Automated transition of content consumption across devices

• US 9,549,021 B2
• Filed: 11/03/2014
• Issued: 01/17/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Audible Incorporated (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Audible Incorporated (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Arora, Ajay, Goldstein, Douglas S., Hwang, Douglas C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Meky, Moustafa M
• Application Number:
  US14/531,701
• Publication Number:
  US 20150215382A1
• Time in Patent Office: 806 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/172 Classification, e.g. identification
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4126 The peripheral being portable, e.g. PDAs or mobile phones
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4333 Processing operations in response to a pause request
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43637 involving a wireless protocol, e.g. Bluetooth, RF or wireless LAN [IEEE 802.11] arrangements for wireless networking or broadcasting of information in indoor or near-field type systems H04B10/114
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44227 Monitoring of local network, e.g. connection or bandwidth variations; Detecting new devices in the local network configuring of peripheral devices in general G06F9/4411; monitoring connectivity in data switched networks H04L43/0811
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8455 involving pointers to the content, e.g. pointers to the I-frames of the video stream

Abstract

Features are disclosed for transferring the presentation or playback of content from device to device. The content may include, but is not limited to, aural, video, and multimedia content. A personal device may be detected playing content. A current play position of the content can be obtained, and playback can be halted. The play position can be transferred to a media device wherein playback is automatically resumed. Additionally, the playing of content may be transferred between two or more media devices, for example in response to the movement of a user. Personal device movements and content operations may be monitored in order to determine improvements to the automatic transfer of content consumption from device to device.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable memory that stores specific computer-executable instructions; and

one or more processors in communication with the non-transitory computer-readable memory, the one or more processors configured to execute the specific computer-executable instructions to at least;

detect a first computing device, the first computing device playing audio content;

cause the first computing device, without user interaction, to stop playing the audio content;

identify, in the audio content, a first stop position corresponding to execution of the instructions to cause the first computing device to stop playing the audio content;

identify a second computing device, wherein the second computing device is different than the first computing device; and

initiate playback, without user interaction, of the audio content at a position corresponding to the first stop position on the second computing device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors configured to execute the specific computer-executable instructions to at least detect the first computing device are configured to execute the specific computer-executable instructions to at least one of:

detect that the first computing device is connected to a wireless network;

detect a radio frequency identifier corresponding to the first computing device;

establish a near-field wireless connection with the first computing device;

or

detect that the first computing device has moved into a first geographic area.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to at least identify the first stop position are configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to identify at least one of a timestamp, a counter, a chapter marker, a last spoken word, or a percentage of consumption of the audio content.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to at least identify the first stop position are configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

receive a current play position from a system streaming the audio content; and

identify the first stop position as the current play position.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the first stop position corresponds to one or more of:

a portion of the audio content presented prior to execution of the specific computer-executable instructions to cause the first computing device to stop playing the audio content;

or

a portion of the audio content following the portion of the audio content presented prior to execution of the specific computer-executable instructions to cause the first computing device to stop playing the audio content.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute the specific computer-executable instructions to at least:

stop playing the audio content at a second stop position; and

transmit the second stop position to the second computing device, the second computing device initiating playback of the audio content at a position corresponding to the second stop position.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the one or more processors configured to execute the specific computer-executable instructions to identify the second computing device are configured to execute the specific computer-executable instructions to at least one of:

detect a near-field wireless connection between the first computing device and the second computing device;

or

detect that the first computing device has moved into a second geographic area that includes the second computing device.

8. A computer-implemented method comprising:

under control of a computing system configured with specific computer-executable instructions,

detecting that a first computing device has stopped presenting a content item, wherein the content item includes at least one of audio data or visual data;

obtaining a first stop position within the content item corresponding to a position at which the first computing device stopped presenting the content item;

identifying a second computing device from a plurality of computing devices;

determining that the second computing device is available to present the content item, wherein the second computing device is different than the first computing device; and

causing, without user interaction, the second computing device to initiate presentation of the content item at a position corresponding to the first stop position.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 further comprising detecting the first computing device.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein detecting the first computing device comprises determining that the first computing device is within communication range of a wireless network.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 wherein identifying the second computing device from the plurality of computing devices comprises:

detecting that a geographic location associated with the first computing device is within a geographic area associated with at least one computing device of the plurality of computing devices; and

identifying the at least one computing device associated with the geographic area as the second computing device.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein identifying the second computing device from the plurality of computing devices comprises identifying a computing device from the plurality of computing devices having a near field connection with the first computing device.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein identifying the second computing device from the plurality of computing devices comprises:

associating a user profile with the first computing device;

identifying, from the user profile, a user preference corresponding to the second computing device; and

identifying the second computing device from the user preference.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein identifying the second computing device from the plurality of computing devices comprises:

obtaining facial recognition data from an optical sensor;

associating the facial recognition data with a user of the first computing device;

determining that the optical sensor corresponds to at least one computing device of the plurality of computing devices; and

identifying the at least one computing device that corresponds to the optical sensor as the second computing device.

15. A system comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable memory storing specific computer-executable instructions; and

one or more processors in communication with the non-transitory computer-readable memory, the one or more processors configured to execute the specific computer-executable instructions to at least;

detect a first computing device, wherein the first computing device is presenting a content item;

detect that the first computing device has stopped presenting the content item;

obtain a first stop position within the content item at which the first computing device stopped presenting the content item; and

identify a second computing device, wherein the second computing device is different than the first computing device; and

cause, without user interaction, the second computing device to initiate presentation of the content item at substantially the first stop position.

16. The system of claim 15, the one or more processors further configured to execute the specific computer-executable instructions to at least:

determine location data identifying at least;

a first geographic area and a stop time associated with the first geographic area, wherein the stop time corresponds to a time at which the first computing device stopped presenting the content item, and wherein the first geographic area corresponds to a geographic area in which the first computing device is located at the stop time; and

a second geographic area and a restart time associated with the second geographic area, wherein the restart time corresponds to a time subsequent to the stop time, and wherein the second geographic area corresponds to a geographic area in which both the first computing device and the second computing device are located at the restart time; and

calculate a time delay interval between the stop time and the restart time.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the one or more processors configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to at least cause the second computing device to initiate presentation of the content item are configured to delay execution by the time delay interval between the stop time and the restart time.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the first computing device is detected to have stopped presenting the content item at a point of origin, and wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute the specific computer-executable instructions to at least:

detect that the first computing device has departed from the point of origin;

determine that the first computing device has arrived at a destination; and

calculate a first time delay interval between a time at which the first computing device departs from the point of origin and a time at which the first computing device arrives at the destination.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the one or more processors configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to detect that the first computing device has departed from the point of origin are configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to detect that the first computing device has disconnected from a wireless network associated with the point of origin.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the one or more processors configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the second computing device to initiate presentation of the content item are configured to delay execution by the first time delay interval.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute the specific computer-executable instructions to at least:

detect that the first computing device has again departed from the point of origin;

determine that the first computing device has again arrived at the destination;

calculate a second time delay interval between a time at which the first computing device again departed from the point of origin and a time at which the first computing device again arrives at the destination; and

calculate an average time delay interval from the first time delay interval and the second time delay interval.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein execution of the computer-executable instructions to cause the second computing device to initiate presentation of the content item is delayed by the average time delay interval.