Method and apparatus for delivering selected multimedia content to a user in pervasive computing environments

Abstract

A method and apparatus for delivering selected multimedia content to a user of a mobile device in a pervasive computing environment is disclosed. Communications with a mobile device in the environment is established. A user profile and viewing history is received from the mobile device. Multimedia content is selected and sequenced for viewing by the user. The selection of multimedia content is based on search logic that includes the user profile and viewing history. Metadata is transmitted to the mobile device that is associated with the selected multimedia content.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, comprising:
 determining, by first equipment comprising a processor, multimedia content associated with a content server based on a user profile and previously-viewed multimedia content that was previously viewed via second equipment, resulting in determined multimedia content; and   transmitting, by the first equipment to the second equipment, metadata associated with the determined multimedia content, wherein transmitting the metadata results in a reduction in duplicate content being transmitted by the content server to the second equipment relative to an amount of content that would be transmitted to the second equipment without transmitting the metadata associated with the determined multimedia content.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second equipment comprises a mobile device. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the mobile device is a smart phone, and the determined multimedia content comprises video content. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first equipment comprises a non-mobile device. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the non-mobile device comprises a home electronic device. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user profile comprises a preference defined by user input attributed to a user identity associated with the user profile. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the metadata comprises content provider information representative of a content provider identity associated with the content server, a topic of the determined multimedia content, and a duration of the determined multimedia content. 
     
     
         8 . A system, comprising:
 a processor; and   a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
 obtaining multimedia content from a content server based on a user profile associated with a user identity and a history of previously viewed multimedia content that was viewed in association with the user identity, the obtaining resulting in obtained multimedia content; and 
 transmitting, to a device associated with the user profile, the obtained multimedia content and metadata associated with the obtained multimedia content, the metadata comprising information usable to update history data representative of a history of the previously viewed multimedia content at the device. 
   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the obtained multimedia content comprises at least one of audio content or video content. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the user profile comprises information representative of a topic of interest applicable to the user identity associated with the user profile. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the information comprises a priority assigned to the topic of interest. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein at least one of the user profile or the history data comprises content provider information, date and time of delivery of respective multimedia content of the previously viewed multimedia content, a topic of the respective multimedia content, and a duration of the respective multimedia content. 
     
     
         13 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
 accessing, from a content data store and based on a user profile, content previously viewed via a first multimedia device associated with the user profile; and   transmitting, to the first multimedia device, the content and metadata associated with the content, wherein the content is received from the content data store and results in a reduction in duplicate content being transmitted to a second multimedia device relative to an amount of content that would be transmitted to the second multimedia device without accessing the content and without transmitting the content and the metadata associated with the content.   
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 13 , wherein the content comprises audio content. 
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 13 , wherein the second multimedia device receives the user profile. 
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 13 , wherein the first multimedia device comprises a mobile device, and wherein the second multimedia device comprises a non-mobile device. 
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 13 , wherein the second multimedia device receives history data representative of a history of previously viewed multimedia content. 
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 13 , wherein the user profile indicates a topic of interest applicable to a user identity associated with the user profile. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise selecting a content provider identity associated with a content provider and the content data store based on respective preferences for different content provider identities contained in the user profile. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 13 , wherein the content comprises advertising information.