Moving content between set top box and end devices in home

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11140437-B2
Application number	US-202016812737-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 9, 2020
Priority date	Mar 24, 2010
Publication date	Oct 5, 2021
Grant date	Oct 5, 2021

Abstract

A content moving device which enables providing content stored on a first user device, such as a DVR, in a first format and resolution to be provided to a second user device, such as a portable media player (PMP) in a second format and resolution. The content moving device identifies content on the first user device as candidate content which may be desired by the PMP and receives the candidate content from the DVR. The content moving device transcodes the candidate content at times independent of a request from the PMP for the content. The content moving device may provide a list of available transcoded content to the PMP for selection, and provide selected content to the PMP. The content moving device may also provide information relating to any protection schemes of the content provided to the PMP, such as DRM rights and decryption keys. The content moving device performs the often computationally intense and time consuming transcoding of user content to enable the user to move content between different user devices in a convenient manner.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for transferring content between devices, the system comprising:
a hardware processor of a media device that:
determines media content items that are selectable for retrieval by a mobile device, wherein the media content items are in a first format corresponding to the media device;
determines a second format corresponding to the mobile device for receiving at least one of the media content items based on a capability of the mobile device;
in response to receiving a request for a transcoded media content item from the transcoded media content items, generates transcoded media content items by transcoding the media content items from the first format to the second format;
transmits the transcoded media content items to the mobile device; and
causes a list of second media content items to be presented that indicates that the transcoded media content items have been transmitted to the mobile device and that indicates a remaining portion of the second media content items that have not been transmitted to the mobile device.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the request for the transcoded media content item is received via a user interface presented on the mobile device.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the hardware processor further:
determines that more than a predetermined threshold of memory of the media device used to store media content items has been filed; and
selects a subset of the media content items for deletion from the memory of the media device used to store the media content items.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the subset of the media content items are selected based on user configuration settings that indicate episodic content that is to be deleted.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein determining the second format comprises selecting a resolution based on a bandwidth of a network connection between the mobile device and the media device.

6. A method for transferring content between devices, the method comprising:
determining media content items that are selectable for retrieval by a mobile device, wherein the media content items are in a first format corresponding to the media device;
determining a second format corresponding to the mobile device for receiving at least one of the media content items based on a capability of the mobile device;
in response to receiving a request for a transcoded media content item from the transcoded media content items, generating transcoded media content items by transcoding the media content items from the first format to the second format;
transmitting the transcoded media content items to the mobile device; and
causing a list of second media content items to be presented that indicates that the transcoded media content items have been transmitted to the mobile device and that indicates a remaining portion of the second media content items that have not been transmitted to the mobile device.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the request for the transcoded media content item is received via a user interface presented on the mobile device.

8. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
determining that more than a predetermined threshold of memory of the media device used to store media content items has been filed; and
selecting a subset of the media content items for deletion from the memory of the media device used to store the media content items.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the subset of the media content items are selected based on user configuration settings that indicate episodic content that is to be deleted.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein determining the second format comprises selecting a resolution based on a bandwidth of a network connection between the mobile device and the media device.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform a method for transferring content between devices, the method comprising:
determining media content items that are selectable for retrieval by a mobile device, wherein the media content items are in a first format corresponding to the media device;
determining a second format corresponding to the mobile device for receiving at least one of the media content items based on a capability of the mobile device;
in response to receiving a request for a transcoded media content item from the transcoded media content items, generating transcoded media content items by transcoding the media content items from the first format to the second format;
transmitting the transcoded media content items to the mobile device; and
causing a list of second media content items to be presented that indicates that the transcoded media content items have been transmitted to the mobile device and that indicates a remaining portion of the second media content items that have not been transmitted to the mobile device.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the request for the transcoded media content item is received via a user interface presented on the mobile device.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the method further comprises:
determining that more than a predetermined threshold of memory of the media device used to store media content items has been filed; and
selecting a subset of the media content items for deletion from the memory of the media device used to store the media content items.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the subset of the media content items are selected based on user configuration settings that indicate episodic content that is to be deleted.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein determining the second format comprises selecting a resolution based on a bandwidth of a network connection between the mobile device and the media device.

Assignees

• Google Technology Holdings LLC

Inventors

• Luthra Ajay K
• Grossman Michael A
• Moorthy Praveen N
• Moroney Paul
• Ramamurthy Arjun
• Xu Haifeng

Classifications

• H04N21/4126

  The peripheral being portable, e.g. PDAs or mobile phones · CPC title

• H04N21/41265

  having a remote control device for bidirectional communication between the remote control device and client device (unidirectional remote control device H04N21/42204) · CPC title

• H04N21/43615 Primary

  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

• H04N21/4363

  Adapting the video stream to a specific local network, e.g. a Bluetooth® network · CPC title

• 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