Portable terminal, information processing apparatus, content display system and content display method
Patent No. US8549109 (titled "Portable terminal, information processing apparatus, content display system and content display method") on Jun 6, 2012. The application was issued on Oct 1, 2013.
What is this patent about?
’109 is related to the field of portable computing and content synchronization between mobile devices and stationary displays. It specifically addresses the technical challenge of seamlessly transitioning a live viewing session—such as an internet site or video stream—from a handheld terminal to a larger external information device without losing the user's place or requiring complex manual reconfiguration.
The underlying idea behind ’109 is the creation of a state-aware handoff mechanism that treats a mobile device as both a content source and a remote controller. Rather than simply sharing a link, the system captures the specific playback position or interactive state on the portable terminal, transfers this metadata to an external display to resume the session, and then dynamically reconfigures the mobile terminal’s interface to serve as a dedicated control surface for the external device.
The claims of ’109 focus on a control logic that orchestrates a three-stage interaction: first, transmitting a stopped position or identification information to an external device to trigger a handoff; second, automatically terminating the local display while transitioning the mobile UI to an operation guide; and third, maintaining a back-channel to transmit user commands and termination signals to the external display.
In practice, the invention works by monitoring user inputs during active content consumption. When a user initiates a transfer, the terminal sends the current URL and session metadata—which may include authentication cookies or scroll positions—to a television or set-top box. The mobile screen then shifts from displaying the content itself to displaying a set of soft keys or icons, effectively transforming the smartphone into a specialized remote that manages the external viewing session.
This approach differs from prior art by eliminating the need for users to manually search for or re-authenticate content on a secondary device. By utilizing a bidirectional state transfer, the system allows the session to be 'pulled back' to the mobile device just as easily as it was 'pushed' to the TV, ensuring that the transition between mobile and stationary environments is fluid and preserves the continuity of the user experience.
How does this patent fit in bigger picture?
Technical Landscape
In the mid-2000s when ’109 was filed, mobile handsets and stationary display systems typically operated as independent silos with distinct network interfaces and content delivery protocols. At a time when mobile devices were increasingly capable of basic web browsing and broadcast reception, cross-device interaction was typically implemented using manual synchronization or the physical transfer of viewing histories to be re-processed by a secondary device. When hardware and software constraints made seamless session handoffs non-trivial, systems commonly relied on the secondary device independently re-fetching content based on transmitted metadata rather than establishing a coordinated, multi-screen control environment.
Prosecution Position
The disclosed invention achieves a technical advancement in cross-platform content management through an architectural shift that transforms a portable terminal into a dynamic control interface for external displays. By integrating local content acquisition with remote execution logic, the system enables a user to transition a browsing or viewing session from a constrained mobile interface to a high-resolution display via a direct communication link. This configuration overcomes the technical constraint of limited mobile screen real estate by allowing the portable terminal to serve as both a content discovery tool and a remote navigation device, ensuring that the specific state of information accessed on the move is instantly and accurately rendered on a secondary information processing apparatus.
Claims
The patent contains a total of 5 claims, with claims 1, 4, and 5 being independent. These independent claims focus on a portable terminal, an information processing apparatus, and a combined content display system designed to transfer video playback between devices, specifically allowing a user to stop video on a handheld unit and resume it from the same position on an external display while using the handheld unit as a remote controller. The dependent claims serve to further define the behavior of the portable terminal, specifically detailing how the device resumes local video playback after the external display session is terminated.
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US8549109
- Application Number
- US13489877A
- Filing Date
- Jun 6, 2012
- Publication Date
- Oct 1, 2013
- External Links
- Slate, USPTO , Google Patents