System, method and apparatus for managing applications, information and services

• US 8,887,155 B2
• Filed: 03/28/2014
• Issued: 11/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aprese Systems Texas, LLC
• Original Assignee: Keertikiran Gokul
• Inventors: Gokul, Keertikiran
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rivera, Anibal
• Application Number:
  US14/229,097
• Publication Number:
  US 20140214916A1
• Time in Patent Office: 228 Days
• US Class Current: 717/178
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• 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 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 7/04 Speed or phase control by synchronisation signals H04L7/0075 takes precedence

Abstract

The invention provides a system, a method and a computer program product that facilitate access to one or more applications by a computing device. The invention includes determining one or more contexts associated with at least one of the computing device and a user of the computing device, such that the one or more contexts describe at least one of an environment and an activity of the at least one of the user and the computing device. Thereafter at least one contextual tag corresponding to the one or more contexts is generated. Subsequently, the one or more applications associated with the at least one contextual tag are identified and the computing device is enabled to access the one or more applications.

Claims

1. A media device for providing interactive services using applications, said media device comprising:

a. at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a computer-readable program stored therein, said computer-readable program executable by a processor associated with said media device;

b. said computer-readable program comprising sets of instructions to enable said processor to;

i. associate with a client device;

i. receive a plurality of information comprising a first application identification information from said client device, wherein said plurality of information is based on at least one of an environment, a user interaction event and activity on said client device;

iii. identify a first application using said first application identification information;

iv. enable access to said first application on said media device; and

v. enable display of information related to at least one of applications and media on a display associated with said media device.

2. The media device of claim 1, wherein media device is one of television, blu-ray player, DVD player, set top box, DVR, streaming media player, dongle or disk player.

3. The media device of claim 1, wherein said first application is already present on said media device or said client device.

4. The media device of claim 1, further comprising instructions to identify said first application using a URL, wherein determination of said URL is based on said first application identification information.

5. The media deice of claim 1, further comprising instructions to provide one or more parameters as input to said first application, when said first application is launched or executing on said media device.

6. The media device of claim 5, wherein at least one of said one or more parameters is one of a URL, a text, xml, json or other similar data points.

7. The media device of claim 1, further comprising instructions to enable launch or activation of said first application.

8. The media device of claim 1, wherein said first application comprises instructions for utilizing web-based services.

9. The media device of claim 1, further comprising instructions to enable identification of said first application from an application repository comprising a plurality of applications, said plurality of applications corresponding to a plurality of application providers or a plurality of application managers.

10. The media device of claim 1, further comprising instructions to enable identification of said first application from an application repository comprising a plurality of applications, said application repository configured to have applications added or deleted or modified over a period of time.

11. The media device of claim 1, further comprising instructions for said media device to establish association with said client device using one of a mutual discovery, a user interaction and a combination thereof.

12. A media device for providing access to a first plurality of information, comprising:

a. at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a computer-readable program stored therein, said computer-readable program executable by a processor associated with said media device;

b. said computer-readable program comprising sets of instructions to enable said processor to;

determine one or more contexts associated with media content on said media device, the one or more contexts describing at least one of an environment and an activity on said media device;

generate at least one contextual tag corresponding to the one or more contexts;

provide at least one of said at least one contextual tag and a second plurality of information to a client device associated with said media device, to enable said client device to determine said first plurality of information, wherein;

at least a part of said second plurality of information is associated with said at least one contextual tag; and

at least a part of said first plurality of information is associated with at least one of said at least one contextual tag and said second plurality of information.

13. The media device of claim 12, wherein said media device is one of a set-top box, a digital video recorder associated with a set top box, a satellite tuner in a set-top box, a television, a DVR, a dongle, a disk player and the like.

14. The media device of claim 12, wherein at least a portion of at least one of said first plurality of information and said second plurality of information comprises contents sourced from one or more of an online encyclopedia, social media sources, related video contents, advertisements, activities related to the media content, reminders to record and the like.

15. The media device of claim 12, wherein providing at least one of said at least one contextual tag and said second plurality of information to said client device enables said client device to adjust at least one of user interface elements and applications associated with said client device.

16. The media device of claim 12, further comprising instructions to:

use at least a part of said at least one contextual tag to navigate to a site from which at least a portion of said second plurality of information can be obtained; and

obtain at least a portion of said second plurality of information associated with the media content from the site.

17. The media device of claim 12, further comprising instructions to:

display the media content on a display associated with said media device;

determine an interact address to a website based on at least a part of said at least one contextual tag, wherein additional information relevant to a particular portion of said media content can be obtained from said website; and

include at least a portion of said internet address in said second plurality of information provided to said client device.

18. The media device of claim 12, further comprising instructions to:

determine that at least one of said at least one contextual tag and said second plurality of information is associated with a particular portion of the media content;

wait until the particular portion of said media content is being displayed or is about to be displayed on a device or a display associated with said media device; and

provide at least one of said at least one contextual tag and said second plurality of information to said client device.

19. The media device of claim 12, wherein at least one of said contextual tag and said second plurality of information is related to one or more of something, someone, some event depicted, a topic discussed or a set of music played in a particular portion of the media content.

20. The media device of claim 12, wherein at least a portion of said second plurality of information or said contextual tag provided to said client device is based on factors comprising at least one of user preferences and content subscription services associated with said media device.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a computer-readable program stored therein, sad computer-readable program executable by a processor associated with a client device, said computer-readable program comprising sets of instructions to:

associate with a media device;

determine a first application identification information, based on at least one of an environment, a user interaction event and activity on said client device;

provide a first information comprising a first application identification information to said media device, to enable said media device to at least;

identify a first application using said first application identification information;

enable access to said first application on said media device; and

enable display of information related to at least one of applications and media on a display associated with said media device.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein said non-transitory computer-readable storage medium is associated with one of a smart phone, a tablet, a smart device, a mobile device, a laptop, a desktop and a gaming console.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein said client device includes a touch screen.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein said computer-readable program further comprises instructions to include one or more parameters in said first information, to enable said media device to provide said one or more parameters to said first application, when said first application is launched or executing on said media device.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein at least one of said one or more parameters is one of a URL, a text, xml, json or other similar data points.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein at least a portion of said first application identification information is one from the group comprising an absolute URI, an absolute URL, a relative URI and a relative URL.

27. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a computer-readable program stored therein, said computer-readable program executable by a processor associated with a client device, said computer-readable program comprising sets of instructions to:

associate with a media device;

receive at least one of a contextual tag and first information from said media device, wherein

said contextual tag is based on one or more contexts associated with media content on said media device;

said first information is related to said contextual tag;

determine a second information, said second information related to at least one of said contextual tag and said first information; and

display at least a portion of said second information on a display associated with said client device.

28. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein said non-transitory computer-readable storage medium is associated with one of a smart phone, a tablet, a smart device, a mobile device, a laptop, a desktop and a gaming console.

29. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein said second information comprises content sourced from one or more of an online encyclopedia, social media sources, related video contents, advertisements, activities related to the media content, reminders to record and the like.

30. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein said computer-readable program further comprises instructions to adjust at least one of user interface elements and applications associated with said client device.