CONTENT-RECOMMENDATION MESSAGE

• US 20100115037A1
• Filed: 11/04/2008
• Published: 05/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Weare, Christopher Bruce, Forsythe, Thomas, Hull, Eric
• Granted Patent: US 8,621,028 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/44 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Digital content items are shared using content-recommendation messages by recognizing an indication of a digital content item to be recommended and recognizing an indication of an intended recipient of the digital content item. A content-recommendation message for that digital content item is then built. The content-recommendation message includes first instructions for displaying, with a first visual appearance and a first feature set, information relating to the digital content item if the intended recipient belongs to a first class. The content-recommendation message includes second instructions for displaying, with a second visual appearance and a second feature set, information relating to the digital content item if the intended recipient belongs to a second class.

Claims

1. Memory holding instructions executable by a logic subsystem to:

receive a share command indicating a digital content item that is recognized by a digital content management service and that is to be recommended;

receive an indication of an intended recipient of the digital content item;

determine if the intended recipient belongs to the digital content management service; and

if the intended recipient belongs to the digital content management service;

build an in-service content-recommendation message for the digital content item; and

send the in-service content-recommendation message to the intended recipient;

or

if the intended recipient does not belong to the digital content management service;

build an out-of-service content-recommendation message for the digital content item; and

send the out-of-service content-recommendation message to the intended recipient.

2. The memory of claim 1, where the instructions, when executed, determine the intended recipient belongs to the digital content management service if an address of the intended recipient is not a valid e-mail address.

3. The memory of claim 1, where the in-service content-recommendation message includes a link to directly purchase the digital content item via the digital content management service without reverifying login credentials.

4. A method of sharing digital content, the method comprising:

acknowledging login credentials for a first user of a digital content management service;

receiving a share command indicating a digital content item that is recognized by the digital content management service and that is to be recommended;

receiving an indication of an intended recipient of the digital content item;

automatically building a content-recommendation message for the digital content item, the content-recommendation message including instructions for displaying information pertaining to the digital content item within the digital content management service if the intended recipient belongs to the digital content management service, and the content-recommendation message including instructions for displaying information pertaining to the digital content item outside of the digital content management service if the intended recipient does not belong to the digital content management service; and

sending the content-recommendation message to the intended recipient.

5. A method of sharing digital content, the method comprising:

recognizing an indication of a digital content item to be recommended;

recognizing an indication of an intended recipient of the digital content item;

automatically building a content-recommendation message for the digital content item, the content-recommendation message including first instructions for displaying, with a first visual appearance and a first feature set, information relating to the digital content item if the intended recipient belongs to a first class, and the content-recommendation message including second instructions for displaying, with a second visual appearance and a second feature set, information relating to the digital content item if the intended recipient belongs to a second class; and

sending the content-recommendation message to the intended recipient.

6. The method of claim 5, where the content-recommendation message includes an identification code uniquely identifying the digital content item within a digital content management service.

7. The method of claim 6, where the identification code includes a GUID.

8. The method of claim 5, where the content-recommendation message includes metadata retrieved from a local copy of the digital content item.

9. The method of claim 5, where the first instructions include a link to directly purchase the digital content item via the digital content management service without reverifying login credentials.

10. The method of claim 5, where the first instructions include a link to preview the digital content item via the digital content management service while the content-recommendation message is being presented by the digital content management service.

11. The method of claim 5, where the first class includes users belonging to a digital content management service and the second class includes users not known to belong to the digital content management service.

12. The method of claim 11, where the indication of the intended recipient includes an address of the intended recipient.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising determining that the user belongs to the second class if the address is an e-mail address.

14. The method of claim 5, where the content-recommendation message does not include the first instructions if the user belongs to the second class.

15. The method of claim 5, where the content-recommendation message includes both the first instructions and the second instructions.

16. The method of claim 15, where the second instructions comprise an e-mail message.

17. The method of claim 16, where the first instructions comprise an attachment to the e-mail message.

18. The method of claim 5, where a mobile device recognizes the indication of the digital content item to be recommended and the indication of the intended recipient.

19. The method of claim 5, where a network-accessible server recognizes the indication of the digital content item to be recommended and the indication of the intended recipient.

20. The method of claim 5, where a locally-executed application recognizes the indication of the digital content item to be recommended and the indication of the intended recipient.