Device-centric media prioritization systems and methods

• US 10,579,664 B2
• Filed: 10/23/2017
• Issued: 03/03/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RealNetworks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: RealNetworks, Inc.
• Inventors: Boic, Milko
• Primary Examiner(s): Ly, Anh
• Application Number:
  US15/791,214
• Publication Number:
  US 20180143977A1
• Time in Patent Office: 862 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/41 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4387 by the use of playlists
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/44 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching

Abstract

In a system comprising media files resident on various devices which can interconnect and provide indices of their media library content, an organization method may provide an aggregate view of the media library of all connected devices ordering the media library contents of various connected devices from the point of view of the device from which the view of the aggregate library will be shown. This point-of-access-centric view of the library may be formed by prioritizing one or more of relevance, reliability, or proximity of the connected devices from the perspective of the viewing device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for prioritizing a piece of media content with respect to other pieces of media content in a distributed-media-library system from a perspective of a point-of-access device, the method comprising:

identifying a plurality of media-library devices that collectively store a plurality of media files, each of which comprises a respective version of the piece of media content, at least some of which are associated with differing sort metadata;

determining a plurality of priority metrics corresponding respectively to the plurality of media-library devices, each priority metric measuring an association between one of the plurality of media-library devices and the point-of-access device;

selecting, according to the plurality of priority metrics, a media-library device that is closely-associated with the point-of-access device, the closely-associated media-library device storing a selected media file of the plurality of media files;

determining, based on the sort metadata associated with the selected media file, a viewing-device-centric sort key for the piece of media content; and

sorting the piece of media content according to the viewing-device-centric sort key with the selected media file prioritized with respect to the other pieces of media content in one or more others of the plurality of media-library devices not as closely associated with the point-of-access device including;

sorting the piece of media content according to the viewing-device-centric sort key with the closely-associated media-library device storing the selected media file prioritized over the other pieces of the media content in one or more others of the plurality of media-library devices not as closely associated with the point-of-access device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the viewing-device-centric sort key comprises a date and time at which the selected media file was introduced onto the closely-associated media-library device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each priority metric measures a period of time since the point-of-access device and one of the plurality of media-library devices were connected to one another.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the closely-associated media-library device comprises:

selecting a priority group comprising at least two of the plurality of media-library devices that are equally closely associated with the point-of-access device;

identifying at least two of the plurality of media files as being stored respectively by the priority group; and

selecting the closely-associated media-library device from among the priority group based on sort metadata associated with the at least two of the plurality of media files.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein selecting the closely-associated media-library device from among the priority group comprises selecting the closely-associated media-library device onto which one of the plurality of media files was introduced more recently than others of the priority group.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein selecting the closely-associated media-library device from among the priority group comprises selecting the closely-associated media-library device onto which one of the plurality of media files was introduced less recently than others of the priority group.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the closely-associated media-library device is the point-of-access device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising sorting the piece of media content according to a second viewing-device-centric sort key with respect to the other pieces of media content when the piece of media content is viewed from a perspective of a second point-of-access device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein sorting the piece of media content according to the viewing-device-centric sort key with the selected media file prioritized with respect to the other pieces of the media content in one or more others of the plurality of media-library devices not as closely associated with the point-of-access device includes:

sorting the piece of media content as a real-time response to a request at the point-of-access device to view metadata about the media content.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the viewing-device-centric sort key for the piece of media content comprises:

giving the piece of media content either a higher-priority metric based on the media-library repository that contains the piece of media content having recently communicated with the point-of-access device or a lower-priority metric based on the media-library repository that contains the piece of media content not having recently communicated with the point-of-access device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the viewing-device-centric sort key for the piece of media content comprises:

giving the piece of media content either a higher-priority metric based on the media-library repository that contains the piece of media content having recently become connected with the point-of-access device or a lower-priority metric based on the media-library repository that contains the piece of media content not having recently become connected with the point-of-access device.

12. A computing apparatus for prioritizing a piece of media content with respect to other pieces of media content in a distributed-media-library system from a perspective of a point-of-access device, the apparatus comprising a processor and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, configure the apparatus to:

identify a plurality of media-library devices that collectively store a plurality of media files, each of which comprises a respective version of the piece of media content, at least some of which are associated with differing sort metadata;

determine a plurality of priority metrics corresponding respectively to the plurality of media-library devices, each priority metric measuring an association between one of the plurality of media-library devices and the point-of-access device;

select, according to the plurality of priority metrics, a media-library device that is closely-associated with the point-of-access device, the closely-associated media-library device storing a selected media file of the plurality of media files;

determine, based on the sort metadata associated with the selected media file, a viewing-device-centric sort key for the piece of media content; and

sort the piece of media content according to the viewing-device-centric sort key with respect to the other pieces of media content when the piece of media content is viewed from the perspective of the point-of-access device, wherein the piece of media content is sorted according to the viewing-device-centric sort key with the closely-associated media-library device storing the selected media file prioritized over the other pieces of the media content in one or more others of the plurality of media-library devices not as closely associated with the point-of-access device.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the instructions that configure the apparatus to the viewing-device-centric sort key further comprise instructions configuring the apparatus to a date and time at which the selected media file was introduced onto the closely-associated media-library device.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein each priority metric measures a period of time since the point-of-access device and one of the plurality of media-library devices were connected to one another.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the instructions that configure the apparatus to select the closely-associated media-library device further comprise instructions configuring the apparatus to:

select a priority group comprising at least two of the plurality of media-library devices that are equally closely associated with the point-of-access device;

identify at least two of the plurality of media files as being stored respectively by the priority group; and

select the closely-associated media-library device from among the priority group based on sort metadata associated with the at least two of the plurality of media files.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the instructions that configure the apparatus to select the closely-associated media-library device from among the priority group further comprise instructions configuring the apparatus to select the closely-associated media-library device onto which one of the plurality of media files was introduced more recently than others of the priority group.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the instructions that configure the apparatus to select the closely-associated media-library device from among the priority group further comprise instructions configuring the apparatus to select the closely-associated media-library device onto which one of the plurality of media files was introduced less recently than others of the priority group.

18. A computer-implemented method for prioritizing a piece of media content with respect to other pieces of media content in a distributed-media-library system from a perspective of a point-of-access device, the method comprising:

identifying a plurality of media-library devices that collectively store a plurality of media files, each of which comprises a respective version of a piece of media content, at least some of which are associated with differing sort metadata;

determining a plurality of priority metrics corresponding respectively to the plurality of media-library devices, each priority metric measuring an association between one of the plurality of media-library devices and a point-of-access device;

selecting, according to the plurality of priority metrics, a media-library device that is closely-associated with the point-of-access device, the closely-associated media-library device storing a selected media file of the plurality of media files; and

determining, based on the sort metadata associated with the selected media file, a viewing-device-centric sort key for the piece of media content; and

causing a display associated with the point-of-access device to present an indication of the piece of media content sorted according to the viewing-device-centric sort key with the selected media file with the closely-associated media-library device storing the selected media file prioritized over other pieces of media content in one or more others of the plurality of media-library devices not as closely associated with the point-of-access device.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the sorting the piece of media content with the closely-associated media-library device storing the selected media file prioritized over other pieces of media content in one or more others of the plurality of media-library devices not as closely associated with the point-of-access is performed as an automatic and conditional real-time response to a media list presentation request.