Media sharing and display system with persistent display

• US 8,843,825 B1
• Filed: 07/27/2012
• Issued: 09/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Photo Mambo, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Photo Mambo, Inc.
• Inventors: Whitman, Deborah L., Ogden, Stephen J.
• Primary Examiner(s): PHANTANA ANGKOOL, DAVID
• Application Number:
  US13/560,563
• Time in Patent Office: 788 Days
• Field of Search: 715/730, 715/764, 715/783
• US Class Current: 715/730
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/34 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/437 Administration of user profiles, e.g. generation, initialisation, adaptation, distribution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4393 Multimedia presentations, e.g. slide shows, multimedia albums
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/51 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

A media sharing and display application and system comprising a method of sharing and persistently displaying photographs and short video clips, shared between close friends and family members or any group of people is described. The system, in one embodiment, is composed of desktop software, mobile device applications, an integrated server-based online service, and a website where online services are accessed. The system creates a user experience for both sharing and persistently displaying digital photos and videos on another person'"'"'s computer or mobile device.

Claims

1. A media sharing and display application and system comprising:

a display interface to display one or more received media items on a user'"'"'s display screen, where the application accumulates media received over time, from multiple recipients and recurrently displays the accumulated media, in rotation;

a first user interface to enable selection of a plurality of media to be sent to a plurality of recipients;

a sending system to package the plurality of media, the sending system to send the media to the recipients;

a receiving system implemented by a processor to receive a package including the plurality of media, sent by a sender, the receiving system to;

verify that the sender is an authorized sender for the media display application, and accept the media package when the sender is an authorized sender;

unpack the media package, and add the plurality of media to the display interface, such that the new media is added to a rotating display of media items in the display interface.

2. The media application of claim 1, wherein the plurality of media is automatically downloaded to the computer system at an appropriate resolution level for the device.

3. The media application of claim 1, further comprising the receiving system to determine whether a maximum number of media items are in the rotating display, and if so, to remove a subset of the media items in the rotating display.

4. The media application of claim 3, wherein the subset of the media items removed comprises one or more of:

an age of the media item, a subject of the media item, a sender of the media item, or a least favorite media item.

5. The media application of claim 4, wherein the age of the media item includes:

an oldest media item in the rotation, an oldest media item in the rotation that is not tagged as non-removable, or an oldest media item in a subset of media images indicated as removable.

6. The media application of claim 1, wherein the sender may designate how each recipient will receive the shared media, including through one or more of:

the media sharing and display application, a webpage accessible via a browser, and a social media network.

7. The media application of claim 1, wherein a media package is comprised of one or more of the following:

photographs, videos, captions, frames, and metadata associated with each photograph or video.

8. The media application of claim 1, wherein the sending system sends the media package to a server, and the server sends the media package to the recipients.

9. The media application of claim 1, wherein the sender creates one or more “

express lists”

of recipients to enable the sharing of media to each “

express list”

with a single action.

10. The media application of claim 9, wherein the single action comprises one of:

dragging or dropping photos or video clips into a specific icon or widget on their computer system or sending the media to a pre-identified email address associated with the express list.

11. The media application of claim 9, where each recipient in the express list receives the media using the sharing format originally identified by the sender.

12. A method of sharing media comprising:

enabling a sender to select a plurality of media to be sent to a plurality of recipients, including at least one recipient using the media display application;

packaging the plurality of media to be sent to the recipients;

receiving the plurality of media;

verifying that the sender is an authorized sender for the media display application, and accepting the media package when the sender is an authorized sender;

unpacking the media package, and adding the plurality of media to a display interface, such that the plurality of media is added to a rotating display of media items in the display interface, the rotating display including media items from a plurality of senders.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the plurality of media is automatically downloaded to the computer system at an appropriate resolution level for the device.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining whether a maximum number of media items are in the rotating display of media items, and if so, to remove a subset of the media items in the rotating display.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the subset of the media items removed comprises one or more of:

an age of the media item, a subject of the media item, a sender of the media item, or a least favorite media item.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the age of the media item includes:

an oldest media item in the rotation, an oldest media item in the rotation that is not tagged as non-removable, or an oldest media item in a subset of media images indicated as removable.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the sender may designate how each recipient will receive the shared media, including through one or more of:

the media sharing and display application, a webpage accessible via a browser, and a social media network.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein a media package is comprised of one or more of the following:

photographs, videos, captions, frames, and metadata associated with each photograph or video.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

enabling the sender to create one or more “

express lists”

of recipients to enable the sharing media to each “

express list”

with a single action, wherein the single action comprises one of;

dragging or dropping photos or video clips into a specific icon or widget on their computer system or sending the media to a pre-identified email address associated with the express list; and

each recipient in the express list receives the media using the sharing format originally identified by the sender.

20. A method of displaying a plurality of media items in a media display application, the plurality of media items received from a plurality of senders, comprising:

receiving a media package including one or more media from a sender;

verifying that the sender is an authorized sender for the media display application, and accepting the media package when the sender is an authorized sender;

unpacking the media package, and adding the one or more media to the media display application;

displaying a slideshow including a rotating display of the plurality of media items in a display interface, the slideshow including a persistent frame shown on a desktop, wherein new media items are added to the slideshow transparently to the recipient when the media package is received from the authorized sender.