COLLECTION DIGEST FOR A MEDIA SHARING SYSTEM

• US 20100094935A1
• Filed: 10/15/2008
• Published: 04/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Concert Technology Corporation
• Original Assignee: Concert Technology Corporation, Eloy Technology, LLC (Concert Technology Corporation)
• Inventors: Svendsen, Hugh, Petersen, Steven L., Sutherland, Harold
• Granted Patent: US 8,880,599 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for providing a collection digest summarizing a shared media collection for presentation to a user. In one embodiment, a user device of a user joins a media sharing system including the user device and one or more other users devices, each associated with a sharing user and hosting a shared media collection of the sharing user. The user device obtains a collection digest from at least one of the other user devices that summarizes the shared media collection hosted by the at least one of the other user devices and presents the collection digest to the user. The collection digest may be used to assist the user in determining whether to access the shared media collection.

Claims

1. A method of operation of a user device of a user comprising:

joining a media sharing system including the user device of the user and one or more other user devices of a corresponding one or more other users such that one or more shared media collections of the one or more other users hosted by the one or more other user devices are available to the user;

obtaining from a second user device of the one or more other user devices a collection digest that summarizes a shared media collection of the one or more shared media collections hosted by the second user device; and

presenting the collection digest to the user.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the collection digest includes a number corresponding to a number of media items in the shared media collection hosted by the second user device.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the collection digest includes statistical information describing the shared media collection hosted by the second user device.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the statistical information includes a genre profile indicative of a number or percentage of media items in the shared media collection hosted by the second user device for each of a plurality of genres.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the statistical information includes a genre profile indicative of a number or percentage of media items in the shared media collection hosted by the second user device for each of a plurality of time periods.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the collection digest includes information describing a historical availability of the shared media collection hosted by the second user device.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the information describing the historical availability of the shared media collection hosted by the second user device comprises information identifying one or more time periods during the day during which the shared media collection hosted by the second user device has historically been available.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein media items in the shared media collection hosted by the second user device are scored based on user preferences of the user of the user device to provide scores for the media items in the shared media collection hosted by the second user device, and the collection digest includes information related to the scores of the media items in the shared media collection hosted by the second user device.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the information related to the scores of the media items in the shared media collection hosted by the second user device comprises an average of the scores of the media items in the shared media collection hosted by the second user device.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the collection digest includes information reflecting a degree to which a user profile of a second user of the one or more other users that is associated with the second user device matches a user profile of the user of the user device.

11. The method of claim 1 where the one or more shared media collections is a plurality of shared media collections, and the method further comprises:

enabling the user to select two or more desired media collections from the plurality of shared media collections; and

aggregating the two or more desired media collections to provide an aggregate media collection for the user.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein presenting the collection digest to the user comprises presenting the collection digest to the user in association with enabling the user to select the two or more desired media collections from the plurality of shared media collections.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

enabling the user to select one or more desired media collections from the one or more shared media collections; and

aggregating the one or more desired media collections and a local media collection of the user hosted by the user device to provide an aggregate media collection for the user.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein presenting the collection digest to the user comprises presenting the collection digest to the user in association with enabling the user to select the one or more desired media collections from the one or more shared media collections.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein presenting the collection digest to the user comprises presenting the collection digest to the user in response to a hover-over on an identifier of the shared media collection.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein obtaining the collection digest comprises providing one or more pre-filtering criteria to the second user device, wherein the collection digest comprises information regarding media items in the shared media collection hosted by the second user device that satisfy the one or more pre-filtering criteria.

17. A computer readable medium storing software for instructing a user device of a user to:

join a media sharing system including the user device of the user and one or more other user devices of a corresponding one or more other users such that one or more shared media collections of the one or more other users hosted by the one or more other user devices are available to the user;

obtain a collection digest from a second user device of the one or more other user devices that summarizes a shared media collection of the one or more shared media collections hosted by the second user device; and

present the collection digest to the user.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17 wherein the collection digest includes a number corresponding to a number of media items in the shared media collection hosted by the second user device.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 17 wherein the collection digest includes statistical information describing the shared media collection hosted by the second user device.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19 wherein the statistical information includes a genre profile indicative of a number or percentage of media items in the shared media collection hosted by the second user device for each of a plurality of genres.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 19 wherein the statistical information includes a genre profile indicative of a number or percentage of media items in the shared media collection hosted by the second user device for each of a plurality of time periods.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 17 wherein the collection digest includes information describing a historical availability of the shared media collection hosted by the second user device.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 22 wherein the information describing the historical availability of the shared media collection hosted by the second user device comprises information identifying one or more time periods during the day during which the shared media collection hosted by the second user device has historically been available.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 17 wherein media items in the shared media collection hosted by the second user device are scored based on user preferences of the user of the user device to provide scores for the media items in the shared media collection hosted by the second user device, and the collection digest includes information related to the scores of the media items in the shared media collection hosted by the second user device.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 24 wherein the information related to the scores of the media items in the shared media collection hosted by the second user device comprises an average of the scores of the media items in the shared media collection hosted by the second user device.

26. The method of claim 17 wherein the collection digest includes information reflecting a degree to which a user profile of a second user of the one or more other users that is associated with the second user device matches a user profile of the user of the user device.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 17 where the one or more shared media collections is a plurality of shared media collections, and the software is further adapted to instruct the user device to:

enable the user to select two or more desired media collections from the plurality of shared media collections; and

aggregate the two or more desired media collections to provide an aggregate media collection for the user.

28. The computer readable medium of claim 27 wherein the collection digest is presented to the user in association with selection of the two or more desired media collections from the plurality of shared media collections.

29. The computer readable medium of claim 17 wherein the software is further adapted to instruct the user device to:

enable the user to select one or more desired media collections from the one or more shared media collections; and

aggregate the one or more desired media collections and a local media collection of the user hosted by the user device to provide an aggregate media collection for the user.

30. The computer readable medium of claim 29 wherein the collection digest is presented to the user in association with enabling the user to select the one or more desired media collections from the one or more shared media collections.

31. The computer readable medium of claim 29 wherein the collection digest is presented to the user in response to a hover-over on an identifier of the shared media collection.

32. The computer readable medium of claim 17 wherein the software further instructs the user device to provide one or more pre-filtering criteria to the second user device, wherein the collection digest comprises information regarding media items in the shared media collection hosted by the second user device that satisfy the one or more pre-filtering criteria.

33. A user device of a user comprising:

a communication interface communicatively coupling the user device to a network; and

a control system associated with the communication interface and adapted to;

join a media sharing system including the user device of the user and one or more other user devices of a corresponding one or more other users connected via the network such that one or more shared media collections of the one or more other users hosted by the one or more other user devices are available to the user;

obtain a collection digest from a second user device of the one or more other user devices that summarizes a shared media collection of the one or more shared media collections hosted by the second user device; and

present the collection digest to the user.