Mobile Control Sessions for Multi-Device Home Content Distribution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users face challenges in seamlessly managing and controlling digital content across multiple devices in a home network, with limitations in user experience due to cumbersome navigation and device-specific control methods, especially when accessing and displaying content on televisions and personal computers, and the growing difficulty in managing digital content across various zones and locations.
Innovation Solution
A host server system that manages and distributes digital media content and associated controls within a network system, using a client manager to receive commands from control devices, maintain session state information, and enable two-way communication through a socket protocol, allowing for unified multi-device applications and discriminative control sessions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If users navigate websites on internet-connected televisions using attached keyboards or limited remote controls, then they can access online content, but the user experience becomes cumbersome and complicated
Solution Approach 1:
A personal computer acts as an intermediary device between the user and the internet-connected television. The PC handles complex web browsing and navigation tasks, while the television displays the content. This mediator approach allows users to leverage the PC's sophisticated interface capabilities while enjoying the television's large display, thereby improving ease of operation without increasing navigation complexity on the television itself.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables the television to serve multiple functions: it can display content from various sources including internet browsing, local media playback, and PC-screen mirroring. By making the television a universal display device that can handle different content delivery methods, the system improves ease of operation for accessing online content while avoiding the need for complex navigation controls on the television remote.
2Adaptability or versatility
If users type or search for webpage URLs on a television browser window, then they can access specific web content, but the process becomes challenging and limited by static unidirectional remote control buttons
Solution Approach 1:
The personal computer serves as a mediator that handles the complex task of web content search and navigation. Users can leverage the PC's keyboard, mouse, and advanced browser interface to easily search for and access web content, then have it displayed on the television. This approach maintains high adaptability for accessing specific web content while dramatically improving ease of operation by eliminating the need to use limited television remote controls for typing and searching.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the content access function into two parts: the PC handles the complex input and search operations, while the television handles the display function. This segmentation allows each device to operate in its optimal mode - the PC with its sophisticated input capabilities and the television with its superior display capabilities - thereby achieving both high adaptability for content access and ease of operation.
3Adaptability or versatility
If mobile devices like smart-phones and tablets are used to retrieve and render digital content from the Internet, then they provide personalized content presentation, but they are designed for single user personal manner viewing on smaller screens rather than shared social/entertainment settings
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges the content retrieval capabilities of mobile devices with the large display area of the television. The mobile device can fetch and prepare digital content from the Internet, then mirror or cast the display to the television screen. This combination allows users to enjoy the personalized content presentation and ease of use of mobile devices while simultaneously benefiting from the television's large display area for shared social and entertainment viewing experiences.
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile device's display content is copied or mirrored to the television screen. This allows the content originally intended for personal viewing on a small mobile device to be reproduced on the large television display, enabling shared viewing in social and entertainment settings while maintaining the original content presentation format and personalization from the mobile device.
4Adaptability or versatility
If multiple digital content sources and devices are networked together in a home entertainment system, then users have access to diverse content, but managing and streaming content seamlessly across various devices and zones becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The personal computer acts as a central intermediary that manages and coordinates content from multiple digital content sources and devices throughout the home network. The PC can access content from various sources, process it, and stream it to the television and other devices. This mediator approach simplifies content management by providing a single control point while maintaining access to diverse content sources, thereby improving ease of operation without sacrificing content variety.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a universal content management platform that can handle multiple content sources and device types through a single interface. The personal computer serves as a multi-functional hub that can access content from different sources, process various file formats, and stream to multiple devices simultaneously. This universality allows users to manage diverse content from multiple sources while maintaining ease of operation through a unified control interface.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, a system, and apparatus for managing the separation and distribution of digital controls wherein the digital content in a network system includes receiving a request from any one of control devices, host server response to control device request (and output devices), host server may either non-discriminatively or discriminatively broadcast to any of the control devices, and control device handling responses throughout home network system. The methods, system, and computer readable medium include user experience optimized application types for (optimally) separating and distributing the associated control and associated status information elements during active sessions from the host server to the control devices and output devices within a network system. Configuring a control session comprises receiving a request to execute an input/output application from a control application executing on a mobile control device Configuring the control session also includes aggregating a plurality of real-world connectable processing nodes into an application session set of processing nodes by allocating at least one function required by the input/output application for execution on each processing node in the set of processing nodes, wherein the set of processing nodes is determined based on processing requirements of the input/output application.