Methods and Systems for Automatically Registering a Mobile Phone Device with One or More Media Content Access Devices

• US 20110086619A1
• Filed: 08/31/2010
• Published: 04/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Patel, Naman, Maddali, Balamuralidhar, Raman, Sampath, Prabhaharan, Praveen, George, T. Sahaya, Raman, Sankaran
• Granted Patent: US 8,644,354 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72415 for remote control of appliances
• 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 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805

Abstract

An exemplary method includes a media content access device detecting a request provided by a mobile phone device to register the mobile phone device with the media content access device, registering the mobile phone device with the media content access device in response to the detected request, and automatically registering the mobile phone device with one or more additional media content access devices within the local area network. Corresponding methods and systems are also described.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting, by a media content access device, a request provided by a mobile phone device to register the mobile phone device with the media content access device;

registering, by the media content access device, the mobile phone device with the media content access device in response to the detected request, the registering configured to enable selective control of the media content access device by the mobile phone device by way of a communication channel included in a local area network; and

automatically registering, by the media content access device, the mobile phone device with one or more additional media content access devices within the local area network, the automatic registering configured to enable selective control of the one or more additional media content access devices by the mobile phone device by way of one or more additional communication channels included in the local area network.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing, by the media content access device, at least one operation in accordance with one or more control commands transmitted by the mobile phone device by way of the communication channel.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing, by a media content access device included in the one or more additional media content access devices, at least one operation in accordance with one or more control commands transmitted by the mobile phone device by way of a communication channel included in the one or more additional communication channels.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatically registering comprises:

broadcasting a registration event across the local area network, the registration event comprising a unique identifier associated with the mobile phone device; and

receiving an acknowledgement from a particular media content access device included in the one or more additional media content access devices and that is active at a time of the broadcasting of the registration event, the acknowledgement comprising an acknowledgement of a registration of the mobile phone device with the particular media content access device based on the registration event.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the registration event is encrypted.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatically registering comprises:

broadcasting a registration event across the local area network, the registration event comprising a unique identifier associated with the mobile phone device; and

detecting a registration information request command transmitted by a particular media content access device included in the one or more additional media content access devices and that is inactive at a time of the broadcasting of the registration event, the registration information request command being transmitted by the particular media content access device in response to the particular media content access device becoming active; and

transmitting the registration event to the particular media content access device in response to the detecting of the registration information request command.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the automatically registering further comprises receiving an acknowledgement from the particular media content access device, the acknowledgement comprising an acknowledgement of a registration of the mobile phone device with the particular media content access device based on the registration event.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing for display, by the media content access device, a graphical user interface configured to facilitate user input of the request.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the user input comprises input representative of a unique identifier associated with the mobile phone device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the registering of the mobile phone device with the media content access device comprises:

validating a unique identifier associated with the mobile phone device; and

storing the unique identifier for subsequent access by the media content access device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the unique identifier comprises a phone number associated with the mobile phone device.

12. The method of claim 1, embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium.

13. A method comprising:

detecting, by a media content access device, a registration event broadcast by an additional media content access device across a local area network, the registration event comprising a unique identifier associated with a mobile phone device already registered with the additional media content access device;

automatically registering, by the media content access device, the mobile phone device with the media content access device in accordance with the registration event, the automatic registering configured to enable selective control of the media content access device by the mobile phone device by way of a communication channel included in the local area network; and

transmitting, by the media content access device, data representative of an acknowledgement of the automatic registration to the additional media content access device.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising performing, by the media content access device, at least one operation in accordance with one or more control commands transmitted by the mobile phone device by way of the communication channel.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the registration event is encrypted and wherein the method further comprises decrypting, by the media content access device, the encrypted registration event prior to automatically registering the mobile phone device with the media content access device.

16. The method of claim 13, embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium.

17. A method comprising:

broadcasting, by a media content access device, a registration information request command across a local area network in response to the media content access device entering an active state after being in an inactive state;

receiving, by the media content access device in response to the registration information request command, a registration event from an additional media content access device already registered with a mobile phone device; and

automatically registering, by the media content access device, the mobile phone device with the media content access device in accordance with the registration event, the automatic registering configured to enable selective control of the media content access device by the mobile phone device by way of a communication channel included in the local area network.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising performing, by the media content access device, at least one operation in accordance with one or more control commands transmitted by the mobile phone device by way of the communication channel.

19. The method of claim 17, embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium.

20. A media content access device comprising:

a monitoring facility configured to detect a request provided by a mobile phone device to register the mobile phone device with the media content access device; and

a registration facility communicatively coupled to the monitoring facility and configured to

register the mobile phone device with the media content access device in response to the detected request, the registration configured to enable selective control of the media content access device by the mobile phone device by way of a communication channel included in a local area network, and

automatically register the mobile phone device with one or more additional media content access devices within the local area network, the automatic registration configured to enable selective control of the one or more additional media content access devices by the mobile phone device by way of one or more additional communication channels included in the local area network.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the registration facility is configured to automatically register the mobile phone device with the one or more additional media content access devices by:

broadcasting a registration event across the local area network, the registration event comprising a unique identifier associated with the mobile phone device; and

receiving an acknowledgement from a particular media content access device included in the one or more additional media content access devices and that is active at a time of the broadcasting of the registration event, the acknowledgement comprising an acknowledgement of a registration of the mobile phone device with the particular media content access device based on the registration event.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the registration facility is configured to automatically register the mobile phone device with the one or more additional media content access devices by:

broadcasting a registration event across the local area network, the registration event comprising a unique identifier associated with the mobile phone device; and

detecting a registration information request command transmitted by a particular media content access device included in the one or more additional media content access devices and that is inactive at a time of the broadcasting of the registration event, the registration information request command being transmitted by the particular media content access device in response to the particular media content access device becoming active; and

transmitting the registration event to the particular media content access device in response to the detecting of the registration information request command.