Shared home media platform to support multi-user control

• US 20080184127A1
• Filed: 01/29/2007
• Published: 07/31/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Rouady, William Abdo, Rafey, Richter A., de Lancey Gibbs, Simon John, Wirtschafter, Jenny Dana, Neider, Jacqueline L., Cai, Linghan
• Granted Patent: US 7,783,703 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/736
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4393 Multimedia presentations, e.g. slide shows, multimedia albums
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast

Abstract

A system for and method of enabling people to share a common application context for media presentation and playback is described herein. The presentation results from input from a set of active participants where the input includes a set of media types such as music, artwork, visualizations, photographs and text messages. The participants use personal devices to couple to the system and utilize the application.

Claims

1. A system for sharing digital content in a presentation comprising:

a. a server for receiving and managing the digital content;

b. a server application stored on the server for providing a user interface;

c. a display coupled to the server for displaying the digital content;

d. a client device coupled to the server for interacting with the digital content; and

e. a client application stored on the client device for communicating with the server.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1 further comprising an audio player coupled to the server for playing audio.

3. The system as claimed in claim 2 wherein any of the server, the display and the audio player are contained within a single unit.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the client device couples to the server through a mechanism selected from the group consisting of a network and a direct connection.

5. The system as claimed in claim 4 wherein the network is selected from the group consisting of the Internet, a local area network and a private network.

6. The system as claimed in claim 4 wherein the direct connection is selected from the group consisting of Near Field Communication, Bluetooth, Firewire, Wi-Fi and Universal Serial Bus.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the server application specifies the digital content available and launches a set of communication services for receiving requests.

8. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein communicating with the server includes browsing and selecting available digital content and transmitting new digital content to the server.

9. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the digital content is synchronized.

10. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein requests are transmitted by the client device to the server for content playback.

11. The system as claimed in claim 10 wherein the requests are made from a collection of data available to the server.

12. The system as claimed in claim 11 wherein the server responds to the requests by queuing the digital content for presentation on the display.

13. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the client device transmits desired digital content to the server.

14. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the server generates a log corresponding to the presentation.

15. The system as claimed in claim 14 wherein the log is generated as participants select and transmit digital content, wherein the log enables replay of the presentation.

16. The system as claimed in claim 14 wherein the log is in a standard format for easy distribution as a web log.

17. The system as claimed in claim 16 wherein a location of the web log is automatically transmitted to participants.

18. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the client application includes data reflecting a state of the server.

19. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the digital content is preloaded on the server.

20. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the server is for:

a. configuring sources and destinations for the digital content and playback;

b. initializing and controlling settings for the presentation; and

c. controlling the presentation.

21. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the client device is for:

a. browsing available digital content on the server; and

b. requesting selected digital content to be added to the presentation and uploading additional digital content to the server.

22. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the presentation is remotely viewed as a web log.

23. A method of sharing digital content in a presentation comprising:

a. storing the digital content on a server;

b. receiving additional digital content from one or more client devices;

c. presenting the digital content and the additional digital content on a display; and

d. saving log data of the digital content and the additional digital content.

24. The method as claimed in claim 23 further comprising presenting a user interface on the display.

25. The method as claimed in claim 23 further comprising playing the digital content when requested.

26. The method as claimed in claim 23 further comprising posting the log data to an Internet web log.

27. A method of implementing a server application to share digital content in a presentation comprising:

a. launching a server application;

b. launching a POP server to handle client content transmissions;

c. launching an upload service to handle content requests including local requests and client requests;

d. presenting a user interface on a display;

e. handling the local requests and the client requests;

f. updating the user interface on the display;

g. managing the digital content; and

h. playing the digital content when requested.

28. The method as claimed in claim 27 further comprising saving log data of the digital content.

29. The method as claimed in claim 28 further comprising posting the log data to an Internet web log.

30. A method of implementing a client application to share digital content in a presentation comprising:

a. launching the client application;

b. establishing a connection with a server;

c. requesting server data related to content available for playback;

d. requesting the content from a list of the available content to add to the presentation; and

e. uploading desired additional content to add to the presentation.

31. A network of devices for sharing digital content in a presentation comprising:

a. a server for receiving and managing the digital content;

b. a server application stored on the server for providing a user interface;

c. an audio player coupled to the server for playing audio;

d. a display coupled to the server for displaying the digital content;

e. one or more client devices coupled to the server for interacting with the digital content; and

f. a client application stored on each of the client devices for communicating with the server,

wherein the one or more client devices couple to the server through a mechanism selected from the group consisting of a network and a direct connection.

32. The network of devices as claimed in claim 31 wherein the network is selected from the group consisting of the Internet, a local area network and a private network.

33. The network of devices as claimed in claim 31 wherein the direct connection is selected from the group consisting of Near Field Communication, Bluetooth, Firewire, Wi-Fi and Universal Serial Bus.

34. The network of devices as claimed in claim 31 wherein the server application specifies the digital content available and launches a set of communication services for receiving requests.

35. The network of devices as claimed in claim 31 wherein communicating with the server includes browsing and selecting available digital content and transmitting new digital content to the server.

36. The network of devices as claimed in claim 31 wherein the digital content is synchronized.

37. The network of devices as claimed in claim 31 wherein requests are transmitted by each of the one or more client devices to the server for content playback.

38. The network of devices as claimed in claim 37 wherein the requests are made from a collection of data available to the server.

39. The network of devices as claimed in claim 38 wherein the server responds to the requests by queuing the digital content for presentation on the display.

40. The network of devices as claimed in claim 31 wherein the one or more client devices each transmit desired digital content to the server.

41. The network of devices as claimed in claim 31 wherein the server generates a log corresponding to the presentation.

42. The network of devices as claimed in claim 41 wherein the log is generated as participants select and transmit digital content, wherein the log enables replay of the presentation.

43. The network of devices as claimed in claim 41 wherein the log is in a standard format for easy distribution as a web log.

44. The network of devices as claimed in claim 43 wherein a location of the web log is automatically transmitted to participants.

45. The network of devices as claimed in claim 31 wherein the client application includes data reflecting a state of the server.

46. The network of devices as claimed in claim 31 wherein the digital content is preloaded on the server.

47. The network of devices as claimed in claim 31 wherein the server is for:

a. configuring sources and destinations for the digital content and playback;

b. initializing and controlling settings for the presentation; and

c. controlling the presentation.

48. The network of devices as claimed in claim 31 wherein the one or more client devices are for:

a. browsing available digital content on the server; and

b. requesting selected digital content to be added to the presentation and uploading additional digital content to the server.

49. The network of devices as claimed in claim 31 wherein the presentation is remotely viewed as a web log.

50. A system for sharing digital content in a presentation comprising:

a. a server for receiving and managing the digital content; and

b. a server application stored on the server for providing a user interface,

wherein the server is configured to receive additional digital content from a client device.

51. The system as claimed in claim 50 further comprising a display coupled to the server for displaying the digital content.

52. The system as claimed in claim 51 further comprising an audio player coupled to the server for playing audio.

53. The system as claimed in claim 52 wherein any of the server, the display and the audio player are contained within a single unit.

54. The system as claimed in claim 50 wherein the client device couples to the server through a mechanism selected from the group consisting of a network and a direct connection.

55. The system as claimed in claim 54 wherein the network is selected from the group consisting of the Internet, a local area network and a private network.

56. The system as claimed in claim 54 wherein the direct connection is selected from the group consisting of Near Field Communication, Bluetooth, Firewire, Wi-Fi and Universal Serial Bus.

57. The system as claimed in claim 50 wherein the server application specifies the digital content available and launches a set of communication services for receiving requests.

58. The system as claimed in claim 50 wherein the digital content is synchronized.

59. The system as claimed in claim 50 wherein requests are transmitted by the client device to the server for content playback.

60. The system as claimed in claim 59 wherein the requests are made from a collection of data available to the server.

61. The system as claimed in claim 60 wherein the server responds to the requests by queuing the digital content for presentation on the display.

62. The system as claimed in claim 50 wherein the server generates a log corresponding to the presentation.

63. The system as claimed in claim 62 wherein the log is generated as participants select and transmit digital content, wherein the log enables replay of the presentation.

64. The system as claimed in claim 62 wherein the log is in a standard format for easy distribution as a web log.

65. The system as claimed in claim 64 wherein a location of the web log is automatically transmitted to participants.

66. The system as claimed in claim 50 further comprising a client application stored on the client device for communicating with the server.

67. The system as claimed in claim 66 wherein the client application includes data reflecting a state of the server.

68. The system as claimed in claim 50 wherein the digital content is preloaded on the server.

69. The system as claimed in claim 50 wherein the server is for:

a. configuring sources and destinations for the digital content and playback;

b. initializing and controlling settings for the presentation; and

c. controlling the presentation.

70. The system as claimed in claim 50 wherein the client device is for:

a. browsing available digital content on the server; and

b. requesting selected digital content to be added to the presentation and uploading additional digital content to the server.

71. The system as claimed in claim 50 wherein the presentation is remotely viewed as a web log.