CONFIGURING CHANNELS FOR SHARING MEDIA

• US 20100299402A1
• 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: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: KORMAN, Jonathan Benjamin, Demarta, Stanley Peter, Braunstein, Ariel, Ben-Yaakov, David, Ovadia, David Jack, Kim, Philip C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,601,087 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/213
• 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-implemented method for sharing media items with one or more persons, the method comprising:

selecting a first media item;

associating the first media item with a first channel defined by a set of media items that includes the first media item and a set of recipients that includes a first recipient; and

initiating a transfer of the first media item from a first computing device to a server computing device, wherein the first media item is stored on the server computing device, and wherein the first recipient is permitted to access the first media item from the server computing device via a second computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of detecting that a sender has dragged-and-dropped a visual representation of the first media item over a portion of a user interface associated with the first channel.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of causing a notification to be transmitted to each recipient included in the set of recipients indicating that the recipient has permission to access each media item included in the set of media items.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein each recipient in the set of recipients is identifiable via an electronic mail address.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

selecting a second media item;

associating the second media item with the first channel; and

initiating a transfer of the second media item from the first computing device to the server computing device, wherein the second media item is stored on the server computing device, and wherein the first recipient is permitted to access the second media item from the first channel via the second computing device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a user selection to disassociate the first media item from the first channel; and

causing a notification to be transmitted to the server computing device that causes permissions associated with the first media item to change so that each recipient included in the set of recipients is not permitted to access the first media item from the first channel.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a user selection to remove the first recipient from the set of recipients; and

causing a notification to be transmitted to the server computing device that causes permissions associated with the media items included in the set of media to change so that the first recipient is not permitted to access any of the media items from the first channel.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a sender that creates the first channel can designate that each recipient included in the set of recipients can share each of the media items included in the set of media items via a second channel.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein a sender that creates the first channel can designate that each recipient included in the set of recipients cannot share any of the media items included in the set of media items via a second channel.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first media item is captured by a hand-held device, transmitted from the hand-held device to the first computing device, transmitted from the first computing device to the server computing device, and stored on the server computing device in association with the first channel.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first media item comprises a video file.

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:

selecting a first media item;

associating the first media item with a first channel defined by a set of media items that includes the first media item and a set of recipients that includes a first recipient; and

initiating a transfer of the first media item from a first computing device to a server computing device, wherein the first media item is stored on the server computing device, and wherein the first recipient is permitted to access the first media item from the server computing device via a second computing device.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising the step of detecting that a sender has dragged-and-dropped a visual representation of the first media item over a portion of a user interface associated with the first channel.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising the step of causing a notification to be transmitted to each recipient included in the set of recipients indicating that the recipient has permission to access each media item included in the set of media items.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

selecting a second media item;

associating the second media item with the first channel; and

initiating a transfer of the second media item from the first computing device to the server computing device, wherein the second media item is stored on the server computing device, and wherein the first recipient is permitted to access the second media item from the first channel via the second computing device.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a user selection to disassociate the first media item from the first channel; and

causing a notification to be transmitted to the server computing device that causes permissions associated with the first media item to change so that each recipient included in the set of recipients is not permitted to access the first media item from the first channel.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a user selection to remove the first recipient from the set of recipients;

causing a notification to be transmitted to the server computing device that causes permissions associated with the media items included in the set of media to change so that the first recipient is not permitted to access any of the media items from the first channel.

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

19. A computer system for sharing media items with one or more persons, comprising:

a processor configured to;

select a first media item,

associate the first media item with a first channel defined by a set of media items that includes the first media item and a set of recipients that includes a first recipient, and

initiate a transfer of the first media item from a first computing device to a server computing device, wherein the first media item is stored on the server computing device, and wherein the first recipient is permitted to access the first media item from the server computing device via a second computing device.

20. The computer system of claim 19, further comprising a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to:

select the first media item;

associate the first media item with the first channel; and

initiate the transfer of the first media item from the first computing device to the server computing device.