141 results about "Media center" patented technology

Disclosed herein are inventions that integrate a home television set top box (“STB”) or home media center with a smart voicemail system of a telephone service provider. Smart voicemail features, such as email notification of voicemails, or online playback of voicemails, may be used to obtain digital voicemail audio files that are then stored and maintained in a home computer network. These files can be served over the network via a networked television STB or a media center computer, to a display monitor during normal usage. Embodiments cause new voicemail notifications to be displayed during typical operation of a television with the STB or media center computer and provide users with an interface for responding to new voicemail notifications, and reviewing, managing, and playing back voicemail. Messages received thus can be easily identified and reviewed through an interface with which subscribers are extremely comfortable.

A set-top media system is disclosed which can be combined with an open architecture personal computer (PC) to provide a feature-rich secure integrated media center while meeting security rules of most major conditional access and content protection industry rules such as Cable Labs DFAST and PHILA agreements; and DTLA agreements for 5C-DTCP for IEEE1394, USB, and IP. The set-top media center and PC share common resources such as high definition display, remote control, hard disk drive, and other external unsecure storage devices. All media content is available seamlessly using a PC user interface, including controlled-content media such as high definition TV, within a PC desktop window. All controlled-content media is manipulated and managed within the set-top media system in a seamless manner. A novel mechanism is disclosed to allow controlled-content media to be stored on unsecure devices in encrypted form while overcoming the disk cloning attack problem for move operations.

A content management (CM) system is provided to centrally control operation of one or more connected devices by issuing control requests and / or data requests. In some situations the connected device(s) include devices that control presentation of television programming-related content, such as digital video recorder (“DVR”) devices and media center devices, and in other situations may include other types of media devices and / or other electromechanical (“E / M”) devices that may be centrally controlled, such as E / M devices for home automation that may operate independently or in conjunction with the media devices. In some situations, the CM system communicates with the connected devices via a network and using appropriate protocol(s), and may be accessed remotely via a network so as to allow a user to remotely operate the CM system. The CM system may further control searching, identification, selection, and presentation of pieces of media content by the connected device(s).

A system and method for sharing gaming experiences is disclosed. The system comprises an in-game head up display for recording gameplay data, a list of contacts and instant messaging. The system also comprises a desktop application or service for compressing and transferring gameplay data over a communications network, and local caching and storage of media files. The system further comprises sharing live, on-demand, remote and media center gaming experiences.

Within a personal computer media center, a user interface module generates graphical commands representing a user interface. A network interface then sends the graphical commands via a home network to a media center extension, where a display interface renders the graphical commands into the user interface on a television. In one configuration, the user interface includes a focus area intersected by a first axis, as well as a first sequence of cards displayed along the first axis, each card graphically representing an available option, one card being displayable within the focus area. The first sequence of cards is to be scrolled along the first axis in response to an initiating action to progressively change the card within the focus area. Furthermore, the scrolling of cards is to be halted in response to a terminating action to show a selected card from the first sequence within the focus area.

An adaptive, user-centric system and network for controlling power consumption by an appliance is described. The appliance may be any type of powered apparatus, such as A / C units, heaters, computers, lights, kitchen appliances, home media centers, and so on. The power to these appliances is based on an estimated arrival time of the user to the destination where the appliance is located. It may also be based on previous performance data for the particular appliance, that is, given the current conditions (e.g., various environment temperature readings), how long has it taken in the past for the appliance to reach a certain level of operation. The location of the user is determined by a device that has some location-based services and is able to transmit this location / position data in a message to a power-control server. The server applies rules contained in the message to derive an estimated arrival time for the user which is used to power appliances at the user's destination.

A system for controlling the operation of an in-vehicle multi-media system based on identifying operating conditions for the vehicle. Various operational rules can be applied to the multi-media system based on an identified operating condition. Operating conditions can include a variety of criteria including traffic, weather, vehicle operating parameters, or the like. Once a condition is identified, an operating rule corresponding to that condition can be imposed on the operation of the multi-media system.

An multimedia device integration system is provided. One or more after-market audio or video devices, such as a CD player, CD changer, digital media device (e.g., MP3 player, MP4 player, WMV player, Apple iPod, portable media center, or other device) satellite receiver (e.g., XM or Sirius receiver), DAB receiver, video device (e.g., DVD player), cellular telephone, or any other device or combinations thereof, is integrated for use with an existing OEM or after-market car stereo or video system, wherein control commands can be issued at the car stereo or video system and data from the after-market device can be displayed on the car stereo or video system. Control commands generated at the car stereo or video system are received, processed, converted into a format recognizable by the after-market device, and dispatched to the after-market device for execution. Information from the after-market device is converted into a format recognizable by the car stereo or video system, and dispatched to the car stereo or video system for display thereon. One or more auxiliary input sources can be integrated with the car stereo or video system, and selected using the controls of the car stereo or video system. A docking station is provided for docking a portable audio or video device for integration with the car stereo or video system. Wireless integration between the portable audio or video device and a car stereo or video system is provided, and voice recognition and speech synthesis capabilities are provided in the portable audio or video device or the car stereo or video system.

A method and apparatus for reconfiguring the audio and video interfaces of mobile devices is described. A system for configuring various surfaces of a mobile device for performing additional functions such utilizing the front and reverse side of a mobile device with reconfigurable larger displays for enhancing the visual experience for various applications such as in video, TV and medical imaging is described. A system for command and control of a media center with a mobile device is disclosed. A method for multi-channel processing of audio and video information over mobile devices is described. A method for biometrically authorizing and delivering of copy right content to mobile devices is disclosed.

A system for providing video communication services to one or more premises with video communications-services users, comprising a first premises network, a plurality of user workstations interconnected by the first premises network, and a multimedia central office being in communication with the first premise network and a public digital network. The multimedia central office, in use, transceives audio, video and digital data signals for providing at least switching functions originating at or destined for at least one user workstation, to and from the first premises network to provide video communications services. The central office further is coupled to at least one other workstation, not associated with the first premises network, and is configured to combine captured video images, of at least three users including an image from a workstation in the first premises network and an image from a workstation not in the first premises network, into a mosaic image for reproduction at a workstation of at least one user.

A media center for sharing audio and / or visual (A / V) files among a plurality of mobile devices. The media center includes digital storage for storing A / V files; a wireless local or personal area network transceiver for receiving A / V files transmitted from the mobile devices and storing the received A / V files in the digital storage; and a registration section for automatically soliciting registration of mobile devices within the wireless network in order to participate in sharing A / V files.

An multimedia device integration system is provided. One or more after-market audio or video devices, such as a CD player, CD changer, digital media device (e.g., MP3 player, MP4 player, WMV player, Apple iPod, portable media center, or other device) satellite receiver (e.g., XM or Sirius receiver), DAB receiver, video device (e.g., DVD player), cellular telephone, or any other device or combinations thereof, is integrated for use with an existing OEM or after-market car stereo or video system, wherein control commands can be issued at the car stereo or video system and data from the after-market device can be displayed on the car stereo or video system. Control commands generated at the car stereo or video system are received, processed, converted into a format recognizable by the after-market device, and dispatched to the after-market device for execution. Information from the after-market device is converted into a format recognizable by the car stereo or video system, and dispatched to the car stereo or video system for display thereon. One or more auxiliary input sources can be integrated with the car stereo or video system, and selected using the controls of the car stereo or video system. A docking station is provided for docking a portable audio or video device for integration with the car stereo or video system. Wireless integration between the portable audio or video device and a car stereo or video system is provided, and voice recognition and speech synthesis capabilities are provided in the portable audio or video device or the car stereo or video system.

A system and method of aggregating data in a network is described. The method may comprise receiving at a media center, via the network, user data from a plurality of network devices. Each network device may monitor a request to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) from a user device to receive content from a content provider. The network device may modify the request based on user data and aggregate the user data at the media center. The user data may be received from a plurality of ISPs at the media center.

A wireless network device (4), such as a wireless media centre, has orthogonally polarised antennas (6a, 6b) arranged to provide transmit and / or receive polarisation diversity. The antennas may be arranged so that their nulls do not coincide, to produce a combined antenna pattern with a low variation of gain with direction. The antennas may be collocated, but arranged orthogonally. Preferably, the combined antenna pattern is substantially omnidirectional in elevation as well as azimuth. This arrangement provides uniform coverage in a 3D environment. The transmitter may transmit data using polarisation-time block codes. A wireless receiver (10, 18) for use in the wireless network may have either one antenna or two orthogonally polarised antennas. The receiver (10, 18) applies maximal ratio combining to the received signals. The signals may be OFDM signals and the receiver applies maximal ratio combining independently to each frequency channel. The antennas may be flat linear or annular slot antennas, which provide strongly polarised beams and can be integrated within the housing of the devices.

Various “media-components” are provided in a “multi-media center.” In modular architecture, a module-controller communicates with media-modules provided for various media-components. A media-module can include or obtain data pertaining to a particular media-component, identify media-player(s), and access information related to their media. However, the media-modules are isolated from each other, and the module-controller effectively controls output generated in response to user input. A user interface library is provided for the media-modules. Media-modules can obtain a template or other tools from the library and construct their user interface (e.g., menus). Media-modules can also identify a media-player that can be initiated in response to user input. Subsequently, the media-controller forwards user input to the media-player.

The present invention discloses a system for synchronously monitoring and controlling multiple media devices, such as the DVD-RW drive, the music player, the TV tuner, the DVD player, etc. The system includes a user interface in form of a polyhedron like a cube, and one surface of the polyhedron is able to present the operation status of each media device which is coupled to the media center of the system. To demonstrate the operation statuses, the indicator lights with distinguishable colors could be applied. Besides, the way of operation status expression may further include the preview window and the progress bar. With the system, especially the user interface thereof, the user is able to monitor and control a great amount of media devices synchronously and instantly in a convenient and simple way.

A system and method for managing non-free multimedia contents in an intranet. The system includes proxy managers provided in a server of the intranet, for example, a media center or set-top box, and clients, for example, DRM smart clients in wired / wireless digital information appliances, such as Digital TVs or PDAs. Various kinds of encrypted multimedia contents and license information are converted by the proxy managers into multimedia contents and license information having a format executable by the DRM smart clients.

The invention provides an intelligent mobile terminal television remote control system, the hardware frame of which comprises: (1) a intelligent handset terminal, used as a remote terminal for realizing multifunctional remote control operation, having a blue tooth communication function and equipped with Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 operation system; (2) a media center PC terminal, used as a server side for processing and controlling data, equipped with Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition operation system; (3) a high definition television terminal, used as display terminal for receiving television signals transmitted form the media centre PC terminal and displaying the signals on screen; the above hardware frame realizes the mentioned functions by the server side assembly, the intelligent mobile terminal assembly and a data transmitting assembly. The invention adopts blue tooth communication technology and utilizes intelligent handset terminal to completely realize the function of using handset to remote control television and displaying the sub channel program on the intelligent handset. The system has reliability, robustness, easy-maintainability and expansibility, and lays a good base for establishing more and better applications.

Unique content identifiers allow users to find and select desired network or locally stored content or applications, solving a problem of user content search and selection in systems that provide access to large libraries of content. A method of selecting digital media content according to the invention includes the steps of providing a database of content ID codes, wherein each code uniquely and permanently identifies different, specific digital media content. One or more of the content ID codes are entered using an input device, which causes the immediate or scheduled viewing of the content associated with the input ID code. The content ID code may be numerical, alphanumerical, or may comprise some form of uniform resource identifier. The digital media content is a broadcast video program, an on-demand video program, an on-demand application program, or a game. The database, or portions thereof, may be electronically stored at the location of the display or at a location remote from the display. Alternatively or in combination with an electronic database, printed catalogs or program guides may be used. The display may form part of a television receiver, media center, computer, cellular telephone, personal digital assistant, or other portable telecommunications device. In the preferred embodiment, a set-top box interfaced to the display receives commands from a input device in the form of a hand-held remote control unit.

An encircled thin panel personal space media center trifecta combination with throne combination and method for filling therapeutic, educational and entertainment voids in personal space of the 5 feet radius of a user with arm extended forward, and motivating and stimulating positive thinking and self-image development any time a user buttocks sits in the seat are disclosed. The encircled combination and method includes an embedded encircling remote control electronic actuator attachment arm, throne, thin panel personal space media center trifecta combination with an automatic unfolding center panel with remote control electronic actuator slanting, and interchanging, detaching left and right side thin panels 3, with three in a row audio and video TV systems, video phone systems, computer systems, video game systems, and / or digital photo systems i.e. a trifecta combination of 3 of the same system, example: 3 TV systems, or three in a row thin panel TV, video phone, computer, video game, and / or digital photo audio and video systems i.e. a trifecta combination of 3 different systems, example: 1 TV system, 1 computer system, and 1 video phone system, speakers, headphones, video game controller, web cam, memory or micro-SD card player / recorder, DVD-CD player and DVD-CD shield, remote control power on / off sensor, manual control buttons, touch screens, keyboard, armrest with remote control device, ring tones, theme song music, message chimes, cable TV wire, electricity power wire, phone wire, throne recline / tilt electronic actuator control buttons, audio and video connectors, attachment arm support, armrest USB and audio and video connectors, and three touch pad mouse-remote control devices attached thereon. Intended user is a child, teen, adult or student regardless of age or gender. The present throne key advantages maximizes utilization and combination of furniture and electronics equipment with space to achieve “innovation.” The present throne key objectives are to fill the voids in personal space of the 5 feet radius of a user when arms are extended forward.

A playback resume system and method for a media center are described. This invention is applied to a scheme of the media center. Particularly, a personalized device capable of transmitting a proprietary identifier is used to be a controller of the media center. By means of the proprietary identifier, the invention can be implemented in a multi-user environment, and used for different playback devices or in different playback situations. Since the playback scheduled progress can be saved, the invention reaches a more convenient and fast resume purpose. The preferred embodiment includes the steps of establishing a connection between a multimedia controller and a multimedia server, and receiving a proprietary identifier and a playback command transmitted from the controller and the server. After that, the multimedia server reads the last playback multimedia data and its scheduled progress with corresponding identifier, and then resumes the playback progress.

An all-in-one multi-media center includes a media housing having a front side, a rear side, and a functional rim extended between a peripheral edge of the front side and a peripheral edge of the rear side to form a receiving compartment within the front side, the rear side and the functional rim; a LCD screen provided at the front side of the media housing to define a planar direction; a central control unit supported within the receiving compartment to electrically connect with the LCD screen at the planar direction; a multi-media arrangement comprising a TV device and a computer device; and a supporting frame supported within the receiving compartment at a position between the LCD screen and the central control unit to substantially support the TV device and the computer device within the receiving compartment in a compact unit.

A home entertainment system includes a home media center for providing media content to a plurality of remotely located televisions within a home. The home media center includes a user interface module to generate graphical commands usable by a separate media center extension to render a focused navigation user interface on one of the plurality of televisions.

A media center operating mode selection control method and system is proposed, which is designed for use with a media center system to provide an easy-to-use operating mode selection control procedure, which is characterized by the provision of all possible operating modes (i.e., various manners of interlinking between media source devices and media display devices connected to the media center system) in a mapping table, and the provision of a press button that can be repeatedly pressed by the user to cyclically switch through all the available operating modes. Compared to the prior art, this method of user operation is significantly easier to implement without requiring the user to get familiar with technical jargons and involve in complicated user operation procedures, and is therefore more user-friendly and advantageous to use than prior art.

The invention relates to a sound event recognition method based on optimized parallel model combination. The sound event recognition method includes 1) recording data of a sound event, acquiring a GMM (Gaussian mixture model) according to clean sound event training, and establishing a clean sound event template; 2) acquiring noise data in current environment in indoor actual noisy environment, acquiring a GMM according to the noise data training, and establishing a noise template; 3) processing the noise template and the clean sound event template by the method of optimized parallel model combination, and obtaining a template of a sound event with noise; 4) sampling to obtain sample signals of the sound event with noise, recognizing sound of the sample signals according to the parameters in the template of the sound event with noise. According to the sound event recognition method, a GMM capable of describing background noise feature distribution better is established as one input in a PMC (portable media center) method, a clean GMM of five sound events is established at another input in the PMC. Meanwhile, robustness of a recognition system to noises is guaranteed.

A system for controlling the operation of an in-vehicle multi-media system based on identifying operating conditions for the vehicle. Various operational rules can be applied to the multi-media system based on an identified operating condition. Operating conditions can include a variety of criteria including traffic, weather, vehicle operating parameters, or the like. Once a condition is identified, an operating rule corresponding to that condition can be imposed on the operation of the multi-media system.

A software or hardware agent running on a personal computing (PC) device provides allows a consumer electronic device connected to the PC device over a high definition multimedia interface (HDMI) network to control the PC device using standardized commands. This enables a user to control the PC device and other consumer electronic devices that are connected to the HDMI network using a single interface. The agent responds as a consumer electronic device and translates the standardized commands as universal serial bus (USB) human interface device (HID) input reports to the PC device operating system. The agent represents the specific capabilities of the PC device as standard consumer electronic device controls.

An entertainment system and a portable display apparatus thereof are provided. The entertainment system includes a media center having data and an access point connected to the media center, and the portable display apparatus wirelessly accesses the data via the access point and has an engaging device for engaging a target object therewith.

Various “media-components” are provided in a “multi-media center.” In modular architecture, a module-controller communicates with media-modules provided for various media-components. A media-module can include or obtain data pertaining to a particular media-component, identify media-player(s), and access information related to their media. However, the media-modules are isolated from each other, and the module-controller effectively controls output generated in response to user input. A user interface library is provided for the media-modules. Media-modules can obtain a template or other tools from the library and construct their user interface (e.g., menus). Media-modules can also identify a media-player that can be initiated in response to user input. Subsequently, the media-controller forwards user input to the media-player.

A system, method and apparatus which permits the use of a wireless cell phone or other communications device as a connection, communications and control device able to connect a full-sized desktop monitor or other digital display device, keyboard, mouse, speakers, printer and other external devices to a wireless cell phone device using any combination of wireline or wireless connections from the desktop devices to the wireless cell phone device. The wireless cell phone device is used to create an Internet or other network connection capable of accessing any browser-based web site or browser-based software application commonly accessible to a standard desktop computer having an Internet connection. Once the connections between the desktop monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, printer and other components are established with the wireless cell phone device and the Internet connection is established with the wireless cell phone device, the user may access any browser-based web site or software application using the desktop monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, printer and other components. Access to Internet software, services and media includes all forms of browser-based desktop software, as well as digital movies, music, and streaming video.