Methods and systems for pairing user device and content application

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10750552-B2
Application number	US-201715476322-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 31, 2017
Priority date	Mar 31, 2017
Publication date	Aug 18, 2020
Grant date	Aug 18, 2020

Abstract

Methods and systems for pairing devices are disclosed. A user device may be used to navigate to a resource locator using. In response to a determination that an identifier associated with the user device matches at least one identifier associated with one or more devices accessing a first network, a paired communication may be established between the user device and a display device to facilitate control of one or more features of display device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
determining one or more first identifiers associated with one or more devices accessing a premises network, wherein a first device of the one or more devices is configured to execute an application comprising features capable of being controlled by another of the one or more devices accessing the premises network;
receiving, by a network device and based on a second device accessing a resource locator associated with the network device, a second identifier associated with the second device;
determining, by the network device, that the second identifier matches at least one of the one or more first identifiers; and
causing, based on determining that the second identifier matches the at least one of the first identifiers, pairing of the second device with the first device to enable control of the one or more features of the application by the second device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first device comprises a set-top box associated with a display and the application is outputted via the display.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the premises network comprises a local area network and wherein the determining the one or more first identifiers comprises retrieving one or more Internet protocol (IP) addresses from a set of one or more IP addresses assigned by a gateway device associated with the premises network.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second device comprises a mobile device configured to access the resource locator.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein accessing the resource locator comprises causing the second device to navigate to the resource locator and to determine the second identifier of the second device.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein accessing the resource locator comprises receiving a user input comprising the resource locator.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more devices comprise the second device and wherein the one or more first identifiers comprise the second identifier.

8. A method comprising:
causing, via a user device, output to a network device of an identifier associated with the user device based on the user device navigating to a resource locator associated with the network device, wherein output of the identifier to the network device causes the network device to, based on a determination that the identifier associated with the user device matches at least one identifier associated with one or more devices accessing a network, pair the user device with a computing device; and
sending, by the user device, and based on the user device being paired with the computing device, a signal to cause control of an application executing on the computing device.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the navigating to the resource locator comprises receiving a user input comprising the resource locator.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the navigating to the resource locator comprises receiving the resource locator from a data store and automatically navigating to the resource locator.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the resource locator comprises a universal resource locator.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the user device comprises a mobile device.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the user device being paired with the computing device is associated with a time limit, and wherein the user device and the computing device are unpaired at the expiration of the time limit.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the one or more devices comprise the user device and wherein the at least one identifier comprises the identifier associated with the user device.

15. A method comprising:
determining an identifier of a first device among one or more first identifiers associated with one or more devices accessing a network associated with a premises;
receiving, by a network device, a second identifier associated with a second device based on the second device accessing a resource locator associated with the network device;
comparing, by the network device, the one or more first identifiers to the second identifier; and
causing, by the network device determining that the second identifier matches at least one of the first identifiers, pairing of the second device with the first device located at the premises to enable control of one or more features of the first device.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the one or more first identifiers comprise Internet protocol addresses assigned to the one or more devices accessing the network.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the accessing the resource locator comprises one or more of displaying the resource locator and enabling automatic navigation to a resource associated with the resource locator.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the second identifier comprises a public-facing Internet protocol address.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the first device is associated with a display configured to output content to a user, and wherein the second device, when paired with the first device, is configured to control the one or more features of the first device, and wherein the one or more features are associated with the outputted content.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein the one or more devices comprise the second device and wherein the one or more first identifiers comprise the second identifier.

Assignees

• Comcast Cable Comm Llc

Inventors

• Witkowski Bryan Kenneth
• Dandrea Robert
• Cherne Brian

Classifications

• H04L61/5007 Primary

  Internet protocol [IP] addresses · CPC title

• H04W76/11 Primary

  Allocation or use of connection identifiers · CPC title

• H04W76/38

  triggered by timers · CPC title

• H04L61/2007

  Electricity · mapped topic