VIRTUAL MEDIA DEVICE

• US 20090300241A1
• Filed: 05/29/2008
• Published: 12/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ganesh, Anand, Skyberg, David V., Roell, Brien, Cross, Noel Richard, Holan, Doron, Lee, Dennis Ming-Shu, Buban, Garret, Cooper, Stephen, Roberts, David, Young, Robert D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,645,579 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/68
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/105 where the programme performs an input/output emulation function
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A system, device, and method for virtually connecting a media device to a computing device are disclosed. One embodiment comprises a method to operate a virtual media device in a computing device, wherein the virtual media device that is controlled by a remote media device. In this manner, a computing device may stream media data to and from the remote media device.

Claims

1. A computing device with a virtual media device to be controlled by a remote media device, the computing device comprising:

a port to receive media data from a remotely connected media device;

a listener service in communication with the port, the listener service to receive the media data from the port; and

a virtual media device to capture the media data from the listener service and output the media data to an application program.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the virtual media device selectively operates the port in a locked mode that restricts changes to port settings.

3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the virtual media device is further operable to render media data and output the media data to the remotely connected media device through the listener service.

4. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the virtual media device is further operable to output a command to control the remotely connected media device through the listener service.

5. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the media data is multimedia data including audio data and video data.

6. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the listener service stores the media data in memory, and the virtual media device captures the media data from the memory.

7. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the listener service is configured to receive the media data from the port in real-time transport protocol packets, and the listener service is further configured to decode the media data.

8. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the listener service is configured to receive the media data from the port in real-time transport protocol packets, and is further configured to place the media data into a plurality of frames to be sent to the virtual media device.

9. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the remotely connected media device is in communication with the computing device over a wireless network coupled with a port through a network interface.

10. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the port is a universal serial bus port.

11. In a computing device, a method to operate a virtual media device that is controlled by a remote media device, the method comprising:

receiving media data at a port in a computing device from a remotely connected media device;

forwarding the media data to a listener service in the computing device;

storing the media data to memory;

capturing the media data from the memory with a virtual media device; and

outputting the media data to an application program.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising providing a locked mode for the port, wherein when the port is set to locked mode an application cannot change port settings.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

rendering media data with the virtual media device; and

outputting the media data to the remotely connected media device through the listener service.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising outputting a command from the virtual media device to control the remotely connected media device through the listener service.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the media data is multimedia data including audio data and video data.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

storing the media data in a memory with the listener service; and

capturing the media data from the memory with the virtual media device.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving the media data from the port in real-time transport protocol packets; and

decoding the media data with the listener service.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving the media data from the port in real-time transport protocol packets; and

encapsulating the media data into a plurality of frames to be sent to the virtual media device.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein receiving media data from a remotely connected media device further comprises receiving the media data over a wireless network.

20. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions executable by a computing device to operate a virtual media device that is controlled by a remote media device, the instructions being executable to perform a method comprising:

receiving media data at a port in a computing device from a remotely connected media device;

forwarding the media data to a listener service in the computing device;

storing the media data to memory;

capturing the media data from the memory with a virtual media device; and

outputting the media data to an application program.