Patents Portfolio

U.S. Patent: 11,096,056

Patent Title

Output devices, such as televisions, output controllers, or audio output devices, that are setup to wirelessly receive digital content from a digital content service over the internet or from a wireless information apparatus that is in the same network as the output devices

Meta Information

Issued Date: Aug 17, 2021
Inventor: William Ho Chang et al
External Links: UPSTO, Google Patents

Technical Fields

Smart TV, Printer, Streaming Device, Projector

Abstract

Output devices or systems, such as televisions, speakers, projectors, or output controllers, are herein disclosed and enabled for wirelessly receiving digital content from a digital content service or from an information apparatus. The disclosed output device includes wireless communication circuitry and an interface. To set up the output device for receiving and playing the digital content, the output device first receives, via the interface, security information, and then establishes a wireless local area network connection. Subsequent to having established the wireless local area network connection, the output device connects to a server over a network, using the wireless communication circuitry, for downloading and installing software applications or components for upgrading or modifying capabilities of the output device. Thereafter, the output device is setup for receiving the digital content from the information apparatus and from the digital content service using the downloaded and installed software applications or components.

Sample Claim

1. A wireless output device that is at least one of a television, an external output controller wire connectable to a television, a display device, a projector, an audio output device, a printing device, or a speaker, individually or in any combination, the wireless output device including:

an interface for interacting with a user;

operating system software to facilitate download and installation of application software or software components at the wireless output device;

one or more processors, for executing at least part of the operating system software; and

wireless communication circuitry that includes one or more wireless communication units for wireless communication, and wherein the wireless output device is operable for:

(i) connecting the wireless output device, by the wireless output device and using at least one wireless communication unit of the one or more wireless communication units of the wireless output device, to a wireless local area network;

(ii) downloading, by the wireless output device, using the at least one wireless communication unit of the one or more wireless communication units of the wireless output device, and over the wireless local area network connected in (i), the application software or the software components from one or more servers or host computers over a network to the wireless output device, the application software or the software components being downloaded for upgrading, updating, adding, or modifying features and capabilities of the wireless output device;

(iii) installing, at the wireless output device and by the wireless output device, the application software or the software components downloaded in (ii), the installation of the application software or the software components being facilitated, at least in part, by the wireless output device and using the operating system software included in the wireless output device;

(iv) wirelessly broadcasting or wirelessly announcing, by the wireless output device and using the one or more wireless communication units of the wireless output device and over the wireless local area network connected in (i), availability of the wireless output device, the wireless broadcasting or the wireless announcing by the wireless output device is for a mobile information apparatus to wirelessly discover the wireless output device, the mobile information apparatus being from among one or more mobile information apparatus that are in the wireless local area network;

(v) wirelessly transmitting, by the wireless output device and using the one or more wireless communication units of the wireless output device and over the wireless local area network connected in (i), one or more device dependent attributes to the mobile information apparatus that has wirelessly discovered the wireless output device in (iv), and wherein the one or more device dependent attributes include at least a device attribute associated with the wireless output device;

(vi) wirelessly establishing, by the wireless output device, using the one or more wireless communication units of the wireless output device, and over the wireless local area network connected in (i), a wireless communication link between the wireless output device and the mobile information apparatus that has wirelessly discovered the wireless output device in (iv), the wireless communication link being compatible, at least partly, with at least a protocol within IEEE 802.11 wireless standards, and the mobile information apparatus being from among the one or more mobile information apparatus that are in the wireless local area network, and the mobile information apparatus being a separate device from the wireless output device;

(vii) wirelessly receiving, by the wireless output device and using the one or more wireless communication units of the wireless output device and over the wireless communication link wirelessly established in (vi), intermediate output data from the mobile information apparatus that has wirelessly discovered the wireless output device in (iv), the wirelessly received intermediate output data is related to digital content that is for outputting or playing at the wireless output device, and the wirelessly received intermediate output data being associated, at least in part, with the one or more device dependent attributes wirelessly transmitted by the wireless output device to the mobile information apparatus in (v); and

(viii) processing, by the wireless output device and using the one or more processors at the wireless output device, at least part of the intermediate output data wirelessly received in (vii) into output data, the output data being related to the digital content and is for outputting or playing at the wireless output device, the processing, at the wireless output device, includes at least one of a color operation, an image processing operation, a scaling operation, a resolution operation, an interpolation operation, a decoding operation, or an encoding operation, individually or in any combination, on the at least part of the intermediate output data that is wirelessly received in (vii); and

wherein the at least one wireless communication unit of the one or more wireless communication units, which is included in the wireless output device, is compatible, at least partly, with at least a protocol within IEEE 802.11 wireless standards for connecting the wireless output device to the wireless local area network in (i).
(x) generating, by the server software at the one or more servers, output data that is related to the at least part of the digital content received by the one or more servers from the information apparatus in (vii), and the generating of the output data being related, at least in part, to at least a portion of the device information included in the device object received by the one or more servers from the information apparatus in (vi), and the generating of the output data being based on the one or more servers having received the security information or the authentication information from the client device in (ix) for enabling the client device to access the at least part of the digital content stored in the memory or storage of the one or more servers in (viii); and

(xi) providing, by the server software executable at the one or more servers, at least part of the output data generated in (x) from the one or more servers to the client device for outputting the at least part of the digital content, which was received from the information apparatus in (vii), at an output device associated with the client device, the providing of the at least part of the output data is based on the one or more servers having received the security information or the authentication information from the client device in (ix); and

wherein the client device includes client software executable at the client device; and wherein upon execution of the client software at the client device, the method further comprises:
(xii) receiving, by the client software executable at the client device and from the one or more servers, at least part of the output data generated in (x), the at least part of the output data is related, at least partly, to the device information included in the device object received by the one or more servers from the information apparatus in (vi), and the receiving of the at least part of the output data is based, at least in part, on the client device having provided the security information or the authentication information to the one or more servers over the network; and

(xiii) processing, by the client software at the client device, the at least part of the output data received from the one or more servers in (xii) into device dependent output data that is acceptable for rendering or outputting at an output device associated with the client device, the processing, by the client software, includes at least one of a decoding operation, an encoding operation, a conversion operation, a color correction operation, or an image processing operation, individually or in any combination; and

wherein at least the client device is a mobile pervasive computing device that is not a stationary device, a workstation, or a generic computer, and wherein the client device is enabled to pervasively output the digital content at the output device without a need for the client device to use a stationary computing device, a workstation, or a desktop computer for output of the digital content.