Solid-State Capture of Broadcast Media

• US 20170034587A1
• Filed: 07/30/2015
• Published: 02/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Roku, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Roku, Inc.
• Inventors: Garner, Gregory M.
• Granted Patent: US 11,012,756 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4263 involving specific tuning arrangements, e.g. two tuners
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4524 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6143 involving transmission via a satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/632 using a connection between clients on a wide area network, e.g. setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet for retrieving video segments from the hard-disk of other client devices broadcast-related systems characterised by transmission among terminal devices H04H60/80; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/50 Tuning indicators; Automatic tuning control

Abstract

Disclosed herein are system, method, and computer program product embodiments for the solid state capture of broadcast media. Multimedia content is received by a first tuner over one or more channels. A request is received from a networked device for the multimedia content from a particular one of the channels. The requested multimedia content is unavailable to a second tuner of the networked device. The requested multimedia content is provided over a network to the networked device.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method, comprising:

receiving multimedia content from one or more first devices, wherein the received multimedia content is available for sharing with a second device;

receiving a request from the second device for at least some of the multimedia content available for sharing, wherein the requested multimedia content is unavailable to one or more tuners of the second device; and

providing the requested multimedia content received from the one or more first devices over a network to the second device;

wherein the receiving by the first tuner, receiving the request, and providing are performed by one or more computers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the first devices is located in a first geographic area and receives the multimedia content, and wherein the second device is located in a second geographic area where the multimedia content is unavailable to be received by the one or more tuners of the second device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing comprises streaming live multimedia content received from the one or more first devices over the network to the second device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device is associated with a subscription to a particular channel associated with the multimedia content, and wherein the second device is not associated with a subscription to the particular channel.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing comprises:

determining that the request is for real-time multimedia content while a first tuner of a particular one of the first devices is tuned to a frequency associated with provision of the multimedia content; and

signaling that the requested multimedia content cannot be provided based on a determination that the first tuner is tuned to a different frequency not associated with the multimedia content.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining that the first tuner is tuned to a frequency that does not receive the requested multimedia content; and

discontinuing the providing.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device is registered with and indicates via a network service whether the multimedia content is available for access by the second tuner.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia content comprises broadcast television.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more first devices are associated with one or more first users, and wherein the second device is associated with a second user.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the second device, second content available for sharing with one or more of the first devices, wherein the one or more first devices include one or more respective tuners.

9. A system, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory that when executing control logic performs functions comprising;

receiving multimedia content from one or more first devices, wherein the received multimedia content is available for sharing with a second device;

receiving a request from the second device for at least some of the multimedia content available for sharing, wherein the requested multimedia content is unavailable to one or more tuners of the second device; and

providing the requested multimedia content received from the one or more first devices over a network to the second device.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein one of the first devices is located in a first geographic area and receives the multimedia content, and wherein the second device is located in a second geographic area where the multimedia content is unavailable to be received by the one or more tuners of the second device.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the providing includes streaming live multimedia content received from the one or more first devices over the network to the second device.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the first device is associated with a subscription to a particular channel associated with the multimedia content, and wherein the second device is not associated with a subscription to the particular channel.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the providing comprises:

determining that the request is for real-time multimedia content while a first tuner of a particular one of the first devices is tuned to a frequency associated with provision of the multimedia content; and

signaling that the requested multimedia content cannot be provided based on a determination that the first tuner is tuned to a different frequency not associated with the multimedia content.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the functions performed by the processor further comprise:

determining that first tuner is tuned to a frequency that does not receive the requested multimedia content; and

discontinuing the providing.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the first device is registered with and indicates via a network service whether the multimedia content is available for access by the second tuner.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the multimedia content comprises broadcast television.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable device having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one computing device, causes the at least one computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving multimedia content from one or more first devices, wherein the received multimedia content is available for sharing with a second device;

receiving a request from the second device for at least some of the multimedia content available for sharing, wherein the requested multimedia content is unavailable to one or more tuners of the second device; and

providing the requested multimedia content received from the one or more first devices over a network to the second device.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable device of claim 17, wherein one of the first devices is located in a first geographic area and receives the multimedia content, and wherein the second device is located in a second geographic area where the multimedia content is unavailable to be received by the one or more tuners of the second device.