Method and apparatus for browsing using alternative linkbases

• US 8,689,273 B2
• Filed: 11/06/2012
• Issued: 04/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Convergent Media Solutions LLC (Strategic Intellectual Solutions, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Convergent Media Solutions LLC (Strategic Intellectual Solutions, LLC)
• Inventors: Reisman, Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Chung, Jason J
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chowdhury, Sumaiya A
• Application Number:
  US13/670,024
• Publication Number:
  US 20130067526A1
• Time in Patent Office: 511 Days
• Field of Search: 725/110, 725112-113, 725/133, 725/141, 725/153
• US Class Current: 725/133
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• 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: G06F 2216/15 Synchronised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/38 Arrangements for distribution where lower stations, e.g. receivers, interact with the broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/426 Receiver side
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/93 which locates resources of other pieces of information, e.g. URL [Uniform Resource Locator]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• 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 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2225 Local VOD servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234363 by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for clients with a lower screen resolution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2358 for generating different versions, e.g. for different recipient devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2387 Stream processing in response to a playback request from an end-user, e.g. for trick-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25 Management operations performed by the server for facilitating the content distribution or administrating data related to end-users or client devices, e.g. end-user or client device authentication, learning user preferences for recommending movies maintenance or administration in data networks H04L41/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25825 involving client display capabilities, e.g. screen resolution of a mobile phone optimising the visualisation of content during browsing in the Internet G06F16/9577; processing of terminal status or physical abilities in wireless networks H04W8/22; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2665 Gathering content from different sources, e.g. Internet and satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4113 PC
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41265 having a remote control device for bidirectional communication between the remote control device and client device unidirectional remote control device H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4143 : embedded in a Personal Computer [PC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/422 : Input-only peripherals , i.e. input devices connected to specially adapted client devices, e.g. global positioning system [GPS] input devices also receiving signals from specially adapted client devices H04N21/4104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42204 : User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4312 : involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4316 : for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4358 : for generating different versions, e.g. for different peripheral devices
• 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 21/43637 : 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 21/440263 : by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for displaying on a connected PDA
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4438 : Window management, e.g. event handling following interaction with the user interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 : involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• 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 21/4668 : for recommending content, e.g. movies
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 : End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 : for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47208 : for requesting near-video-on-demand content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4755 : for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 : End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4821 : using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6175 : involving transmission via Internet broadcast-related systems characterised by the transmission system being the Internet H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6193 : involving transmission via a satellite arrangements for data linking, networking or transporting, or for controlling an end to end session in a satellite broadcast system H04B7/18526
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/643 : Communication protocols network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP], H04L65/65
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6587 : Control parameters, e.g. trick play commands, viewpoint selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8173 : End-user applications, e.g. Web browser, game
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/85 : Assembly of content; Generation of multimedia applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8543 : using a description language, e.g. Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group [MHEG], eXtensible Markup Language [XML] information retrieval of semistructured data, the underlying structure being taken into account, e.g. mark-up language structure data G06F16/80
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/858 : Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8583 : by creating hot-spots
• 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

Systems and methods for navigating hypermedia using multiple coordinated input/output device sets. Disclosed systems and methods allow a user and/or an author to control what resources are presented on which device sets (whether they are integrated or not), and provide for coordinating browsing activities to enable such a user interface to be employed across multiple independent systems. Disclosed systems and methods also support new and enriched aspects and applications of hypermedia browsing and related business activities.

Claims

1. A method for use in a second computerized device set which is configured for wireless communication using a wireless communications protocol that enables communication with a first computerized device set, wherein the first and second computerized device sets include respective first and second continuous media players, the method comprising:

receiving discovery information in accordance with a device management discovery protocol that is implemented at a communication layer above an internet protocol layer wherein the discovery information allows the second computerized device set to determine that the first computerized device set is capable of supporting selected functions;

making available to a user a first user interface that allows the user to enable communications with the first computerized device set;

making available to the user a second user interface that allows the user to add a particular content item to a list of user-selected content items;

wirelessly transmitting, in accordance with a wireless local area network protocol, an identification of the particular content item from the second computerized device set for subsequent use by the first computerized device set to facilitate presenting the particular content item on the first computerized device set;

wherein the supported selected functions include at least receiving of the identification of the particular content item and the presenting of the particular content item; and

wherein the particular content item is not presented on the second computerized device set during presentation on the first computerized device set, and the first user interface and the second user interface together comprise a unified user interface, wherein the unified user interface presents a second set of user input controls that allow the user to add the particular content item to the list of user-selected content items, and a first set of user input controls that allow the user to enable communications with the first computerized device set,

wherein the particular content item comprises a continuous media content item,

wherein the list comprises at least one of a list of bookmarked content items, a list of favorite content items, and a list of saved content items,

wherein the first computerized device set and the second computerized device set are independently usable.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

making available to the user a third user interface that allows the user to remotely control presentation of the particular content item on the first computerized device set.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the third user interface allows the user to play, pause, rewind, and fast forward the presentation of the particular content item on the first computerized device set.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the first, second and third user interfaces are integrated into a unified user interface on the second computerized device set that enables multi-screen, multimedia browsing.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular content item is provided to the first computerized device set via a closed network.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the closed network uses at least one proprietary network protocol.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the closed network is a cable television network.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the closed network, at least in part, includes fiber optic transmission path.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the closed network is a satellite television network.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein the first computerized device set comprises a television.

11. The method of claim 5, wherein the first computerized device set comprises a television and a set top box.

12. The method of claim 5, wherein the second computerized device set is a wireless phone or tablet.

13. The method of claim 5, wherein the second computerized device set is a PC.

14. The method of claim 5, wherein the second computerized device set communicates at least in part via the public Internet with the first computerized device set.

15. The method of claim 5, wherein the second computerized device set communicates at least in part via a wireless local network with the first computerized device set.

16. The method of claim 5, wherein the second computerized device set communicates via a wireless local network using an internet protocol with the first computerized device set and the second computerized device set is connected to the closed network.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein a user at the second computerized device set is enabled to obtain the list of one or more user-selected content items and is enabled to further select the particular content item from the list to be played.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of one or more user-selected content items includes an identification of one or more programs for which presentation had been begun on the second computerized device set.

19. The method of claim 5, wherein a user selection associated with the second user interface triggers a push transfer to the first computerized device set for presentation of the particular content item without need for a further selection at the first computerized device set.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving state data relating to presentation of the particular content item on the first computerized device set; and

presenting at the second computerized device set, based on the state data, enhancement content that is related to the presentation of the particular content item on the first computerized device set.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular content item is offered over a proprietary network by a proprietary system operator, the method further comprising the first computerized device set receiving the particular content item over the proprietary network.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

making available to the user a third user interface that allows the user to actuate a hyperlink associated with a starting resource presented at one of the first and second computerized device sets with an attribute specifying that the ending resource of the hyperlink is to be presented at the other computerized device set.