ENHANCED HOME MEDIA EXPERIENCE USING A WIRELESS MEDIA HUB

1 . A wireless media hub comprising:

a processor;

a memory;

a plurality of hardware input ports each configured to receive media content from a device;

a wireless network interface; and

an operating system comprising programming instructions stored in the memory and operating on the processor and configured to:

operate a protocol manager configured to identify a plurality of device characteristics of a device connected via one of the plurality of hardware ports, and configured to direct the operation of at least a portion of the plurality of media processing components based on at least a portion of the identified device characteristics;

send screen graphics via a virtual screen driver to a plurality of mobile devices;

receive user interaction events from a mobile device via the wireless network interface;

receive media content from a hardware port;

separate the media content into an audio stream and a video stream;

send the audio stream to a plurality of audio playback devices via the wireless network interface;

send the video stream to a display device using the wireless network interface; and

synchronize the playback of the audio stream and the video stream using a synchronization manager.

2 . A method for providing an enhanced home media experience using a wireless media hub, comprising the steps of:

connecting, via a plurality of hardware ports each configured to receive media content from a device, to a media device;

identifying, using a protocol manager configured to identify a plurality of device characteristics of a device connected via one of the plurality of hardware ports, and configured to direct the operation of at least a portion of the plurality of media processing components based on at least a portion of the identified device characteristics, device characteristics of the media device;

placing, on a home screen, at least a selection indicia representing the media device;

creating, using a virtual screen manager configured to operate a virtual screen comprising at least the home screen, and configured to transmit the virtual screen via a wireless network interface, a virtual screen comprising at least the home screen;

transmitting, via a wireless network interface, at least the virtual screen to a user device;

receiving user interaction via the virtual screen;

directing the operation of the media device based at least in part on the user interaction;

receiving media from the media device;

processing, using a plurality of media processing components, each media processing component configured to modify at least a portion of the media content, at least a portion of the media based at least in part on the identified device characteristics; and

transmitting at least a portion of the media for rendering at a destination device.