Media bridge apparatus and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10652607-B2
Application number	US-201715688721-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 28, 2017
Priority date	Jun 8, 2009
Publication date	May 12, 2020
Grant date	May 12, 2020

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for content, media and data delivery and access between devices of a premises and one or more portable media devices. In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises a media bridge between a portable media device (PMD) and a user's home network and/or home devices (e.g., set-top boxes, DVRs, etc.)). The apparatus is adapted to convert content stored on a PMD to a format capable of being rendered on a home device which may then store or playback the content. Control of the presentation is also provided by the bridging apparatus. The apparatus may also be adapted to transfer content from the home device to the PMD for storage or playback. In another embodiment, the apparatus may function within a home network having a trusted domain to provide content between a plurality devices on the network (and in the domain) and the PMD.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computerized method of providing access to digitally rendered media content via a premises network, the computerized method comprising:
utilizing a computerized server process to access a database, the database comprising first data relating to the digitally rendered media content accessible to the premises network;
based at least on the access of the database, generating second data comprising an HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)-based listing of the digitally rendered media content within the database, the generating comprising sorting, based at least in part on a plurality of content types, the digitally rendered media content within the HTML-based listing, the plurality of content types prioritized according to at least a quality-of-service (QoS) policy;
transmitting the second data comprising the HTML-based listing to a computerized client device of the premises network to enable rendering of the HTML-based listing by the computerized client device on a user interface of the computerized client device;
receiving third data at the computerized server process, the third data relating to a request issued from the computerized client device to access one or more of the digitally rendered media content of the HTML-based listing;
based at least on the received third data relating to the request, obtaining the requested digitally rendered media content from a storage entity via at least the premises network; and
causing transmission of the obtained requested digitally rendered media content to the computerized client device via at least the premises network for decoding and rendering by the computerized client device, the transmission of the digitally rendered media content comprising transmission according to the QoS policy.

2. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein the generating the second data comprises creating a webpage, the webpage comprising an embedded media player application and associated control functions.

3. The computerized method of claim 1 , further comprising associating the digitally rendered media content with a plurality of copy protection rules, the plurality of copy protection rules comprising at least data indicative that the digitally rendered media content cannot become a source of multiple viewable copies; and
wherein the transmission of the digitally rendered media content further comprises transmission of the copy protection rules to the computerized client device.

4. The computerized method of claim 1 , further comprising causing the obtained requested digitally rendered media content to be removed from the storage entity, thereby preventing persistent existence of more than one instance of the obtained requested digitally rendered media content within the premises network.

5. The computerized method of claim 1 , further comprising converting the obtained requested digitally rendered media content from a first encoding format to a second encoding format, the second format comprising a format capable of being utilized by the computerized client device, the first format comprising a format not capable of being utilized by the computerized client device.

6. The computerized method of claim 1 , further comprising enabling a user of the computerized client device to rank the plurality of content types, wherein the sorting is further based on the ranking by the user of the plurality of content types.

7. Computer readable apparatus comprising a non-transitory storage medium, the non-transitory medium comprising at least one computer program having a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions configured to, when executed on a digital processing apparatus:
utilize a computerized server process to access a database, the database comprising first data relating to the digitally rendered media content accessible to a premises data network;
based at least on the access of the database, generate second data comprising an HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)-based data structure of the digitally rendered media content within the database, wherein the digitally rendered media content is represented by two or more display elements prioritized in the HTML-based data structure according to two or more prioritized types of services respectively associated with the digitally rendered media content;
transmit the second data comprising the HTML-based data structure to a first computerized client device of the premises data network to enable rendering of the HTML-based data structure by the first computerized client device on a user interface of the first computerized client device;
receive third data at the computerized server process, the third data issued from the first computerized client device and relating to a request to access one or more of the digitally rendered media content of the HTML-based data structure by a second computerized client device;
based at least on the received third data relating to the request, obtain the requested digitally rendered media content from a computerized storage entity via at least the premises data network; and
cause transmission of the obtained digitally rendered media content to the second computerized client device via at least the premises data network for decoding and rendering by the second computerized client device;
wherein the rendering of the HTML-based data structure by the first computerized client device on the user interface of the first computerized client device comprises a display of the two or more display elements in a visibility stack based on the prioritization thereof.

8. The computer readable apparatus of claim 7 , wherein:
the plurality of instructions are further configured to, when executed on the digital processing apparatus:
prioritize the digitally rendered media content of the HTML-based data structure according to data relating to a quality-of-service (QoS) policy; and
access data relating to one or more copy protection rules associated with the digitally rendered media content; and

the transmission of the obtained requested digitally rendered media content (i) subject to the data relating to the one or more copy protection rules, and (ii) based at least on the data relating to the QoS policy.

9. The computer readable apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the data relating to the one or more copy protection rules is configured to indicate that the obtained requested digitally rendered media content (i) can be either copied freely, or (ii) can be copied once.

10. The computer readable apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the data relating to the one or more copy protection rules is configured to indicate that the obtained requested digitally rendered media content cannot be copied, but playback from the storage entity can be enabled.

11. The computer readable apparatus of claim 7 , wherein:
the plurality of instructions is further configured to, when executed on the digital processing apparatus:
perform at least one conversion of the digitally rendered media content, the at least one conversion comprising a conversion of the digitally rendered media content from a first encoded format of the digitally rendered media content as stored at the storage entity to a second encoded format utilized by the second computerized client device; and

the first encoded format comprises Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG)-2 encoding, and the second encoded format comprises a non-MPEG encoding.

12. The computer readable apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the computerized storage entity comprises a digital video recorder (DVR) function associated with a network-based service to which a user of at least the first computerized client device is subscribed.

13. The c

Assignees

• Time Warner Cable Entpr Llc

Inventors

• Cholas Chris
• Helms William L
• Markley Jeffrey P

Classifications

• H04N21/4402

  involving reformatting operations of video signals for household redistribution, storage or real-time display {(details of conversion of video standards at pixel level H04N7/01; video transcoding H04N19/40; adapting incoming signals to the display format of the display terminal G09G5/005; media handling at the source in data packet switching networks H04L65/764)} · CPC title

• H04N7/17318

  Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests · CPC title

• H04N21/43615

  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 title

• H04N21/4334

  Recording operations (recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27) · CPC title

• H04N21/4332 Primary

  by placing content in organized collections, e.g. local EPG data repository (interfaces, Database management systems or updating for information retrieval G06F16/23; details of retrieval of video data and associated meta data in video database G06F16/739) · CPC title