Remote viewing of multimedia content

• US 9,374,627 B2
• Filed: 10/08/2013
• Issued: 06/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2009
• 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: Howcroft, Jerald Robert, Raftelis, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Okeke, Izunna
• Assistant Examiner(s): SONG, HEE K
• Application Number:
  US14/048,619
• Publication Number:
  US 20140040937A1
• Time in Patent Office: 987 Days
• Field of Search: 380/277, 726/4, 726/27, 370/401, 370/468, 709/217, 705/51, 725/25, 725/38, 725/39, 725/46, 725/74, 725/78, 725 80- 82, 725/85, 725/86, 725/91, 725/123, 725/131
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4126 The peripheral being portable, e.g. PDAs or mobile phones
• 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 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440236 by media transcoding, e.g. video is transformed into a slideshow of still pictures, audio is converted into text
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4627 Rights management associated to the content security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64707 for transferring content from a first network to a second network, e.g. between IP and wireless

Abstract

A method and system for remote viewing of multimedia content using a multimedia content distribution network (MCDN) is configured to duplicate multimedia content displayed on a first MCDN terminal device and route the duplicate multimedia content to a second MCDN terminal device. The MCDN terminal devices may be coupled to a local network at an MCDN client premises. The MCDN terminal devices may also include wireless telephony devices for mobile remote viewing functionality. The method may include transcoding of the multimedia content into a format suitable for the second MCDN terminal device.

Claims

1. A multimedia distribution method, comprising:

transmitting, via a service provider network, a first multimedia stream associated with a program to a first terminal device of a network client;

receiving a remote viewing request to view the program on a second terminal device;

accessing remote viewing configuration information indicating either;

a viewed device as a default device and a viewing device as a non-default device;

or

the viewed device as the non-default device and the viewing device as the default device;

responsive to determining that terminal services are resident on the default device, invoking terminal services of the default device to perform terminal service operations fulfilling the remote viewing request; and

responsive to determining that terminal services are not resident on the default device, invoking terminal services of the non-default device to perform the terminal service operations;

wherein the terminal service operations include;

generating a second multimedia stream based on the first multimedia stream; and

providing the second multimedia stream to the second terminal device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the second multimedia stream comprises:

transcoding the first multimedia stream into a format suitable for the second terminal device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining digital-rights management authorization to perform the generating of the second multimedia stream.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a first user interface identifying all of the terminal devices supporting terminal services.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

generating a second user interface for selecting the remote viewing configuration settings.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first terminal device and the second terminal device are of device types selected from:

a television, a personal computer, a gaming console, and a mobile multimedia device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the device type of the first terminal device and device type of the second terminal device differ.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the second terminal device comprises a mobile multimedia device supporting wireless telephony communication, and wherein providing the second multimedia stream to the second terminal device comprises:

transmitting the multimedia content to a mobile content management server that is coupled to a wireless transmission network providing wireless network service to the mobile multimedia device.

9. A terminal device, comprising:

a processor;

a network adapter; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium, accessible to the processor, including processor-executable program instructions which, when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving, via the network adapter, a first multimedia stream from a gateway coupled to a server of a service provider network;

responsive to detecting a remote viewer request associated with the first multimedia stream, performing remote viewing operations comprising;

accessing remote viewing configuration information indicating one of;

a viewed device and a viewing device as a default device; and

responsive to determining that the terminal device is the default device and that terminal services are resident on the default device;

generating a duplicate of the first multimedia stream; and

sending the duplicate to a remote device.

10. The terminal device of claim 9, wherein the terminal device comprises a set top box and wherein a device type of the remote device is a wireless telephone.

11. The terminal device of claim 9, wherein the terminal device and the remote device are coupled to the gateway via a fixed network.

12. The terminal device of claim 9, further comprising:

a local wireless network adapter configured to provide wireless access to at least one of the terminal device and the remote device.

13. The terminal device of claim 9, wherein the wireless telephone is configured to receive and display streaming multimedia content.

14. The terminal device of claim 13, wherein the operations include:

sending the duplicate multimedia content to a mobile content management server coupled to a wireless transmission network providing wireless network service to the wireless telephone.

15. A multimedia delivery server, comprising:

a processor;

a network adapter; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium, accessible to the processor, including processor-executable program instructions which, when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

transmitting, via a service provider network, a first multimedia stream to a first terminal device of a network client;

receiving a remote viewing request from a mobile device;

accessing remote viewing configuration information indicating one of;

a viewed device and a viewing device as a default device; and

responsive to determining that terminal services are resident on the default device, invoking the terminal services of the default device to perform terminal service operations comprising;

generating a second multimedia stream based on the first multimedia stream; and

providing the second multimedia stream to a mobile device.

16. The server of claim 15, wherein generating the second multimedia stream comprises:

transcoding the first multimedia stream into a format suitable for the mobile device.

17. The server of claim 15, wherein the operations include:

receiving information prompting user input to indicate either the viewed device or the viewing device as the default device.

18. The server of claim 15, wherein the operations include:

generating a first user interface requesting identification of terminal devices supporting terminal services.

19. The server of claim 18, wherein the operations include:

generating a second user interface for indicating the remote viewing configuration settings.

20. The server of claim 15, wherein:

the first terminal device is a device selected from;

a television, a personal computer, a gaming console, and a mobile multimedia device.

21. The server of claim 20, wherein the mobile device comprises a mobile multimedia device supporting wireless telephony communication, and wherein providing the second multimedia stream to the mobile device comprises:

transmitting the duplicate multimedia content to a mobile content management server that is coupled to a wireless transmission network providing wireless network service to the mobile multimedia device.