ASYNCHRONOUS INTERACTION AT SPECIFIC POINTS IN CONTENT

• US 20120311618A1
• Filed: 06/06/2011
• Published: 12/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TiVo Corporation (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Blaxland, Thomas Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 9,112,623 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/9
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/33 Arrangements for monitoring the users' behaviour or opinions
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/45 for identifying users
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/73 using meta-information

Abstract

Systems, devices, and methods for allowing comments to be input at specific points in delivered content are provided. The systems, devices and methods may comprise specific content items, at least one request from a device for interacting with the specific content, and a comment provided by at least one user via the device in relation to the interacted one of the specific content. The comment may be recorded and later provided at the point of the comment to a second user while the second user plays back the specific content.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a comment from a first terminal associated with a content playback;

correlating the received comment with at least a specific time in the content playback;

identifying at least one of the first terminal and a user associated with the first terminal;

recording at least said correlated comment and said identified at least one of the first terminal and the user associated with the first terminal in one or more storage media; and

providing the recorded comment to a second terminal.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the content playback to the first terminal from a central office.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said transmitting comprises transmitting SDV content.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said transmitting comprises transmitting VOD content.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said first terminal comprises a set top box.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving a comment comprises receiving the comment via an internet protocol network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving a comment comprises receiving the comment via a telephone or mobile computing device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said correlating the received comment comprises correlating the received comment at a central office.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said correlating the received comment comprises correlating the received comment at an edge server.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said identifying of the at least one of the first terminal and the user associated with the first terminal comprises receiving an identifier, wherein the identifier comprises at least one of a name, a network address, a terminal address, a phone number and an online handle.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising repeating said receiving, correlating, identifying, and recording for a second comment from the second terminal, and providing the recorded second comment to at least one third terminal.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one third terminal comprises the first terminal.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing content associated with the content playback to the second terminal,

wherein the recorded comment is provided to the second terminal at the specific time in the content playback of the content at the second terminal.

14. A system comprising:

at least one server storing a plurality of content items,

wherein the at least one server is configured to receive a request for at least one of the content items from a first terminal and provide the at least one content item to the first terminal in response to the request, and

wherein the at least one server is configured to receive a comment from the first terminal in relation to a specific time in the at least one content item and an identification of at least one of the first terminal and a first user associated with the first terminal, and

wherein the at least one server is configured to provide the comment to a second terminal associated with a second user that is a contact of the first user, and

wherein the comment provided to the second terminal is configured to be rendered during a playback of the at least one content at the second terminal.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the at least one server is configured to store an address book comprising the identification of the at least one of the first terminal and a first user associated with the first terminal and an identification of at least one of the second user and the second terminal.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the at least one server is configured to provide an alert to the second terminal responsive to receiving said comment.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the at least one server is configured to receive from the second terminal a second comment in relation to the specific time in the at least one content item.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the second comment is part of a thread associated with the comment, and wherein the at least one server is configured to link the second comment to the comment.

19. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to;

receive, from a first terminal, a comment associated with a specific time in a content item;

record the received comment and a reference to the specific time;

receive, from a second terminal, a request for the content item;

determine that a user associated with the second terminal is a contact of a user associated with the first terminal; and

provide the content item, the comment, and the reference to the specific time to the second terminal responsive to determining that the user associated with the second terminal is a contact of the user associated with the first terminal.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

receive an indication from the first terminal that the user associated with the first terminal is entering the comment,

wherein the recorded reference to the specific time is based at least in part on the received indication and a lag time between the first terminal and the apparatus.