Media delivery system and method for transporting media to desired target devices

A non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores instructions for delivering media across one or more networks to a target device, wherein the instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform steps comprising:

• enabling a user to operate a first device in order to select a media source and the target device on which to receive a media stream from the media source, the target device being interconnected to the first device over a wireless or network connection;
• wherein the first device and the target device comprise at least a portion of a personal network that is under control of the user;
• analyzing the media stream to determine one or more native characteristics of the media stream;
• accessing profile information associated with the target device to determine one or more desired characteristics for target data that is to be transmitted to the target device;
• generating the target data to correspond to the media stream and to include the one or more desired characteristics, wherein if any of the one or more native characteristics are in conflict with a given characteristic of the one or more desired characteristics, generating the target data includes performing one or more processes on the media stream to generate the target data with the given desired characteristic and not the conflicting native characteristic;
• and
• transmitting the target data to the target device using the wireless or network connection;
• wherein the target device is a mobile computing device, and wherein the step of transmitting the target data to the target device includes causing the target data to be transmitted to the mobile computing device over one or more networks that includes a cellular data network;
• wherein the step of analyzing the media stream includes determining a data format of the media stream, and wherein the step of generating the target data includes generating the streamed target data to have a data format specified by the profile information, and wherein the instructions provide that if the data format specified by the profile information is incompatible with the data format of the media stream, then the one or more processors perform the step of performing one or more conversion processes to convert the media stream to the data format specified by the profile information.

A system for providing media to one or more target devices, the system comprising:

• an interface that is operable on a given device to enable a user to select and receive, for playback, a plurality of media sources of different types from a plurality of different locations that are accessible over one or more networks;
• a stream handling module configured to receive or acquire a media stream or file from a media source selected by the user through the interface;
• a media delivery system that is configured to transmit target data corresponding to the media stream or file received or acquired from the selected media source to a designated target device, wherein the media delivery system is configured to format at least some of the target data for the target device in transmitting the target data to the target device;
• and
• wherein the interface, the stream handling module, the media delivery system and the target device comprise a personal network of the user;
• wherein the media delivery system includes a determination module that (i) identifies one or more native characteristics of the media stream or file, and (ii) if any of the one or more native characteristics are in conflict with a desired characteristic of the target data, identifies or performs one or more processes in order to include the desired characteristic and not the conflicting native characteristic;
• wherein the media delivery system includes a formatting component that performs a process of configuring the target data to have a data type specified for the target device in response to the determination module determining that a native data format of the media stream is incompatible with the data type specified or desired for the target device.

A system for providing media to one or more target devices, the system comprising:

• an interface that is operable on a given device to enable a user to select and receive, for playback, a plurality of media sources of different types from a plurality of different locations that are accessible over one or more networks;
• a stream handling module configured to receive or acquire a media stream or file from a media source selected by the user through the interface;
• a media delivery system that is configured to transmit target data corresponding to the media stream or file received or acquired from the selected media source to a designated target device, wherein the media delivery system is configured to format at least some of the target data for the target device in transmitting the target data to the target device;
• and
• wherein the interface, the stream handling module, the media delivery system and the target device comprise a personal network of the user;
• wherein the media delivery system includes a determination module that (i) identifies one or more native characteristics of the media stream or file, and (ii) if any of the one or more native characteristics are in conflict with a desired characteristic of the target data, identifies or performs one or more processes in order to include the desired characteristic and not the conflicting native characteristic;
• wherein the media delivery system includes a reducer component that performs a process of configuring a transmission size of the target data to be less than a transmission size of the media stream, in response to the determination module determining that a reduction in the transmission size is desired to accommodate the target device.

A system for providing media to one or more target devices, the system comprising:

• an interface that is operable on a given device to enable a user to select and receive, for playback, a plurality of media sources of different types from a plurality of different locations that are accessible over one or more networks;
• a stream handling module configured to receive or acquire a media stream or file from a media source selected by the user through the interface;
• a media delivery system that is configured to transmit target data corresponding to the media stream or file received or acquired from the selected media source to a designated target device, wherein the media delivery system is configured to format at least some of the target data for the target device in transmitting the target data to the target device;
• and
• wherein the interface, the stream handling module, the media delivery system and the target device comprise a personal network of the user;
• wherein the media delivery system includes a determination module that (i) identifies one or more native characteristics of the media stream or file, and (ii) if any of the one or more native characteristics are in conflict with a desired characteristic of the target data, identifies or performs one or more processes in order to include the desired characteristic and not the conflicting native characteristic;
• wherein the media delivery system includes a sizer component that performs a process of configuring image data identified from the media stream to be of a particular dimension or resolution, in response to the determination module determining that image data in the media stream needs to be re-sized.

A system for providing media to one or more target devices, the system comprising:

• an interface that is operable on a given device to enable a user to select and receive, for playback, a plurality of media sources of different types from a plurality of different locations that are accessible over one or more networks;
• a stream handling module configured to receive or acquire a media stream or file from a media source selected by the user through the interface;
• a media delivery system that is configured to transmit target data corresponding to the media stream or file received or acquired from the selected media source to a designated target device, wherein the media delivery system is configured to format at least some of the target data for the target device in transmitting the target data to the target device;
• and
• wherein the interface, the stream handling module, the media delivery system and the target device comprise a personal network of the user;
• wherein the media delivery system includes a determination module that (i) identifies one or more native characteristics of the media stream or file, and (ii) if any of the one or more native characteristics are in conflict with a desired characteristic of the target data, identifies or performs one or more processes in order to include the desired characteristic and not the conflicting native characteristic;
• wherein the media delivery system is configured to stream the target data to the target device, so that the target data generated from a portion of a given media stream is streamed to the target device while another portion of the given media stream is received by the stream handling module.

A computer-implemented system for delivering media content across one or more networks to one or more target devices, the system comprising:

• a plurality of devices that interface with a plurality of media sources that are of a different type;
• wherein the plurality of devices are individually interconnected to one another to form a personal network;
• one or more processors, included with at least one of the plurality of devices, configured to:
• enable a user to select one of the plurality of devices to operate, and to operate the selected device to select a target device;
• make each of the plurality of media sources available for selection by the user operating the selected device in the personal network, in order to provide media content to the target device;
• in response to receiving a selection input from the user operating the selected device, access a selected media source and generate target data that corresponds to the media content of the selected media source, wherein the target data is generated to include one or more characteristics that accommodate the target device and which convert or alter data from the selected media source as compared to one or more native characteristics of data that is otherwise provided for output of media content from the selected media source;
• and
• stream the target data to the target device over the one or more networks
• wherein in response to receiving selection input corresponding to selection of an Internet streaming media source, the one or more processors determine the one or more native characteristics of the media content of the Internet streaming media source by using one or more links to access a corresponding media file or stream of the Internet streaming media source, and by receiving streaming media using the one or more links.

A method for delivering media across one or more networks to a target device, the method comprising:

• enabling a user to operate a first device in order to select a media source and the target device on which to receive a media stream from the media source, the target device being interconnected to the first device over a wireless or network connection;
• wherein the first device and the target device comprise at least a portion of a personal network that is under control of the user;
• analyzing the media stream to determine one or more native characteristics of the media stream;
• accessing profile information associated with the target device to determine one or more desired characteristics for target data that is to be transmitted to the target device;
• generating the target data to correspond to the media stream and to include the one or more desired characteristics, wherein if any of the one or more native characteristics are in conflict with a given characteristic of the one or more desired characteristics, generating the target data includes performing one or more processes on the media stream to generate the target data with the given desired characteristic and not the conflicting native characteristic;
• and
• transmitting the target data to the target device using the wireless or network connection;
• wherein the target device is a mobile computing device, and wherein the step of transmitting the target data to the target device includes causing the target data to be transmitted to the mobile computing device over one or more networks that includes a cellular data network;
• wherein the step of analyzing the media stream includes determining a data format of the media stream, and
• wherein the step of generating the target data includes generating the streamed target data to have a data format specified by the profile information, including performing one or more conversion processes to convert the media stream to the data format specified by the profile information in response to the data format specified by the profile information being incompatible with the data format of the media stream.