Method and apparatus for organizing and playing data

• US 8,606,828 B2
• Filed: 03/10/2009
• Issued: 12/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Volk, Andrew R.
• Primary Examiner(s): ROBINSON, GRETA LEE
• Application Number:
  US12/401,340
• Publication Number:
  US 20090177968A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,736 Days
• Field of Search: 707/705, 707/763, 707/805, 707/912, 707/913, 707/914, 707/918, 707/999.104, 707/999.102, 707/999.107, 715/234, 715/205
• US Class Current: 707/805
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/44 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

The present invention provides a general solution to presenting media interface and navigation tools for content provided from a plurality of sources. The invention maintains a user at a single site regardless of the source of the media content. This permits a consistent interface to be presented to the user. Because the user remains at the same site, differences in tiered membership may be tracked so that the user is only presented with content that the user is permitted to view. The invention uses a metadata language to characterize content so that viewer type, membership level, and other information can be maintained and used for an enjoyable viewing experience.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

defining, by at least one computing device, a set of metadata attribute types relating to a plurality of media files, each of said metadata attribute types in the set having a respective predetermined location in a user interface, said respective predetermined location for a given metadata attribute type being a same location in said user interface regardless of media file or network source media file provider;

compiling, by the at least one computing device, said plurality of media files from a plurality of media file providers, said plurality of media files having associated metadata attribute types from the set of metadata attribute types for use with said user interface, each media file of said plurality of media files having at least one metadata attribute type in common with another media file of said plurality of said media files; and

mapping, by the at least one computing device, the at least one metadata attribute type in common to its respective predetermined location in said user interface so that as video, audio or both video and audio from any of each media file of said plurality of media files is experienced via said user interface said at least one metadata attribute type in common is displayed at its respective predetermined same location in said user interface regardless of the network source of said media file or media file provider; and

communicating, by the at least one computing device, said user interface to a user computer,

wherein media content corresponding to any of said plurality of media files comprises streaming media, said streaming media comprising a broadcast, and wherein said interface comprises;

a channel description portion having a location in said interface to display a plurality of channel choices, said plurality of channel choices selectable by the user to access the plurality of media files provided by the plurality of media file providers;

a show description portion to display one or more show choices, and in response to a chosen one of said plurality of channel choices, said channel description portion displaying, at its location in said interface, said plurality of channel choices and said show description portion displaying, at its location in said interface, at least one show choice of said one or more show choices, each show choice that is included in said show description portion in response to said chosen channel corresponding to the chosen channel; and

an episode description portion to display one or more episode choices, and in response to a chosen one of the at least one show choice of said one or more show choices said channel description portion displaying, at its location in said interface, said plurality of channel choices and said episode description portion displaying, at its location in said interface, at least one of said one or more episode choices, each episode choice that is included in said episode description portion in response to said chosen show corresponding to the chosen show, and prior to selection of an episode choice said episode description portion displaying, for each episode choice included in said episode description portion, an episode title and an episode description.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said metadata attributes are stored in a local database.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein one of said plurality of media files is stored remotely.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein said plurality of media files is provided by more than one source.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said metadata attributes comprises a title for the media file.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said metadata attributes comprise an expiration data for the media file.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said interface is provided by an Internet provider and comprises one or more web pages to present said media content corresponding to any of said plurality of media files such that said user interface provides a consistent user experience with respect to the media content provided by said plurality of media files regardless of the plurality of network sources identified.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the web page is constructed using a mark-up language.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the broadcast comprises a live broadcast.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the broadcast comprises a prerecorded broadcast.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein said metadata attribute type comprises a title for the media file.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein said metadata attribute type comprises a duration for the media file.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein said metadata attribute type comprises a description for the media file.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein said metadata attribute type comprises a thumbnail image for the media file.