Method for providing a content-sharing service, and device therefor

• US 8,762,465 B2
• Filed: 01/23/2009
• Issued: 06/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Mun-Jo, Rhim, Eun-Hee, Lee, Kwang-Kee, Hwang, In-chul
• Primary Examiner(s): MIRZA, ADNAN M
• Application Number:
  US12/865,252
• Publication Number:
  US 20110004665A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,978 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/206
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1066 Session management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/266 Channel or content management, e.g. generation and management of keys and entitlement messages in a conditional access system, merging a VOD unicast channel into a multicast channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4882 for displaying messages, e.g. warnings, reminders arrangements for providing short real-time information to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1895
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing contents-sharing services are provided. The method for providing contents-sharing services includes: receiving a contents-sharing request message for a contents sharer from a first contents reproducing apparatus of a contents sharing requester; transmitting a contents-sharing notify message generated using the received contents-sharing request message to a second contents reproducing apparatus of the contents sharer; and transmitting the received contents-sharing request message to a streaming server, wherein the transmitted contents-sharing request message requests the streaming server to transmit contents to the second contents reproducing apparatus of the contents sharer.

Claims

1. A contents-sharing service providing method performed in a management server, the contents-sharing service providing method comprising:

receiving a contents-sharing request message from a first contents reproducing apparatus;

transmitting a contents-sharing notify message generated using the received contents-sharing request message to a second contents reproducing apparatus; and

transmitting the received contents-sharing request message to a streaming server,

wherein the transmitted contents-sharing request message requests the streaming server to transmit contents to the second contents reproducing apparatus without receiving a request for the contents transmission from the second contents reproducing apparatus.

2. The contents-sharing service providing method of claim 1, wherein the contents-sharing request message comprises at least one of contents information corresponding to the contents, reproducing duration information, information about the first contents reproducing apparatus, information about the second contents reproducing apparatus, and contents-sharing mode information.

3. The contents-sharing service providing method of claim 1, wherein the contents-sharing notify message comprises at least one of contents information corresponding to the contents, reproducing duration information, information about the first contents reproducing apparatus, and contents authority acquiring server location information.

4. The contents-sharing service providing method of claim 3, wherein the contents-sharing notify message further comprises at least one of information to provide personalized services for the second contents reproducing apparatus and information to provide advertisement services.

5. The contents-sharing service providing method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the contents-sharing request message and the contents-sharing notify message is written in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format.

6. The contents-sharing service providing method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting contents authority information of the second contents reproducing apparatus to the second contents reproducing apparatus; and

transmitting the contents authority information to the streaming server.

30. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the method of claim 1.

33. The contents-sharing service providing method of claim 3, wherein the contents authority acquiring server location information comprises a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of a contents authority acquiring server which provides contents authority information of the second contents reproducing apparatus.

34. The contents-sharing service providing method of claim 1, wherein the contents-sharing request message comprises contents sharing mode information indicating allowable control commands of the contents for at least one of a contents sharer and the second contents reproducing apparatus.

42. The contents-sharing service providing method according to claim 1, wherein the streaming server provides contents in real time.

7. A contents sharing method performed in a contents reproducing apparatus, the contents sharing method comprising:

receiving a contents-sharing notify message from a management server, the contents-sharing notify message notifying the contents reproducing apparatus to receive contents from a streaming server;

receiving contents authority information of the contents reproducing apparatus from a contents authority acquiring server according to location information of the contents authority acquiring server included in the received contents-sharing notify message; and

receiving the contents from the streaming server,

wherein the contents-sharing notify message comprises at least one of contents information corresponding to the contents, reproducing duration information, information about a contents-sharing requester which requests the transmitting of the contents to the contents reproducing apparatus, and contents authority acquiring server location information.

8. The contents sharing method of claim 7, wherein the contents-sharing notify message is written in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format.

9. The contents sharing method of claim 7, further comprising receiving the contents from the streaming server from a point in time when the contents-sharing requester performs reproduction, by using reproduction start time information included in the reproducing duration information.

10. The contents sharing method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a contents control command and the contents from the streaming server; and

controlling a reproduction of the received contents according to the received contents control command.

31. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the method of claim 7.

35. The contents sharing method of claim 7, wherein a contents reproducing requesting apparatus, distinct from the contents reproducing apparatus, requests the transmitting of the contents to the contents reproducing apparatus.

11. A contents-sharing control method performed in a streaming server, the contents-sharing control method comprising:

receiving a contents-sharing request message from a management server;

receiving a contents control command from a first contents reproducing apparatus; and

selectively transmitting the received contents control command to a second contents reproducing apparatus according to information included in the received contents-sharing request message without receiving a request for the contents transmission from the second contents reproducing apparatus.

12. The contents-sharing control method of claim 11, wherein the contents-sharing request message comprises at least one of contents information corresponding to contents, reproducing duration information, information about the first contents reproducing apparatus, information about the second contents reproducing apparatus, and contents-sharing mode information.

13. The contents-sharing control method of claim 12, wherein the contents-sharing mode information indicates contents-control commands which are to be shared between the first contents reproducing apparatus and the second contents reproducing apparatus, in units of control commands or overall control commands.

14. The contents-sharing control method of claim 13, wherein the selectively transmitting the received contents control command comprises transmitting the received contents control command when the contents-sharing mode information indicates that the transmitting the received contents control command is allowed.

15. The contents-sharing control method of claim 11, further comprising receiving contents authority information from a contents authority acquiring server.

32. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the method of claim 11.

36. The contents-sharing control method of claim 11, further comprising:

generating a contents-sharing table according to information included in the received contents-sharing request message,

wherein the selectively transmitting the contents control command comprises selectively transmitting the contents control command according to the generated contents-sharing table.

37. The contents-sharing control method of claim 36, wherein the generated contents-sharing table comprises at least one of contents information corresponding to contents, reproducing duration information, information about the first contents reproducing apparatus, information about the second contents reproducing apparatus, and contents-sharing mode information.

16. A management server comprising:

a contents-sharing request message reception unit which receives a contents-sharing request message from a first contents reproducing apparatus;

a contents reproducing apparatus interface unit which transmits a contents-sharing notify message generated using the received contents-sharing request message to a second contents reproducing apparatus; and

a streaming server interface unit which transmits the received contents-sharing request message to a streaming server,

wherein the transmitted contents-sharing request message requests the streaming server to transmit contents to the second contents reproducing apparatus without receiving a request for the contents transmission from the second contents reproducing apparatus.

17. The management server of claim 16, wherein the contents-sharing notify message comprises at least one of contents information corresponding to the contents, reproducing duration information, information about the first contents reproducing apparatus, and contents authority acquiring server location information.

18. The management server of claim 17, wherein the contents-sharing notify message further comprises at least one of information to provide personalized services for the second contents reproducing apparatus and information to provide advertisement services.

19. The management server of claim 16, wherein at least one of the contents-sharing request message and the contents-sharing notify message is written in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format.

20. The management server of claim 16, wherein:

the contents reproducing apparatus interface unit transmits contents authority information of the second contents reproducing apparatus to the second contents reproducing apparatus; and

the streaming server interface unit transmits the contents authority information to the streaming server.

21. A contents reproducing apparatus comprising:

a management server interface unit which receives a contents-sharing notify message from a management server, the contents-sharing notify message notifying the contents reproducing apparatus is to receive contents from a streaming server;

a contents authority acquiring server interface unit which receives contents authority information of the contents reproducing apparatus from a contents authority acquiring server according to location information of the contents authority acquiring server included in the received contents-sharing notify message; and

a contents reception unit which receives the contents from the streaming server,

wherein the contents-sharing notify message comprises at least one of contents information corresponding to the contents, reproducing duration information, information about a contents-sharing requester which requests the transmitting of the contents to the contents reproducing apparatus, and contents authority acquiring server location information.

22. The contents reproducing apparatus of claim 21, wherein the contents-sharing notify message is written in the Extensible Markup Language (XML) format.

23. The contents reproducing apparatus of claim 21, wherein the contents reception unit receives the contents from the streaming server from a point in time when the contents-sharing requester performs reproduction, by using reproduction start time information included in the reproducing duration information.

24. The contents reproducing apparatus of claim 21, further comprising:

a control command reception unit which receives a contents control command from the streaming server; and

a control unit which controls a reproduction of the contents according to the received contents control command.

25. A streaming server comprising:

a management server interface unit which receives a contents-sharing request message from a management server;

a table generation unit which generates a contents-sharing table according to information included in the received contents-sharing request message;

a control command reception unit which receives a contents control command from a first contents reproducing apparatus; and

a control command transmission unit which selectively transmits the received contents control command to a second contents reproducing apparatus according to the generated contents-sharing table without receiving a request for the contents transmission from the second contents reproducing apparatus.

26. The streaming server of claim 25, wherein the contents-sharing request message and the contents-sharing table comprise at least one of contents information corresponding to contents, reproducing duration information, information about the first contents reproducing apparatus, information about the second contents reproducing apparatus, and contents-sharing mode information.

27. The streaming server of claim 26, wherein the contents-sharing mode information indicates contents-control commands which are to be shared between the first contents reproducing apparatus and the second contents reproducing apparatus, in units of control commands or overall control commands.

28. The streaming server of claim 27, wherein the control command transmission unit transmits the received contents control command to the second contents reproducing apparatus when the contents-sharing mode information allows transmission of the received contents control command.

29. The streaming server of claim 25, further comprising a contents authority acquiring server interface unit which receives contents authority information from a contents authority acquiring server.

38. A contents sharing method performed in a contents reproducing apparatus, the contents sharing method comprising:

receiving a contents-sharing notify message from a management server;

transmitting a contents-sharing request message to a streaming server according to information included in the received contents-sharing notify message,

wherein the contents-sharing request message requests the streaming server to transmit contents to the contents reproducing apparatus, and

wherein a contents reproducing requesting apparatus, distinct from the contents reproducing apparatus, requests the transmitting of the contents to the contents reproducing apparatus,

wherein the streaming server controls a synchronizing and control sharing of a reproduction of the contents between the contents reproducing requesting apparatus and the contents reproducing apparatus according to information included in the contents-sharing request message.

39. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the method of claim 38.

40. A contents sharing service method comprising:

transmitting, from a first contents reproducing apparatus to a management server including a memory, a contents-sharing request message requesting transmission of contents to a second contents reproducing apparatus, different from the first contents reproducing apparatus;

generating, by the management server, a contents-sharing notify message according to the contents-sharing request message;

transmitting, from the management server to the second contents reproducing apparatus, the generated contents-sharing notify message;

transmitting, from the second contents reproducing apparatus to a streaming server, a request for the contents according to the contents-sharing notify message;

transmitting, from the streaming server to the first contents reproducing apparatus and the second contents reproducing apparatus, the contents according to the request,

wherein the streaming server controls a synchronizing and control sharing of a reproduction of the contents between the first contents reproducing apparatus and the second contents reproducing apparatus.

41. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the method of claim 40.