Application Discovery

• US 20140006474A1
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Published: 01/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Netflix, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Netflix, Inc.
• Inventors: White, Jean-Marie, Danciu, Daniel
• Granted Patent: US 10,931,735 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/201
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• 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 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4126 The peripheral being portable, e.g. PDAs or mobile phones
• 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 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/478 Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV

Abstract

The disclosure describes methods or communication protocols that enable second-screen applications, such as smartphones, to discover and launch first-screen applications on first-screen devices, such as Internet enabled high definition televisions. Second-screen devices can search local networks for the presence of discovery servers on first-screen devices. Well-known protocols such as RESTful HTTP services and Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) may be leveraged to implement the discovery servers. Once located, the discovery servers may assist communications and interactions between the first-screen and second-screen devices, allowing a specified application to be launched on the first-screen device and controlled from a local application on the second-screen device. The specified application may be installed if not previously installed, and may also be hosted as a web application on a cloud server accessible outside of the local network, for example on the Internet.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

initiating a discovery request in a network;

receiving, in response to the discovery request, a discovery response identifying a discovery server on a first-screen device;

sending a launch request to the discovery server to cause, on the first-screen device, a launching of a specific application;

identifying the specific application to a local application executing on a second-screen device;

causing, through the network, an interaction between the local application and the specific application;

wherein the method is performed on one or more computing devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more computing devices is the second-screen device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the interaction comprises showing a movie on the first-screen device using the specific application, wherein the movie is selected using the local application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the interaction comprises showing a video on the first-screen device using the specific application, wherein the video is selected by passing a network address corresponding to the local application from the local application to the specific application.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the specific application is exited after the showing of the video.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the specific application is a browser-based application executing within a web browser of the first-screen device, and wherein the launch request specifies a network address of the browser-based application.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the network address of the browser-based application is a cloud address outside of the network.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising, prior to the sending of the launch request, verifying an availability of the specific application by sending an application information request to the discovery server and checking an application information response from the discovery server.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the checking of the application information response indicates that the specific application is not installed but is installable, and wherein the verifying is in response to initiating an installing of the specific application.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the network is a local network.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the discovery server is selected from a plurality of discovery servers.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the discovery response identifies a location and a name of the discovery server.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the discovery request is sent using Universal Plug and Play (UPnP).

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the launch request further includes one or more specified parameter values.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the first-screen device comprises any of a television, set-top box, game console, digital video recorder, disc player, or similar device primarily capable of playing or generating a visual display of an audiovisual program.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the second-screen device comprises any of a smartphone, tablet computer, laptop computer, netbook computer, or other general purpose computing device or workstation.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable data storage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions which when executed cause one or more processors to perform, in a second-screen computing device:

initiating a discovery request in a network;

receiving, in response to the discovery request, a discovery response identifying a discovery server on a first-screen device;

sending a launch request to the discovery server to cause, on the first-screen device, a launching of a specific application;

identifying the specific application to a local application executing on the second-screen device;

causing, through the network, an interaction between the local application and the specific application.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable data storage medium of claim 17, wherein the interaction comprises showing a movie on the first-screen device using the specific application, wherein the movie is selected using the local application.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable data storage medium of claim 17, wherein the interaction comprises showing a video on the first-screen device using the specific application, wherein the video is selected by passing a network address corresponding to the local application from the local application to the specific application.

20. A computing device configured to act as a second-screen device and comprising:

one or more processors;

a video display unit coupled to the one or more processors;

a non-transitory computer-readable data storage medium coupled to the one or more processors and storing one or more sequences of instructions which when executed cause the one or more processors to perform;

initiating a discovery request in a network;

receiving, in response to the discovery request, a discovery response identifying a discovery server on a first-screen computing device;

sending a launch request to the discovery server to cause, on the first-screen computing device, a launching of a specific application;

identifying the specific application to a local application executing on the second-screen computing device;

causing, through the network, an interaction between the local application and the specific application.