Selective invocation of playback content supplementation

• US 8,583,267 B2
• Filed: 08/17/2007
• Issued: 11/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Lord, Robert W., Malamud, Mark A., Wood, JR., Lowell L., Levien, Royce A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Flanders, Andrew C
• Application Number:
  US11/893,994
• Publication Number:
  US 20090048692A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,279 Days
• Field of Search: 700/94, 381/61, 381/58
• US Class Current: 700/94
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/60 of audio data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path

Abstract

A system, method, computer program product, and carrier are described for obtaining one or more positions in a playable message and at least an indication of a playback system configuration and signaling a decision of which supplemental content to use in supplementing the one or more positions in the playable message.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a signal-bearing conduit;

means for obtaining one or more positions in a playable message and at least an indication of a playback system configuration, operably coupled to the signal bearing conduit; and

means for signaling a decision of which supplemental content to use in supplementing the one or more positions in the playable message responsive to the indication of the playback system configuration, operably coupled to the signal bearing conduit, including at least;

means for encountering more than one option available for use at the one or more positions in the playable message, operably coupled to the signal bearing conduit; and

means for permitting a user to decide which supplemental content to use in supplementing the one or more positions in the playable message responsive to the indication of the playback system configuration and in response to encountering the more than one option available for use at the one or more positions in the playable message, operably coupled to the signal bearing conduit.

2. A method comprising:

obtaining one or more positions in a playable message and at least an indication of a playback system configuration; and

signaling a decision of which supplemental content to use in supplementing the one or more positions in the playable message responsive to the indication of the playback system configuration, including at least;

encountering more than one option available for use at the one or more positions in the playable message; and

permitting a user to decide which supplemental content to use in supplementing the one or more positions in the playable message responsive to the indication of the playback system configuration and in response to encountering the more than one option available for use at the one or more positions in the playable message,

wherein at least one of the obtaining or signaling is at least partially implemented in circuitry.

3. The method of claim 2 in which obtaining one or more positions in a playable message and at least an indication of a playback system configuration comprises:

accepting information about the one or more positions at a message supplementation system.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein accepting information about the one or more positions at a message supplementation system comprises:

accepting the information about the one or more positions at the message supplementation system, including at least establishing an identifier of a first of the one or more positions responsive to input from a first user of the message supplementation system and an identifier of a second of the one or more positions responsive to input from a second user of the message supplementation system.

5. The method of claim 2 in which obtaining one or more positions in a playable message and at least an indication of a playback system configuration comprises:

obtaining a relationship at least between the one or more positions and one or more past event dates.

6. The method of claim 2 in which obtaining one or more positions in a playable message and at least an indication of a playback system configuration comprises:

obtaining one or more user identifiers in the indication of the playback system configuration.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein obtaining one or more user identifiers in the indication of the playback system configuration comprises:

obtaining the one or more user identifiers in the indication of the playback system configuration, including at least determining that a user identified in the indication of the playback system configuration is authorized to change the playback system configuration.

8. The method of claim 2 in which signaling a decision of which supplemental content to use in supplementing the one or more positions in the playable message responsive to the indication of the playback system configuration comprises:

interleaving one or more supplemental content segments between a first message portion and a second message portion of the playable message.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein interleaving one or more supplemental content segments between a first message portion and a second message portion of the playable message comprises:

interleaving the one or more supplemental content segments between the first message portion and the second message portion of the playable message being configured to choose one of a plurality of available supplementation options automatically as the one or more supplemental content segments and simultaneously to indicate that another supplementation option is available for selection by a user.

10. The method of claim 2 in which signaling a decision of which supplemental content to use in supplementing the one or more positions in the playable message responsive to the indication of the playback system configuration comprises:

causing one or more systems to be configured using at least the playback system configuration.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein causing one or more systems to be configured using at least the playback system configuration comprises:

causing the one or more systems to be configured using at least the playback system configuration, including at least installing special-purpose software onto the one or more systems in response to a user of the one or more systems buying a membership featuring access to the playable message, the special-purpose software implementing one or more playback features of the playback system configuration.

12. The method of claim 2 in which signaling a decision of which supplemental content to use in supplementing the one or more positions in the playable message responsive to the indication of the playback system configuration comprises:

receiving one or more content types of one or more supplemental content segments.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein receiving one or more content types of one or more supplemental content segments comprises:

receiving the one or more content types of the one or more supplemental content segments by accepting a type descriptor in relation to at least one of the one or more supplemental content segments, the type descriptor being a content rating.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein receiving one or more content types of one or more supplemental content segments comprises:

receiving the one or more content types of the one or more supplemental content segments, including at least accepting a type descriptor in relation to at least one of the one or more supplemental content segments, the type descriptor being a content level.

15. The method of claim 2 in which signaling a decision of which supplemental content to use in supplementing the one or more positions in the playable message responsive to the indication of the playback system configuration comprises:

accepting the decision of which supplemental content to use in supplementing the one or more positions in the playable message from a user.

16. The method of claim 2 in which obtaining one or more positions in a playable message and at least an indication of a playback system configuration comprises:

causing a presentation to exclude a portion of the playable message at least responsive to the indication of the playback system configuration.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein causing a presentation to exclude a portion of the playable message at least in response to the indication of the playback system configuration comprises:

causing the presentation to exclude the portion of the playable message at least in response to the indication of the playback system configuration, including at least presenting another component of the playable message at a playback system while the playback system receives an attribute of the playback system configuration that causes the portion of the playable message to be excluded from the playable message.

18. The method of claim 2 in which obtaining one or more positions in a playable message and at least an indication of a playback system configuration comprises:

obtaining an association between the playback system configuration and one or more specific systems.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein obtaining an association between the playback system configuration and one or more specific systems comprises:

obtaining the association between the playback system configuration and the one or more specific systems, including at least modifying a default configuration by implementing a selection from a set of other configuration profiles adoptable by a playback system in response to a user of the playback system identifying a group affiliation.

20. The method of claim 2 in which obtaining one or more positions in a playable message and at least an indication of a playback system configuration comprises:

causing the playback system to receive at least a portion of the playable message responsive to the playback system configuration.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein causing the playback system to receive at least a portion of the playable message responsive to the playback system configuration comprises:

causing the playback system to receive at least the portion of the playable message responsive to the playback system configuration, including at least forwarding the portion of the playable message in response to the portion passing one or more criteria, the supplemental content including the portion of the playable message, at least one of the one or more criteria being a requirement that the portion of the playable message have a specific authorship.

22. The method of claim 2 in which signaling a decision of which supplemental content to use in supplementing the one or more positions in the playable message responsive to the indication of the playback system configuration comprises:

accessing at least some information about a first content segment from a first system and some information about a second content segment from a second system.

23. The method of claim 2 in which signaling a decision of which supplemental content to use in supplementing the one or more positions in the playable message responsive to the indication of the playback system configuration comprises:

applying one or more content selection criteria to an inventory of available content in selecting one or more supplemental content segments.

24. The method of claim 2 in which signaling a decision of which supplemental content to use in supplementing the one or more positions in the playable message responsive to the indication of the playback system configuration comprises:

configuring one or more content selection criteria using at least some of the playback system configuration.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein configuring one or more content selection criteria using at least some of the playback system configuration comprises:

configuring the one or more content selection criteria using at least some of the playback system configuration, including at least activating one or more content filters each specified by a respective attribute of the playback system configuration, at least one of the one or more content filters comprising a superseding inclusion criterion specified by a user.

26. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

interleaving one or more supplemental content segments between a first message portion and a second message portion of the playable message including at least choosing a shortest of several available supplementation options automatically as the one or more supplemental content segments.

27. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining that a user identified in the indication of the playback system configuration is authorized to change the playback system configuration.

28. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

obtaining a relationship at least between the one or more positions and one or more past event dates by configuring a record to indicate a session date as the one or more past event dates.

29. A system comprising:

circuitry for obtaining one or more positions in a playable message and at least an indication of a playback system configuration; and

circuitry for signaling a decision of which supplemental content to use in supplementing the one or more positions in the playable message responsive to the indication of the playback system configuration, including at least;

circuitry for encountering more than one option available for use at the one or more positions in the playable message; and

circuitry for permitting a user to decide which supplemental content to use in supplementing the one or more positions in the playable message responsive to the indication of the playback system configuration and in response to encountering the more than one option available for use at the one or more positions in the playable message.

30. An apparatus comprising:

one or more physical media configured to bear a device-detectable implementation of a method including at least

obtaining one or more positions in a playable message and at least an indication of a playback system configuration; and

signaling a decision of which supplemental content to use in supplementing the one or more positions in the playable message, including at least;

encountering more than one option available for use at the one or more positions in the playable message; and

permitting a user to decide which supplemental content to use in supplementing the one or more positions in the playable message responsive to the indication of the playback system configuration and in response to encountering the more than one option available for use at the one or more positions in the playable message.

31. An apparatus comprising:

one or more physical media bearing a device-detectable output indicating an occurrence of

obtaining one or more positions in a playable message and at least an indication of a playback system configuration; and

signaling a decision of which supplemental content to use in supplementing the one or more positions in the playable message, including at least;

encountering more than one option available for use at the one or more positions in the playable message; and

permitting a user to decide which supplemental content to use in supplementing the one or more positions in the playable message responsive to the indication of the playback system configuration and in response to encountering the more than one option available for use at the one or more positions in the playable message.

32. The apparatus of claim 31 in which a portion of the one or more physical media comprises:

one or more device-detectable static markings indicating the occurrence of the obtaining the one or more positions in the playable message and at least the indication of the playback system configuration and of the signaling the decision of which supplemental content to use in supplementing the one or more positions in the playable message.