Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080201446 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR COLLECTING INFORMATION ABOUT A USER'S MEDIA COLLECTIONS FROM MULTIPLE LOGIN POINTS - A system and method for collecting information about a user's media collections at a central location from multiple login points and/or multiple devices owned by the user. The user establishes a user account at a central server. A client application may be downloaded to the user's device for establishing a connection to the central server. Subsequently, each time the user logs in to the central server, the central server receives a unique machine identifier (MID) for the connected and currently in-use user device. The central server receives information about the user's media collection from the user device and stores that media collection by its MID under the user's individual account. In this manner, the central server obtains and stores information about all the user's media collections owned by user devices connected and in-use and previously connected to the central server rather than only having knowledge of the media collection stored on the currently in-use user device. | 08-21-2008 |
20080250067 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SELECTIVELY IDENTIFYING MEDIA ITEMS FOR PLAY BASED ON A RECOMMENDER PLAYLIST - A system and method for controlling media item recommendations received by a user based on the rendering of a user's pre-established recommender playlist. The recommender playlist is a list of identifiers that identify recommenders in the user's social network and a filter rule(s) associated with each recommender included in the recommender playlist. The filter rule(s) may be a rule associated with recommender's media items of the recommender. The user is able to control which media items from the recommender's media items of the recommender will be actually received by selecting the desired filter rule(s) for each of the recommenders in the user's recommender playlist. After the user establishes the recommender playlist and the user desires to actually receive recommendations from a recommender, the user renders the recommender playlist to receive a playlist consisting of the recommender's media items as filtered using filter rule(s) established by the user in the recommender playlist. | 10-09-2008 |
20080301186 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING A RECEIVED MEDIA ITEM RECOMMENDATION MESSAGE COMPRISING RECOMMENDER PRESENCE INFORMATION - A system and method for processing a received media item recommendation message is disclosed. A recipient receives the media item recommendation message which includes a media item identifier of a media item and presence information of a recommender of the media item in association with the media item identifier. The presence information may be in the form of metadata. The recipient may render the presence information and/or store or download the presence information to a media item playlist, to another device, or to a storage medium for subsequent rendering. The media item recommendation message also may include a media item annotation. The media item annotation may also be in the form of metadata and may be rendered and/or stored or downloaded to a media item playlist, to another device, or to a storage medium for subsequent rendering. | 12-04-2008 |
20080301187 | ENHANCED MEDIA ITEM PLAYLIST COMPRISING PRESENCE INFORMATION - An enhanced media item playlist on which a media item identifier for a media item and presence information of a recommender of the media item, and, optionally, a media item annotation from a media item recommendation message, may be stored is disclosed. The playlist may be any accessible and/or manageable format, for example a database, for storing or containing the media item identifier, the presence information, the media item annotation, and/or the media item. The presence information and, if present, the media item annotation are stored on the playlist in a manner associated with the media item identifier. In this manner, the recipient of the media item recommendation message may store, manage, and access the presence information and, if present, the media item annotation, and not only render and/or transfer the media item recommended, but also the presence information and the media item annotation. | 12-04-2008 |
20080301240 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROPAGATING A MEDIA ITEM RECOMMENDATION MESSAGE COMPRISING RECOMMENDER PRESENCE INFORMATION - A system and method for propagating media item recommendation messages on a media item recommendation system is disclosed. A first media item recommendation message comprising a media item identifier and presence information of a recommender is received from the recommender. The first media item recommendation message is sent to a first recipient. A second media item recommendation message comprising the presence information of the recommender adapted by the first recipient is received from the first recipient. The second media item recommendation message is then sent or forwarded to a second recipient. The first recipient may adapt the presence information by including the presence information of the recommender unmodified, by including the presence information of the recommender modified by the first recipient, and/or by including the presence information of the first recipient with or without the presence information of the recommender. | 12-04-2008 |
20080301241 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF GENERATING A MEDIA ITEM RECOMMENDATION MESSAGE WITH RECOMMENDER PRESENCE INFORMATION - A system and method of generating a media item recommendation message used to provide a recommendation for a media item by a recommender to a recipient on a media item recommendation system is disclosed. The media item recommendation is generated by including a media item identifier of a media item in a media item recommendation message, presence information of a recommender of the media item, and, optionally, a media item annotation in association with the media item identifier in the media item recommendation message. The media item recommendation message is transmitted to the recipient. | 12-04-2008 |
20080319833 | P2P REAL TIME MEDIA RECOMMENDATIONS - Systems and methods are described for providing peer-to-peer (P2P) media recommendations. In one embodiment, a central streaming media service operates to stream media presentations to user devices of users. For each user desiring to send and receive recommendations, each time a media presentation is streamed to and played by a user device of the user, the central media service provides a recommendation identifying the media presentation to one or more other users associated with the user. Similarly, the central media service provides media recommendations to the user from one or more other users. Once streaming and playback of the media presentation is complete or substantially complete, the central streaming media service automatically selects a next media presentation for the user from a group of media presentations including those identified by the recommendations provided to the user and begins streaming the next media presentation to the user device of the user. | 12-25-2008 |
20090046101 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR VISUALLY INDICATING A REPLAY STATUS OF MEDIA ITEMS ON A MEDIA DEVICE - A computer-implemented method and system are provided for visually indicating a replay status of media items on a media device. Aspects of the method and system include displaying in a graphical user interface (GUI) of the media device a representation of a first media item; displaying a profile score of the first media item that is based on user preferences; and displaying a replay score for the first media item that affects replay of the first media item. | 02-19-2009 |
20090048992 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REDUCING THE REPETITIVE RECEPTION OF A MEDIA ITEM RECOMMENDATION - A system and method for reducing the repetitive reception of a media item recommendation in a media item recommendation system are disclosed. A media item recommendation is received from a recommender. The media item recommendation is designated to be sent to an intended recipient. Before the media item recommendation is sent to the intended recipient, a record of activity of the media item is reviewed and a determination is made as to whether to send the media item recommendation to the intended recipient based on the record of activity. In this manner, it can be determined if the media item recommendation is unduly repetitive and, if so, not sent to the intended recipient. This reduces the continuous feed-back loop of the same media item recommendation. | 02-19-2009 |
20090049030 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REDUCING THE MULTIPLE LISTING OF A MEDIA ITEM IN A PLAYLIST - A system and method for reducing the multiple listing of a media item in a playlist are disclosed. When a media item recommendation is received from a recommender, a playlist may be reviewed to determine whether there is a current listing of the media item in the playlist. If there is a current listing, a resultant listing may be provided. If the current listing is based on a recommendation from the recommender, the media item recommendation may be disregarded. In such case, the resultant listing comprises the current listing. Alternatively, the resultant listing may be provided such that the information in the received media item replaces the information in the current listing in the playlist to avoid multiple listings. Or, the resultant listing may comprise information contained in the media item recommendation merged with information in the current listing. In such case, information regarding both the received media item and the currently listing may be preserved while avoiding multiple listings of the media item in the playlist. Further, providing the resultant listing may comprise removing all information in the current listing if the media item is removed from the playlist. In this manner, the cluttering of the playlist with multiple listings of the media item and redundant information associated with the media item may be avoided. | 02-19-2009 |
20090049045 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SORTING MEDIA ITEMS IN A PLAYLIST ON A MEDIA DEVICE - A computer-implemented method and system are provided for sorting media items in a playlist on a media device that are ranked by score. One embodiment includes providing each of the media items with a respective profile score that is based on user preferences and a respective replay score that affects replay of the corresponding media item; and automatically sorting the media items by the replay scores. Another embodiment includes sorting the media items by a sort criteria indicated by a user; sorting the media items by at least one score associated with each of the media items; displaying the playlist; and playing the media items in the playlist according to sort order and automatically skipping media items that have already been played. Yet a further embodiment includes changing a user preference associated with a sort criteria selected by the user, wherein each of the media items includes a profile score that is calculated based on user preferences, and a replay score that affects replay of the corresponding media item; recalculating the profile score and the replay score of each of the media items; sorting the media items by the replay scores; and sorting the media items by the sort criteria indicated by a user. | 02-19-2009 |
20090055396 | SCORING AND REPLAYING MEDIA ITEMS - A computer-implemented method and system are provided for replaying media items. Aspects of the method and system include in response to one of the media items being played, calculating a respective replay score for the media item that affects replay of the corresponding media item; and using the replay score to sort the media items for playing. | 02-26-2009 |
20090055510 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OBTAINING MEDIA CONTENT FOR A PORTABLE MEDIA PLAYER - A system and method are provided for enabling a portable media player to obtain media content from secondary systems, such as other portable media players, via local wireless communication. In general, the portable media player stores proxy information identifying the media content of a number of media files in the user's media collection rather than the media files themselves. When a secondary system is within a local wireless coverage area of the portable media player, the proxy information for the media files, or a subset thereof, is provided to the secondary system. In response, the secondary system identifies media files stored by the secondary system having media content matching the media content identified by the proxy information. The secondary system then provides a notification of the identified media files to the portable media player, which may then obtain the identified media files from the secondary system. | 02-26-2009 |
20090055759 | GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE SYSTEM FOR ALLOWING MANAGEMENT OF A MEDIA ITEM PLAYLIST BASED ON A PREFERENCE SCORING SYSTEM - Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for a peer device on a peer-to-peer (P2P) network are disclosed. A client application executing on the peer device provides and enables the GUIs. One of the GUIs may display a media item playlist. The user manages the media items displayed on the media item playlist by utilizing sorting criteria. The media item playlist displays a list of the users subscribing to the P2P network, the title of and information concerning media items recommended by the users and media items stored locally on the peer device, and a score for each media item on the media item playlist. The score may be determined by applying to the media items preferences defined by information provided by the user of the peer device, a profile developed from the defined preferences, and other information provided by the user. The user of the peer device provides the information to the peer device using other GUIs provided and enabled by the client application. | 02-26-2009 |
20090070184 | EMBEDDED MEDIA RECOMMENDATIONS - A system and method for embedding recommendations on a portable media player are provided. In general, recommendations for media presentations stored or to be stored on the portable media player are generated by a recommendation engine hosted by an external system such as, for example, a user's personal computer or a network server. In one embodiment, the media presentations are songs, and the recommendations include a number of recommended songs for each song stored or to be stored on the portable media player. The recommendations may be limited to the media presentations stored on the portable media player or otherwise accessible to the portable media player. After the recommendations are generated, the recommendations are stored, or embedded, on the portable media player. Thereafter, the portable media player may use the recommendations to facilitate playback of media content on the portable media player. | 03-12-2009 |
20090076881 | System and method for refining media recommendations - An archiving system is provided for archiving a user's media collection and refining recommendations made to the user by an e-commerce service, such as an e-commerce website, based on the archive of the user's media collection. In general, a central archiving system interacts with a user system to archive a user's media collection. Thereafter, while the user is interacting with the e-commerce service, a list of recommended media for the user is generated and provided to the archiving system. The archiving system refines the list based on the archive of the user's media collection. Optionally, the list of recommended media may be further refined based on a user profile and play history of the user. The refined list of recommended media is returned to the e-commerce service and presented to the user. | 03-19-2009 |
20090077084 | System and method for archiving a media collection - A system and method for archiving a user's media collection are provided. In general, a central archiving system stores high-quality versions of a number of known media files and a number of known encoding algorithms. First, each media file in the user's media collection and an encoding algorithm used to encode each media file are classified as either known or unknown to the archiving server. For each known media file encoded with a known encoding algorithm, the archive includes information identifying the media file, information identifying the encoding algorithm for the media file, and optionally the one or more quality parameters such as bit rate, sampling frequency, and the like for the media file. For each unknown media file and/or media file encoded with an unknown CODEC or encoding algorithm, the archive includes the media file, which is uploaded and stored at the archiving system. | 03-19-2009 |
20090077160 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING MEDIA CONTENT SELECTIONS - A system and method using events to traverse a content selection path for the purpose of providing media content selections are provided. In general, events are defined based on one or more stimulus such as, but not limited to, a chronological-based stimulus, a location-based stimulus, a user-based stimulus, a third-party stimulus, or a weather-based stimulus. Each of the events is used to trigger one or more associated content selection paths. A content selection path generally defines a set of media content and a manner of stepping through the defined set of media content. In operation, when an event is detected, the associated content selection path is triggered to step to the next step in the content selection path, thereby identifying the media content selections. Then, according to one embodiment of the present invention, the media content selections are obtained from a remote subscription-based service. | 03-19-2009 |
20090077220 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING MUSIC CONTENT IN A P2P REAL TIME RECOMMENDATION NETWORK - A peer-to-peer (P2P) network for providing real time media recommendations is provided. The media recommendations may be song recommendations or video recommendations. Each time a media presentation is played by a peer device, the peer device provides a recommendation identifying the media presentation to other peer devices in the P2P network. A peer device having received recommendations from the other peer devices in the P2P network then programmatically, or automatically, selects a next media presentation to play from the media presentations recently played by the other peer devices and one or more locally stored media presentations. If the selected media presentation is not stored locally by the peer device, the peer device may obtain the selected media presentation from a subscription based service enabling streaming or download of the selected media presentation, an e-commerce service enabling purchase and download of the selected media presentation, or another peer device. | 03-19-2009 |
20090077499 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ASSIGNING USER PREFERENCE SETTINGS FOR A CATEGORY, AND IN PARTICULAR A MEDIA CATEGORY - A system and method for assigning user preference settings for fields in a category using selected settings for only a subset of the media category fields is disclosed. A subset of fields for a media category is defined. A base setting for each field in the subset of the category fields is established. The base setting may be a weight or preference value. The base setting may be established by the user selecting a base setting or may be a default base setting. Once a user selects the settings for the subset of category fields, a set weight for the fields in the category not in the subset is determined using the base setting. That is possible because the fields in the subset of category fields are chosen from fields that contain aspects and attributes of the other fields. | 03-19-2009 |
20090083116 | HEAVY INFLUENCER MEDIA RECOMMENDATIONS - A system and method for providing media recommendations, such as music recommendations, based on information identifying media recently played by a select group of heavy influencers for a subscription fee are provided. The group of heavy influencers may be a group of one or more celebrities or other persons whose media selections may heavily influence media selections of the users of the system. | 03-26-2009 |
20090083117 | MATCHING PARTICIPANTS IN A P2P RECOMMENDATION NETWORK LOOSELY COUPLED TO A SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE - A system and method are provided for matching participants in a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) recommendation network that is loosely coupled to a subscription music service. In general, the system includes a central server and a number of peer devices. For each of the peer devices, an associated user is either a subscriber to the subscription music service or a non-subscriber. When a user of a peer device desires to identify new friends with which to exchange recommendations in the P2P recommendation network, a friend recommendation function of the central server identifies new friends for the user of the peer device based on the user's status as either a subscriber or a non-subscriber to the subscription music service. | 03-26-2009 |
20090083362 | MAINTAINING A MINIMUM LEVEL OF REAL TIME MEDIA RECOMMENDATIONS IN THE ABSENCE OF ONLINE FRIENDS - The present invention provides a peer-to-peer (P2P) network for providing real time media recommendations. The P2P network includes a central server interconnecting a number of peer devices. In operation, a proxy function of the central server receives media recommendations from one or more peer devices that are active and online as media presentations identified by the media recommendations are played by the peer devices. The one or more peer devices are included in a group of peer devices associated with a first peer device. The proxy function provides the media recommendations to the first peer device. An augmentation function of the central server monitors a recommendation level of the first peer device. If the recommendation level falls below a minimum recommendation level, the augmentation function augments the media recommendations provided to the first peer device to increase the recommendation level to or above the minimum recommendation level. | 03-26-2009 |
20090119294 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR HYPING MEDIA RECOMMENDATIONS IN A MEDIA RECOMMENDATION SYSTEM - Systems and methods for allowing media recommendations to be hyped in a media recommendation system. Recommenders desiring to emphasize a particular media recommendations sent to recipients can “hype” the media recommendation. Hyping is a request for the media recommendation to be used or played sooner by the recipient that it otherwise would if the media recommendation were not hyped. Typically, hyping a media recommendation increases its priority or order of placement in a recipient's media queue, which controls the order of usage or play. The higher the placement, the sooner the media recommendation may be used or played by the recipient. A hype score may be calculated for a hyped media's recommendation to control the order of placement of hyped media recommendations in the recipient's media queue. The hype score may be a function of a hype value and a natural score as if the media recommendation were not hyped. | 05-07-2009 |
20090158146 | RESIZING TAG REPRESENTATIONS OR TAG GROUP REPRESENTATIONS TO CONTROL RELATIVE IMPORTANCE - A method and system are provided for enabling a user to control or adjust importance levels assigned to tags by manipulating corresponding tag representations or a tag group representation displayed to the user. In one embodiment, tag representations for a number of tags are displayed to a user. The tags are generally any criterion used to describe or classify digital content. In one embodiment, the user is enabled to resize, or otherwise manipulate, the tag representations to thereby adjust the importance level of the corresponding tags. In another embodiment, tags are classified into at least one tag group. A tag group representation corresponding to the tag group is displayed to the user. The user is then enabled to resize, or otherwise manipulate, the tag group representation to thereby adjust an importance level of each of the tags in the tag group. | 06-18-2009 |
20090164429 | TUNERSPHERE - Methods and systems are provided for identifying one or more media items played within a geographic area selected by a user. In one embodiment, a media service tracks play histories for a number of users registered with the media service, where each play history identifies media items played by the corresponding user as well as the locations at which at least a subset of the media items were played by the corresponding user. The media service enables a requesting user to select or otherwise define one or more geographic areas of interest. Then, based on the play histories, the media service identifies one or more media items played within the one or more geographic areas of interest. The media service then provides data reflecting the one or more media items played within the one or more geographic areas of interest to a device of the requesting user. | 06-25-2009 |
20090164514 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR POPULATING A CONTENT REPOSITORY FOR AN INTERNET RADIO SERVICE BASED ON A RECOMMENDATION NETWORK - A computer-implemented method and system are provided for populating the content repository of the media service based on real-time media recommendation network comprising a plurality of peer devices. Aspects of the method and system include receiving by a server a recommendation from one of the plurality of peer devices for a media item that is intended for a recipient; determining if the media item is present in the content repository; in response to determining that the media item is not present in the content repository, requesting that the peer device upload the media item; and in response to the media item being uploaded, storing the media item in the content repository. | 06-25-2009 |
20090164516 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR GENERATING MEDIA RECOMMENDATIONS IN A DISTRIBUTED ENVIRONMENT BASED ON TAGGING PLAY HISTORY INFORMATION WITH LOCATION INFORMATION - A computer-implemented method and system are provided for generating media recommendations in a media recommendation network. Aspects of the method and system include receiving by a server a plurality of play histories of media items from a plurality of users of devices, wherein at least a portion of the media items are tagged with corresponding time and location data indicating a time and location of play; receiving by the server a media recommendation request from a requester, including receiving seed information indicating a current location of the requester; using at least one of user preferences of the requester and the seed information to identify correlated users from which to search corresponding play histories from among the plurality of play histories; comparing the seed information to the corresponding play histories and generating a list of related media items contained therein; and returning the list of related media items to the requester. | 06-25-2009 |
20090259621 | PROVIDING EXPECTED DESIRABILITY INFORMATION PRIOR TO SENDING A RECOMMENDATION - Systems and methods are described for providing information to a recommending user reflecting an expected, or predicted, desirability of a recommendation of a media item for a potential recommendation recipient or a group of potential recommendation recipients. In one embodiment, the recommending user selects a media item to potentially recommend to other users. For each potential recommendation recipient or group of potential recommendation recipients, an expected desirability value reflecting an expected desirability of the media item is determined. The expected desirability values are then presented to the recommending user. Based on the expected desirability values, the recommending user then selects one or more of the potential recommendation recipients or groups of potential recommendation recipients to which to send a recommendation for the media item. | 10-15-2009 |
20090265416 | AGGREGATING MEDIA COLLECTIONS BETWEEN PARTICIPANTS OF A SHARING NETWORK UTILIZING BRIDGING - Systems and methods are provided for aggregating a local media collection of a user with one or more shared media collections shared with the user to provide an aggregate media collection for the user. In general, one or more shared media collections shared with the user are first discovered. Optionally, the user may select one or more of the shared media collections for aggregation with the local media collection of the user. The shared media collections selected by the user, or alternatively all of the shared media collections, are then aggregated with the local media collection of the user to provide an aggregate media collection for the user. In one embodiment, bridging of users is provided to expand the sharing of media collections beyond those having direct relationships with the sharing user. | 10-22-2009 |
20090265417 | AGGREGATING MEDIA COLLECTIONS TO PROVIDE A PRIMARY LIST AND SORTED SUB-LISTS - Systems and methods are provided for aggregating a local media collection of a user with one or more shared media collections shared with the user to provide an aggregate media collection for the user. In general, one or more shared media collections shared with the user are first discovered. Optionally, the user may select one or more of the shared media collections for aggregation with the local media collection of the user. The shared media collections selected by the user, or alternatively all of the shared media collections, are then aggregated with the local media collection of the user to provide an aggregate media collection for the user. The aggregate media collection is provided as a primary list including an entry for each unique media item in the aggregate media collection. Sorted sub-lists are utilized to populate the primary list. | 10-22-2009 |
20090265418 | PRUNING AN AGGREGATE MEDIA COLLECTION - Systems and methods are provided for aggregating a local media collection of a user with one or more shared media collections shared with the user to provide an aggregate media collection for the user. In general, one or more shared media collections shared with the user are first discovered. Optionally, the user may select one or more of the shared media collections for aggregation with the local media collection of the user. The shared media collections selected by the user, or alternatively all of the shared media collections, are then aggregated with the local media collection of the user to provide an aggregate media collection for the user. The aggregate media collection of the user may then be pruned or filtered based on user preferences of the user. | 10-22-2009 |
20090265426 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AGGREGATING MEDIA COLLECTIONS BETWEEN PARTICIPANTS OF A SHARING NETWORK - Systems and methods are provided for aggregating a local media collection of a user with one or more shared media collections shared with the user to provide an aggregate media collection for the user. In general, one or more shared media collections shared with the user are first discovered. Optionally, the user may select one or more of the shared media collections for aggregation with the local media collection of the user. The shared media collections selected by the user, or alternatively all of the shared media collections, are then aggregated with the local media collection of the user to provide an aggregate media collection for the user. | 10-22-2009 |
20090271484 | FACEMAIL - Systems and methods are provided for generating, sending, and delivering a message addressed using an image of an intended message recipient of the message. In one embodiment, a sending user captures or otherwise obtains an image of an intended message recipient. A message to the intended message recipient is then generated, addressed using the image of the intended message recipient, and sent to a central server. The central server identifies the intended message recipient based on the image of the intended message recipient and optionally a location and time at which the image was captured. Optionally, the identity of the intended message recipient may be verified by one or more users such as one or more friends of the intended message recipient. The central server then sends the message to the intended message recipient using known contact information such as a username or email address of the intended message recipient. | 10-29-2009 |
20090276328 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SUPPORTING SECURE TRANSACTIONS IN A PEER-TO-PEER NETWORK - At least two computer systems in a peer-to-peer network are utilized to support a secure transaction. Aspects of the present invention include allowing a shopper to create an order to purchase an item stored on a first computer system in the peer-to-peer network, and after the order is created, passing the order and control from the first computer system to a second computer system in the peer-to-peer network. The second computer system establishes a secure transaction session with the shopper, and then proceeds to process the order. | 11-05-2009 |
20090287763 | QUESTION SERVER TO FACILITATE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PARTICIPANTS - Systems and methods are provided for facilitating contact or communication between users or participants. A profile matching process is performed to match a user profile of a first user to a user profile of a second user. A number of questions to ask the second user are automatically selected. In addition, an answer to one or more of the questions may be suggested to the second user. The questions and any suggested answers are then sent to the second user at an associated user device. A reward to be revealed to the second user in response to answering the questions may also be provided. A summary of the answers given by the second user may be provided to the first user. In response, the first user may choose to share his or her full or partial user profile, contact information, or the like with the second user. | 11-19-2009 |
20090313546 | AUTO-EDITING PROCESS FOR MEDIA CONTENT SHARED VIA A MEDIA SHARING SERVICE - The present invention relates to providing automatic or programmatic editing of video items. More specifically, in the preferred embodiments, an auto-editing function is provided for performing auto-editing of video items shared via a video sharing service. | 12-17-2009 |
20100015975 | PROFILE SERVICE FOR SHARING RIGHTS-ENABLED MOBILE PROFILES - A system and method are provided for sharing rights-enabled user profiles among users in voice communication system, such as a mobile telecommunications system. In general, each user defines a user profile and associated access rights, where the user profile and access rights are stored by or accessible to a profile service. When a voice session, or call, is initiated between a first and second user, a device of the first user requests a profile of the second user from the profile service. In response, the profile service determines whether the first user has been granted access rights to the user profile of the second user. If so, the profile service provides the user profile of the second user, or a portion thereof, to the device of the first user according to the access rights of the first user, and the user profile is presented to the first user. | 01-21-2010 |
20100015976 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SHARING RIGHTS-ENABLED MOBILE PROFILES - A system and method are provided for sharing rights-enabled user profiles among users in voice communication system, such as a mobile telecommunications system. In general, each user defines a user profile and associated access rights, where the user profile and access rights are stored by or accessible to a profile service. When a voice session, or call, is initiated between a first and second user, a device of the first user requests a profile of the second user from the profile service. In response, the profile service determines whether the first user has been granted access rights to the user profile of the second user. If so, the profile service provides the user profile of the second user, or a portion thereof, to the device of the first user according to the access rights of the first user, and the user profile is presented to the first user. | 01-21-2010 |
20100017455 | CUSTOMIZED MEDIA BROADCAST FOR A BROADCAST GROUP - Methods and systems are provided for delivering a customized media broadcast to a social group of users referred to as a broadcast group. In general, a broadcast group including a number of users is identified. User profiles of the users forming the broadcast group are obtained and aggregated to provide a group profile for the broadcast group. More specifically, in one embodiment, the users forming the broadcast group are weighted, and the user profiles of the users are then aggregated according to the weights assigned to the corresponding users to provide the group profile of the broadcast group. A customized media broadcast is then delivered to the users forming the broadcast group based on the group profile of the broadcast group. | 01-21-2010 |
20100041419 | CUSTOMIZED CONTENT DELIVERY THROUGH THE USE OF ARBITRARY GEOGRAPHIC SHAPES - Methods and systems are disclosed for providing customized content to users based on their location. In one embodiment, for each of one or more content providers, a customized content delivery function receives information from the content provider defining a number of geographic shapes selecting corresponding geographic areas. Preferably, each of the geographic shapes overlaps at least one other of the geographic shapes and is assigned an importance level. For each geographic shape, the content provider defines one or more tags for the geographic shape and assigns a weight to each of the one or more tags. Thereafter, when a request is received from a requestor, one or more content items are selected for delivery to the requestor based on the geographic shapes, the tags and corresponding weights for the geographic shapes, and the location of the requestor. | 02-18-2010 |
20100050202 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CONSTRUCTING AND PRESENTING A CONSUMPTION PROFILE FOR A MEDIA ITEM - A method and system for constructing and presenting a consumption profile, a rating profile, or both a consumption profile and a rating profile for a media item are provided. In general, consumption of a media item by a number of first users is tracked. Thereafter, before and/or during playback of the media item by a second user, a consumption profile for the media item is constructed and presented to the second user. In addition to or as an alternative to tracking consumption of the media item by the first users, ratings for the media item may be obtained from all or a subset of the first users. Thereafter, before and/or during playback of the media item by the second user, a rating profile for the media item is constructed and presented to the second user. | 02-25-2010 |
20100070490 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ENHANCED SMART PLAYLISTS WITH AGGREGATED MEDIA COLLECTIONS - A method and system are disclosed for providing a smart playlist in a media sharing system. In one embodiment, a user of a user device participates in a media sharing system wherein a media collection of the user is aggregated with one or more shared media collections to provide an aggregate media collection of the user. The user device of the user obtains a playlist definition for a smart playlist. Based on the playlist definition, the smart playlist is populated from the aggregate media collection of the user. | 03-18-2010 |
20100070537 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING A PERSONALIZED UNIVERSAL CATALOG OF MEDIA ITEMS - A system and method are provided for maintaining personalized metadata for media items in a media sharing system. In one embodiment, an aggregation function operates to aggregate one or more remote shared media collections with a media collection of a user to provide an aggregate media collection for the user. In addition, personalized metadata is maintained for media items in the media collection of the user, media items shared with the user and included in the aggregate media collection, and media items previously shared with the user. Thus, the personalized metadata for a media item is available whether the media item is a media item included in the media collection of the user, a media item shared with the user from a remote shared media collection, or a media item previously shared with the user. | 03-18-2010 |
20100082135 | ACTIVITY INDICATORS IN A MEDIA SHARING SYSTEM - A system and method are provided for generating and displaying one or more indicators indicative of a level of activity within a media sharing system. In one embodiment, with respect to a user participating in the media sharing system, an indicator representative of an activity level of a media collection shared by the user in the media sharing system may be generated and presented to the user. In addition or alternatively, indicators representative of activity levels of media collections shared by other users participating in the media sharing system may be generated and presented to the user. Still further, in addition or alternatively, indicators representative of activity levels with respect to playlists in the media sharing system may be generated and presented to the user. | 04-01-2010 |
20100094833 | CACHING AND SYNCHING PROCESS FOR A MEDIA SHARING SYSTEM - A system and method for caching and/or synching shared media items in a media sharing system are provided. In one embodiment, a user device of a user joins a media sharing system including the user device and one or more other user devices connected via a network such that the user of the user device has access to one or more shared media collections hosted by the one or more other user devices. Shared media items from the one or more shared media collections are scored. The user device then obtains shared media items scored above a defined threshold from the one or more other user devices hosting the one or more corresponding shared media collections and stores those shared media items in local storage. In one embodiment, the local storage is temporary storage, such as a cache. | 04-15-2010 |
20100094834 | BRIDGING IN A MEDIA SHARING SYSTEM - A system and method for providing a bridging process for a media sharing system are disclosed. In one embodiment, a user device of a user joins a media sharing system including the user device of the user and one or more other user devices of a corresponding one or more other users. Via the media sharing system, the one or more other users have access to a shared media collection of the user of the user device, which includes one or more first media items stored locally at the user device and one or more second media items stored remotely at a secondary device of the user. Upon receiving a request for one of the second media items, the user device obtains the requested media item from the secondary device. The user device then provides the requested media item to the other user device automatically or upon subsequent request. | 04-15-2010 |
20100094934 | SOURCE INDICATORS FOR ELEMENTS OF AN AGGREGATE MEDIA COLLECTION IN A MEDIA SHARING SYSTEM - A system and method are disclosed for providing source indicators for one or more elements of an aggregate media collection of a user in a media sharing system. In one embodiment, a local media collection of a user is aggregated with one or more shared media collections hosted by corresponding user devices of other users participating in the media sharing system to provide an aggregate media collection for the user. Via a Graphical User Interface (GUI), for each element of at least a subset of elements of the aggregate media collection, one or more source indicators are presented in association with the element to identify a source or sources of the element in the media sharing system. The elements of the aggregate media collection include at least a subset of media items in the aggregate media collection, playlists including media items from the aggregate media collection, or both. | 04-15-2010 |
20100094935 | COLLECTION DIGEST FOR A MEDIA SHARING SYSTEM - A system and method are disclosed for providing a collection digest summarizing a shared media collection for presentation to a user. In one embodiment, a user device of a user joins a media sharing system including the user device and one or more other users devices, each associated with a sharing user and hosting a shared media collection of the sharing user. The user device obtains a collection digest from at least one of the other user devices that summarizes the shared media collection hosted by the at least one of the other user devices and presents the collection digest to the user. The collection digest may be used to assist the user in determining whether to access the shared media collection. | 04-15-2010 |
20100145643 | USER-CONTROLLED APPLICATION-BASED POWER MANAGEMENT - A user-controlled application-based power management function is provided for a battery-operated device. In general, for each of a number of applications of the battery-operated device, a power management function enables a user of the battery-operated device to provide a usage parameter for the application defining a desired amount of usage of the application for each of one or more tasks. For each task, the power management function determines an estimated amount of battery life that is sufficient to provide the desired amount of usage of the application for the task and determines whether the estimated amount of battery life is available. If the estimated amount of battery life is available, the power management function allocates an amount of battery life corresponding to the estimated amount of battery life to the application for the task. | 06-10-2010 |
20100146135 | Protected distribution and location based aggregation service - A system for and method of per access-point streaming media customization and privacy protected feedback in a wireless network. The system is operative to: encrypt real time streamed media content from a streaming media source; multicast the streamed encrypted media content for availability to a user device for playback, the user device sending out unicast responses at the time of joining or dropping the multicast; aggregate the unicast responses in the form of a connect multicast state or a disconnect multicast state of the user device based on the joining or dropping of the multicast; and provide information back to the streaming media source based on the aggregated unicast responses. | 06-10-2010 |
20110040779 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TAGGING IMAGES BASED ON POSITIONAL INFORMATION - A system and method for suggesting keywords for tagging a digital image are provided. In general, a requesting node is communicatively coupled to a keyword service via a network. The requesting node sends a request to the keyword service requesting suggested keywords for a digital image. The request includes information relating to the digital image such as positional information. Based on the information, the keyword service generates a list of suggested keywords and provides the list of suggested keywords to the requesting node. At the requesting node, the list of suggested keywords is displayed to a user, and the user selects one or more of the suggested keywords for tagging the digital image. | 02-17-2011 |
20110314016 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TAGGING IMAGES BASED ON POSITIONAL INFORMATION - A system and method for suggesting keywords for tagging a digital image are provided. In general, a requesting node is communicatively coupled to a keyword service via a network. The requesting node sends a request to the keyword service requesting suggested keywords for a digital image. The request includes information relating to the digital image such as positional information. Based on the information, the keyword service generates a list of suggested keywords and provides the list of suggested keywords to the requesting node. At the requesting node, the list of suggested keywords is displayed to a user, and the user selects one or more of the suggested keywords for tagging the digital image. | 12-22-2011 |
20120023430 | ACTIVITY INDICATORS IN A MEDIA SHARING SYSTEM - A system and method are provided for generating and displaying one or more indicators indicative of a level of activity within a media sharing system. In one embodiment, with respect to a user participating in the media sharing system, an indicator representative of an activity level of a media collection shared by the user in the media sharing system may be generated and presented to the user. In addition or alternatively, indicators representative of activity levels of media collections shared by other users participating in the media sharing system may be generated and presented to the user. Still further, in addition or alternatively, indicators representative of activity levels with respect to playlists in the media sharing system may be generated and presented to the user. | 01-26-2012 |
20120041902 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ASSIGNING USER PREFERENCE SETTINGS FOR A CATEGORY, AND IN PARTICULAR A MEDIA CATEGORY - A system and method for assigning user preference settings for fields in a category using selected settings for only a subset of the media category fields is disclosed. A subset of fields for a media category is defined. A base setting for each field in the subset of the category fields is established. The base setting may be a weight or preference value. The base setting may be established by the user selecting a base setting or may be a default base setting. Once a user selects the settings for the subset of category fields, a set weight for the fields in the category not in the subset is determined using the base setting. That is possible because the fields in the subset of category fields are chosen from fields that contain aspects and attributes of the other fields. | 02-16-2012 |
20120042245 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SORTING MEDIA ITEMS IN A PLAYLIST ON A MEDIA DEVICE - A computer-implemented method and system are provided for sorting media items in a playlist on a media device that are ranked by score. One embodiment includes changing a user preference associated with a sort criteria selected by the user, wherein each of the media items includes a profile score that is calculated based on user preferences, and a replay score that affects replay of the corresponding media item; recalculating the profile score and the replay score of each of the media items; sorting the media items by the replay scores; and sorting the media items by the sort criteria indicated by a user. | 02-16-2012 |
20120064881 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR USING CELLULAR COMMUNICATION DEVICE AVAILABILITY INFORMATION TO PREDICT COVERAGE OVERLAP BETWEEN CALLERS - Disclosed herein are methods and systems for determining the availability of a communication device. According to embodiments, a method may include receiving, via a network, first availability information from a first communication device and receiving second availability information from a second communication device. The method further includes determining an estimate of common coverage by comparing the first availability information with the second availability information and transmitting the estimate of common coverage to at least one of the first communication device and the second communication device. | 03-15-2012 |
20120066488 | PROTECTED DISTRIBUTION AND LOCATION BASED AGGREGATION SERVICE - A system for and method of per access-point streaming media customization and privacy protected feedback in a wireless network. The system is operative to: encrypt real time streamed media content from a streaming media source; multicast the streamed encrypted media content for availability to a user device for playback, the user device sending out unicast responses at the time of joining or dropping the multicast; aggregate the unicast responses in the form of a connect multicast state or a disconnect multicast state of the user device based on the joining or dropping of the multicast; and provide information back to the streaming media source based on the aggregated unicast responses. | 03-15-2012 |
20120071996 | EMBEDDED MEDIA RECOMMENDATIONS - A system and method for embedding recommendations on a portable media player are provided. In general, recommendations for media presentations stored or to be stored on the portable media player are generated by a recommendation engine hosted by an external system such as, for example, a user's personal computer or a network server. In one embodiment, the media presentations are songs, and the recommendations include a number of recommended songs for each song stored or to be stored on the portable media player. The recommendations may be limited to the media presentations stored on the portable media player or otherwise accessible to the portable media player. After the recommendations are generated, the recommendations are stored, or embedded, on the portable media player. Thereafter, the portable media player may use the recommendations to facilitate playback of media content on the portable media player. | 03-22-2012 |
20120072418 | TUNERSPHERE - Systems and methods for providing representative information for a geographic area of interest are disclosed. In one embodiment, a media service tracks media interaction histories (e.g., play histories) for a number of users registered with the media service, where each media interaction history identifies media items interacted with by the corresponding user as well as the locations at which at least a subset of the media items were interacted with by the corresponding user. The media service receives a request from a requesting user for representative information for a geographic area of interest. In response to receiving the request, the media service determines representative information for the geographic area of interest based on at least a subset of the media interaction histories of the users and effects presentation of the representative information to the requesting user. | 03-22-2012 |
20120072610 | P2P REAL TIME MEDIA RECOMMENDATIONS - Systems and methods are described for providing peer-to-peer (P2P) media recommendations. In one embodiment, a central streaming media service operates to stream media presentations to user devices of users. For each user desiring to send and receive recommendations, each time a media presentation is streamed to and played by a user device of the user, the central media service provides a recommendation identifying the media presentation to one or more other users associated with the user. Similarly, the central media service provides media recommendations to the user from one or more other users. Once streaming and playback of the media presentation is complete or substantially complete, the central streaming media service automatically selects a next media presentation for the user from a group of media presentations including those identified by the recommendations provided to the user and begins streaming the next media presentation to the user device of the user. | 03-22-2012 |
20120072852 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING MUSIC CONTENT IN A P2P REAL TIME RECOMMENDATION NETWORK - A peer-to-peer (P2P) network for providing real time media recommendations is provided. The media recommendations may be song recommendations or video recommendations. Each time a media presentation is played by a peer device, the peer device provides a recommendation identifying the media presentation to other peer devices in the P2P network. A peer device having received recommendations from the other peer devices in the P2P network then programmatically, or automatically, selects a next media presentation to play from the media presentations recently played by the other peer devices and one or more locally stored media presentations. If the selected media presentation is not stored locally by the peer device, the peer device may obtain the selected media presentation from a subscription based service enabling streaming or download of the selected media presentation, an e-commerce service enabling purchase and download of the selected media presentation, or another peer device. | 03-22-2012 |
20120072996 | FACEMAIL - Systems and methods are disclosed for generating, sending, and delivering a message addressed using an image of an intended message recipient of the message. In one embodiment, a central server receives a message including an image of an intended message recipient from a first user device of a first user. The central server then identifies a second user as the intended message recipient based on the image of the intended message recipient. Then, before delivering the message, the central server obtains an image of a user at a second user device associated with the second user and sends the image to the first user device where the image is presented to the first user. Upon receiving authentication from the first user device that the user at the second user device is the intended message recipient, the central server delivers the message to the second user device of the second user. | 03-22-2012 |
20120078612 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR NAVIGATING ELECTRONIC TEXTS - Disclosed herein are systems and methods for navigating electronic texts. According to an aspect, a method may include determining text subgroups within an electronic text. The method may also include selecting a text seed within one of the text subgroups. Further, the method may include determining a similarity relationship between the text seed and one or more adjacent text subgroups that do not include the selected text seed. The method may also include associating the text seed with the one or more adjacent text subgroups based on the similarity relationship to create a text cluster. | 03-29-2012 |
20120078613 | METHOD, SYSTEM, AND COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM FOR GRAPHICALLY DISPLAYING RELATED TEXT IN AN ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT - Disclosed herein are systems and methods for navigating electronic texts. According to an aspect, a method may include receiving search criteria for searching an electronic text. Further, the method may include determining text subgroups within the electronic text. The method may also include determining, for each text subgroup, a similarity relationship between the search criteria and the text subgroup. Further, the method may include presenting, for each text subgroup, a graphic representing the similarity relationship between the text subgroup and the search criteria. | 03-29-2012 |
20120079372 | METHoD, SYSTEM, AND COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM FOR DETECTING RELATED SUBGROUPS OF TEXT IN AN ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT - Disclosed herein are systems and methods for navigating electronic texts. According to an aspect, a method may include determining that a user non-linearly navigates between text subgroups within electronic text. The method may also include linking the text subgroups in response to determining that the user non-linearly navigates between the text subgroups. Further, for example, text subgroups within an electronic text may be determined. In this example, a similarity relationship between content of each text subgroup and one or more other text subgroups may be determined for linking the text subgroups. | 03-29-2012 |
20120114312 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING THE AVAILABILITY OF A MEDIA CONTROLLER - Method and system for determining the availability of a media controller to record a program in the future. A media controller receives a request to schedule the recording of a program during a particular time slot. The media controller obtains an availability probability of the media controller during the time slot. The media controller determines, based on the availability probability, whether the media controller is available to record the program. The availability probability may be based on previous usage data that identifies previous usage associated with the media controller. | 05-10-2012 |
20120117103 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INTELLIGENT STORAGE OF TIME SHIFTED CONTENT - A media broker comprises a communication interface and a controller associated with the communication interface configured to receive a request from a user to record a requested media item. The media broker proceeds to query an aggregated stored content list (ASCL) including information indicative of each of the media items stored on one or more media storage device communicatively coupled to the media broker to determine if the requested media item is stored on the one or more media storage devices. If it is determined that the requested media item is stored on the one or more media storage devices the user that requested the media item is informed and the media item is stored on the one or more media storage devices. Conversely, if it is determined that the requested media item is not stored on the one or more media storage devices, the requested media item is recorded. | 05-10-2012 |
20120117110 | DYNAMIC LOCATION-BASED MEDIA COLLECTION AGGREGATION - A cloud-based media aggregation system that aggregates media collections of geographically proximate users is disclosed. In one embodiment, the media aggregation system determines that a first user and one or more second users are geographically proximate to one another. In response, the media aggregation system dynamically aggregates at least a portion of media collection catalogs of the one or more second users with a media collection catalog of the first user to provide an aggregate media collection catalog of the first user. The media aggregation system may control an extent of the aggregation based on pre-defined criteria. | 05-10-2012 |
20120117146 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AGGREGATING MUSIC IN THE CLOUD - Cloud-based systems and methods for aggregating media collections of users are disclosed. In one embodiment, in order to generate an aggregate media collection catalog of a first user, a cloud-based media aggregation system identifies one or more second users that have an identifier that is the same as an identifier of the first user for purposes of media collection aggregation. The media aggregation system then aggregates media collection catalogs of the one or more second users with a media collection catalog of the first user to thereby provide an aggregate media collection catalog of the first user. | 05-10-2012 |
20120117339 | FLEXIBLE CONTENT STORAGE MANAGEMENT FOR DVRS - A media broker comprises a communication interface and a controller associated with the communication interface configured to receive a request from a user to record a requested media item. The media broker proceeds to query an aggregated stored content list (ASCL) including information indicative of each of the media items stored on one or more media storage device communicatively coupled to the media broker to determine if the requested media item is stored on the one or more media storage devices. If it is determined that the requested media item is stored on the one or more media storage devices the user that requested the media item is informed and the media item is stored on the one or more media storage devices. Conversely, if it is determined that the requested media item is not stored on the one or more media storage devices, the requested media item is recorded. | 05-10-2012 |
20120117471 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AGGREGATING DEVICES FOR INTUITIVE BROWSING - A media device includes a communication interface communicatively coupling the media device to one or more other media devices and a display, and a controller associated with the communication interface. The controller is adapted to access one or more templates comprising a layout of a graphical user interface (GUI). The controller further identifies one or more other media devices from which media content may be streamed and one or more media content streams available from each of the one or more media devices and determine, based upon the template and the one or more media content streams, at least one of the media content streams to display. The controller then acquires and outputs the at least one of the media content streams for display in accordance with the layout. | 05-10-2012 |
20120117595 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING INFORMATION FROM A PROGRAM GUIDE - A method for displaying data from a program guide. Based on program metadata from a program guide, a display is caused to be presented on a display device that identifies a current status of a first media controller and a second media controller. The current status includes data identifying a first program currently being provided by the first media controller and a second program currently being provided by a second media controller. | 05-10-2012 |
20120117598 | MERGED PROGRAM GUIDE - A merged program guide which includes program metadata from a plurality of different media controllers. A first media controller receives program metadata that identifies a first plurality of programs. The first plurality of programs corresponds to a first content package provided by a content provider. A first program record identifying a first program of the first plurality of programs is generated. The first program record includes first program metadata associated with the first program. The first program metadata is transmitted onto a network to make the first program metadata available to a second media controller. The first media controller receives second program metadata associated with a second program of a second plurality of programs which correspond to a second content package associated with the second media controller. The first program metadata and the second program metadata are stored in a program guide on the first media controller. | 05-10-2012 |
20120123830 | USER GENERATED PHOTO ADS USED AS STATUS UPDATES - Systems and methods are disclosed for generating and utilizing photo advertisements (“ads”). In one embodiment, a photo advertisement is posted as a status update for a user via a social networking service. More specifically, first, one or more photo ad templates are obtained for the user, where each photo ad template includes one or more photo wells. A photo advertisement is then generated based on one of the photo ad templates such that a filler image of a different one of one or more participants identified for the photo advertisement is inserted into each of the one or more photo wells in the photo ad template. The photo advertisement is then used as a status update for the user. In another embodiment, the photo advertisement is stored and subsequently used to serve ad requests. | 05-17-2012 |
20120123871 | SERVING AD REQUESTS USING USER GENERATED PHOTO ADS - Systems and methods are disclosed for generating and utilizing photo advertisements (“ads”). In one embodiment, a computer server obtains and stores user-created photo advertisements. Each of the user-created photo advertisements is generated based on a corresponding photo ad template having one or more photo wells such that filler images of one or more participants are inserted into the one or more photo wells. For each user-created photo advertisement, the one or more participants include at least a user by which the photo advertisement was created. In addition, the computer server effects use of the stored user-created photo advertisements as sponsored advertisements. | 05-17-2012 |
20120123875 | USER GENERATED ADS BASED ON CHECK-INS - Systems and methods are disclosed for generating and utilizing photo advertisements (“ads”). In one embodiment, a photo check-in process is performed for a user located within a geographic check-in zone which results in a photo advertisement that is utilized as a photo check-in for the user. In another embodiment, a photo advertisement is posted as a status update for a user via a social networking service. In another embodiment, photo advertisements are created by users and stored for subsequent use in serving ad requests. | 05-17-2012 |
20120124176 | AUTOMATIC CHECK-INS AND STATUS UPDATES - A system and method are disclosed for performing automatic check-ins and/or generating and sending automatic status updates based on social context. As used herein, a social context of a user is generally any data that describes a location at which the user is currently located or users that are spatially proximate to the user. | 05-17-2012 |
20120143956 | MAINTAINING A MINIMUM LEVEL OF REAL TIME MEDIA RECOMMENDATIONS IN THE ABSENCE OF ONLINE FRIENDS - The present invention provides a peer-to-peer (P2P) network for providing real time media recommendations. The P2P network includes a central server interconnecting a number of peer devices. In operation, a proxy function of the central server receives media recommendations from one or more peer devices that are active and online as media presentations identified by the media recommendations are played by the peer devices. The one or more peer devices are included in a group of peer devices associated with a first peer device. The proxy function provides the media recommendations to the first peer device. An augmentation function of the central server monitors a recommendation level of the first peer device. If the recommendation level falls below a minimum recommendation level, the augmentation function augments the media recommendations provided to the first peer device to increase the recommendation level to or above the minimum recommendation level. | 06-07-2012 |
20120203871 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OBTAINING MEDIA CONTENT FOR A PORTABLE MEDIA PLAYER - A system and method are provided for enabling a portable media player to obtain media content from secondary systems, such as other portable media players, via local wireless communication. In general, the portable media player stores proxy information identifying the media content of a number of media files in the user's media collection rather than the media files themselves. When a secondary system is within a local wireless coverage area of the portable media player, the proxy information for the media files, or a subset thereof, is provided to the secondary system. In response, the secondary system identifies media files stored by the secondary system having media content matching the media content identified by the proxy information. The secondary system then provides a notification of the identified media files to the portable media player, which may then obtain the identified media files from the secondary system. | 08-09-2012 |
20120208559 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR OBTAINING DESTINATION INFORMATION FROM PROXIMATE DEVICES BASED ON TIME AND HEADING INFORMATION - Methods and systems of operating a personal navigation device (PND) are disclosed. In particular, the methods and systems allow for the PND to obtain location data for each of one or more destinations from a destination source device over a wireless network link. In one embodiment, the destination source device is a server computer on a network or a mobile communications device (MCD) that is in proximity with the PND. | 08-16-2012 |
20120209910 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR USING RELATIONSHIP INFORMATION FROM A SOCIAL NETWORK TO ENABLE MOBILE DEVICE COMMUNICATIONS IN A PRIVACY ENHANCED NETWORK - This disclosure relates to systems and methods of operating a mobile communications device (MCD) associated with a user utilizing social relationships defined on a social network. In one embodiment, the MCD detects other MCDs that are in proximity with the MCD. A determination may then be made that indicates which of the users associated with the other MCDs have a defined affinity with the user of the MCD on the social network. As a result of the determination, the MCD may then communicate over wireless local area networking links with the other MCDs. | 08-16-2012 |
20120210250 | OBTAINING AND DISPLAYING RELEVANT STATUS UPDATES FOR PRESENTATION DURING PLAYBACK OF A MEDIA CONTENT STREAM BASED ON CROWDS - Systems and methods are provided for obtaining status updates relevant to a segment of a media content stream for presentation during playback. In general, a status updating service collects status updates sent by users via corresponding mobile devices of the users. A media playback device of a user receives a media content stream and obtains data defining a time of capture and, in some embodiments, a location of capture of a segment of the media content stream. Either prior to or during playback of the media content stream, the media playback device obtains status updates that are relevant to the segment of the media content stream directly or indirectly from the status updating service. The media playback device then presents the relevant status updates, or at least a subset thereof, during playback of the media content stream and preferably during playback of the segment of the media content stream. | 08-16-2012 |
20120252418 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED PROXIMITY-BASED SOCIAL CHECK-INS - Systems and methods for performing automatic social check-ins are disclosed. In one embodiment, in response to physical proximity between a user device and a venue-operated device located at a venue, an automatic check-in process is performed on behalf of a user of the user device. In one embodiment, the automatic check-in process is performed by first determining whether to perform an automatic check-in for the user of the user device at the venue based on one or more predefined automatic check-in rules and a user context and/or venue data that describes the venue. Upon determining that an automatic check-in is to be performed, a check-in for the user of the user device is performed to check the user into the venue via one or more check-in services. | 10-04-2012 |
20120278393 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AGGREGATING MEDIA COLLECTIONS BETWEEN PARTICIPANTS OF A SHARING NETWORK - Systems and methods are provided for aggregating a local media collection of a user with one or more shared media collections shared with the user to provide an aggregate media collection for the user. In general, one or more shared media collections shared with the user are first discovered. Optionally, the user may select one or more of the shared media collections for aggregation with the local media collection of the user. The shared media collections selected by the user, or alternatively all of the shared media collections, are then aggregated with the local media collection of the user to provide an aggregate media collection for the user. | 11-01-2012 |
20130013626 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR GENERATING MEDIA RECOMMENDATIONS IN A DISTRIBUTED ENVIRONMENT BASED ON TAGGING PLAY HISTORY INFORMATION WITH LOCATION INFORMATION - A computer-implemented method and system are provided for generating media recommendations in a media recommendation network. Aspects of the method and system include receiving by a server a plurality of play histories of media items from a plurality of users of devices, wherein at least a portion of the media items are tagged with corresponding time and location data indicating a time and location of play; receiving by the server a media recommendation request from a requester, including receiving seed information indicating a current location of the requester; using at least one of user preferences of the requester and the seed information to identify correlated users from which to search corresponding play histories from among the plurality of play histories; comparing the seed information to the corresponding play histories and generating a list of related media items contained therein; and returning the list of related media items to the requester. | 01-10-2013 |
20130018961 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR COLLECTING INFORMATION ABOUT A USER'S MEDIA COLLECTIONS FROM MULTIPLE LOGIN POINTS - Collecting information about a user's media collections at a central location from multiple login points and/or multiple devices owned by the user is disclosed herein. The user establishes a user account at a central server. A client application may be downloaded to the user's device for establishing a connection to the central server. Subsequently, each time the user logs in to the central server, the central server receives a unique machine identifier for the connected and currently in-use user device. The central server receives information about the user's media collection from the user device and stores that media collection by its MID under the user's individual account. The central server obtains and stores information about all the user's media collections owned by user devices connected and in-use and previously connected to the central server rather than only having knowledge of the media collection stored on the currently in-use user device. | 01-17-2013 |
20130036022 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING PURCHASED MEDIA - An archiving system is provided for archiving a user's media collection and refining recommendations made to the user by an e-commerce service, such as an e-commerce website, based on the archive of the user's media collection. In general, a central archiving system interacts with a user system to archive a user's media collection. Thereafter, while the user is interacting with the e-commerce service, a list of recommended media for the user is generated and provided to the archiving system. The archiving system refines the list based on the archive of the user's media collection. Optionally, the list of recommended media may be further refined based on a user profile and play history of the user. The refined list of recommended media is returned to the e-commerce service and presented to the user. | 02-07-2013 |
20130042305 | FACEMAIL - Systems and methods are disclosed for generating, sending, and delivering a message addressed using an image of an intended message recipient of the message. In one embodiment, a central server receives a message including an image of an intended message recipient from a first user device of a first user. The central server then identifies a second user as the intended message recipient based on the image of the intended message recipient. Then, before delivering the message, the central server obtains an image of a user at a second user device associated with the second user and sends the image to the first user device where the image is presented to the first user. Upon receiving authentication from the first user device that the user at the second user device is the intended message recipient, the central server delivers the message to the second user device of the second user. | 02-14-2013 |
20130046755 | TUNERSPHERE - Systems and methods for providing representative information for a geographic area of interest are disclosed. In one embodiment, a media service tracks media interaction histories (e.g., play histories) for a number of users registered with the media service, where each media interaction history identifies media items interacted with by the corresponding user as well as the locations at which at least a subset of the media items were interacted with by the corresponding user. The media service receives a request from a requesting user for representative information for a geographic area of interest. In response to receiving the request, the media service determines representative information for the geographic area of interest based on at least a subset of the media interaction histories of the users and effects presentation of the representative information to the requesting user. | 02-21-2013 |
20130097282 | Graphical User Interface System For Allowing Management Of A Media Item Playlist Based On A Preference Scoring System - Media management graphical user interfaces (GUIs) are disclosed herein. For example a media management GUI method is disclosed. A media item playlist for managing a plurality of media items is presented. The media item playlist includes information associated with the media items. The information includes score information representing a score for at least one of the plurality of media items. The score is based on at least one preference associated with the at least one of the plurality of media items. A first selector is presented; the first selector is operable to establish a first threshold score. The first threshold score is received. A media item is automatically downloaded if the score associated with the media item is at least as high as the first threshold score. | 04-18-2013 |
20130218970 | Method And System For Populating A Content Repository For An Internet Radio Service Based On A Recommendation Network - A computer-implemented method, system and computer readable medium storing software are provided for operating a media service based on a media recommendation network comprising a plurality of devices. Aspects of the method and system include receiving a recommendation of a media item from one of the plurality of devices for a media item that is intended for a recipient; determining if the media item is present in the content repository; requesting, in response to determining that the media item is not present in the content repository, upload of the media item; and storing, in response to the media item being uploaded, the media item in the content repository. | 08-22-2013 |
20130283036 | Protected Distribution And Location Based Aggregation Service - A system for and method of per access-point streaming media customization and privacy protected feedback in a wireless network. The system is operative to: encrypt real time streamed media content from a streaming media source; multicast the streamed encrypted media content for availability to a user device for playback, the user device sending out unicast responses at the time of joining or dropping the multicast; aggregate the unicast responses in the form of a connect multicast state or a disconnect multicast state of the user device based on the joining or dropping of the multicast; and provide information back to the streaming media source based on the aggregated unicast responses. | 10-24-2013 |
20130290483 | Customized Content Delivery Based On Geographic Area - Methods and systems are disclosed for obtaining information defining a plurality of geographic shapes, each geographic shape corresponding to an approximate geographic outline of a respective geographic area and being assigned an importance level. A request is received from a requestor. One or more of geographic shapes in which the requestor is located is determined. One or more content items are selected based on the importance level assigned to the one or more geographic shapes in which the requestor is located. When a requestor is located in two or more geographic shapes, the one or more content items are selected based on a comparison of importance levels for the geographic shapes. Delivery of the one or more content items to the requestor is effected. | 10-31-2013 |
20130311457 | PRUNING A MEDIA COLLECTION - Systems and methods are provided for aggregating a local media collection of a user with one or more shared media collections shared with the user to provide an aggregate media collection for the user. In general, one or more shared media collections shared with the user are first discovered. Optionally, the user may select one or more of the shared media collections for aggregation with the local media collection of the user. The shared media collections selected by the user, or alternatively all of the shared media collections, are then aggregated with the local media collection of the user to provide an aggregate media collection for the user. The aggregate media collection of the user may then be pruned or filtered based on user preferences of the user. | 11-21-2013 |
20130346220 | User Generated Photo Ads Used As Status Updates - Systems and methods are disclosed for generating and utilizing photo advertisements (“ads”). In one embodiment, a photo advertisement is posted as a status update for a user via a social networking service. A plurality of filler images representing one or more participants is associated with a photo ad template having one or more photo wells. A photo advertisement based on the photo ad template is generated by an electronic device such that the associated plurality of filler images are inserted into the one or more photo wells in the photo ad template. A status update that includes the photo advertisement for presentation with the status update is initiated responsive to generating the photo advertisement. | 12-26-2013 |
20140059431 | Turnersphere - Systems and methods for presenting information identifying a media item associated with a geographic area are disclosed. In one embodiment, a user device comprises a media player adapted to interact with a media item. The user device comprises a communication interface adapted to provide media item information identifying the media item, and to provide location information identifying a geographic location associated with the user device at which the media item was interacted with. The user device comprises a location determination component adapted to receive an identification of a geographic area. The communication interface is further adapted to receive information that identifies a second media item, wherein location information associated with the second media item is associated with the identified geographic area. The user device further comprises a user interface adapted to present, via the user device, the information that identifies the second media item. | 02-27-2014 |
20140082499 | Heavy Influencer Media Recommendations - A system and method for providing media recommendations, such as music recommendations, based on information identifying media recently played by a select group of heavy influencers for a subscription fee are provided. The group of heavy influencers may be a group of one or more celebrities or other persons whose media selections may heavily influence media selections of the users of the system. | 03-20-2014 |
20140297752 | Device For Participating In A Network For Sharing Media Consumption Activity - A device and server for participating in a network for sharing media consumption activity is disclosed. For example, the device receives information identifying a media item as a result of playing the media item on a second user device associated with a friend of the plurality of friends and the friend of a plurality of friends. The device presents information identifying the media item selected for play on the second user device and the friend associated with the second user device and identifying a plurality of other media items and a subset of the plurality of friends. The device obtains a selection of a second media item for play, the second media item, and initiates play of the media item. The device provides, as a result of playing the second media item, information identifying the second media item and the user for sharing with the plurality of friends of the user. | 10-02-2014 |
20140337298 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CONSTRUCTING AND PRESENTING A CONSUMPTION PROFILE FOR A MEDIA ITEM - A server and device for constructing and presenting a consumption profile for a media item are provided. In general, consumption of a media item by a number of first users is tracked. Thereafter, before and/or during playback of the media item by a second user, a consumption profile for the media item is constructed and presented to the second user. | 11-13-2014 |
20140351249 | Method And System For Visually Indicating A Replay Status Of Media Items On A Media Device - A device is provided for visually indicating a replay status of media items on a media device. Aspects of the device include displaying in a graphical user interface (GUI) of the media device a representation of a first media item; displaying a profile score of the first media item that is based on user preferences; and displaying a replay score for the first media item that affects replay of the first media item. | 11-27-2014 |
20150019581 | Selecting Friends In A Network Of Friends Loosely Coupled To A Subscription Service - A server and method are provided for suggesting a friend in a network of friends. In general, a user profile of a user of a user device is compared to user profiles of other users of a plurality of user devices that are also subscribers of subscription media services. A media collection of the user of the user device is compared to media collections of the other users that are also subscribers of subscription media services. One of the users of the other ones of the plurality of user devices having a user profile that has a high correlation to the user profile of the user of the first user device and a media collection that has a low correlation to the media collection of the user of the first user device is selected as the new friend for the user of the user device | 01-15-2015 |
20150019636 | Method And System For Aggregating Media Collections Between Participants Of A Sharing Network - Systems and methods are provided for aggregating a local media collection of a user with one or more shared media collections shared with the user to provide an aggregate media collection for the user. In general, media collection information of a plurality of shared media collections from a plurality of second client devices are obtained. Media collection information identifying media items from at least one of the plurality of shared media collections and a local media collection of a first user are processed. An aggregated media collection based on the processed media collection information is provided where the aggregated media collection comprises a primary list including a media item entry for each unique media item. | 01-15-2015 |