Simultaneous sharing communication interface

• US 8,554,868 B2
• Filed: 05/17/2007
• Issued: 10/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Snap, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Skyrm, Matthew James, Jacobson, Joshua Robert Russell, Burke, Eric P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Desrosiers, Evans
• Application Number:
  US11/750,211
• Publication Number:
  US 20080168154A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,336 Days
• Field of Search: 709213-216, 345544-549
• US Class Current: 709/214
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/40 Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4053 without floor control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/75 Media network packet handling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers

Abstract

A user can share (show) multimedia information while simultaneously communicating (telling) with one or more other users over a network. Multimedia information is received from at least one source. The multimedia information may be manually and/or automatically annotated and shared with other users. The multimedia information may be displayed in an integrated live view simultaneously with other modes of communication, such as video, voice, or text. A simultaneous sharing communication interface provides an immersive experience that lets a user communicate via text, voice, video, sounds, music, or the like, with one or more other users while also simultaneously sharing media such as photos, videos, movies, images, graphics, illustrations, animations, presentations, narratives, music, sounds, applications, files, and the like. The simultaneous sharing interface enables a user to experience a higher level of intimacy in their communication with others over a network.

Claims

1. A computing device for sharing information, comprising:

a memory component for storing data and instructions; and

a processing component for executing instructions that enables actions, comprising;

enabling a communication between a user of the computing device and another user of another computing device;

providing a sharing strip for display on the computing device and another sharing strip for display on the other computing device, wherein multimedia information placed on either sharing strip is simultaneously displayed on each computing device;

receiving the multimedia information with at least one of the user'"'"'s computing device and the other user'"'"'s computing device;

enabling the user and the other user to annotate the received multimedia information;

inserting at least a portion of the multimedia information into a sequence of multimedia information that is placed on one of the sharing strips displayed on one of the computing devices, wherein the a one of the sharing strips displays at least a portion of a thumbnail associated with the inserted multimedia infomation among a plurality of other thumbnails; and

simultaneously sharing, independent of the concurrent communication by the user with the other user, the sequence of multimedia information with the user and the other user on each sharing strip on each computing device, wherein the sequence and the multimedia information are configured to be concurrently editable by each of the users and wherein the edited sequence is further configured to be concurrently shared with both users,

wherein simultaneously sharing further comprises;

sending a plurality of multimedia information in a send order based on an order of different selected thumbnails in the sharing strip, wherein each of the plurality of the multimedia information is associated with a different selected thumbnail in the sharing strip.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein receiving the multimedia information comprises:

searching a file system for the multimedia information based on a search term.

3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the multimedia information includes at least one of text, voice, video, sound, music, image, movie, presentation, animation, illustration, narrative, or sound effect information.

4. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the communication includes a voice communication, a text communication, or a video communication.

5. The computing device of claim 1, wherein receiving the multimedia information further comprises receiving the multimedia information from a network device over a network, from a directory on the computing device, or from a plurality of applications of different types.

6. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the actions further comprise:

displaying, to the user and the other user, the shared multimedia information in a live view of a plurality of shared multimedia information;

simultaneously sharing, independent of the concurrent communication, another multimedia information by the other user with the user; and

displaying the other shared multimedia information in the live view.

7. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the user and the other user belong in a social network.

8. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the other computing device is a mobile device.

9. A method for sharing information over a network, comprising:

enabling a communication over a plurality of channels between a user of a computing device and another user of another computing device;

providing a sharing strip for display on the computing device and another sharing strip for display on the other computing device, wherein multimedia information placed on either sharing strip is simultaneously displayed on each computing device;

retrieving the multimedia information from a plurality of sources with at least one of the user'"'"'s computing device and the other user'"'"'s computing device;

enabling the user and the other user to annotate the retrieved multimedia information;

inserting at least a portion of the multimedia information into a sequence of multimedia information that is placed on one of the sharing strips displayed on the computing devices, wherein the one of the sharing strips displays at least a portion of a thumbnail associated with the inserted multimedia information among a plurality of other thumbnails;

simultaneously sharing, independent of the concurrent communication between the user and the other user, the multimedia information between the user and the other user over the network, wherein the shared multimedia information is displayed on each sharing strip on each computing device and wherein the multimedia information is configured to be concurrently editable by each of the users,

wherein retrieving the multimedia information from the plurality of sources further comprises,

filtering the multimedia information based on at least one of a size or a timestamp of the multimedia information; and

ordering the multimedia information based on the timestamp of the multimedia information.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein retrieving the multimedia information from the plurality of sources further comprises:

searching for a file associated the multimedia information based on an attribute of the file.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the sharing strip is configured to enable the user and the other user to append another multimedia information to the sharing strip and to further share the other multimedia information in the appended sharing strip.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

detecting a drag-and-drop of the multimedia information into the sharing strip, before simultaneously sharing.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein annotating the multimedia information further comprises enabling either user to annotate the multimedia information, wherein an annotation of the multimedia information is sharable between the users simultaneous with the communication.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of channels includes at least one of Short Message Service, Multimedia Message Service, instant messaging, internet relay chat, or Voice Over Internet Protocol.

15. A computer system having a graphical user interface including a display, a user interface selection device, and a processor operable to perform actions comprising:

displaying a window on the display, the window providing;

a sharing strip for sharing multimedia information, wherein the multimedia information placed on the sharing strip is simultaneously displayed on another sharing strip provided by another window; and

a conversation window for communicating between a plurality of users;

displaying in the window, a plurality of first thumbnails from a first source and at least one second thumbnail from a second source;

receiving a selected one of the first or second thumbnails at the sharing strip, wherein the selected thumbnail is associated with multimedia information; and

simultaneously sharing through the sharing strip and the other sharing strip, independent of a concurrent communication between users within the conversation window, the selected thumbnail over the network to the users and the multimedia information are configured to be concurrently editable by each of the users,

wherein simultaneously sharing further comprises;

sending a plurality of multimedia information in a send order based on an order of different selected thumbnails in the sharing strip, wherein each of the plurality of the multimedia information is associated with a different selected thumbnail in the sharing strip.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein displaying in the window further comprises:

searching for a file associated the multimedia information based on an attribute of the file.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein simultaneously sharing further comprises:

sending the multimedia information associated with the selected thumbnail while sending at least one of a Short Message Service, Multimedia Message Service, instant messaging, internet relay chat, or Voice Over Internet Protocol message.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein simultaneously sharing further comprises:

receiving a selection of a selected thumbnail in the sharing strip from at least one of the plurality of users; and

providing selected multimedia information associated with the selected thumbnail to each of the plurality of users.