Media Toolbar and Aggregated/Distributed Media Ecosystem

• US 20090164641A1
• Filed: 12/21/2007
• Published: 06/25/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pinterest, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kozlov, Matthew, Rogers, Ian C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,375,131 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications

Abstract

A method and network architecture through which user-specific media profile data can be made available to third parties. A browser is optionally enhanced to facilitate playback and control of one or more media players, thereby allowing the user to play content via the browser. As the user plays content in the browser or any of the media players, information is collected about the content and stored in a database. By monitoring all media-related interactions made by the user within the browser, the collected content information can encompass information from a wide range of sources. User-specific profile data is then determined based on the collected data and such user-specific profile data is made available to third parties. The user-specific profile data can be used, for example, for social networking purposes, and may also be used to drive advertisements or other content to the user.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

collecting media consumption information from a plurality of media players installed on a computing device;

monitoring media consumed by a user via a network browsing application installed on the computing device;

aggregating the collected media consumption information and the monitored media consumption information;

transmitting the aggregated media consumption information to a server;

receiving from the server media recommendations based on the aggregated media consumption information; and

,

displaying the media recommendations to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting a user interface element in the network browsing application, the user interface element allowing a user to control a plurality of media player applications installed on the computer, thereby controlling playback of media consumed via the network browsing application.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising altering a display region of the network browsing application such that the user interface element is presented therein.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the media recommendations to the user via the network browsing application.

5. The method of claim 1, the aggregated information comprising ratings information.

6. The method of claim 1, the aggregated information comprising a comment about the media.

7. The method of claim 1, the aggregated information comprising a history of the media played.

8. The method of claim 1, the aggregated information comprising a request to add the media to a list of media associated with the user.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring browser interpretable documents viewed by the user to determine when such documents comprise a playlist; and

,

allowing the user to store the playlist as part of the aggregated information.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the media consumption information is collected, and the monitoring of the media consumed via the network browsing application occurs, only after the user has consented to such collection.

11. The method of claim 1, the media recommendations comprising a link to the media.

12. The method of claim 1, the aggregated information comprising information determined from metadata associated with the media.

13. The method of claim 1, the aggregated information comprising information determined from disambiguation of a uniform resource locator associated with the media.

14. The method of claim 1, the aggregated information comprising information determined from disambiguation of at least a portion of a browser interpretable document comprising media or a pointer to the media.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving from the server an advertisement, or a pointer thereto, to be displayed to the user;

and,

displaying the advertisement to the user.

16. A method comprising:

receiving user credential information from a first user;

authenticating the received user credentials against a server;

receiving, in a first network browsing application, a request to view information from a web server;

retrieving media profile information for a second user, the second user associated with the first user, the media profile information comprising information about media consumed by the second user via a plurality of media player applications and information about media consumed by the second user via a second network browsing application; and

,

displaying the retrieved media profile information.

17. The method of claim 16, the retrieved media profile information being displayed as part of the information from the web server.

18. The method of claim 16, the media profile information being retrieved from a server other than the web server.

19. The method of claim 16, the media profile information comprising a history of media consumed by the second user.

20. The method of claim 16, the media profile information comprising at least a subset of the media receiving the highest ratings by the second user.

21. The method of claim 16, the media profile information comprising at least a subset of the media most frequently consumed by the second user.

22. The method of claim 16, the media profile information comprising at least a subset of the media most recently consumed by the second user.

23. The method of claim 16, the media profile information comprising at least one playlist.

24. The method of claim 16, the media profile information comprising the media currently being consumed by the second user.

25. The method of claim 16, the instructions for retrieving media profile information for the second user comprising a portion of the information received from the web server.

26. The method of claim 16, the media profile information for the second user being retrievable only after the second user has indicated that the first user is allowed to access such information.

27. A system, comprising:

a module for receiving from a network browsing application information about media consumed on the computing device on which the network browsing application is running, the media consumption information comprising media consumption information from the network browsing application and from a plurality of media player applications;

a module for storing the received media consumption information in a database;

a module for receiving from a user a user identifier;

a module for associating the received media consumption information with the received user identifier and storing the association in the database;

a module for determining media profile information for the user associated with the user identifier based on the media consumption information stored in the database; and

,

a module for identifying at least one media item likely to be of interest to the user based on the determined media profile information and transmitting the identified at least one media, or a pointer thereto, to the network browsing application for display to the user.

28. The system of claim 27, the media information comprising a history of media consumed on the computing device.

29. The system of claim 27, further comprising a module for receiving at least one playlist from the network browsing application and storing the at least one playlist in the database and for transmitting at least a portion of the at least one playlist to the network browsing application in response to a user request therefor.

30. The system of claim 27, the media consumption information comprising information from metadata associated with the media.

31. The system of claim 27, the media consumption information comprising information obtained by disambiguating a uniform resource locator associated with the media.

32. The system of claim 27, the media consumption information comprising information obtained by disambiguating at least a portion of a browser interpretable document comprising media or a pointer to the media.

33. The system of claim 27, further comprising:

a module for identifying an advertisement likely to be of interest to the user, the identification based, at least in part, on the media profile information associated with the user, and for transmitting the advertisement, or a pointer thereto, to the network browsing application.

34. A system comprising:

a module for establishing communications with, and receiving media consumption information from, an application running on a user computing device, the application collecting media consumption information from a plurality of media players installed on the user computing device and collecting media consumption information from a network browsing application;

a module for storing the received media consumption information in a database;

a module for receiving a user identifier from the application running on the user computing device;

a module for associating the received media consumption information with the received user identifier and storing the association in a database;

a module for determining media profile information for the user associated with the user identifier, based at least in part on the media consumption information stored in the database; and

,

a module for publishing the media profile information such that at least a subset of the media profile information is accessible to other users.

35. The system of claim 34, further comprising a module for incorporating the profile data into a network browsing application interpretable document such that other users can view the profile data.

36. The system of claim 34, the profile data comprising at least one of the current media being played, the most popular media for the user over a determined period, and the last five media played.

37. The system of claim 34, the collected information comprising ratings information.

38. The system of claim 34, the collected information comprising a comment about the media.

39. The system of claim 34, the collected information comprising a history of the media played.

40. The method of claim 34, the application running in the network browsing application.

41. The system of claim 34, further comprising:

a module for receiving a playlist from the application and storing the playlist as part of the collected information associated with the user, the playlist being made available as part of the profile data.

42. The system of claim 34, the profile data being made available to other users only after consent is received from the user.

43. Computer readable media having computer-readable instructions stored thereon, the computer-readable instructions, when executed by a computer, comprising:

collecting information about media consumed by a user via a plurality of media player applications installed on a computer;

collecting information about media consumed by the user via a network browsing application;

transmitting the collected information to a server;

receiving from the server media recommendations based on the collected information; and

,

displaying the media recommendations to the user.

44. The computer readable media of claim 43, further comprising:

presenting a user interface element in the network browsing application, the user interface element allowing a user to control a plurality of media player applications installed on the computer, thereby controlling playback of the media consumed via the network browsing application.

45. The computer readable media of claim 43, further comprising:

displaying the media recommendations to the user via the network browsing application.