Unified media devices controlling using pre-defined functional interfaces

• US 8,230,341 B2
• Filed: 04/14/2009
• Issued: 07/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Eyecon IP Holding
• Original Assignee: Eyecon IP Holding
• Inventors: Friedlander, Meir, Fomin, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Tuyetlien
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chuong, Truc
• Application Number:
  US12/423,240
• Publication Number:
  US 20100131848A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,197 Days
• Field of Search: 715/719, 715762-763, 715/713, 715741-745, 715/789, 715810-811, 715/829
• US Class Current: 715/719
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2812 describing content present in a home automation network, e.g. audio video content retrieval from the Internet G06F16/95
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

A method (and a computer-readable medium comprising executable instructions for generating a user interface on a display) are disclosed for controlling a plurality of media objects connected to a network. The method displays a subset of a group of predefined functional interfaces. A functional interface comprises one or more user menus and each user menus is associated with at least one media object. The method forwards a user request to a control server and to receive a response to the user request from the control server. A user request comprises one or more user interactions with the subset of the functional interfaces. The method further comprises updating the subset of the functional interfaces on the display screen.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for facilitating controlling of one or more media objects connected to a network through a control server, the method comprising:

receiving, from a control point, a user profile associated with a user of the control point and one or more display parameters of a screen of the control point, wherein the control point comprises a view area configured to display one or more predefined functional interfaces according to a predefined configuration, at least one of the functional interfaces having one or more immediate neighboring functional interfaces according to the predefined configuration, an immediate neighboring functional interface of a selected functional interface being the functional interfaces immediately adjacent to the selected functional interface, the control point being a device or module connected to the control server, the functional interfaces being for controlling media objects, media objects comprising media devices in the network and media content in the network for processing by at least one of the media devices;

selecting a first subset of the plurality of predefined functional interfaces to be displayed by the view area based on the user profile and the display parameters of the screen of the control point, wherein each functional interface of the first subset of the plurality of the predefined functional interfaces is configured to control one or more media objects associated with the functional interface, and is further configured to interact with its immediate neighboring functional interfaces according to the predefined configuration, wherein an immediate neighboring functional interface of a selected functional interface is the functional interfaces immediately adjacent to the selected functional interface, and wherein each functional interface has one or more user menus;

transmitting the selected first subset of the plurality of the predefined functional interfaces to the control point;

receiving a user request from the control point, wherein the user request corresponds to one or more selections of user menu items within the first subset of the plurality of the functional interfaces, and each selection of user menu item corresponds to a command to control the media object associated with the selected menu;

selecting a second subset of the plurality of the functional interfaces based on the user request; and

transmitting the second subset of the plurality of the functional interfaces to the control point.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined configuration comprises a linear arrangement of the functional interfaces to be displayed on the screen of the control point, and the functional interfaces are navigable in either a first linear direction or a second linear direction, wherein a user selection of a menu item from a functional interface transmits a signal to update operations of the media objects associated with the immediate neighboring functional interfaces in one of the linear direction.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined configuration is a two-dimensional arrangement of the functional interfaces to be displayed on the screen of the control point, and the functional interfaces are navigable within a first axis and a second axis of a two-dimensional plane, wherein a user selection of a menu item from a functional interface transmits a signal to update operations of the media objects associated with the immediate neighboring functional interfaces within the first axis and the second axis.

4. The method of claim 1,

wherein the predefined configuration is a three-dimensional arrangement of the functional interfaces to be displayed on the screen of the control point, and the functional interfaces are navigable within a first axis, a second axis, a third axis of a three-dimensional space, or within two of the first axis, the second axis and the third axis,

wherein a user selection of a menu item from a functional interface transmits a signal to update operations of the media objects associated with the immediate neighboring functional interfaces in the three-dimensional space.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the display parameters of the screen of the control point are determined based on at least one of a size of the screen, a resolution of the screen and a processing capability of the control point.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the second subset of the plurality of the functional interfaces comprises selecting the second subset of the plurality of the functional interfaces based on the user request being one of a navigation request, playback device discovery request, a content search request, and a content playback request.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

responsive to the user request being a navigation request, wherein the navigation request corresponds to movement from one functional interface to an adjacent functional interface of the first set of the functional interface;

changing a plurality of pointers of the first subset of plurality of the functional interfaces currently displayed on the screen of the control point, wherein each pointer is associated with a functional interface in the first subset of the functional interfaces; and

setting a plurality of new pointers to the second subset of the plurality of the functional interfaces, wherein each new pointer is associated with a functional interface in the second subset of the functional interfaces.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

responsive to the user request being a content search request, wherein the content search request comprises at least one of a plurality of resources to be searched, a set of search filters and a user identification;

for each resource to be searched;

determining whether the resource is stored in a local storage;

in response to the resource stored locally, searching the local storage;

in response to the resource not stored locally, searching a plurality of content providers connected to the network;

merging search results from one or more content providers into one search result;

and

updating the first subset of the plurality of the functional interfaces with the search result.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

responsive to the user request being a playback device discovery request, wherein the playback device discovery request comprises at least one of device parameters and a device identification associated with each playback device;

broadcasting the playback device discovery request to a plurality of playback devices connected to the network;

for each playback device connected to the network;

authenticating the playback device;

in response to the playback device being known in the network, retrieving information about the playback device from a device management database;

in response to the playback device not being known in the network, collecting information directly from the playback device itself and updating the device management database; and

generating a response that includes a list of the authenticated playback devices.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

responsive to the user request being a content playback request, wherein the content playback request comprises a name of the content to be played and an identification of a playback device;

determining whether the playback device is capable of playing back the content;

in response to the playback device being capable of playing back the content;

retrieving the content from a media content storage;

playing the content on the playback device; and

in response to the playback device being incapable of playing back the content, sending notification of status of the playback device to the control point.

11. The method of claim 1,

wherein the second subset of the plurality of the functional interfaces is the reselected first subset of the plurality of the functional interfaces,

wherein the reselected first subset of the plurality of the functional interfaces are updated based on the processing result of the user request.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined configuration of the plurality of the functional interfaces is a linear arrangement of the functional interfaces, and a subset of the plurality of the functional interfaces is navigable in either a first or a second direction linearly, wherein a user selection of a menu item from a functional interface transmits a signal to update operations of the media objects associated with the immediate neighboring functional interfaces in one of the linear direction.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined configuration of the plurality of the functional interfaces is a two-dimensional arrangement of the functional interfaces, and a subset of the functional interfaces is navigable within a first axis and a second axis in a two-dimensional plane, wherein a user selection of a menu item from a functional interface transmits a signal to update operations of the media objects associated with the immediate neighboring functional interfaces within the first axis and the second axis.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined configuration of the plurality of the functional interfaces is a three-dimensional arrangement of the functional interfaces, and a subset of the functional interfaces is navigable within a first axis, a second axis, a third axis in a three-dimensional space, or within two of the first axis, the second axis and the third axis, wherein a user selection of a menu item from a functional interface transmits a signal to update operations of the media objects associated with the immediate neighboring functional interfaces in the three-dimensional space.

15. A computer implemented method for facilitating controlling of one or more objects connected to a network through a control server, the method comprising:

based on a user profile of an identified user of a plurality of users and one or more display parameters of a screen of a control point, selecting a first subset of a plurality of functional interfaces, the first subset to be displayed in a view area of a control point according to a predefined configuration, at least one of the functional interfaces having one or more immediate neighboring functional interfaces according to the predefined configuration, an immediate neighboring functional interface of a selected functional interface being the functional interfaces immediately adjacent to the selected functional interface, wherein each of the plurality of the functional interfaces of the first subset includes one or more user menu items, is operative to control one or more media objects associated with the functional interface, and is further configured to interact with its immediate neighboring functional interfaces according to the predefined configuration, media objects comprising media devices couple to the network and media content couple to the network for processing by at least one of the media devices;

transmitting the selected first subset of the plurality of the predefined functional interfaces to the control point, such that the control point, in response to receiving the transmitted second subset, displays the second subset in the view area;

receiving a user request from the control point, wherein the user request corresponds to one or more selections of one or more of the user menu items within the first subset of the plurality of the functional interfaces, and each selection of user menu item corresponds to a command to control the media object associated with the selected one or more menu items;

in response to the received user request, selecting a second subset of the plurality of the functional interfaces based on the user request; and

transmitting the second subset of the plurality of the functional interfaces to the control point such that the control point, in response to receiving the transmitted second subset, displays the second subset in the view area.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium for facilitating controlling of a plurality of media objects connected to a network through a control server, the transitory computer-readable medium comprising program code that when executed causes:

based on a user profile of an identified user of a plurality of users and one or more display parameters of a screen of a control point, selecting a first subset of a plurality of functional interfaces, the first subset to be displayed in a view area of the screen of the control point according to a predefined configuration, at least one of the functional interfaces having one or more immediate neighboring functional interfaces according to the predefined configuration, an immediate neighboring functional interface of a selected functional interface being the functional interfaces immediately adjacent to the selected functional interface, wherein each of the plurality of the functional interfaces of the first subset includes one or more user menu items, is operative to control one or more media objects associated with the functional interface, and is further configured to interact with its immediate neighboring functional interfaces according to the predefined configuration, and wherein each functional interface has one or more user menus, media objects comprising media devices couple to the network and media content couple to the network for processing by at least one of the media devices;

transmitting the selected first subset of the plurality of the predefined functional interfaces to the control point, such that the control point, in response to receiving the transmitted second subset, displays the second subset in the view area;

receiving a user request from the control point, wherein the user request corresponds to one or more selections of one or more of the user menu items within the first subset of the plurality of the functional interfaces, and each selection of user menu item corresponds to a command to control the device associated with the selected one or more menu item items;

in response to the received user request, selecting a second subset of the plurality of the functional interfaces based on the user request; and

transmitting the second subset of the plurality of the functional interfaces to the control point, such that the control point in response to receiving the transmitted second subset, displays the second subset in the view area.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the program code when executed further causes selecting the second subset of the plurality of the functional interfaces comprises program code for selecting the second subset of the plurality of the functional interfaces based on the user request being one of a navigation request, playback device discovery request, a content search request, and a content playback request.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the program code when executed further causes:

responsive to the user request being a navigation request, wherein the navigation request corresponds to movement from one functional interface to an adjacent functional interface of the first set of the functional interface;

changing a plurality of pointers of the first subset of plurality of the functional interfaces currently displayed on the screen of the control point, wherein each pointer is associated with a functional interface in the first subset of the functional interfaces; and

setting a plurality of new pointers to the second subset of the plurality of the functional interfaces, wherein each new pointer is associated with a functional interface in the second subset of the functional interfaces.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the program code when executed further causes:

responsive to the user request being a content search request, wherein the content search request comprises at least one of a plurality of resources to be searched, a set of search filters and a user identification;

for each resource to be searched;

determining whether the resource is stored in a local storage;

in response to the resource stored locally, searching the local storage;

in response to the resource not stored locally, searching a plurality of content providers connected to the network;

merging search results from one or more content providers into one search result; and

updating the first subset of the plurality of the functional interfaces with the search result.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the program code when executed further causes:

responsive to the user request being a playback device discovery request, wherein the playback device discovery request comprises at least one of device parameters and a device identification associated with each playback device;

broadcasting the playback device discovery request to a plurality of playback devices connected to the network;

for each playback device connected to the network;

authenticating the playback device;

in response to the playback device being known in the network, retrieving information about the playback device from a device management database;

in response to the playback device not being known in the network, collecting information directly from the playback device itself and updating the device management database; and

generating a response that includes a list of the authenticated playback devices.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the program code when executed further causes:

responsive to the user request being a content playback request, wherein the content playback request comprises a name of the content to be played and an identification of a playback device;

determining whether the playback device is capable of playing back the content;

in response to the playback device being capable of playing back the content;

retrieving the content from a media content storage;

playing the content on the playback device; and

in response to the playback device being incapable of playing back the content, sending notification of status of the playback device to the control point.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the second subset of the plurality of the functional interfaces is the reselected first subset of the plurality of the functional interfaces, wherein the reselected first subset of the plurality of the functional interfaces are updated based on the processing result of the user request.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the predefined configuration of the plurality of the functional interfaces is a linear arrangement of the functional interfaces, and a subset of the plurality of the functional interfaces is navigable in either a first or a second direction linearly, wherein a user selection of a menu item from a functional interface transmits a signal to update operations of the media objects associated with the immediate neighboring functional interfaces in one of the linear direction.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the predefined configuration of the plurality of the functional interfaces is a two-dimensional arrangement of the functional interfaces, and a subset of the functional interfaces is navigable within a first axis and a second axis in a two-dimensional plane, wherein a user selection of a menu item from a functional interface transmits a signal to update operations of the media objects associated with the immediate neighboring functional interfaces within the first axis and the second axis.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the predefined configuration of the plurality of the functional interfaces is a three-dimensional arrangement of the functional interfaces, and a subset of the functional interfaces is navigable within a first axis, a second axis, a third axis in a three-dimensional space, or within two of the first axis, the second axis and the third axis, wherein a user selection of a menu item from a functional interface transmits a signal to update operations of the media objects associated with the immediate neighboring functional interfaces in the three-dimensional space.