Apparatus and method for storing and providing a portion of media content to a communication device

• US 8,634,704 B2
• Filed: 09/16/2009
• Issued: 01/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Johnston, Robert, Coppa, Frank, Wood, James
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Thai
• Assistant Examiner(s): Park, Sunghyoun
• Application Number:
  US12/560,869
• Publication Number:
  US 20110067058A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,588 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 386/263
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2747 Remote storage of video programs received via the downstream path, e.g. from the server
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• 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 21/4181 for conditional access
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4333 Processing operations in response to a pause request
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a mobile device having a controller to present media content provided by an interactive television (iTV) network, select a function during presentation of the media content to store at least a remaining portion of the media content, wherein the function is selected when the presentation of the media content is to be interrupted, store the media content in a memory location of the mobile device, select the function to retrieve the remaining portion of the media content from the memory location, and present the remaining portion of the media content. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A mobile device, comprising:

a memory to store computer instructions; and

a controller coupled with the memory, wherein the controller, responsive to executing the computer instructions, performs operations comprising;

presenting media content transmitted by a gateway in communication with an interactive television network, the media content provide by a server of the interactive television network;

detecting an error in the presenting of the media content;

generating a storage request for storing a remaining portion of the media content at the gateway responsive to the detecting of the error, wherein the storage request is generated without user input at the mobile device, wherein the remaining portion of the media content comprises content that has not been presented by the mobile device;

providing the storage request to the gateway to cause the gateway to access an electronic media guide for identifying the remaining portion of the media content and to cause the gateway to obtain and store the remaining portion of the media content at the gateway without obtaining and storing an entire copy of the media content at the gateway, wherein the gateway obtains the remaining portion of the media content from a network storage device that is remote from the gateway, and wherein the identifying of the remaining portion of the media content is based on guide information of the electronic media guide that corresponds to the media content and a run time of the media content;

subsequently generating a retrieval request for retrieving the remaining portion of the media content from the gateway, wherein the retrieval request is generated based on user input at the mobile device; and

providing the retrieval request to the gateway to cause the gateway to transmit the remaining portion of the media content for presentation at the mobile device.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the controller, responsive to executing the computer instructions, performs operations comprising:

storing a copy of the remaining portion of the media content at the memory of the mobile device, wherein the controller stores the copy of the remaining portion of the media content only when the mobile device is communicatively linked to a cellular data network.

3. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the controller, responsive to executing the computer instructions, performs operations comprising:

receiving the remaining portion of the media content; and

presenting the remaining portion of the media content at a display device of the mobile device, wherein the media content includes video and audio content.

4. The mobile device of claim 3, wherein the controller receives other media content from the interactive television network, wherein the other media content is associated with the media content based on a subject matter of the media content.

5. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the interactive television network comprises an internet protocol television system, and wherein the gateway is a serving general packet radio service support node.

6. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the storage request enables the gateway to transmit the remaining portion of the media content to a second communication device responsive to receiving a second retrieval request from the second communication device.

7. The mobile device of claim 6, wherein the second communication device is selected based on user input at the mobile device.

8. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the media content is secured by digital rights management by a computing device in communication with the interactive television network.

9. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the controller receives an advertisement from the interactive television network, wherein the advertisement is associated with the media content.

10. A method, comprising:

transmitting, by a system comprising a gateway, media content generated by an interactive television network to a mobile device via the gateway, wherein the transmitting of the media content causes presentation of the media content at the mobile device;

receiving, by the gateway, a storage request to store a remaining portion of the media content from the mobile device when presentation of the media content is interrupted, wherein the storage request is received at the gateway responsive to a detection of an error in the presentation of the media content at the mobile device, wherein the receiving of the storage request is without user interaction, wherein the remaining portion of the media content comprises content that has not been presented by the mobile device;

identifying, by the gateway, the remaining portion of the media content based on electronic guide information and a run time of the media content, the identifying of the remaining portion being responsive to the receiving of the storage request;

obtaining and storing, by the gateway, the remaining portion of the media content at the gateway without obtaining and storing an entire copy of the media content at the gateway;

subsequently receiving, by the gateway, a retrieval request to access the remaining portion of the media content from the mobile device; and

subsequently transmitting, by the gateway, the remaining portion of the media content to the mobile device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the interactive television network comprises an internet protocol television system.

12. The method of claim 10, comprising generating corrected media content by correcting an error in the media content occurring during presentation of the media content, and transmitting the corrected media content to the mobile device.

13. The method of claim 10, comprising receiving a request to access the remaining portion of the media content from a set top box, wherein the set top box is associated with the mobile device.

14. The method of claim 13, comprising transmitting the remaining portion of the media content from the gateway to the set top box without transmitting an entire copy of the media content, and wherein the detection of the error is by a device other than the mobile device.

15. The method of claim 10, comprising securing the media content via digital rights management protocol utilizing a computing device other than the gateway and the mobile device.

16. A tangible computer-readable storage device, storing computer instructions which, responsive to being executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

presenting media content at a display device, the media content provided by an interactive television network and transmitted to the display device via a gateway in communication with the interactive television network;

detecting an error in the presenting of the media content;

responsive to the detecting of the error and without user interaction, transmitting a storage request to the gateway that causes the gateway to obtain a remaining portion of the media content based on electronic programming guide information and causes the gateway to store the remaining portion of the media content without obtaining and storing an entire copy of the media content at the gateway wherein the remaining portion of the media content comprises content that has not been presented at the display device;

subsequently generating a retrieval request for retrieving the remaining portion of the media content from the gateway, wherein the retrieval request is generated based on user input at a mobile device; and

subsequently presenting the remaining portion of the media content at the display device.

17. The tangible computer-readable storage device of claim 16, comprising computer instructions to specify a set top box to access the remaining portion of the media content from the gateway.

18. The tangible computer-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the set top box presents the remaining portion of the media content at the display device.

19. The tangible computer-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the gateway stores the remaining portion of the media content based on a run time of the media content.

20. The tangible computer-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the gateway secures the media content via a digital rights management protocol.