SYSTEM FOR SELECTING RESOURCES ACCESSIBLE TO A MOBILE DEVICE SERVER

• US 20120081209A1
• Filed: 10/01/2010
• Published: 04/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2010
• 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: BROWN, WILLIAM A., Delorme, David B., Hill, Nicholas P., Meuninck, Troy C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,610,546 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/10.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41265 having a remote control device for bidirectional communication between the remote control device and client device unidirectional remote control device H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4367 Establishing a secure communication between the client and a peripheral device or smart card
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44227 Monitoring of local network, e.g. connection or bandwidth variations; Detecting new devices in the local network configuring of peripheral devices in general G06F9/4411; monitoring connectivity in data switched networks H04L43/0811
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4524 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium operating in a mobile device server having computer instructions to execute a web server application at the mobile device server. The web server application can be operable to cause the mobile device server to detect a media resource center, to transmit a pairing key to the media resource center, and to receive authorization from the media resource center to pair with one or more resources selected by the media resource center according to the pairing key. The web server application can be further operable to identify a location of the one or more resources, to select a software application according the location of at least one of the resources, and to execute the software application in the portable communication device. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A portable communication device, comprising a processor adapted to:

execute a web server application in the portable communication device, wherein the web server application is operable to cause the portable communication device to;

detect a media resource center upon entering a communication zone of the media resource center;

establish communications with the media resource center;

transmit a pairing key to the media resource center;

receive approval to use one or more resources of the media resource center responsive to a validation of the pairing key;

transmit a signal to at least one of the one or more resources;

receive one or more signals from at least one of the one or more resources;

identify a location of at least one of the one or more resources from the one or more received signals;

select at least one of the one or more resources according to its location; and

execute a software application in the portable communication device that utilizes the at least one resource selected by the web server application.

2. The portable communication device of claim 1, wherein the software application is operable to present a graphical user interface that conforms to one or more features of the at least one resource selected by the web server application.

3. The portable communication device of claim 1, wherein the web server application is operable to inform one or more other software applications executed by the portable communication device of the location of each of the one or more resources approved by the media resource center.

4. The portable communication device of claim 3, wherein at least one of the one or more other software applications selects one of the one or more resources according to the location of the selected resource.

5. The portable communication device of claim 1, comprising a radio frequency identification (RFID) detector operable to:

transmit the signal to at least one of the one or more resources;

receive the one or more signals from the one or more resources; and

identify the location of each of the one or more resources from the one or more received signals.

6. The portable communication device of claim 5, wherein each of the one or more resources approved by the media resource center is operatively coupled to an RFID device, and wherein the RFID device is programmed with the location of the resource.

7. The portable communication device of claim 6, wherein the RFID device comprises one of a passive RFID device or an active RFID device.

8. The portable communication device of claim 1, wherein the web server application is operable to cause the portable communication device to:

detect a failure to locate at least one of the one or more resources approved by the media resource center; and

receive via a user interface of the portable communication device location information associated with the at least one resource that the web server application was unable to locate.

9. The portable communication device of claim 8, wherein the location information is generated by one or more manipulations of the user interface of the portable communication device.

10. The portable communication device of claim 8, wherein the user interface of the portable communication device comprises a keyboard, a navigation device, or a combination thereof.

11. The portable communication device of claim 1, wherein the web server application is operable to cause the portable communication device to:

detect an incoming call; and

process the incoming call in whole or in part at the at least one of the one or more resources selected by the web server application.

12. The portable communication device of claim 1, wherein the one or more resources comprise at least one of one or more set-top boxes, one or more computing devices, one or more memory storage devices, one or more gaming consoles, or an audio receiver communicatively coupled to a surround-sound system.

13. The portable communication device of claim 1, wherein the web server application is operable to cause the portable communication device to:

detect a resource control manager that manages one or more resources of the media resource center; and

receive authorization from the resource control manager to utilize at least one resource selected by the resource control manager according to the pairing key.

14. The portable communication device of claim 1, wherein the web server application is operable to cause the portable communication device to:

transmit a message to a remote server by way of a gateway assigned to a first Internet Protocol (IP) address, wherein the message comprises an identifier of the software application, and a second IP address associated with the software application;

wherein the remote server is operable to;

identify the media resource center according to the first IP address of the gateway; and

direct the media resource center to cause the software application to be executed at the portable communication device according to the second IP address.

15. The portable communication device of claim 14, wherein the message transmitted to the remote server comprises a uniform resource locator with a plurality of descriptors that identify the software application and the second IP address, and wherein the gateway inserts the first IP address into a hypertext transfer protocol header of the message.

16. The portable communication device of claim 1, wherein the web server application comprises a hypertext transfer protocol server application, and wherein the software application comprises one of a media application, a gaming application, a productivity application, or combinations thereof, and wherein communications between the portable communication device and the media resource center conform to an extensible markup language or a multimedia retrieval markup language.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium operating in a mobile device server, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising computer instructions to:

execute a web server application at the mobile device server, wherein the web server application is operable to cause the mobile device server to;

detect a media resource center;

transmit a pairing key to the media resource center;

receive authorization from the media resource center to pair with one or more resources selected by the media resource center according to the pairing key;

identify a location of the one or more resources;

select a software application according the location of at least one of the one or more resources; and

execute the software application in the portable communication device.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the web server application is operable to cause the mobile device server to locate the one or more resources according to one or more radio frequency identification (RFID) signals generated by the one or more resources.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the media resource center is operable to:

determine a service grade from the pairing key; and

select the one or more resources according to the service grade.

20. A resource control manager, comprising a processor adapted to:

manage a plurality of resources communicatively coupled to the resource control manager;

receive an identifier from a web server application operating in a mobile device server;

identify a service grade based on the identifier; and

select one or more resources from the plurality of resources according to the service grade, wherein the mobile device server is operable to;

identify a location of the one or more resources;

select a software application according to the location of at least one of the one or more resources; and

execute the software application in the mobile device server.

21. The resource control manager of claim 20, wherein the resource control manager comprises a set top box, wherein the mobile device server comprises a cellular telephone, and wherein the web server application comprises a hypertext transfer protocol web server application.

22. The resource control manager of claim 20, wherein the mobile device server is operable to locate the one or more resources according to one or more radio frequency identification (RFID) signals generated by passive or active RFID device operatively coupled to the one or more resources.