The Directv Group, Inc.

Stern Pinball, Inc.

Mark Guidarelli

Noreen Fong

Titus Winters

Raynold M Kahn

Romulo Cruz Pontual

George A Gomez

Vishal Arya

Luke J Crook

Benjamin Mui

Gerard V Talatinian

Vlad Zarney

Christopher Joseph Cugno

Pankaj Sharma

Gregory Vagnati

Diem V Nguyen

Keith Elwin

Samuel V Irvine

David Bibayoff

Siva Subramanian Venkataramani

A pinball machine includes a cabinet, an inclined playfield, and a ball operable across an upperside of the playfield to conduct a gameplay. A plurality of playfield accessories are mounted to the playfield and configured to interact with the ball during gameplay. A controller operates to control gameplay. The pinball machine includes a network connection operably coupling the controller to a network and a remote server. An access device is configured to identify a user and receive authorization from the controller and the remote server to allow the user to conduct a gameplay.

Networked pinball machine

A method of determining duration of a play session is described herein using a ball saver. An elapsed game time is tracked and a current round of play identified. Using the current round of play and the elapsed game time, a save time is determined. Finally, an autosave for a duration equal to the save time is activated using mechanical stop, flippers, or programmatic solutions.

Self-adjusting difficulty feature for an amusement game device

A system, method, apparatus, and article of manufacture provide the ability to configuring out-of-home streaming between a mobile device and a set top box (STB). Internet connectivity establishment (ICE) agents, installed on the mobile device and the STB, determine telemetry information via communication with network address translator (NAT) servers. Communication agents, installed on the mobile device and the STB, translate the telemetry information into a format acceptable to a communication server. The communication server exchanges the telemetry information between the mobile device and the STB and maintains a persistent connection with the STB. The communication agents connect the mobile device to the same communication server that the STB is persistently connected to. Media content is streamed directly from the STB to the mobile device if a direct connection between the STB and mobile device is established and via the NAT servers if a direct connection cannot be established.

Network address translator (NAT) traversal for out of home streaming

A system and method for a operating a content distribution system includes a destination device and a requesting device that communicates a primary audio stream secondary audio stream and a video stream to the destination device. The destination device communicates the primary audio stream to a display. The destination device includes a secondary decoder configured to decode the secondary audio stream to form a decoded secondary audio stream. The destination device combines the secondary decoded audio stream and the primary audio stream.

Method and system for forming an audio overlay for streaming content of a content distribution system

A system and method for controlling a communication system includes a local area network, a first client device and a first server device in communication with the first client device through the local area network. The first server device communicates an audio-visual stream and remote user interface data to the first client device through the local area network. The first client device renders a display using the audio-video stream and the remote user interface. The first client device generates a key command and communicates the key command to the first server device in response to the remote user interface data.

Method and system for distributing content

Growing community of inventors

Sherman Oaks, CA, United States of America

Mark Guidarelli