Granted Patent B2

US 8,532,464 · App. 13/291,891 · Granted Sep 10, 2013

Abstract

Claims (53)

1. A method of playing back multimedia content relative to a portable storage medium, the method comprising:

detecting, at a playback device, an initial access to a portable storage medium;

requesting, from a remote source, pre-roll content corresponding to content recorded on the portable storage medium; and

disguising the requesting of the pre-roll content and receiving of the pre-roll content such that a user of the playback device does not experience a delay in playback of content while the pre-roll content is being received from the remote source, wherein the disguising comprises:

playing back disguise content, locally accessible by the playback device, while requesting and receiving the pre-roll content at the playback device; and

transitioning playback from the disguise content to playing back the pre-roll content received from the remote source such that the user of the playback device does not perceive a delay associated with obtaining the pre-roll content from the remote source.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the initiating playback of pre-roll content comprises initiating playback of the pre-roll content prior to playback of a main menu or a main title recorded on the portable storage medium, where the main menu and the main title are not disguise content.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the playing back the disguise content comprises:

determining whether there is previously obtained locally stored pre-roll content stored locally at the playback device; and

initiating playback of the locally stored pre-roll content previously received and locally stored at the playback device when there is previously obtained pre-roll content stored locally at the playback device.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the playing back the disguise content comprises:

determining, in response to determining that there is previously obtained pre-roll content stored locally at the playback device, whether the locally stored pre-roll content has expired; and

preventing the initiating the playback of the locally stored pre-roll content when the locally stored pre-roll content has expired.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

identifying a first disguise content recorded on the portable storage medium; and

initiating playback, at the playback device and in response to detecting that the locally stored pre-roll content has completed playback.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the requesting the pre-roll content comprises:

determining an available bandwidth over a communication link between the playback device and the remote source over which the pre-roll content is being received;

determining whether a delay in excess of a delay threshold is predicted to receive the pre-roll content; and

requesting a different content stream of the pre-roll content, where the different content stream comprises less data to be communicated.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the requesting the pre-roll content comprises:

determining an available bandwidth over a communication link between the playback device and the remote source over which the pre-roll content is being received;

determining whether a delay in excess of a delay threshold is predicted to receive the pre-roll content; and

determining not to playback the pre-roll content in response to determining the delay is in excess of the delay threshold.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the requesting the pre-roll content from a remote source comprises requesting, in response to detecting the initial access to the portable storage medium, the pre-roll content prior to providing the playback device with access to multimedia content recorded on the portable storage medium.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

detecting a request to remove access to the portable storage medium from the playback device;

activating and implementing, on the playback device, an unbound retrieval application corresponding to the portable storage medium;

continuing to implement the unbound retrieval application even after the access to the portable storage medium is removed, where the continuing to implement the unbound retrieval application comprises:

accessing, over the distributed network, a subsequent remote source;

requesting, from the subsequent remote source, subsequent pre-roll content associated with the portable storage medium; and

receiving and storing at the playback device the subsequent pre-roll content.

10. A system for use in playing back multimedia content, the system comprising:

a processor;

memory accessible by the process and configured to store code to be accessed and implemented by the processor such that the processor, when implementing the code, is configured to:

detect, local at the system, an initial access to a portable storage medium;

request, from a remote source accessible over a distributed communication network, pre-roll content corresponding to content recorded on the portable storage medium; and

disguise the request of the pre-roll content and subsequent reception of the pre-roll content such that a user of the system does not experience a delay in playback of content while the pre-roll content is being received from the remote source, where the processor:

plays back disguise content, locally accessible, while requesting and receiving the pre-roll content; and

transitions playback from the disguise content to playing back the pre-roll content received from the remote source such that the user does not perceive a delay associated with obtaining the pre-roll content from the remote source.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the processor in initiating the playback of pre-roll content is further configured to initiate playback of the pre-roll content prior to playback of a main menu or a main title recorded on the portable storage medium.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the processor in implementing the code to play back the disguise content is further configured to:

determine whether there is previously obtained locally stored pre-roll content; and

initiate playback of the locally stored pre-roll content previously received and locally stored when there is previously obtained pre-roll content stored locally.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the processor, in playing back the disguise content, is further configured to:

determine, in response to determining that there is previously obtained pre-roll content stored locally, whether the locally stored pre-roll content has expired; and

preventing the initiation of the playback of the locally stored pre-roll content when the locally stored pre-roll content has expired.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the processor in implementing the code is further configured to:

identify a first disguise content recorded on the portable storage medium.

15. The system of claim 10 , wherein the processor, in requesting the pre-roll content, is further configured to:

determine an available bandwidth over a communication link with the remote source and over which the pre-roll content is being received;

determine whether a delay in excess of a delay threshold is predicted to receive the pre-roll content; and

request a different content stream of the pre-roll content, where the different content stream comprises less data to be communicated.

Assignments (38)