Methods, systems and storage medium for providing content notification based on user communities

• US 20050137886A1
• Filed: 12/17/2003
• Published: 06/23/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: At&T Delaware Intellectual Property, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Littrell, Kim
• Granted Patent: US 7,860,804 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/1.100
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

A method of notifying consumers of available content in a content distribution system. The method includes determining the existence of a content event related to content. The content event is associated with a community. A consumer who is a member of the community is notified of the content event by sending a notification to the consumer. Access to content related to the content event is provided upon request by the consumer.

Claims

1. A method of notifying consumers of available content in a content distribution system, the method comprising:

determining existence of a content event related to content;

associating the content event with a community;

notifying a consumer who is a member of the community of the content event by sending a notification to the consumer;

providing access to the content related to the content event upon request by the consumer.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the content event is provided from a content provider.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein:

the content event is embedded in content provided by the content provider.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the content event is automatically detected.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the content event is submitted by another consumer.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein:

the content event includes a text message from the another consumer to the consumer.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the associating the content with the community occurs prior to distributing the content.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the associating the content with the community includes searching communities.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein:

the associating the content with the community includes associating a community designated by the another consumer with the content.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the sending the notification to the consumer is dependent upon the consumer authorizing the notification.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the accessing the content is dependent upon a consumer'"'"'s authorization to access the content.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the accessing the content includes time shifting the content.

13. A system for notifying a consumer of available content in a content distribution system, the system comprising:

a database identifying consumers and their respective community memberships;

a network element determining the existence of a content event related to content;

a consumer network in communication with the network element;

the network element accessing the database and associating the content event with a community;

the network element sending notification of the content event to the consumer network;

the network element providing access to the content related to the content event upon request from the consumer network.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein:

the content event is provided from a content provider.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein:

the content event is embedded in content provided by the content provider.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein:

the network element automatically detects the content event.

17. The system of claim 13 wherein:

the content event is submitted to the network element by another consumer.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein:

the content event includes a text message from the another consumer to the consumer.

19. The system of claim 13 wherein:

the network element associates the content with the community prior to distributing the content.

20. The system of claim 13 wherein:

the network element associates the content with the community by searching communities.

21. The system of claim 17 wherein:

the network element associates the content with the community by associating a community designated by the another consumer with the content.

22. A storage medium encoded with machine-readable computer program code for notifying consumers of available content in a content distribution system, the storage medium including instructions for causing at least one network element to implement a method comprising:

determining existence of a content event related to content;

associating the content event with a community;

notifying a consumer who is a member of the community of the content event by sending a notification to the consumer;

providing access to the content related to the content event upon request by the consumer.

23. A computer program product for notifying consumers of available content in a content distribution system, the computer program product comprising:

a storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for facilitating a method comprising;

receiving a content event;

notifying a consumer of the existence of the content event through a user interface;

receiving an input from the user through the user interface requesting content associated with the content event;

retrieving the content upon request from the consumer.

24. The computer program product of claim 23 wherein:

the notifying includes presenting a pop-up window on a consumer television or a consumer computer.

25. The computer program product of claim 23 wherein:

the notifying includes sending at least one of a voice message, a text message and an instant message to a consumer device.

26. The computer program product of claim 23 wherein:

the content event is provided from a content provider.

27. The computer program product of claim 23 wherein:

the content event is submitted by another consumer.

28. A controller for notifying consumers of available content in a content distribution system, the controller implementing a method comprising:

receiving a content event through the content distribution system;

generating a content notification notifying a consumer of the existence of the content event;

receiving an input from the user requesting content associated with the content event;

communicating a request for content to a content provider on the content distribution network;

receiving the content; and

presenting the content to the consumer.