IMAGE CAPTURE OF MULTIMEDIA CONTENT

• US 20160182972A1
• Filed: 12/22/2014
• Published: 06/23/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2014
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: ARRIS Enterprises LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ARRIS Enterprises LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhou, Wei
• Application Number:
  US14/579,121
• Publication Number:
  US 20160182972A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4345 Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/462 Content or additional data management, e.g. creating a master electronic program guide from data received from the Internet and a Head-end, controlling the complexity of a video stream by scaling the resolution or bit-rate based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47205 for manipulating displayed content, e.g. interacting with MPEG-4 objects, editing locally
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47217 for controlling playback functions for recorded or on-demand content, e.g. using progress bars, mode or play-point indicators or bookmarks specific graphical features in visual interfaces H04N21/4312
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8153 comprising still images, e.g. texture, background image

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer readable media can be operable to facilitate the capture and storage of an image of displayed content. A device may be configured to copy and/or store an image of received content as the content is displayed to a user. A user may initiate an image capture through a device interface while viewing content on the device. The device may provide the user with various options for interacting with, outputting, and/or storing the copied image.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving multimedia content at a device, wherein the received multimedia content is displayed through a display interface;

receiving a user request to capture an image associated with the multimedia content, wherein the image comprises the picture of the multimedia content as the content is displayed through the display interface;

creating a copy of the image associated with the multimedia content; and

storing the copy of the image associated with the multimedia content.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

outputting a user interface comprising one or more options for storing the copy of the image, the user interface being output through the display interface;

receiving user input associated with storing the copy of the image; and

wherein the copy of the image is stored according to the user input.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the copy of the image is stored at the device.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the copy of the image is output to and stored at a server that is external to the device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving program information associated with the received multimedia content; and

wherein the copy of the image is stored according to the program information.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the program information is retrieved from electronic program guide data associated with the received multimedia content.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein creating the copy of the image comprises:

pausing playback of the received multimedia content;

copying a frame associated with the paused content, the frame being located at the point in the content at which the content is paused, wherein the frame is retrieved from a buffer; and

converting the copied frame into an image file.

8. An apparatus comprising:

an interface configured to be used to receive multimedia content;

an interface configured to be used to display the multimedia content;

an interface configured to be used to receive a user request to capture an image associated with the multimedia content, wherein the image comprises the picture of the multimedia content as the content is displayed;

a module configured to create a copy of the image associated with the multimedia content; and

an interface configured to be used to output the copy of the image for storage.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein:

the interface configured to be used to display the multimedia content is further configured to be used to output a user interface comprising one or more options for storing the copy of the image;

the interface configured to be used to receive a user request is further configured to be used to receive user input associated with storing the copy of the image; and

wherein the copy of the image is output for storage according to the user input.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising:

storage configured to store the copy of the image.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

a module configured to retrieve program information associated with the received multimedia content; and

wherein the copy of the image is output for storage according to the program information.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the program information is retrieved from electronic program guide data associated with the received multimedia content.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein creating the copy of the image comprises:

pausing playback of the received multimedia content;

copying a frame associated with the paused content, the frame being located at the point in the content at which the content is paused, wherein the frame is retrieved from a buffer; and

converting the copied frame into an image file.

14. One or more non-transitory computer readable media having instructions operable to cause one or more processors to perform the operations comprising:

receiving multimedia content at a device, wherein the received multimedia content is displayed through a display interface;

receiving a user request to capture an image associated with the multimedia content, wherein the image comprises the picture of the multimedia content as the content is displayed through the display interface;

creating a copy of the image associated with the multimedia content; and

storing the copy of the image associated with the multimedia content.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 14, wherein the instructions are further operable to cause one or more processors to perform the operations comprising:

outputting a user interface comprising one or more options for storing the copy of the image, the user interface being output through the display interface;

receiving user input associated with storing the copy of the image; and

wherein the copy of the image is stored according to the user input.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein the copy of the image is stored at the device.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein the copy of the image is output to and stored at a server that is external to the device.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 14, wherein the instructions are further operable to cause one or more processors to perform the operations comprising:

retrieving program information associated with the received multimedia content; and

wherein the copy of the image is stored according to the program information.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 18, wherein the program information is retrieved from electronic program guide data associated with the received multimedia content.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 14, wherein creating the copy of the image comprises:

pausing playback of the received multimedia content;

copying a frame associated with the paused content, the frame being located at the point in the content at which the content is paused, wherein the frame is retrieved from a buffer; and

converting the copied frame into an image file.