Disk jockey streaming sessions

• US 8,868,763 B2
• Filed: 11/03/2006
• Issued: 10/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Tedesco, Megan Lesley, Asmi, Yasser, Lichtenstein, Craig, Henshaw, Jeffrey David
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Hitesh
• Application Number:
  US11/556,672
• Publication Number:
  US 20080109550A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,909 Days
• Field of Search: 709/221, 709/232, 709/228, 707/201, 707/610, 725/26
• US Class Current: 709/228
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/613 for the control of the source by the destination control signals issued by the client directed to the server or network components specially adapted for selective content distribution H04N21/637

Abstract

A media player may stream media content, such as music, to other media players over a data network connection, for example, a WiFi/802.11 connection. An encounter object may be used to keep a record of each media object transmitted. The encounter object may include information about the transmission itself, such as a date and time when the media object was transmitted and the source and destination media players involved. The encounter object may also include metadata about the media object, such as genre, album, title, and artist, if the media object is a song. The DJ session may also support user interaction, such as sharing library listings, suggesting next plays (requests), and polls.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

initiating a disc jockey (DJ) session at a media device by designating the media device as a DJ device, identifying one or more additional media devices capable of bidirectional communication, and designating the one or more additional media devices as listener devices;

communicating an offer to join the DJ session to the one or more listener devices;

receiving an acceptance to join the DJ session from at least one of the listener devices;

creating a bidirectional communication link with the at least one listener device;

establishing the DJ session with the at least one listener device over the bidirectional communication link;

receiving, at the DJ device, at least one of a request, a suggestion, or a rating for a media content item that is available at the DJ device, the request received from the at least one listener device; and

streaming the media content item based on the at least one of the request, the suggestion, or the rating, from the DJ device, to the at least one listener device over the DJ session for one-time consumption by the at least one listener device so long as a time the media content is allowed to be streamed over the DJ session has not expired, the DJ device having a user interface that concurrently displays a device identifier indicating that the DJ device is in the DJ session, an additional device identifier indicating that the at least one listener device is in the DJ session, and an indication proximate the device identifier of the DJ device that visually distinguishes the device identifier of the DJ device on the user interface from additional device identifiers on the user interface of listener devices in the DJ session, the streaming the media content item effective to cause the at least one listener device to render a listener user interface that displays at least the device identifier of the DJ device and enables a user of the at least one listener device to rate the media content item.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a suggested media content item from one of the listener devices for streaming to the at least one listener device over the DJ session.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending at least a portion of an encounter entry for the media content item streamed to the at least one listener device during the session to a companion device during a synchronization operation.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the encounter entry for the media content item comprises a date and time, an identifier of the DJ device, and media content metadata.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the media content metadata comprises a genre, an album, a title, an artist identifier, and information for purchase of the media content item.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the encounter entry further comprises an item identifier, a box identifier, a media item handle, an event type, a read flag, a folder identifier for use during synchronization, an object identifier, a sort key, and a hidden property flag.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface of the DJ device supports text communication with the at least one listener device during the DJ session.

8. A media player device comprising:

one or more modules implemented at least partially in hardware, the one or more modules configured to perform operations comprising;

initiating a disc jockey (DJ) session at a media device by designating the media device as a DJ device, identifying one or more additional media devices capable of bidirectional communication, and designating the one or more additional media devices as listener devices;

communicating an offer to join the DJ session to the one or more listener devices;

receiving an acceptance to join the DJ session from at least one of the listener devices;

creating a bidirectional communication link with the at least one listener device;

establishing the DJ session with the at least one listener device over the bidirectional communication link;

receiving, at the DJ device, at least one of a request, a suggestion, or a rating for a media content item that is available at the DJ device, the request received from the at least one listener device; and

streaming the media content item based on the at least one of the request, the suggestion, or the rating, from the DJ device, to the at least one listener device over the DJ session for one-time consumption by the at least one listener device so long as a time the media content is allowed to be streamed over the DJ session has not expired, the DJ device having a user interface that concurrently displays a device identifier indicating that the DJ device is in the DJ session, an additional device identifier indicating that the at least one listener device is in the DJ session, and an indication proximate the device identifier of the DJ device that visually distinguishes the device identifier of the DJ device on the user interface from additional device identifiers on the user interface of listener devices in the DJ session, the streaming the media content item effective to cause the at least one listener device to render a listener user interface that displays at least the device identifier of the DJ device and enables a user of the at least one listener device to rate the media content item.

9. The media player device of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise receiving a suggested media content item from one of the listener devices for streaming to the at least one listener device over the DJ session.

10. The media player device of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise sending at least a portion of an encounter entry for the media content item streamed to the at least one listener device during the session to a companion device during a synchronization operation.

11. The media player device of claim 10, wherein the encounter entry for the media content item comprises a date and time, an identifier of the DJ device, and media content metadata.

12. The media player device of claim 11, wherein the media content metadata comprises a genre, an album, a title, an artist identifier, and information for purchase of the media content item.

13. The media player device of claim 11, wherein the encounter entry further comprises an item identifier, a box identifier, a media item handle, an event type, a read flag, a folder identifier for use during synchronization, an object identifier, a sort key, and a hidden property flag.

14. The media player device of claim 8, wherein the user interface of the DJ device supports text communication with the at least one listener device during the DJ session.

15. One or more computer-readable memories storing instructions thereon that are executable by a computing device to perform operations comprising:

initiating a disc jockey (DJ) session at a media device by designating the media device as a DJ device, identifying one or more additional media devices capable of bidirectional communication, and designating the one or more additional media devices as listener devices;

communicating an offer to join the DJ session to the one or more listener devices;

receiving an acceptance to join the DJ session from at least one of the listener devices;

creating a bidirectional communication link with the at least one listener device;

establishing the DJ session with the at least one listener device over the bidirectional communication link;

receiving, at the DJ device, at least one of a request, a suggestion, or a rating for a media content item that is available at the DJ device, the request received from the at least one listener device; and

streaming the media content item based on the at least one of the request, the suggestion, or the rating, from the DJ device, to the at least one listener device over the DJ session for one-time consumption by the at least one listener device so long as a time the media content is allowed to be streamed over the DJ session has not expired, the DJ device having a user interface that concurrently displays a device identifier indicating that the DJ device is in the DJ session, an additional device identifier indicating that the at least one listener device is in the DJ session, and an indication proximate the device identifier of the DJ device that visually distinguishes the device identifier of the DJ device on the user interface from additional device identifiers on the user interface of listener devices in the DJ session, the streaming the media content item effective to cause the at least one listener device to render a listener user interface that displays at least the device identifier of the DJ device and enables a user of the at least one listener device to rate the media content item.

16. The one or more computer-readable memories of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise receiving a suggested media content item from one of the listener devices for streaming to the at least one listener device over the DJ session.

17. The one or more computer-readable memories of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise sending at least a portion of an encounter entry for the media content item streamed to the at least one listener device during the session to a companion device during a synchronization operation.

18. The one or more computer-readable memories of claim 17, wherein the encounter entry for the media content item comprises a date and time, an identifier of the DJ device, and media content metadata.

19. The one or more computer-readable memories of claim 18, wherein the media content metadata comprises a genre, an album, a title, an artist identifier, and information for purchase of the media content item.

20. The one or more computer-readable memories of claim 18, wherein the encounter entry further comprises an item identifier, a box identifier, a media item handle, an event type, a read flag, a folder identifier for use during synchronization, an object identifier, a sort key, and a hidden property flag.