Method for determining a device to provide with content based on content attribute and electronic device using the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9443032-B2
Application number	US-93971810-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 4, 2010
Priority date	Nov 4, 2009
Publication date	Sep 13, 2016
Grant date	Sep 13, 2016

Abstract

A method for providing content where one device from among a plurality of devices is determined as a device to transmit the content to, based on the attribute of the requested content. Accordingly, device utilization is optimized by providing the content to the device with the highest priority to play back the content based on the attribute of the content.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for providing content by a server, the method comprising:
receiving a request for content;
receiving information of a plurality of devices which communicate with the server, the information being related to a type of content which is able to be played back in each of the plurality of devices;
determining one from among the plurality of devices that has highest priority among the plurality of devices as the device to play back the content, based on the information; and
transmitting the content to the device which is determined as the device to play back the content,
wherein determining the device to play back the content comprises, if the device with the highest priority is not able to receive the content, determining the device with the second highest priority as the device to play back the content, based on the information.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting the content to the device which is determined as the device to play back the content.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information comprises a type of the content, and the priority is determined according to the type of the content.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the type of the requested content comprises at least one of text content, audio content, and video content, and the determining comprises, from among the plurality of devices,
i) if the content is the text content, determining a device whose main function is to play back the text content as the device to transmit the content to,
ii) if the content is the audio content, determining a device whose main function is to play back the audio content as the device to transmit the content to, and
iii) if the content is the video content, determining a device whose main function is to play back the video content as the device to transmit the content to.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining the device to transmit the content to comprises determining a device, which is capable of outputting the content to a display suitable for the resolution of the content, as the device to play back the content.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the device to play back the content is determined based on a table in which devices to transmit the content to are set in advance based on the type of the content.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the table is constructed by at least one of a server to provide the information of the authenticated device, a server to provide the content, and a device connected communicatively to the server.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of devices corresponding to the information of the authenticated device comprises of devices owned by a user.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the request for content comprises receiving a request for purchase of the content.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting an authentication key to the device requesting the content and to other devices,
wherein determining the device to play back the content is performed if the authentication key, provided at the transmitting, is received from the device requesting the content.

11. A method for purchasing content in at least one of a plurality of content playback devices, the method comprising:
receiving content requested for purchase from the at least one of the plurality of content playback devices; and
playing back the received content,
wherein the received content is determined to be playable in one of the at least one content playback devices that has highest priority among the at least one content playback devices based on information related to a type of content that is able to be played back in each of the plurality of content playback devices, and the content is transmitted to the device which is determined as the device to play back the content, and
wherein determining the received content to be playable in one of the at least one content playback devices comprises, if the device with the highest priority is not able to receive the content, determining the device with the second highest priority as the device to play back the content, based on the information.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein receiving the content comprises receiving the requested content from a server,
wherein the server, when the received content is determined to be playable in the at least one of the content playback devices based on the information, transmits the requested content to the at least one content playback device.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the information comprises a type of the requested content.

Assignees

• Park Soo-Hong
• Jeong Jin-Guk
• Cho Hyung-Rae
• Kim Sun-Ae
• Kwahk Ji-Young
• Oh Hyun-Joo
• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Park Soo-Hong
• Jeong Jin-Guk
• Cho Hyung-Rae
• Kim Sun-Ae
• Kwahk Ji-Young
• Oh Hyun-Joo

Classifications

• H04L43/20

  the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV · CPC title

• H04W24/02

  Arrangements for optimising operational condition · CPC title

• G06F17/30905 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• H04L43/08

  Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters · CPC title

• H04N21/436

  Interfacing a local distribution network, e.g. communicating with another STB {or one or more peripheral devices} inside the home · CPC title