CONTENT DISTRIBUTION AND DATA AGGREGATION FOR SCALABILITY OF OBSERVATION PLATFORMS

• US 20150113098A1
• Filed: 12/30/2014
• Published: 04/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Theatro Labs Inc.
• Original Assignee: Theatro Labs Inc.
• Inventors: VanBuskirk, Guy R., Kumar, Ravi Shankar, Cheedella, Shiva, Lucy, Steve
• Granted Patent: US 10,375,133 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• 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 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Methods and systems for managing and distributing content and aggregation of data in a plurality of observation platforms are disclosed. A message is generated with content at a content distribution manager. A delivery of the message is scheduled and a plurality of specified devices are specified for delivery in a plurality of observation platforms at a designated time and/or location(s) via the content distribution manager, wherein the plurality of observation platforms are capable of receiving a signal from a first mobile device with a first characteristic that corresponds to an audible source and a second characteristic that corresponds to information indicative of a geographic position of the first mobile device and relaying the signal to a destination based on the first characteristic and/or the second characteristic. The message is delivered to the plurality of observation platforms which relays the message to the plurality of specified devices at the designated time.

Claims

1. A method for managing and distributing content in a plurality of observation platforms, comprising:

generating a message with content at a content distribution manager;

scheduling delivery of said message and specifying a plurality of specified devices for delivery in a plurality of observation platforms at a designated time and/or location via said content distribution manager, wherein said plurality of observation platforms are capable of receiving a signal from a first mobile device with a first characteristic that corresponds to an audible source and a second characteristic that corresponds to information indicative of a geographic position of said first mobile device and relaying said signal to a destination based on said first characteristic and/or said second characteristic; and

delivering said message to said plurality of observation platforms which relays said message to said plurality of specified devices at said designated time and/or location.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said content distribution manager has a graphical interface that is accessed at a computer system via a uniform resource locator (URL).

3. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said specifying said plurality of is based on a factor selected from the list of factors consisting of:

time, location, device, user status, user roles, policies, and contextual information derived from said signal.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said content is pre-recorded audio.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said content is audio that is recorded during said generating said message.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said content is audio derived from textual and/or machine language converted to spoken language and/or other audible cues.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said content distribution manager further comprises abilities to listen to and/or talk to individual devices or a plurality of devices based on said signal or contextual information derived from said signal.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

receiving confirmation at said content distribution manager that said message has been played at one of said plurality of specified devices.

9. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said content distribution manger is further for displaying data from a plurality of observation platforms wherein each of said plurality of observation platforms are associated with a geographically located environment.

10. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said scheduling delivery of said message is for an immediate delivery of said message and said delivering said message occurs immediately upon receiving said message.

11. A non-transitory computer-usable storage medium having instructions embodied therein that when executed cause a computer system to perform a method for managing and distributing content in a plurality of observation platforms, said method comprising:

generating a message with content at a content distribution manager;

scheduling delivery of said message and specifying a plurality of specified devices for delivery in a plurality of observation platforms at a designated time and/or location via said content distribution manager, wherein said plurality of observation platforms are capable of receiving a signal from a first mobile device with a first characteristic that corresponds to an audible source and a second characteristic that corresponds to information indicative of a geographic position of said first mobile device and relaying said signal to a destination based on said first characteristic and/or said second characteristic; and

delivering said message to said plurality of observation platforms which relays said message to said plurality of specified devices at said designated time and/or location.

12. The non-transitory computer-usable storage medium as recited in claim 11 wherein said content distribution manager has a graphical interface that is accessed at a computer system via a uniform resource locator (URL).

13. The non-transitory computer-usable storage medium as recited in claim 11 wherein said specifying said plurality of is based on a factor selected from the list of factors consisting of:

time, location, device, user status, user roles, policies, and contextual information derived from said signal.

14. The non-transitory computer-usable storage medium as recited in claim 11 wherein said content is pre-recorded audio.

15. The non-transitory computer-usable storage medium as recited in claim 11 wherein said content is audio that is recorded during said generating said message.

16. The non-transitory computer-usable storage medium as recited in claim 11 wherein said content is audio derived from textual and/or machine language converted to spoken language and/or other audible cues.

17. The non-transitory computer-usable storage medium as recited in claim 11 wherein said content distribution manager further comprises abilities to listen to and/or talk to individual devices or a plurality of devices based on said signal or contextual information derived from said signal.

18. The non-transitory computer-usable storage medium as recited in claim 11 further comprising:

receiving confirmation at said content distribution manager that said message has been played at one of said plurality of specified devices.

19. The non-transitory computer-usable storage medium as recited in claim 11 wherein said content distribution manger is further for displaying data from a plurality of observation platforms wherein each of said plurality of observation platforms are associated with a geographically located environment.

20. The non-transitory computer-usable storage medium as recited in claim 11 wherein said scheduling delivery of said message is for an immediate delivery of said message and said delivering said message occurs immediately upon receiving said message.

21. A method for managing a plurality of observation platforms via a manager application, comprising:

accessing one observation platform of a plurality of observation platforms via a manager application at a mobile device comprising a processor, memory, visual screen, and a network interface card, wherein said plurality of observation platforms are capable of receiving a signal from a first mobile device with a first characteristic that corresponds to an audible source and a second characteristic that corresponds to information indicative of a geographic position of said first mobile device and relaying said signal to a destination based on said first characteristic and/or said second characteristic;

displaying monitoring statistics of said one observation platform corresponding to devices associated with said observation platform;

receiving a message at said manager application from a user of said mobile device; and

relaying said message to specified devices in said one observation platform from said manager application, wherein said specified devices are specified by said user via said mobile device and said manager application.

22. The method as recited in claim 21 wherein said mobile device is selected from the group of mobile devices consisting of:

a smart phone, a smart phone executing an Android operating system, a smart phone executing an iOS operating system, a laptop, and a tablet computer system.

23. The method as recited in claim 21 wherein said manager application has a graphical interface that is accessed by said mobile device.

24. The method as recited in claim 21 wherein said message is a voice recording of said user of said mobile device.

25. The method as recited in claim 21 wherein said displaying said monitoring statistics displays data from a plurality of observation platforms wherein each of said plurality of observation platforms are associated with a geographically located environment.

26. The method as recited in claim 21 further comprising:

receiving confirmation at said manager application that said message has been delivered to at least one of said specified devices.