Abstract:
The present disclosure provides a method, a system, an electronic device and a portable device for providing contents from content providers by identifications pre-stored in an external device attached to an object. A portable device implemented with the method or the system of the present invention obtains the identification from the external device, especially when the portable device is located in a specific region around the object so that the portable device can communicably connect to the external device. An electronic device implemented with the method or the system of the present invention receives the identification from the portable device and sends the identification to a management center. The management center verifies the identification and generates a confirmation corresponding to the identification and sends the confirmation to the electronic device. The electronic device then obtains the content by sending the confirmation to the content provider.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims priority to U.S. Patent Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/873,757, filed on Sep. 4, 2013, and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/760,575, filed on Feb. 6, 2013, both of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates generally to a method and a system for providing contents/services in television (TV) and internet service field, especially for over-the-top (OTT) services and internet of things (IOT) services. The present invention provides subscription for contents/services via a portable device and provides subscribed contents/services via an electronic device, wherein the portable device and the electronic device may be separated or be integrated into one device. The aforementioned portable electronic device may be any portable device that has input means for receiving identification of contents/services and communication means for transmitting said identification to a smart TV, and the aforementioned electronic device may be any electronic device that has communication means for receiving said contents/services and output said contents/services to an external display, such as a TV. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    In recent years, internet services are prevailing over many application fields and changing user&#39;s behavior for accessing contents including photo, music, video, multimedia streaming data, application program, web services or any specific formatted documents. An emerging type of service is over-the-top service (OTT) which is generally not offered by the network operator. Content or services are provided without requirement of business or technology affiliations with network operators. It provides user broaden choices for accessing more and more contents or services. In addition, OTT services may be provided over various networks, such as the internet, communication networks or TV broadcasting networks, and on various devices, such as smart phone, tablet computers, desktop computers or other devices with network access. Recently, OTT services on televisions or similar devices are emerging due to the visual-comfort nature of devices with large screen size and home-sharing nature of living room devices. The term “large screen size” is only for describing the screen sizes that may be larger than the average screen sizes of portable electronic devices. 
         [0004]    Usually, OTT services are provided on a platform built upon the network system and subscribed via a portal provided on the platform. The portal usually contains at least a list of OTT services for selection and subscription. Generally, category and search mechanism are also provided on the portal for users to access OTT services in a more convenient and accurate way. However, presentation and access of contents or services for users are also limited to the only portal in aforementioned conventional service model. Content providers and service providers need to compete with each other for a better presentation and access on aforementioned portal. As a result of such competition, some of contents or services may be never presented and accessed to users. Choices for contents and services for users may also be limited by the conventional service model. 
         [0005]    According to the above, what is needed is a method or a device using such method for providing additional sources for users to subscribe contents/services and content providers to provide subscribed contents/services. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    The invention provides a method and a system for a content provider providing identification of content or service for promotion or sale, and for verifying the user who received the identification to provide corresponding contents or services through an electronic device connecting to an external device with large screen size, such as a television. More specifically, the identification may be provided in an automatic identification symbol, an identification tag/chip for wireless transmission or a peripheral device having storage for the identification. Therefore, the method and the system of the present invention may be provided as an internet of things (IOT) service. 
         [0007]    The invention provides a method in an electronic device, such as a set-top box, a TV tuner or a peripheral smart device of TV (an android stick, a chromecast or an apple TV), for receiving identification of content or service received from a portable device like a smart phone or tablet computer, verifying the identification by transmission the identification to a management center and receiving a confirmation and an index or a content address for content or service, retrieving the content or service by the index or the address and outputting the content or service to a display for displaying the content or service. Therefore, OTT services subscribed through any portable devices may be provided through the electronic device implemented with the method of the present invention. 
         [0008]    The invention also provides a method in an portable device, such as a smart phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, an electronic book reader, a multimedia player, a wireless access point and a femtocell, for receiving identification of content or service received from an external device or an automatic identification symbol, verifying the identification and providing contents or services corresponding to the identification by transmission the identification to an management center via an electronic devices. The management center will confirm the identification and provide an index or a content address of content or service. The content or service may be provided to the user of the portable device by the index or the address through electronic device. Therefore, OTT services may be subscribed as IOT services by collecting the identification of said OTT services through the portable devices implemented with the method of the present invention. 
         [0009]    The invention also provides a method in a management center, for receiving a request for default content from an electronic device, sending the default content to the electronic device, receiving an identification via the electronic device from an external device connected to a portable device, which is connected to the electronic device, confirming the identification and sending a confirmation and an index or an address of the content to the electronic device. The index or the address may direct the user to the content or service provider of the requested content or service, and the identification of the content or service can be recognized by the content or service provider. Therefore, content or service will be provided to the user of the portable device in the electronic device by outputting the content or service to a display device connected to the electronic device. 
         [0010]    It should be understood, however, that this summary may not contain all aspects and embodiments of the present invention, that this summary is not meant to be limiting or restrictive in any manner, and that the invention as disclosed herein will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to encompass obvious improvements and modifications thereto. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0011]    The accompanying drawings illustrate one or more embodiments of the invention and together with the written description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like elements of an embodiment, and wherein: 
           [0012]      FIGS. 1A ,  1 B,  1 C and  1 D are network block diagrams of the portable device, electronic device, the management center and the content provider according to some embodiments of the present invention; 
           [0013]      FIGS. 2A ,  2 B and  2 C are flowcharts of the method for subscribing a content/service and providing the subscribed content/service according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0014]      FIGS. 3A and 3B  are flowcharts of the method for subscribing a content/service via physical objects and providing the subscribed content/service as an internet-of-things service according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0015]      FIGS. 4A and 4B  are schematic illustrations of the identification for verification according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0016]      FIGS. 5A ,  5 B,  5 C and  5 D are network block diagrams of the portable device, electronic device, the management center and the content provider according to some embodiments of the present invention; 
           [0017]      FIGS. 6A ,  6 B,  6 C and  6 D are flowcharts of the method for subscribing a content/service and providing the subscribed content/service according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
       [0018]    In accordance with common practice, the various described features are not drawn to scale and are drawn to emphasize features relevant to the present disclosure. Like reference characters denote like elements throughout the figures and text. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0019]    The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. 
         [0020]    The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” or “includes” and/or “including” or “has” and/or “having” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, regions, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, regions, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. 
         [0021]    It will be understood that the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. It will also be understood that, although the terms first, second, third etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, parts and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, parts and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element, component, region, part or section from another element, component, region, layer or section. Thus, a first element, component, region, part or section discussed below could be termed a second element, component, region, layer or section without departing from the teachings of the present invention. 
         [0022]    Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and the present disclosure, and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein. 
         [0023]    The description will be made as to the embodiments of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in  FIGS. 1A-6D . Reference will be made to the drawing figures to describe the present invention in detail, wherein depicted elements are not necessarily shown to scale and wherein like or similar elements are designated by same or similar reference numeral through the several views and same or similar terminology. 
         [0024]    One embodiment of the present invention provides a portable device for subscribing contents/services by receiving a content/service identification from an external device, an automatic identification symbol or a content/service identification source (hereinafter the “portable device”), a management center for verifying subscription to contents/services by confirming received identification and an electronic device for providing the subscribed contents/services on a display device (hereinafter the “electronic device”), wherein the portable device and the electronic device may be integrated into one device or be two separate devices. For example, the present invention includes embodiments that are illustrated in  FIGS. 1A-6D . 
         [0025]      FIGS. 1A ,  1 B,  1 C and  1 D illustrate the network architecture of the system for subscribing contents/services with identification, verifying subscription by the identification and providing subscribed contents/services according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         [0026]    Referring to  FIG. 1A , the external device  300  may include a storage unit for storing an identification of content/service and a connector for connecting to the portable device  200 . The portable device  200  may comprise a reader for reading the identification from the external device  300  via the connector of the external device  300 . The portable device  200  may further comprise a communication module for transmitting the received identification to the electronic device  100 . The electronic device  100  may comprise at least one communication module for receiving the identification from the portable device  200 , sending the identification to the management center  400  to verify the identification, receiving a confirmation from the management center  400  and providing the confirmation and/or the identification to the content provider  500  to request for the content/service corresponding to the identification, receiving the content/service from the content provider  500  and transmitting the content/service to the display device  110 . The management center  400  may maintain a database of identifications for comparing to the received identification to determine whether the received identification is valid. In addition, the management center  400  may further record subscription of the identification and check whether received identifications have already been subscribed to avoid repeated subscription. The management center  400  may send a confirmation to the electronic device  100  if the identification is valid and/or not repeatedly subscribed. The electronic device  100  may send a request for the content/service to the content provider  500 . The address of the content provider  500  for content/service may be contained in the identification or the confirmation, or be stored in the electronic device  100 . In one embodiment, the management center  400  may send the confirmation to the content provider  500  instead of the electronic device  100  and direct the electronic device  100  to the address of the content provider  500  for content/service corresponding to the identification. The content provider  500  may receive the confirmation from the electronic device  100  or the management center  400  and transmit data of the content/service to the electronic device  100  in response to the content/service request from electronic device  100 . A person of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the management center  400  may also be the content provider  500  in some embodiments of the present invention so that the management center  400  may provide the content/service directly to the electronic device  100  after verifying the identification instead of sending the confirmation for the electronic device  100  downloading the content/service from the content provider  500 . 
         [0027]    Referring to  FIG. 1B , the external device  300  may include a storage unit, a connector and a communication module to communicate with the electronic device  100 . The portable device  200  may be able to communicate with the electronic device  100  when the external device  300  is connected to the portable device  200  and acts like an add-on communication module of the portable device  200  applying a communication standard compatible to the electronic device  100 . The identification of content/service may be transmitted directly from the external device  300  to the electronic  100 . The electronic device  100  may be configured to receive the identification from the portable device  200 , send the identification to a management center providing contents  600  (hereinafter “the management center/content provider  600 ”) the management center/content provider  600  to verify the identification, receive the content/service from the management center/content provider  600  and provide the content/service corresponding to the identification via the display device  110 . The management center/content provider  600  may act as a combination of the aforementioned management center  400  and the aforementioned content provider  500 . Therefore, the management center/content provider  600  may maintain a database of identifications for comparing to the received identification to determine whether the received identification is valid. In addition, the management center/content provider  600  may further record subscription of the identification and check whether received identifications have already been subscribed to avoid repeated subscription. After confirmed validity and/or subscription of the identification, the management center/content provider  600  may provide content/service corresponding to the identification to the electronic device  100 . 
         [0028]    Referring to  FIG. 1C , the portable device  200  may comprise at least one communication module for downloading the identification from an identification source  700  via the internet and sending the identification to the electronic device  100 . The electronic device  100  may comprise at least one communication module and be configured to receive the identification from the portable device  200 , send the identification to the management center  400  to verify the identification, receive a confirmation from the management center  400  and provide the confirmation and/or the identification to the content provider  500  to request for the content/service corresponding to the identification, receive the content/service from the content provider  500  and transmit the content/service to the display device  110 . The management center  400  may determine whether the received identification is valid. In addition, the management center  400  may further record subscription of the identification and decide whether received identifications have already been subscribed to avoid repeated subscription. The management center  400  may send a confirmation to the electronic device  100  if the identification is valid and/or has not been subscribed. The electronic device  100  may send a request for the content/service to the content provider  500 . In one embodiment, the management center  400  may send the confirmation to the content provider  500  instead of the electronic device  100  and may direct the electronic device  100  to the address of the content provider  500  for content/service corresponding to the identification. The content provider  500  may receive the confirmation from the electronic device  100  and transmit data of the content/service to the electronic device  100  in response to the content/service request from electronic device  100 . 
         [0029]    Referring to  FIG. 1D , the portable device  200  may comprise a receiving module for receiving, analyzing and/or decoding an automatic identification symbol, such as a barcode, an a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, or an equipment comprising a near field communication (NFC) or Bluetooth module, containing the aforementioned identification corresponding to the content/service. The portable device  200  may also comprise a communication module for sending the identification to the electronic device  100 . The electronic device  100  may also comprise a communication module for receiving the identification from the portable device  200 , sending the identification to the management center  400  to verify the identification, receiving a confirmation from the management center  400  and providing the confirmation and/or the identification to the content provider  500 , receiving the content/service from the content provider  500  and transmitting the content/service to the display device  110 . The management center  400  may send a confirmation to the electronic device  100  if the identification is valid and/or has not been subscribed. The electronic device  100  may send a request with the confirmation and/or the identification to the content provider  500 . The content provider  500  may receive the confirmation and/or identification and transmit data of the content/service to the electronic device  100 . 
         [0030]    The contents or services of the present invention may comprise a multimedia file or streaming multimedia, a still image or an album of still images, e-book pages, video or audio broadcasting, text and web pages for providing web services. The contents or services may further be indexed as a channel in the electronic device  100 , the portable device  200  and/or the management center  400 . That is, the content or the services may be provided by the aforementioned devices by the channel indexes and the channel indexed. In one embodiment of the present invention, the electronic device  100 , the electronic device  200  and management center  400  may maintain a channel list of contents or services and may synchronize the data in the channel lists to each other. In another embodiment, the content or the service may be assigned by the user of the electronic device  100  when the user logs into the management center  400 . 
         [0031]    The electronic device  100  of the present invention may also be any device having output interface for displaying content on the connected display device  110 , wherein the output interface may be any video or audio interface for transferring data which can be implemented adopting customized protocols or following existing standards or de facto standards such as a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), Video Graphics Array (VGA), DisplayPort, Thunderbolt, Lightning Bolt, Universal Serial Bus (USB). The output interface may be further including a customized connector or a standard connector such as HDMI connector, VGA connector, DisplayPort connector, Mini DisplayPort (MDP) connector, USB connector, Thunderbolt connector or Lightning connector. However, the output interface may also be implemented as a wireless chip adopting customized protocols or following existing wireless standards or de facto standards such as IEEE 802.11 series (Wireless Local Area Network, WLAN) including Wi-Fi series or Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig) Standard, IEEE 802.11 series including Bluetooth®, Miracast, Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) Standard, Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI), WirelessHD standard, Wireless USB, WiDi developed by Intel®, Allshare developed by Samsung® or Airplay developed by Apple®. Moreover, the electronic device  100  of the present invention may have at least one communication module for transferring data to the display device  110 , the management center  400  or the content provider  500  and receiving data from the portable device  200 , the management center  400  or the content provider  500 , wherein the communication module may be adopting customized protocols or following existing standards or de facto standards such as Ethernet, IEEE 802.11 or IEEE 802.15 series, Wireless USB or telecommunication standards such as GSM, CDMAone, CDMA2000, WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, WiMAX, 3GPP-LTE or TD-LTE. In one embodiment of the present invention, the electronic device  100  may comprise a first communication module for communicating with the portable device  200  and a second communication module for communicating with the management center  400  and the content provider  500 . In some implementations, the first communication module and the second communication module may adopt different protocols. The electronic device  100  may be a set-top box, a TV tuner, a video recorder, an audio player, a game console, a media player, a signal amplifier device, projector, a router, a gateway, a wireless access point, a pico base station, a femtocell or a peripheral smart device of TV, such as an android stick or a chromecast which is developed by Google®. 
         [0032]    The display device  110  of the present invention may be any devices with an interface for receiving content data and a display means for displaying contents, such as an external monitor for computing device, a television or a projecting device. 
         [0033]    The portable device  200  of the present invention may be a smart phone, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop computer, an electronic book reader, a digital photo frame, a digital camera, a remote controller, a video recorder, an audio player, a game console, a media player, a signal amplifier device, a projector, a router, a gateway, a wireless access point, a pico base station, a femtocell or any wearable device. 
         [0034]    The portable device  200  of the present invention may have a communication module for transferring data to the electronic device  100  and receiving data from the identification source  700  or the external device  300 , wherein the communication module may be adopting customized protocols or following existing standards or de facto standards such as Ethernet, Universal Serial Bus (USB), IEEE 802.11 series (Wireless Local Area Network, WLAN) including Wi-Fi series or Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig) Standard, IEEE 802.11 series including Bluetooth®, Miracast, Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) Standard, Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI), WirelessHD standard, Wireless USB, WiDi developed by Intel®, Allshare developed by Samsung® or Airplay developed by Apple®, or telecommunication standards such as GSM, CDMAone, CDMA2000, WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, WiMAX, 3GPP-LTE or TD-LTE. In one embodiment of the present invention, the portable device  200  may comprise a first communication module for communicating with the external device  300  and a second communication module for communicating with the electronic device  100 . In some implementations, the first communication module and the second communication module may adopt different protocols. In another embodiment of the present invention, the portable device  200  of the present invention may have a physical interface for transferring to and receiving data from to the external device  300 , wherein the physical interface may be an earphone jack or other connecter adopting customized protocols or following existing standards or de facto standards such as Universal Serial Bus (USB), IEEE 1394, memory card connecter etc. The external device  300  may comprise a communication module so that the portable device  200  may transmit data to the electronic device  100  and receive data from the identification source  700  via the external device  300  instead of having a communication module itself The portable device  200  of the present invention may also have an automatic identification sensor for receiving identification from automatic identification symbol  800 , such as a bar code, an RFID tag and equipment with near field communication (NFC) or Bluetooth module. Therefore, the automatic identification sensor may be an image capturing device with barcode identification module, an RFID reader, an NFC module or a Bluetooth module. 
         [0035]    Moreover, in some embodiments, the portable device  200  may be replaced by the electronic device  100 . That is, the electronic device  100  may receive the identification by connecting to the external device  300 , identification source  700  or receiving from the automatic identification symbol  800 , such as a barcode, an a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, or an equipment comprising a near field communication (NFC) or Bluetooth module. 
         [0036]    The external device  300  of the present invention may be any device with a storage configured to store an identification of content or service and a connector or communication module for transmitting the identification to the portable device  200 . Therefore, external device  300  may be implemented in any form or implemented as any existing objects adding aforementioned storage and connector/communication on, such as a toy with a USB drive, a dongle of smart phone with a earphone connector, . . . etc. The aforementioned storage may include ROM, RAM, EPROM, EEPROM, hard disk, solid state drive, soft disk, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or other forms of electronic, electromagnetic or optical recording medium. The aforementioned connector may include an earphone connector, a USB connector or connectors adopting customized protocols or following other existing standards or de facto standards. In another embodiment of the present invention, the external device  300  may be an assembly of said storage device, said communication module (or said connector) and an attachment mechanism for attaching to the existing objects such as a toy, a book or a package of a commercial product. In some implementations, the identification stored in the external device  300  is corresponding to content related to the aforementioned existing objects such as a video related to the aforementioned toy, an audio book version of the aforementioned book or a promotion material related to the aforementioned commercial product. 
         [0037]    The management center  400 , the content provider  500 , the management center/content provider  600  or the identification source  700  of the present invention may be a server, a server cluster or data center with a web address or URL for visiting via the electronic device  100  or the portable device  200 . 
         [0038]    The automatic identification symbol  800  of the present invention may comprise a carrier with image on said carrier, wherein the identification may be encoded in the image with automatic identification encoding algorithm, such as 1-dimension or 2-dimension barcode encoding algorithm. The portable device  200  with a camera module and a corresponding decoder may retrieve the image and analyze the image to get the identification decoded from the image. The automatic identification symbol  800  of the present invention may also include a wireless module for transmitting the identification via radio frequency, such as radio frequency identification (RFID), IEEE 802.15.4 (ZigBee), near field communication (NFC) or Bluetooth. 
         [0039]      FIGS. 2A ,  2 B and  2 C are flowcharts illustrating the method for receiving identification of content/service from the external device  300 , verifying the identification by transmitting the identification to the management center  400  and receiving a confirmation and an address or an index for content/service, retrieving the content/service by the address or the index and outputting the content/service to the display device  110  according to one embodiment of the present invention. The method of the present invention may be applied on the electronic device  100  and/or the management center  400  of the present invention respectively. 
         [0040]      FIG. 2A  illustrates the method for receiving default content/service, subscribing to new content/service by an identification received from the external device  300  and receiving the subscribed content/service according to one embodiment of the present invention, and the method of present invention may perform the following steps. 
         [0041]    In step S 101 , the electronic device  100  may a request for default content/service to the management center  400 . In one embodiment, default content/service may not be installed in the electronic device  100  when the electronic device  100  leaves the factory. The address of the management center  400  may be stored in the electronic device  100  before it leaves the factory, and the electronic device  100  may be configured to request for default content/service once the electronic device  100  activated and connected to the internet. In step S 102 , the management center  400  may receive the request for default content/service and provide default address for download. The electronic device  100  may download the default content/service from the management center  400 . In one embodiment, the management center  400  may also register the electronic device  100  by recording the electronic device  100  to a device database maintained by the management center  400 . Therefore, by steps S 101  and S 102 , the registration of the electronic device  100  and download of default content/service in the electronic device  100  may be accomplished. The default contents/services in the electronic device  100  may be provided and indexed as channels. That is, the contents/services may have a channel number respectively and may be retrieved by the corresponding channel number. The electronic device 100 may receive a channel number, such as “99”, and provide the content/service corresponding to “channel 99”. 
         [0042]    In the present invention, new contents/services may also be provided to the electronic device  100  by providing identification for subscription of the aforementioned contents/services in the external device  300  of the present invention. Once the external device  300  connected to the portable device  200 , content/service corresponding to the identification in the external device  300  may be provided by the management center  400  to the electronic device  100  as an internet-of-things (IOT) service through steps S 103  to S 108 . In step S 103 , the portable device  200  may recognize connection of the external  300  and receive an identification corresponding to a new content/service from the external device  300 . In step S 104 , the portable device  200  may send the identification to the electronic device  100 . In step S 105 , the electronic device  100  may send the identification to the management center  400  and may further request for verification and/or subscription of the identification. In step S 106 , the management center  400  may confirm the identification by comparing the identification to an identification database to decide whether the identification is valid. If the identification is valid, the management center  400  may return a confirmation to the electronic device  100 . In one embodiment, the confirmation may comprise an address or an index of the content/service for the electronic device  100  to download the content/service. In another embodiment, the aforementioned address or index of content/service may be contained in the identification instead of the confirmation, and the electronic device  100  may be configured to request for downloading the content/service after receiving the confirmation. In step S 107 , the electronic device  100  may send the confirmation and/or the identification to the content provider  500  for requesting for content/service corresponding to the identification by visiting the content/service address contained in the identification or the confirmation. In one embodiment of the present invention, the identification may tell the content provider  500  the content/service demanded from the electronic device  100 , and the confirmation may be recognized by the content provider  500  for the content provider  500  to identify whether the electronic device  100  is verified by the management center  400  and subscribed to the requested content/service. In step S 108 , the content provider  500  may receive the identification and/or the confirmation and provide the corresponding content/service for downloading. The electronic device  100  may download the content/service from the content provider  500  and transmit the downloaded content/service to the display device  100  for displaying the content/service. 
         [0043]    In one embodiment of the present invention, the content provider  500  may be continuously providing the aforementioned content/service to the electronic device  100  while the external device  300  connected to the portable device  200 . Once the external device  300  disconnected with the portable device  200 , the portable device may send a notification to the electronic device  100 , and the electronic device  100  may stop downloading the content/service from the content provider  500 . 
         [0044]    While the methods previously described may include a number of steps that may appear to occur in a specific order, it should be appreciated that these methods may contain more or fewer steps, that the order these steps may be exchanged, and that different steps may be combined. For example, the steps S 101  and S 102  may be omitted. 
         [0045]      FIG. 2B  illustrates the method for subscribing to new content/service by an identification received from the portable device  200  and receiving the subscribed content/service according to one embodiment of the present invention. The method of the present invention may be applied on the electronic device  100 , and may perform the following steps. In step S 201 , the electronic device  100  may receive an identification from the portable device  200 . The identification may be retrieved from the external device  300 , the identification source  700  or the automatic identification symbol by the portable device  200 . In step S 202 , the electronic device  100  may send the identification received in step S 201  to the management center  400  for verifying the identification. In step S 203 , after the management center  400  verifying the identification, the electronic device  100  may receive a confirmation from the management center  400 . In one embodiment, the confirmation may comprise an address or an index of the content/service for the electronic device  100  to download the content/service. In another embodiment, the aforementioned address or index of content/service may be contained in the identification instead of the confirmation, and the electronic device  100  may be configured to request for downloading the content/service after receiving the confirmation. In step S 204 , the electronic device  100  may send the confirmation and the identification to the content provider  500  of the content/service corresponding to the identification. In step S 205 , after the content provider  500  verifying the confirmation and the identification, the electronic device  500  may download the content/service from the content provider  500 . The content/service may be downloaded as a file, batch downloaded web pages or streaming data. In step S 206 , the electronic may transmit the content/service to the display device  110 . 
         [0046]    While the methods previously described may include a number of steps that may appear to occur in a specific order, it should be appreciated that these methods may contain more or fewer steps, that the order these steps may be exchanged, and that different steps may be combined. For example, the steps S 205  and S 206  may be performed concurrently, that is, the electronic device  100  may be continuously downloading the content/service and transmitting the downloaded content/service to the display device  110 . In addition, after step S 206 , the electronic device  100  may receive a notification from the portable device  200  and stop transmitting the content/service to the display device  110 . 
         [0047]      FIG. 2C  illustrates the method for providing default content/service and subscription of new content/service by an identification received from the electronic device  100  according to one embodiment of the present invention. The method of the present invention may be applied on the management center  400 , and may perform the following steps. In step S 301 , the management center  400  may receive a request from the electronic device  100  for default content. The management center  400  may receive a default content identification from the electronic device  100  when the electronic device  100  is activated after leaving factory or reactivated after reset. Therefore, the management center  400  may further verify the default content identification by comparing to a database of identifications maintained in the management center  400  and determining whether the received default content identification is valid. In step S 302 , the management center may send the default content/service to the electronic device  100 . In one embodiment, the management center  400  may also register the electronic device  100  by recording the electronic device  100  to a device database maintained by the management center  400 . Therefore, by steps S 301  and S 302 , the registration of the electronic device  100  and download of default content/service in the electronic device  100  may be accomplished. In step S 303 , the management center  400  may receive an identification for new content/service form the electronic device  100 . The identification from the electronic device  100  may be retrieved by the portable device  200  from the external device  300  and sent to the electronic device  100 . In other words, the identification from the electronic device  100  may be sent from the external device  300  to the electronic device  100  via a portable device  200 . In one embodiment, the identification may be sent directly from the external device  300  to the electronic device  100  and sent to the management center by the electronic device  100 . In step S 304 , the management center  400  may confirm the identification. In one embodiment, the management center  400  may maintain a database of identifications for comparing to the received identification to determine whether the received identification is valid. In addition, the management center  400  may further record subscription of the identification and check whether received identifications have already been subscribed to avoid repeated subscription. The management center  400  may send a confirmation to the electronic device  100  if the identification is valid and/or not repeatedly subscribed. The confirmation may be recognized by the content provider  400  for the permission to download the content/service corresponding to the identification and the confirmation from the content provider  500  to the electronic device  100 . In one embodiment, an address of the content provider  500  for content/service may be contained in the identification or the confirmation, or be stored in the electronic device  100 . In another embodiment, the management center  400  may send the confirmation to the content provider  500  instead of the electronic device  100  and direct the electronic device  100  to the address of the content provider  500  for content/service corresponding to the identification. The content provider  500  may receive the confirmation from the electronic device  100  or the management center  400  and transmit data of the content/service to the electronic device  100  in response to the content/service request from electronic device  100 . A person of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the management center  400  may also be the content provider  500  in some embodiments of the present invention so that the management center  400  may provide the content/service directly to the electronic device  100  after verifying the identification instead of sending the confirmation for the electronic device  100  downloading the content/service from the content provider  500 . 
         [0048]    While the methods previously described may include a number of steps that may appear to occur in a specific order, it should be appreciated that these methods may contain more or fewer steps, that the order these steps may be exchanged, and that different steps may be combined. For example, the steps S 301  and S 302  omitted. 
         [0049]      FIGS. 3A and 3B  are flowcharts illustrating the method for receiving identification of content/service from the external device  300  or the automatic identification symbol  800 , subscribing to the content/service and assigning a content index, such as a channel number, for the content/service corresponding to the identification according to one embodiment of the present invention. The method of the present invention may be applied on the portable device  200  of the present invention. 
         [0050]      FIG. 3A  illustrates the method for receiving identification of content/service from the external device  300  and subscribing to the content/service according to one embodiment of the present invention. The method of the present invention may be applied on the portable device  200 , and may perform the following steps. In step S 401 , the portable device  200  may recognize connection of the external  300  and receive an identification corresponding to a new content/service from the external device  300 . In step S 402 , the portable device  200  may send the identification to the electronic device  100  for subscribing to the content/service. The electronic device  100  may send the identification to the management center  400  and may receive the content information from the management center  400 . The content information may comprise the name and the address of the content. The electronic device  100  may provide the received content information and a user interface for inputting content index to the user of the portable device  200  by displaying the content information and the user interface on the display device  110 . In step S 403 , the portable device  200  may receive a content index from the user, which is assigned to the content/service corresponding to the identification by the user. The aforementioned content index may comprise numbers and/or characters, especially a number represent a TV channel when the electronic device  100  or the display device  110  is a television. In step S 404 , the portable device  200  may send the content index to the electronic device  100  for assigning the content index to the content/service corresponding to the identification. The electronic device  100  may record the content index and the content address and may access the content/service by the content address or provide the content/service every time the electronic device  100  receives the content index. 
         [0051]      FIG. 3B  illustrates the method for receiving identification of content/service from the automatic identification symbol  800  and subscribing to the content/service according to one embodiment of the present invention. The method of the present invention may be applied on the portable device  200 , and may perform the following steps. In step S 501 , the portable device  200  may recognize an automatic identification symbol  800  and extract an identification for content/service from the automatic identification symbol  800 , such as a barcode tag, an RFID tag, an NFC equipment or a Bluetooth equipment. In other words, the portable device may receive and analysis data in the automatic identification symbol  800  to get the identification. In step S 502 , the portable device  200  may send the identification to the electronic device  100  for subscribing to the content/service. The electronic device  100  may send the identification to the management center  400  and may receive the content information from the management center  400 . The content information may comprise the name and the address of the content. The electronic device  100  may provide the received content information and a user interface for inputting content index to the user of the portable device  200  by displaying the content information and the user interface on the display device  110 . In step S 503 , the portable device  200  may receive a content index from the user, which is assigned to the content/service corresponding to the identification by the user. The aforementioned content index may comprise numbers and/or characters, especially a number represent a TV channel when the electronic device  100  or the display device  110  is a television. In step S 504 , the portable device  200  may send the content index to the electronic device  100  for assigning the content index to the content/service corresponding to the identification. The electronic device  100  may record the content index and the content address and may access the content/service by the content address or provide the content/service every time the electronic device  100  receives the content index. 
         [0052]      FIGS. 4A and 4B  are schematic illustration of the identification for content/service according to one embodiment of the present invention. Referring to  FIG. 4A , the identification  900  may comprise a service code  910  representing the content/service (or the type of the content/service), the entity code  920  representing the content provider  500  corresponding to the content/service and a billing/payment code  930  representing the billing and payment information for the content/service, such as prepaid money, discount and/or billing for the content/service. The identification may be encrypted in the external device  300 , the automatic identification symbol  800  or the identification source  700 , and may be decrypted by the electronic device  100 , the management center  400  or the content provider  500  for verification and recognition of the corresponding content/service. The service code  910 , the entity code  920  and the billing/payment code  930  may have their respective formats of data. The length of each code  910 ,  920  and  930  may be fixed, and the value of each code  910 ,  920  and  930  may be configured to be a number or a string. Therefore, the management center  400  may verify the identification  900  by the formats of the code  910 ,  920  and  930 . In addition, the management center  400  may find the content/service and the corresponding provider by the service code  910  and the entity code  920  and compare to data in an identification database to decide whether the identification  900  is valid. In addition, the management center  400  may further record subscription of the identification and check whether received identifications have already been subscribed to avoid repeated subscription. In one embodiment, the management center  400  may further maintain the billing and the payment of the user account of the portable device  200  and/or the electronic device  100 , such as refill the user account for the content/service, bill the user account for the content/service and offer a discount for the content/service. In another embodiment, the billing and the payment of the user account of the portable device  200  and/or the electronic device  100  may be maintained by the content provider  500  when the content provider  500  receives the identification  900 . Referring to  FIG. 4B , the identification  900  may include a content address  940  instead of the billing/payment code  930 . The management center  400  may verify the validity and the subscription of the identification  900  and sent a confirmation to the electronic device  100 . The electronic device  100  may be configured to access the content address  400  for the content/service upon receiving the confirmation. 
         [0053]      FIGS. 5A ,  5 B,  5 C and  5 D illustrate the network architecture of the system for subscribing contents/services with identification, verifying subscription by the identification and providing subscribed contents/services according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         [0054]    Referring to  FIG. 5A , the external device  300  may include a storage unit for storing an identification of content/service and a connector for connecting to the portable device  200 . The portable device  200  may comprise a reader for reading the identification from the external device  300  via the connector of the external device  300 . The portable device  200  may further comprise a communication module for transmitting the received identification to the management center  400  to verify the identification, receiving a confirmation from the management center  400  and sending the confirmation and the identification to the electronic device  100  for requesting the content/service. The electronic device  100  may comprise at least one communication module for receiving the identification and confirmation from the portable device  200 , sending the identification and confirmation to the content provider  500  to request for the content/service corresponding to the identification, receiving the content/service from the content provider  500  and transmitting the content/service to the display device  110 . 
         [0055]    Referring to  FIG. 5B , the external device  300  may include a storage unit, a connector and a communication module to communicate with the electronic device  100 . The portable device  200  may be able to communicate with the management center  400  via the internet and may be able to communicate with the electronic device  100  when the external device  300  is connected to the portable device  200  and acts as an add-on communication module of the portable device  200  applying a communication standard compatible to the electronic device  100 . The portable device  200  may be configured to retrieve the identification from the external device  300  via the aforementioned connector, send the identification to the management center  400  to verify the identification and receive a confirmation from the management center  400 . The portable device  200  may further send the identification and the confirmation to the electronic device  100  via the external device  300  for requesting the content/service. The electronic device  100  may comprise at least one communication module for receiving the identification and confirmation from the portable device  200 , sending the identification and confirmation to the content provider  500  to request for the content/service corresponding to the identification, receiving the content/service from the content provider  500  and transmitting the content/service to the display device  110 . 
         [0056]    Referring to  FIG. 5C , the portable device  200  may comprise at least one communication module for downloading the identification from an identification source  700 , sending the identification to the management center  400 , receiving a confirmation from the management center  400  and sending the confirmation and the identification to the electronic device  100 . The electronic device  100  may comprise at least one communication module and be configured to receive the identification and the confirmation from the portable device  200 , send the confirmation and/or the identification to the content provider  500  to request for the content/service corresponding to the identification, receive the content/service from the content provider  500  and transmit the content/service to the display device  110 . 
         [0057]    Referring to  FIG. 5D , the portable device  200  may comprise a receiving module for receiving, analyzing and/or decoding an automatic identification symbol, such as a barcode, an a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, or an equipment comprising a near field communication (NFC) or Bluetooth module, containing the aforementioned identification corresponding to the content/service. The portable device  200  may also comprise a communication module for sending the identification to the management center  400 , receiving a confirmation from the management center  400  and sending the identification and the confirmation to the electronic device  100 . The electronic device  100  may also comprise a communication module for receiving the identification and the confirmation from the portable device  200 , sending the confirmation and/or the identification to the content provider  500 , receiving the content/service from the content provider  500  and transmitting the content/service to the display device  110 . 
         [0058]      FIGS. 6A ,  6 B,  6 C and  6 D are flowcharts illustrating the method for receiving identification of content/service, verifying the identification by transmitting the identification to the management center  400  and receiving a confirmation and an address or an index for content/service, retrieving the content/service by the address or the index and outputting the content/service to the display device  110  according to one embodiment of the present invention. The method of the present invention may be applied on the electronic device  100 , the portable device  200  and/or the management center  400  of the present invention respectively. 
         [0059]      FIG. 6A  illustrates the method for subscribing to new content/service by an identification received from the external device  300  and receiving the subscribed content/service according to one embodiment of the present invention, and the method of present invention may perform the following steps. In step S 601 , the portable device  200  may recognize connection of the external  300  and receive an identification corresponding to a new content/service from the external device  300 . In step S 602 , the portable device  200  may send the identification to the management center  400  for verifying the identification. In step S 603 , the management center  400  may confirm the identification by comparing the identification to an identification database to decide whether the identification is valid. If the identification is valid, the management center  400  may return a confirmation to the portable device  200 . In one embodiment, the confirmation may comprise an address or an index of the content/service for the electronic device  100  to download the content/service. In another embodiment, the aforementioned address or index of content/service may be contained in the identification instead of the confirmation, and the portable device  200  may be configured to request for downloading the content/service after receiving the confirmation. In step S 604 , the portable device  200  may send the confirmation and/or the identification to the electronic device  100  for the content/service corresponding to the identification. In step S 605 , the electronic device  100  may send the identification and/or the confirmation to content provider  500  for requesting for content/service corresponding to the identification by visiting the content/service address contained in the identification or the confirmation. In one embodiment of the present invention, the identification may tell the content provider  500  the content/service demanded from the electronic device  100 , and the confirmation may be recognized by the content provider  500  for the content provider  500  to identify whether the identification is verified by the management center  400  and subscribed to the requested content/service. The content provider  500  may receive the identification and/or the confirmation and provide the corresponding content/service for downloading. In step S 606 , the electronic device  100  may download the content/service from the content provider  500  and transmit the downloaded content/service to the display device  100  for displaying the content/service. 
         [0060]    In one embodiment of the present invention, the content provider  500  may be continuously providing the aforementioned content/service to the electronic device  100  while the external device  300  connected to the portable device  200 . Once the external device  300  disconnected with the portable device  200 , the portable device may send a notification to the electronic device  100 , and the electronic device  100  may stop downloading the content/service from the content provider  500 . 
         [0061]      FIG. 6B  illustrates the method for subscribing to new content/service by an identification received from the portable device  200  and receiving the subscribed content/service according to one embodiment of the present invention. The method of the present invention may be applied on the electronic device  100 , and may perform the following steps. In step S 701 , the electronic device  100  may receive a confirmation and a content address corresponding to a new content/service from a portable device  200 . The confirmation and the content address may be generated in the management center  400  after the management center  400  verifying a received identification corresponding to the content/service from the portable device  200 . The identification may be stored in an external device  300  connected to the portable device  200 . The identification may also be encoded in an automatic identification symbol  800  and extracted by the portable device  200 . The identification may further be downloaded for an identification source  700  by the portable device  200 . The confirmation may give the electronic device  100  permission to download the corresponding content/service at the content address. In step S 702 , the electronic device  100  may send the confirmation to the content address and may request for the content/service. In step S 703 , the electronic device  100  may download the content/service from the content address and display the content on the display device  110 . 
         [0062]      FIG. 6C  illustrates the method for providing subscription of new content/service by an identification and providing the subscribed content/service according to one embodiment of the present invention. The method of the present invention may be applied on the management center/content provider  600 , and may perform the following steps. In step S 801 , the management center/content provider  600  may receive an identification for new content/service form the portable device  200 . The received identification may be retrieved from the external device  300 . In step S 802 , the management center/content provider  600  may confirm the identification. In one embodiment, the management center/content provider  600  may maintain a database of identifications for comparing to the received identification to determine whether the received identification is valid. In addition, the management center/content provider  600  may further record subscription of the identification and check whether received identifications have already been subscribed to avoid repeated subscription. The management center/content provider  600  may send a confirmation to the portable device  200  if the identification is valid and/or not repeatedly subscribed. The confirmation may be recognized by the electronic device  100  for the permission to download the content/service corresponding to the identification. The portable device  200  may further send the confirmation and the identification to the electronic device  100 , and the electronic device  100  may be configured to send the confirmation to the management center/content provider  600 . In step S 803 , the management center/content provider  600  may receive the confirmation from the electronic device  100 , and which is transmitted from the portable device  200  to the electronic device. In step S 804 , the management center/content provider  600  may transmit the content/service corresponding to the identification to the electronic device  100  for displaying the content/service on the display device  110  connected to the electronic device  100 . 
         [0063]      FIG. 6D  illustrates the method for receiving identification of content/service from the external device  300  and subscribing to the content/service according to one embodiment of the present invention. The method of the present invention may be applied on the portable device  200 , and may perform the following steps. In step S 901 , the portable device  200  may recognize connection of the external  300  and receive an identification corresponding to a new content/service from the external device  300 . In step S 902 , the portable device  200  may send the identification to the management center  400  for subscribing to the content/service. In step S 903 , the portable device may receive a content address and a confirmation for permission to download the content at the content address form the management center  400 . In step S 904 , the portable device may send the confirmation and the content address the electronic device  100  for the electronic device requesting and downloading the content/service and displaying the content/service on the display device  110 . 
         [0064]    The electronic device  100  may send the identification to the management center  400  and may receive the content information from the management center  400 . The content information may comprise the name and the address of the content. The electronic device  100  may provide the received content information and a user interface for inputting content index to the user of the portable device  200  by displaying the content information and the user interface on the display device  110 . In step S 403 , the portable device  200  may receive a content index from the user, which is assigned to the content/service corresponding to the identification by the user. The aforementioned content index may comprise numbers and/or characters, especially a number represent a TV channel when the electronic device  100  or the display device  110  is a television. In step S 404 , the portable device  200  may send the content index to the electronic device  100  for assigning the content index to the content/service corresponding to the identification. The electronic device  100  may record the content index and the content address and may access the content/service by the content address or provide the content/service every time the electronic device  100  receives the content index. 
         [0065]    Previous descriptions are only embodiments of the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Many variations and modifications according to the claims and specification of the disclosure are still within the scope of the claimed invention. In addition, each of the embodiments and claims does not have to achieve all the advantages or characteristics disclosed. Moreover, the abstract and the title only serve to facilitate searching patent documents and are not intended in any way to limit the scope of the claimed invention.