Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
  • H04N21/44—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing a video clip retrieved from local storage with an incoming video stream or rendering scenes according to encoded video stream scene graphs
  • H04N21/4402—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing a video clip retrieved from local storage with an incoming video stream or rendering scenes according to encoded video stream scene graphs involving reformatting operations of video signals for household redistribution, storage or real-time display
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L65/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication
  • H04L65/1066—Session management
  • H04L65/1083—In-session procedures
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L65/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication
  • H04L65/1066—Session management
  • H04L65/1083—In-session procedures
  • H04L65/1094—Inter-user-equipment sessions transfer or sharing
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L65/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication
  • H04L65/1066—Session management
  • H04L65/1101—Session protocols
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L65/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication
  • H04L65/60—Network streaming of media packets
  • H04L65/61—Network streaming of media packets for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio
  • H04L65/612—Network streaming of media packets for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio for unicast
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L65/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication
  • H04L65/60—Network streaming of media packets
  • H04L65/75—Media network packet handling
  • H04L65/756—Media network packet handling adapting media to device capabilities
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
  • H04N21/436—Interfacing a local distribution network, e.g. communicating with another STB or one or more peripheral devices inside the home
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
  • H04N21/44—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing a video clip retrieved from local storage with an incoming video stream or rendering scenes according to encoded video stream scene graphs
  • H04N21/4402—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing a video clip retrieved from local storage with an incoming video stream or rendering scenes according to encoded video stream scene graphs involving reformatting operations of video signals for household redistribution, storage or real-time display
  • H04N21/440218—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing a video clip retrieved from local storage with an incoming video stream or rendering scenes according to encoded video stream scene graphs involving reformatting operations of video signals for household redistribution, storage or real-time display by transcoding between formats or standards, e.g. from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
  • H04N21/44—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing a video clip retrieved from local storage with an incoming video stream or rendering scenes according to encoded video stream scene graphs
  • H04N21/4402—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing a video clip retrieved from local storage with an incoming video stream or rendering scenes according to encoded video stream scene graphs involving reformatting operations of video signals for household redistribution, storage or real-time display
  • H04N21/440263—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing a video clip retrieved from local storage with an incoming video stream or rendering scenes according to encoded video stream scene graphs involving reformatting operations of video signals for household redistribution, storage or real-time display by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for displaying on a connected PDA
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/60—Network structure or processes for video distribution between server and client or between remote clients; Control signalling between clients, server and network components; Transmission of management data between server and client, e.g. sending from server to client commands for recording incoming content stream; Communication details between server and client 
  • H04N21/63—Control signaling related to video distribution between client, server and network components; Network processes for video distribution between server and clients or between remote clients, e.g. transmitting basic layer and enhancement layers over different transmission paths, setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet between remote STB's; Communication protocols; Addressing
  • H04N21/632—Control signaling related to video distribution between client, server and network components; Network processes for video distribution between server and clients or between remote clients, e.g. transmitting basic layer and enhancement layers over different transmission paths, setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet between remote STB's; Communication protocols; Addressing using a connection between clients on a wide area network, e.g. setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet for retrieving video segments from the hard-disk of other client devices
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L65/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication
  • H04L65/60—Network streaming of media packets
  • H04L65/75—Media network packet handling
  • H04L65/765—Media network packet handling intermediate
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/21—Server components or server architectures
  • H04N21/218—Source of audio or video content, e.g. local disk arrays
  • H04N21/21815—Source of audio or video content, e.g. local disk arrays comprising local storage units

Definitions

• the invention relates to methods, computer apparatuses and computer program products for managing data, especially to managing streamed media data between computers.
• the published US patent application US2010064332 describes an arrangement where media content can be enjoyed at another device than the computer that receives the media content from server by utilizing a special media catcher device.
• the receiving computer comprises hardware features and different software: the operating system, services and applications like a place-shifting application, media player and a web browser plugin.
• the computer operating system allows programs to access the computer hardware like I/O, memory and processor.
• consuming the streamed media in a preferred manner may require significant technical knowledge or work to be able to properly enjoy the media data on the portable computer device.
• the invention relates to methods, devices and computer program products where streamed media data is received over a network interface to a first computer in response to a user input, and streamed media data is stored into a file.
• the streamed media data is detected at system level in the first computer during streaming, and streamed media data is then provided to a computer interface to a second computer, for example for storing, based on said detecting.
• the detection may happen through a system interface to e.g. provide independence from a browser.
• the data may be provided directly to the second computer for easy management.
• the data may be provided from the first computer or directly from the media source like a web service.
• Some of the streamed data may be omitted, e.g. music may be extracted from media data having audio and video.
• the media playback capabilities may be automatically detected and the formatting may happen automatically.
• the user may be provided with options for controlling what and how to store on the second computer.
• the invention may provide for accessing a media stream using a browser on a first computer such as a personal computer, for example by a user using a browser to access a media service to start streaming a media file.
• the streaming may be detected by using an operating system level interface, and the stream may be detected and/or accessed without the need of interacting with the browser.
• the accessed media data may then be provided to a second computer device such as a smartphone directly from the system, or by carrying out a conversion according to the capabilities of the second computer.
• the various features of the invention may be used alone or in combination with other features to provide for easier management of data between computers.
• FIGS. 3a and 3b show block diagrams of devices according to an embodiment
• Figs. 1 a and 1 b show methods for managing data between computers according to an embodiment.
• media data is streamed from a service into a first computer.
• streamed media data is received over a network interface to the first computer in response to a user input.
• the streaming of media data is detected and/or accessed at a system level e.g. by using a system level programming interface. By doing this, the use of browser-specific plug-ins or function calls may be avoided. Also, it may be possible to detect the streamed media data irrespective of which browser is used or how streaming is arranged to be done.
• the streamed media data is accessed at system level in the first computer, and this accessing may happen during streaming.
• streamed data is provided to a computer interface to a second computer.
• the first computer may be a personal computer and the second computer may be a smartphone or other highly portable personal device, and the personal computer acting as a streaming client is able to provide the streamed media data to the other device.
• the second computer like a home media server may receive the media data directly from a media service from the internet based on the detection of the media streaming at the first computer that may be e.g. a mobile phone or a tablet computer.
• the streamed data may be stored into a file in phase 140, or the file may be created at the first computer and then provided to be transferred to the second computer. If the storing and providing happen already during streaming, the media data may be provided to the second computer more quickly.
• the system may work so that when the media stream has been detected, the user may move to a new media stream (stop streaming the first stream), and the system may store the address of the first stream and provide a user the opportunity to download the stream at a later time.
• the first computer may also provide the address to the second computer, and the second computer may download the media data on its own directly from the media service on the network.
• phase 150 media data is streamed (e.g. for a short while) from a service into a first computer based on user action, e.g. as above in phase 1 10.
• phase 155 the streaming of media data is accessed at a system level e.g. by using a system level programming interface, as above in phase 120.
• a media data stream may be detected in a first computer system using a system interface, the media data stream having been originated by a streamer application in response to a user input or user action, and based on this detection, the media data stream and the data in it are accessed. In practice, this may happen e.g.
• phase 160 a user input for selecting a part of said streamed media data may be received. This receiving may happen e.g. so that the accessed (detected) data stream from phase 155 is represented on a user interface to a user, and in addition options are shown to the user for selecting a part.
• the user may indicate start and end positions of the stream and/or parts to be selected for storing, e.g. to edit away commercials from a TV show.
• only the audio part e.g. music of a music video
• only the audio track may be saved. That is, the selected part of said streamed media data is accessed at system level, and then provided as such or in converted form to a computer interface (to another computer) so that at least some of said streamed media data can be omitted.
• This may have e.g. the advantage of providing the wanted content to a portable computer device without taking excess space on the portable computer.
• the invention can provide for easily storing music on a mobile device.
• the system may have technical means for ensuring that content that carries so-called technical copyright protection cannot be stored or modified, depending on the protection.
• the media playback capabilities of the second computer may be automatically determined. For example, a connected smartphone may be queried for the supported media formats, or the supported formats and capabilities may be received from a database on the internet or loaded from a configuration file on the first computer. The determining of the capabilities allows to formatting the streamed media data according to the available media playback capabilities for providing appropriately formatted media data to the computer interface to the second computer. In this manner, the user may not need to carry out any format conversions manually or even know the media formats supported by the second computer. In fact, in phase 170 options of media data formats may be formed based on the determining, and then displayed to a user, so that a format selection input may be received from said user.
• the user may thus decide on how the formatting is done, since the formatting can be carried out based on the format selection input.
• the device may support both MP3 and AAC audio formats, and the user may select to use the AAC format.
• Such a selection based on determined supported formats may allow to avoid problems due to incorrect media formats.
• a database of different media formats, different quality levels for the media formats and the respective size information related to the media format and quality level may be maintained. Based on the capacity of the device the database may be used in selecting e.g. a sufficiently small media format and quality level so that all the desired quality can be fitted into the storage space of the device. Also, the device capabilities for playback may be utilized to select an appropriate quality and/or size and at the same time optimizing the observed playback quality for that size.
• the streamed data is provided to a computer interface to a second computer as in phase 130 above. This providing may happen during streaming so as to cause the streamed data to be stored into a file on the second computer while streaming at the first computer is still ongoing. This may allow for faster and easier provision of media data at the second computer without a need to manage the data on the first computer (e.g. without the need to store the data into a file on the first computer and then manually copy the file over to the second).
• the streamed data may be stored into a file in phase 180 (as in phase 140 above), or the file may be created at the first computer and then provided to be automatically transferred to the second computer.
• the device status e.g. the available formats and available space on the second computer
• streaming status may be indicated to the user in phase 185. This may make it easier to see when the second computer device can be disconnected or when the download should not be started because of lack of space.
• Figs. 2a and 2b show block diagrams of devices according to an embodiment.
• a first computer 210 is shown connected to an internet service 205 and to a second computer 230.
• the first computer device or apparatus 210 comprises a processor 220, memory 222 including computer program code 224 in the memory 222.
• the memory 222 and the computer program code 224 are configured to, with the processor 220, cause the apparatus 210 to carry out the method as described in the context of Figs. 1 a and 1 b.
• the first computer 210 may comprise a display 226 for displaying output to the user and an input device 228 for receiving control input from the user.
• the computer program code 224 may be arranged to operate together with an operating system of the computer, and/or with application libraries such as browser libraries in order to allow access to the data stream.
• the first computer is connected to the second computer via a computer interface 215 (a direct wired or wireless connection or a network connection).
• the second computer 230 thus acts as a target for the accessed media data.
• the second computer 230 may comprise a processor 240, memory 242 including computer program code 244 in the memory 242.
• the memory 242 and the computer program code 244 are configured to, with the processor 240, cause the apparatus 230 to provide a computer program 224' to the first computer 210 so that when the program 224' is executed on the processor 220, it causes the apparatus 210 to carry out the method as described in the context of Figs. 1 a and 1 b.
• the second computer may act as target of the data from the first device, but it may also provide the program with which the accessing of the data stream can be carried out. This providing can happen by transfer of the program to the memory 222 of the first computer 210 or by execution from the second computer's memory 242.
• the second computer apparatus may comprise a memory and communication means for operatively connecting the second computer apparatus to the first computer apparatus so that data and program code may be transferred between the devices.
• the first computer may be for example a desktop or laptop computer, a tablet computer, home media device like a set-top box or television, a network router, a mobile communication device or any other device having access to media data for example on the internet.
• the second computer may be a mobile computer apparatus suitable for enjoying the media data such as a mobile phone, music player, video player like video goggles, a personal computer, a television, a home media device for example for use in a DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) or UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) network or a storage device (like a network attached storage device), or even a vehicle or a building.
• DLNA Digital Living Network Alliance
• UPnP Universal Plug and Play
• the MobileHub 250 may register the StreamHook dynamic library using Windows Computer Based Training (CBT) framework to get access to all client processes using Windows messages.
• the StreamHook may inject (provide a new jump) its code to replace selected standard Winsock function call(s) inside the target application process, that is, in the computer running memory. This provides for the possibility to listen to e.g. incoming http traffic, such as media streams.
• the StreamHook dynamic library 260 connects to the program component MobileHub 250 to get the MobileHub connected to the application process 270 using the communications library 280 (Windows Winsock API).
• the StreamHook dynamic library 260 listens to ongoing http traffic and delivers packages to the MobileHub process 250 over the IPC pipe 290.
• MobileHub 250 detects audio and video streams from these arriving packages and may allow the user to select the streams to download and transfer to the connected device 230.
• a Content Filter 255 may be used to select only part of the media stream to be saved, or to process the stream in another way e.g. by automatic conversion to another suitable format (resolution, sample rate, media encoding format) for the second computer.
• the formatting may be carried out so that the media data to be saved matches the screen resolution of the second computer, or to a format that enables to save power on the second computer e.g. by using an accelerator for a special media format.
• This example shows how the accessing of media data stream may be carried out on a Windows operating system and specifically with the communications module 280 being Winsock API. More generally, similar techniques may be applied to any implementation of http communication layer to listen ongoing http traffic and to detect available streams.
• the access on the system level to the media stream may be implemented by using a network traffic filter to get access to the interesting communication packets.
• a computer program may use a system library programming interface to get information of communication packets being sent and received over a network connection.
• the computer program may detect packets that contain interesting data such as streamed media data, e.g. based on the content type, the packet type, the sender address, the communications port being used etc. In such a way, a media stream may be detected.
• the computer program code may be part of the operating system so that the operating system is arranged to provide functionality for carrying out the methods described in the context of Figs. 1 a and 1 b.
• the operating system may provide a programming interface function that can be called to determine what streams are active or what streamed media has been accessed.
• the operating system may provide such programming interface function directly in the normal configuration of the operating system.
• the operating system may provide such programming interface function as an operating system service, which service may be enabled or disabled in a configuration of the operating system.
• the operating system may provide signaling, events, software interrupts or other means that allows a computer program running on the operating system to receive information on a newly started streaming (the streaming having been started e.g. in a browser).
• the computer program can detect, by receiving a signal, event or being called in an interrupt, a stream, and then process the stream or arrange the stream to be processed in a manner as described in this application.
• the various ways of implementing the detection and accessing of the media stream on system level allow to detected and/or access the media stream without the need of interacting with the browser that would otherwise need to happen for example by calling a browser-specific programming interface function of the browser or creating a browser-specific plugin.
• the accessed media data may then be provided to a second computer device such as a smartphone directly from the system, or by carrying out a conversion according to the capabilities of the second computer, as has been described.
• Figs. 3a and 3b show a control interface for controlling data management between computers.
• the control interface may be a user interface of a computer application, that is, a computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising computer program code configured to, when executed on a processor, cause a computer apparatus or a system to carry out the method as described in the context of Figs. 1 a and 1 b.
• a screen of a first computer where a browser application 310 is running and where, in the browser application, a media service 320 has been accessed for streaming.
• the computer program application of the present invention may have a user interface 330 through which the user is able to control the application. For example, the user may, as described earlier, select to store streamed media data to the connected smartphone.
• the user has provided input to the browser 310 to access a media service 320 and to start streaming a video "Super Mario Beads 3" available at the service.
• the computer program of the present invention has detected the streaming and has offered it to the user to be saved, by showing its identifier 335 on the user interface 330.
• Fig. 3b the various elements of the control interface 330 are shown.
• the identifiers 350 of various streamed items are shown, along with other information on the items.
• the control element 365 allows to store audio only, and the control element 368 allows to stop saving.
• the various actions related to a connected second computer may be shown on the right, along with an identifier 380 of the second computer so that the user recognizes to which device the data is to be stored - namely, the user may have multiple devices connected to the first computer.
• a computer device may comprise circuitry and electronics for handling, receiving and transmitting data, computer program code in a memory, and a processor that, when running the computer program code, causes the device to carry out the features of an embodiment.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Multimedia (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
• General Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
• Information Transfer Between Computers (AREA)
• Information Retrieval, Db Structures And Fs Structures Therefor (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=49956221

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (3)

Citations (2)

Family Cites Families (3)

• 2012
  • 2012-12-14 FI FI20126310A patent/FI20126310A/fi not_active Application Discontinuation
• 2013
  • 2013-12-13 WO PCT/FI2013/051165 patent/WO2014091085A2/en active Application Filing
  • 2013-12-13 EP EP13821113.1A patent/EP2932681A2/en not_active Withdrawn

Patent Citations (2)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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