US Patent 7792834 Pervasive media information retrieval system

A pervasive information retrieval system is disclosed in consumer electronics and home entertainment for retrieval of audio and visual information but also information containing text, pictures etc. in a multi user and multi domain environment comprising a plurality of physically distributed sub-domains having different rendering units, such as loudspeakers, television screens etc. The user is enabled to “grab” an ongoing information rendering experience, such as listening to a piece of music or to a broadcasted radio channel, watching a film or a broadcasted television programme, move to another sub-domain and “throw” the experience onto that sub-domain, where the experience will continue without the need to further operate the rendering units in the selected sub-domain.