Browser interpretable document for controlling a plurality of media players and systems and methods related thereto

• US 8,756,505 B2
• Filed: 06/20/2008
• Issued: 06/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gonze, Lucas, Sobeski, Carl
• Primary Examiner(s): Abdul-Ali, Omar
• Assistant Examiner(s): TANK, ANDREW L
• Application Number:
  US12/142,994
• Publication Number:
  US 20090006963A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,188 Days
• Field of Search: 715/201, 715/210, 715/234, 715716-728, 715/739, 715/760, 715744-747, 725/51, 725/109, 725/113, 348/E7.701, 709/231, 420/1, 421/0, 423/4, 4716-728, 473/9, 474/6, 476/0
• US Class Current: 715/721
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44526 Plug-ins; Add-ons
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

A browser interpretable document comprising a first media file or a pointer to the first media file; a graphical user interface definition, or a pointer to the graphical user interface definition, the graphical user interface definition comprising a first user interface element and a function associated with the first user interface element; and, a set of commands, or a pointer to the set of commands, for controlling the operation of a plurality of media players; wherein, when the browser interpretable document is rendered by a conventional web browser, the web browser can render a graphical user interface based on the graphical user interface definition, and wherein the rendered graphical user interface controls one of the plurality of media players to facilitate playing of the first media file.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

defining a graphical user interface through which a plurality of media players implemented on a computing device are to be controlled, wherein the graphical user interface comprises a user interface element displayed as part of the graphical user interface;

associating at least one function with the defined user interface element;

associating at least one playlist and a plurality of entries of the at least one playlist with the graphical user interface, said association comprising identifying a type for each entry of the at least one playlist based upon attributes of the computing device on which the graphical user interface is operating, wherein each entry comprises a first media file or a pointer to the first media file;

storing the graphical user interface and the association of the playlist with the graphical user interface in a manner interpretable by a web browser; and

associating computer program process code with the graphical user interface, wherein the computer program process code comprises instructions for;

determining whether a media player capable of playing the first media file is accessible to the computing device based at least in part on said each entry of said at least one playlist associated with the graphical user interface;

causing the media player determined capable of playing the first media file to be loaded by the computing device, wherein at least native controls of the media player are hidden from a user;

monitoring for interaction with the defined user interface element; and

controlling the media player via the user interface element so as to cause the media player to function in a manner corresponding to the function associated with the user interface element.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface exists independent from any media player.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface comprises at least one graphics file.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the playlist further comprises a media type indicator associated with the first media file.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the media player capable of playing the first media file is determined, at least in part, by the media type indicator associated with the first media file.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the graphical user interface and the association of the computer program process code with the graphical user interface in a manner interpretable by a web browser.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the graphical user interface, the association of the graphical user interface and the playlist, and the association of the graphical user interface and the computer program process code are stored in the same file.

8. A system comprising:

a defined graphical user interface visibly displayed on a display of a computing device, wherein the defined graphical user interface receives user interactions, wherein the defined graphical user interface comprises a user interface element, wherein the defined user interface element has a function associated therewith, and wherein the defined graphical user interface is stored in a markup language derived from the Standardized Generalized Markup Language and interpretable by a web browser running on the computing device,

a set of instructions interpretable by the web browser implemented by the computing device, whereby the web browser can send commands to one of a plurality of loaded media players installed on the computing device, thereby permitting the web browser to control playback of a media file based on user interactions with the defined graphical user interface; and

a playlist, wherein the playlist is stored in a markup language derived from the Standardized Generalized Markup Language and interpretable by the web browser implemented by the computing device, wherein the playlist comprises a plurality of entries that are associated with the defined graphical user interface during association of the playlist with the defined graphical user interface, said association comprising identifying a type for each entry of the at least one playlist based upon attributes of the computing device on which the web browser is operating, and wherein at least a subset of the plurality of entries corresponds to a multimedia file.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the set of instructions further comprises instructions for determining whether a media player capable of playing a media file is installed on the computing device.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein each playlist entry further comprises at least one media type indicator associated with the playlist entry.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the determination of whether a media player capable of playing the media file is installed on the computing device is based, at least in part, on the media type indicator associated with a playlist entry.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the common markup language is Hypertext Markup Language.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the playlist and the graphical user interface are stored using a common markup language.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the common markup language is the eXtensible Markup Language.