Methods, systems, and products for recommending social communities

• US 20090077064A1
• Filed: 09/13/2007
• Published: 03/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Bls Intellectual Propety, Inc.
• Original Assignee: AT&T Bls Intellectual Propety, Inc.
• Inventors: Daigle, Brian K.
• Granted Patent: US 8,171,044 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104

Abstract

Methods, devices, and products are disclosed for recommending a social community. A “social community” may be any individual(s), clubs, and/or organizations that have expressed some affinity to terms or subject matter, such as a media identifier. The media identifier identifies some media that is scheduled for recording. A community database is queried for the media identifier, and the community database associates social communities to media identifiers. The social community associated with the media identifier is retrieved. The social community is then sent to a user.

Claims

1. A method for recommending a social community, comprising:

receiving a media identifier that identifies media scheduled for recording by a user'"'"'s device;

querying a community database for the media identifier, the community database associating social communities to media identifiers;

retrieving the social community associated with the media identifier; and

sending information regarding the social community to the user.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving a recording schedule and discarding a date and a time of recording from the recording schedule.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein retrieving the social community comprises retrieving a server address associated with the media identifier.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user identification associated with the media identifier;

querying a buddy database for the user identification;

retrieving a buddy'"'"'s user identification associated with the user identification;

querying a community membership database for the buddy'"'"'s user identification, the community membership database associating user identifications to membership listings of social communities;

retrieving a name of the buddy'"'"'s social community associated with the buddy'"'"'s user identification; and

sending information regarding the name of the buddy'"'"'s social community to the user.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising sending an instruction to add the user identification to a membership listing associated with the buddy'"'"'s social community.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising:

receiving a recording cancellation message that indicates the media has been removed from a recording schedule; and

removing the user identification from the membership listing associated with the buddy'"'"'s social community.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising querying the social community for a popular media item.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising sending an instruction to the user'"'"'s device to have the popular media item added to the recording schedule.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

querying a recording database for a popularly recorded media item, the recording database tallying how many users are recording media items; and

retrieving an identifier of a popular media item that is being recorded by other users; and

sending an instruction to the user'"'"'s device to have the popular media item added to the recording schedule.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

querying the social community for a media rating; and

retrieving a list of media identifiers associated with the media rating.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising sending an instruction to the user'"'"'s device to have the list of media identifiers added to a recording schedule.

12. A method according to claim 11, further comprising sending an instruction to download each media item listed in the list of media identifiers to populate the user'"'"'s device.

13. A method according to claim 1, wherein when a response from the community database indicates that no community is associated with the media identifier, then prompting to create a new social community associated with the media identifier.

14. A method for recommending a social community, comprising:

receiving a media identifier that identifies media associated with a programming reminder;

querying a community database for the media identifier, the community database associating social communities to media identifiers;

retrieving the social community associated with the media identifier; and

sending information regarding the social community to the user.

15. A system, comprising:

means for receiving a media identifier that identifies media scheduled for recording by a user'"'"'s device;

means for querying a community database for the media identifier, the community database associating social communities to media identifiers;

means for retrieving the social community associated with the media identifier; and

means for sending information regarding the social community to the user.

16. The system according to claim 15, further comprising means for retrieving a server address associated with the media identifier.

17. The system according to claim 15, further comprising:

means for receiving a user identification associated with the media identifier;

means for querying a buddy database for the user identification;

means for retrieving a buddy'"'"'s user identification associated with the user identification;

means for querying a community membership database for the buddy'"'"'s user identification, the community membership database associating user identifications to membership listings of social communities;

means for retrieving a name of the buddy'"'"'s social community associated with the buddy'"'"'s user identification;

means for sending the name of the buddy'"'"'s social community to the user;

means for sending an instruction to add the user identification to a membership listing associated with the buddy'"'"'s social community;

means for receiving a recording cancellation message that indicates the media has been removed from a recording schedule; and

means for removing the user identification from the membership listing associated with the buddy'"'"'s social community.

18. The system according to claim 15, further comprising means for querying the social community for a popular media item.

19. The system according to claim 18, further comprising means for sending an instruction to the user'"'"'s device to have the popular media item added to a recording schedule.

20. A computer program product storing processor-executable code for performing a method of recommending a social community, the method comprising:

receiving a media identifier that identifies media scheduled for recording by a user'"'"'s device;

querying a community database for the media identifier, the community database associating social communities to media identifiers;

retrieving the social community associated with the media identifier; and

sending information regarding the social community to the user.