| Patent application number | Description | Published |
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| 20090037822 | CONTEXT-AWARE SHARED CONTENT REPRESENTATIONS - Systems and methods for providing context-aware content representations are disclosed. In general, the context-aware content representations are visual representations presented in association with a content representation host representative of a user or, alternatively, some other entity. The context-aware content representations are indicative of content made accessible by the user or of interest to the user and are additionally influenced by context. The context may be, for example, topics of social interactions such as text-based or voice-based conversations, device information descriptive of a device on which the accessible content is stored or through which the content is accessible, physical location, location within a virtual world, content access information related to content accessed by the user or entity represented by the content representation host or accessed by another user through the content representation host, or the like. | 02-05-2009 |
| 20090164199 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SIMULATING RECOMMENDATIONS IN A SOCIAL NETWORK FOR AN OFFLINE USER - A method and system are provided for simulating recommendations for unavailable users in a social media recommendation network. In general, the social media recommendation network is formed such that each user in the social media recommendation network sends and receives recommendations from their friends. When one of the users in the social media recommendation network is unavailable, a recommendation simulator operates to simulate recommendations from the unavailable user. When the user once again becomes available, the recommendation simulator ceases simulation of recommendations from the user. | 06-25-2009 |
| 20090240732 | ACTIVE PLAYLIST HAVING DYNAMIC MEDIA ITEM GROUPS - Systems and methods are provided for creation and management of an active playlist having dynamic media item groups. In general, a number of media items to be used for the active playlist are first identified and classified into one or more media item groups based on a primary criterion and, optionally, one or more secondary criteria to provide an underlying pool of media items for the active playlist. The active playlist is then populated with media items from the underlying pool of media items. More specifically, the active playlist is divided into media item groups corresponding to those in the underlying pool of media items. Each media item group in the active playlist is populated with a predefined number of the media items in the corresponding media item group in the underlying pool of media items. Thereafter, the media items in the media item groups of the active playlist are dynamically updated based on user interactions. | 09-24-2009 |
| 20100010997 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR RESCORING A PLAYLIST - A method and system are provided for rescoring media items in a playlist in response to associated user events. In one embodiment, media items in a playlist are scored based on user preferences of an associated user, and the playlist is sorted based on the scores of the media items. At some point during playback of the media items in the playlist, a user event is detected. In response to detecting the user event, a reason for the user event is determined. Then, matching media items in the playlist are rescored, and the playlist is resorted. The matching media items are media items that match, at least to some degree, the media item with respect to which the user event occurred in light of the reason for the user event. | 01-14-2010 |
| 20100017261 | EXPERT SYSTEM AND SERVICE FOR LOCATION-BASED CONTENT INFLUENCE FOR NARROWCAST - A method and system are provided for influencing media playback by target users in a defined geographic area in order to create social groups for targeted advertising. In one embodiment, an expert system receives input from an advertisement agency defining a geographic area of interest and an advertisement strategy for the geographic area of interest. The expert system then influences media playback by target users located within the geographic area of interest in a manner that influences creation of one or more social groups centered around media playback and satisfying the advertisement strategy for the geographic area of interest. When there is convergence between a social group created via the influence of the expert system and the advertisement strategy, the expert system notifies one or more advertisement systems, which, in response, present targeted advertisements to the target users forming the social group. | 01-21-2010 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 20100124892 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INTERNET RADIO STATION PROGRAM DISCOVERY - An Internet radio station program discovery service is provided. In general, the discovery service subscribes to or downloads a number of Internet radio station programs. For each radio station program, the discovery service analyzes audio content of the radio station program to dynamically categorize the radio station program over time. The discovery service also enables users to discover radio station programs of interest based on the dynamic categorizations of the radio station programs. The users may be enabled to search for radio station programs of interest based on the dynamic categorizations of the radio station programs, navigate or browse the radio station programs based on the dynamic categorizations of the radio station programs, or the like. | 05-20-2010 |
| 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 |
| 20100146398 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ON-DEMAND NARRATION OF A CUSTOMIZED STORY - A method and apparatus for on-demand narration of a customized story. A user indicates a desire via a user device to listen to a narrated customized story. A story service receives personalization information relating to the user associated with the user device, and obtains localization information relating to information associated with a location of the user device. A customized story is generated based on the personalization information and the localization information, and is narrated to the user device. | 06-10-2010 |
| 20100198862 | HANDLING CROWD REQUESTS FOR LARGE GEOGRAPHIC AREAS - A system and method are provided for processing a request for crowd data for a large geographic area. In one embodiment, a central system, which includes one or more servers, operates to obtain current locations for users of mobile devices and form crowds of three or more users based on the current locations of the users. In order to provide access to crowd data for crowds for a large geographic area, the central system receives a request for crowd data from a requesting device, establishes a bounding region for the request, and identifies one or more starting points within the bounding region for the request. Crowds are identified, crowd data for the crowds is generated, and the crowd data is returned to the requesting device in an iterative manner for a series of two or more outwardly radiating, concentric geographic regions centered at the one or more starting points. | 08-05-2010 |
| 20100280835 | DYNAMIC RADIO CLIENT - This disclosure relates to enabling a potential participant to define preferences for a talk radio program. In one embodiment, via a radio client, a potential participant defines preferences for a talk radio program wherein the preferences include at least a topic of interest and a semantic relevance. In one embodiment, the participant preferences also include a time availability indicating when the potential participant is available to participate in the talk radio program. The radio client sends the preferences to a talk radio program service. When a talk radio program satisfying the preferences of the potential participant is scheduled or otherwise available, the talk radio program service notifies the potential participant. A topic of the talk radio program is semantically related to the topic of interest of the potential participant to at least a degree defined by the semantic relevance. | 11-04-2010 |
| 20100332298 | SYNCHRONIZING MULTIPLE PLAYBACK DEVICE TIMING UTILIZING DRM ENCODING - A system and method are provided for synchronizing playback of media content on multiple playback devices utilizing Digital Rights Management (DRM) encoding. In general, multiple playback devices or users of those playback devices are associated to form a virtual group. A virtual group (VG) control function operates to synchronize advertisement (ad) slots within media content provided to the playback devices in the virtual group utilizing DRM encoding. | 12-30-2010 |
| 20110035449 | METHODS, SYSTEMS, AND PRODUCTS FOR SEARCHING SOCIAL NETWORKS - Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for searching social networks. A device is encountered that sends a query. The query comprises a search packet. A content search is performed according to a query parameter described by the search packet. The content search is then repeatedly performed according to a duration parameter described by the search packet. | 02-10-2011 |
| 20110125989 | COLLABORATIVE CONFIGURATION OF A MEDIA ENVIRONMENT - A system and method for collaboratively providing configurations for a media environment are provided. In general, configuration events from a number of media environments are collected and provided to a Collaborative Configuration System (CCS) server. Based on the configuration events, the CCS server generates and provides recommended configurations to a media environment. The recommended configurations may be generated prior to or after receiving a request for recommended configurations from the media environment. In one embodiment, the recommended configurations are provided as a recommended configuration profile providing a set of configurations to be applied at the media environment. In another embodiment, the recommended configurations are provided as a CCS track associated with a particular media presentation. The CCS track includes configuration changes to be applied to the media environment for a number of time slices of the media presentation during playback of the media presentation. | 05-26-2011 |
