Method and apparatus for organizing and playing data

• US 20040254956A1
• Filed: 06/11/2003
• Published: 12/16/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Volk, Andrew R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,512,622 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/104.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/44 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

The present invention provides a general solution to presenting media interface and navigation tools for content provided from a plurality of sources. The invention maintains a user at a single site regardless of the source of the media content. This permits a consistent interface to be presented to the user. Because the user remains at the same site, differences in tiered membership may be tracked so that the user is only presented with content that the user is permitted to view. The invention uses a metadata language to characterize content so that viewer type, membership level, and other information can be maintained and used for an enjoyable viewing experience.

Claims

1. A method of providing media content in a network comprising:

generating an interface at a site on said network, said interface having consistent features and navigation capabilities regardless of the content selected;

collecting a plurality of media files for use with said interface;

associating metadata attributes with each of said plurality of media files;

mapping certain of said metadata attributes to locations in said interface.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said plurality of media files are provided by a plurality of unrelated sources.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said attributes comprise Title, Description, Duration, and Expiration Date.

4. The method of claim 1 further including mapping said certain of said metadata attributes to a player having a player interface.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said player interface is consistent regardless of the source of said plurality of media files.

6. A method of providing media content in a network comprising:

defining metadata attributes with a plurality of content files;

using said metadata attributes to map said plurality of content files to an interface such that said interface is consistent for each of said plurality of content files.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein said metadata attributes are stored in a local database.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said plurality of content files are stored locally and remotely.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said plurality of content files are provided by a plurality of unrelated providers.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein said said metadata attributes comprise Title, Description, Duration, and Expiration Date.