Method for data synchronization with mobile wireless devices

• US 20060056336A1
• Filed: 08/11/2005
• Published: 03/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Dacosta, Behram Mario
• Granted Patent: US 7,979,516 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics

Abstract

A system and method of non-interactive communication with wireless networks for a mobile wireless device such as a telephone, personal digital assistant (PDA), laptop, or other device configured for performing data transfers with an unreliable network, and the playing back of multimedia received over said network. The invention allows a user to send and receive email, web and other data updates in physical areas and locations of limited signal coverage without the user periodically activating the device for updating data. Furthermore, the invention allows non-interactive receipt of multimedia content for viewing when a network communication outage arises. In one embodiment a second (or subsequent) multimedia stream is received and stored in a data repository for playback when an outage arises. The programming of the device is configured to retrieve the content within the second multimedia stream in response to device programming, user set parameters, learned behaviors and/or non-user based selections.

Claims

1. An apparatus configured for providing multimedia access from a mobile wireless device configured for communicating over a wireless network subject to communication outages, comprising:

a wireless transceiver configured for establishing streaming wireless data connectivity with a network;

a data repository configured for storing multimedia data retrieved from the network;

means for automatically playing back a first stream of multimedia data received through said wireless network in response to user activity; and

means for automatically communicating with the network to receive a second separate stream of multimedia data, without direct user interaction, for storage in said data repository for playback when a communication outage arises on said wireless network.

2. An apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said apparatus is selected from the group of mobile wireless devices consisting essentially of:

personal digital assistants, satellite communication links, laptop computers, cellular telephones, interactive watches, package carrier tablets and vehicular data systems.

3. An apparatus as recited in claim 1:

wherein said multimedia data can comprise audio content, video content, or a combination of video and audio content;

wherein said wireless data network comprises a wireless peer network, a local network, a wide area network, or the Internet;

wherein said second stream is stored and not immediately played at the time of receipt; and

wherein the multimedia data stored in association with said second stream is made available to the user when a communication outage arises.

4. An apparatus as recited in claim 1, further comprising additional separate multimedia content streams which accompany said second stream and are received without direct user interaction for storage in said data repository for playback when an outage arises in communication from said wireless network.

5. An apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said means for automatically communicating with the network to receive a second stream is configured to retrieve multimedia streams and store them in the data repository in response to device programming, learned behaviors, user selection, service provider selection, and/or content provider selection.

6. An apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the content of said second stream and/or said first stream are retrieved from said data repository and played back in response to length of outage, device programming, learned behaviors, user selection, service provider selection, and/or content provider selection.

7. An apparatus as recited in claim 1, further comprising means for detecting said outage and providing options to said user with regard to playing back content stored in said data repository from said first stream and/or said second stream.

8. An apparatus configured for providing multimedia mobile wireless data access to a wireless network subject to communication outages, comprising:

a transceiver configured for establishing wireless data connectivity with a peer network, local-area network, wide-area network, or Internet;

a computer configured for controlling said transceiver for interactive retrieval of a first multimedia stream from the network, and the non-interactive receiving of at least a second multimedia stream from the network;

a memory coupled to said computer configured for storing the data of said second multimedia stream as retrieved from the network; and

programming configured for execution on said computer for,

playing back a first stream of multimedia in real-time in response to user selections while communication remains established with said wireless network,

storing in said memory, without additional user interaction, a second multimedia stream received in the background while wireless communication remains established with the network,

playing multimedia content stored in said memory from said second multimedia stream in response to detecting an outage in communication on said wireless network.

9. An apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein said apparatus is selected from the group of mobile wireless devices consisting essentially of:

personal digital assistants, satellite communication links, laptop computers, cellular telephones, interactive watches, package carrier tablets and vehicular data systems.

10. An apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein said multimedia data can comprise audio content, video content, or a combination of video and audio content.

11. An apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein said programming is configured for retrieval and storage of said second multimedia stream in response to device programming, learned behaviors, user settings, service provider settings, and/or content provider settings.

12. An apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein said programming is further configured for storing in said memory at least portions of said first multimedia stream in response to device programming, learned behaviors, and/or user selections.

13. An apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein the data rate available to said second stream depends on the activity of the first stream in response to user selections, and the available bandwidth of the wireless communication channel.

14. An apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein the data rate available to said second stream is constrained to a minimum value in response to said first stream being subject to any bandwidth limitation during playback wherein the playback data rate is less than the available bandwidth.

15. An apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein said computer is configured for decoding multimedia streams communicated using Fountain forward error correction techniques.

16. A method of non-interactive wireless playback of multimedia streams on a network device operable on a network subject to communication outages, comprising:

(a) establishing connectivity from a network device with said network;

(b) receiving a first stream of multimedia data from said network in response to user interaction;

wherein said multimedia data can comprise audio content, video content, or a combination of video and audio content;

(c) receiving a second stream of multimedia data from said network non-interactively in response to device programming, learned behaviors, user set selection, content provider selection, and/or service provider selection;

(d) storing said multimedia data from said second stream within a data repository configured for storing multimedia data;

(e) detecting a communication outage between said network device and said network; and

(f) playing back second stream multimedia data stored in said data repository in response to communication outages.

17. A method as recited in claim 16, further comprising detecting beacons prior to establishing said connectivity over the network.

18. A method as recited in claim 16, further comprising decoding multimedia streams communicated using Fountain forward error correction techniques.

19. A method as recited in claim 16, further comprising alerting a user to the outage and either playing back content selected by the service provider or content provider, or prompting the user to select from said multimedia data received from said second stream or other stored content.

20. A method as recited in claim 16, further comprising storing a portion of the multimedia data received from said first multimedia stream for playback during outages.