Providing automatic format conversion via an access gateway in a home

• US 20050232284A1
• Filed: 03/30/2005
• Published: 10/20/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Seshadri, Nambirajan, Abrams, Marc, Karaoguz, Jeyhan
• Granted Patent: US 8,908,699 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/401
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1023 Media gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4126 The peripheral being portable, e.g. PDAs or mobile phones
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals

Abstract

A system and method supporting the automatic conversion of multimedia information from a first format to a second format in a broadband access gateway and/or network-based server are disclosed. The broadband access gateway and/or network-based server may convert multimedia information that is in a format that an access device is not capable of processing. The gateway and/or server may automatically detect the format incompatibility, and may automatically convert or arrange for conversion of the multimedia information to a format that is compatible with the access device, based upon compatibility information associated with the access device. The conversion may be based upon a set of user-defined quality of service criteria, and may be subject to the control of digital rights management parameters associated with the requested multimedia information. The user of the access device may be prompted when the conversion is expected to impact the quality of the multimedia information being played, and the user may be offered options that permit the user to minimize the impact upon the user.

Claims

1. A system supporting access to multimedia information by a plurality of access devices, the system capable of automatically converting a format of the multimedia information, the system comprising:

a gateway communicatively coupled to a broadband network and at least one wireless interface, the gateway capable of selectively exchanging multimedia information among the at least one wireless interface and the broadband network, and of communicating with the plurality of access devices via the at least one wireless interface;

the gateway capable of receiving from at least one of the plurality of access devices, at least one of;

information identifying an access device and information identifying a user;

the gateway capable of accessing format compatibility information based upon the at least one of;

information identifying an access device and information identifying a user;

the gateway capable of accepting a request for delivery of identified multimedia information having a first format; and

wherein the requested multimedia information is converted from the first format to a second format based upon the format compatibility information.

2. The system according to claim 1 wherein multimedia information comprises at least one of:

streaming video, broadcast video, voice, digital data, text, digitized audio, digitized still images, digitized video, and digitized music.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the format compatibility information comprises information identifying at least one of:

a codec, a bit rate, a spatial resolution, a color depth, a measure of gray scale levels, a frame rate, a number of bits per sample, and a number of samples per unit time.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one wireless interface is compliant with the Bluetooth V1.2 or compatible personal area network (PAN) specification.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one wireless interface communicates using an unlicensed frequency band.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one wireless interface communicates at a frequency of approximately 2.4 gigahertz.

7. The system according to claim 1 wherein the at least one wireless interface is compliant with at least one of:

the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n standards.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the broadband network comprises at least one of:

a digital subscriber line (DSL) network, a cable network, a satellite network, a cellular network, and the Internet.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the cellular network comprises at least one of:

a global system for mobile communications (GSM) network, a time division multiple access (TDMA) network, a code division multiple access (CDMA) network, and a universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) network.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein the information identifying a user comprises at least one of:

a member identifier, a user name, an administrative identifier, and a credit card number.

11. The system according to claim 1, wherein the information identifying an access device comprises at least one of:

an electronic serial number, an Internet protocol (IP) address, a media access control (MAC) address, information identifying a make of an access device, and information identifying a model of an access device.

12. The system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of access devices comprises at least one of:

a mobile multimedia handset, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a personal computer (PC), a digital scanner, a digital camera, a printer, headphones, and a pointing device.

13. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:

the gateway capable of delivering the requested multimedia information in the second format to the at least one of the plurality of access devices.

14. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:

the gateway capable of notifying the at least one of the plurality of access devices of at least one of;

format incompatibility and format conversion options based upon the format compatibility information.

15. The system according to claim 1, wherein the format compatibility information is sent to the gateway by the at least one of the plurality of access devices.

16. The system according to claim 1, wherein the conversion of multimedia information from the first format to the second format is performed by the gateway.

17. The system according to claim 1, wherein the conversion of multimedia information from the first format to the second format is performed by a server accessible via the broadband network.

18. A method supporting automatic conversion of multimedia information from a first format to a second format, the method comprising:

receiving from at least one of a plurality of access devices, at least one of;

information identifying an access device and information identifying a user;

accessing format compatibility information based upon the at least one of;

information identifying an access device and information identifying a user;

accepting a request for delivery of identified multimedia information having a first format; and

converting the requested multimedia information from the first format to a second format based upon the format compatibility information.

19. The method according to claim 18, further comprising:

exchanging multimedia information among at least one wireless interface and a broadband network.

20. The method according to claim 19 wherein the at least one wireless interface is compliant with the Bluetooth V1.2 or compatible personal area network (PAN) specification.

21. The method according to claim 19 wherein the at least one wireless interface communicates using an unlicensed frequency band.

22. The method according to claim 19 wherein the at least one wireless interface communicates at a frequency of approximately 2.4 gigahertz.

23. The method according to claim 19 wherein the at least one wireless interface is compliant with at least one of:

the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n standards.

24. The method according to claim 19 wherein the broadband network comprises at least one of:

a digital subscriber line (DSL) network, a cable network, a satellite network, a cellular network, and the Internet.

25. The method according to claim 24 wherein the cellular network comprises at least one of:

a global system for mobile communications (GSM) network, a time division multiple access (TDMA) network, a code division multiple access (CDMA) network, and a universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) network.

26. The method according to claim 18 wherein multimedia information comprises at least one of:

streaming video, broadcast video, voice, digital data, text, digitized audio, digitized still images, digitized video, and digitized music.

27. The method according to claim 18 wherein the format compatibility information comprises information identifying at least one of:

a codec, a bit rate, a spatial resolution, a color depth, a measure of gray scale levels, a frame rate, a number of bits per sample, and a number of samples per unit time.

28. The method according to claim 18 wherein the information identifying a user comprises at least one of:

a member identifier, a user name, an administrative identifier, and a credit card number.

29. The method according to claim 18 wherein the information identifying an access device comprises at least one of:

an electronic serial number, an Internet protocol (IP) address, a media access control (MAC) address, information identifying a make of an access device, and information identifying a model of an access device.

30. The method according to claim 18 wherein the plurality of access devices comprises at least one of:

a mobile multimedia handset, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a personal computer (PC), a digital scanner, a digital camera, a printer, headphones, and a pointing device.

31. The method according to claim 18, further comprising:

delivering the requested multimedia information in the second format to the at least one of the plurality of access devices.

32. The method according to claim 18, further comprising:

notifying the at least one of the plurality of access devices of at least one of;

format incompatibility and format conversion options based upon the format compatibility information.

33. The method according to claim 18 wherein the format compatibility information is sent by the at least one of the plurality of access devices.

34. The method according to claim 18 wherein converting the requested multimedia information from the first format to the second format is performed in a broadband access gateway.

35. The method according to claim 18 wherein converting the requested multimedia information from the first format to the second format is performed in a network server.

36. A machine-readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections for operating a gateway supporting automatic conversion of multimedia information from a first format to a second format, the code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the operations comprising:

receiving from at least one of a plurality of access devices, at least one of;

information identifying an access device and information identifying a user;

accessing format compatibility information based upon the at least one of;

information identifying an access device and information identifying a user;

accepting a request for delivery of identified multimedia information having a first format; and

converting the requested multimedia information from the first format to a second format based upon the format compatibility information.

37. The machine-readable storage according to claim 36, wherein the code sections executable by a machine further causing the machine to perform the operations comprising:

exchanging multimedia information among at least one wireless interface and a broadband network.

38. The machine-readable storage according to claim 37 wherein the at least one wireless interface is compliant with the Bluetooth V1.2 or compatible personal area network (PAN) specification.

39. The machine-readable storage according to claim 37 wherein the at least one wireless interface communicates using an unlicensed frequency band.

40. The machine-readable storage according to claim 37 wherein the at least one wireless interface communicates at a frequency of approximately 2.4 gigahertz.

41. The machine-readable storage according to claim 37 wherein the at least one wireless interface is compliant with at least one of:

the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n standards.

42. The machine-readable storage according to claim 37 wherein the broadband network comprises at least one of:

a digital subscriber line (DSL) network, a cable network, a satellite network, a cellular network, and the Internet.

43. The machine-readable storage according to claim 42 wherein the cellular network comprises at least one of:

a global system for mobile communications (GSM) network, a time division multiple access (TDMA) network, a code division multiple access (CDMA) network, and a universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) network.

44. The machine-readable storage according to claim 36 wherein multimedia information comprises at least one of:

streaming video, broadcast video, voice, digital data, text, digitized audio, digitized still images, digitized video, and digitized music.

45. The machine-readable storage according to claim 36 wherein the format compatibility information comprises information identifying at least one of:

a codec, a bit rate, a spatial resolution, a color depth, a measure of gray scale levels, a frame rate, a number of bits per sample, and a number of samples per unit time.

46. The machine-readable storage according to claim 36 wherein the information identifying a user comprises at least one of:

a member identifier, a user name, an administrative identifier, and a credit card number.

47. The machine-readable storage according to claim 36 wherein the information identifying an access device comprises at least one of:

an electronic serial number, an Internet protocol (IP) address, a media access control (MAC) address, information identifying a make of an access device, and information identifying a model of an access device.

48. The machine-readable storage according to claim 36 wherein the plurality of access devices comprises at least one of:

a mobile multimedia handset, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a personal computer (PC), a digital scanner, a digital camera, a printer, headphones, and a pointing device.

49. The machine-readable storage according to claim 36, wherein the code sections executable by a machine further causing the machine to perform the operations comprising:

delivering the requested multimedia information in the second format to the at least one of the plurality of access devices.

50. The machine-readable storage according to claim 36, wherein the code sections executable by a machine further causing the machine to perform the operations comprising:

notifying the at least one of the plurality of access devices of at least one of;

format incompatibility and format conversion options based upon the format compatibility information.

51. The machine-readable storage according to claim 36 wherein the format compatibility information is sent by the at least one of the plurality of access devices.

52. The machine-readable storage according to claim 36 wherein converting the requested multimedia information from the first format to the second format is performed in a broadband access gateway.

53. The machine-readable storage according to claim 36 wherein converting the requested multimedia information from the first format to the second format is performed in a network server.