Apparatus and Methods for TV Social Applications

• US 20100037277A1
• Filed: 08/04/2009
• Published: 02/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HeyWire, Inc. (Salesforce.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: MediaFriends Incorporated
• Inventors: Flynn-Ripley, Meredith, Keinan, Giora, Gal-Oz, Nimrod
• Granted Patent: US 8,561,118 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/110
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/65 Telephone numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/741 Routing in networks with a plurality of addressing schemes, e.g. with both IPv4 and IPv6
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/106 across networks, e.g. mapping telephone numbers to data network addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/24 Connectivity information management, e.g. connectivity discovery or connectivity update

Abstract

A system for implementing a content-centered chat room operates to display messages received from one or more invitees of a subscriber on the subscriber'"'"'s TV as program content is displayed on the subscriber'"'"'s TV. The subscriber and the invitees all watch television, either a common TV program or different TV programs. Participants may be located in the same or in several different locations, and if the invitee-participants are also subscribers, the chat room may also appear on their TV screens. A subscriber invites friends to participate in the chat session for a specific TV program using the set top box (STB) of his television to send invitations, and a dedicated subscriber server coordinates notification of the invitees and directs their message-comments to a chat session displayed with the program content. In one embodiment, participants or the participants who are not also subscribers of the TVChat service or whose televisions are otherwise not chat-enabled, may receive other participants'"'"' chat messages by mobile phone.

Claims

1. A system and method for content-centered social communication wherein subscriber-selected participants transmit messages in a session coordinated with program content and the messages are displayed as the program content is viewed on a subscriber'"'"'s TV.

2. The system of claim 1, comprising a device for subscriber selection of invitee-participants, said device operable with the subscriber'"'"'s TV for selecting said participants from a display on the subscriber'"'"'s TV.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the display is organized as a subscriber address book of individuals and/or buddy groups, further comprising face shots or other personalized identifiers, and the subscriber initiates the session from the subscriber'"'"'s TV by commands on the controller to select program content and to select invitees from the display.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the subscriber-selected participants transmit messages by a mobile messaging device, and the system includes a server operative to coordinate transmission of invitations to participants and routing of messages received from the participants to the subscriber'"'"'s TV.

5. The system of claim 3, comprising a set top box (STB) of the subscriber, programmed to display invitee and chat data, and operative to send invitee selection data to the server and to display on the subscriber TV, the messages received from participants as the selected program content is shown.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the server includes a database comprising a subscriber address book, wherein the server

i) operates in response to invitee selection data received from an STB of the subscriber to send program chat invitations to the invitees selected by the subscriber;

and

ii) directs messages received from the participants to the subscriber'"'"'s STB for chat room display, e.g., as time-ordered scrolling text with a sender identifier.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the subscriber initially enters the address book in the server or a database accessible to the server, by PDA, mobile phone, computer entry or the like, and subsequently designates invitees for a chat session by selecting the invitees from a display on the subscriber'"'"'s TV.

8. The system of claim 4, wherein the invitations are cross-platform invitations sent to an invitee'"'"'s TV, land line, PC, mobile phone or other device.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the subscriber STB operates to display visual frames or sub-frames, pictures and the like on the subscriber TV having message and identifier data content received from the server.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the system is implemented as a service offering to subscribers of at least one broadband TV provider, and wherein the messages are displayed on TVs of participants who are also subscribers of the provider.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the server coordinates with the subscriber'"'"'s TV service provider to effect transmission of received messages to the STB for display as the program is running.

12. A social messaging system for interconnecting a subscriber and a plurality of participants to chat or exchange text or other messages, wherein the subscriber, from the subscriber'"'"'s TV, invites the participants to view a TV program and wherein the messages sent by the participants are displayed with the program as the subscriber watches TV whereby the subscriber and participants exchange chat while viewing the program.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the subscriber selects or invites participants from a buddy group address list maintained for the subscriber on a system server, and the server operates to notify invitees by mobile phone or other messaging mode and to coordinate display of messages received from participants on at least the subscriber'"'"'s TV during a chat session as the TV program is being viewed by the invitees at separate locations or a same location.

14. The system of claim 13, comprising a set top box (STB) configured to display messages and participant data on-screen during program viewing, and wherein the server coordinates with the subscriber'"'"'s TV service provider to effect transmission of received text or other messages to the STB for display as the program is running.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the program is scheduled TV programming or is video-on-demand.

16. A social messaging system comprising

a dedicated server configured to coordinate messaging between a subscriber and a plurality of invitees designated by the subscriber;

an STB configured to display a chat window and messages received from the invitees overlaid on television content on a TV of the subscriber;

wherein the dedicated server interfaces with an inter-carrier message relay service and with the subscriber'"'"'s broadband TV provider to provide messages from the plurality of invitees to the STB for display during a chat session arranged by the subscriber,

whereby the subscriber invites designated persons to share messages while the subscriber and the designated persons separately view TV.

17. A content-centered social messaging system wherein a chat session is constituted by mobile phone/PDA messages of plural invitees displayed on a subscriber'"'"'s television during display of television program content such as a sports event, a drama or the like, wherein a dedicated server invites subscriber-designated users to view the television program and to send messages, and the server coordinates transmission of messages received from the subscriber-designated users to an STB associated with the subscriber to enable the simultaneous display of a chat session with the program content on the subscriber'"'"'s TV as the invitees view the same program content at one or more locations remote from the subscriber.

18. The messaging system of claim 17 wherein the server maintains address lists for the subscriber including messaging contact address or phone, and arranges for transmission of chat session messages to one or more participants during a chat session.

19. The messaging system of claim 17 wherein the server maintains messaging contact addresses for the subscriber and the system coordinates on-screen display of chat session messages on the subscriber'"'"'s and none or more participants'"'"' television.

20. The messaging system of claim 17 wherein the subscriber moderates admission to the chat session.

21. The messaging system of claim 17 wherein the subscriber and participants share an educational or other affinity or interest in the program content, selected from the group consisting of:

i) class students viewing a play or other assignment;

ii) colleagues viewing a documentary of professional interest;

iii) alumni viewing college sports or city-affiliated event program;

iv) friends who enjoy watching entertainment together;

or,

v) a relationship.

22. The messaging system of claim 17 wherein the server auto-provisions invitees who are not included in a PC based address book or do not have access to the PC based address book through non-PC devices, wherein the devices are selected from the group consisting of:

the TV, set top box, a mobile device or a landline device.