CONFIGURING CHANNELS FOR SHARING MEDIA

• US 20100299391A1
• Filed: 10/08/2009
• Published: 11/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LinkedIn Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Ben-Yaakov, David, Korman, Jonathan Benjamin, DEMARTA, Stanley Peter, Ovadia, David Jack, Winer, Peter W., Kim, Philip C., Kaplan, Jonathan, Braunstein, Ariel
• Granted Patent: US 8,745,139 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets

Abstract

A user interface for sharing media items with others. From a sender'"'"'s perspective, embodiments of the invention allow for an easy-to-use drag-and-drop technique that is more user-friendly than conventional techniques. From the recipient'"'"'s perspective, embodiments of the invention allow media items from multiple sources to be aggregated into a single viewport, providing a cohesive and unified approach to media items received from others.

Claims

1. A computer system configured to enable media items to be shared between two or more persons, comprising:

a processor configured to;

receive a media item from a first computing device, wherein the media item is included in a channel that is associated with a first set of media items and a first set of recipients;

store the media item in a storage memory; and

allow each of the recipients included in the first set of recipients to access the media item from one or more other computing devices.

2. The computer system of claim 1, further comprising a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to:

receive the media item from the first computing device;

store the media item in the storage memory; and

allow each of the recipients included in the first set of recipients to access the media item from the one or more other computing devices.

3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the storage memory comprises a database coupled to the computer system.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to generate a notification indicating that each recipient included in the first set of recipients has permission to access the media item.

5. The computer system of claim 4, wherein the processor is further configured to transmit the notification to each recipient included in the first set of recipients.

6. The computer system of claim 5, wherein the notification comprises an electronic mail notification.

7. The computer system of claim 6, wherein the electronic mail notification includes a link that, when selected by a recipient included in the first set of recipients from a second computing device, causes a viewport application to be executed on the second computing device.

8. The computer system of claim 4, wherein the notification comprises a social network feed, a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed, or a text message.

9. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the first set of media items and the first set of recipients define a first channel, and wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive an indication from the first computing device to modify a permission associated with the media item; and

modify the permission associated with the media item.

10. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the indication causes the processor to remove the first item from the first set of media items so that the recipients included in the first set of recipients are no longer permitted to access the media item.

11. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the indication causes the processor to remove a first recipient from the first set of recipients so that the first recipient is no longer permitted to access the media item.

12. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause a computer system to share media items with one or more persons, by performing the steps of:

receiving a media item from a first computing device, wherein the media item is included in a channel that is associated with a first set of media items and a first set of recipients;

storing the media item in a storage memory; and

allowing each of the recipients included in the first set of recipients to access the media item from one or more other computing devices.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising the step of generating a notification indicating that each recipient included in the first set of recipients has permission to access the media item.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, further comprising the step of transmitting the notification to each recipient included in the first set of recipients.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the notification comprises an electronic mail notification.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the electronic mail notification includes a link that, when selected by a recipient included in the first set of recipients from a second computing device, causes a viewport application to be executed on the second computing device.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the first set of media items and the first set of recipients define a first channel, and further comprising the steps of:

receiving an indication from the first computing device to modify a permission associated with the media item; and

modifying the permission associated with the media item.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the indication causes the processor to remove the first item from the first set of media items so that the recipients included in the first set of recipients are no longer permitted to access the media item.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the indication causes the processor to remove a first recipient from the first set of recipients so that the first recipient is no longer permitted to access the media item.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the first media item is a video file.