Network-based media device upgrading system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11317152-B2
Application number	US-201916700600-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 2, 2019
Priority date	Mar 23, 2018
Publication date	Apr 26, 2022
Grant date	Apr 26, 2022

Abstract

Disclosed herein are system, method, and computer program product embodiments for a network-based media device upgrading system. An embodiment operates by receiving a fetch command from a first instance of an application executing locally on a host device. The fetch command is provided to a media device executing a second instance of the application. At the host device, metadata corresponding to the file that was retrieved by the media device is received. A rendering command is determined from the first instance of the application corresponding to displaying the interface including the fetched file as indicated by the metadata. The rendering command is provided to the media device that is configured to display the interface of the application responsive to executing the rendering command.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
receiving, by a network accessible host device, a launch command from a media device, the launch command being associated with launching an application at the media device, wherein the host device and the media device are wirelessly communicatively coupled over a network;
launching a first instance of the application at the host device responsive to receiving the launch command from the media device, wherein the media device launches a second instance of the same application, and wherein both the first instance of the application launched at the host device and the second instance of the application launched at the media device use a same user information to login to the application;
receiving, over the network and at the host device, a command issued to the media device from a remote control associated with the media device based upon a determination by the media device to use processing capabilities of the host device to execute the command;
issuing the command to the first instance of the application executing locally on the host device;
receiving a fetch command from the first instance of the application executing locally on the host device, wherein the fetch command indicates a file to be retrieved from a network-accessible computing device;
providing, to the media device executing the second instance of the application, the fetch command to fetch the file associated with displaying an interface of the application on the media device;
receiving, at the host device, metadata corresponding to the file that was retrieved by the media device responsive to an execution of the fetch command by the media device;
determining a rendering command from the first instance of the application corresponding to displaying the interface including the fetched file as indicated by the metadata; and
providing the rendering command to the media device, wherein the media device is configured to display the interface of the application responsive to executing the rendering command.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a version number of the second instance of the application prior to an instantiation of the first instance of the application; and
instantiating the first instance of the application with a version number identical to the version number of the second instance of the application with the user information, wherein the host device is configured to execute multiple different versions of the application simultaneously.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from the media device, user account information regarding a user account associated with the second instance of the application; and
configuring the first instance of the application using the user account information.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fetch command identifies streaming video content to be retrieved by the media device from one or more servers.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the streaming video content is received by the media device and processed by the second instance of the application.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
receiving, at the host device, input from a remote control configured to operate the second instance of the application at the media device during a playback of the streaming video content by the media device.

7. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
receiving, at the host device, periodic updates as to how much of the streaming video content has been output by the media device.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein upon detecting a selection to execute the second instance of the application, firmware of the media device redirects one or more application commands to the first instance of the application.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the host device comprises one or more cloud servers that communicate with the media device over the Internet.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the host device comprises a network device that is configured on a same local network as the media device, and wherein the network device and the media device communicate over the same local network.

11. A media device system, comprising:
a memory; and
at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to perform operations comprising:
receiving, by a network accessible host device, a launch command from a media device, the launch command being associated with launching an application at the media device, wherein the host device and the media device are wirelessly communicatively coupled over a network;
launching a first instance of the application at the host device responsive to receiving the launch command from the media device, wherein the media device launches a second instance of the same application, and wherein both the first instance of the application launched at the host device and the second instance of the application launched at the media device use a same user information to login to the application;
receiving, over the network and at the host device, a command issued to the media device from a remote control associated with the media device based upon a determination by the media device to use processing capabilities of the host device to execute the command;
issuing the command to the first instance of the application executing locally on the host device;
receiving a fetch command from the first instance of the application executing locally on the host device, wherein the fetch command indicates a file to be retrieved from a network-accessible computing device;
providing, to the media device executing the second instance of the application, the fetch command to fetch the file associated with displaying an interface of the application on the media device;
receiving, at the host device, metadata corresponding to the file that was retrieved by the media device responsive to an execution of the fetch command by the media device;
determining a rendering command from the first instance of the application corresponding to displaying the interface including the fetched file as indicated by the metadata; and
providing the rendering command to the media device, wherein the media device is configured to display the interface of the application responsive to executing the rendering command.

12. The system of claim 11 , the operations further comprising:
determining a version number of the second instance of the application prior to an instantiation of the first instance of the application; and
instantiating the first instance of the application with a version number identical to the version number of the second instance of the application with the user information, wherein the host device is configured to execute multiple different versions of the application simultaneously.

13. The system of claim 11 , the operations further comprising:
receiving, from the media device, user account information regarding a user account associated with the second instance of the application; and
configuring the first instance of the application using the user account information.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the fetch command identifies streaming video content to be retrieved by the media device from one or more servers.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the streaming video content is received by the media device and processed by the second instance of the application.

16. The system of claim 15 , the operations further comprising:
receiving, at the host device, input from a remote control configured to operate the second instance of the application at the media de

Assignees

• Roku Inc

Inventors

• Tandon Prateek
• Esfahani Cameron

Classifications

• H04N21/443

  OS processes, e.g. booting an STB, implementing a Java virtual machine in an STB or power management in an STB · CPC title

• H04N21/4586 Primary

  Content update operation triggered locally, e.g. by comparing the version of software modules in a DVB carousel to the version stored locally (deployment, distribution, installation, update of software G06F8/65; error detection or correction of the data by redundancy during software upgrading G06F11/1433; arrangements for updating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/25) · CPC title

• H04N21/43635

  HDMI · CPC title

• H04N21/4183

  providing its own processing capabilities, e.g. external module for video decoding · CPC title

• H04N21/818

  OS software · CPC title