Device registration process from a second display

Abstract

Apparatus and methods to implement a technique for using a second display with a network-enabled television. In one implementation, this feature allows the user to conveniently register and manage their IPTV device directly from a second display device instead of going to a separate registration website. A typical current situation requires the user to either leave the living room for the PC which is inconvenient or perform the registration directly on the IPTV which often has a poor input interface. The second display could be a smart phone that can often be found beside the user, or a laptop or tablet PC, a desktop PC, or the like. After registration, certain convenient follow-up features can be implemented, such as directly selecting the device for browsing, or inheritance of configurations of other available devices for the newly-registered device.

1 . A method of registering a content playback device using a second display, comprising:
 i. establishing a session between a second display and a first server, the session associated with a user account;   ii. on a user interface of the second display, requesting registration information about the content playback device;   iii. on a user interface of the second display, receiving registration information about the content playback device;   iv. associating the content playback device with the user account; and   v. causing the transmission of an authentication credential associated with the content playback device to the first server.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising retrieving information about the registered content playback device from a second server. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving at least one additional datum associated with the content playback device. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the additional datum is selected from the group consisting of: a MAC address, a serial number, a device code, and a registration code. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 i. receiving a broadcasted code from a content playback device;   ii. requesting confirmation from a user that the content playback device is to be registered with the user account; and   iii. responsive to a positive confirmation that the content playback device is to be registered with the user account, then performing the requesting and receiving registration information steps.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising selecting the content playback device for browsing content items from a service provider through a proxy server. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising inheriting at least one registration setting and associating the inherited registration setting with the content playback device, the registration setting inherited from another content playback device. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the session established is on a registration portal. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the content playback device is an IPTV or a digital video recorder. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second display is a tablet computer, a smart phone, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, an internet appliance, or a computing device with internet access. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the additional datum is a registration code, and wherein the registration code is received by the content playback device by a server. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the registration information is received by the content playback device by a server. 
     
     
         13 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium, comprising instructions for causing a computing device to implement the method of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         14 . A method of registering a content playback device using a second display, comprising:
 i. establishing a session between a second display and a first server, the session associated with a user account;   ii. receiving registration information about a content playback device;   iii. associating the content playback device with the user account; and   iv. receiving an authentication credential associated with the content playback device.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the establishing, the receiving registration information, the associating, and the receiving an authentication credential is performed by a proxy server. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising affiliating the user account and content playback device with a service provider, the affiliating including transmitting to the service provider at least one user account identifier and the authentication credential. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the affiliating further comprises receiving an inputted code and transmitting the received code to a service provider, such that the service provider transmits a user token and an affiliation token to a server, the tokens to be associated with the user account. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising unaffiliating the content playback device from a service provider, the unaffiliating including transmitting to the service provider at least one user account identifier and the authentication credential. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising receiving at least one additional datum about the content playback device. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the additional datum is selected from the group consisting of: a MAC address, a serial number, a device code, and a registration code. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the receiving registration information further comprises receiving previously-entered registration information associated with the user account. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the session established is on a registration portal. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the registration information is received by the content playback device from the first server. 
     
     
         24 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium, comprising instructions for causing a computing device to implement the method of  claim 14 .