METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRESENTING MEDIA CONTENT

• US 20090204989A1
• Filed: 02/07/2008
• Published: 08/13/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: White, Scott, Cansler, James, Scott, Charles
• Granted Patent: US 8,918,808 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/37
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25808 Management of client data terminal profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/303
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2662 Controlling the complexity of the video stream, e.g. by scaling the resolution or bitrate of the video stream based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4402 involving reformatting operations of video signals for household redistribution, storage or real-time display details of conversion of video standards at pixel level H04N7/01; video transcoding H04N19/40; adapting incoming signals to the display format of the display terminal G09G5/005; media handling at the source in data packet switching networks H04L65/764
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440263 by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for displaying on a connected PDA
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4516 involving client characteristics, e.g. Set-Top-Box type, software version or amount of memory available
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/454 Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a set top box having a controller to obtain display parameters associated with a display device, adjust a format of media content at the set top box based at least in part on the display parameters where the adjustment is of one or more portions of a display of the media content, and transmit the media content from the set top box to the display device. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium operating in a set top box, comprising computer instructions for:

obtaining display parameters associated with a display device;

adjusting a format of media content based at least in part on the display parameters, the adjustment being of less than an entire display of the media content by the display device;

and transmitting the media content from the set top box to the display device.

2. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the adjustment to the format of the media content is at least one among color depth, aspect ration, text size, background image complexity, and level of animation.

3. The storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions for querying a remote server to obtain at least a portion of the display parameters.

4. The storage medium of claim 3, comprising computer instructions for:

obtaining device identification information associated with the display device from at least one of the display device and a user; and

performing the query based on the device identification information.

5. The storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions for performing a first adjustment to a first portion of the display of the media content and a second adjustment to a second portion of the display of the media content, wherein the first and second adjustments are changes to different media content characteristics.

6. The storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions for performing the adjustment to the format of the media content on a portion of the display of the media content based on a location of the portion with respect to the display.

7. The storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions for performing the adjustment to the format of the media content based on a user preference.

8. A set top box, comprising a controller to:

obtain display parameters associated with a display device;

adjust a format of media content at the set top box based at least in part on the display parameters, wherein the adjustment is of one or more portions of a display of the media content; and

transmit the media content from the set top box to the display device.

9. The set top box of claim 8, wherein the one or more portions are a plurality of portions, and wherein the controller is adapted to adjust a format of at least two of the plurality of portions based on changes to different media content characteristics.

10. The set top box of claim 9, wherein one of the media content characteristics is a color depth or a resolution.

11. The set top box of claim 8, wherein the controller is adapted to query a remote server to obtain at least a portion of the display parameters.

12. The set top box of claim 11, wherein the controller is adapted to:

obtain device identification information associated with the display device from at least one of the display device and a user; and

perform the query based on the device identification information.

13. The set top box of claim 8, wherein the adjustment to the format of the media content is at least one among color depth, aspect ration, text size, background image complexity, and level of animation.

14. The set top box of claim 8, wherein the controller is adapted to adjust the format of the media content for the one or more portions of the display based on a location of the one or more portions with respect to the display.

15. The set top box of claim 8, wherein the controller is adapted to adjust the format of the media content for the one or more portions of the display based on scene information in the one or more portions of the display.

16. A server, comprising a controller to:

receive a query from a set top box for display parameters associated with a display device coupled to the set top box, the query comprising device identification information associated with the display device;

retrieve the display parameters based at least in part on the device identification information; and

transmit the display parameters to the set top box, wherein a format of media content is adjusted at the set top box based at least in part on the display parameters, and wherein the adjustment is of less than an entire display of the media content on the display device.

17. The server of claim 16, wherein the controller is adapted to retrieve the display parameters over the Internet from a website associated with the display device.

18. A display device, comprising a controller to:

receive a request from a set top box for device identification information;

transmit to the set top box the device identification information; and

present media content received from the set top box, wherein display parameters are obtained by the set top box based at least in part on the device identification information, wherein a format of the media content is adjusted by the set top box based at least in part on the display parameters, and wherein the adjustment is of one or more portions of a display of the media content on the display device.

19. The display device of claim 18, wherein the one or more portions are a plurality of portions, and wherein the adjustment to the format is of at least two of the plurality of portions based on changes to different media content characteristics.

20. The display device of claim 19, wherein one of the media content characteristics is color depth, aspect ration, text size, background image complexity, and level of animation.

21. The display device of claim 18, wherein the adjustment to the format is based on at least one of a location of the one or more portions with respect to the display and scene information in the one or more portions of the display.

22. A method, comprising:

obtaining display parameters at a set top box from a remote source, the display parameters being associated with a display device coupled to the set top box;

adjusting a format of media content at the set top box based at least in part on the display parameters, the adjustment being of one or more portions of a display of the media content; and

transmitting the media content from the set top box to the display device.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the adjustment to the format is based on a location of the one or more portions with respect to the display.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the adjustment to the format is based on scene information in the one or more portions of the display.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the one or more portions are a plurality of portions, and wherein the adjustment to the format is of at least two of the plurality of portions based on changes to different media content characteristics.