Home network controller with remote user interface wrapper of discovered multimedia content

• US 8,984,053 B2
• Filed: 10/03/2012
• Issued: 03/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Saturn Licensing LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Clift, Graham
• Primary Examiner(s): Dalencourt, Yves
• Application Number:
  US13/644,097
• Publication Number:
  US 20140095585A1
• Time in Patent Office: 895 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2812 describing content present in a home automation network, e.g. audio video content retrieval from the Internet G06F16/95
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances

Abstract

A home networked controller device leverages discovery and control services to improve interoperability between devices that share multimedia content by re-serving the content wrapped in a remote user interface to enable client devices that have the capability to play the content but that require a remote user interface to be present.

Claims

1. A controller comprising:

at least one computer usable memory that is not a signal and having instructions which instructions when executed by at least one processor configure the processor to;

adapt different sources of content to a client device on a network through a single user interface (UI) provided by the controller to the client device to transparently enable the client device to also receive content for playback that was initially presented without a remote UI, wherein at least a first source of content provides no remote UI and provides only AV content, and the instructions when executed by the processor configure the processor to;

store the remote UI;

discover the AV content on the first source of content, and

wrap at least a content list representing the content in the remote UI prior to providing the remote UI along with the content list wrapped therein to the client device.

2. The controller of claim 1, wherein the controller is embodied by the client device.

3. The controller of claim 1, wherein the controller is physical separate from the client device.

4. The controller of claim 1, wherein the instructions when executed by the processor configure the processor to:

transform multimedia content into content which is wrapped in the remote UI such that multimedia content is embedded in the remote UI.

5. The controller of claim 1, wherein the instructions when executed by the processor configure the controller to combine discovery functionality for discovering multimedia content with remote UI serving device functionality so that playback of the multimedia content is achieved on client service applications that only handle multimedia content offered as part of a remote UI.

6. The controller of claim 1, wherein the remote UI is a discoverable web browser with audio video (AV) playback.

7. The controller of claim 1, wherein the instructions when executed by the processor configure the processor to receive, from the source of content, the remote UI.

8. The controller of claim 1, further comprising the at least one processor.