| SONY NETWORK ENTERTAINMENT INTERNATIONAL LLC Patent applications |
| Patent application number | Title | Published |
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| 20120117590 | DEVICE REGISTRATION PROCESS FROM SECOND DISPLAY - Apparatus and methods to implement a technique for using a second display with a network-enabled television. In one implementation, this feature allows the user to conveniently register and manage their IPTV device directly from a second display device instead of going to a separate registration website. A typical current situation requires the user to either leave the living room for the PC which is inconvenient or perform the registration directly on the IPTV which often has a poor input interface. The second display could be a smart phone that can often be found beside the user, or a laptop or tablet PC, a desktop PC, or the like. After registration, certain convenient follow-up features can be implemented, such as directly selecting the device for browsing, or inheritance of configurations of other available devices for the newly-registered device. | 05-10-2012 |
| 20120117588 | METHOD AND DEVICE TO CONTROL IPTV SETTINGS FROM A SECOND DISPLAY - Systems and methods for allowing a user to control IPTV settings from a second display, e.g., on an external device. In one implementation, such settings include brightness, volume, parental controls, input controls, language, clock, zip code etc. On-screen preview, wherever applicable, is also available when changing settings using the second display. This allows the user to change the settings of the TV without disturbing the TV screen. | 05-10-2012 |
| 20120117587 | SECOND DISPLAY SUPPORT OF CHARACTER SET UNSUPPORTED ON PLAYBACK DEVICE - Systems and methods are provided to allow users to browse services, content items, or the like using the language that is generally most familiar to them, and in particular ones that are not available on an IPTV. Thus, users can browse content offerings on the second display in a language and font set that are personalized to themselves, and they may further send the content item to the IPTV for playback. The disclosed systems and methods provide a way for a group of users to exploit individual “second displays” to view, browse, and navigate content or data service offerings, by service providers, e.g., internet network services, in a preferred language and using preferred fonts, especially one not supported by a content playback device, on behalf of a content playback device, e.g., IPTV, the same having authenticated credentials for playback of such content, and then arrange for a selected content item or items to be played back on the content playback device. The second displays serve as a visual aid to the IPTV, but generally do not require additional investment by the user because the same make use of a device, e.g., a smartphone, laptop computer, tablet computer, an internet appliance, a desktop computer, etc., which most users would already have in their possession. Such a second display is a significant complement to an IPTV because of the second display's strength in supported languages and character font sets, data entry, processing power, and user experience in content management. | 05-10-2012 |
| 20120117586 | EMPLOYMENT OF MULTIPLE SECOND DISPLAYS TO CONTROL IPTV CONTENT - Disclosed are systems and methods to enable a multiple users browsing content offerings on multiple devices to have their selections played by a content playback device using its own authentication credentials. The users can then continue to browse the content offerings on their multiple second displays without interrupting the content that is playing on the main content playback device. The method is an architecture design and implementation that allows users to navigate, browse, and search content offerings on a second display such as a smart phone, PC, laptop, tablet, internet appliance, or any other device with a capability to couple to a network. Concurrently, while a user is using the content playback device, another user can perform browsing activities on a second display and send a media selection to a primary content playback device of the user's choice for queueing and/or playback. | 05-10-2012 |
| 20120117183 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR USE IN PROVIDING ACCESS THROUGH A SECONDARY DEVICE TO SERVICES INTENDED FOR A PRIMARY DEVICE - Some embodiments provide methods of providing access to services comprise: receiving, from over a distributed network, a request from a secondary device to access an account; confirming authorization to access the account; identifying one or more primary devices registered with and corresponding to the account in response to confirming authorization to access to the account, where the one or more primary devices are multimedia playback devices; receiving, from the secondary device, a selection of a first primary device of the one or more primary devices, where the first primary device is separate and distinct from the secondary device; identifying services available to the first primary device and configured to be utilized through the first primary device; and providing access, through the secondary device, to the identified services. | 05-10-2012 |
| 20120112986 | WEB BROWSER AS SECOND DISPLAY CONTROL DEVICE - Systems and methods for creating and employing software to handle the playback of media, especially video, in browsers that, in addition to or instead of playing the media in the browser, may use the second display protocols to instruct a separate display device to play the media. The software can of any type that can transmit the content or specify a network location of the content item for subsequent playback to a content playback device. In one implementation, the software may be in the form of a browser plug-in or in the form of an application that the browser is configured to use for the playback of selected media types. | 05-10-2012 |
| 20110302269 | FLEXIBLE DATA STRUCTURES AND PROTOCOLS - Implementations of the invention provide an API that supports a diverse range of products, and in particular diverse products of highly varying display and UI formfactors. A data template is established at the time of creation of a session, and the same is honored by the NP for the entirety of the browsing experience. In this way, a store experience, e.g., categories and products returned for a query, are customized according to the receiving device. The efficiency of the store experience is maximized for each user/device by sending only the data the device needs. Similarly, the protocol employed for the data transfer may be customized for the particular device, e.g., responses may be rendered in XML, JSON, Protocol Buffer, or the like. | 12-08-2011 |
| 20110302005 | FRAMEWORK FOR PROMOTIONS - A system and method that provide a framework or tool through which e-commerce store owners may build promotional packages for e-commerce, and the same acts as a promotion engine or kit for promotions or incentives. In one implementation, a network platform provides a promotion framework that allows storefront managers to create a variety of different types of product offerings. | 12-08-2011 |
