SMART PHONE AS REMOTE CONTROL DEVICE

• US 20130086618A1
• Filed: 11/27/2012
• Published: 04/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2008
• 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: Klein, Adam, Britt, James Austin, Fox, Joshua J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,813,759 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/80
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72415 for remote control of appliances
• 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

Abstract

A communication device such as a smart phone is enabled for remotely controlling set-top boxes (STBs) over Internet protocol networks using an applet running on the communication device. Authentication from within a multimedia content distribution network may be achieved by verifying that a network identifier associated with the communication device is associated with an account that has granted access to the smart phone and that is associated with the controlled STB. A viewing pane on the communication device permits a user to remotely view content received on or available to the controlled STB.

Claims

1-24. -24. (canceled)

25. A method, comprising:

receiving video data from a server of a content distribution network, wherein the video data is indicative of multimedia content being provided to a customer premises device;

displaying a remote control interface on a touch screen display, wherein the remote control interface includes;

a content pane for displaying content associated with the video data; and

a command virtual control corresponding to a remote control command; and

responsive to detecting a user input via the command virtual control, sending the remote control command to the server for delivery to the customer premises device.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the remote control interface includes:

a first device virtual control for selecting a first set-top box associated with the client account; and

a second device virtual control for selecting a second set-top box associated with the client account.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the remote control interface includes:

a history virtual control for displaying a viewing history of a selected set-top box.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the remote control interface includes:

a channel virtual control for changing a channel output by a selected set-top box.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

displaying multimedia content associated with the channel output by the selected set-top box.

30. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

receiving video data from the digital television server via a transceiver.

31. The method of claim 25, wherein the multimedia content distribution network is an Internet protocol television network.

32. The method of claim 25, wherein at least a portion of the method is performed using a hypertext transfer protocol executed by a web browser.

33. A multimedia content distribution server, comprising:

a processor;

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

sending video data to a mobile communication device, wherein the video data is indicative of multimedia content being provided to a customer premises device; and

responsive to receiving a remote control command from the mobile communication device, sending the remote control command to customer premises device wherein the remote control command causes the customer premises device to modify content being output from a set-top box.

34. The digital television server of claim 33, wherein the operations include sending viewing history data in a format wherein the viewing history data is displayable by the mobile communication device.

35. The digital television server of claim 33, wherein the operations include:

receiving the remote control command from an access server communicatively coupled to the multimedia content distribution network and engaged in web-based communication with the mobile communication device.

36. The digital television server of claim 33, wherein the operations include:

establishing a session for communication between the mobile communication device and the set-top box.

37. The digital television server of claim 36, wherein the operations include:

receiving an incoming telephone call from the mobile communication device; and

placing an outgoing telephone call to the mobile communication device.

38. The digital television server of claim 33, wherein the video data is selected from:

electronic programming guide data;

streaming video data;

digital television content for a channel selected by the set-top box; and

digital television content for a channel not currently selected by the set-top box.

39. A computer-readable storage medium including program instructions, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations including:

streaming multimedia content to a customer premises device of a client via a multimedia content distribution network;

sending video data to a wireless telephone device, wherein the video data is indicative of the multimedia content being streamed to the customer premises device;

responsive to receiving a signal indicative of user input at the wireless telephone device, the signal representing a remote control command, sending the remote control command to the customer premises device, wherein the remote control command specifies multimedia content for display by a first set-top box of the client.

40. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 39, wherein the client includes a second set-top box associated with a client user account, and wherein the control command controls multimedia content output by the second set-top box.

41. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 39, wherein the operations include:

sending history data indicative of a viewing history associated with the client to the wireless telephone device.

42. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 41, wherein the history data is sent in a format displayable by the wireless telephone device.

43. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 39, wherein receiving the signal includes:

receiving an incoming telephone call from the wireless telephone device.

44. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 39, wherein the operations include:

establishing a session for communication between the wireless telephone device and the client.