PAUSE AND REPLAY OF MEDIA CONTENT THROUGH BOOKMARKS ON A SERVER DEVICE

• US 20120072543A1
• Filed: 12/01/2010
• Published: 03/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: III Holdings 1, LLC
• Original Assignee: III Holdings 1, LLC
• Inventors: KALMANJE, ARUN, Gupta, Sachin
• Granted Patent: US 8,909,776 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/00 Data switching networks interconnection of, or transfer of information or other signals between, memories, input/output devices or central processing units G06F13/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/613 for the control of the source by the destination control signals issued by the client directed to the server or network components specially adapted for selective content distribution H04N21/637
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/21805 enabling multiple viewpoints, e.g. using a plurality of cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25875 involving end-user authentication restricting access to computer systems by authenticating users using a predetermined code G06F21/33; arrangements for secret or secure communication including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4325 by playing back content from the storage medium reproduction of recorded television signals H04N5/76; reproduction of recorded television signals H04N9/79
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4333 Processing operations in response to a pause request
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47205 for manipulating displayed content, e.g. interacting with MPEG-4 objects, editing locally
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6587 Control parameters, e.g. trick play commands, viewpoint selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8455 involving pointers to the content, e.g. pointers to the I-frames of the video stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17309 Transmission or handling of upstream communications

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and system of pause and replay of media content through bookmarks on a server device are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of a server device includes authenticating a user of a client device, communicating a media content to the client device through a network, processing a pause request of the client device to pause the media content, storing a bookmark location indicating a current playback location of the media content in the client device on the server device, processing a play request of the user to play the media content from the bookmark location (e.g., the play request may be received from a different client device of the user), and communicating the media content from the bookmark location to the user.

Claims

1. A method of a server device, comprising:

authenticating a user of a client device;

communicating a media content to the client device through a network;

processing a pause request of the client device to pause the media content;

storing a bookmark location indicating a current playback location of the media content in the client device on the server device;

processing a play request of the user to play the media content from the bookmark location; and

communicating the media content from the bookmark location to the user.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the play request of the user to play the media content from the bookmark location is received from a different client device of the user.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

receiving the media content from a standard content server through the network;

copying a portion of the media content remaining to be communicated to the client device from the standard content server to the server device based on the bookmark location;

transmitting the media content remaining to be communicated to the client device from the server device to the client device without involving the standard content server when the play request of the user to play the media content from the bookmark location is processed by the server device; and

deleting the portion of the media content remaining to be communicated to the client device from the server device after transmitting the media content when the play request of the user to play the media content from the bookmark location is fulfilled.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the media content is broadcast live from the standard content server without storage on the standard content server, wherein the standard content server aggregates the media content from user generated content communities and professional media providers, and wherein the media content is at least 3 minutes in length.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the pause request of the client device to pause the media content is stored temporarily on the client device immediately after the user presses a pause indicator on an application of the client device to reduce an amount of time between when the user presses the pause indicator and when the pause request is processed by the server device when a client-side media player is used to playback the media content.

6. The method of claim 5 and wherein the pause request includes a relative amount of time of a session of viewing the media content on the client device during the session.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising continuously buffering on the server device at least a portion of the media content equivalent to an average amount of time of delay between when the user presses the pause indicator on the application of the client device and when the pause request is processed by the server device, such that the server device is able to adjust a location of the bookmark to a relative time phase of when the user pressed the pause indicator on the application of the client device.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the user presses the pause indicator through at least one of a remote control, a voice command, a pointing device action, and a tactile command.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the media content is stored in a local storage coupled to the server device.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving the media content from an advanced content server through the network;

applying an Application Programming Interface (API) of the advanced content server that enables the server device to play a portion of the media content remaining to be communicated to the client device based on the bookmark; and

playing the portion of the media content remaining to be communicated to the client device based on the bookmark directly from the advanced content server when the play request of the user to play the media content from the bookmark location on the server device is processed by the server device.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein a social community of users is formed around bookmark locations of different users across different ones of the media content in a community pausing network, such that users of the community pausing network share paused locations of media content with each other through profiles associated with each user of the community pausing network.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the user is automatically authenticated through a unique hardware identifier of the client device.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the client device is including but not limited to one of a personal computer, a mobile phone, a network-connected television, and a set-top box coupled to a standard television.

14. The method of claim 1 in a form of a machine-readable medium embodying a set of instructions that, when executed by a machine, causes the machine to perform the method of claim 1.

15. A system comprising:

a client device to playback a media content from a pause location through a bookmark;

a network; and

a server device to store the bookmark associated with the pause location, and to stream the media content to the client device.

16. The system of claim 15 further comprising:

a standard content server to transmit the media content being streamed to the server device, wherein the server device to store content from the pause location to a completion point of the media content based on the bookmark when the standard content server is used to transmit the media.

17. The system of claim 15 further comprising:

an advanced content server having an Application Programming Interface (API) to transmit the media content being streamed to the server device, wherein the server device to use the bookmark to reference the pause location directly in the advanced content server and to directly stream the media content from the pause location of the advanced content server when a play request of the client device to play from the pause location is processed by the server device.

18. A method of a server device comprising:

creating a bookmark in response to a pause request of a client device to pause a media content being streamed from the server device; and

storing the bookmark and other bookmarks associated with pause locations of other users in a server device without duplicating the media content in separate files for each user creating the pause locations on the server device.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

sharing the pause locations in user profiles of each of the users creating the pause locations, such that users highlight and comment on pause locations of interest to them to other users.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

pre-processing the media content after receiving the media content from a content server external to the server device, such that the pre-processing enables a buffering of at least a portion of the media content in the server device prior to transmitting the media content to the client device.