Method and system for sharing annotations in a communication network

• US 8,340,492 B2
• Filed: 12/17/2007
• Issued: 12/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: General Instrument Corporation (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Vasudevan, Venu, Pearce, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Zand, Kambiz
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran, Tongoc
• Application Number:
  US11/958,093
• Publication Number:
  US 20090154893A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,835 Days
• Field of Search: 725/115, 386/207, 386/201, 386/208, 707/610, 380/204
• US Class Current: 386/207
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43072 of multiple content streams on the same device
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/488 Data services, e.g. news ticker systems specially adapted for using meteorological information in broadcast systems H04H60/71
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/632 using a connection between clients on a wide area network, e.g. setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet for retrieving video segments from the hard-disk of other client devices broadcast-related systems characterised by transmission among terminal devices H04H60/80; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8455 involving pointers to the content, e.g. pointers to the I-frames of the video stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus

Abstract

A method for sharing at least one annotation between a first user media terminal (102) and a second user media terminal (104) in a communication network (100) is provided. The method includes inputting (404) the at least one annotation on the first user media terminal. Further, the method includes anchoring (406) the at least one annotation to the media stream executed on the first user media terminal at a first start time. The at least one annotation is sent (408) to the second user media terminal. The at least one annotation is received (410) at the second user media terminal. Furthermore, the at least one annotation is synchronized (412) at the second user media terminal based on a relative start time. The at least one synchronized annotation is then rendered (414) to the media stream on the second user media terminal.

Claims

1. A method for sharing at least one annotation between a first user media terminal and a second user media terminal in a communication network, the at least one annotation being associated with a media stream, the media stream being executed on at least one of the first user media terminal and the second user media terminal, the method comprising:

inputting the at least one annotation on the first user media terminal;

anchoring the at least one annotation to the media stream, the media stream being executed on the first user media terminal at a first start time; and

sending the at least one annotation from the first user media terminal to the second user media terminal by using a Peer to Peer protocol, the at least one annotation received at the second user media terminal is synchronized.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one annotation received at the second user media terminal is synchronized with the media stream based on a relative start time of the media stream on the first user media terminal and the second user media terminal.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein inputting the at least one annotation comprises recording a voice message of a user or using a remote device.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising sending an anchored media stream to the second user media terminal, the anchored media stream being formed by anchoring the at least one annotation to the media stream on the first user media terminal.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising receiving the at least one annotation from the second user media terminal in response to the least one annotation.

6. A method for sharing at least one annotation between a first user media terminal and a second user media terminal in a communication network, the at least one annotation being associated with a media stream, the media stream being executed on at least one of the first user media terminal and the second user media terminal, the method comprising:

receiving the at least one annotation at the second user media terminal from the first user media terminal using a Peer to Peer protocol;

synchronizing the at least one annotation based on a relative start time of the media stream on the first user media terminal and the second user media terminal; and

rendering the synchronized at least one annotation to the media stream, the media stream being executed on the second user media terminal at a second start time.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein synchronizing the at least one annotation comprises synchronizing the at least one annotation by using a relative clock skew between the first user media terminal and the second user media terminal.

8. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein synchronizing the at least one annotation comprises synchronizing the at least one annotation by using the Automated Measurement of line-up (AMOL) data of the media stream on the second user media terminal.

9. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein synchronizing the at least one annotation comprises synchronizing the at least one annotation by using the information obtained from sampling an audio channel of the media stream on the second user media terminal.

10. A communication network for sharing at least one annotation between a first user media terminal and a second user media terminal, the at least one annotation being associated with a media stream, the media stream being executed on at least one of the first user media terminal and the second user media terminal, the system comprising:

the first user media terminal configured to;

input the at least one annotation;

anchor the at least one annotation to the media stream, the media stream being executed on the first user media terminal at a first start time;

send the at least one annotation to the second user media using a Peer to Peer protocol; and

the second user media terminal configured to;

receive the at least one annotation from the first user media terminal using the Peer to Peer protocol;

synchronize the at least one annotation based on a relative start time of the media stream on the first user media terminal and the second user media terminal; and

render the synchronized at least one annotation to the media stream, the media stream being executed on the second user media terminal at a second start time.

11. The communication network as recited in claim 10 further comprising an annotation input interface configured to accept input of the at least one annotation.

12. The communication network as recited in claim 10 further comprising a recording device configured to record a voice message of a user.

13. The communication network as recited in claim 10 further comprising an anchoring interface configured to anchor the at least one annotation to the media stream on the first user media terminal.

14. The communication network as recited in claim 10 further comprising a content sharing interface configured to share the at least one annotation between the first user media terminal and the second user media terminal.

15. The communication network as recited in claim 14, wherein the content sharing interface is further configured to share the media stream between the first user media terminal and the second user media terminal.

16. The communication network as recited in claim 10 further comprising a media splicing and rendering engine configured to render the media stream and the synchronized at least one annotation on the second user media terminal.