Presentation of media content

• US 7,454,515 B2
• Filed: 05/20/2005
• Issued: 11/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Rovi Technologies Corporation (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Sonic Solutions (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: Lamkin, Allan B., Collart, Todd R., Gewickey, Greg
• Primary Examiner(s): VU, VIET DUY
• Application Number:
  US11/134,794
• Publication Number:
  US 20050251749A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,278 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217, 709/219, 709/231, 709/232, 709/236, 709/250
• US Class Current: 709/232
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4393 Multimedia presentations, e.g. slide shows, multimedia albums
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/00 Methods or arrangements for effecting co-operative working between equipments covered by two or more of main groups G06K1/00 - G06K15/00, e.g. automatic card files incorporating conveying and reading operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 19/022 Control panels
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 19/12 by sensing distinguishing features of or on records, e.g. diameter end mark
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 19/16 Manual control
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00086 Circuits for prevention of unauthorised reproduction or copying, e.g. piracy indicating unauthorised use of record carriers in general G11B23/28; scrambling for television signal recording H04N5/913; network architectures or network protocols for network security H04L63/00; cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communication H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00876 wherein physical copy protection means are attached to the medium, e.g. holograms, sensors, or additional semiconductor circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2545 CDs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2562 DVDs [digital versatile discs]; Digital video discs; MMCDs; HDCDs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 23/36 Signals on record carriers or on containers and recorded by the same method as the main recording
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/764 at the destination reformatting of additional data in video clients H04N21/4355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 : Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 : Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 : involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 : in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 : Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 : Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23614 : Multiplexing of additional data and video streams arrangements for simultaneous broadcast of plural pieces of information H04H20/28
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 : PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42646 : for reading from or writing on a non-volatile solid state storage medium, e.g. DVD, CD-ROM
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4348 : Demultiplexing of additional data and video streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 : Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4381 : Recovering the multiplex stream from a specific network, e.g. recovering MPEG packets from ATM cells transmission of MPEG streams over ATM H04L12/5601
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440263 : by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for displaying on a connected PDA
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4408 : involving video stream encryption, e.g. re-encrypting a decrypted video stream for redistribution in a home network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/443 : OS processes, e.g. booting an STB, implementing a Java virtual machine in an STB or power management in an STB
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/458 : Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10
• 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 21/4782 : Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/60 : Network structure or processes for video distribution between server and client or between remote clients; Control signalling between clients, server and network components; Transmission of management data between server and client , e.g. sending from server to client commands for recording incoming content stream; Communication details between server and client
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 : involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64322 : IP
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 : Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 : by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 : Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A media services interface for use in a readable medium playback device enables synchronization of disparate media playback, network directed playback of media, media playback control via displayed html/javascript file, logging of consumer identifier, media identifier, and playback device identifier in a cookie or log file. The media services comprises a command handler, a properties handler, an event generator, a cookie manager, a navigator state module, an identifier engine, an initialization module, and a bookmark manager. The command handler executes commands received from a connected network, a displayed html/javascript file, etc. The properties handler provides information relating to system states in response to queries including the status of any network connections. The event generator generates events in response to predetermined system occurrences. The cookie manager records information for later reading including the tracking of consumer identifier, playback device identifier, and readable medium identifier triples. The navigator state module maintains information regarding the state of the playback device and the interaction with the readable medium. The identifier engine carries out determination of the identity of the readable medium. The initialization module controls system initialization. The bookmark manager generates bookmarks which preserve positions in the playback of the readable medium for later recall. Network sources can provide media content and issue commands which synchronize the playback of both network and readable medium originated content over multiple playback devices through the use of the synchronization abilities of the media services.

Claims

1. A method for reproducing contents information in an interactive optical disc device, comprising the steps of:

a) synchronizing and reproducing data read from an interactive optical disc and contents information sent and downloaded from a contents provider server connected via the Internet;

b) if the sending of said contents information from said contents provider server is suspended or delayed, generating a command for requesting re-sending of specific contents information, with reference to specific information contained in normally reproduced last contents information, and sending the generated command to said contents provider server; and

c) reproducing said specific contents information re-sent from said contents provider server in response to said command together with data read from said interactive optical disc while re-synchronizing it with said data read from said interactive optical disc.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said specific information contained in said normally reproduced last contents information includes at least one of playback time information, contents information offset information, and offset information of said data read from said interactive optical disc.

3. The method as set forth in claim 2, wherein said step b) includes the steps of:

b-1) checking said specific information contained in said normally reproduced last contents information if the sending of said contents information from said contents provider server is suspended or delayed;

b-2) calculating information regarding re-synchronizable contents information based upon said checked specific information; and

b-3) generating a command for requesting re-sending of specific contents information corresponding to the calculated information regarding said re-synchronizable contents information and sending the generated command to said contents provider server.

4. The method as set forth in claim 3, wherein said information regarding said re-synchronizable contents information is calculated with reference to a bandwidth of a current network bit rate.

5. The method as set forth in claim 3, wherein said command for requesting the re-sending of said specific contents information includes a parameter, said parameter being said information regarding said re-synchronizable contents information.

6. The method as set forth in claim 3, wherein said step c) includes the steps of:

c-1) extracting said specific information from said specific contents information re-sent from said contents provider server; and

c-2) re-synchronizing and reproducing said data read from said interactive optical disc and said re-sent specific contents information based upon the extracted specific information.

7. The method as set forth in claim 6, wherein said step c) further includes the step of receiving a command for notification of the re-sending of said specific contents information from said contents provider server before said step c-1) is performed.

8. The method as set forth in claim 2, wherein said step b) includes the steps of:

b-1) if the sending of said contents information from said contents provider server is suspended or delayed, determining whether a size of contents information downloaded into a buffer memory of said interactive optical disc device and not reproduced yet is below a predetermined reference value;

b-2) automatically pausing a data reproducing operation of said interactive optical disc if the size of said contents information downloaded into said buffer memory and not reproduced yet is below said predetermined reference value; and

b-3) generating said command for requesting the re-sending of said specific contents information, with reference to said specific information contained in said normally reproduced last contents information, and sending the generated command to said contents provider server.

9. The method as set forth in claim 8, wherein said step b-3) includes the steps of:

b-3-1) checking said specific information contained in said normally reproduced last contents information;

b-3-2) calculating information regarding contents information subsequent to said normally reproduced last contents information based upon the checked specific information; and

b-3-3) generating a command for requesting re-sending of specific contents information corresponding to the calculated information and sending the generated command to said contents provider server.

10. The method as set forth in claim 9, wherein said command for requesting the re-sending of said specific contents information includes a parameter, said parameter being said information regarding said contents information subsequent to said normally reproduced last contents information.

11. The method as set forth in claim 8, wherein said step c) includes the steps of:

c-1) receiving a command for notification of the re-sending of said specific contents information from said contents provider server;

c-2) after said re-sending notification command is received, extracting said specific information from said specific contents information re-sent from said contents provider server; and

c-3) re-synchronizing and reproducing said data read from said interactive optical disc and said re-sent specific contents information based upon the extracted specific information.

24. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said contents information sent from said contents provider server is audio data, and said data read from said interactive optical disc includes video data.

12. A method for providing contents information in a contents provider server, comprising the steps of:

a) sequentially sending data packets containing contents information whose sending is requested by an interactive optical disc device connected via the Internet, and specific information regarding said contents information whose sending is requested;

b) if the sending of said requested contents information is suspended or delayed, receiving a command for requesting re-sending of specific contents information, from said interactive optical disc device; and

c) re-sending a data packet containing said specific contents information and specific information regarding it to said interactive optical disc device in response to said command.

13. The method as set forth in claim 12, wherein said sent contents information is audio data to be reproduced synchronously with video data read from an interactive optical disc in said interactive optical disc device.

14. The method as set forth in claim 12, wherein said specific information includes at least one of playback time information, contents information offset information, and offset information of data read from an interactive optical disc.

15. The method as set forth in claim 12, wherein said command for requesting the re-sending of said specific contents information includes a parameter, said parameter being information regarding said specific contents information.

16. The method as set forth in claim 15, wherein said step c) includes the steps of:

c-1) seeking a position of data corresponding to said information regarding said specific contents information;

c-2) sending a command for notification of the re-sending of said specific contents information to said interactive optical disc device; and

c-3) reading said specific contents information at said position and re-sending said data packet containing said specific contents information and said specific information regarding it to said interactive optical disc device.

17. A method for reproducing contents information in an interactive optical disc device, comprising the steps of:

a) downloading and managing offset table information from a contents provider server connected via the Internet;

b) synchronizing and reproducing contents information sent and downloaded from said contents provider server and data read from an interactive optical disc;

c) if the sending of said contents information from said contents provider server is suspended or delayed, generating a command for requesting re-sending of specific contents information, with reference to said offset table information, and sending the generated command to said contents provider server; and

d) reproducing said specific contents information re-sent from said contents provider server in response to said command together with data read from said interactive optical disc while re-synchronizing it with said data read from said interactive optical disc.

18. The method as set forth in claim 17, wherein said offset table information includes playback time information, offset information of said data read from said interactive optical disc and contents information offset information in a linked manner.

19. The method as set forth in claim 17, wherein said step c) includes the steps of:

c-1) extracting information regarding normally reproduced last contents information from said offset table information if the sending of said contents information from said contents provider server is suspended or delayed;

c-2) calculating information regarding re-synchronizable contents information based upon the extracted information; and

c-3) generating a command for requesting re-sending of specific contents information corresponding to the calculated information regarding said re-synchronizable contents information and sending the generated command to said contents provider server.

20. The method as set forth in claim 19, wherein said information regarding said re-synchronizable contents information is calculated with reference to a bandwidth of a current network bit rate.

21. The method as set forth in claim 19, wherein said command for requesting the re-sending of said specific contents information includes a parameter, said parameter being said information regarding said re-synchronizable contents information.

22. The method as set forth in claim 17, wherein said step d) includes the steps of:

d-1) receiving a command for notification of the re-sending of said specific contents information from said contents provider server; and

d-2) after said re-sending notification command is received, reproducing said specific contents information re-sent from said contents provider server together with said data read from said interactive optical disc while re-synchronizing it with said data read from said interactive optical disc.

23. The method as set forth in claim 17, wherein said contents information sent from said contents provider server is audio data, and said data read from said interactive optical disc includes video data.

25. A method for providing contents information in a contents provider server, comprising the steps of:

a) sending offset table information regarding contents information whose sending is requested by an interactive optical disc device connected via the Internet;

b) if the sending of said offset table information is completed, sequentially sending said contents information whose sending is requested by said interactive optical disc device;

c) if the sending of said requested contents information is suspended or delayed, receiving a command for requesting re-sending of specific contents information, from said interactive optical disc device; and

d) re-sending said specific contents information to said interactive optical disc device in response to said command.

26. The method as set forth in claim 25, wherein said sent contents information is audio data to be reproduced synchronously with video data read from an interactive optical disc in said interactive optical disc device.

27. The method as set forth in claim 25, wherein said offset table information includes playback time information, offset information of data read from an interactive optical disc and contents information offset information in a linked manner.

28. The method as set forth in claim 25, wherein said command for requesting the re-sending of said specific contents information includes a parameter, said parameter being information regarding said specific contents information.

29. The method as set forth in claim 28, wherein said step d) includes the steps of:

d-1) seeking a position of data corresponding to said information regarding said specific contents information;

d-2) sending a command for notification of the re-sending of said specific contents information to said interactive optical disc device; and

d-3) reading said specific contents information at said position and re-sending it to said interactive optical disc device.