INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS AND METHOD, TERMINAL APPARATUS, AND INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM

• US 20140067972A1
• Filed: 03/22/2012
• Published: 03/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Kageyama, Yuichi, Takehara, Mitsuru, Kikkawa, Norifumi, Wei, Yuan
• Granted Patent: US 10,911,548 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management

Abstract

Methods and apparatus of managing a community site. Upon execution of processor-executable instructions by a processing unit, the processing unit manages the community site in accordance with management data so as to permit access to the community site by a plurality of terminal apparatuses based at least in part on terminal data from each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses. The terminal data indicates at least one of a time or a location associated with the terminal apparatus. The processing unit further stores content uploaded from at least one of the plurality of terminal apparatuses to at least one storage device, the content being accessible via the community site. In response to at least one predetermined condition relating to the usage of the community site being satisfied, the processing unit sends a signal to delete the content from the at least one storage device.

Claims

1. An apparatus for managing a community site, the apparatus comprising:

a communication unit;

at least one memory to store processor-executable instructions; and

a processing unit communicatively coupled to the communication unit and the at least one memory, wherein upon execution of the processor-executable instructions by the processing unit, the processing unit;

manages the community site in accordance with management data so as to permit access to the community site by a plurality of terminal apparatuses based at least in part on terminal data from each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses, the terminal data indicating at least one of a time or a location associated with the terminal apparatus;

stores content uploaded from at least one of the plurality of terminal apparatuses to at least one storage device, the content being accessible via the community site; and

in response to at least one predetermined condition relating to the usage of the community site being satisfied, sends a signal to delete the content from the at least one storage device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one predetermined condition relates to a number of terminal apparatuses that have accessed the community site.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one predetermined condition relates to a number of terminal apparatuses that are within a setting range defined by the management data.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one predetermined condition relates to a time since a most recent item of the content was uploaded.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one predetermined condition relates to a number of items of the content that have a particular content-based classification.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the management data is stored to the at least one storage device, and wherein the processing unit:

sends a signal to delete the management data from the at least one storage device in response to the predetermined condition relating to the usage of the community site being satisfied.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing unit:

send a signal to delete the community site in response to the predetermined condition relating to the usage of the community site being satisfied.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the community site is a first community site, wherein the communication unit receives an instruction to establish a second community site associated with the first community site, and wherein the processing unit:

determines a number of terminal apparatuses that meet at least one predefined criterion; and

if the number of terminal apparatuses that meet the at least one predefined criterion exceeds a predetermined threshold, establishes the second community site.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein at least one predefined criterion comprises a presence within a particular geographic region.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing unit:

manages the community site so as to permit access to the community site by a plurality of terminal apparatuses based at least in part on the plurality of terminal apparatuses presenting common or similar objects within a particular geographic region.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the common or similar objects comprise passwords.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the common or similar objects comprise photographs.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing unit:

manages the community site so as to permit access to the community site by a plurality of terminal apparatuses based at least in part on the plurality of terminal apparatuses presenting common or similar objects within a particular time frame.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the common or similar objects comprise passwords.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the common or similar objects comprise photographs.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the management data comprises a setting range that defines an area in which each terminal apparatus must be present to access the community site.

17. A method of managing a community site, the method comprising:

managing the community site in accordance with management data so as to permit access to the community site by a plurality of terminal apparatuses based at least in part on terminal data from each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses, the terminal data indicating at least one of a time or a location associated with the portable terminal apparatus;

electronically sending a signal to store content from the plurality of terminal apparatuses to at least one storage device, the content being accessible via the community site; and

in response to at least one predetermined condition relating to the usage of the community site being satisfied, electronically sending a signal to delete the content from the at least one storage device.

18. At least one computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executed on at least one processing unit, cause an apparatus to:

manage a community site in accordance with management data so as to permit access to the community site by a plurality of terminal apparatuses based at least in part on terminal data from each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses, the terminal data indicating at least one of a time or a location associated with the terminal apparatus;

electronically send a signal to store content from the plurality of terminal apparatuses, the content being accessible via the community site; and

in response to at least one predetermined condition relating to the usage of the community site being satisfied, electronically send a signal to delete the content.

19. An apparatus for accessing a community site, the community site being managed by a server in accordance with management data so as to permit access to the community site by a plurality of terminal apparatuses based at least in part on terminal data from each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses, the terminal data indicating at least one of a time or a location associated with the terminal apparatus, the apparatus for accessing the community site comprising:

a communication unit;

at least one memory to store processor-executable instructions; and

a processing unit communicatively coupled to the communication unit and the at least one memory, wherein upon execution of the processor-executable instructions by the processing unit, the processing unit;

controls the communication unit to send an instruction to the server to establish the community site; and

controls the communication unit to receive data relating to at least one content item accessible via the community site;

wherein, in response to at least one predetermined condition relating to the usage of the community site being satisfied, the at least one content item is caused to be inaccessible to the apparatus via the community site.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the community site is a first community site, and wherein the processing unit:

controls the communication unit to send an instruction to an establish a second community site associated with the first community site.