Method and apparatus for media clip sharing over a network
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A media clip sharing system comprising:
- a central server adapted to communicate with a plurality of user computers in a network, the central server being adapted to identify a first user through a sign-in process and at least temporarily storing a relationship between the first user and a first machine address in a memory, the central server being configured to provide the first machine address associated with the first user to a user computer operated by a second user, the first user and the second user being associated in a peer list;
a first user computer corresponding to the first machine address, where the first user computer is coupled with the central server and is configured to communicate with the central server as a client, the first user computer maintaining a media clip in local memory and being configured to send a stream of the media clip to another user computer; and
a second user computer coupled with the central server and configured to communicate with the central server as a client, the second user computer being configured to receive the first machine address from the central server such that the second user computer can communicate with the first user computer in a peer-to-peer network, and the second user computer being configured to receive and to play the stream of the media clip from the first user computer.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The invention relates to the sharing of media clips, such as sound and video, among various computer systems without the sharing of the corresponding media clip files. A media clip may be shared by streaming the media clip within a peer-to-peer group. The users within the peer-to-peer group can be selected to provide a relative amount of privacy and security. A user can select media clip that is streamed remotely such that the user may have control over the content of the streamed media clip.
242 Citations
29 Claims
-
1. A media clip sharing system comprising:
-
a central server adapted to communicate with a plurality of user computers in a network, the central server being adapted to identify a first user through a sign-in process and at least temporarily storing a relationship between the first user and a first machine address in a memory, the central server being configured to provide the first machine address associated with the first user to a user computer operated by a second user, the first user and the second user being associated in a peer list;
a first user computer corresponding to the first machine address, where the first user computer is coupled with the central server and is configured to communicate with the central server as a client, the first user computer maintaining a media clip in local memory and being configured to send a stream of the media clip to another user computer; and
a second user computer coupled with the central server and configured to communicate with the central server as a client, the second user computer being configured to receive the first machine address from the central server such that the second user computer can communicate with the first user computer in a peer-to-peer network, and the second user computer being configured to receive and to play the stream of the media clip from the first user computer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
-
-
6. A method of receiving a media clip over a network by a first node comprising:
-
coupling the first node with the network;
communicating with a central node coupled with the computer network;
receiving an indication from the central node that a second node is coupled with the central node;
receiving a machine address of the second node;
using the machine address to communicate with the second node in a peer-to-peer architecture; and
receiving a stream of a media clip from the second node. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. A method of arranging a plurality of media clips in a playback sequence, the method comprising:
-
coupling with a first computer;
retrieving a first path and a first filename corresponding to a first media clip that is stored on the first computer;
adding the first path and first filename to the playback sequence;
coupling with a second computer;
retrieving a second path and a second filename corresponding to a second media clip that is stored on the second computer;
adding the second path and the second filename to the playback sequence; and
using the playback sequence to automatically initiate streaming of the first media clip from the first computer and the second media clip from the second computer. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. A method of sharing media over a network comprising:
-
coupling a first user computer and a second user computer in a peer-to-peer architecture;
allowing a user to select a media clip from the first user computer;
streaming a media clip from the first user computer to the second user computer; and
playing back the media clip while the media clip is streamed from the first user computer to the second user computer, the playing back occurring on both the first user computer and on the second user computer at substantially the same time. - View Dependent Claims (22)
-
-
23. A method performed by a first node of sending a media clip over a network, the method comprising:
-
establishing a connection to a computer network with the first node;
communicating with a central node, where the central node is coupled with the computer network;
receiving a request from a second node for the media clip, said media clip being locally available to the first node;
receiving a machine address of the second node;
using the machine address to communicate with the second node in a peer-to-peer architecture; and
sending a stream of the requested media clip from the first node to the second node. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26)
-
-
27. A computer readable medium comprising:
-
a first module adapted to configure a first node to establish a connection to a computer network;
a second module adapted to communicate with a central node over the computer network and to receive an indication from the central node of a peer node coupled with the central node;
a third module adapted to receive a machine address of the peer node;
a fourth module adapted to use the machine address to communicate with the peer node; and
a fifth module adapted to communicate with the peer node to initiate a stream of a media clip from the peer node. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29)
-
Specification