Abstract:
A method of enabling player device operation using a mobile communication device involves receiving an identifier on the mobile communication device from a provider system, transmitting the identifier from the mobile communication device to a player device to permit operation of the player device, and transmitting a continual signal from the mobile communication device to the player device to permit the player device to continue operation. Appropriate player devices, mobile communication devices and provider systems are described.

Description:
FIELD OF INVENTION  
         [0001]    This invention relates to a method of enabling operation of a player device using a mobile communication device, a communication module to perform the method and a mobile communication device operable to perform the method and/or provided with a communication module, a method of operating a player device, a control module for a player device operable to perform the method and a player device operable to perform the method and/or provided with a control module, and a content provision means.  
           [0002]    1. Description of Prior Art  
           [0003]    A great deal of multimedia information is available over the Internet. This information may comprise for example, or give information in the form of music files, Internet radio stations etc., video information, text or graphical information, hereinafter referred to as “playable content”. It is known to provide mobile communication devices which are capable of, accessing the Internet, for example wireless access protocol (WAP) enabled mobile phones. It may not always be the case that the mobile communication device is able to play the playable content or may not be able to satisfactorily play the content. Where a computer may be provided with an appropriate peripheral or player software to play playable content, this is less straightforward to achieve for mobile communication devices and the content must be modified accordingly. For example, in the case WAP-enabled mobile phones, due to the necessarily small size of the phones, the type of playable content which may be accessed and played on such a phone is restricted, and in particular Internet sites accessible by WAP-enabled phones have limited text and graphical content.  
         SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
         [0004]    According to a first aspect of the invention we provide a method of enabling operation of a player device using a mobile communication device, comprising the steps of  
           [0005]    receiving an identifier on the mobile communication device from a provider system,  
           [0006]    transmitting the identifier from the mobile communication device to a player device to permit operation of the player device, and transmitting a continual enabling signal from the mobile communication device to the player device to permit the player device to continue operation.  
           [0007]    The identifier may be received by the mobile communication device via a first communication apparatus using a first communication technology, and the identifier and enabling signal may be transmitted to the player device via a second communication apparatus using a second communication technology.  
           [0008]    The mobile communication device may receive playable content from the provider system and transmit the content to the player device.  
           [0009]    Alternatively, playable content stored on the mobile communication device may be transmitted to the player device.  
           [0010]    The method may comprise the step of transmitting a playable content request from the mobile communication device to the provider system.  
           [0011]    According to a second aspect of the invention we provide a mobile communications device operable to perform a method according to the first aspect of the invention.  
           [0012]    The mobile communication device may comprise a first communication apparatus using a first communication technology, and a second communication apparatus using a second communication technology.  
           [0013]    The second communication apparatus may have a shorter range than the first communication apparatus.  
           [0014]    The first communication technology may be cellular radio telephony.  
           [0015]    The second communication technology may be an infrared communication technology or a wireless local area connection communication technology.  
           [0016]    According to a third aspect of the present invention, we provide a method of operating a player device comprising the steps of  
           [0017]    receiving an identifier from a mobile communications device,  
           [0018]    commencing playing playable content in response to receipt of the identifier, and  
           [0019]    continuing to play the playable content only on continual receipt of an enabling signal from the mobile communication device.  
           [0020]    The method may comprise the step of authenticating the identifier prior to commencing playing the playable content.  
           [0021]    The method may comprise the step of ceasing to play the playable content if the enabling signal is not received.  
           [0022]    The enabling signal may comprise a periodic repeated signal.  
           [0023]    The method may comprise the step of receiving playable content to be played from the provider system.  
           [0024]    The method may comprise the step of receiving playable content to be played from the mobile communication device.  
           [0025]    According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, we provide a player device operable to perform a method according to the third aspect of the invention.  
           [0026]    According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, we provide a content provision system for use with player devices adapted to play content only on receipt of an identifier, the content provision system comprising stored content, wherein the content provision system comprises a processor adapted to provide content for use by a player device only when the player device receives an identifier, and adapted to provide to a mobile communication device the identifier to enable player devices to play the provided content.  
           [0027]    The content provision system may be operable to transmit the requested content to the player device or may be operable to transmit the requested content to the mobile communication device.  
           [0028]    Hence, a suitable mobile communication device will be able to use a local content player device, for example a video screen to display contents downloaded from a content provider and be billed accordingly. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0029]    The invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein:  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of a content provision means according to the present invention. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0031]    Referring now to the Figure, a mobile communication device  10  according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown, provided with a communication module  11 , a first communication apparatus  12  using a first communication technology (first communication means) and a second communication apparatus  13  using a second communication technology (second communication means).  
         [0032]    A provider system is generally indicated at  14 , linked with the mobile communication device  10  via a communication link generally indicated by the arrows  15  via the first communication means  12 . In this example, the provider system  14  is provided with an identifier generator  16  and a content storage means  17 . The provider system  14  will typically comprise a server with access to appropriate memory, the server being adapted to generate the identifier and to obtain the content from memory.  
         [0033]    A player device according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown at  18 , provided with a control module  19  comprising a processor. The player device is provided with output means  20  operable to display or otherwise present requested content to a user. The player device  18  is connected to the mobile communication device  10  by a communication link generally indicated by arrows  21  via the second communication means  13 .  
         [0034]    Optionally, the player device  18  and provider system  14  may be connected by a communication link which does not pass through the mobile communication device  10 , indicated by dashed arrows  22 .  
         [0035]    When a user of the mobile communication device  10  wishes to consume playable content from the provider system  14  using the player device  18 , the following steps are performed in accordance with a method according to the first aspect of the invention. The mobile communication device  10  contacts the provider system  14  via the first communication means  12  and communication link  15 . In this example, it is envisaged that the first communication means  12  comprises a cellular radio telephone connection which enables an Internet link to be established between the mobile communication device  10  and the provider system  14 . The desired playable content held on the content storage means  17  may be selected by the user, for example from a list transmitted from the provider system  14  to the mobile communication device  10  and displayed to the user. The identifier generator  16  provides an identification number which is transmitted from the provider system to the mobile communication device  10 .  
         [0036]    To enable the selected playable content to be played on the device player  18 , the identifier is then tranmitted via the second communication means  13  and communication link  21  to the player device  18 , to permit the device  18  to begin playing the selected playable content in accordance with a method according to the fourth aspect of the present invention. In this example, the playable content is supplied from the content storage means  17  to the mobile communication device  10  and then to the player device  18  and comprises streamed multimedia content, but it might be envisaged that the content could be transmitted from the provider system  14  to the player device  18  by a suitable connection  22 , for example a broad-band communication link with a higher capacity than the first commmunication link  15  and the second communication link  21 . To establish this connection, the player device  18  may open communication with the provider system  14 , passing back the identifier originally provided by the provider system  14  to obtain the selected content. Alternatively, the content might be stored on the mobile communication device and passed to the player device  18 , or the player device  18  may be provided with a content storage means which is playable on receipt of any suitable identifier from the provider system  14  (in this case either synchronisation of some kind between the content lists of the of the provider system  14  and the player device  18  is desirable, or the identifier provided by the provider system  14  will be such as to allow the specific choice of content to be selected by the user of the mobile communication device  10  from the alternatives offered by the player device  18 ).  
         [0037]    To enable the player device  18  to continue playing the desired content, a continual enabling signal is generated by the communication module  11  of the mobile communication device  10  and transmitted to the player device  18 . In this example, the enabling signal comprises a “heart beat” protocol, comprising regular and frequent request/response exchanges, in which the player device  18  tranmits a simple request signal and the mobile communication device transmits a simple response. While this enabling signal is maintained, the player device  18  will continue to play the content, making it available to the user on the output means  20 . If the enabling signal is not received, for example if the second communication link  21  is broken, then the player device  18  will cease to play the playable content. In this example, ‘continual’ is taken to mean ‘regularly repeated’, but it will be apparent that the enabling signal could comprise a ‘continuous’, i.e. uninterrupted, signal from the mobile communication device  10 .  
         [0038]    In the preferred example, once the enabling signal is not received and the player device  18  ceases to play the playable content, the identifier will be invalidated (for example, no longer recognised by the player device), and for the player device  18  to operate again, a new identifier will have to be requested from the provider system  14 . Alternatively, it may be envisaged that for certain applications, the identifier will remain valid and the player device  18  would resume playing the content once the second communication link  21  and enabling signal were re-established. In this or other arrangements, it may be desirable for the player device  18  to have the ability to check the validity of identifiers directly with the provider system  14  independently of the mobile communication device  10 .  
         [0039]    In the present example, the provider system  14  also comprises a billing information storage means  17   a.  When the link between the mobile communication device  10  and provider system  14  is established, the mobile communication device  10  may transmit a suitable device identifier, for example a mobile phone&#39;s SIM card number. The provider system  14  will process information to enable the user to be billed for the playable content and use of the player device  18 . For example, the provider system  14  may log the identifier, the type of content requested and the time at which streaming of the playable content started. When the second communication link  21  and/or enabling signal is interupted and the player device  18  ceases to play the content, the time at which the second communication link  21  was broken may be transmitted by the mobile communication device  10  and/or player device  18  to the provider system  14  to be logged to provide an appropriate time charge.  
         [0040]    In the present example, the second communication means  13  preferably comprises a short-range link, such as an infrared communication link, or a wireless local area network link (e.g. using a known short range wireless protocol such as Bluetooth), or any other appropriate link as desired.  
         [0041]    By using the present invention, a user will be able to use a local player device, for example a video display, to play the requested downloaded playable content, for example a video, whilst the user and his mobile communication device  10  remain in the vicinity of the player device  18 . The user then be billed for the downloaded content and/or the use of the player device  18 . It would be envisaged that the player device  18  may be a publicly available device, for example a video screen and player at an airport terminal.  
         [0042]    Although as discussed above it is preferred that once the second communication link  21  is broken, the identifier transmitted by the provider system  14  ceases to be valid, it might be envisaged that as a user and mobile communication device  10  pass a plurality of different player devices  18 , the identifier remains valid and a second communication link  21  and enabling signal is established between each successive player device  18  and the mobile communication device  10 . Thus, as for example a user walks through an airport terminal provided with a plurality of display devices  18 , the requested content may be displayed on successive display devices  18  as the mobile communication device  10  comes into range of each display device  18 .  
         [0043]    In the present specification “comprise” means “includes or consists of” and “comprising” means “including or consisting of”.  
         [0044]    The features disclosed in the foregoing description, or the following claims, or the accompanying drawings, expressed in their specific forms or in terms of a means for performing the disclosed function, or a method or process for attaining the disclosed result, as appropriate, may, separately, or in any combination of such features, be utilised for realising the invention in diverse forms thereof.