Method and system for switching subscriber content
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- determining by an apparatus of a content provider to transmit content via a first network to at least a first device based upon a subscription of a user, wherein the apparatus is located outside of user premises;
determining by the apparatus that the content is requested by a second device based upon the subscription, wherein the second device is a mobile device;
determining by the apparatus to transmit the content via a second network to the second device based upon the subscription; and
determining by the apparatus to transmit a control signal via the first network to the first device and to transmit the content via the second network to the second device respectively, wherein the control signal causes continuation of the content transmission to the first device and continuation of content recordation at the first device from a time point prior to the transmission of the control signal, while disabling reproduction of the content by the first device based upon the subscription.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Embodiments of the present invention provide that a content provider itself provide subscription content to a device of a second type, rather than to a device of a first type. For example, the device of the second type may be a mobile telephone or the like, while the device of the first type may be a set-top box. By providing the content itself the content provider can keep track as to when it is providing content to the device of the second type, and further, in some embodiments, take action to prevent reproduction of the content at the device of the first type, such that while the user is viewing the subscriber content on the device of the second type, another user is not able to view the same content on the device of the first type. In order to provide such an arrangement, the content provider is preferably provided with suitable content encoding and streaming server apparatus, which is able to encode the content in a format appropriate for transmission to the device of the second type (such as, for example, transmission to a mobile device.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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determining by an apparatus of a content provider to transmit content via a first network to at least a first device based upon a subscription of a user, wherein the apparatus is located outside of user premises; determining by the apparatus that the content is requested by a second device based upon the subscription, wherein the second device is a mobile device; determining by the apparatus to transmit the content via a second network to the second device based upon the subscription; and determining by the apparatus to transmit a control signal via the first network to the first device and to transmit the content via the second network to the second device respectively, wherein the control signal causes continuation of the content transmission to the first device and continuation of content recordation at the first device from a time point prior to the transmission of the control signal, while disabling reproduction of the content by the first device based upon the subscription. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An apparatus comprising:
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at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code for one or more programs, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus of a content provider to perform at least the following, determine to transmit content via a first network to at least a first device based upon a subscription of a user; determine that the content is requested by a second device based upon the subscription, wherein the second device is a mobile device; determine to transmit the content via a second network to the second device based upon the subscription; and determine to transmit a control signal via the first network to the first device and to transmit the content via the second network to the second device respectively, wherein the control signal causes continuation of the content transmission to the first device and continuation of content recordation at the first device from a time point prior to the transmission of the control signal, while disabling reproduction of the content by the first device based upon the subscription, wherein the apparatus is located outside of user premises. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause an apparatus of a content provider to at least perform the following steps:
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determining to transmit content via a first network to a first device based upon a subscription of a user; determining that the content is requested by a second device based upon the subscription, wherein the second device is a mobile device; determining to transmit the content via a second network to the second device based upon the subscription; and determining to transmit a control signal via the first network to the first device and to transmit the content via the second network to the second device respectively, wherein the control signal causes continuation of the content transmission to the first device and continuation of content recordation at the first device from a time point prior to the transmission of the control signal, while disabling reproduction of the content by the first device based upon the subscription, wherein the apparatus is located outside of user premises. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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Specification