Device and method to play back contents according to reception sensitivity

• US 20070091835A1
• Filed: 10/16/2006
• Published: 04/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Yang, Chee-hwan, Jo, Hwan-ju
• Granted Patent: US 8,379,594 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/315
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/11 Arrangements for counter-measures when a portion of broadcast information is unavailable
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/90 Wireless transmission systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/20 using signal quality detector
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2001/0093 Point-to-multipoint
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2601 Multicarrier modulation systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

A device and method to play back contents according to a reception sensitivity, more specifically, a device and method to select a wireless communication system according to the reception sensitivity of wireless signals such as AirTV signals, digital multimedia broadcasting signals and wireless LAN signals, and playing back received multimedia content. The device includes a communication unit receiving multimedia content through a wireless communication device corresponding to a selection instruction message input by a user among one or more wireless communication devices; a reception sensitivity check unit checking the reception sensitivity of the received multimedia content; and an interface unit outputting the received multimedia content according to the reception sensitivity.

Claims

1. A device to play back contents from one or more wireless communication systems according to a reception sensitivity, the device comprising:

a communication unit comprising one or more wireless sub-communication units, that receive corresponding multimedia content through using at least one of the one or more wireless communication systems selected on the basis of one or more selection instruction messages input by a user;

a reception sensitivity check unit to check the reception sensitivity of the received multimedia content received at the sub-communication units; and

an interface unit to output the received multimedia content according to the reception sensitivity and a priority indicated in the one or more selection instruction messages.

2. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wireless sub-communication units receive the multimedia content by using at least one of an AirTV system, a digital multimedia broadcasting system, a wireless LAN system, a wireless broadcasting system, or combination thereof.

3. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein each one of the one or more selection instruction messages comprises at least one of:

a wireless-communication-system type field, to correspond to a type of the wireless communication system;

a channel field, to correspond to one of a plurality of channels to be provided by the wireless communication system;

a reception sensitivity check field, to indicate whether the reception sensitivity of the multimedia content received through the channel of the wireless communication system input to the channel field is checked;

a threshold reception sensitivity field, to indicate a threshold reception sensitivity to be compared with the reception sensitivity of the multimedia content received through the channel of the wireless communication system input to the channel field;

a priority field, to indicate the priority of the output of the multimedia content as compared to other received multimedia content;

a message field, to indicate whether to output a message when the reception sensitivity of the multimedia content that is selected and received is higher than the threshold reception sensitivity; and

a reservation field, to indicate a reception sensitivity check time for multimedia contents whose reception sensitivity will be checked.

4. The device as claimed in claim 3, wherein if a first selection instruction message of the one or more selection instruction messages comprises the reception sensitivity check field and the reception sensitivity check field has a first value to indicate that received multimedia content is not to be checked, then the reception sensitivity of the multimedia content received from the wireless sub-communication unit corresponding to the first selection instruction message is not checked and the received multimedia content is output by the interface unit.

5. The device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a determining unit to determine whether to output the received multimedia content on the basis of the checked reception sensitivity and the one or more selection instruction messages.

6. The device as claimed in claim 5, wherein if the reception sensitivity of a first multimedia content that is received from a first wireless sub-communication unit of the one or more wireless sub-communication units is lower than a first threshold value set to correspond to the first wireless sub-communication unit, the determining unit determines to output a second multimedia content that is received from a second wireless sub-communication unit of the one or more wireless sub-communication units with the reception sensitivity higher than a second threshold value set to correspond to the second wireless sub-communication unit.

7. The device as claimed in claim 5, wherein each of the one or more wireless sub-communication units has a priority number assigned thereto in the corresponding one of the one or more selection instruction messages, wherein the determining unit determines to output the multimedia content that is received from a first wireless sub-communication unit, of the one or more wireless sub-communication units, with the reception sensitivity higher than a threshold value set to correspond to the first wireless sub-communication unit, wherein the first wireless sub-communication unit has a first priority number that is higher than the priority number of any other of the one or more wireless sub-communication units having the reception sensitivity higher than a corresponding threshold value.

8. The device as claimed in claim 7, wherein when the reception sensitivity of the multimedia content received from a second one of the wireless sub-communication units changes from a first level lower than the corresponding threshold value to a second level higher than or equal to the corresponding threshold value, and the second wireless sub-communication unit has a second priority number that is higher than the first priority number, the determining unit determines to output the multimedia content received from the second wireless sub-communication unit.

9. The device as claimed in claim 7, wherein when the reception sensitivity of the multimedia content received from a second one of the wireless sub-communication units changes from a first level lower than the corresponding threshold value to a second level higher than or equal to the corresponding threshold value, and the second wireless sub-communication unit has the priority number that is higher than the priority number of the first wireless sub-communication unit, the interface unit outputs a notification message to the user.

10. The device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the notification message is in a form of a sound and/or an image.

11. The device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the determining unit determines to output the multimedia content received from the second wireless sub-communication unit.

12. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the interface unit outputs a notification message to the user when the reception sensitivity of the multimedia content that is received from one of the one or more wireless sub-communication units changes from a first level lower than a threshold value set to correspond to the one of the one or more wireless sub-communication units to a second level higher than or equal to the threshold value.

13. The device as claimed in claim 3, wherein if a first selection instruction message of the one or more selection instruction messages comprises the reservation field having a start time and an end time, the reception sensitivity check unit checks the reception sensitivity of the multimedia content received from the wireless sub-communication unit corresponding to the first selection instruction message during a time between the start time and the end time.

14. The device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a decoding unit to decode an audio signal and/or a video signal of the multimedia content output according to the reception sensitivity and the one or more selection instruction messages.

15. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the interface unit receives the one or more selection instruction messages.

16. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the interface unit displays in real time the reception sensitivities of the multimedia content received from the one or more wireless sub-communication units corresponding to the one or more selection instruction messages.

17. The device as claimed in claim 16, wherein the real time display comprises bars and/or predetermined icon colors corresponding to different sensitivities.

18. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the interface unit displays in real time a list of the multimedia content being received by the one or more wireless sub-communication units, and the user selects from the displayed list the received multimedia content to be output.

19. The device as claimed in claim 18, wherein the list of the one or more wireless sub-communication units comprises characters and/or figures indicating a type of the wireless communication system and/or channels of the wireless communication system.

20. The device as claimed in claim 18, further comprising directional buttons and/or a selection button provided on an outside surface of the device, wherein the user selects from the list by using the directional buttons and/or the selection button.

21. A method of playing back contents from one or more wireless communication systems according to a reception sensitivity, the method comprising:

receiving multimedia content through a wireless sub-communication unit selected from among one or more wireless sub-communication units on the basis of one or more selection instruction messages input by a user;

checking the reception sensitivity of the received multimedia content; and

outputting the received multimedia content according to the reception sensitivity and a priority of multimedia contents is indicated in the one or more selection instruction messages.

22. The method as claimed in claim 21, wherein each one of the one or more selection instruction messages comprises at least one of:

a wireless-communication-system type field, to correspond to a type of the wireless communication system;

a channel field, to correspond to one of a plurality of channels to be provided by the wireless communication system;

a reception sensitivity check field, to indicate whether the reception sensitivity of the multimedia content received through the channel of the wireless communication system input to the channel field is checked;

a threshold reception sensitivity field, to indicate a threshold reception sensitivity to be compared with the reception sensitivity of the multimedia content received through the channel of the wireless communication system input to the channel field;

a priority field, to indicate the priority of the output of the multimedia content as compared to other received multimedia content;

a message field, to indicate whether to output a message when the reception sensitivity of the multimedia content that is selected and received is higher than the threshold reception sensitivity; and

a reservation field to indicate a reception sensitivity check time for multimedia contents whose reception sensitivity will be checked.

23. The method as claimed in claim 22, wherein the outputting of the received multimedia content comprises outputting the received multimedia content corresponding to a first selection instruction message of the one or more selection instruction messages, wherein the first selection instruction message comprises the reception sensitivity check field having a first value to indicate that the reception sensitivity of the received multimedia content is not to be checked.

24. The method as claimed in claim 21, wherein the determining of the output of the multimedia content further comprises determining to output the multimedia content received from a second one of the wireless sub-communication units when the reception sensitivity of the multimedia content received from the second wireless sub-communication unit changes from a first level lower than the corresponding threshold value to a second level higher than or equal to the corresponding threshold value, and the second wireless sub-communication unit has a second priority number that is higher than the first priority number.

25. The method as claimed in claim 21, further comprising outputting a notification message to the user if the reception sensitivity of the multimedia content received from a second one of the wireless sub-communication units changes from a first level lower than the corresponding threshold value to a second level higher than or equal to the corresponding threshold value, and the second wireless sub-communication unit has a second priority number that is higher than the first priority number.

26. The method as claimed in claim 25, further comprising determining to output the multimedia content received from the second wireless sub-communication unit.

27. The method as claimed in claim 25, wherein the determining of the output of the multimedia content further comprises receiving an instruction message from the user instructing whether to output the multimedia content received from the second wireless sub-communication unit.

28. The method as claimed in claim 21, further comprising outputting a notification message to a user when the reception sensitivity of the multimedia content that is received from one of the one or more wireless sub-communication units changes from a first level lower than a threshold value set to correspond to the one of the one or more wireless sub-communication units to a second level higher than or equal to the threshold value.

29. The method as claimed in claim 22, wherein the checking of the reception sensitivity of the received multimedia content comprises checking the reception sensitivity of the received multimedia content received from the wireless sub-communication unit corresponding to a first selection instruction message during a time between a start time and an end time, wherein the first selection instruction message comprises the reservation field having the start time and the end time.

30. A computer-readable medium encoded with the method of claim 21 implemented by a computer.

31. A device to play back contents from one or more wireless communication systems according to a reception sensitivity, the device comprising:

a first wireless sub-communication unit to receive a first content through using a first wireless communication system;

a second wireless sub-communication unit to receive a second content through using a second wireless communication system;

a reception sensitivity check unit to check corresponding reception sensitivities of the first content and the second content against a first threshold value and a second threshold value, respectively; and

a control unit to, based upon the reception sensitivities and a priority between the first content and the second content;

prevent an output of the second content while the priority for the first content is greater than the priority of the second content and the reception sensitivity of the first content is greater than or equal to the first threshold value;

prevent the output of the second content while the reception sensitivity of the second content is lower than the second threshold value;

prevent an output of the first content while the priority of the second content is greater than the priority of the first content and the reception sensitivity of the second content is greater than or equal to the second threshold value; and

prevent the output of the first content while the reception sensitivity of the first content is lower than the first threshold value.

32. A method of playing back contents from one or more wireless communication systems according to a reception sensitivity, the method comprising:

receiving a first content from a first wireless communication system through a first wireless sub-communication unit having a first threshold value;

receiving a second content from a second wireless communication system through a second wireless sub-communication unit having a second threshold value;

comparing a reception sensitivity of the first content with the first threshold value;

comparing a reception sensitivity of the second content with the second threshold value;

preventing an output of the second content and allowing an output of the first content while a priority of the first content is greater than a priority of the second content and the reception sensitivity of the first content is greater than or equal to the first threshold value;

preventing the output of the second content while the reception sensitivity of the second content is lower than the second threshold value;

preventing the output of the first content and allowing the output of the second content while the priority of the second content is greater than the priority of the first content and the reception sensitivity of the second content is greater than or equal to the second threshold value; and

preventing the output of the first content while the reception sensitivity of the first content is lower than the first threshold value.