Granted Patent B2

US 12,289,485 · App. 18/208,107 · Granted Apr 29, 2025

Inventors: Andrew William Walker (London, GB); Richard Thomas Downey (London, GB); Martin Selby George (London, GB); Alan Suganuma Murphy (London, GB)

Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe Limited

H04N21/2402H04N21/233H04N21/23418H04N21/2407

Abstract

Claims (59)

1. A method of sending a content stream from a sender to at least one user electronic device, the method comprising:

obtaining, at the sender, an input content stream comprising a plurality of tracks;

determining, at the sender, at least one attribute of the input content stream, wherein the at least one attribute is determined by the sender without requiring input from a user;

retrieving a framework associated with the at least one attribute, wherein the framework defines an arrangement of the plurality of tracks to be included in an output content stream, wherein the arrangement of the plurality of tracks in the framework is determined by the sender based on the at least one attribute, the arrangement being customized for a user electronic device;

preparing the output content stream as defined in the framework;

sending the output content stream to the user electronic device via a wireless communication channel;

aggregating viewer engagement information that has been received from a plurality of user electronic devices and analyzing the aggregated viewer engagement information; and

in response to determining that a number of the plurality of user electronic devices that exceeds a predetermined threshold have provided at least partially same viewer engagement information, dynamically updating the framework during a transmission of the output content stream based on the viewer engagement information.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of tracks comprises at least one video track; and/or at least one audio track; and/or at least one data track, wherein the at least one data track comprises one or more of: game play information; user interface information; at least one GUI element; player information; environmental information; and/or metadata.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one attribute comprises one or more of:

stream type;

content type;

content genre; and/or

a number of tracks contained in the plurality of tracks.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining at least one attribute of the input content stream comprises detecting an event in at least one of the plurality of tracks.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein preparing the output content stream as defined in the framework comprises at least one of:

selecting a subset of the plurality of tracks for inclusion in the output content stream;

processing or filtering the plurality of tracks;

defining a relative weighting of each of the plurality of tracks to be included in the output content stream;

adjusting at least one property of one or more of the plurality of tracks to be included in the output content stream; and

providing display instructions defining how the plurality of tracks to be included in the output content stream should be displayed on the user electronic device.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a property of one or more of the plurality of tracks indicative of quality or technical performance; and

comparing the property to a predetermined threshold,

wherein in response to determining that the property is below the predetermined threshold, the method further comprises removing a track of the plurality of tracks from the output content stream.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining at least one property of the user electronic device and/or of the wireless communication channel; and

updating the framework or the output content stream accordingly.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein determining at least one property of the user electronic device and/or of the wireless communication channel comprises determining one or more of:

a type of the user electronic device, where the type of user electronic device is selected from: a PC; a laptop; a tablet computer; a mobile phone; a smart TV; a gaming console; or other computing device;

an estimated bandwidth of the wireless communication channel;

a measure of quality or speed of the wireless communication channel;

an estimated maximum processing power of the user electronic device; and

an estimated maximum number of video feeds that can be simultaneously displayed on the user electronic device.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein updating the framework or the content stream comprises one or more of:

adjusting a composition of the output content stream;

adjusting an overall number of the plurality of tracks included in the output content stream;

adjusting a resolution of one or more of the plurality of tracks included in the output content stream; and

compressing one or more of the plurality of tracks included in the output content stream.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

monitoring the plurality of tracks received at the sender; and

in response to detecting that a given track is no longer being received at the sender, updating the framework.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

in response to detecting that a predetermined number of the plurality of tracks are no longer being received at the sender, or in response to detecting that a predetermined condition has been satisfied, retrieving a second framework; and

arranging the output content stream as defined in the second framework, optionally wherein the second framework is a default framework, or a menu framework.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein preparing the output content stream as defined in the framework comprises defining a relative weighting of each of the plurality of tracks to be included in the output content stream.

13. A method of updating a framework for a content stream, the content stream comprising a plurality of tracks, the method comprising:

providing a content stream as defined by a framework, wherein the framework defines at least one setting or property of the content stream, wherein the at least one setting or property is determined by a sender without requiring input from a user;

sending the content stream as defined by the framework from the sender to a plurality of user electronic devices;

providing viewer engagement information from at least one of the plurality of user electronic devices to the sender, wherein said viewer engagement information comprises data defining how the content stream is being output at a user device;

aggregating viewer engagement information that has been received from a plurality of user electronic devices and analyzing the aggregated viewer engagement information; and

in response to determining that a number of the plurality of user electronic devices that exceeds a predetermined threshold have provided at least partially same viewer engagement information, dynamically updating the framework during a transmission of the output content stream based on the viewer engagement information, updating the framework in response to the viewer engagement information received.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the viewer engagement information comprises one or more of:

an identification of the plurality of tracks or data being output on the user device;

an indication of any user changes made to the framework; and

a visual or audio parameter adjusted or defined by the user.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

determining if the aggregated viewer engagement information is indicative of a possible technical issue with a given track in the content stream.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising outputting a notification in response to determining that the aggregated viewer engagement information is indicative of a possible technical issue.

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (35)