Global setting for casting content to networked renderer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016255121-A1
Application number	US-201514630296-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 24, 2015
Priority date	Feb 24, 2015
Publication date	Sep 1, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A globally accessible list contains the identification of content casting applications, and the identification of stream receivers. When a casting application is launched to select a streaming content file, the casting application then accesses the global casting list and searches for the ID of the content casting application, and then selects the associated stream receiver to cast the URL to that stream receiver. This allows the user to not have to select the stream receiver every time a stream is cast. The list can be formed by an app, e.g., an application that forms the global list which may be an application that is provided with one of the stream receivers, for example. In one embodiment the list can be stored on a computer, e.g. the first computer that runs the application. The global casting list also contains, for each content casting application, an ordered list of IDs of user selected stream receivers by app and for by user. A stream receiver is selected based on order of the list.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method, comprising:
in a first computer, running an operating system that allows running different applications, including a plurality of different stream sending applications, each of said stream sending applications sending information that commands a stream of video to one of a plurality of remote stream receivers; accessing, from said first computer, a list associating each of said stream sending applications with one or more stream receiving devices, where at least a first of said stream sending applications is associated with multiple stream receiving devices in said list; detecting that said first stream sending application has been started; checking said list to determine said multiple stream receiving devices which are associated with said first stream sending application, and first attempting to connect with a first stream receiving device from said list, associated with said first stream sending application and sending said information from said first stream sending application to said first stream receiving device if said first stream receiving device is available, if said first stream receiving device is not available, then second attempting to connect with a second stream receiving device on said list and sending said information from said first stream sending application to said second stream receiving device if said second stream receiving device is available, and subsequently checking any other stream receiving devices on said list if said first and second stream receiving devices are not available, and if no streaming receiving device is available, then providing an error message on said first computer, but if a stream sending receiving device is available, then providing said information from said stream sending application to an available stream receiving device; detecting that a second stream sending application different than said first stream sending application has been started; and checking said list and sending said information from said second stream sending application to entries on said list, where entries on the list for the second stream sending application are different than entries on the list for the first stream sending application.

2 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein said first computer checks the first stream receiving device and determines said first stream receiving device as unavailable when either already receiving a stream or powered off.

3 . The method as in claim 1 , further comprising determining a user of said first computer, and where said list is arranged by both stream sending applications and by user who is logged in, where different users send to different stream receiving devices.

4 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein said information is a web address and login information for a specified stream sending service.

5 . The method as in claim 1 , further comprising accessing said list from a second computer.

6 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein said list is stored on an internet-accessible location, and is accessed via the internet.

7 . A computer system, comprising:
a first computer, running an operating system that allows running different applications, including a plurality of different stream sending applications, each of said stream sending applications sending information that commands a stream of video to be played by one of a plurality of remote stream receivers; said computer accessing a list associating each of said stream sending applications with one or more stream receiving devices, where at least a first of said stream sending applications is associated with multiple stream receiving devices in said list; said computer detecting that said first stream sending application has been started, and checking said list to determine said multiple stream receiving devices which are associated with said first stream sending application; said computer first attempting to connect with a first stream receiving device from said list, associated with said first stream sending application and sending said information from said first stream sending application to said first stream receiving device if said first stream receiving device is available, if said first stream receiving device is not available, then said computer second attempting to connect with a second stream receiving device on said list and sending said information from said first stream sending application to said second stream receiving device if said second stream receiving device is available; if neither said first stream receiving device nor said second stream receiving device are available, then subsequently checking any other stream receiving devices on said list and if no streaming receiving device is available, then providing an error message on said first computer; if a stream sending receiving device is available, then said computer providing said information from said stream sending application to an available stream receiving device; said computer detecting that a second stream sending application different than said first stream sending application has been started; and checking said list and sending said information from said second stream sending application to entries on said list, where entries on the list for the second stream sending application are different than entries on the list for the first stream sending application.

8 . The system as in claim 7 , wherein said computer checks the first stream receiving device and determines said first stream receiving device as unavailable when either already receiving a stream or powered off.

9 . The system as in claim 7 , wherein the computer determines a user who is logged on, and where said list is arranged by both stream sending applications and by user who is logged in, where different users send to different stream receiving devices.

10 . The system as in claim 7 , wherein said information is a web address and login information for a specified stream sending service.

11 . The system as in claim 7 , said list is accessed over the internet.

12 . The system as in claim 7 , said list is also accessible from a second computer.

13 . A method of forming and accessing a list of stream receivers that is arranged by app, comprising:
in a computer, running an application that forms a global list that has entries for a plurality of different stream casting applications, for each stream casting application, has at least one stream receiver that should receive information when that stream casting application is started, and at least one of said entries for at least one of said stream casting applications includes multiple entries, each entry representing a stream receiver, and where said stream receivers are listed in an order of desired use; and accessing said global list when a stream casting application is started, and accessing entries in the global list to determine a stream receiver to be used with said stream casting application.

14 . The method as in claim 13 , wherein said list is also organized by user, and includes entries for each of a plurality of users, where each user has entries for each of the plurality of stream casting applications, and said global list indicates an order of stream receivers to be used for each of said stream casting applications for each user.

15 . The method as in claim 13 , further comprising storing said list on an Internet accessible site.

16 . The method as in claim 13 , wherein the list identifies content casting applications residing on the same client device and/or on other client devices.

Assignees

• Vizio Inc

Inventors

• Mcrae Matthew Blake

Classifications

• H04L67/02

  based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP] · CPC title

• H04L65/1069 Primary

  Session establishment or de-establishment · CPC title

• H04L65/604

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L65/1094

  Inter-user-equipment sessions transfer or sharing · CPC title

• H04L41/509

  wherein the managed service relates to media content delivery, e.g. audio, video or TV · CPC title