Process and system for automatically transmitting audio/video content from an electronic device to desired recipient(s)

• US 20080178251A1
• Filed: 03/30/2007
• Published: 07/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Edward M. Shin
• Original Assignee: Edward M. Shin
• Inventors: Shin, Edward M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,840,203 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/141
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19621 Portable camera
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1895 for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42202 environmental sensors, e.g. for detecting temperature, luminosity, pressure, earthquakes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4223 Cameras H04N23/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/632 using a connection between clients on a wide area network, e.g. setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet for retrieving video segments from the hard-disk of other client devices broadcast-related systems characterised by transmission among terminal devices H04H60/80; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/185 from a mobile camera, e.g. for remote control

Abstract

A method and apparatus for the automatic acquisition and transmission of audio-video content by a portable wireless communications device, such as a cellular telephone, is provided. The transmission of audio-video content can be initiated locally by a user of the device, or remotely. Upon initiation, audio-video content is automatically captured, such as via a digital video camera circuit. The content is then automatically transmitted to one or more recipients. The content can be transmitted through the periodic transmission of emails, each containing an attachment with a segment of audio-video content, or via video streaming connections.

Claims

1. A portable communications device comprising:

a wireless transceiver capable of communicating data via a wireless communications network;

an audio-video content acquisition circuit; and

one or more microprocessors executing software adapted to respond to a first user input by acquiring audio-video content from the audio-video content acquisition circuit and automatically transmitting the audio-video content to one or more recipients via the wireless transceiver.

2. The portable communications device of claim 1, in which the first user input is comprised of the activation of a predetermined button.

3. The portable communications device of claim 1, in which the wireless communications network is a cellular telephone network.

4. The portable communications device of claim 1, in which the one or more microprocessors further implement an email client;

and wherein the one or more microprocessors operate to transmit the audio-video content to one or more recipients by causing the transmission of one or more email messages, each comprising an attachment containing a portion of the acquired audio-video content.

5. The portable communications device of claim 1, in which the one or more recipients are comprised of one or more predetermined email addresses.

6. The portable communications device of claim 1, in which the one or more microprocessors are further configured to identify the predetermined recipients based on criteria including at least the location of the cellular telephone.

7. The portable communications device of claim 1, in which the one or more microprocessors further implement a video streaming application;

and wherein the one or more microprocessors operate to transmit the audio-video content to one or more recipients by causing the transmission of the audio-video content via video streaming connections implemented with each of the one or more recipients.

8. A method of using a cellular telephone having an integrated digital camera and adapted for wireless communications using a cellular communications network, comprising the steps of:

receiving a predetermined user input by the cellular telephone to initiate an audio-video content recording and transmission operation;

recording one or more segments of audio-video data by the cellular telephone using the integrated digital camera; and

transmitting each segment of audio-video content, after it is recorded, via the cellular communications network, to one or more recipients, automatically and without requiring further user input.

9. The method of claim 8, in which the step of transmitting each segment of audio-video content is further comprised of the substeps of:

generating, for each segment of video data, an email message addressed to each of the one or more recipients; and

attaching a segment of video data to each email message.

10. The method of claim 9, in which the step of transmitting each of the plurality of segments of audio-video content is further comprised of the substep of inserting supplemental information into one or more of the email messages.

11. The method of claim 10, in which the supplemental information is comprised of GPS information indicative of the location of the cellular telephone.

12. The method of claim 10, in which the supplemental information is comprised of personal data associated with the user of the cellular telephone.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of identifying the recipients by the user prior to the step of receiving a predetermined user input.

14. The method of claim 8, further including the step of identifying the recipients based on criteria including at least the location of the cellular telephone.

15. The method of claim 8, in which the step of transmitting each of the plurality of segments of audio-video content is further comprised of the substeps of:

initiating a streaming video connection with the one or more recipients; and

transmitting the video segments to the one or more predetermined recipients via the streaming video connection.