CONTENT SYNCHRONIZATION APPARATUS AND METHOD

• US 20120177067A1
• Filed: 08/25/2011
• Published: 07/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Cho, Jeong-Mi, Jeong, So-Young, Kim, Jeong-Su
• Granted Patent: US 9,277,283 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/503
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/00 2D [Two Dimensional] image generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• 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 21/43076 of the same content streams on multiple devices, e.g. when family members are watching the same movie on different devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43079 of additional data with content streams on multiple devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4725 using interactive regions of the image, e.g. hot spots details of information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47815 Electronic shopping payment schemes, payment architectures or payment protocols for electronic shopping systems G06Q20/12

Abstract

A content synchronization apparatus is provided. The content synchronization apparatus includes a communication unit configured to communicate with a device that the content synchronization apparatus can synchronize content with, a control unit configured to, in response to a synchronization command to share current content being played by the device being received, share the current content by acquiring the current content and state information corresponding to the current content through the communication unit, synchronize the current content with the device using the current content and the state information, and configure a display screen based on the results of the synchronization of the current content with the device, and an output unit configured to display the configured display screen.

Claims

1. A content synchronization apparatus, comprising:

a communication unit configured to communicate with a device that the content synchronization apparatus can synchronize content with;

a control unit configured to, in response to reception of a synchronization command to share current content being played by the device, share the current content by acquiring the current content and state information corresponding with the current content through the communication unit, synchronize the current content with the device using the current content and the state information, and configure a display screen based on the results of the synchronization of the current content with the device; and

an output unit configured to display the configured display screen.

2. The content synchronization apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control unit acquires augmented information corresponding with the current content from the device and in response to augmented information that can interact with a user of the content synchronization apparatus being selected from the acquired augmented information, performs a predefined operation corresponding to the selected augmented information.

3. The content synchronization apparatus of claim 2, further comprising a storage unit configured to store user profile information corresponding to a user of the content synchronization apparatus, user preference information corresponding to a user of the content synchronization apparatus, or a combination thereof,

wherein the control unit selects augmented information from the acquired augmented information using the user profile information, the user preference information, or a combination thereof and configures a display screen including the current content and the selected augmented information.

4. The content synchronization apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control unit acquires content metadata corresponding with the current content from the device and acquires the current content from another device than the device using the content metadata, the content metadata being used to search for the current content.

5. The content synchronization apparatus of claim 4, wherein the content metadata comprises a web address corresponding to the current content, broadcast channel information corresponding to a broadcast channel from which the current content can be received, or a combination thereof.

6. The content synchronization apparatus of claim 5, further comprising an image acquisition unit configured to capture an image,

wherein the control unit in a case in which the reception of the synchronization command in response to an image being captured by the image acquisition unit, acquires content metadata corresponding to the current content by analyzing the captured image.

7. The content synchronization apparatus of claim 2, wherein the communication unit communicates with an augmented reality (AR) supporting server, which provides augmented information corresponding a plurality of content items, and the control unit acquires additional augmented information corresponding to the current content from the AR supporting server using the acquired content metadata and to configure the display screen by rendering the additional augmented information with the current content.

8. The content synchronization apparatus of claim 2, wherein the acquired augmented information comprises playback control information for controlling the playback of the current content, and the control unit in response to reception of a user input signal for selecting the playback control information, controls the playback of the current content.

9. The content synchronization apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control unit executes an application that can interact with a user of the content synchronization apparatus in parallel with the synchronization of the current content.

10. The content synchronization apparatus of claim 8, wherein the application that can interact with the user of the content synchronization apparatus comprises an internet search application, a social networking application, or a combination thereof.

11. The content synchronization apparatus of claim 2, wherein the control unit in response to reception of a synchronization command to share content being played by the content synchronization apparatus with the device, transmits the content being played by the content synchronization apparatus and state information and augmented information corresponding to the content being played by the content synchronization apparatus to the device.

12. The content synchronization apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control unit before the synchronization of the current content, detects the device within a synchronization range of the content synchronization apparatus and controls the communication unit to access the device.

34. The content synchronization apparatus of claim 1, wherein the state information includes information about the content.

35. The content synchronization apparatus of claim 1, wherein the augmented information includes information that is capable of being provided with the content.

13. A content synchronization apparatus, comprising:

a communication unit configured to communicate with a device that the content synchronization apparatus can synchronize content with; and

a control unit configured to, in response to reception of a synchronization command to share current content being played by the content synchronization apparatus with the device, controls the communication unit to transmit the current content, state information corresponding to the current content to the device and augmented information corresponding to the current content to the device.

14. The content synchronization apparatus of claim 13, wherein the control unit detects a previously-registered synchronizable device within a synchronization range of the content synchronization apparatus and controls the communication unit to access the detected device.

15. The content synchronization apparatus of claim 13, wherein the content synchronization apparatus is a mobile terminal, and the device is a TV.

16. A content synchronization method, comprising:

receiving a synchronization command to share current content being played by a device;

sharing the current content by acquiring the current content and state information corresponding to the current content; and

synchronizing the current content with the device using the current content and the state information.

17. The content synchronization method of claim 16, further comprising:

acquiring content metadata corresponding to the current content from the device; and

directly acquiring the current content from a device other than the device using the content metadata.

18. The content synchronization method of claim 17, wherein the directly acquiring the current content comprises, in response to the current content being real-time broadcast content, acquiring the current content by receiving the real-time broadcast content from a broadcast network using the content metadata.

19. The content synchronization method of claim 16, further comprising acquiring augmented information corresponding to the current content from the device,

wherein the synchronizing the current content comprises synchronizing the current content with the device using the current content, the state information, and the augmented information.

20. The content synchronization method of claim 19, further comprising:

selecting some of the augmented information based on user profile information, user preference information, or a combination thereof; and

providing the selected augmented information along with the current content.

21. The content synchronization method of claim 19, wherein the augmented information comprises playback control information for controlling the playback of the current content and the content synchronization method further comprises, in response to reception of a user input signal for selecting the playback control information, controlling the playback of the current content.

22. The content synchronization method of claim 16, further comprising, in parallel with the synchronizing the current content, executing an application that can be interacted with.

23. The content synchronization method of claim 16, further comprising, in response to reception of a synchronization command to share the current content with another device, transmitting the current content and state information and augmented information corresponding to the current content to the another device.

24. A content synchronization apparatus, comprising:

a synchronization unit configured to, in response to a synchronization command to share current content being played by a device being received, acquire the current content and state information corresponding to the current content by recognizing the current content and the state information, and to synchronize the current content with the device using the current content and the state information; and

an output unit configured to output the synchronized content.

25. The content synchronization apparatus of claim 24, further comprising an image acquisition unit configured to capture an image of a content execution screen corresponding to the current content,

wherein the synchronization unit recognizes the current content and the state information by performing object extraction, pattern recognition, character recognition on the content execution screen, or a combination thereof.

26. The content synchronization apparatus of claim 24, further comprising an audio input unit configured to receive an audio signal corresponding to the current content,

wherein the synchronization unit extracts feature information from the received audio signal and recognizes audio data corresponding to the feature information.

27. The content synchronization apparatus of claim 24, further comprising a storage unit configured to store at least one content item,

wherein the synchronization unit acquires the recognized current content by searching through the storage unit.

28. The content synchronization apparatus of claim 24, further comprising a communication unit configured to communicate with a content providing server, which searches for content using content metadata and provides content,

wherein the synchronization unit acquires the current content from the content providing server via the communication unit.

29. A content synchronization apparatus, comprising:

a communication unit configured to communicate with a web server, which provides a web service;

an image acquisition unit configured to, in response to reception of a synchronization command to share a web application being executed by a device, capture an image of a web application execution screen corresponding to the web application; and

a synchronization unit configured to identify the web application from the captured image, acquire user information for receiving the web service, access the web server using the user information, acquire web application state information corresponding to the web application from the web server through the communication unit, and reproduce an execution state of the web application in the device using the web application and the web application state information.

30. The content synchronization apparatus of claim 29, wherein the user information comprises user login information for receiving the web service.

31. The content synchronization apparatus of claim 29, further comprising a storage unit configured to store the user information, which is for receiving the web service using at least one web application,

wherein the synchronization unit acquires the user information from the storage unit.

32. The content synchronization apparatus of claim 29, wherein the communication unit communicates with the device and the synchronization unit acquires the user information from the device.

33. A content synchronization apparatus, comprising:

a detection unit configured to detect another device in response to the other device being located within a synchronization range;

a control unit configured to share current content being played by the other device, state information corresponding with the current content, and augmented information corresponding with the current content, in response to detecting of the other device being located within the synchronization range; and

a reception unit configured to receive the current content, the state information and the augmented information from the other device.