| SLING MEDIA PVT LTD Patent applications |
| Patent application number | Title | Published |
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| 20120131627 | SYSTEMS, METHODS AND DEVICES TO REDUCE CHANGE LATENCY IN PLACESHIFTED MEDIA STREAMS USING PREDICTIVE SECONDARY STREAMING - Systems, methods and devices are provided to reduce change latency and/or to provide a picture-in-picture (PIP) feature within a placeshifted media stream. As the viewer receives a primary stream containing selected programming, secondary programming that is likely to be of interest to the user is predicted. A secondary stream containing the predicted content is obtained at the same time as the primary stream selected by the user. The secondary stream may be of lower quality than the primary stream to preserve network bandwidth. If the user subsequently selects the predicted secondary content, the previously-obtained content can be quickly provided as an output to the display. Alternately, the primary and secondary streams may be simultaneously output to the display in PIP or another manner. | 05-24-2012 |
| 20120131625 | Multistream Placeshifting - Disclosure is directed to managing more than one placeshifting transmission at a target device. The target device may be configured to receive a first video from a first placeshifting source and a second video from a second placeshifting source. The target device may additionally be configured to simultaneously output the first and second video on an output device, using various display screen configurations such as picture-in-picture, split screen, windows, and so. The first and second placeshifting sources may be content receivers having integrated placeshifting functions or may be content receivers provided in association with stand-alone placeshifting devices. A dual-tuner content receiver may also provide both the first and second placeshifting sources to the target device. | 05-24-2012 |
| 20120130968 | AUTOMATED SEARCHING FOR SOLUTIONS TO SUPPORT SELF-DIAGNOSTIC OPERATIONS OF WEB-ENABLED DEVICES - An automated diagnostic system is presented here. The system includes a network-enabled device, a remote network-based search engine, and a data communication network to facilitate data communication between the network-enabled device and the remote network-based search engine. The device automatically detects a problem, error, or failure associated with its operation, and automatically sends a corresponding search query to the remote network-based search engine. The search engine receives the search query and, in response to the search query, searches for relevant information pertaining to the problem, error, or failure, and sends a corresponding response to the network-enabled device. The response includes response data having some contextual association with the solution. The device receives the response, processes at least some of the response data to determine a course of action, and initiates that course of action. | 05-24-2012 |
| 20120124170 | Scheduled Placeshifting - Disclosure is directed to managing placeshifting events that are scheduled to occur at specified times. In particular, embodiments are directed to automatically establishing a connection between a placeshifting server and a placeshifting client in order to facilitate a scheduled placeshifting event. The connection may be established by the placeshifting server, which is associated with a receiver, first connecting to a backend server to obtain connection credentials and then connecting to placeshifting client using the connection credentials. The placeshifting client, which is running on a target device, may be configured to register and update its connection credentials at the backend server as the target device moves between networks. The connection may also be established by the placeshifting client connecting to the server at time that the placeshifting client has determined the placeshifting event is to occur. | 05-17-2012 |
| 20120116934 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO SHARE ACCESS TO PLACESHIFTING DEVICES - A server facilitates sharing of otherwise idle placeshifting devices over the Internet or another network. The server maintains a list of placeshifting devices that are available to share content via the network. When a selection of shared content is received from a client device, an available placeshifting device that has access to the requested content is identified. The client device and the identified placeshifting device establish a placeshifting connection over the network in which the client device controls the identified placeshifting device to obtain the selected content. | 05-10-2012 |
| 20120116748 | Voice Recognition and Feedback System - One embodiment may take the form of a system for translating an audio stream of programming content. The system may include an apparatus, a processing unit configured to execute a voice recognition algorithm and one or more executable commands, a receiver coupled to the processing unit and configured to receive a voice command in a first language, a communication component coupled to the processing unit and configured to receive programming content including an audio stream in a second language, and one or more storage media storing the voice recognition algorithm. The voice recognition algorithm may be configured to translate the audio stream into a first language if the first language does not match the second language. | 05-10-2012 |
| 20120106669 | DYNAMIC ENCODE SETTING ADJUSTMENT - A player decodes and renders encoded digital data received from an encoder. During processing, the player periodically monitors dropped frames as well as time spent. If the dropped frames are below a minimum, the player determines to signal the encoder to increase bit rate or frame rate by consulting a table. If the player determines to increase bit rate, the player signals accordingly. However, if the player determines to increase frame rate, the player first verifies that the spent time is below a minimum. To the contrary, if the dropped frames are both above the minimum and a first maximum but nota second maximum, the player determines to signal the encoder to decrease bit rate or frame rate by consulting the table and signaling accordingly. However, if the dropped frames are above the second maximum, the player signals the encoder to decrease the frame rate without consulting the table. | 05-03-2012 |
| 20120102521 | Handling Disruption in Content Streams Received at a Player from a Content Retransmitter - A player receives encoded content of a first resolution level from a content retransmitter and monitors bandwidth of the communication connection utilized to receive the content. When the bandwidth changes with respect to various threshold values corresponding to various resolution levels, the player signals the content retransmitter to increase or decrease the encoding resolution for future portions. The player also locates related substitute content. When the player signals the content retransmitter to decrease the resolution below a minimum, the player plays the substitute content instead of the received content. Subsequently when the bandwidth is again such that player signals the content retransmitter to increase the resolution to the minimum or above, the player plays the received content instead of the substitute content. In various implementations, the player may obtain substitute content prior to or at the time the player determines to play substitute content. | 04-26-2012 |
| 20120096483 | Authenticated Broadcast Transmission Utilizing a Content Retransmitter - A content retransmitter receives information for receivers and forms an authorized list by transmitting authentication prompts, receiving authentication information, and adding receivers if the authentication information for the respective receiver is verified to match stored user information. Subsequently, the content retransmitter may receive content and broadcast the received content to some or all of the receivers on the authorized list. Additionally, the content retransmitter may store the received content in a storage medium and provide the stored content to receivers on the authorized list upon request. The user authentication information received from the receivers may be passwords, biometric information, and so on. The received content may be broadcast to a subset of the authorized list corresponding to users who are related to the content. The related users may be determined by examining metadata about the received content, facial recognition analysis of users present in the received content, and so on. | 04-19-2012 |
| 20120056715 | Locating Remote Control Devices Utilizing Base Unit Positioning - A base may locate a remote control by transmitting a first location signal, receiving a second location signal at base receivers from a remote control device transponder transmitted in response, and calculating a location of the remote control device based on the received second location signal. The base may provide navigation information based on the calculated location. In some implementations, the base may perform a setup routine by providing an interface that accepts position information, accepting an indication that the remote control is located at a position, transmitting a first calibration signal, receiving a second calibration signal at the receivers transmitted by the transponder in response, and recording baselines for the position. When the base unit subsequently analyses a second location signal to calculate a location of the remote control, the base may base the calculated location at least partly on the baselines. | 03-08-2012 |
| 20110196521 | CONNECTION PRIORITY SERVICES FOR DATA COMMUNICATION BETWEEN TWO DEVICES - A digital media player device includes, without limitation, a processor and a communication module coupled to the processor and configured to support data communication with a digital media place-shifting device. The processor and the communication module cooperate to attempt to establish data communication with the digital media place-shifting device in accordance with a connection mode sequence that identifies a plurality of different data communication modes supported by the digital media player device, until one of the plurality of different data communication modes can be used to initiate a data communication session between the digital media player device and the digital media place-shifting device. The processor and the communication module also cooperate to perform data communication with the digital media place-shifting device, using the one of the plurality of different data communication modes. | 08-11-2011 |
| 20110191456 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR COORDINATING DATA COMMUNICATION BETWEEN TWO DEVICES - The mediation device presented here facilitates data communication between a client device and a server device. The mediation device includes a processor, a memory element coupled to the processor, and a communication module coupled to the processor. The memory element is configured to store and maintain compatibility information related to data communication capabilities of a plurality of devices, including the server device. The communication module is configured to perform data communication with client devices, and is further configured to receive, from the client device, requests for compatibility information of the server device. Upon receipt of a request for compatibility information of the server device, the processor retrieves the compatibility information of the server device from the memory element, and the communication module sends the compatibility information of the server device to the client device. | 08-04-2011 |
| 20110138010 | GENERATION OF DATA CONCERNING RECEPTION OF MEDIA CONTENT AT A COMMUNICATION DEVICE - A method of providing data associated with reception of media content is presented. In the method, a communication device receives media content from a media content receiver via a communication network. The received media content is output to a user of the communication device. Data is then generated in the communication device which includes information identifying a channel selected by the user over which the media content receiver receives the media content. The data further includes information identifying a time period during which the communication device receives the media content. The data is transferred via the communication network to a communication node. | 06-09-2011 |
| 20110113354 | ALWAYS-ON-TOP MEDIA PLAYER LAUNCHED FROM A WEB BROWSER - A method for presenting digital media content is provided. The method directs the displaying of a web page on a display, where the web page includes a media player. The method detects certain activity associated with the media player and, in response to the detected activity, renders a stand-alone always-on-top media player on the display. The stand-alone media player is used for presentation of media content such as streaming media. The stand-alone media player is launched with default always-on-top display characteristics such that it remains visible even if another open application has focus. | 05-12-2011 |
| 20110066440 | AUDIO SIGNAL ENCODING EMPLOYING INTERCHANNEL AND TEMPORAL REDUNDANCY REDUCTION - A method of encoding a time-domain audio signal is presented. A device transforms the time-domain signal into a frequency-domain signal including a sequence of sample blocks, wherein each block includes a coefficient for each of multiple frequencies. The coefficients of each block are grouped into frequency bands. For each frequency band of each block, a scale factor is estimated for the band, and the energy of the band for the block is compared with the energy of the band of an adjacent sample block, wherein the blocks may be adjacent to each other in either or both of an interchannel and a temporal sense. If the ratio of the band energy for the first block to the band energy for the adjacent block is less than some value, the scale factor of the band for the first block is increased. The coefficients of the band for each block are quantized based on the resulting scale factor. The encoded audio signal is generated based on the quantized coefficients and the scale factors. | 03-17-2011 |
| 20110051016 | REMOTE CONTROL AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY ADJUSTING THE VOLUME OUTPUT OF AN AUDIO DEVICE - Embodiments of a remote control and a method are provided for automatically adjusting the volume output of an audio device, such as a television. In one embodiment, the remote control includes a wireless transmitter configured to transmit command signals to the audio device, a microphone configured to monitor sound levels external to the remote control, a memory storing a first threshold, and a controller. The controller is configured to: (i) determine a signal-to-noise ratio as a function of the sound levels detected by the microphone, and (ii) transmit via the wireless transmitter a first command to adjust the volume output of the audio device if the signal-to-noise ratio passes the first threshold. | 03-03-2011 |
| 20110047465 | METHOD FOR PROVIDING REMOTE CONTROL DEVICE DESCRIPTIONS FROM A COMMUNICATION NODE - A method of providing a description of a remote control device to a communication device configured to interact with an electronic device over a communication network as a remote control device is presented. In the method, the communication device transfers an indication of the electronic device over the network to a communication node. Afterward, the communication device receives the description of the remote control device associated with the electronic device from the node over the network. The communication device transfers a command associated with the remote control device over the network to the electronic device, wherein the command is generated using the description of the remote control device. | 02-24-2011 |
| 20110046966 | FREQUENCY BAND SCALE FACTOR DETERMINATION IN AUDIO ENCODING BASED UPON FREQUENCY BAND SIGNAL ENERGY - A method of encoding a time-domain audio signal is presented. In the method, an electronic device receives the time-domain audio signal. The time-domain audio signal is transformed into a frequency-domain signal including a coefficient for each of a plurality of frequencies, which are grouped into frequency bands. For each frequency band, the energy of the band is determined, a scale factor for the band is determined based on the energy of the band, and the coefficients of the band are quantized based on the associated scale factor. The encoded audio signal is generated based on the quantized coefficients and the scale factors. | 02-24-2011 |
| 20110035765 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING PROGRAMMING CONTENT - Methods and systems are provided for providing a program to a user. A first program is provided to a user. A characteristic of the first program is identified. A second program having the same characteristic as the first program is identified. An input is received from the user while the user is viewing the first program. Upon receiving the input, the second program is provided to the user. | 02-10-2011 |
| 20110035741 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR UPDATING FIRMWARE OVER A NETWORK - Firmware is updated over a network by providing an update server having a number of stored firmware files and a list file, the list file including entries uniquely identifying the identity and location of each of the firmware files. One networked device (e.g., a media player device) determines the current firmware version of a second networked device (e.g., a placeshifting device) via communication over the network and queries the update server as to the most recent version of the firmware file associated with the second networked device. If the most recent version is newer than the current firmware version, the first networked device downloads the most recent version of the firmware file and then uploads it to the second networked device. | 02-10-2011 |
| 20110035669 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR SEEKING WITHIN A MEDIA STREAM USING SCENE DETECTION - A system uses generated scene transition frames to allow fast seeking within a media stream. A set of scene transition frames associated with the media stream are generated, then transmitted along with the media stream from a remotely located media source over a network. A subset of the scene transition frames are displayed, allowing a desired scene transition frame to be selected from a subset of the scene transition frames based on user input. The media source can then be displayed (e.g., played) starting from a frame corresponding to the desired scene transition frame. | 02-10-2011 |
| 20110035668 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR VIRTUAL REMOTE CONTROL OF STREAMED MEDIA - Systems and methods are described for providing remote control of separate media sources over a network using, for example, pop-up windows graphically depicting remote control devices within corresponding tabbed windows of a web browser. A browser plug-in or add-on application provides a graphical depiction of a remote control device associated with each media source and receives a command from the viewer via interaction with the graphical depiction of the remote control device. The command is transmitted across the network to the placeshifting device to modify a media stream provided by the desired media source. | 02-10-2011 |
| 20110035467 | LOCALIZATION SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Network-based localization is provided by submitting, on a server, a plurality of untranslated files requiring translation to a target language, and a localization tool client configured to communicate with the first server via a network. The untranslated files are downloaded from the server, and a user (translator) is allowed to translate the first file to create a translated file such that the file type is transparent to the user. The translated file is the uploaded from the localization tool client to the first server. | 02-10-2011 |
| 20110035466 | HOME MEDIA AGGREGATOR SYSTEM AND METHOD - Systems and methods are described for aggregating and playing media content using a proxy server. A request is received, in the proxy server, to play media content from a placeshifting media source on a media player. The requested media content is received, in the proxy server, from the placeshifting media source. The proxy server determines the media playing capability of the media player, and transmits the requested media content to the media player in a manner that is compatible with the media player associated with the request. | 02-10-2011 |
| 20110035462 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR EVENT PROGRAMMING VIA A REMOTE MEDIA PLAYER - Systems and methods are provided that allow a user to register for selective notifications of one or more events that may occur on a channel in a media stream. When a registered event occurs, the system and method generates an event notification, which is delivered to the remotely-located media player. In response to the event notification, the media player can be automatically enabled and/or switched to the appropriate channel. Alternatively, the system and method may notify the user of the event, and give the user the option of enabling and/or switching the media player to the channel corresponding to the event. The system and method can be implemented to facilitate monitoring for a variety of different types. In each of these various types the user is able to select the events for which monitoring and notification will be provided. | 02-10-2011 |
| 20110033168 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR FAST SEEKING WITHIN A MEDIA STREAM BUFFER - A method of seeking within a time shift buffer includes receiving a media stream from a remotely located media source over a network, and generating a time shift buffer associated with the media stream. The time shift buffer includes a number of frames with keyframes provided at a certain intervals. When a seek request associated with a desired time within the media stream is received, the system determines a nearest keyframe within the set of keyframes that is previous to and closest in time to the desired time, displays the nearest keyframe, then considers in turn each of the frames subsequent to the nearest keyframe until a desired frame corresponding to the desired time is reached displayed. The system cancels the previous examining step and determines a new nearest keyframe in the event a second seek request is received. | 02-10-2011 |
| 20110032986 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR AUTOMATICALLY CONTROLLING THE RESOLUTION OF STREAMING VIDEO CONTENT - Systems and methods are described for automatically controlling the resolution of video content that is streaming over a data connection. Video content frames are generated that each have a predetermined frame resolution and comprise video data encoded at an encoding resolution. The video content frames are transmitted over a network, and one or more conditions of the network are sensed. The encoding resolution of the video data is selectively adjusted in each video content frame in response to the one or more sensed network conditions. | 02-10-2011 |
| 20110019839 | ADAPTIVE GAIN CONTROL FOR DIGITAL AUDIO SAMPLES IN A MEDIA STREAM - An adaptive gain control system and related operating method for digital audio samples is provided. The method is suitable for use with a digital media encoding system that transmits encoded media streams to a remotely-located presentation device such as a media player. The method begins by initializing the processing of a media stream. Then, the method adjusts the gain of a first set of digital audio samples in the media stream using a fast gain adaptation scheme, resulting in a first group of gain-adjusted digital audio samples having normalized volume during presentation. The method continues by adjusting the gain of a second set of digital audio samples in the media stream using a steady state gain adaptation scheme that is different than the fast gain adaptation scheme, resulting in a second group of gain-adjusted digital audio samples having normalized volume during presentation. | 01-27-2011 |
| 20100232438 | METHOD AND NODE FOR EMPLOYING NETWORK CONNECTIONS OVER A CONNECTIONLESS TRANSPORT LAYER PROTOCOL - A method of establishing a network connection between two nodes of a communication network via a connectionless transport layer communication protocol is presented. In the method, a plurality of data packets is exchanged between a first node and a second node. Each of the data packets comprises a header and a payload formatted according to the connectionless protocol. The connectionless protocol payload of each of the data packets includes a separate header comprising a first port indicator for the first node and a second port indicator for the second node. The separate header of at least one of the data packets also includes an indication to establish a connection between the first node and the second node. In response to the exchange of data packets, the first and second nodes establish the connection, wherein the first port indicator and the second port indicator are associated with the established connection between the nodes. | 09-16-2010 |
| 20100232437 | METHOD AND NODE FOR TRANSMITTING DATA OVER A COMMUNICATION NETWORK USING NEGATIVE ACKNOWLEDGMENT - A method of transmitting data over a communication network using negative acknowledgment is presented. In the method, a stream of data packets is transmitted from a first node of the network to a second node of the network. All but at least two of the stream of data packets is successfully received at the second node, wherein the data packets that are not successfully received are not located sequentially within the stream of data packets. A status packet is transmitted from the second node to the first node, wherein the status packet includes an indication of each of the data packets that were not successfully received. In response to receiving the status packet at the first node, the data packets that were not successfully received at the second node are retransmitted from the first node to the second node in response to receiving the status packet. | 09-16-2010 |
| 20100129057 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CREATING LOGICAL MEDIA STREAMS FOR MEDIA STORAGE AND PLAYBACK - Systems and methods are described for storing a media stream on a storage medium, wherein the media stream is based upon at least one source file. An index file for the media stream is created, and the at least one source file is processed to create at least one media file that is stored on the storage medium. The index file is updated to reference at least a portion of the at least one media file, and the index file is stored on the storage medium. Such techniques may be useful, for example, in encoding information onto a disk drive, flash drive or other portable media compatible with a placeshifting audio/video player or the like. | 05-27-2010 |
| 20100071076 | SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND PROGRAM APPLICATIONS FOR SELECTIVELY RESTRICTING THE PLACESHIFTING OF COPY PROTECTED DIGITAL MEDIA CONTENT - Systems, methods, and program products are provided for selectively restricting the transmission of copy protected digital media content from a computer system, over a network, and to a remote display. In one embodiment, a method includes the steps of capturing digital media content rendered on the local display by a media player application executed by the computer system; determining whether the media player application is accessing copy protected digital media content; and, if the media player application is not accessing copy protected digital media content, converting the captured digital media content to a media stream and transmitting the media stream over a network for presentation on a remote display. | 03-18-2010 |
| 20090103607 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONTROLLING THE ENCODING OF A MEDIA STREAM - Systems and methods are described for providing a media stream transmitted from an encoding system to a remotely-located media player. The media stream is encoded according to an encoding parameter. Data is gathered about a transmit buffer within the encoding system, and the gathered data is processed to arrive at an estimate of network capacity and a calculated encoder rate. The encoding parameter is adjusted during subsequent encoding in response to a change in at least one of the estimate of network capacity and the calculated encoder rate. | 04-23-2009 |
