Media fling system

• US 9,906,575 B2
• Filed: 08/15/2014
• Issued: 02/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Farrell, Corey, Hounsell, Randall, Connelly, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Bates, Kevin
• Assistant Examiner(s): Naoreen, Nazia
• Application Number:
  US14/461,207
• Publication Number:
  US 20150052193A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,292 Days
• Field of Search: 709203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/65 Network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/75 Media network packet handling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/756 adapting media to device capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4335 Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; unloading stored programs G06F9/445; storage management in file systems G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• 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 21/4363 Adapting the video stream to a specific local network, e.g. a Bluetooth® network
• 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 21/44227 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 21/4516 involving client characteristics, e.g. Set-Top-Box type, software version or amount of memory available
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/632 using a connection between clients on a wide area network, e.g. setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet for retrieving video segments from the hard-disk of other client devices broadcast-related systems characterised by transmission among terminal devices H04H60/80; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104

Abstract

Aspects of the disclosure relate to a content (e.g., media) transfer or fling platform or system and method in which content may be sent, transferred, or flung from an electronic device to an output device via a rendering device. The content may be transformed (e.g., processed) to meet a content quality based on network conditions and output device capabilities. The media may be stored locally in the electronic device or in a network attached storage or remote from the electronic device. Content stored remotely from the electronic device may also be flung under control of the electronic device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

processing, by a computing device, a request to send stored content to a rendering device;

determining, by the computing device, whether the stored content is cached by the rendering device;

transmitting, by the computing device and responsive to a determination that the stored content is cached by the rendering device, an identifier of the stored content to the rendering device; and

responsive to a determination that the stored content is to be transmitted to the rendering device;

determining, by the computing device, a content quality level to transmit to the rendering device based at least on a desired transmission path between a storage location of the stored content and the rendering device;

processing, by the computing device, the stored content to the content quality level to generate transformed content; and

transmitting, by the computing device and to the rendering device, the transformed content via the desired transmission path.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the storage location of the stored content is in the computing device or remote from the computing device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

in response to determining that the storage location of the stored content is remote from the computing device, selecting the desired transmission path for the stored content from the storage location to the rendering device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

gathering network metrics and device capabilities of an output device associated with the rendering device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the determining the content quality level to transmit to the rendering device comprises:

determining the content quality level to transmit to the rendering device based on the network metrics and the device capabilities of the output device.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the device capabilities comprise resolutions supported by the output device, and wherein the determining the content quality level comprises:

determining that a resolution of the stored content is to be a maximum resolution supported by the output device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the computing device is able to transform the stored content to the content quality level.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

in response to determining that the computing device is unable to transform the stored content to the content quality level, notifying a user that the computing device is unable to process the request.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

in response to determining that the computing device is unable to transform the stored content to the content quality level, transmitting, to a server remote from the computing device, the stored content for processing to the content quality level.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, to the rendering device, a preview image prior to beginning processing of the stored content to the content quality level.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the request to display the stored content on a portion of an output device associated with the rendering device.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining a maximum resolution of the portion of the output device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the determining the content quality level to transmit to the rendering device comprises:

determining the content quality level to transmit to the rendering device based on network metrics and the maximum resolution of the portion of the output device.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user selection of an output device associated with the rendering device.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a type of the stored content; and

automatically selecting an output device associated with the rendering device based on the type of the stored content.

16. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computing device at a first premises, a request to send content to a rendering device at the first premises;

determining if the content is stored by the computing device;

in response to determining that the content is stored remote from the computing device;

determining a remote storage device storing the content;

determining a first transmission path for the content from the remote storage device to the rendering device;

determining a first content quality level of the content to transmit to the rendering device based on the first transmission path from the remote storage device to the rendering device;

determining whether the content is pre-stored by the remote storage device in the first content quality level; and

responsive to a determination that the content is pre-stored by the remote storage device in the first content quality level, transmitting, by the computing device and to the remote storage device, an identifier of the content.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising, in response to determining that the content is stored by the computing device:

determining a second content quality level of the content to transmit to the rendering device based on a second transmission path from the computing device to the rendering device;

processing the content according to the second content quality level to generate processed content; and

transmitting, to the rendering device via the second transmission path, the processed content.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising, in response to determining that the content is to be generated at the first content quality level, transmitting, to a media processing device, an instruction to process the content according to the first content quality level.

19. One or more non-transitory computer readable storage media storing computer executable instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to:

receive user input to view a first content item on an output device associated with a rendering device;

determine whether the first content item is cached by the rendering device;

in response to determining that the first content item is cached by the rendering device, transmit an identifier of the first content item to the rendering device; and

in response to determining that the first content item is to be transmitted to the rendering device;

determine a content quality level to transmit to the rendering device based at least on a resolution configuration of the output device associated with the rendering device;

process the first content item to the content quality level to generate transformed content; and

transmit the transformed content to the rendering device.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media of claim 19, further storing computer executable instructions that, when executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to:

determine the content quality level to transmit to the rendering device further based on configuration settings of the output device.