Patent attributes
Methods and apparatus are described that provide a mechanism for transferring and/or synchronizing playback of media content from one media device to another in a seamless fashion. A media device 102 may be arranged to detect playback of media content from another media device 104. The media device 102 captures a portion of the media content being played back and identifies the captured media content and content provider 106a. The media device downloads or streams the identified media content from the content provider 106a, while also synchronizing playback of the identified/downloaded/streamed media content on the media device 102 with the playback of the media content on the other device 104. The media content may be embedded with a digital watermark for identification of the media content and the content provider 106a. A machine-to-machine platform 108 may assist in identifying the media content and content provider 106a from the captured media content.