Apparatus and method for managing a social network

• US 8,504,484 B2
• Filed: 06/14/2012
• Issued: 08/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Roberts, Linda, Chang, E-Lee, Sung, Ja-Young, Schultz, Natasha Barrett, King, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): OUELLETTE, JONATHAN P
• Application Number:
  US13/517,737
• Publication Number:
  US 20120259935A1
• Time in Patent Office: 418 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/319
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a system having a controller to collect one or more user-generated comments from each of a plurality of computing devices, detect a correlation in the one or more user-generated comments collected from the plurality of computing devices, and establish a social network between the plurality of computing devices according to the detected correlation. The one or more user-generated comments can be temporally associated with media content presented at the plurality of computing devices. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

presenting, by a communication device, media content;

receiving, by the communication device, a first user-generated comment;

presenting, by the communication device, an overlay that is combined with the media content, wherein the overlay illustrates user-generated comments that are associated with portions of the media content, wherein the user-generated comments include the first-user generated comment and other user generated comments from other computing devices, wherein at least a portion of the user-generated comments are shared among a plurality of computing devices that includes the communication device and the other computing devices;

receiving, by the communication device, an invitation to access a social network that has been established among at least a subset of the plurality of computing devices, wherein the social network is established according to a correlation detected in the user-generated comments;

receiving, by the communication device, a second user-generated comment;

transmitting, by the communication device, the second user-generated comment to a server of the social network; and

receiving, by the communication device, a denial of access to the social network responsive to a detection of a decorrelation between the second user-generated comment and additional user-generated comments of the social network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the overlay illustrates the user-generated comments as being temporally associated with portions of the media content by utilizing a time line and annotations along the time line that are representative of each of the user-generated comments.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the denial of access is received without the social network being terminated for remaining devices of the at least a subset of the plurality of computing devices.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the correlation is detected by the communication device.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising:

receiving, by the communication device, the overlay from a server.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising:

receiving, by the communication device, the overlay from a server, wherein the correlation is detected without the server performing the detection.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising:

transmitting, by the first communication device, the first user-generated comment over a network to a server for presentation by the other computing devices.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication device is a mobile device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication device is a set top box.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication device is a gaming console.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the correlation is detected based on a behavioral pattern of the user-generated comments, and wherein the other computing devices comprise at least one of a mobile device or a gaming console.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the invitation to access the social network is received by the communication device from at least one of the other computing devices.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, comprising computer instructions which, responsive to being executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

obtaining remarks originated at a plurality of computing devices, wherein the remarks are associated with media content presented at the plurality of computing devices;

detecting a correlation in the remarks;

facilitating establishment of a social network including at least a subset of the plurality of computing devices according to the detected correlation;

monitoring additional remarks associated with the social network;

determining a decorrelation in the additional remarks; and

removing a target computing device from the social network based on the determined decorrelation.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein at least some of the plurality of computing devices present the media content at different times.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the remarks correspond to user-generated remarks, wherein an overlay is combined with the presentation of the media content, wherein the user-generated remarks are temporally associated with the media content according to the overlay by utilizing a time line and annotations along the time line that are representative of each of the user-generated remarks, and wherein at least one of the user-generated remarks is shared among the plurality of computing devices.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, comprising computer instructions which, responsive to being executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

sharing at least some of the remarks with each of the plurality of computing devices.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the correlation is detected based on a behavioral pattern in the remarks, and wherein the remarks are temporally associated with a scene of the media content and are shared among at least some of the plurality of computing devices.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the plurality of computing devices comprises a communication device, and wherein the remarks comprise a voice recording received from and captured by the communication device.

19. A communication device, comprising:

a memory storing computer instructions; and

a processor coupled with the memory, wherein the processor, responsive to executing the computer instructions, performs operations comprising;

presenting media content;

receiving a first user-generated comment;

presenting user-generated comments that are associated with portions of the media content, wherein the user-generated comments include the first-user generated comment and other user generated comments from other computing devices, wherein at least one of the user-generated comments is shared among a plurality of computing devices that includes the communication device and the other computing devices;

receiving an invitation to access a social network that is accessible by at least a subset of the plurality of computing devices, wherein the invitation is received based on a correlation detected in the user-generated comments;

receiving a second user-generated comment;

providing the second user-generated comment for publication at the social network; and

receiving a denial of access to the social network responsive to a detection of a decorrelation between the second user-generated comment and additional user-generated comments of the social network.

20. The communication device of claim 19, wherein the user-generated comments are presented using an overlay that illustrates the user-generated comments as being temporally associated with portions of the media content by utilizing a time line and annotations along the time line that are representative of each of the user-generated comments.