TRANSFER METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SEAMLESS CONTENT TRANSFER

• US 20100161813A1
• Filed: 12/17/2009
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Avasarala, Ranjit
• Granted Patent: US 9,215,255 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/228
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1059 End-user terminal functionalities specially adapted for real-time communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS

Abstract

A method and apparatus for seamlessly transferring content from a first communication device to a second communication device is disclosed. The method includes establishing a communication session with a controller for streaming content and sending a request to the controller for sharing the content being currently streamed at the first communication device. The request includes an option tag indicating a share request and an address of the second communication device to which the content is to be shared. The method further includes receiving a notification from the controller once the second communication device starts receiving the content from a point in time at which the request was sent from the first communication device.

Claims

1. A method for seamlessly transferring content from a first communication device to a second communication device, the method comprising:

establishing a communication session with a controller for streaming a content;

sending a request to the controller for sharing the content being currently streamed at the first communication device, wherein the request includes an option tag indicating a share request and an address of the second communication device to which the content is to be shared; and

receiving a notification from the controller once the second communication device starts receiving the content from a point in time at which the request was sent from the first communication device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the request for sharing the content comprises sending the request through a user input while the content is being streamed at the first communication device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprises:

registering with the controller and providing device capabilities information to the controller while registering.

4. A method for seamlessly transferring content from a first communication device to a second communication device, the method comprising:

establishing a communication session with a controller for streaming a content;

sending a request for redirecting the content being currently streamed at the first communication device to the second communication device, wherein the request includes an option tag indicating a redirect request and an address of the second communication device to which the content is to be redirected;

receiving a notification from the controller once the second communication device starts receiving the content from a point in time at which the request was sent from the first communication device; and

terminating the communication session upon receiving the notification.

5. A method for seamlessly transferring content from a first communication device to a second communication device, the method comprising:

at a controller;

establishing a first communication session with the first communication device for streaming the content;

receiving from the first communication device, a request to share the content being currently streamed, wherein the request includes an option tag indicating the share request and an address of the second communication device to which the content is to be shared;

establishing a second communication session with the second communication device; and

streaming the content simultaneously to the second communication device, wherein the content is streamed from a point in time at which the request was received from the first communication device.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

transmitting the request to share the content to the second communication device.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

maintaining a device capability table which includes capabilities of communication devices that are registered with the controller.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

performing format conversion on the content based on the capabilities of the second communication device.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

sending an error response if the second communication device is unable to receive the streaming content.

10. A method for seamlessly transferring content from a first communication device to a second communication device, the method comprising:

at a controller;

establishing a first communication session with the first communication device for streaming a content;

receiving from the first communication device, a request to redirect the content being currently streamed, wherein the request includes an option tag indicating the redirect request and an address of the second communication device to which the content is to be redirected;

establishing a second communication session with the second communication device;

streaming the content simultaneously to the second communication device, wherein the content is streamed from a point in time at which the request was received from the first communication device; and

terminating the session with the first communication device after effecting content streaming with the second communication device.

11. A system for seamlessly transferring content from a first communication device to a second communication device, the system comprising:

a first communication device;

a second communication device; and

a controller configured to;

establish a first communication session with the first communication device for streaming content,

receive from the first communication device, a request to transfer the content being currently streamed, wherein the request includes an option tag and an address of the second communication device to which the content is to be transferred,

establish a second communication session with the second communication device, and

stream the content to the second communication device, wherein the content is streamed from a point in time at which the request was received from the first communication device.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the controller is a set-top box, a signaling gateway, or a content streaming server.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the controller receives the request to transfer content as a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) based message.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the controller receives the request to transfer content as a short message, if the first communication device is a non-SIP based device.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising a signaling gateway for converting the short message from the non-SIP based communication device into an SIP based message.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the controller is further configured to terminate the session with the first communication device after effecting content streaming with the second communication device if the option tag indicates a redirect request to the second communication device.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the controller is further configured to simultaneously stream the content to the first communication device and the second communication device when the option tag indicates a request for sharing the content with the second communication device.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the controller comprises a memory for maintaining a device capability list that includes capabilities of devices registered with the controller.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the second communication device is selected based on the capabilities provided in the device capability list.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the controller comprises a converter for performing format conversion on the content based on the capabilities of the second communication device.