Streaming of digital data to a portable device

• US 8,634,030 B2
• Filed: 10/24/2003
• Issued: 01/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Inventors: Hale, Greg B., Nguyen, Phu V., Wiedefeld, William G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheleheda, James R
• Assistant Examiner(s): NEWLIN, TIMOTHY R
• Application Number:
  US10/692,513
• Publication Number:
  US 20040139482A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,742 Days
• Field of Search: 345/2.1, 345/2.2, 345/2.3, 345/864, 345/730, 725/81, 348/552, 348/460, 348/734
• US Class Current: 348/734
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/86 Arrangements characterised by the broadcast information itself
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4112 having fewer capabilities than the client, e.g. thin client having less processing power or no tuning capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4126 The peripheral being portable, e.g. PDAs or mobile phones
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41415 involving a public display, viewable by several users in a public space outside their home, e.g. movie theatre, information kiosk
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4222 Remote control device emulator integrated into a non-television apparatus, e.g. a PDA, media center or smart toy remote control device for a television receiver integrated into a mobile phone H04M1/72415
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4302 Content synchronisation processes, e.g. decoder synchronisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43079 of additional data with content streams on multiple devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4363 Adapting the video stream to a specific local network, e.g. a Bluetooth® network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4367 Establishing a secure communication between the client and a peripheral device or smart card
• 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 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4755 for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/488 Data services, e.g. news ticker systems specially adapted for using meteorological information in broadcast systems H04H60/71
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4884 for displaying subtitles
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8106 involving special audio data, e.g. different tracks for different languages
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8133 specifically related to the content, e.g. biography of the actors in a movie, detailed information about an article seen in a video program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 Conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/16 Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast

Abstract

The present invention achieves wireless delivery of media streams to portable devices for providing media information related to a show or attraction for the purposes of captioning, language translation, and assistive listening. As a person moves about a venue, the device receives infrared or radio signals from transmitters at venue locations. The device decodes each signal as venue location, event time, or device trigger for presentation on the device. The device memory contains audio, text, graphics and device playback may contain one or many of these stored contents. The stored content is synchronized with the user'"'"'s location, time of travel, time of day, time of a show, or an event in a show and may be in one or many languages. Presentation of stored content on the device may also be altered by user preference, stored logic constraints, automatic learning of user behavior, or user interaction with other devices.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing content data to a portable device such that the content data is accumulated in a memory of the portable device, the portable device having a display screen; and

providing at least one time prompt to the portable device to trigger the portable device to retrieve a portion of the content data from the memory and display the portion of the content data on the display screen in synchronization with a display of a corresponding portion of a media presentation at a media presentation display device at the at least one time prompt, the media presentation being distinct from the content data, the media presentation display device being distinct from the portable device, the portion of the content data being accumulated in the memory prior to the display of the corresponding portion of the media presentation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the content data is accessed by the portable device through an interactive application.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the portable device has a touch screen that receives an input for the interactive application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the content data is provided through an IR signal.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one time prompt is provided through an IR signal.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is provided from a first data source and the at least one time prompt is provided from a second data source, the first data source is distinct from the second data source.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the media presentation is live.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the media presentation is prerecorded.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the content data is provided through an RF signal.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one time prompt is provided through an RF signal.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the portable device is remote from the media display device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the portable device has a wireless transmitter.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the portable device has a wireless receiver.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the memory is a cache memory.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the portable device retrieves the portion of the content data from the memory by searching for the portion of the content data in the memory.

16. A method comprising:

providing content data to a portable device such that the content data is accumulated in a memory of the portable device and is accessible by an interactive application stored on the portable device, the portable device having a display screen, the portable device having a touch screen that receives an input for the interactive application; and

providing at least one time prompt to the portable device to trigger the portable device to retrieve a portion of the content data from the memory and display the portion of the content data on the display screen in synchronization with a display of a corresponding portion of a media presentation at a media presentation display device at the at least one time prompt, the media presentation being distinct from the content data, the media presentation display device being distinct from the portable device, the portion of the content data being accumulated in the memory prior to the display of the corresponding portion of the media presentation.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the content data is provided through an RF signal.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the at least one time prompt is provided through an RF signal.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the content is provided from a first data source and the at least one time prompt is provided from a second data source, the first data source is distinct from the second data source.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the portable device retrieves the portion of the content data from the memory by searching for the portion of the content data in the memory.

21. A method comprising:

providing content data from a first data source to a portable device via an RF signal such that the content data is accumulated in a memory of the portable device and is accessible by an interactive application stored on the portable device, the portable device having a display screen, the portable device having a touch screen that receives an input for the interactive application; and

providing at least one time prompt to the portable device to trigger the portable device to retrieve a portion of the content data from the memory and display the portion of the content data on the display screen in synchronization with a display of a corresponding portion of a media presentation at a media presentation display device at the at least one time prompt, the media presentation being distinct from the content data, the media presentation display device being distinct from the portable device, the portion of the content data being accumulated in the memory prior to the display of the corresponding portion of the media presentation, the media presentation being received from a second data source that is distinct from the first data source.