Providing a representation for a device connected to a display device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10971111-B2
Application number	US-202016811392-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 6, 2020
Priority date	Dec 23, 2014
Publication date	Apr 6, 2021
Grant date	Apr 6, 2021

Abstract

Disclosed herein are system, apparatus, article of manufacture, method, and/or computer program product embodiments for providing a representation to a connected device. An embodiment operates by recognizing a new device connected to a display device, collecting device fingerprint information from the new device, and requesting a device class representation information determined based on the device fingerprint information. Another embodiment operates by receiving device fingerprint information from a display device via a network connection, wherein the device fingerprint information is collected from a device connected to a display device, and providing device class representation information to the display device via the network connection, when the device class representation information corresponding to the device fingerprint information is available.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
a memory; and
at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to:
receive, from a first display device for a first multimedia device, a first device fingerprint information and a corresponding first device class representation information,
receive, from a second display device for a second multimedia device, a second device fingerprint information and a corresponding second device class representation information,
store the first and the second device fingerprint information and the first and the second device class representation information as a crowd sourced representation information in a device representation database,
determine that a third multimedia device with a corresponding third device fingerprint information is a known multimedia device based at least on a comparison of the third device fingerprint information with the crowd sourced representation information, and
transmit, to a third display device, a third device class representation information that corresponds to the third device fingerprint information based at least on the determination that the third multimedia device operatively coupled to the third display device is the known multimedia device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the first device class representation information includes a first device class name that is selected for the first multimedia device, and
the second device class representation information includes a second device class name that is selected for the second multimedia device.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein
the first device class name is selected by a first user of the first display device,
the second device class name is selected by a second user of the second display device, and
the selected first device class name is the same as the selected second device class name.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , the at least one processor further configured to:
receive, from the third display device, the third device fingerprint information, wherein the third device fingerprint information is collected from the third multimedia device operatively coupled to the third display device;
compare the third device fingerprint information with the crowd sourced representation information stored in the device representation database; and
determine whether a match for the third display device is found within the device representation database based at least on the comparison of the third device fingerprint information with the crowd sourced representation information.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein
the first device class representation information further includes a first device class image associated with the first device class name, and
the crowd sourced representation information includes an aggregate of at least the first and the second device fingerprint information and the first and the second device class representation information for at least the first and the second multimedia devices.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein
the first device class name is a generic description of the first multimedia device connected to the first display device,
the first device class image is a generic image associated with the first device class name, and
the first device fingerprint information includes at least one of a vendor identifier, a product identifier, and/or an on screen display information.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the first device fingerprint information is collected from the first multimedia device operatively coupled to the first display device, and
the second device fingerprint information is collected from the second multimedia device operatively coupled to the second display device.

8. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
receiving, from a first display device for a first multimedia device, a first device fingerprint information and a corresponding first device class representation information;
receiving, from a second display device for a second multimedia device, a second device fingerprint information and a corresponding second device class representation information;
storing the first and the second device fingerprint information and the first and the second device class representation information as a crowd sourced representation information in a device representation database;
determining that a third multimedia device with a corresponding third device fingerprint information is a known multimedia device based at least on a comparison of the third device fingerprint information with the crowd sourced representation information; and
transmitting, to a third display device, a third device class representation information that corresponds to the third device fingerprint information based at least on the determination that the third multimedia device operatively coupled to the third display device is the known multimedia device.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein
the first device class representation information includes a first device class name that is selected for the first multimedia device, and
the second device class representation information includes a second device class name that is selected for the second multimedia device.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein
the second device class name is a generic description of the second multimedia device connected to the second display device, and
the second device fingerprint information includes at least one of a vendor identifier, a product identifier, and/or an on screen display information.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , further comprising:
receiving, from the third display device, the third device fingerprint information, wherein the third device fingerprint information is collected from the third multimedia device operatively coupled to the third display device;
comparing the third device fingerprint information with the crowd sourced representation information stored in the device representation database; and
determining whether a match for the third display device is found within the device representation database based at least on the comparison of the third device fingerprint information with the crowd sourced representation information.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 , wherein
the first device fingerprint information is collected from the first multimedia device operatively coupled to the first display device, and
the second device fingerprint information is collected from the second multimedia device operatively coupled to the second display device.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein
the first device class representation information further includes a first device class image associated with the first device class name.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , wherein
the first device class name is a generic description of the first multimedia device connected to the first display device,
the first device class image is a generic image associated with the first device class name, and
the first device fingerprint information includes at least one of a vendor identifier, a product identifier, and/or an on screen display information.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, that, when executed on a computing device cause the computing device to perform operations, the operations comprising:
receiving, from a first display device for a first multimedia device, a first device fingerprint information and a corresponding first device class representation information;
r

Assignees

• Roku Inc

Inventors

• Sharp David
• Bush Jeff
• Funk Jim
• Michiels Wim
• Luck Dale

Classifications

• G09G2370/042

  for monitor identification · CPC title

• H04N21/00

  Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD] (real-time bi-directional transmission of motion video data H04N7/14 {; broadcast or conference over packet switching networks H04L12/18}) · CPC title

• H04N21/475

  End-user interface for inputting end-user data, e.g. personal identification number [PIN], preference data · CPC title

• G09G2370/12

  Use of DVI or HDMI protocol in interfaces along the display data pipeline · CPC title

• G09G2370/02

  Networking aspects · CPC title