Method and apparatus for organizing and playing data

• US 20040254958A1
• Filed: 09/22/2003
• 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 7,574,448 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 system for providing media content in a network comprising one or more servers configured to:

generate an interface at a site on said network, said interface having consistent graphical features and navigation capabilities;

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

associate metadata attributes with each of said plurality of media files; and

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

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of media files is compiled from more than one source.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more servers are further configured to generate a media player interface for experiencing the media content.

18. The system of claim 3 wherein said media player interface is consistent regardless of the source of said plurality of media files.

19. The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of media files is compiled from more than one source.

20. The system of claim 1 wherein said metadata attributes comprise a title for the media file.

21. The system of claim 1 wherein said metadata attributes comprise a description for the media file.

22. The system of claim 1 wherein said metadata attributes comprise a duration for the media file.

23. The system of claim 1 wherein said metadata attributes comprise an expiration date for the media file.

4. A system for providing media content in a network comprising one or more servers configured to:

associate metadata attributes with a plurality of media files; and

utilize the metadata attributes to map the plurality of media files to an interface such that the interface is consistent for each of the plurality of media files.

5. The system of claim 4 further comprising:

a local database for storing the metadata attributes.

6. The system of claim 4 wherein the plurality of media files is provided by more than one source.

7. A method of providing media content to a plurality of users over a network comprising:

compiling a data file that contains one or more sequentially placed unique identifiers which identify one or more media files; and

allowing the plurality of users to access the one or more media files out of sequence.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the data file is automatically compiled based on some criteria.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the data file is automatically compiled based on criteria chosen by one of the plurality of users.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the data file is compiled manually.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein the one or more media files are provided by more than one source.

12. A system for providing media content to a plurality of users comprising one or more servers configured to:

compile a data file that contains one or more sequentially placed unique identifiers which identify one or more pieces of content; and

allow the plurality of users to access the one or more media files out of sequence.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the data file is automatically compiled.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the data file is automatically compiled based on criteria chosen by one of the plurality of users.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein the data file is compiled manually.

16. The system of claim 12 wherein the one or more media files are provided by more than one source.

17. A computer readable medium comprising computer code for providing content to a user over a network, the computer code to configure one or more processors to:

compile a data file that contains one or more sequentially placed unique identifiers which identify one or more pieces of content; and

allow a user to access the one or more items of content within the data file out of sequence.

24. A method of providing media content in a network comprising the steps of:

generating an interface at a site on said network, said interface having consistent graphical features and navigation capabilities;

authenticating a user'"'"'s authorization to access certain media content;

compiling a plurality of media files for use with said interface, wherein said plurality of media files comprises only the user'"'"'s authorized media content;

associating metadata attributes with each of said plurality of media files, wherein the metadata attributes comprises a title for each media file; and

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