US 7,792,920 B2Granted

Network-accessible control of one or more media devices

AssigneeVulcan Inc.

InventorsAnthony F. Istvan, Rod G. Fleck, Robin Budd, Korina J. B. Stark, Marcellino Tanumihardja

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Abstract

A content management (CM) system is provided to centrally control operation of one or more connected devices by issuing control requests and/or data requests. In some situations the connected device(s) include devices that control presentation of television programming-related content, such as digital video recorder (“DVR”) devices and media center devices, and in other situations may include other types of media devices and/or other electromechanical (“E/M”) devices that may be centrally controlled, such as E/M devices for home automation that may operate independently or in conjunction with the media devices. In some situations, the CM system communicates with the connected devices via a network and using appropriate protocol(s), and may be accessed remotely via a network so as to allow a user to remotely operate the CM system. The CM system may further control searching, identification, selection, and presentation of pieces of media content by the connected device(s).

Claims11

Dependent claims

A remotely accessible computing system having a processor and memory configured to control multiple types of networked devices, the computing system comprising:

a management system configured to communicatively couple to the networked devices, the management system including:
a core module to centrally generate control requests and data requests related to operation of the networked devices;
and
multiple gateway modules to facilitate communication between the core module and the networked devices, wherein each of the gateway modules corresponds to a different type of networked device and includes a communication interface that corresponds to that type of networked device, wherein each of the gateway modules is associated with at least one networked device of the type to which gateway module corresponds, and wherein each of the gateway modules is in communication with the core module to:
receive the control requests and data requests from the core module,
provide via the communication interface the control requests and the data requests to at least one of the associated networked devices,
receive via the communication interface responses to the control requests and the data requests from at least one of the associated networked devices,
provide the responses to the control requests and the data requests to the core module,
suppress on-screen display of messages on the associated network devices,
receive via the communication interface messages from at least one of the associated network devices, and
provide the received messages to the core module to display the messages on a graphical user interface of the computing system in lieu of the suppressed on-screen display of the messages,
wherein the core module and the multiple gateway modules are implemented as computer-executable instructions stored in the memory and executed by the processor.

9 more elements

A method for a computing device to control multiple types of media devices, the method comprising:

establishing a first connection between the computing device and a first type of media device via a first gateway module, wherein the first connection is established on at least one communication network using a first communication protocol;
generating a first control request that instructs the first type of media device to perform a first search of at least one media server for available media, and sending the first control request from the computing device to the first type of media device via the first gateway module;
generating a first data request that requests results of the first search for available media, and sending the first data request from the computing device to the first type of media device via the first gateway module;
receiving the requested results of the first search from the first type of media device via the first gateway module;
establishing a second connection between the computing device and a second type of media device via a second gateway module, wherein the second connection is established on at least one communication network using a second communication protocol;
generating a second control request that instructs the second type of media device to search at least one media server for available media, and sending the second control request from the computing device to the second type of media device via the second gateway module;
generating a second data request that requests results of the second search for available media, and sending the second data request from the computing device to the second type of media device via the second gateway module;
receiving the requested results of the second search from the second type of media device via the second gateway module;
presenting at least some of the received results of the first search and at least some results of the second search on a graphical user interface in a manner that at least one piece of available media represented in the results of the first search or the results of the second search can be selected for presentation;
receiving via the graphical user interface a selection of at least one piece of available media from the presented results;
generating a third control request that selects a type of media device for presentation of the selected piece of available media and instructs the selected type of media device to initiate presentation of the selected piece of available media, and sending the third control request from the computing device to the selected type of media device via an associated gateway module;
suppressing on-screen display of messages on the first, second, and selected types of media devices;
receiving the messages from the first, second, and selected types of media devices via the first, second, and associated gateway modules, respectively;
and
displaying at least some of the messages on the graphical user interface in lieu of the suppressed on-screen display of the messages.

12 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 11/120,656Filed 2 May 2005 · us provisional application
Priority: 30 Apr 2004
Published: US 2006/0085835 A120 Apr 2006
Granted: 7 Sep 2010
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification26 codes

H04N 21/4112
Peripherals receiving signals from specially adapted client devices: having fewer capabilities than the client, e.g. thin client having less…
H04L 67/02
Protocols: based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
H04L 69/18
Network arrangements, protocols or services independent of the application payload and not provided for in the other groups of this subclass:…
H04N 5/765
Television signal recording: interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus

Family

Application60/567,177Us provisional application · filed 30 Apr 2004
Application60/667,836Us provisional application · filed 1 Apr 2005
US 2006/0085835 A1Pre-grant publication · published 20 Apr 2006
US 7,792,920 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

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