US2016196025A1PendingUtilityA1

System And Method For Aggregating Devices For Intuitive Browsing

57
Assignee: ELOY TECHNOLOGY LLCPriority: Mar 25, 2009Filed: Mar 14, 2016Published: Jul 7, 2016
Est. expiryMar 25, 2029(~2.7 yrs left)· nominal 20-yr term from priority
Inventors:Christopher M. AmidonScott CurtisHugh Svendsen
H04N 21/4532H04N 21/4622H04N 21/4312H04N 21/44222G06F 3/0484H04N 21/44224H04N 21/6543H04N 21/47214H04N 21/84H04N 21/43615H04N 21/4756H04N 21/4826H04N 21/4583H04N 21/4263H04N 5/76H04N 21/6582H04N 9/8205H04N 21/252H04N 21/43622H04N 21/4334H04N 5/782H04N 5/765H04N 21/458H04N 21/4668
57
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Claims

Abstract

A media device includes a communication interface communicatively coupling the media device to one or more other media devices and a display, and a controller associated with the communication interface. The controller is adapted to access one or more templates comprising a layout of a graphical user interface (GUI). The controller further identifies one or more available media devices from which media content may be streamed, a respective utilization of the media devices and one or more media content streams available from each of the media devices and determine, based upon the template and the one or more media content streams, at least one of the media content streams to display. The controller then acquires and outputs the at least one of the media content streams for display in accordance with the layout.

Claims

exact text as granted — not AI-modified
What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A media device comprising:
 a communication interface communicatively coupling the media device to one or more other media devices; and   a controller comprising at least one processor and associated with the communication interface adapted to:
 access one or more templates each comprising a layout of a graphical user interface (GUI) when the media device in a passive browsing mode; 
 identify one or more available media devices from which media content may be streamed, one or more media content streams available from each of the one or more available media devices, and a respective utilization of each of the one or more available media devices; 
 monitor for an occurrence of at least one alert; 
 determine, based upon the occurrence of the at least one alert condition and the one or more media content streams being streamed, at least one of the media content streams to display; 
 acquire the at least one of the media content streams for display in accordance with the one or more templates; 
 output the at least one of the media content streams to a display for presentation in the GUI in accordance with the one or more layouts; and 
 output an indication of at least one of the at least one alert condition for display in the GUI and a degree to which the at least one of the media content streams matches one or more preferences in the one or more templates for display in the GUI. 
   
     
     
         2 . The media device of  claim 1  wherein at least one of the one or more templates is a system template. 
     
     
         3 . The media device of  claim 1  wherein at least one of the one or more templates is personalized by a user. 
     
     
         4 . The media device of  claim 1  wherein the at least one alert condition defines when and how media content is to be displayed in the GUI. 
     
     
         5 . The media device of  claim 1  wherein the controller is adapted to output the indication of the at least one alert condition in response to identify the occurrence of the at least one alert condition. 
     
     
         6 . The media device of  claim 1  wherein the controller is further adapted to identify the occurrence of the alert condition in response to a trigger. 
     
     
         7 . The media device of  claim 1  wherein the one or more media content streams available from each of the one or more available media devices are identified via accessing an aggregated content guide comprising information describing the media content streams available from each of the one or more available media devices. 
     
     
         8 . The media device of  claim 1  wherein the controller is further adapted to optimize the at least one of the media content streams for display. 
     
     
         9 . The media device of  claim 8  wherein the controller is further adapted to optimize the at least one of the media content streams for display based upon a characteristic of the one or more available media devices from which the at least one of the media content streams are acquired. 
     
     
         10 . The media device of  claim 9  wherein the characteristic of the one or more available media devices is selected from a group consisting of an availability of the one or more available media devices and a quality of the at least one of the media content streams. 
     
     
         11 . The media device of  claim 1  wherein the GUI comprises at least one thumbnail displaying at least one of the media content streams for display and a background. 
     
     
         12 . The media device of  claim 11  wherein the controller is further adapted to output one or more graphic indicators each associated with one of the at least one thumbnail. 
     
     
         13 . The media device of  claim 12  wherein one of the one or more graphic indicators comprises an indication of a match between the at least one of the media content streams displayed in the associated thumbnail and a user preference. 
     
     
         14 . The media device of  claim 13  wherein the user preference is stored in the one or more templates. 
     
     
         15 . The media device of  claim 12  wherein one of the one or more graphic indicators comprises an indication that the at least one of the media content streams displayed in the associated thumbnail is currently being displayed on a display associated with the one or more available media devices. 
     
     
         16 . The media device of  claim 12  wherein one of the one or more graphic indicators comprises an indication that the at least one of the media content streams displayed in the associated thumbnail is currently streaming an advertisement. 
     
     
         17 . The media device of  claim 12  wherein one of the one or more graphic indicators comprises an icon that may be selected to provide more information related to the at least one of the media content streams displayed in the associated thumbnail. 
     
     
         18 . The media device of  claim 12  wherein one of the one or more graphic indicators comprises an indication of at least one of a score and an end of a game. 
     
     
         19 . The media device of  claim 1  wherein the media device is further adapted to optimize the at least one of the media content streams by replacing a portion of the at least one of the media content streams comprising an advertisement with a previously streamed portion of the at least one of the media content streams. 
     
     
         20 . The media device of  claim 1  wherein the media device is further adapted to optimize the at least one of the media content streams by:
 receiving repeatedly alternating first and second media content streams from one of the available media devices; 
 outputting the first media content stream to a first one of the at least one thumbnail; and 
 outputting the second media content stream to a second one of the at least one thumbnail. 
 
     
     
         21 . The media device of  claim 20  wherein the first media content stream comprises a first image and the second media content stream comprises a second image. 
     
     
         22 . The media device of  claim 1  wherein the controller is further adapted to optimize the at least one of the media content streams by filtering the at least one of the media content streams based upon metadata associated with the at least one of the media content streams. 
     
     
         23 . A computer-readable medium embodied in an article of manufacture encoded with instructions for directing a processor of a media device to:
 access one or more templates each comprising a layout of a graphical user interface (GUI) when the media device in a passive browsing mode;   identify one or more available media devices from which media content may be streamed, one or more media content streams available from each of the one or more available media devices, and a respective utilization of each of the one or more available media devices;   monitor for an occurrence of at least one alert;   determine, based upon the occurrence of the at least one alert condition and the one or more media content streams being streamed, at least one of the media content streams to display;   acquire the at least one of the media content streams for display in accordance with the one or more templates;   output the at least one of the media content streams to a display for presentation in the GUI in accordance with the one or more layouts; and   output an indication of at least one of the at least one alert condition for display in the GUI and a degree to which the at least one of the media content streams matches one or more preferences in the one or more templates for display in the GUI.   
     
     
         24 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 23  wherein at least one of the one or more templates is a system template. 
     
     
         25 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 23  wherein at least one of the one or more templates is personalized by a user. 
     
     
         26 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 23  wherein the one or more templates further comprise at least one alert condition defining when and how media content is to be displayed in the GUI. 
     
     
         27 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 26  wherein the controller is further adapted to output an indication of the alert condition for display in the GUI om response to identifying the occurrence of the at least one alert condition. 
     
     
         28 . A method comprising:
 accessing one or more templates each comprising a layout of a graphical user interface (GUI) when the media device in a passive browsing mode;   identifying one or more available media devices from which media content may be streamed, one or more media content streams available from each of the one or more available media devices, and a respective utilization of each of the one or more available media devices;   monitoring for an occurrence of at least one alert;   determining, based upon the occurrence of the at least one alert condition and the one or more media content streams being streamed, at least one of the media content streams to display;   acquiring the at least one of the media content streams for display in accordance with the one or more templates;   outputting the at least one of the media content streams to a display for presentation in the GUI in accordance with the one or more layouts; and   outputting an indication of at least one of the at least one alert condition for display in the GUI and a degree to which the at least one of the media content streams matches one or more preferences in the one or more templates for display in the GUI.   
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28  wherein the at least one alert condition defines when and how media content is to be displayed in the GUI. 
     
     
         30 . The method of claim  39  further comprising determining the occurrence of the at least one alert condition.

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