GB2484406A

GB2484406A - Filtering available content for consumer device based on device identifier requested by server

Info

Publication number: GB2484406A
Application number: GB1117267.3A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Kenneth Helps
Original assignee: OCEAN BLUE SOFTWARE
Current assignee: OCEAN BLUE SOFTWARE
Priority date: 2010-10-07
Filing date: 2011-10-06
Publication date: 2012-04-11
Also published as: GB201117267D0; GB201016918D0

Abstract

A method of enabling content to be transferred to a consumer (client) device, operable to communicate with a (web) server, comprises: establishing a communication connection 203 between the device, e.g. an IP set-top box (STB), and server; the server interrogating 204 the device for a device identifier (ID), e.g. MAC address; obtaining 207 information relating to the device configuration based on the requested identifier, such as device manufacturer, platform identifiers, operating system (OS), processor (chipset) or decode, connectivity or storage capabilities; filtering 209 available content to provide a tailored content subset matching the device configuration; and enabling transfer of the content subset to the device. Consumer device configuration information may be obtained by the server from the Internet, e.g. if the server has no current configuration records matching the identifier. The consumer device ID may be associated with user profile information, also used to filter content; such user information may be stored at the consumer device and transmitted to the server when interrogated. Content may be stored on a further, remote server.

Description

Providing content for a media system This invention relates to a method of enabling content to be transferred to a consumer device, a media system and software for such a media system.

In particular, it relates to means of tailoring applications and content offered to a user, for use on a consumer device such as a set-top box (STB) or television (TV), based on the configuration and capabilities of the device hardware and software.

The ramp-up of available internet-enabled consumer devices has been steep over recent years. Increasingly, televisions and STBs are being supplied with the hardware and software capabilities to connect to the internet.

Various standards bodies are mandating that future products need to provide the ability to connect to the internet, and without these capabilities consumer products will not be able to use various Trade Marks -one example being "Freeview HD" in the UK.

Enabling this functionality opens up the device user to a wealth of opportunities to download and I or stream applications and content from web services. Unfortunately each consumer device will have limitations on which of these applications and content will operate correctly on the device. Limitations such as memory size and audio I video decoding capabilities could frustrate and confuse users of these products.

RTM RTM

The "iPhone" device developed by Apple Inc. has had enormous success with an "App Store" providing content for the device, highlighting the desire for users to download and use applications. The development of these applications has been hard linked to one specific hardware platform.

It is an aim of the present invention to overcome these problems. This aim is achieved by providing a mechanism to only present the valid application and content items to the user of the device in question, i.e. an "intelligent agent".

In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of enabling content to be transferred to a consumer device, the device being operable to communicate with a server, comprising the steps of: a) establishing a communication connection between the device and the server; b) interrogation of the device by the server for an identifier associated with the device; c) obtaining information relating to the configuration of the device based on the identifier; d) filtering available content to provide a content subset which matches the device configuration; and e) enabling transfer of the content subset to the device.

In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a media system comprising a consumer device and a server, the device and server being functional to communicate together, wherein the device has an identifier associated with the device and stored at the device; and the server comprises: interrogation means to interrogate the device to obtain the identifier from the device; means for obtaining information relating to the configuration of the device based on the identifier; filtering means for filtering available content to provide a content subset which matches the device configuration; and means for enabling transfer of the content subset to the device.

In accordance with a third aspect of the invention there is provided software for a media system according to the second aspect, for causing the interrogation means to interrogate the device to obtain the identifier from the device, to obtain information relating to the configuration of the device based on the identifier; to filter available content to provide a content subset which matches the device configuration; and to enable transfer of the content subset to the device.

It is important to note that media systems including STBs and internet-enabled televisions are not personal computers (PC5), but rather are distinct devices. One major difference relates to the diversity of processors and operating systems. For applications to work on a system, it needs to work with the operating system.

Whereas with PCs there are a few dominant operating systems (for example the various releases of the Windows (RTM) operating system, OS X and Linux (RTM)), and with mobile devices there is a similar situation (Android (RTM), iOS and a few others), on media internet receivers there could be many different operating systems, depending on the requirements of the manufacturer. With such devices the operating system is less visible to consumers, and so there is more freedom for manufacturers.

Therefore any intelligent agent that checks the system capabilities must be aware of the operating system and cannot assume anything about the capabilities (whereas in contrast with PCs, Windows applications would work on the majority of desktops I laptops).

Depending on the run-time environment, the processor could also affect capabilities.

For example, if the application is running in some hosting environment (such as Java (RTM) in Android, which has its own run-time environment), the processor is not important. However, for applications that run directly on the hardware, the processor is critical. Again, with PCs, the vast majority of desktop I laptop computers are compatible, as they all run Intel (RTM) I AMD (RTM) processors which are very similar. However, on STBs for example there is a huge diversity of processors used.

Therefore an intelligent agent must take that diversity into consideration.

The intelligent agent would use the operating system and processor (or chipset) to decide what can run on the receiver, and if more than one thing can (for example, native application and Java application) then there will be other considerations like speed and memory for the agent to consider. Importantly, the operating system and processor used by a device are hardly ever considerations in the PC world, because the vast majority of desktops I laptops are similar in those respects.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 schematically shows a simple diagram of the topology of the key components in a system in accordance with the present invention; and Fig. 2 is a flow diagram which schematically shows a method of tailoring applications and content offered to a user in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. I shows a simple diagram of the topology of the key components in a system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

A number of consumer devices, items 101, are connected to the internet I web 111.

These devices could be any consumer device with the functionality to connect to the internet I web 111. In the example shown, three STB5 (IF STB A -C) and three TVs (IPTV A -C) are connected.

A web server 102 provides web services to the devices 101 connected to it. The server 102 itself could locally store applications and content, and I or could connect to other web servers (not shown) providing content.

As explained above, it is possible that not all available applications and content will be usable by each device connected to the web server 102. For example, IF STB B might only be able to download and run applications A (labelled as 103) and C (labelled as 105), and stream content Y (labelled as 107), stored locally on the server 102. Alternatively, IPTV A might only be able to download and run applications A (103) and B (104), and stream content items Y (107) and Z (108), stored locally on the server.

Additionally the web server 102 could act as a portal to other web services 109, 110 which as shown comprise respective video on demand services, and filter the content presented from these other services per device according to its capabilities.

Fig. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention for tailoring applications and content offered to a user, for use on a device 101, based on the capabilities of the device. Here the flow diagram assumes that the device 101 is connected as per Fig. 1. The device will be identified as IF STB A for the sake of explaining how the system operates.

As shown in Fig. 2, the method starts, in step 201, with the device connected and then powered on for the first time in step 202. After the device boots it connects, in step 203, to a pre-defined URL stored in the device's memory. The URL corresponds to a "walled garden" web portal. The term "walled garden" is well-S known in the art, and refers to a service provider's control over content including applications and media, and restriction of convenient access to non-approved content. In other words, the web portal is configured so that only approved content may be accessed.

In step 204, the web server 102 interrogates the device to retrieve a unique device identifier which is hard-coded into the device, such identifiers generally being provided in modern devices. The web server 102 is programmed so that it knows how to identify valid identifiers. There are various ways envisaged for performing this step, for example looking at the MAC address of the device. Preferably, a plurality of diverse identification methods are employed. In this case, the server 102 would try to identify the device based on the returned data from the device.

In decision step 205, a check is then made as to whether the web server has retrieved a valid device identifier, and if so has the server seen this device before, which is determined by comparing the received identifier with a list of stored, previously received, identifiers.

i) If, at decision 205, the web server 102 does not manage to retrieve a valid device ID, the device is deemed to be "illegal" and the server access is closed at step 206.

ii) If, at decision 205, the web server 102 manages to receive a valid device identifier, but for a device it has no records stored for, it will (in step 207) request information about the configuration and capabilities of the device from the web 111 using a standard file transfer protocol such as SSH file transfer protocol. This information would typically consist of information such as device manufacturer, platform identifiers, video I audio decode capabilities, connectivity and storage capabilities. As set out previously, these capabilities preferably include the operating system and processor (or chipset) of the receiver device. In step 208, the server 102 stores the configuration and capabilities for that uniquely identified device. It is envisioned that in general the device identifier and capabilities will be respectively stored in two files.

iii) If, at step 205, the web server 102 receives a valid device identifier and already has a record of the connected device's configuration and capabilities, then S the server decides, in step 211, whether to retrieve the capabilities again, for example to check in case a software upgrade has introduced new capabilities. In this case the process proceeds to step 207 and continues as for ii) above.

Alternatively, the server may decide to use the stored information in its current form, and the process proceeds to step 209 (see below). The decision of whether to use the logged information or to acquire new capabilities may be made automatically, for example, the server may make the decision on the age of the stored material, i.e. the time since it was acquired. In this case, if the age is over a predefined limit, then the server chooses to acquire the capabilities again.

Once the web server 102 understands the capabilities of the device it can then, in step 209, filter the available applications and content such that the walled garden web portal displays only a subset of that content for offering to the user, i.e. those applications and content which are suitable for or match that device. This consideration includes deciding what can run on the receiver device, and if more than one thing can (for example, native application and Java application) then there will be other additional factors such as device speed and memory to consider.

Typically the user will be able to view and select from this content via a set of web pages. As shown in Fig. 1, the available content may be stored on a remote server (not shown) and I or in server 102.

The process ends at step 210, with the user optionally choosing to download content, either from the server 102 itself or from a source connected to the server.

The above-described embodiments are exemplary only, and other possibilities and alternatives within the scope of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, the functions of the web server could be extended whereby the unique identifier could be used in conjunction with user information, e.g. user profiles stored and managed on the web server and I or device and thus provide an extra level of filtering based on preferences and subscription-based content. If the user information is stored by the device, it will be transmitted to the server upon interrogation.

Claims

Claims 1. A method of enabling content to be transferred to a consumer device, the device being operable to communicate with a server, comprising the steps of: a) establishing a communication connection between the device and the server; b) interrogation of the device by the server for an identifier associated with the device; c) obtaining information relating to the configuration of the device based on the identifier; d) filtering available content to provide a content subset which matches the device configuration; and e) enabling transfer of the content subset to the device.
2. A method according to claim 1, wherein step b) comprises the server storing the identifier received from the device.
3. A method according to claim 2, wherein step b) further comprises determining whether the received identifier matches an identifier stored by the server.
4. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein step c) comprises the server interrogating the internet to obtain the information.
5. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein step c) comprises the server storing the obtained information.
6. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the information obtained in step c) comprises information identifying the operating system used by the consumer device.
7. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the information obtained in step c) comprises information identifying the processor used by the consumer device.
8. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein step c) comprises associating the identifier with user information, and step d) comprises additionally filtering available content based on the user information.
9. A method according to claim 7, wherein the user information comprises a user-defined profile.
10. A method according to either of claims 8 and 9, wherein the user information is stored by the server.
11. A method according to either of claims 8 and 9, wherein the user information is stored by the device and is transmitted to the server when interrogated.
12. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein step d) comprises the server determining available content.
13. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein at least some of the available content is stored in the server.
14. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein at least some of the available content is stored on a remote server.
15. A media system comprising a consumer device and a server, the device and server being functional to communicate together, wherein the device has an identifier associated with the device and stored at the device; and the server comprises: interrogation means to interrogate the device to obtain the identifier from the device; means for obtaining information relating to the configuration of the device based on the identifier; filtering means for filtering available content to provide a content subset which matches the device configuration; and means for enabling transfer of the content subset to the device.
16. A media system according to claim 15, wherein the consumer device comprises a television.
17. A media system according to claim 15, wherein the consumer device comprises a set-top box.
18. A media system according to any of claims 15 to 17, wherein the information comprises information identifying the operating system used by the consumer device.
19. A media system according to any of claims 15 to 18, wherein the information comprises information identifying the processor used by the consumer device.
20. Software for a media system according to any of claims 15 to 19, for causing the interrogation means to interrogate the device to obtain the identifier from the device, to obtain information relating to the configuration of the device based on the identifier; to filter available content to provide a content subset which matches the device configuration; and to enable transfer of the content subset to the device.
21. A method substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying figures.
22. A media system substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying figures.
23. Software substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying figures.