Smart phone as remote control device

• US 9,813,759 B2
• Filed: 11/27/2012
• Issued: 11/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Klein, Adam, Britt, James Austin, Fox, Joshua J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mendoza, Junior
• Application Number:
  US13/686,272
• Publication Number:
  US 20130086618A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,806 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72415 for remote control of appliances
• 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

Abstract

A communication device such as a smart phone is enabled for remotely controlling set-top boxes (STBs) over Internet protocol networks using an applet running on the communication device. Authentication from within a multimedia content distribution network may be achieved by verifying that a network identifier associated with the communication device is associated with an account that has granted access to the smart phone and that is associated with the controlled STB. A viewing pane on the communication device permits a user to remotely view content received on or available to the controlled STB.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a mobile device, video data from a multimedia content delivery resource of a multimedia content provider, wherein the video data is indicative of multimedia content available, from the multimedia content provider, to a plurality of customer premises devices;

displaying a remote control interface on a touch screen display of the mobile device, wherein the remote control interface includes;

a content pane operable for displaying streaming video corresponding to a channel currently selected by a particular customer premises device and further operable for displaying streaming video corresponding to a channel currently not selected by the particular customer premises device;

a first remote set-top box button for selecting a first remote set-top box associated with a client account as the particular customer premises device;

a second remote set-top box button for selecting a second remote set-top box associated with the client account as the particular customer premises device;

a history virtual button for displaying a viewing history of the particular customer premises device; and

a virtual button corresponding to a remote control command for controlling the particular customer premises device; and

responsive to detecting a user input via the virtual button, sending the remote control command to the multimedia content provider resource for delivery to the particular customer premises device via a multimedia network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the remote control interface includes:

a channel virtual button for changing a channel output by the particular customer premises device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the streaming video comprises multimedia content associated with the channel output by the particular customer premises device.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein receiving the video data comprises receiving, by a transceiver of the mobile device, the video data via a cellular network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia network is an Internet protocol television network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the remote control interface is performed by a web browser of the mobile device.

7. A multimedia service provider resource, comprising:

a processor;

a non-transitory computer readable medium, accessible to the processor, including program instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

sending, to a particular mobile device, video data indicative of multimedia content available, from a multimedia content provider, to a plurality of set top boxes;

responsive to receiving, from the particular mobile device, a remote control command corresponding to a first remote set top box button of a user interface, selecting a first remote set-top box associated with a client account as a particular customer premises device;

responsive to receiving, from the particular mobile device, a remote control command corresponding to a second remote set top box button of a user interface, selecting a second remote set-top box associated with a client account as the particular customer premises device;

responsive to receiving, from the particular mobile device, a remote control command corresponding to a first device selection button of a user interface of the particular mobile device, sending multimedia content available to a particular set top box to the particular mobile device for display in a content pane of a mobile device user interface; and

responsive to receiving, from the particular mobile device, a remote control command corresponding to a history virtual button, displaying a viewing history of the particular customer premises device;

wherein the mobile device user interface supports display of streaming video corresponding to a channel currently selected by the particular set top box and display of streaming video corresponding to a channel currently not selected by the particular set top box.

8. The multimedia service provider resource of claim 7, wherein the operations include sending viewing history data in a format suitable for display by the particular mobile device.

9. The multimedia service provider resource of claim 7, wherein the operations include:

receiving the remote control command from a service provider access resource configured to engage in web-based communication with the particular mobile device.

10. The multimedia service provider resource of claim 7, wherein the operations include:

establishing a session for communication between the particular mobile device and the particular set-top box.

11. The multimedia service provider resource of claim 7, wherein the operations include:

receiving an incoming telephone call from the particular mobile device; and

placing an outgoing telephone call to the particular mobile device.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including executable program instructions, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations including:

receiving, by a mobile device, video data from a server of a multimedia network, wherein the video data is indicative of multimedia content available to a set top box;

displaying a remote control interface on a touch screen display of the mobile device, wherein the remote control interface includes;

a content pane operable for displaying streaming video corresponding to a channel currently selected by a particular set top box and further operable for displaying streaming video corresponding to a channel currently not selected by the particular set top box;

a plurality of virtual buttons including;

a first remote set-top box button for selecting a first remote set-top box associated with a client account as the particular set top box;

a second remote set-top box button for selecting a second remote set-top box associated with the client account as the particular set top box;

a power button for powering on and powering off the particular set top box; and

a telephone button for initiating a telephone call; and

responsive to detecting a user input via one of the plurality of virtual buttons, sending the remote control command to the server for delivery to the set top box.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the operations include:

sending history data indicative of a viewing history to the mobile device.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the history data is sent in a format displayable by the mobile device.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the plurality of virtual buttons includes a power on/off virtual button.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the plurality of virtual buttons includes a record show virtual button.