SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DELIVERING SECONDARY CONTENT TO VIEWERS

• US 20160105707A1
• Filed: 10/09/2014
• Published: 04/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Inventors: SILVERMAN, LEON, DRAKE, EDWARD, CHEN, ALEXANDER
• Granted Patent: US 10,506,295 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/233 Processing of audio elementary streams monitoring, identification or recognition of audio in broadcast systems H04H60/58
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25875 involving end-user authentication restricting access to computer systems by authenticating users using a predetermined code G06F21/33; arrangements for secret or secure communication including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4852 for modifying audio parameters, e.g. switching between mono and stereo
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4856 for language selection, e.g. for the menu or subtitles
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4884 for displaying subtitles
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8106 involving special audio data, e.g. different tracks for different languages

Abstract

Systems and methods disclosed herein include systems and methods for delivery of secondary content to a user device. The secondary content may comprise events synchronized to primary content. In a particular embodiment, the process may include: receiving a request from a user device to access secondary content associated with a primary content; determining whether the user device is entitled to receive the secondary content; and if the user device is entitled to receive the secondary content, providing the secondary content to the user device for the user device to play whenever the user watches the primary content. The secondary content comprises at least one of an audio track, and a subtitle file, and the audio track comprises at least one of an alternate language audio track not provided in the primary content, and an audio track with words omitted from the primary content.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a request from a user device to access secondary content associated with a primary content, wherein the secondary content comprises at least one of

a subtitle file, and

an audio track comprising at least one of

an alternate language audio track not provided in the primary content, and

an audio track with words omitted from the primary content;

determining whether the user device is entitled to receive the secondary content; and

if the user device is entitled to receive the secondary content,

providing the secondary content to the user device for the user device to play whenever the user watches the primary content.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a sample of the primary content;

identifying the primary content; and

accessing secondary content associated with the identified primary content.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a menu on the user device to request the secondary content, wherein the secondary content comprises a plurality of alternate language audio tracks associated with the primary content.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the secondary content to the user device for the user device to play whenever the user watches the primary content comprises:

synchronizing playback of the secondary content with the primary content.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a language preference from the user device; and

identifying secondary content that is related to the primary content according to the received language preference.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the subtitle file comprises visual subtitles that can be displayed on the user device when the user is watching the primary content.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving user account information from the user device.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising storing a language preference as a user preference associated with the user account information.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

identifying a user using the user account information; and

automatically retrieving the language preference after identifying the user.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the user is not entitled to receive the secondary content, sending a graphical user interface to the user device to allow the user to purchase a license to access the secondary content.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the purchase allows the user to access the secondary content a finite number of times and/or for a finite period of time.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the purchase allows the user to execute the secondary content an unlimited number of times.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein

the primary content comprises a plurality of versions, and

the purchase permits the user device to access secondary content relating to each of the plurality of versions of the primary content.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising identifying a particular version of the primary content from the plurality of versions of the primary content.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the secondary content is identified according to the particular version of the primary content.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein execution of the secondary content is modified according to the particular version of the primary content.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein if the user device is not entitled to receive the secondary content because the primary content associated with the secondary content has not been publicly released yet, the method further comprises:

receiving purchase information for the user to purchase a license to access the secondary content associated with the primary content that has not been publicly released yet, the secondary content comprising at least one of an audio track and a subtitle file;

storing pre-purchased secondary content information on a user account server indicating that the user has pre-purchased the secondary content; and

providing the secondary content to a user device for the user device to play with the primary content once the primary content has been publicly released.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein providing the secondary content to the user device comprises:

synchronizing playback of the secondary content with the primary content.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising identifying the user using user-specific credentials, the pre-purchased secondary content information being associated with the identified user.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein a language preference is stored as a user preference associated with the identified user.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising providing an advertisement for the primary content in accordance with the language preference.

17. A method comprising:

receiving purchase information for a user to purchase a license to access secondary content related to a primary content that has not been publicly released yet, the secondary content comprising at least one of an audio track and a subtitle file;

storing pre-purchased secondary content information on a user account server indicating that the user has pre-purchased the secondary content; and

providing the secondary content to a user device for the user device to play with the primary content once the primary content has been publicly released.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein providing the secondary content to the user device comprises:

synchronizing playback of the secondary content with the primary content.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising identifying the user using user-specific credentials, the pre-purchased secondary content information being associated with the identified user.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein a language preference is stored as a user preference associated with the identified user.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising providing an advertisement for the primary content in accordance with the language preference.

22. A system comprising:

an application server in communication with one or more user devices, the application server comprising a nontransitory computer readable medium comprising an instruction set configured to cause a computing device to perform;

receiving a request from a user device to access secondary content associated with a primary content, wherein the secondary content comprises at least one of

a subtitle file, and

an audio track comprising at least one of

an alternate language audio track not provided in the primary content, and

an audio track with words omitted from the primary content;

determining whether the user device is entitled to receive the secondary content; and

if the user device is entitled to receive the secondary content,

providing the secondary content to the user device for the user device to play whenever the user watches the primary content.