Method and apparatus for presenting media content

• US 9,237,372 B2
• Filed: 12/15/2008
• Issued: 01/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2008
• 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: Dey, Spondon
• Primary Examiner(s): Bruckart, Benjamin R
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bantamoi, Anthony
• Application Number:
  US12/335,082
• Publication Number:
  US 20100154023A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,584 Days
• Field of Search: 725 78- 80, 348/734, 455/41, 455/420, 370/310, 709/231
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4402 involving reformatting operations of video signals for household redistribution, storage or real-time display details of conversion of video standards at pixel level H04N7/01; video transcoding H04N19/40; adapting incoming signals to the display format of the display terminal G09G5/005; media handling at the source in data packet switching networks H04L65/764
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4436 Power management, e.g. shutting down unused components of the receiver power management in computer systems G06F1/3203; hibernate or awake process in computer systems G06F9/4418
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4518 involving characteristics of one or more peripherals, e.g. peripheral type, software version, amount of memory available or display capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6131 involving transmission via a mobile phone network wireless downlink channel access H04W74/006
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6181 involving transmission via a mobile phone network arrangements for providing broadcast or conference services to substation in data switching networks in combination with wireless systems H04L12/189; wireless uplink channel access H04W74/004

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a mobile communication device having a controller to receive a broadcast of media content from a first media source using a first communication protocol, display the media content on the mobile communication device, determine whether the media content satisfies one or more parameter thresholds when the media content is available to a display device from a second media source that is not the mobile communication device where the one or more parameter thresholds are based at least in part on the media content available from the second media source and where the display device is remote from the mobile communication device, and commence streaming of the media content from the mobile communication device to the display device when the media content exceeds the one or more parameter thresholds. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of a mobile communication device, comprising computer instructions which when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations comprising:

receiving, at a mobile communication device, media content from a first media source via a wireless communication link to a cellular base station using long-term evolution protocol;

receiving, at the mobile communication device, first information from a display device via a first wireless communication interface to the display device, wherein the first information identifies a preferred media content communication protocol for the display device;

selecting a first media content communication protocol from a plurality of media content communication protocols based on the preferred media content communication protocol;

determining whether the media content is available to the display device from a second media source; and

if the first media content is available from the second media source, then;

transmitting a first stream of the media content from the mobile communication device to the display device via the first wireless communication interface according to the first media content communication protocol if the mobile communication device determines that the transmitting of the media content via the mobile communication device would not result in power consumption at the mobile communication device exceeding a threshold; and

allowing the display device to receive the media content from the second media source if the transmitting of the media content via the mobile communication device would result in the power consumption at the mobile communication device exceeding the threshold.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining if the transmitting of the media content via the mobile communication device is resulting in the power consumption exceeding the threshold; and

stopping the transmitting of the media content from the mobile communication device to the display device responsive to the determining that the transmitting of the media content via the mobile communication device is exceeding the threshold.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein the display device receives the media content from the second media source from a point in the media content where the mobile communication device stopped transmitting the media content to the display device responsive to the determining that the transmitting of the media content via the mobile communication device is exceeding the threshold.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the power consumption at the mobile communication device is determined by detecting a battery level at the mobile communication device.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the first media content communication protocol comprises enhanced-vestigial sideband modulation.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the selecting of the first media content communication protocol is further based on a user profile associated with the display device or the mobile communication device and wherein the enhanced-vestigial sideband modulation has a lower profile version and a higher profile version.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the plurality of media content communication protocols comprise WiFi, WiMax, Bluetooth, or any combination thereof.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the first media content communication protocol comprises a single carrier frequency division multiple access scheme.

9. A mobile communication device comprising:

a memory to store computer instructions; and

a controller coupled with the memory, wherein the computer instructions when executed by the controller facilitate performance of operations comprising;

receiving at a mobile communication device media content from a first media source via a wireless communication link to a cellular base station using long-term evolution protocol;

displaying the media content on the mobile communication device;

receiving, at the mobile communication device, a preferred media content communication protocol from a display device via a first wireless communication interface to the display device;

selecting a first media content communication protocol from a plurality of media content communication protocols based on the preferred media content communication protocol;

determining that routing the media content from the mobile communication device to the display device will not result in power consumption at the mobile communication device exceeding a threshold; and

transmitting a first stream of the media content from the mobile communication device to the display device via the wireless communication interface according to the first media content communication protocol responsive to the determining that the routing of the media content from the mobile communication device to the display device will not result in the power consumption at the mobile communication device exceeding the threshold.

10. The mobile communication device of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise adjusting a format of the media content prior to transmitting the first stream to the display device.

11. The mobile communication device of claim 9, wherein the wireless communication link to a cellular base station uses a single carrier frequency division multiple access scheme.

12. The mobile communication device of claim 9, wherein the first media content communication protocol is an orthogonal frequency division multiple access scheme.

13. The mobile communication device of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that the transmitting of the first stream of the media content from the mobile communication device to the display device is resulting in the power consumption at the mobile communication device exceeding a threshold; and

stopping transmitting of the first stream of the media content from the mobile communication device to the display device responsive to the determining that the power consumption at the mobile communication device the power consumption is exceeding the threshold.

14. A display device comprising:

a memory to store computer instructions; and

a controller coupled with the memory, wherein the computer instructions when executed by the controller facilitate performance of operations comprising;

sending information identifying a preferred media content communication protocol to a mobile communication device via a first wireless communication interface to the mobile communication device;

receiving from the mobile communication device a first stream of media content via the first wireless communication interface according to the preferred media content communication protocol if the mobile communication device determines that transmitting the first stream of media content will not result in power consumption at the mobile communication device exceeding a threshold, wherein the mobile communication device receives the first stream of media content from a first media source via a wireless communication link to a cellular base station using long-term evolution protocol; and

presenting the media content from the first stream as directed by the mobile communication device.

15. The display device of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise:

stopping the receiving of the first stream of the media content from the mobile communication device; and

receiving a second stream of the media content from a set top box responsive to stopping the receiving of the first stream, wherein the second stream is received from a point in the media content where the first stream stopped.

16. The display device of claim 14, wherein a format of the media content is adjusted prior to receiving of the first stream.

17. The display device of claim 14, wherein a format of the media content is adjusted by the mobile communication device to provide a plurality of profile versions of the media content, wherein a first version has more error correction than a second version.

18. The display device of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise transmitting a protocol selection signal to the mobile communication device, the protocol selection signal representing the preferred media communication protocol.

19. The display device of claim 18, wherein the preferred media communication protocol is a first communication protocol that is different from a second communication protocol utilized by the mobile communication device to receive the media content from a first media source.

20. A set top box, comprising:

a memory to store computer instructions; and

a controller coupled with the memory, wherein the computer instructions when executed by the controller facilitate performance of operations comprising;

receiving broadcast media content; and

delivering the media content to a display device responsive to disabling of a first stream of the media content received by the display device from a mobile communication device via a first wireless communication interface according to a preferred media content communication protocol, wherein the media content is received at the mobile communication device from a first media source via a wireless communication link to a cellular base station using long-term evolution protocol, and wherein the disabling of the first stream of the media content from the mobile communication device is responsive to the mobile communication device determining that transmitting of the first stream of the media content is resulting in power consumption at the mobile communication device exceeding a threshold.

21. The set top box of claim 20, wherein the operations further comprises determining whether the media content of the mobile communication device satisfies a parameter threshold.

22. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a mobile communication device, media content from a first media source via a first wireless communication interface using a first communication protocol, wherein the first wireless communication interface comprises a wireless communication link to a cellular base station using long-term evolution protocol;

receiving, by the mobile communication device, first information from a display device via a second wireless communication interface to the display device, wherein the first information identifies a preferred media content communication protocol for the display device;

selecting, by the mobile communication device, a first media content communication protocol from a plurality of media content communication protocols based on the preferred media content communication protocol;

determining, by the mobile communication device, that routing the media content from the mobile communication device to the display device will not result in power consumption at the mobile communication device exceeding a threshold; and

transmitting, by the mobile communication device, a first stream of the media content from the mobile communication device to the display device via the second wireless communication interface according to the first media content communication protocol responsive to the determining that the routing of the media content from the mobile communication device to the display device will not result in the power consumption at the mobile communication device exceeding the threshold.

23. The method of claim 22, comprising adjusting, by the mobile communication device, a format of the media content prior to transmitting the first stream to the display device.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising determining, by the mobile communication device, whether the media content of the mobile communication device satisfies a parameter threshold.