STORING NON-REAL TIME CONTENT

• US 20140208380A1
• Filed: 10/04/2013
• Published: 07/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Saturn Licensing LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: FAY, Luke, ZUSTAK, Frederick J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,942,601 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/134
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/433 Content storage operation, e.g. storage operation in response to a pause request, caching operations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859

Abstract

A method is provided for a reception apparatus to store non-real-time (NRT) content. The method includes receiving, by the reception apparatus, the NRT content included in a digital television broadcast signal broadcast from a content source. The received NRT content, included in the digital television broadcast signal broadcast from the content source, is stored in a memory of the reception apparatus. The reception apparatus outputs the NRT content stored in the memory for presentation to a user. The reception apparatus receives a request to store the NRT content in an external device and, in response, sends an instruction via a communication network to store the NRT content in the external device.

Claims

1. A reception apparatus, comprising:

a receiver configured to receive non-real-time (NRT) content included in a digital television broadcast signal broadcast from a content source;

a memory configured to store the received NRT content included in the digital television broadcast signal broadcast from the content source;

at least one processor configured

to output the NRT content stored in the memory for presentation to a user,

to receive a request to store the NRT content in an external device, and

in response to receiving the request to store the NRT content in the external device, to send an instruction via a communication network to store the NRT content in the external device.

2. The reception apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the reception apparatus is a mobile device, and

the receiver is configured to receive the NRT content from a mobile network operator (MNO) that receives the digital television broadcast signal broadcast from the content source and downloads the NRT content from the digital television broadcast signal.

3. The reception apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the at least one processor is configured, in response to receiving the request to store the NRT content in the external device to instruct the MNO to store the NRT content in the external device.

4. The reception apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured, in response to receiving the request to store the NRT content, to send the NRT content stored in the memory to the external device via the communication network.

5. The reception apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured

in response to a request for the NRT content, to determine whether available storage capacity of the memory is sufficient to store the NRT content,

when the at least one processor determines the storage capacity of the memory is insufficient, to instruct the external device to store the NRT content broadcast from the content source for subsequent streaming to the reception apparatus, and

when the at least one processor determines the storage capacity of the memory is sufficient, to store the received NRT content in the memory.

6. The reception apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured, in response to receiving the request to store the NRT content, to send an instruction to the external device to download the NRT content from the digital television broadcast signal broadcast from the content source.

7. The reception apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the receiver includes a tuner configured to receive the digital television broadcast signal.

8. The reception apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the NRT content is associated with primary content included in the digital television broadcast signal.

9. A method of a reception apparatus for storing non-real-time (NRT) content, comprising:

receiving, by a receiver of the reception apparatus, the NRT content included in a digital television broadcast signal broadcast from a content source;

storing, in a memory of the reception apparatus, the received NRT content included in the digital television broadcast signal broadcast from the content source;

outputting, by the reception apparatus, the NRT content stored in the memory for presentation to a user;

receiving, by a processor of the reception apparatus, a request to store the NRT content in an external device; and

in response to receiving the request to store the NRT content in the external device, sending an instruction via a communication network to store the NRT content in the external device.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein

the reception apparatus is a mobile device, and

the step of receiving the NRT content includes receiving the NRT content from a mobile network operator (MNO) that receives the digital television broadcast signal from the content source and downloads the NRT content from the digital television broadcast signal.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the step of sending the instruction comprises:

sending the instruction to the MNO to store the NRT content in the external device.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the step of sending the instruction comprises:

sending, by the reception apparatus, the NRT content stored in the memory to the external device via the communication network.

13. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

in response to a request for the NRT content, determining whether available storage capacity of the memory is sufficient to store the NRT content,

when the storage capacity of the memory is determined to be insufficient, to instruct the external device to store the NRT content broadcast from the content source for subsequent streaming to the reception apparatus, and

when the storage capacity of the memory is determined to be sufficient, to perform the step of storing in the memory of the reception apparatus the received NRT content.

14. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

in response to receiving the request to store the NRT content, sending an instruction to the external device to download the NRT content from the digital television broadcast signal broadcast from the content source.

15. The method according to claim 9, wherein the step of receiving the NRT content comprises:

receiving, by a tuner of the receiver, the digital television broadcast signal.

16. The method according to claim 9, wherein

the NRT content is associated with primary content included in the digital television broadcast signal.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having embedded therein instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method for storing non-real-time (NRT) content, the method comprising:

receiving, by a receiver of a reception apparatus, the NRT content included in a digital television broadcast signal broadcast from a content source;

storing, in a memory of the reception apparatus, the received NRT content included in the digital television broadcast signal broadcast from the content source;

outputting, by the reception apparatus, the NRT content stored in the memory for presentation to a user;

receiving, by a processor of the reception apparatus, a request to store the NRT content in an external device; and

in response to receiving the request to store the NRT content in the external device, sending an instruction via a communication network to store the NRT content in the external device.

18. A distribution system, comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a digital television broadcast signal including non-real-time (NRT) content broadcast from a content source;

a memory configured to store the NRT content broadcast from the content source;

at least one processor configured

to provide the NRT content to a reception apparatus, and

to receive a request to store the NRT content for retrieval on demand by a user.

19. The distribution system according to claim 18, wherein the at least one processor is configured to provide the NRT content to the reception apparatus in response to receiving a request for the NRT content from the reception apparatus.

20. The distribution system according to claim 18, wherein

the distribution system is a mobile network operator (MNO), and

the at least one processor is configured to provide the NRT content to the reception apparatus via an evolved Multicast Broadcast Multimedia Service (eMBMS) signal broadcast from the distribution system.