Dynamically mediating multimedia content and devices

• US 8,255,785 B2
• Filed: 04/18/2008
• Issued: 08/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Baumert, David W., Goldthwaite, Flora P., Hendrickson, Gregory L., Cluts, Jonathan
• Primary Examiner(s): HUYNH, CONG LAC T
• Application Number:
  US12/105,971
• Publication Number:
  US 20080214104A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,593 Days
• Field of Search: 715/201, 715/202
• US Class Current: 715/201
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42202 environmental sensors, e.g. for detecting temperature, luminosity, pressure, earthquakes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44227 Monitoring of local network, e.g. connection or bandwidth variations; Detecting new devices in the local network configuring of peripheral devices in general G06F9/4411; monitoring connectivity in data switched networks H04L43/0811
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4516 involving client characteristics, e.g. Set-Top-Box type, software version or amount of memory available

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide a communication network having a plurality of communication devices capable of transferring content wirelessly. The communication network comprises at least two communication devices and a mediator. The first communication device receives streaming content. The second communication device receives content different from the content streaming to the first communication device. In turn, the mediator determines whether the streaming content should take precedence over the content different from the content streaming on the first communication device.

Claims

1. A method for mining relationships between multimedia content and a plurality of devices, the method comprising:

receiving multimedia content information;

receiving device information of the plurality of devices in a network environment; and

correlating the multimedia content information and the device information that describes device offerings and capabilities comprising of;

location, size of display, and stereo availability to determine best-fit devices to reproduce the multimedia content, wherein device relationships are generated based on the correlation of the multimedia content information and the device information.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the device relationships include parent child relationships between the plurality of devices.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of devices include wireless devices.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the best fit devices are a group of devices of the plurality of devices capable of reproducing the content.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the relationships specify which device controls reproduction.

6. A communication network having a plurality of communication devices capable of transferring content wirelessly, the communication network comprising:

a first communication device to receive streaming content;

a second communication device to receive content different from the content streaming to the first communication device; and

a mediator to determine whether the streaming content should take precedence over the content different from the content streaming on the first communication device by identifying if the first communication device or second communication device is a most recent device to connect to the communication network

if the first communication device is the most recent device to connect to the communication network, providing to the second communication device the streaming content in addition to the content different from the streaming content, wherein the streaming content takes precedence over the content different from the streaming content;

if the second communication device is the most recent device to connect to the communication network, providing to the first communication device the content different from the streaming content in addition to the streaming content, wherein the content different from the streaming content takes precedence over the streaming content.

7. The communication network of claim 6, further comprising:

a third communication device that is connected to a non-intelligent device.

8. The communication network of claim 7, further comprising:

a fourth communication device that dynamically generates a user interface.

9. The communication network of claim 6, wherein the content different from the content streaming to the first communication device is a notification stream.

10. The communication network of claim 6, wherein the first communication device receives content from the Internet.

11. The communication network of claim 6, wherein the mediator is distributed across the first and second communication devices.

12. A computer system having a processor, a memory, and an operating environment, the computer system operable to execute a method for mining relationships between multimedia content and a plurality of devices, the method comprising:

receiving multimedia content information;

receiving device information of the plurality of devices in a network environment; and

correlating the multimedia content information and the device information that describes device offerings and capabilities comprising of;

location, size of display, and stereo availability to determine best-fit devices to reproduce the multimedia content, wherein device relationships are generated based on the correlation of the multimedia content information and the device information.

13. The computer system according to claim 12, wherein the device relationships include parent child relationships between the plurality of devices.

14. The computer system according to claim 12, wherein the plurality of devices include wireless devices.

15. The computer system according to claim 12, wherein the best fit devices are a group of devices of the plurality of devices capable of reproducing the content.

16. The computer system according to claim 12, wherein the relationships specify which device controls reproduction.