System and method for social interaction about content items such as movies

• US 10,390,090 B2
• Filed: 12/23/2011
• Issued: 08/20/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Pictures Technologies Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Berger, Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Tokuta, Shean
• Application Number:
  US13/336,417
• Publication Number:
  US 20120173625A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,797 Days
• Field of Search: 725 46, 725 38, 725133, 725116, 725109, 709229, 709223, 709217, 709215, 709208, 709206, 709224, 707749, 705 59, 705 51, 705 35, 705319, 705 1449
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/466 Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies services using the results of monitoring in broadcast systems H04H60/61
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4756 for rating content, e.g. scoring a recommended movie
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4784 receiving rewards
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for sharing movie information online. In one implementation, the user of an online movie service can share information about the contents of a library or other such rights locker, e.g., under Ultraviolet™ and DECE. Users may also share likes and dislikes. The movie service may make suggestions based on the contents of the user'"'"'s library and the contents of other user'"'"'s libraries, such as those of the user'"'"'s designated friends. A user can become a follower or fan of another user and receive recommendations based on the target user'"'"'s profile or specific recommendations made by the target. The user can receive a credit on their account or on a related account when another user makes a purchase that is attributable to that user, e.g., from a recommendation. A user may be designated as an influencer when followed by a sufficient number of other users.

Claims

1. A method of sharing information about a content item associated with a user account with a rights administrator service, comprising:

creating a taste profile associated with the user account of a user, the taste profile based on the user account and on population data of the rights administrator service, the population data being trend data toward a particular content item and being limited to a demographic group with which the user is associated;

creating a virtual club based on one or more user accounts, each user account associated with a user library, each user library having one or more content items therein, the virtual club formed based on user libraries having a similarity in metadata associated with the content items therein, the virtual club formed based also on user preferences with respect to content items and the taste profile associated with the user account;

displaying one or more recommended entries pertaining to one or more respective content items in a user library associated with a user account, the user library associated with the rights administrator service, the displayed entries recommended based at least on the created taste profile;

receiving a selection of a displayed item for sharing; and

posting an entry associated with the selected item to a social networking module associated with the rights administrator service.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the rights administrator service is associated with one or more content providers.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the posted entry includes information about the user account or includes a link to a clip of the content item pertaining to the selected entry.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the content item pertaining to the selected entry is associated with the user library on the rights administrator service, and further comprising providing one or more recommendations of additional content items to the user based on the user library.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the social networking module includes information about:

a friends list associated with the user account, the friends list including a list of friends, each having respective user accounts, at least one of the user accounts on the friends list associated with a respective friend'"'"'s library on the rights administrator service;

or about an influencer account having an influencer library, and further comprising providing one or more recommendations of additional content items based on the friend'"'"'s library or influencer library.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising providing one or more recommendations of additional content items to users not associated with the user account.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the posted entry is selectable by a viewer of the rights administrator service, and further comprising selecting the posted entry, transacting a product or service associated with the content item pertaining to the selected entry, and providing a credit to the user account or to an account associated with the user account.

8. A non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising instructions for causing a computing machine to perform a method comprising the following steps:

creating a taste profile associated with the user account of a user, the taste profile based on the user account and on population data of the rights administrator service, the population data being trend data toward a content item and being limited to a demographic group with which a user is associated;

creating a virtual club based on one or more user accounts, each user account associated with a user library, each user library having one or more content items therein, the virtual club formed based on user libraries having a similarity in metadata associated with the content items therein, the virtual club formed based also on user preferences with respect to content items and the taste profile associated with the user account;

displaying one or more recommended entries pertaining to one or more respective content items in a user library associated with a user account, the user library associated with the rights administrator service, the displayed entries recommended based at least on the created taste profile;

receiving a selection of a displayed item for sharing; and

posting an entry associated with the selected item to a social networking module associated with the rights administrator service.

9. A method of sharing information about a content item associated with a rights administrator service, comprising:

receiving a feed from a rights administrator service, the feed including information about a selected content item and the feed further including tags compliant with an API exposed by a server operated by a social networking site, wherein the content item is part of a user library associated with a user account with the rights administrator service;

incorporating the feed within an application on the social networking site or as an entry on one or more pages associated with a user account on the social networking site as native social networking content;

designating a user account as an influencer account, once the user account has achieved a predetermined threshold number of fans, followers, or friends, or combinations of these; and

providing and displaying a recommended content item, the providing and displaying based on a combination of the selected content item, a content item associated with the influencer account, and one or more of the following;

data regarding the population of the rights administrator service, and data regarding the library of a friend of the user, wherein the friend is not the influencer.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising configuring the one or more pages, or the application, to implement one or more native social networking features.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more native social networking features include one or more of:

posting a comment, link, or content item.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising providing one or more recommendations of additional content items based on the user library on the rights administrator service or based on the user library on the social networking site, or both.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the social networking site includes information about a friends list associated with the user account, entries on the friends list associated with respective friend'"'"'s libraries on the social networking site or rights administrator service and further comprising providing one or more recommendations of additional content items based on the friend'"'"'s library on the social networking site or rights administrator service.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising receiving data from an external site, and wherein the providing one or more recommendations further comprises basing the recommendations at least in part on the external site data.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the entry is selectable by a viewer of the social networking site, and further comprising selecting the entry, transacting a product or service associated with the content item, and providing a credit to the user account or to an account associated with the user account.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the entry includes a link to a clip of the content item.

17. The method of claim 9, further comprising providing one or more recommendations of additional content items or potential new friends based on the user library to users not associated with the user account and not associated with the friends list.

18. The method of claim 9, further comprising creating a virtual club based on one or more user libraries, the libraries bearing a similarity in metadata associated with the content items therein.

19. A non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising instructions for causing a computing machine to perform a method, comprising steps of:

receiving a feed from a rights administrator service, the feed including information about a selected content item and the feed further including tags compliant with an API exposed by a server operated by a social networking site, wherein the content item is part of a user library associated with a user account with the rights administrator service;

incorporating the feed within an application on the social networking site or as an entry on one or more pages associated with a user account on the social networking site as native social networking content;

designating a user account as an influencer account, once the user account has achieved a predetermined threshold number of fans, followers, or friends, or combinations of these; and

providing and displaying a recommended content item, the providing and displaying based on a combination of the selected content item, a content item associated with the influencer account and one or more of the following;

data regarding the population of the rights administrator service, and data regarding the library of a friend of the user, wherein the friend is not the influencer.