Method and apparatus for providing content to media devices

• US 20060112167A1
• Filed: 01/06/2006
• Published: 05/25/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Paas, Julian, Doktorova, Laura, Steele, Jay D., Whatmough, Kenneth J., Lacey, Jon-David K., Arora, Rakesh K., Billard, Christopher D., Hayman, John P., Johansen, Shaun R., Hayman, Scott J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,949,461 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/762 at the source reformatting of additional data in video distribution servers H04N21/2355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/289 Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data consumer application, e.g. in same machine, in same home or in same sub-network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2895 Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data provider application, e.g. reverse proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/59 Providing operational support to end devices by off-loading in the network or by emulation, e.g. when they are unavailable
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing rich content to media devices are disclosed. Information content is converted at a content provider system for transmission to a media device over a wireless communication network. The converted content is processed by a media engine on the media device. The content is preferable converted at the content provider system into a binary format having separate visual elements and behavior elements.

Claims

1. A method of rendering rich content on a resource limited media device, the media device having memory, comprising:

receiving the rich content wherein the content comprises visual elements represented by a visual graph and behavior elements represented by a sequence graph;

reading the rich content and placing the rich content in the memory of the media device for rendering;

detecting a user input interaction with a hotspot, a hotspot being a visual element in a visual graph of a scene that can receive input from a user;

rendering the visual graph in response to the detected input;

rendering the sequence graph and changing the visual graph according to the rendering of the sequence graph.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

determining whether the rendering of the sequence graph has finished, and if finished then end, and if not finished then go to the rendering of the visual graph and continue from the rendering of the visual graph.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the rich content includes an audio clip, the method further comprising the step of playing the audio clip in response to detecting a user input interaction with the hotspot.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

stopping the playing of the audio clip when another user input interaction with a hotspot is detected.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is received by the media device in a binary format.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein after step of receiving the content, further comprising the step of storing the content in a data store in markup language.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the mark up language comprises one of Hypertext Markup Language, Extensible Markup Language, and Extensible Markup Language with Scalable Vector Graphics Language.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the data store comprises at least one of a local data store and an external data store.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

generating a navigator page of a file system and providing the navigator page as part of the received content.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein before the step of receiving the rich content further comprising the step of:

transmitting device information to a content provider system so that the received content will be more in accordance with available device resources.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein in the step of receiving content that is more in accordance with available device resources using one of a redirecting deployment strategy and a rewriting deployment strategy.

12. A resource limited media device having memory and a media engine for rendering rich content, comprising:

a reader for reading the rich content that comprises visual elements represented by a visual graph and behavior elements represented by a sequence graph; and

placing the rich content in the memory of the media device for rendering;

a processor operable to detect a user input interaction with a hotspot, a hotspot being a visual element in a visual graph of a scene that can receive input from a user; and

a renderer operable to render the visual graph in response to the detected input, and to render the sequence graph and change the visual graph according to the rendering of the sequence graph.

13. The resource limited media device of claim 12 wherein the renderer is further operable to determine whether the rendering of the sequence graph has finished, and if finished then end, and if not finished then go to the rendering of the visual graph and continue from the rendering of the visual graph.

14. The resource limited media device of claim 12, wherein the rich content includes an audio clip, the processor being further operable to play the audio clip in response to detecting a user input interaction with the hotspot.

15. The resource limited media device of claim 14, wherein the processor is further operable to stop the playing of the audio clip when another user input interaction with a hotspot is detected.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the content is received by the media device in a binary format.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein after receiving the content the reader is further operable to store the content in a data store in markup language.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the mark up language comprises one of Hypertext Markup Language, Extensible Markup Language, and Extensible Markup Language with Scalable Vector Graphics Language.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the data store comprises at least one of a local data store and an external data store.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the media device is operable to transmit device information to a content provider system so that the received content will be more in accordance with available device resources.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the reader is operable to receive the content that is more in accordance with available device resources using one of a redirecting deployment strategy and a rewriting deployment strategy.