Method and apparatus for providing customized information
A method for providing customized information to a plurality of portable communication devices. A customer premises equipment (CPE) synchronizes with at least one of the plurality of portable communication devices. The CPE extracts descriptive data of media content stored in the at least one portable communication device. The CPE searches for a descriptive data of content available at the CPE based on the descriptive data extracted from the at least one portable communication device. The CPE determines that the extracted descriptive data matches the descriptive data of content available at the CPE. The CPE makes the content available to the at least one portable communication device.
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
storing, by a customer device, items of media content broadcast to the customer device across multiple television channels;
extracting, by the customer device, words from a first item of media content stored in a portable communication device;
searching, by the customer device, the items of media content stored in the customer device based on the words extracted from the first item of media content stored in the portable communication device;
determining, by the customer device and based on the searching, that the words extracted from the first item of media content stored in the portable communication device match words extracted from a second item of media content in the items of media content broadcast to the customer device and stored in the customer device, where the second item of media content is different from the first item of media content; and
triggering, by the customer device, the second item of media content stored in the customer device to be provided to the portable communication device in response to the determination that the words extracted from the first item of media content stored in the portable communication device match the words extracted from the second item of media content in the items of media content broadcast to the customer device and stored in the customer device,
wherein the first item of media content is not from a television channel and the second item of media content is from a television channel.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing an indication of the extracted words in a folder specific to the portable communication device based on an identifier of the portable communication device.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising tuning, by the customer device, to available broadcast channels to determine words that describe content that is currently being broadcast to the customer device.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein triggering the second item of media content to be provided comprises:
sending an indication of the second item of media content to the portable communication device.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein sending an indication comprises:
sending a Short Message Service (SMS) containing a content description of the second item of media content to the portable communication device.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a free tuner in a plurality of tuners on the customer device; and
tuning the free tuner to broadcast channels to determine terms that describe content that is currently being broadcast to the customer device.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the customer device is located in a customer's premises.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein searching comprises searching local storage of the customer device for words that describe the media content stored in the customer device.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising synchronizing content across a plurality of mobile devices that are coupled to the customer device.
10. A system comprising:
one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
storing, by a customer device, items of media content broadcast to the customer device across multiple television channels;
extracting, by the customer device, words from a first item of media content stored in a portable communication device;
searching, by the customer device, the items of media content stored in the customer device based on the words extracted from the first item of media content stored in the portable communication device;
determining, by the customer device and based on the searching, that the words extracted from the first item of media content stored in the portable communication device match words extracted from a second item of media content in the items of media content broadcast to the customer device and stored in the customer device, where the second item of media content is different from the first item of media content; and
triggering, by the customer device, the second item of media content stored in the customer device to be provided to the portable communication device in response to the determination that the words extracted from the first item of media content stored in the portable communication device match the words extracted from the second item of media content in the items of media content broadcast to the customer device and stored in the customer device,
wherein the first item of media content is not from a television channel and the second item of media content is from a television channel.
11. The system of claim 10 , the operations further comprising storing an indication of the extracted words in a folder specific to the portable communication device based on an identifier of the portable communication device.
12. The system of claim 10 , the operations further comprising tuning, by the customer device, to available broadcast channels to determine words that describe content that is currently being broadcast to the customer device.
13. The system of claim 10 , wherein triggering the second item of media content to be provided comprises:
sending an indication of the second item of media content to the portable communication device.
14. The system of claim 13 , wherein sending an indication comprises:
sending a Short Message Service (SMS) containing a content description of the second item of media content to the portable communication device.
15. The system of claim 10 , the operations further comprising:
determining a free tuner in a plurality of tuners on the customer device; and
tuning the free tuner to broadcast channels to determine terms that describe content that is currently being broadcast to the customer device.
16. The system of claim 10 , wherein the customer device is located in a customer's premises.
17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software comprising instructions executable by one or more computers which, upon such execution, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
storing, by a customer device, items of media content broadcast to the customer device across multiple television channels;
extracting, by the customer device, words from a first item of media content stored in a portable communication device;
searching, by the customer device, the items of media content stored in the customer device based on the words extracted from the first item of media content stored in the portable communication device;
determining, by the customer device and based on the searching, that the words extracted from the first item of media content stored in the portable communication device match words extracted from a second item of media content in the items of media content broadcast to the customer device and stored in the customer device, where the second item of media content is different from the first item of media content; and
triggering, by the customer device, the second item of media content stored in the customer device to be provided to the portable communication device in response to the determination that the words extracted from the first item of media content stored in the portable communication device match the words extracted from the second item of media content in the items of media content broadcast to the customer device and stored in the customer device,
wherein the first item of media content is not from a television channel and the second item of media content is from a television channel.
18. The method of claim 1 , wherein extracting, by the customer device, words from a first item of media content stored in a portable communication device comprises:
extracting a title of the first item of the media content.
19. The method of claim 1 , wherein extracting, by the customer device, words from a first item of media content stored in a portable communication device comprises:
obtaining, from the portable communication device and by the customer device, an identifier of the portable communication device; and
in response to obtaining, from the portable communication device and by the customer device, the identifier of the portable communication device, searching, by the customer device, for words that were previously stored on the customer device with an indication of the identifier of the portable communication device and that describe items of media content on the portable communication device at the time the words were stored on the customer device.