METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRESENTING MEDIA CONTENT

• US 20100154023A1
• Filed: 12/15/2008
• Published: 06/17/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dey, Spondon
• Granted Patent: US 9,237,372 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/151
• 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 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• 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 21/4436 Power management, e.g. shutting down unused components of the receiver power management in computer systems G06F1/3203; hibernate or awake process in computer systems G06F9/4418
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4518 involving characteristics of one or more peripherals, e.g. peripheral type, software version, amount of memory available or display capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6131 involving transmission via a mobile phone network wireless downlink channel access H04W74/006
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6181 involving transmission via a mobile phone network arrangements for providing broadcast or conference services to substation in data switching networks in combination with wireless systems H04L12/189; wireless uplink channel access H04W74/004

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a mobile communication device having a controller to receive a broadcast of media content from a first media source using a first communication protocol, display the media content on the mobile communication device, determine whether the media content satisfies one or more parameter thresholds when the media content is available to a display device from a second media source that is not the mobile communication device where the one or more parameter thresholds are based at least in part on the media content available from the second media source and where the display device is remote from the mobile communication device, and commence streaming of the media content from the mobile communication device to the display device when the media content exceeds the one or more parameter thresholds. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium of a mobile communication device, the storage medium comprising computer instructions to:

receive a broadcast of media content from a media source;

determine whether the media content is available to a display device from a set top box;

determine whether the media content of the mobile communication device satisfies one or more parameter thresholds when the media content is available from the set top box, the one or more parameter thresholds being based at least in part on the media content available from the set top box, the display device being remote from the mobile communication device;

adjust a format of the media content of the mobile communication device when the media content satisfies the one or more parameter thresholds; and

commence streaming of the media content to the display device.

2. The storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions for:

establishing a wireless communication link with the media source using a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) scheme;

receiving the broadcast of the media content from the media source using an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) scheme; and

stopping streaming of the media content when the media content does not satisfy the one or more parameter thresholds.

3. The storage medium of claim 2, wherein the display device receives the media content from the set top box from a point in the media content where the mobile communication device stopped streaming the media content, and wherein the one or more parameters comprise at least one of a quality of video of the media content, power consumption associated with the mobile communication device, and cost associated with the media content.

4. The storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions for temporarily storing the media content with the adjusted format in a cache memory of the mobile communication device.

5. The storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions for performing the streaming of the media content to the display device by selecting a communication protocol from a group of communication protocols.

6. The storage medium of claim 5, wherein the selecting of the communication protocol is based on a user profile associated with at least one of the display device and the mobile communication device.

7. The storage medium of claim 5, wherein the group of communication protocols comprise at least one of WiFi, WiMax and Bluetooth.

8. The storage medium of claim 5, wherein the communication protocol is an SC-FDMA scheme.

9. A mobile communication device comprising a controller to:

receive a broadcast of media content from a first media source using a first communication protocol;

display the media content on the mobile communication device;

determine whether the media content satisfies one or more parameter thresholds when the media content is available to a display device from a second media source that is not the mobile communication device, the one or more parameter thresholds being based at least in part on the media content available from the second media source, the display device being remote from the mobile communication device; and

commence streaming of the media content from the mobile communication device to the display device when the media content satisfies the one or more parameter thresholds.

10. The mobile communication device of claim 9, wherein the controller is adapted to adjust a format of the media content of the mobile communication device for transmitting to the display device using a second communication protocol different from the first communication protocol when the media content exceeds the one or more parameter thresholds, and wherein the second media source is a set top box.

11. The mobile communication device of claim 9, wherein the controller is adapted to establish a wireless communication link with the first media source using a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) scheme.

12. The mobile communication device of claim 11, wherein the first communication protocol is an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) scheme.

13. The mobile communication device of claim 10, wherein the controller is adapted to stop streaming of the media content when the media content does not satisfy the one or more parameter thresholds, and wherein the display device receives the media content from the set top box from a point in the media content where the mobile communication device stopped streaming the media content.

14. A display device comprising a controller to:

determine whether media content that is broadcast and available from a mobile communication device satisfies one or more parameter thresholds, the one or more parameter thresholds being based at least in part on the media content that is available from a set top box, the mobile communication device being remote from the display device;

commence receiving the media content from the mobile communication device when the media content satisfies the one or more parameter thresholds; and

display the received media content.

15. The display device of claim 14, wherein the controller is adapted to commence receiving the media content from the set top box when the media content does not satisfy the one or more parameter thresholds, and wherein the display device receives the media content from the set top box from a point in the media content where the mobile communication device stopped streaming the media content to the display device.

16. The display device of claim 14, wherein a format of the media content of the mobile communication device is adjusted for transmitting to the display device using a first communication protocol that is different from a second communication protocol utilized by the mobile communication device to receive the media content.

17. The display device of claim 14, wherein a format of the media content is adjusted to provide a plurality of profile versions of the media content, wherein a first version has more error correction than a second version.

18. The display device of claim 14, wherein the controller is adapted to transmit a protocol selection signal to the mobile communication device, the protocol selection signal representing a communication protocol to be utilized by the mobile communication device for transmitting the media content from the mobile communication device to the display device.

19. The display device of claim 18, wherein the communication protocol is a first communication protocol that is different from a second communication protocol utilized by the mobile communication device to receive the media content.

20. A set top box operably couplable to a display device, the set top box comprising a controller to:

receive broadcast media content; and

deliver the media content to the display device when the media content being streamed to the display device by a mobile communication device does not satisfy one or more parameter thresholds, the one or more parameter thresholds being based at least in part on the media content available from the set top box, the mobile communication device being remote from the display device, wherein the media content is delivered to the display device from a point in the media content where the media content no longer satisfied the one or more parameter thresholds.

21. The set top box of claim 20, wherein the controller is adapted to determine whether the media content of the mobile communication device satisfies the one or more parameter thresholds.

22. A method, comprising:

at a mobile communication device receiving a broadcast of media content from a media source using a first communication protocol;

determining whether the media content is available to a display device from a set top box;

determining whether the media content of the mobile communication device satisfies one or more parameter thresholds when the media content is available from the set top box, the one or more parameter thresholds being based at least in part on the media content available from the set top box, the display device being remote from the mobile communication device; and

commencing streaming of the media content to the display device when the media content of the mobile communication device satisfies the one or more parameter thresholds.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the first communication protocol follows a Long Term Evolution standard.

24. The method of claim 22, comprising adjusting a format of the media content of the mobile communication device for transmitting to the display device using a second communication protocol different from the first communication protocol.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the one or more parameter thresholds are associated with a quality of video of the media content.