TRANSMISSION CHANNEL SUBSTITUTION

• US 20120040605A1
• Filed: 08/13/2010
• Published: 02/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bose Corporation
• Original Assignee: Bose Corporation
• Inventors: Morton, Daniel M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,002,259 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/3.06
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/24 Arrangements for distribution of identical information via broadcast system and non-broadcast system
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/72 of terrestrial networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/82 using signals not modulated onto a carrier

Abstract

Systems, methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for receiving an identifier of a first transmission channel for a first media station, determining whether content of the first media station is available via a second transmission channel for the first media station, and automatically initiating transmission of content of a second media station to a client computing device over a transmission channel for the second media station based on results of the determining.

Claims

1. A computer program product, tangibly embodied on a computer readable medium, comprising instructions, which when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to:

receive an identifier of a first transmission channel for a first media station;

determine whether content of the first media station is available via a second transmission channel for the first media station; and

based on results of the determination, automatically initiate transmission of content of a second media station to a client computing device over a transmission channel for the second media station.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the identifier of the first transmission channel comprises one of the following:

a value within a range of acceptable values each representative of a broadcast frequency; and

a sequence of alphanumeric characters representative of a media station call sign.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the identifier of the first transmission channel is included in a content request message received from a client computing device.

4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein:

the first transmission channel for the first media station comprises a carrier wave channel on which the content of the first media station is modulated using at least one of a digital modulation technique, an amplitude modulation technique, and a frequency modulation technique;

the second transmission channel for the first media station comprises a packet switched channel on which content of the first media station is transmitted using at least one of a connectionless protocol and a connection-oriented protocol; and

the transmission channel for the second media station comprises a packet switched channel on which content of the second media station is transmitted using at least one of a connectionless protocol and a connection-oriented protocol.

5. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising instructions, which when executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to:

select a second media station based at least in part on information characterizing one or more of the following;

the first media station, the content of the first media station, a location of the client computing device, and user preferences; and

initiate transmission of content of the second media station to the client computing device over a third transmission channel following the selection.

6. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein the instructions to select the second media station comprise instructions to:

identify, from amongst a plurality of media stations, a set of media stations each having characteristics similar to characteristics of the first media station; and

select, from amongst the set of media stations, the second media station.

7. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein the information characterizing the content of the first media station includes a first media program identifier, and wherein the instructions to select the second media station comprise instructions to:

identify, from amongst a plurality of media stations, a set of media stations each currently providing content associated with the media program identifier; and

select, from amongst the set of media stations, the second media station.

8. A computer program product, tangibly embodied on a computer readable medium, comprising instructions, which when executed by a first computing device, cause the first computing device to:

receive content over a first transmission channel for a first media station;

determine whether transmission quality of the received content satisfies a set of criteria; and

based on results of the determination, perform at least one of the following without requiring input to be received through a user interface of the first computing device;

initiate reception of content over a second transmission channel for the first media station; and

initiate reception of content over a transmission channel for a second media station.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein instructions to initiate reception of content over the second transmission channel for the first media station or the transmission channel for the second media station comprise instructions, which when executed by the first computing device, cause the first computing device to:

communicate a content request message including an identifier of the first transmission channel for the first media station to a second computing device.

10. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising instructions, which when executed by the first computing device, cause the first computing device to:

receive, through a user interface of the first computing device, an identifier of the first transmission channel for the first media station; and

initiate reception of the content over the first transmission channel for the first media station.

11. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising instructions, which when executed by the first computing device, cause the first computing device to:

provide, on a user interface of the first computing device, a visual representation of a radio receiver tuning interface;

simulate a tuning of a radio receiver to a broadcast frequency responsive to input received via the user interface of the first computing device; and

designate the broadcast frequency as the identifier of the first transmission channel for the first media station.

12. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein each of the first transmission channel for the first media station, the second transmission channel for the first media station, and the transmission channel for the second media station comprises one of:

a carrier wave channel on which the content of a media station is modulated using at least one of a digital modulation technique, an amplitude modulation technique, and a frequency modulation technique; and

a packet switched channel on which content of a media station is transmitted using at least one of a connectionless protocol and a connection-oriented protocol.

13. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising instructions, which when executed by the first computing device, cause the first computing device to:

communicate a station request message including location information of the first computing device to a second computing device.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, further comprising instructions, which when executed by the first computing device, cause the first computing device to:

process a station response message received from a second computing device, the station response message including a set of transmission channel identifiers; and

provide, on a user interface of the first computing device, a visual representation of the set of transmission channel identifiers.

15. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a memory configured to store instructions of a computer program product, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

receive an identifier of a first transmission channel for a first media station;

determine whether content of the first media station is available via a second transmission channel for the first media station; and

based on results of the determination, automatically initiate transmission of content of a second media station to a computing device over a transmission channel for the second media station.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a memory configured to store instructions of a computer program product, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

receive content over a first transmission channel for a first media station;

determine whether transmission quality of the received content satisfies a set of criteria; and

based on results of the determination, perform at least one of the following without requiring input to be received through a user interface of the apparatus;

initiate reception of content over a second transmission channel for the first media station; and

initiate reception of content over a transmission channel for a second media station.

17. A communication system comprising:

a server computing device including a processor and a memory configured to store instructions of a computer program product, which when executed by the processor of the server computing device, cause the processor to;

receive from a client computing device a request to download a client application,

initiate an establishment of a communication channel between the client computing device and a data store of applications, and

cause the client application to be downloaded to a memory of the client computing device for storage, wherein the client application includes instructions, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to;

receive content over a first transmission channel for a first media station;

determine whether transmission quality of the received content satisfies a set of criteria; and

based on results of the determination, perform at least one of the following without requiring input to be received through a user interface of the first computing device;

initiate reception of content over a second transmission channel for the first media station; and

initiate reception of content over a transmission channel for a second media station.