Method and system for collecting information about a user's media collections from multiple login points

• US 8,307,092 B2
• Filed: 02/21/2007
• Issued: 11/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Napo Enerprises, LLC (Concert Technology Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Napo Enerprises, LLC (Concert Technology Corporation)
• Inventors: Svendsen, Hugh
• Primary Examiner(s): Moore, Ian N
• Assistant Examiner(s): ALEXANDER, JENEE LAUREN
• Application Number:
  US11/677,106
• Publication Number:
  US 20080201446A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,085 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/109 by using specially-adapted hardware at the client
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/34 involving the use of external additional devices, e.g. dongles or smart cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/41 where a single sign-on provides access to a plurality of computers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/148 Migration or transfer of sessions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

A system and method for collecting information about a user'"'"'s media collections at a central location from multiple login points and/or multiple devices owned by the user. The user establishes a user account at a central server. A client application may be downloaded to the user'"'"'s device for establishing a connection to the central server. Subsequently, each time the user logs in to the central server, the central server receives a unique machine identifier (MID) for the connected and currently in-use user device. The central server receives information about the user'"'"'s media collection from the user device and stores that media collection by its MID under the user'"'"'s individual account. In this manner, the central server obtains and stores information about all the user'"'"'s media collections owned by user devices connected and in-use and previously connected to the central server rather than only having knowledge of the media collection stored on the currently in-use user device.

Claims

1. A method of obtaining at a central server information about all of a user'"'"'s media collections owned by a plurality of user devices, comprising the steps of:

establishing a unique user account for a user;

receiving a connection establishment request from more than one of the plurality of user devices each having a unique machine identifier;

establishing a plurality of connections each with one of the more than one of the plurality of user devices;

receiving or generating a recommendation for media content for the user account;

identifying one of the plurality of connections with the plurality of user devices as a primary session;

filtering the recommendation if content represented by the recommendation is already stored on a user device among the plurality of user devices associated with the user account; and

for each connected user device of the more than one of the plurality of user devices;

receiving information about the user'"'"'s complete media collection owned by the connected user devices; and

storing the received information about the user'"'"'s complete media collection according to the unique machine identifier of the connected user device such that the received information is stored under the user account associated with the user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising controlling the recommendation from the primary session and downloading content represented by the recommendation to a user device associated with a secondary session comprised of a connection with one of the plurality of user devices different from the connection for the primary session.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

maintaining the content representing the recommendation for downloading on the central server when the secondary session is not established, and

downloading the maintained recommendation content to the user device associated with the secondary session when established.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising downloading the content represented by the recommendation previously downloaded to the user device associated with the secondary session to the user device associated with the primary session.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the primary session is associated with a wireless device and the secondary session is associated with a computer device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising inserting a tag into the recommendation if the recommendation is already on a user device associated with the user account.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

notifying the user of the tag inserted into the recommendation; and

providing an adjustment to a score of the recommendation in response to the notification.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising only allowing downloading of content represented by a received recommendation for media content to the user device associated with the primary session.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the unique machine identifier is an identifier comprised from the group consisting of:

a MAC address, a serial number, and an IP address.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving or generating a recommendation for media content for the user account.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying one of the plurality of connections with the plurality of user devices as a primary session.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a request for media collection information identifying all of a user'"'"'s media collections from a previously connected user device.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising providing the media collection information identifying all of a user'"'"'s media collections wherein ones of the media collection items are not present on the previously connected user device.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising downloading to the previously connected user device one or more of the media collection items not present on the previously connected user device.

15. The method of claim 12 further comprising providing the media collection information identifying all of a user'"'"'s media collections wherein ones of the media items are present on the previously connected user device.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a recommendation for media content for the user account.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising basing the recommendation on the user'"'"'s media collection stored under the user account.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the information about a user'"'"'s media collection comprises a list of all media items residing on a previously connected user device.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the information about a user'"'"'s media collection is information other than a playlist.

20. A system for obtaining information about a user'"'"'s media collections over a network at a central server owned by a plurality of user devices, comprising:

a central server operably connected to the network;

the central server adapted to;

receive a connection establishment request from more than one of the plurality of user devices each having a unique machine identifier;

establish a plurality of connections at the same time each with one of the more than one of the plurality of user devices;

identify one of the plurality of connections with the plurality of user devices as a primary session;

receive or generate a recommendation for media content for the user account;

filter the recommendation if content presented by the recommendation is already stored on a user device among the plurality of user devices associated with the user account; and

for each connected user device of the more than one of the plurality of user devices;

receive information about the user'"'"'s media collection owned by the connected user devices; and

store the received information about the user'"'"'s media collection according to the unique machine identifier of the connected user device such that the received information is stored under the user account at the central server.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein at least one of the plurality of connections with a corresponding one of the plurality of user devices is a persistent connection.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the central server is further adapted to identify one of the connections with the plurality of user devices that was last established as the primary session when identifying one of the plurality of connections.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein the central server is further adapted to control the recommendation from the primary session and download content represented by the recommendation to a user device associated with a secondary session comprised of a connection with one of the plurality of the user devices different from the connection for the primary session.

24. The system of claim 20, wherein the central server is further adapted to send content from the user'"'"'s media collection to the connected user device in response to a received download request for the content.

25. The system of claim 20, wherein the central server is further adapted to send a message to the connected user device that content requested for download by the user is already owned by another user device among the plurality of user devices associated with the user account.

26. The system of claim 20, wherein the recommendation is based on the user'"'"'s media collection stored under the user account.

27. A method of obtaining at a central server information about all of a user'"'"'s media collections owned by a plurality of user devices, comprising the steps of:

establishing a unique user account for a user;

receiving a connection establishment request from more than one of the plurality of user devices each having a unique machine identifier;

establishing a plurality of connections each with one of the more than one of the plurality of user devices;

receiving or generating a recommendation for media content for the user account;

identifying one of the plurality of connections with the plurality of user devices as a primary session;

inserting a tag into the recommendation if the recommendation is already on a user device associated with the user account;

notifying the user of the tag inserted into the recommendation;

providing an adjustment to a score of the recommendation in response to the notification; and

for each connected user device of the more than one of the plurality of user devices;

receiving information about the user'"'"'s complete media collection owned by the connected user devices; and

storing the received information about the user'"'"'s complete media collection according to the unique machine identifier of the connected user device such that the received information is stored under the user account associated with the user.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the user'"'"'s media collection is comprised of media types comprised from the group consisting of:

audio, video, songs, movies, television programs, video clips, and presentations.

29. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

receiving a human readable name for one of the plurality of user devices; and

associating the human readable name with one of the plurality of user devices.

30. A system for obtaining information about a user'"'"'s media collections over a network at a central server owned by a plurality of user devices, comprising:

the central server operably connected to the network;

the central server adapted to;

receive a connection establishment request from more than one of the plurality of user devices each having a unique machine identifier;

establish a plurality of connections at the same time each with one of the more than one of the plurality of user devices;

identify one of the plurality of connections with the plurality of user devices as a primary session;

receive or generate a recommendation for media content for a user account;

insert a tag into the recommendation if the recommendation is already on a user device associated with the user account;

notify the user of the tag inserted into the recommendation; and

provide an adjustment to a score of the recommendation in response to the notification;

for each connected user device of the more than one of the plurality of user devices;

receive information about the user'"'"'s media collection owned by the connected user devices; and

store the received information about the user'"'"'s media collection according to the unique machine identifier of the connected user device such that the received information is stored under the user account at the central server.

31. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising software to obtain at a central server information about all of a user'"'"'s media collections owned by a plurality of user devices, the software comprising instructions to:

establish a unique user account for a user;

receive a connection establishment request from more than one of the plurality of user devices each having a unique machine identifier;

establish a plurality of connections each with one of the more than one of the plurality of user devices;

receive or generating a recommendation for media content for the user account;

identify one of the plurality of connections with the plurality of user devices as a primary session;

insert a tag into the recommendation if the recommendation is already on a user device associated with the user account;

notify the user of the tag inserted into the recommendation;

provide an adjustment to a score of the recommendation in response to the notification; and

for each connected user device of the more than one of the plurality of user devices;

receive information about the user'"'"'s complete media collection owned by the connected user devices; and

store the received information about the user'"'"'s complete media collection according to the unique machine identifier of the connected user device such that the received information is stored under the user account associated with the user.

32. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising software to obtain at a central server information about all of a user'"'"'s media collections owned by a plurality of user devices, the software comprising instructions to:

establish a unique user account for a user;

receive a connection establishment request from more than one of the plurality of user devices each having a unique machine identifier;

establish a plurality of connections each with one of the more than one of the plurality of user devices;

receive or generating a recommendation for media content for the user account;

identify one of the plurality of connections with the plurality of user devices as a primary session;

filter the recommendation if content represented by the recommendation is already stored on a user device among the plurality of user devices associated with the user account; and

for each connected user device of the more than one of the plurality of user devices;

receive information about the user'"'"'s complete media collection owned by the connected user devices; and

store the received information about the user'"'"'s complete media collection according to the unique machine identifier of the connected user device such that the received information is stored under the user account associated with the user.