BROADCAST NOTIFICATIONS USING SOCIAL NETWORKING SYSTEMS

• US 20110125846A1
• Filed: 11/18/2010
• Published: 05/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: Ustream Incorporated (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Schlicht, Matthew, Ham, John
• Granted Patent: US 8,819,134 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1859 adapted to provide push services, e.g. data channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1066 Session management

Abstract

A notifier sends out notifications to potential viewers or listeners of a broadcast stream via social networking systems or other communication channels. The notifier stores information about a user'"'"'s preferences and identity on the social networking systems. After the notifier receives a notification request from a broadcaster, the notifier commands broadcaster agents deployed in the social networking systems or in the notifier to send notification messages to users of the social networking systems registered to receive notification. The broadcaster agents function as a proxy that establishes relationships with users of the social networking systems and then sends out the notification messages to the users with established relationships.

Claims

1. A method of notifying broadcast streams to a plurality of users, comprising:

receiving a request to notify a broadcast stream from a broadcaster;

receiving preferences from users of at least one network system, the preferences indicating characteristics of broadcast streams of interest to the users; and

instructing an agent associated with the network system to send notifications about the broadcast stream to a subset of the users of the at least one network system based on the preferences.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving information for registering the broadcaster; and

deploying the agent for the broadcaster in the network system responsive to receiving the registration information.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving information about the broadcast stream from the broadcaster; and

selecting the subset of users based on the preferences and the information about the broadcast stream.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the networking system provides social networking service.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising instructing the agent to establish relationships with the users in the at least one network system.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting a subset of users to receive the notifications about the broadcast stream based on the preferences.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the preferences include one or more of (i) a manner convenient for receiving the notification, (ii) types of broadcast streams of interest, (iii) whether to schedule an event or record the broadcast stream when the broadcast stream becomes active, (iv) keywords associated with preferred broadcast streams, (v) geological location of the users, and (v) receiving of a notification based on whether other users in a network system is viewing or listening to the broadcast stream.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the notifications include a link for accessing the broadcast stream.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether to recommend the broadcast stream to one or more of the users based on the preferences and relationships between the users in the network system.

10. A notification system for notifying a broadcast stream to a plurality of users, the notification system comprising:

a broadcaster interface configured to receive a request to notify a broadcast stream from a broadcaster;

a preference setter configured to receive preferences from users of at least one network system, the preferences indicating characteristics of broadcast streams of interest to the users; and

a network interface configured to send instructions to an agent associated with the at least one network system to send notifications about the broadcast stream to a subset of the users of the at least one network system based on the preferences.

11. The notification system of claim 10, wherein the broadcaster interface is further configured to receive information for registering the broadcaster;

and wherein the network interface is further configured to deploy the agent for the broadcaster in the network system responsive to receiving the registration information.

12. The notification system of claim 11, wherein the broadcaster interface is further configured to receive information about the broadcast stream from the broadcaster, and wherein the network interface is configured to select the subset of users based on the preferences and the information about the broadcast stream.

13. The notification system of claim 11, wherein the networking system provides social networking service.

14. The notification system of claim 13, wherein the network interface is further configured to instruct the agent to establish relationships with the users in the at least one network system.

15. The notification system of claim 11, wherein the network interface is further configured to select a subset of users to receive the notifications about the broadcast stream based on the preferences.

16. The notification system of claim 11, wherein the preferences include one or more of (i) a manner convenient for receiving the notification, (ii) types of broadcast streams of interest, (iii) whether to schedule an event or record the broadcast stream when the broadcast stream becomes active, (iv) keywords associated with preferred broadcast streams, (v) geological location of the users, and (v) receiving of a notification based on whether other users in a network system is viewing or listening to the broadcast stream.

17. The notification system of claim 11, wherein the notifications include a link for accessing the broadcast stream.

18. The notification system of claim 11, further comprising an intelligent engine configured to determine whether to recommend the broadcast stream to one or more of the users based on the preferences and relationships between the users in the network system.

19. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions, the instructions when executed by a processor in a computing device, cause the processor to:

receive a request to notify a broadcast stream from a broadcaster;

receive preferences from users of at least one network system, the preferences indicating characteristics of broadcast streams of interest to the users; and

instruct an agent associated with the network system to send notifications about the broadcast stream to a subset of the users of the at least one network system based on the preferences.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, further comprising receiving information about the broadcast stream from the broadcaster, wherein the network interface is configured to select the subset of users based on the preferences and the information about the broadcast stream, wherein the networking system provides social networking service.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein further comprising instructing the agent to establish relationships with the users in the at least one network system.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the preferences include one or more of (i) a manner convenient for receiving the notification, (ii) types of broadcast streams of interest, (iii) whether to schedule an event or record the broadcast stream when the broadcast stream becomes active, (iv) keywords associated with preferred broadcast streams, (v) geological location of the users, and (v) receiving of a notification based on whether other users in a network system is viewing or listening to the broadcast stream.

23. A social networking system, comprising:

a user relationship database for storing relationships between users of the social networking system; and

a broadcaster agent configured to;

establish relationships with the users of the social networking system, the relationships between the users and the broadcaster agent stored in the user relationship database; and

send notifications about a broadcast stream to a subset of the users with the established relationships based on preferences of the users and characteristics of the broadcast stream.

24. The social networking system of claim 23, wherein the preferences include one or more of (i) a manner convenient for receiving the notification, (ii) types of broadcast streams of interest, (iii) whether to schedule an event or record the broadcast stream when the broadcast stream becomes active, (iv) keywords associated with preferred broadcast streams, (v) geological location of the users, and (v) receiving of a notification based on whether other users in a network system is viewing or listening to the broadcast stream.