System and method for managing and/or rendering internet multimedia content in a network

Abstract

A system and a method render internet multimedia content in a network using an application to render the internet multimedia content and/or locally stored multimedia content on one or more rendering devices in the network. The application may provide web browser functions, such as, for example, receiving, processing, decoding and/or rendering the internet multimedia content. The application may have an enhanced user interface which may enable a user to select the internet multimedia content and a rendering device in the network, send the internet multimedia content to the rendering device and/or control rendering of the internet multimedia content on the rendering device.

1 . A computer-readable medium having program instructions which comprise a web browser application wherein a first device and a plurality of UPnP AV rendering devices are connected to a network wherein execution of the program instructions by the first device enables the first device to perform the steps of:
 retrieving a web page from a web server via the internet at the direction of a user of the first device;   displaying the web page in a user interface of the first device; and   detecting one of the plurality of UPnP AV rendering devices wherein the web browser application uses UPnP protocols to detect the UPnP AV rendering device.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1  further comprising instructions for the first device to perform the step of:
 creating an internal list of available UPnP AV rendering devices connected to the network. 
 
     
     
         3 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1  further comprising instructions for the first device to perform the step of:
 communicating with the UPnP AV rendering devices connected to the network to determine capabilities of the rendering devices. 
 
     
     
         4 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1  further comprising instructions for the first device to perform the step of:
 displaying a list of one or more available UPnP AV rendering devices connected to the network wherein the list is displayed in the user interface of the first device. 
 
     
     
         5 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1  further comprising instructions for the first device to perform the step of:
 presenting a redirection option to allow the user of the first device to redirect an internet multimedia content object displayed in the web page to one of the available UPnP AV rendering devices connected to the network. 
 
     
     
         6 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1  further comprising instructions for the first device to perform the step of:
 presenting a bookmark option to allow the user of the first device to create a bookmark wherein the bookmark associates an internet multimedia content object displayed in the web page with one of the available UPnP AV rendering devices connected to the network. 
 
     
     
         7 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1  further comprising instructions for the first device to perform the step of:
 presenting a bookmark option to allow the user of the first device to create a bookmark for an internet multimedia content object displayed in the web page wherein the web browser application has a UPnP AV media server component which allows an available UPnP AV rendering device to access the bookmarked internet multimedia content object. 
 
     
     
         8 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1  further comprising instructions for the first device to perform the step of:
 presenting a bookmark option to allow the user of the first device to create a bookmark for an internet multimedia content object displayed in the web page wherein the web browser application has a transcoding element which transcodes the internet multimedia content object for compatibility with an available UPnP AV rendering device. 
 
     
     
         9 . A computer-readable medium having program instructions which comprise a web browser application wherein a first device and a rendering device are connected to a network wherein execution of the program instructions by the first device enables the first device to perform the steps of:
 retrieving a web page in response to an input from a user of the first device wherein the web page is retrieved from the internet;   displaying the web page in a user interface of the first device wherein the web page displays an internet multimedia content object in a first area of the web page; and   presenting a redirection option to allow the user of the first device to redirect the internet multimedia content object to the rendering device wherein the rendering device displays the internet multimedia content object in response to user input selecting the redirection option.   
     
     
         10 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 9 , wherein the web page displays advertising content in a second area of the web page wherein the first area and the second area are separate areas of the web page, further comprising instructions for the first device to perform the steps of:
 combining the internet multimedia content object and the advertising content; and   transmitting the combination of the internet multimedia content object and the advertising content to the rendering device in response to user input selecting the redirection option.   
     
     
         11 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 10  wherein the internet multimedia content object is a video object viewable within the web page, and the advertising content is an image object separately displayed in the web page. 
     
     
         12 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 10  further comprising instructions for the first device to perform the step of:
 transcoding the advertising content to produce a video object displayable by the rendering device wherein the transcoded advertising content is displayed on the rendering device before the rendering device displays the internet multimedia content object. 
 
     
     
         13 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 10  wherein the advertising content comprises text displayed in the web page separately from the internet multimedia content. 
     
     
         14 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 10  wherein the web page comprises machine readable tags which identify the advertising content within the web page. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 10  further comprising instructions for the first device to perform the steps of:
 examining machine readable tags which specify requirements for display of the advertising content when redirecting the internet multimedia content object to a rendering device; and 
 combining the internet multimedia content object and the advertising content in accordance with the requirements. 
 
     
     
         16 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 9 , wherein a plurality of rendering devices are connected to the network, further comprising instructions for the first device to perform the step of:
 presenting a plurality of redirection options wherein each redirection option of the plurality of redirection options corresponds to a different rendering device available in the local area network.   
     
     
         17 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 9  wherein the redirection option allows the user to specify a UPnP AV rendering device available in the local area network wherein the internet multimedia content object is rendered by the UPnP AV rendering device specified by the user in response to user input selecting the redirection option. 
     
     
         18 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 9  further comprising instructions for the first device to perform the steps of:
 examining digital rights management protection associated with the internet multimedia content object; 
 determining that the digital rights management protection requires the internet multimedia content object to be transferred over a secure connection; and 
 negotiating a secure connection to transfer the internet multimedia content object to the rendering device in response to the determination. 
 
     
     
         19 . A computer-readable medium having program instructions which comprise a web browser application wherein a first device and a rendering device are connected to a network wherein execution of the program instructions by the first device enables the first device to perform the steps of:
 retrieving web pages from web servers accessible via the internet at the direction of a user of the first device;   displaying the web pages in a user interface of the first device wherein the web pages provide access to internet multimedia content objects;   presenting bookmark options which correspond to the internet multimedia content objects wherein selection of a bookmark option by the user of the first device creates a bookmark for the corresponding internet multimedia content object; and   providing access to the bookmarked internet multimedia content objects wherein the web browser application has a media server component which provides access to the bookmarked internet multimedia content objects wherein the rendering device accesses the bookmarked internet multimedia content objects using the media server component.   
     
     
         20 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 19  wherein the media server component is a UPnP AV media server which makes the bookmarked internet multimedia content objects available to UPnP AV rendering devices connected to the network. 
     
     
         21 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 19  wherein the media server component makes the bookmarked internet multimedia content objects available when the web browser application is not being actively used. 
     
     
         22 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 19  wherein the media server component sends messages to rendering devices in the network to indicate the availability of internet multimedia content objects previously bookmarked by a user of the first device.