Synchronizing an application on a companion device

• US 9,723,076 B2
• Filed: 08/21/2015
• Issued: 08/01/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OpenTV, Inc. (Kudelski SA)
• Original Assignee: OpenTV, Inc. (Kudelski SA)
• Inventors: Hensgen, Debra, Iyer, Nandini, Gibson, Martin, Menand, Jean-Rene, Rapport, Sebastian, Pierre, Ludovic
• Primary Examiner(s): Luu, Le H
• Application Number:
  US14/832,986
• Publication Number:
  US 20160044104A1
• Time in Patent Office: 711 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/00 Arrangements for program control, e.g. control units program control for peripheral devices G06F13/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2814 Exchanging control software or macros for controlling appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving configuration of the network and network elements H04L41/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2834 Switching of information between an external network and a home network access arrangements H04L12/2856
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM] H04L51/04; selective video distribution H04N21/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1059 End-user terminal functionalities specially adapted for real-time communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4015 where at least one of the additional parallel sessions is real time or time sensitive, e.g. white board sharing, collaboration or spawning of a subconference
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2362 Generation or processing of Service Information [SI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/242 Synchronization processes, e.g. processing of PCR [Program Clock References] arrangements for synchronising broadcast or distribution via plural systems in broadcast distribution systems H04H20/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4126 The peripheral being portable, e.g. PDAs or mobile phones
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4307 Synchronising the rendering of multiple content streams or additional data on devices, e.g. synchronisation of audio on a mobile phone with the video output on the TV screen
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43079 of additional data with content streams on multiple 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 21/8545 for generating interactive applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8547 : involving timestamps for synchronizing content
• 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: H04W 8/005 : Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

A media server machine may be configured to provide media content within a datastream. This datastream may be provided to a media device that is configured to present the media content on a display. Also, this datastream may contemporaneously contain an “app-sync indicator” for the media content. The app-sync indicator is a data structure that signals the media device to launch an application on a companion device. By providing the app-sync indicator contemporaneously with the media content in the datastream, the launching of the application on the companion device may be synchronized with the media content. The app-sync indicator may specify the application to be launched. Also, the app-sync indicator may specify supplemental content to be presented by the launched application on the companion device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

accessing, by one or more processors, an app-sync indicator associated with an application among multiple applications configured to run on a companion device, the app-sync indicator being associated with media content;

generating, by the one or more processors, a datastream that includes the media content and the app-sync indicator; and

communicating, by the one or more processors, the datastream to a media device configured to perform operations that comprise;

causing presentation of the media content on a display communicatively coupled to the media device;

detecting the companion device; and

providing a trigger to the companion device in response to identifying the appsync indicator in the datastream to cause the companion device to run the application associated with the app-sync indicator.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the app-sync indicator associated with the application identifies the application among the multiple applications;

the trigger provided by the media device to the companion device identifies the application among the multiple applications; and

the provided trigger causes the companion device to run the application that is identified by the trigger and identified by the app-sync indicator.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the generating of the datastream includes inserting an application identifier that identifies the application into the app-sync indicator; and

the app-sync indicator with the inserted application identifier identifies the application among the multiple applications.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the generating of the datastream includes inserting the application into the datastream prior to the media content and the app-sync indicator within the datastream; and

the companion device receives the application via the datastream prior to the provided trigger causing the companion device to run the application.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the media device is configured to verify that the application is referenced by a list of trusted applications prior to providing the trigger to the companion device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the app-sync indicator includes a uniform resource locator (URL) that locates supplemental content associated with the media content;

the media device is configured to extract the URL from the app-sync indicator; and

the trigger provided by the media device includes the URL extracted from the app-sync indicator and causes the companion device to run the application with the URI, as an input to the application.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the media device is configured to verify that the URI is referenced by a list of trusted URLs prior to providing the trigger to the companion device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the app-sync indicator includes a reference to supplemental content associated with the media content;

the media device is configured to extract the reference from the app-sync indicator; and

the trigger provided by the media device includes the reference to the supplemental content and causes the companion device to initiate a presentation of the supplemental content by the companion device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the media content depicts an event from a first camera angle; and

the supplemental content depicts the event from a second camera angle.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the media device is configured to cause presentation of a suggestion prior to providing the trigger to the companion device to suggest that the companion device present the supplemental content.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the media device is configured to present the suggestion on a display of the media device and detect an acceptance of the suggestion from a remote control associated with the media device.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the media device is configured to cause the companion device to present the suggestion and detect acceptance of the suggestion from the companion device.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the suggestion includes a graphical icon that indicates availability of supplemental content and identifies a remote control button operable to indicate acceptance of the suggestion.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the media device is configured to, prior to providing the trigger to the companion device, present a menu of detected companion devices on a display of the media device and detect an input that indicates the companion device has been selected from the presented menu.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the media device is configured to, prior to providing the trigger to the companion device, verify that the companion device is referenced by a list of trusted companion devices and, based on the companion device being referenced by the list of trusted companion devices, establish a communication link with the companion device in response to the companion device being brought within a threshold distance of the media device.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the media device is inadequate to execute the application configured to run on the companion device.

17. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

accessing an app-sync indicator associated with an application among multiple applications configured to run on a companion device, the app-sync indicator being associated with media content;

generating a datastream that includes the media content and the app-sync indicator; and

communicating the datastream to a media device configured to perform operations that comprise;

causing presentation of the media content on a display communicatively coupled to the media device;

detecting the companion device; and

providing a trigger to the companion device in response to identifying the appsync indicator in the datastream to cause the companion device to run the application associated with the app-sync indicator.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein:

the app-sync indicator associated with the application identifies the application among the multiple applications;

the trigger provided by the media device to the companion device identifies the application among the multiple applications; and

the provided trigger causes the companion device to run the application that is identified by the trigger and identified by the app-sync indicator.

19. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

accessing an app-sync indicator associated with an application among multiple applications configured to run on a companion device, the app-sync indicator being associated with media content;

generating a datastream that includes the media content and the app-sync indicator; and

communicating the datastream to a media device configured to perform operations that comprise;

causing presentation of the media content on a display communicatively coupled to the media device;

detecting the companion device; and

providing a trigger to the companion device in response to identifying the appsync indicator in the datastream to cause the companion device to run the application associated with the app-sync indicator.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein:

the generating of the datastream includes inserting an application identifier that identifies the application into the app-sync indicator; and

the app-sync indicator with the inserted application identifier identifies the application among the multiple applications.

21. A media device comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving a datastream that includes media content and includes an app-sync indicator that is associated with the media content and associated with an application among multiple applications configured to run on a companion device;

causing presentation of the media content on a display communicatively coupled to the media device;

detecting the companion device; and

providing a trigger to the companion device in response to identifying the app-sync indicator in the datastream to cause the companion device to run the application associated with the app-sync indicator.

22. A companion device comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

storing multiple applications on the companion device;

detecting a media device;

receiving a trigger from the media device in response to the media device identifying an app-sync indicator in a received datastream that includes media content associated with the app-sync indicator, the trigger indicating that an application among the multiple applications is associated with the app-sync indicator and requested to be run on the companion device; and

in response to the trigger received from the media device, running the application associated with the app-sync indicator on the companion device.