Apparatus, systems and methods for accessing and synchronizing presentation of media content and supplemental media rich content

1. A method, comprising:

communicatively coupling a portable media device to a media device via a network,

wherein the network comprises one of an Internet system, a telephony system, a microwave communication system, a cable system, and a cellular system,

wherein the media device is located at a customer premises,

wherein the portable media device is remote from the customer premises such that the network enables the portable media device to communicatively couple to the media device,

wherein the media device initially receives a media content stream comprising at least one supplemental media rich content trigger from a media content provider, and

wherein the supplemental media rich content trigger includes access information configured to enable the portable media device to access at least one media rich content server via the network;

receiving at the portable media device a portion of the media content stream with the supplemental media rich content trigger at the portable media device from the media device, wherein the portion of the media content stream is communicated to the portable media device over the network;

establishing a communication link over the network between the portable media device and the media rich content server based upon the access information in the received supplemental media rich content trigger;

receiving supplemental media rich content at the portable media device from the media rich content server, wherein the supplemental media rich content is communicated to the portable media device over the network;

pausing presentation of the media content stream on a display of the portable media device and presenting at least the received supplemental media rich content on the display of the portable media device while the presentation of the media content stream is paused;

ending presentation of the supplemental media rich content after a predefined duration;

receiving a user selection corresponding to a request to end presentation of the supplemental media rich content, wherein the user selection is received before the end of the predefined duration;

ending presentation of the supplemental media rich content in response to receiving the user selection; and

resuming presentation of the media content stream after ending presentation of the supplemental media rich content.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

concurrently presenting the received supplemental media rich content and the received media content stream on the display of the portable media device.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

synchronizing presentation of the received supplemental media rich content with presentation of at least one video frame.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the supplemental media rich content trigger is associated with at least one video frame of the media content stream, and further comprising:

presenting the media content stream on the display of the portable media device until the at least one video frame associated with the supplemental media rich content trigger is received.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the access information configured to establish the communication link via a first network to the media rich content server is first access information configured to establish a first communication link via the first network to a first media rich content server, and wherein the presented supplemental media rich content comprises second access information configured to establish a second communication link via a second network to a second media rich content server, wherein the second network is different than the first network, and further comprising:

presenting the second access information as an active link on the display of the portable media device;

establishing the second communication link over the second network between the portable media device and the second media rich content server based upon a received user selection of the active link;

receiving second supplemental media rich content from the second media rich content server via the second network; and

presenting at least the received second supplemental media rich content on the display of the portable media device.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the supplemental media rich content is a first supplemental media rich content, the supplemental media rich content trigger is a first supplemental media rich content trigger with first access information, the communicating link is a first communication link, and further comprising:

receiving a second supplemental media rich content trigger in the media content stream, wherein the second supplemental media rich content trigger includes second access information configured to access a second media rich content server via the network;

establishing a second communication link over the network between the portable media device and the second media rich content server based upon the second access information;

receiving second supplemental media rich content from the second media rich content server via the network; and

presenting the received second supplemental media rich content on the display of the portable media device.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

ending presentation of the first supplemental media rich content; and

closing the first communication link.

8. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

continuing presentation of the first supplemental media rich content on the display of the portable media device.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the media content stream comprises a first supplemental media rich content trigger and a second supplemental media rich content trigger; wherein the portable media device receives the second supplemental media rich content trigger after receiving the first supplemental media rich content trigger, wherein the first supplemental media rich content trigger includes information to establish the communication link between the portable media device and the media rich content server via the network, and wherein the second supplemental media rich content trigger is configured to access the supplemental media rich content via the network, and further comprising:

establishing the communication link over the network between the portable media device and the media rich content server in response to receiving the first supplemental media rich content trigger;

presenting the media content stream on the display of the portable media device;

maintaining the established communication link over the network during presentation of the media content stream; and

receiving the supplemental media rich content from the media rich content server via the network in response to receiving the second supplemental media rich content trigger.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the supplemental media rich content is first supplemental media rich content, wherein the media content stream comprises a third supplemental media rich content trigger configured to access second supplemental media rich content, wherein the third supplemental media rich content trigger is received after a second supplemental media rich content trigger, and further comprising:

ending presentation of the first supplemental media rich content;

continuing presentation of the media content stream on the display of the portable media device;

maintaining the established communication link during the continued presentation of the media content stream; and

receiving the second supplemental media rich content from the media rich content server in response to receiving the third supplemental media rich content trigger.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the media content stream comprises a sequentially presentable first plurality of video frames, second plurality of video frames, and third plurality of video frames, wherein the supplemental media rich content trigger is associated with the second plurality of video frames, and further comprising:

presenting the first plurality of video frames on the display of the portable media device;

presenting at least the supplemental media rich content and the second plurality of video frames on the display of the portable media device; and

presenting the third plurality of video frames on the display of the portable media device,

wherein presentation of the supplemental media rich content ends when presentation of the third plurality of video frames begins.

12. A method, comprising:

establishing a first communication link over a network between a portable media device and a media device,

wherein the network comprises one of an Internet system, a telephony system, a microwave communication system, a cable system, and a cellular system,

wherein the media device is located at a customer premises, and

wherein the portable media device is remote from the customer premises such that the network enables the portable media device to communicatively couple to the media device;

receiving a media content stream at the media device over the established first communication link, wherein the media content stream comprises at least one supplemental media rich content trigger with access information configured to establish a second communication link over the network between at least one media rich content server and the portable media device, and wherein the at least one supplemental media rich content trigger is further configured to cause the portable media device to access supplemental media rich content from the media rich content server via the network;

communicating the media content stream with the supplemental media rich content trigger from the media device to the portable media device via the network, wherein the media content stream is presented on a display of the portable media device;

pausing presentation of the media content stream on the display of the portable media device and presenting at least the received supplemental media rich content on the display of the portable media device while the presentation of the media content stream is paused in response to receiving the supplemental media rich content trigger residing in the media content stream;

ending presentation of the supplemental media rich content after a predefined duration;

receiving a user selection corresponding to a request to end presentation of the supplemental media rich content, wherein the user selection is received before the end of the predefined duration;

ending presentation of the supplemental media rich content in response to receiving the user selection; and

resuming presentation of the media content stream after ending presentation of the supplemental media rich content.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the media content stream comprises a plurality of video frames, and further comprising:

formatting the plurality of video frames of the media content stream based on at least one characteristic of the portable media device,

wherein the formatted video frames of the media content stream and the supplemental media rich content trigger are communicated to the portable media device over the established first communication link.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

associating at least one selected one of the plurality of formatted video frames with the supplemental media rich content trigger,

wherein the selected at least one formatted video frame and the supplemental media rich content trigger are communicated to the portable media device at substantially the same time over the established first communication link.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

retrieving the supplemental media rich content trigger from the media content stream received by the media device over the established second communication link,

wherein the retrieved supplemental media rich content trigger is associated with selected one of the plurality video frames, and

wherein the selected one of the plurality of video frames of the media content stream corresponds to the at least one formatted video frame.

16. A method, comprising:

receiving a program of interest comprising a plurality of sequentially presentable video frames;

selecting at least one of the video frames from the plurality of video frames;

associating a supplemental media rich content trigger with the selected video frame, wherein the supplemental media rich content trigger includes access information configured to cause a portable media device to establish a first communication link between the portable media device and a media rich content server over a network, and is configured to cause the portable media device to access supplemental media rich content from the media rich content server over the established first communication link,

wherein the network comprises one of an Internet system, a telephony system, a microwave communication system, a cable system, and a cellular system,

wherein a media device is located at a customer premises, and

wherein the portable media device is remote from the customer premises such that the network enables the portable media device to communicatively couple to the media device;

communicating the program of interest and the supplemental media rich content trigger associated with the at least one selected video frame to the media device over a second communication link, wherein the second communication link is different from the first communication link;

communicating the program of interest and the supplemental media rich content trigger associated with the at least one selected video frame from the media device to the portable media device over a third communication link;

presenting the program of interest on the display of the portable media device until the supplemental media rich content trigger is received in the program of interest;

pausing presentation of the program of interest;

presenting the received supplemental media rich content on the display of the portable media device;

ending presentation of the supplemental media rich content after a predefined duration;

receiving a user selection corresponding to a request to end presentation of the supplemental media rich content, wherein the user selection is received before the end of the predefined duration;

ending presentation of the supplemental media rich content in response to receiving the user selection; and

resuming presentation of the program of interest after ending presentation of the supplemental media rich content.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the supplemental media rich content trigger is associated with at least one video frame of the program of interest, and further comprising:

presenting the program of interest on the display of the portable media device until the at least one video frame associated with the supplemental media rich content trigger is received.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the portable media device is one of:

a laptop computer that communicatively couples to the media device over the network that is the Internet,

a personal device assistant (PDA) that communicatively couples to the media device over the network that is the Internet,

a netbook that communicatively couples to the media device over the network that is the Internet,

a cellular-based device that communicatively couples to the media device over at least one of a telephony system and a cellular system, and

an Internet accessible device that communicatively couples to the media device over the network that is the Internet.

19. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving at the media rich content server the portion of the media content stream with the supplemental media rich content trigger, wherein the portion of the media content stream with the supplemental media rich content trigger is received at the media rich content server while the portable media device is receiving the portion of the media content stream with the supplemental media rich content trigger,

wherein the media rich content server communicates the supplemental media rich content to the portable media device when the portion of the media content stream with the supplemental media rich content trigger is received at the media rich content server.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the portion of the media content stream with the supplemental media rich content trigger is a first portion of the media content stream with a first supplemental media rich content trigger, the method further comprising:

receiving at the media rich content server a second portion of the media content stream with a second supplemental media rich content trigger, wherein the second portion of the media content stream with the second supplemental media rich content trigger is received at the media rich content server while the portable media device is receiving the second portion of the media content stream with the second supplemental media rich content trigger,

wherein the media rich content server communicates second supplemental media rich content to the portable media device when the second portion of the media content stream with the second supplemental media rich content trigger is received at the media rich content server, and

wherein the second supplemental media rich content is communicated from the media rich content server to the portable media device over the communication link over the network that was established between the portable media device and the media rich content server based upon the access information in the received first supplemental media rich content trigger.

21. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

receiving at the media rich content server the portion of the media content stream with the supplemental media rich content trigger, wherein the portion of the media content stream with the supplemental media rich content trigger is received at the media rich content server while the portable media device is receiving the portion of the media content stream with the supplemental media rich content trigger,

wherein the media rich content server communicates the supplemental media rich content to the portable media device when the portion of the media content stream with the supplemental media rich content trigger is received at the media rich content server.

22. The method of claim 12 , wherein the portion of the media content stream with the supplemental media rich content trigger is a first portion of the media content stream with a first supplemental media rich content trigger, the method further comprising:

receiving at the media rich content server a second portion of the media content stream with a second supplemental media rich content trigger, wherein the second portion of the media content stream with the second supplemental media rich content trigger is received at the media rich content server while the portable media device is receiving the second portion of the media content stream with the second supplemental media rich content trigger,

wherein the media rich content server communicates second supplemental media rich content to the portable media device when the second portion of the media content stream with the second supplemental media rich content trigger is received at the media rich content server, and

wherein the second supplemental media rich content is communicated from the media rich content server to the portable media device over the second communication link that was established between the portable media device and the media rich content server based upon the access information in the received first supplemental media rich content trigger.