated channel content to be transmitted via the at least one wired or wireless signals for broadcasting on the display.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating the channel content based on the channel configuration, wherein the generating the channel content comprises at least one of rendering hypertext markup language or streaming content via a streaming protocol compatible with the at least one transceiver device.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the channel configuration further comprises at least two URLs and a respective position and a respective size for each of the at least two URLs with respect to the channel content.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the channel configuration comprises at least two URLs and a respective duration for which each of the two URLs are to be displayed.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an indication of an alert message; and

causing respective channel content associated with all available channel identifier to be updated to include the alert message.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the computer-implemented method further comprises:

receiving an indication of local content on a remote user device;

causing transmission of the local content to the content distribution apparatus; and

associating the local content with the channel configuration.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the computer-implemented method further comprises:

receiving via the channel configuration module, an indication of a preconfigured duration for which all the transceiver devices in the network are controlled to access the at least one URL indicated by the channel configuration associated with the takeover channel identifier; and

after the preconfigured duration, controlling the communication of all the transceiver devices to revert to accessing respective URLs associated prior channel configurations.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the computer-implemented method further comprises identifying all the transceiver devices in the network for takeover without user selection of all the transceiver devices in the network.

8. An apparatus for remotely controlling content distribution to at least one transceiver device, the apparatus comprising:

a channel configuration module, configured to, when executed by a processor, access a channel configuration provided by at least a user interface operative on a remote user device that is remote from the at least one transceiver device, wherein the channel configuration is stored in association with a channel identifier, the channel configuration comprising (a) at least two uniform resource locator (URLs) and (b) at least one of (i) for each URL, indications of respective positions and sizing relative to a display screen in which content associated with each URL is to be displayed, or (ii) indications of respective durations for which content associated with each URL is to be displayed before a display controlled via the at least one transceiver device changes to display content associated with another of the URLs; and

a transceiver device configuration module, configured to, when executed by the processor, access a transceiver device configuration comprising an association of the at least one transceiver device and the channel identifier, such that channel content generated based on the channel configuration comprising the at least two URLs and associated with the channel identifier is received by the at least one transceiver device via a network interface and transmitted by the at least one transceiver device for display according to at least one of the respective positions and the sizing or the respective durations indicated by the channel configuration provided via the user interface of the remote user device,

wherein the channel configuration module is further configured to receive an indication of a takeover channel identifier selected from a plurality of channel identifiers associated with respective channel configurations and to control communication with all transceiver devices in a network such that all of the transceiver devices in the network access the at least one URL indicated by the channel configuration associated with the takeover channel identifier.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the at least one transceiver device is in data communication with a display and is configured to receive at least one of wired or wireless signals from the channel configuration module;

and wherein associating the channel identifier with the at least one transceiver device comprises causing the generated channel content to be transmitted via the at least one wired or wireless signals for broadcasting on the display.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

a channel content generation module, configured to, when executed by the processor, generate the channel content based on the channel configuration, wherein the generating the channel content comprises at least one of rendering hypertext markup language or streaming content via a streaming protocol compatible with the at least one transceiver device.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the channel configuration comprises the at least two URLs and the respective position and a respective size for each of the at least two URLs relative to the display screen in which content associated with each URL is to be displayed.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the channel configuration comprises the respective durations for which each of the two URLs are to be displayed before the display changes to display content associated with another of the URLs.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

an alert module configured to, when executed by the processor, a) receive an indication of an alert message; and

b) cause respective channel content associated with all available channel identifier to be updated to include the alert message.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising a channel content generation module, configured to, when executed by the processor:

receive an indication of local content on a remote user device;

cause transmission of the local content to the content distribution apparatus; and

associate the local content with the channel configuration.

15. A computer program product for remotely controlling content distribution to at least one transceiver device, the computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-readable program instructions stored therein, the computer-readable program instructions comprising:

a channel configuration module, configured to, when executed by a processor, access a channel configuration provided by a user interface operative on a remote user device that is remote from the at least one transceiver device, wherein the channel configuration is stored in associated with a channel identifier, the channel configuration comprising (a) at least two uniform resource locator (URLs) and (b) at least one of (i) for each URL, indications of respective positions and sizing relative to a display screen in which content associated with each URL is to be displayed, or (ii) indications of respective durations for which content associated with each URL is to be displayed before a display controlled via the at least one transceiver device changes to display content associated with another of the URLs; and

a transceiver device configuration module, configured to, when executed by the processor, access a transceiver device configuration comprising an association of the at least one transceiver device and the channel identifier, such that channel content generated based on the channel configuration and associated with the channel identifier is received by the at least one transceiver device via a network interface and transmitted by the at least one transceiver device for display according to at least one of the respective positions and the sizing or the respective durations indicated by the channel configuration provided via the user interface of the remote user device,

wherein the channel configuration module is further configured to receive an indication of a takeover channel identifier selected from a plurality of channel identifiers associated with respective channel configurations and to control communication with all transceiver devices in a network such that all of the transceiver devices in the network access the at least one URL indicated by the channel configuration associated with the takeover channel identifier.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the at least one transceiver device is in data communication with a display and is configured to receive at least one of wired or wireless signals from the channel configuration module;

and wherein associating the channel identifier with the at least one transceiver device comprises causing the generated channel content to be transmitted via the at least one wired or wireless signals for broadcasting on the display.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising:

a channel content generation module, configured to, when executed by the processor, generate the channel content based on the channel configuration, wherein the generating the channel content comprises at least one of rendering hypertext markup language or streaming content via a streaming protocol compatible with the at least one transceiver device.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the channel configuration comprises the at least two URLs and the respective position and the respective size for each of the at least two URLs relative to the display screen in which content associated with each URL is to be displayed.