MEDIA DISTRIBUTION APPARATUS AND METHOD

• US 20100235491A1
• Filed: 03/12/2009
• Published: 09/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: PURDY, KERMIT HAL, ABELLA, ALICIA, AMENTO, BRIAN, NATHAN, MUKESH, ZAMAN, LUIS, STEAD, LARRY, CHEUNG, ERIC, CACERES, RAMON
• Granted Patent: US 8,621,066 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a recipient client device having a controller operable to receive and store a media object from an originating device, track locations where the media object has been since the media object has been stored in the recipient client device, track identifiers associated with a device or a user that has accessed the media object at the locations, and track and store annotations about the media object by the device or the user that accessed the media object. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A server, comprising:

a controller to;

receive media content from an originating device;

transmit the media content to a recipient device requesting the media content;

transmit tracking software to the originating device and the recipient device;

track according to tracking information supplied by at least one of the originating device and the recipient device locations where the media content has been distributed to at least one other device by at least one of the originating device and the recipient device;

track according to tracking information supplied by at least one of the other devices locations where the media content has been distributed to yet other devices; and

track according to tracking information supplied by at least one of the foregoing devices annotations about the media content.

2. The server of claim 1, wherein the controller is operative to track locations of the media content by obtaining at least one of geolocation information from the foregoing devices and location identifiers associated with a local area network where the distribution of the media content took place.

3. The server of claim 1, wherein the server is part of a network of a plurality of servers sharing tracking information supplied by the tracking software operating in the foregoing devices.

4. The server of claim 1, wherein the tracking software operating in the foregoing devices collects demographic information, and wherein the controller is operative to receive the demographic information.

5. The server of claim 1, wherein the media content comprises one of audio content, image content, and a combination thereof.

6. The server of claim 1, wherein the controller is adapted to submit recommendations to at least a portion of the foregoing devices to consume other media content based on at least one among the genre of the media content, the location where the media content was distributed, and the annotations about the media content.

7. The server of claim 1, wherein the foregoing devices receive the tracking software with the distributed media content.

8. The server of claim 1, wherein the controller is operative to identify at least one of demographic patterns and psychographic patterns from the tracking information received from at least a portion of the foregoing devices.

9. The server of claim 8, wherein the controller is operative to share at least one of the demographic patterns and psychographic patterns with at least one of an author of the media content, and a population of recipients of the media content.

10. The server of claim 1, wherein the controller is operative to track a travel path of the media content by obtaining at least one of GPS information from the foregoing devices and location identifiers associated with a network element where the foregoing devices receive communication services.

11. A recipient client device, comprising:

a controller operable to;

receive and store a media object from an originating device;

track locations where the media object has been since the media object was stored in the recipient client device;

track one of identifiers associated with a device and a user that has accessed the media object at the locations; and

track and store annotations about the media object by one of the device and the user that accessed the media object.

12. The recipient client device of claim 11, wherein the controller is operable to transmit information tracked by the recipient client device back to a server.

13. The recipient client device of claim 11, wherein the controller is operable to transmit to a server the physical locations wherein the media object has been, who has accessed the media object, and annotations about the media object.

14. The recipient client device of claim 11, wherein the recipient client device includes local area communication network capabilities.

15. A computer-readable storage medium, comprising computer instructions to:

store a media object obtained from an originating device;

distribute the media object accompanied by tracking software to at least one recipient device;

track locations where the media object has been since the media object was distributed;

track who has accessed the media object at the locations;

track and store annotations about the media object by those who have accessed the media object.

16. The storage medium of claim 15, wherein the storage medium is operable at a server.

17. The storage medium of claim 15, wherein the storage medium is part of a server having wireless communication connectivity using WiFi, Bluetooth or Zigbee.

18. The storage medium of claim 15, wherein the storage medium includes computer instructions to view a map and histogram of how the media object traveled over time on a graphical user interface.

19. The storage medium of claim 18, wherein the storage medium includes computer instructions to filter a view of the map and histogram by genre, by an identifier of the recipient device, by location, or by time.

20. The storage medium of claim 15, wherein the rights for distribution of the media object are defined by rules stored at the server.

21. The storage medium of claim 15, wherein the storage medium includes computer instructions for maintaining statistics of who carried the media object and where the media object has been.

22. A computer-readable storage medium at an originating client device, comprising computer instructions to:

upload a media object to a server for distribution of the media object according to rules stored at the server; and

receive tracking software from the server enabling the originating device and other devices in a networked system to track locations where the media object has been since the media object was stored at the server, track who has accessed the media object at the locations as the media object is accessed from device to another device, and track and store annotations about the media object by those who have accessed the media object.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the computer-readable storage medium includes computer instructions enabling the client device to distribute the media object in a media distribution system that tracks a peer-to-peer distribution of the media object between communication devices.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the computer-readable storage medium includes computer instructions for tracking locations where the media object is transferred to another device.

25. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the tracking software includes computer instructions for tracking geographic locations where the media object has traversed on the originating client device and where the media object was transferred to another mobile client device.