Mobile terminals with media tuning and methods and computer program products for operating the same

• US 20070042710A1
• Filed: 08/17/2005
• Published: 02/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications USA Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications USA Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Gupta, Vikram, Mahini, Hassan
• Granted Patent: US 7,756,533 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/3.30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 with interactive means for internal management of messages

Abstract

Methods of providing broadcast media source tuning information to a remote device from a mobile terminal having a local user interface include receiving a user request to transmit tuning information for a selected broadcast media source from a user interface of the mobile terminal and receiving an identification of the remote device that is to receive the tuning information from the user interface of the mobile terminal. The tuning information is formatted based on a protocol for tuning type information providing for automatic tuning of the receiving remote device to the selected broadcast media source and the formatted tuning information is transmitted to the identified remote device responsive to the user request. The broadcast media source may be a radio and/or a television broadcast and the tuning information may be an associated station identification. Mobile terminals and computer program products are also provided.

Claims

1. A method of providing broadcast media source tuning information to a remote device from a mobile terminal having a local user interface, comprising:

receiving a user request to transmit tuning information for a selected broadcast media source from a user interface of the mobile terminal;

receiving an identification of the remote device that is to receive the tuning information from the user interface of the mobile terminal;

formatting the tuning information based on a protocol for tuning type information providing for automatic tuning of the receiving remote device to the selected broadcast media source; and

transmitting the tuning information to the identified remote device responsive to the user request.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the broadcast media source at the mobile terminal while receiving the user request and wherein receiving the user request comprises receiving a user request to transmit the tuning information for the broadcast media source currently being received.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the broadcast media source comprises a radio and/or a television broadcast and the tuning information comprises an associated station identification.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the method further comprises detecting an audio and/or video player device in the vicinity of the mobile terminal and wherein the identification of the remote device comprises an identification of the detected audio and/or video device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein transmitting the tuning information comprises transmitting the tuning information using a localized ad hoc protocol wireless network and wherein detecting the audio and/or video device comprises detecting the audio and/or video device using the ad hoc wireless network.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the localized ad hoc protocol wireless network comprises a Bluetooth protocol network.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the mobile terminal comprises a first mobile terminal and wherein the remote device comprises a second mobile terminal.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein transmitting the tuning information comprises transmitting the tuning information as a short message service (SMS) message, a multimedia message service (MMS) message and/or an electronic mail (email) message from the first mobile terminal addressed to the second mobile terminal.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein transmitting the tuning information comprises transmitting the tuning information over a localized ad hoc protocol communication network detected by the first mobile terminal.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the localized ad hoc protocol communication network comprises a Bluetooth protocol network and/or an infrared (IR) port of the first mobile terminal.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein receiving the user request comprises:

receiving a request to share tuning information for the currently received broadcast media source;

displaying optional message formats for sharing the tuning information on a display of the mobile terminal; and

receiving a selection of one of the displayed message formats for use in transmitting the tuning information from the user interface of the mobile terminal.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein formatting the tuning information further comprises formatting the tuning information as a text message based on the selected message format and wherein the protocol comprises a text message format including American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) alpha-numeric characters for the tuning information and an ASCII non-alpha-numeric character for identifying the text message as containing tuning information.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving additional text for inclusion in the text message from the user interface of the first mobile terminal and wherein formatting the tuning information includes including the received additional text in the text message.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the method further comprises:

receiving the text message including the tuning information at the second mobile terminal;

displaying the additional text and/or the tuning information on a display of the second mobile terminal;

receiving a confirmation of acceptance of the received tuning information from a user interface of the second mobile terminal responsive to the displayed additional text and/or tuning information; and

automatically tuning the second mobile terminal to the broadcast media source based on the received tuning information responsive to receipt of the confirmation.

15. The method of claim 7 wherein the method further comprises:

receiving the tuning information at the second mobile terminal;

receiving a confirmation of acceptance of the received tuning information from a user interface of the second mobile terminal; and

automatically tuning the second mobile terminal to the broadcast media source based on the received tuning information responsive to receipt of the confirmation.

16. The method of claim 7 wherein the tuning information in the user request comprises Internet Protocol (IP) address information and wherein formatting the information comprises translating the IP address information to an alternative form of tuning information not including IP address information.

17. A computer program product for providing broadcast media source tuning information to a remote device from a mobile terminal having a local user interface, the computer program product comprising computer program code embodied in a computer readable medium, the computer program code comprising program code configured to carry out the method of claim 7.

18. A computer program product for providing broadcast media source tuning information to a remote device from a mobile terminal having a local user interface, the computer program product comprising computer program code embodied in a computer readable medium, the computer program code comprising program code configured to carry out the method of claim 1.

19. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a portable housing;

a wireless communication network interface circuit in the housing;

a user interface circuit coupled to the housing configured to receive a user request to transmit tuning information for a selected broadcast media source and an identification of the remote device;

a controller configured to format the tuning information based on a protocol for tuning type information providing for automatic tuning of the receiving remote device to the selected broadcast media source and to transmit the tuning information to the identified remote device responsive to the user request.

20. The mobile terminal of claim 19, wherein the mobile terminal further comprises a tuner configured to receive the selected broadcast media source and wherein the user interface circuit is configured to receive the user request to transmit tuning information as a request to transmit tuning information for a broadcast media source being received by the tuner.

21. The mobile terminal of claim 19, further comprising a localized ad hoc protocol communication network interface in the housing and wherein the controller is configured to transmit the tuning information using the localized ad hoc protocol communication network interface.

22. The mobile terminal of claim 21 wherein the remote device comprises an audio and/or video player device and wherein the controller is further configured to detect the audio and/or video player device using the localized ad hoc protocol communication network interface.

23. The mobile terminal of claim 19, wherein the remote device comprises a remote mobile terminal and wherein the controller is configured to transmit the tuning information as a short message service (SMS) message, a multimedia message service (MMS) message and/or an electronic mail (email) message from the mobile terminal addressed to the remote mobile terminal.

24. The mobile terminal of claim 20, wherein the controller is further configured to:

detect receipt of tuning information at the mobile terminal;

receive a confirmation of acceptance of the received tuning information from the user interface circuit of the mobile terminal; and

automatically tune the tuner to a broadcast media source based on the received tuning information responsive to receipt of the confirmation.

25. The mobile terminal of claim 19, wherein the controller is configured to format the tuning information as a text message based on a selected message format and wherein the protocol comprises a text message format including American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) alpha-numeric characters for the tuning information and an ASCII non-alpha-numeric character for identifying the text message as containing tuning information.

26. The mobile terminal of claim 19, wherein the controller is configured to format the tuning information as a text message and wherein the user interface circuit is further configured to receive additional text for inclusion in the text message from the user interface of the mobile terminal wherein the controller is configured to include the additional text in the text message.

27. A method of automatically tuning a mobile terminal to a broadcast media source based on a received text message, the method comprising:

receiving the text message including tuning information and/or additional text at the mobile terminal, wherein the text message comprises a short message service (SMS) message or a multimedia message service (MMS) message; and

automatically tuning the mobile terminal to the broadcast media source based on the received tuning information.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein automatically tuning is preceded by:

displaying the tuning information and/or additional text on a display of the mobile terminal;

receiving a confirmation of acceptance of the received tuning information from a user interface of the mobile terminal responsive to the displayed tuning information and/or additional text; and

wherein automatically tuning the mobile terminal comprises automatically tuning the mobile terminal to the broadcast media source based on the received tuning information responsive to receipt of the confirmation.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the text message comprises a text message format including American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) alpha-numeric characters for the tuning information and an ASCII non-alpha-numeric character for identifying the text message as containing tuning information.

30. A computer program product for automatically tuning a mobile terminal to a broadcast media source based on a received text message, the computer program product comprising computer program code embodied in a computer readable medium, the computer program code comprising program code configured to carry out the method of claim 27.

31. A mobile terminal configured to carry out the method of claim 27.