| Patent application number | Description | Published |
|---|
| 20080306817 | Methods and Systems of Presenting Advertisements in Consumer-Defined Environments - Targeted or other advertising may comprise one or more advertisements presented in a virtual world environment constructed according to consumer parameters, with the advertisements presented according to rules, scripts, or other parameters defined by the advertiser(s). For instance, one or more consumer computing device(s) can access data defining a brand name, logo, and/or message and can access data defining consumer preferences for the context in which advertisements are to be presented. For example, the context may vary according to viewer identity, programming content, time of day, and the like. Then, the consumer computing device(s) can render a virtual world based on the consumer preferences with the virtual world also comprising the advertisement(s) generated based on advertiser definitions. | 12-11-2008 |
| 20080307066 | Systems and Methods of Providing Collaborative Consumer-Controlled Advertising Environments - Targeted or other advertising may comprise one or more advertisements presented to multiple users in a virtual world environment such that participating users can interact with one another and/or with executed advertisements. Groups of users may be invited to participate in collaborative virtual world environments based on consumer contact lists or profiles establishing matching preferences for such groups. Synchronized data may be narrowcasted or broadcasted to invited users. Such data may define one or more virtual world environments as well as traditional and/or virtual world advertisements for execution in the shared environment(s). Advertisements may be selected based on one or more consumer preferences associated with one or more of the users participating in the shared virtual world environment. | 12-11-2008 |
| 20090156160 | LOW-THREAT RESPONSE SERVICE FOR MOBILE DEVICE USERS - A friends-based low-threat response service for subscribers in one or more mobile communications networks is provided. In general, in a low-threat situation, a subscriber initiates a request to the low-threat response service via the subscriber's mobile device. The low-threat response service identifies a friend of the subscriber or a friend-of-a-friend of the subscriber that is geographically proximate to the subscriber as a responder. The low-threat response service then establishes communication between the subscriber and the responder or notifies the subscriber that the responder is coming to provide assistance. The low-threat response service may also effect presentation of information at a mobile device of the responder directing the responder to the subscriber, information at the mobile device of the subscriber directing the subscriber to the responder, or both. | 06-18-2009 |
| 20090265737 | PUBLISHING KEY FRAMES OF A VIDEO CONTENT ITEM BEING VIEWED BY A FIRST USER TO ONE OR MORE SECOND USERS - Systems and methods for obtaining key frames of video content items being viewed by first users and publishing the key frames of the video content items to second users are provided. In general, either prior to playback of a video content item by a first user or during playback of the video content item by the first user, key frame information providing, referencing, or identifying key frames of the video content item is obtained. Each key frame is representative of a segment of the video content item. The key frame information for the video content item is then published such that each key frame is presented to one or more second users while the first user views the corresponding segment of the video content item. | 10-22-2009 |
| 20100015991 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CALLING A GEOSOC - A system and method are provided for facilitating communication between a first user and a second user that is in a social network of a user of interest to the first user and located at or near a location at which the user of interest is located or believed to be located. In general, the first user identifies a user of interest and a location at which the user of interest is located or is believed to be located. A number of other users that are in a social network of the user of interest and located in a geographic area of interest corresponding to the specified location or a geographic area about and including the specified location are identified. Communication is then facilitated between the first user and one or more of the identified users. | 01-21-2010 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 20100082488 | PROVIDING A RADIO STATION AT A USER DEVICE USING PREVIOUSLY OBTAINED DRM LOCKED CONTENT - A system and method are disclosed for providing a radio station for playback at a user device using previously obtained Digital Rights Management (DRM) locked content for the radio station. In one embodiment, a radio station application and DRM locked content to be used by the radio station application are downloaded to a user device, which is preferably a mobile user device. The DRM locked content includes a number of DRM locked songs that may be used for the radio station. Thereafter, the radio station application obtains a playlist for the radio station, where the playlist for the radio station includes at least a subset of the DRM locked content provided to the user device for the radio station. Playback of the playlist for the radio station is then provided at the user device, and playback is reported to a remote service for royalty tracking. | 04-01-2010 |
| 20100125887 | METHOD AND SYSTEM TO INFLUENCE A VIEWER TO SELECT A FEED - A method and apparatus for influencing a viewer to select a second feed. A shared medium is loaded beyond a loading threshold. One or more high viewership feeds being provided over the shared medium are designated preferred feeds, and one or more user devices providing low viewership feeds to viewers are designated candidate user devices. The candidate user devices are instructed to influence their respective viewers to select one of the high viewership feeds. The candidate user devices select a second feed from one or more preferred feeds, and provide information pertaining to the second feed to the viewer. | 05-20-2010 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
