METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTENT DISTRIBUTION FOR MULTISCREEN VIEWING

1 . A method of distributing a video program to first and second devices, the method comprising:

receiving a request for the video program from one of the first and second devices;

transmitting the video program, but not information related to the video program, to a first selected one of the two devices according to a distance between the two devices;

transmitting the information related to the video program, but not the video program, to a second selected one of the two devices according to the distance;

if a distance between the first and second devices is less than a threshold:

transmitting the video program, but not information related to the video program, to the first device;

transmitting the information related to the video program, but not the video program, to the second device; and

if the distance between the first and second devices is greater than the threshold:

transmitting no video program and no information related to the video program to the first device; and

transmitting the video program and information related to the video program to the second device,

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first device is registered as a standalone device and the second device is registered as a handheld device in an account at the server.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first selected one device is different from the second selected one device.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising

obtaining location information of the first device;

obtaining location information of the second device; and

determining the distance according to the obtained location information of the first device and the obtained location information of the second device.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein if obtaining the location information of the second device fails, the distance is determined to be greater than the threshold.

6 . The method of claim 4 , wherein obtaining the location information of the first device comprises checking distance information of the first device in a user profile of a user.

7 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising

determining a status of each of the two devices;

if both devices are inactive, terminating transmissions of the video program and the no information related to the video program;

if both devices are active, maintaining transmissions of the video program and the no information related to the video program; and

if only one device is active, transmitting both the video program and the no information related to the video program to the active device, and no video program and no information related to the video program to the inactive device.

8 . A server apparatus for transmitting a video program and information related to the video program to first and second devices, the server apparatus comprising:

storage; and

at least one processor executing software stored in the storage;

wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

receive a request for the video program from one of the first and second devices;

transmit the video program, but not information related to the video program, to a first selected one of the two devices according to a distance between the two devices;

transmit the information related to the video program, but not the video program, to a second selected one of the two devices according to the distance;

if a distance between the first and second devices is less than a threshold:

transmit the video program, but not information related to the video program, to the first device;

transmit the information related to the video program, but not the video program, to the second device; and

if the distance between the first and second devices is greater than the threshold:

transmit no video program and no information related to the video program to the first device; and

transmit the video program and information related to the video program to the second device.

9 . The server apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the first device is registered as a standalone device and the second device is registered as a handheld device in an account at the server apparatus.

10 . The server apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the first selected one device is different from the second selected one device.

11 . The server apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

obtain location information of the first device;

obtain location information of the second device; and

determine the distance according to the obtained location information of the first device and the obtained location information of the second device.

12 . The server apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to, if obtaining the location information of the second device fails, determine the distance to be greater than the threshold.

13 . The server apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to obtain the location information of the first device by checking distance information of the first device in a user profile of a user.

14 . The server apparatus of claim 10 , the at least one processor is configured to:

determine a status of each of the two devices;

if both devices are inactive, terminate transmissions of the video program and the no information related to the video program;

if both devices are active, maintain transmissions of the video program and the no information related to the video program; and

if only one device is active, transmit both the video program and the no information related to the video program to the active device, and no video program and no information related to the video program to the inactive device.