METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PRESENTING MEDIA CONTENT

• US 20150012824A1
• Filed: 09/22/2014
• Published: 01/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2008
• 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: Meuninck, Troy C., Hill, N. Peter, Kashapov, Oleg
• Granted Patent: US 10,367,880 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/716
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/103 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/611 for multicast or broadcast systems for broadcast or conference H04L12/18; arrangements for broadcast or distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/00; arrangements for broadcast applications with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time H04H60/00; selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS], H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2221 being a cable television head-end CATV in broadcast systems H04H20/78
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2665 Gathering content from different sources, e.g. Internet and satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6405 Multicasting data broadcast and multicast in packet switching networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6408 Unicasting
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17354 in an intermediate station common to a plurality of user terminals

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a system having a controller to detect a selection of media content from a media content source, detect that the selected media content comprises a plurality of media content types, present a plurality of media content type options, each option corresponding to one of the plurality of media content types or combinations thereof, detect a selection from the plurality of media content type options, submit a request to a targeted communication device to accept or decline the selected media content according to the selected media content type option, retrieve one or more metadata pointers from the media content source for retrieving the selected media content responsive to receiving an acceptance from the targeted communication device, and store the one or more metadata pointers and the selected media content type option. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A media portal comprising:

a memory to store executable instructions; and

a controller coupled to the memory, wherein the controller, responsive to executing the instructions, performs operations comprising;

storing a metadata pointer associated with media content selected by a first communication device for use by a second communication device, the selected media content including a video portion,

wherein the metadata pointer is stored responsive to acceptance of a first request, submitted to the second communication device, to accept or decline the selected media content, the first request comprising a sample of the selected media content including the video portion; and

responsive to a second request from the second communication device for the selected media content,

retrieving the selected media content from a media content source according to the metadata pointer,

processing the selected media content for presentation to the second communication device without storing the selected media content in the memory, and

presenting the selected media content at the second communication device, wherein the selected media content is not stored at the second communication device.

2. The media portal of claim 1, wherein the metadata pointer is retrievable by the controller from the media content source, and

wherein the metadata pointer indicates a location of the selected media content in the media content source for subsequent retrieval.

3. The media portal of claim 2, wherein the metadata pointer comprises a uniform resource locator or a uniform resource identifier.

4. The media portal of claim 1, wherein the metadata pointer is configured for enabling locating the video portion from among images of the media content.

5. The media portal of claim 1, wherein the storing further comprises storing an identifier of the second communication device.

6. The media portal of claim 1, wherein the first request comprises a prompt to accept or decline the selected media content, and wherein submission of the first request causes the prompt and the video portion to be superimposed on a media program presented on the second communication device.

7. The media portal of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise receiving a third request from the first communication device to transfer the selected media content to the second communication device, wherein the third request includes an identifier of the second communication device and a media content type option.

8. The media portal of claim 7, wherein the media content, the media content type option and the identifier of the second communication device comprise user selections performed using the first communication device.

9. The media portal of claim 7, wherein the second communication device comprises a selection from a plurality of communication devices retrieved from a user profile of the first communication device.

10. The media portal of claim 7, wherein the media content type option comprises a selection from a plurality of media content types of the selected media content presented at the first communication device.

11. A machine-readable storage device comprising instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

storing a metadata pointer associated with media content selected by a first communication device, the selected media content including a video portion,

wherein the metadata pointer is stored responsive to acceptance of a first request, submitted to a second communication device, to transfer the selected media content to the second communication device, the first request comprising the video portion of the selected media content; and

responsive to a second request from the second communication device for the selected media content,

retrieving the selected media content from a media content source according to the metadata pointer,

processing the selected media content for presentation to the second communication device without storing the selected media content, and

presenting the selected media content at the second communication device, wherein the selected media content is not stored at the second communication device.

12. The machine-readable storage device of claim 11, wherein the metadata pointer is retrievable from the media content source, and

wherein the metadata pointer indicates a location of the selected media content in the media content source for subsequent retrieval.

13. The machine-readable storage device of claim 11, wherein the metadata pointer is configured for enabling locating the video portion from among images of the media content.

14. The machine-readable storage device of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise receiving a third request from the first communication device to transfer the selected media content to the second communication device, wherein the third request includes an identifier of the second communication device and a media content type option.

15. The machine-readable storage device of claim 14, wherein the media content, the media content type option and the identifier of the second communication device comprise user selections performed using the first communication device.

16. A communication device comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

a controller coupled to the memory, wherein responsive to executing the instructions, the controller performs operations comprising;

detecting a selection of media content from a media content source;

detecting that the selected media content comprises a plurality of media content types;

presenting a plurality of media content type options, each option corresponding to at least one of the plurality of media content types;

detecting a selection from the plurality of media content type options, wherein the selection comprises an image representing the selected media content;

presenting a plurality of identifiers of communication devices from a user profile;

detecting a selection of a target communication device from the plurality of identifiers of communication devices; and

transmitting a request to a media portal to submit to the target communication device the image representing the selected media content and a prompt to accept or decline a transfer of the selected media content; and

retrieving a metadata pointer from the media content source, wherein the metadata pointer is configured for retrieving the selected media content responsive to receiving an acceptance from the targeted communication device and is configured to enable locating the image representing the selected media content from among images of the media content.

17. The communication device of claim 16, wherein the media portal, responsive to receiving the acceptance from the targeted communication device, stores the metadata pointer and the selected media content type option.

18. The communication device of claim 17, wherein the media portal, responsive to receiving a request from the targeted communication device for the selected media content,

retrieves the selected media content from the media content source according to the metadata pointer,

processes the selected media content according to the selected media content type option, and

presents the selected media content at the target communication device without the selected media content being stored at the target communication device.

19. The communication device of claim 16, wherein the metadata pointer is retrievable from the media content source, and wherein the metadata pointer indicates a location of the selected media content in the media content source for subsequent retrieval.

20. The communication device of claim 16, wherein submission to the target communication device of the image representing the selected media content and the prompt causes the prompt and the image representing the selected media content to be superimposed on a media program presented on the target communication device.