Content and application download based on a home network system configuration profile

• US 7,707,606 B2
• Filed: 06/16/2008
• Issued: 04/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Hofrichter, Klaus, Gaxiola, David Gabriel, Dara-Abrams, Joseph Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): Lonsberry; Hunter B.
• Application Number:
  US12/214,131
• Publication Number:
  US 20080255692A1
• Time in Patent Office: 680 Days
• Field of Search: 725/50, 725/80, 725/133, 725/141
• US Class Current: 725/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2805 Home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2814 Exchanging control software or macros for controlling appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving configuration of the network and network elements H04L41/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2834 Switching of information between an external network and a home network access arrangements H04L12/2856
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2836 Protocol conversion between an external network and a home network controlling appliance services of a home automation network from a device located outside the home and the home network H04L12/2818; protocol conversion H04L69/08; adaptation of digital video signals for transport over a specific home network H04N7/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A system and method is provided for identifying, accessing, and managing service applications for use with associated consumer electronic devices in a home network system. A client side process, executed by a client computing system in the home network system, operates in conjunction with a server side process executed by a server computing system that is coupled with the client computing system via the Internet. The client computing system is implemented by a gateway device coupled with each of the devices via the home network. The client side process includes the steps of: determining device ID information associated with at least one selected one of the consumer electronic devices in the home network system; determining a home network system configuration profile based at least on the device ID information; providing the home network system configuration profile to a selected server computing system via the Internet; downloading an application from the selected server computing system, the application being operative to provide a process associated with the selected electronic devices; and executing the downloaded application at the gateway device to provide a remote interactive process associated with the selected electronic devices.

Claims

1. A process of identifying and managing applications comprising:

determining device identification information associated with at least one electronic device included in a home network;

determining a home network configuration profile based at least on said device identification information, wherein the home network configuration profile comprises a plurality of home network configuration parameters;

providing said home network configuration profile to a server, wherein the server is remote from the home network;

based on the provided home network configuration profile, automatically downloading an application from the server to the home network, the application being operative to provide to the or each electronic device, a control application, an interface application, a device interplay application, a support application, a diagnostic application, or a maintenance application; and

executing said downloaded application within the home network.

2. A process of identifying and managing applications as recited in claim 1 further comprising determining a bandwidth capacity of the home network, and wherein determining a home network configuration profile further includes determining said home network configuration profile based on said bandwidth capacity.

3. A process of identifying and managing applications as recited in claim 1 further comprising determining a user profile for a user of the home network, and wherein determining a home network configuration profile further includes determining said home network configuration profile based on said user profile.

4. A process of identifying and managing applications as recited in claim 1 further comprising determining a history of use of the home network, the history of use including used application information and media content information, and wherein determining a home network configuration profile further includes determining said home network configuration profile based on said history of use.

5. A process of identifying and managing applications as recited in claim 1 further comprising determining storage capacity of at least one memory device available in the home network, and wherein determining a home network configuration profile further includes determining said home network configuration profile based on said storage capacity.

6. A process of identifying and managing applications as recited in claim 1 further comprising determining at least one content decoding capability available in the home network, and wherein determining a home network configuration profile further includes determining said home network configuration profile based on said content decoding capability.

7. A process of identifying and managing applications as recited in claim 1 further comprising determining at least one security and decryption capability available in the home network, and wherein determining a home network configuration profile further includes determining said home network configuration profile based on said security and decryption capability.

8. A process of identifying and managing applications as recited in claim 1 wherein automatically downloading an application comprises:

determining a search key based on said device identification information; and

using said search key to query said server for an application associated with the electronic device.

9. A process of identifying and managing applications as recited in claim 1 wherein said device identification information identifies at least two electronic devices in the home network, and wherein said downloaded application comprises a device interplay application that utilizes resources of each of the at least two electronic devices.

10. A process of identifying and managing applications as recited in claim 1 wherein said downloaded application is operative to remotely control the electronic device.

11. A process of identifying and managing applications as recited in claim 1 wherein the home network provides for communicative coupling between the electronic devices within the home network in order to exchange instructions and audio-visual data between or among the electronic devices within the home network.

12. A process of identifying and managing applications as recited in claim 1 further comprising automatically downloading content from the server to be output by at least one of the electronic devices.

13. A process as recited in claim 1 wherein said home network configuration profile further comprises information indicating a bandwidth capacity of the home network.

14. A process as recited in claim 1 wherein said home network configuration profile further comprises information indicating a user profile for a user of the home network.

15. A process as recited in claim 1 wherein said home network configuration profile further comprises information indicating a history of use of the home network, the history of use including used application information and media content information.

16. A process as recited in claim 1 wherein said home network configuration profile further comprises information indicating a total storage capacity of memory devices available in the home network.

39. A process of identifying and managing applications as recited in claim 1 wherein the downloaded application is executed at a gateway device.

17. A process of identifying and accessing media content comprising:

determining device identification information associated with at least one electronic device included in a home network;

determining a home network configuration profile based at least on a plurality of home network configuration parameters including said device identification information;

providing said home network configuration profile to a server, wherein the server is remote from the home network; and

based on the provided home network configuration profile, automatically downloading media content from the server to be output by at least one electronic device.

18. A process of identifying and accessing media content as recited in claim 17 further comprising determining a bandwidth capacity of the home network, and wherein determining a home network configuration profile further includes determining said home network configuration profile based on said bandwidth capacity.

19. A process of identifying and accessing media content as recited in claim 17 further comprising determining a user profile for a user of the home network, and wherein determining a home network configuration profile further includes determining said home network configuration profile based on said user profile.

20. A process of identifying and accessing media content as recited in claim 17 further comprising determining a history of use of the home network, the history of use including used application information and media content information, and wherein determining a home network configuration profile further includes determining said home network configuration profile based on said history of use.

21. A process of identifying and accessing media content as recited in claim 17 further comprising determining a storage capacity of at least one memory device available in the home network, and wherein determining a home network configuration profile further includes determining said home network configuration profile based on said storage capacity.

22. A process of identifying and accessing media content as recited in claim 17 further comprising determining at least one content decoding capability available in the home network, and wherein determining a home network configuration profile further includes determining said home network configuration profile based on said content decoding capability.

23. A process of identifying and accessing media content as recited in claim 17 further comprising determining at least one security and decryption capability available in the home network, and wherein determining a home network configuration profile further includes determining said home network configuration profile based on said security and decryption capability.

24. A process of identifying and accessing media content as recited in claim 17 wherein automatically downloading selected media comprises:

determining a search key based on said device identification information; and

using said search key to query said server for media content.

25. An electronic device coupled to a network of devices comprising:

a communications interface through which the electronic device communicates with a remote server;

a network communications interface through which the electronic device communicates with devices within the network of devices, wherein the electronic device communicates with the devices within the network of devices to determine device identification information for one or more of the devices and a configuration profile of the one or more of the devices, the configuration profile including a plurality of home network configuration parameters, further wherein the electronic device automatically provides the configuration profile to the remote server through the communications interface and, based on the provided configuration profile, automatically downloads an application from the remote server, the application being associated with the one or more of the devices; and

a processing circuit coupled to the communications interface and the network communications interface for executing the application to provide to the one or more devices, a control application, an interface application, a device interplay application, a support application, a diagnostic application, or a maintenance application.

26. The electronic device as claimed in claim 25 wherein the configuration profile is based on bandwidth capacity.

27. The electronic device as claimed in claim 25 wherein the configuration profile is based on a user profile for a user of the network of devices.

28. The electronic device as claimed in claim 25 wherein the configuration profile is based on a history of use of the network of devices, the history of use including used application information and media content information.

29. The electronic device as claimed in claim 25 wherein the configuration profile is based on total storage capacity of at least one memory device available in the network of devices.

30. The electronic device as claimed in claim 25 wherein the configuration profile is based on at least one content decoding capability within the network of devices.

31. The electronic device as claimed in claim 25 wherein the configuration profile is based on at least one security and decryption capability available within the network of devices.

40. The electronic device as claimed in claim 25 wherein the electronic device comprises a gateway device.

32. A gaming console gateway device coupled to a network of devices comprising:

a communications interface through which the gaming console gateway device communicates with a remote server; and

a network communications interface through which the gaming console gateway device communicates with devices within the network of devices, wherein the gaming console gateway device communicates with the devices within the network of devices to determine device identification information for one or more of the devices and a configuration profile of the one or more of the devices, the configuration profile including a plurality of home network configuration parameters, further wherein the gaming console gateway device automatically provides the configuration profile to the remote server through the communications interface and, based on the provided configuration profile, automatically downloads an application from the remote server, the application being associated with the one or more of the devices.

33. The gaming console gateway device as claimed in claim 32 wherein the configuration profile is based on bandwidth capacity.

34. The gaming console gateway device as claimed in claim 32 wherein the configuration profile is based on a user profile for a user of the network of devices.

35. The gaming console gateway device as claimed in claim 32 wherein the configuration profile is based on a history of use of the network of devices, the history of use including used application information and media content information.

36. The gaming console gateway device as claimed in claim 32 wherein the configuration profile is based on total storage capacity of at least one memory device available in the network of devices.

37. The gaming console gateway device as claimed in claim 32 wherein the configuration profile is based on at least one content decoding capability within the network of devices.

38. The gaming console gateway device as claimed in claim 32 wherein the configuration profile is based on at least one security and decryption capability available within the network of devices.