Method and apparatus for presenting media content

• US 9,360,999 B2
• Filed: 03/24/2014
• Issued: 06/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Scott, Charles V., Cansler, James, White, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Flynn, Nathan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Marandi, James R
• Application Number:
  US14/223,879
• Publication Number:
  US 20140208206A1
• Time in Patent Office: 806 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26258 for generating a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlist, or scheduling item distribution according to such list retrieval of multimedia data based on playlists G06F16/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47217 for controlling playback functions for recorded or on-demand content, e.g. using progress bars, mode or play-point indicators or bookmarks specific graphical features in visual interfaces H04N21/4312
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4825 using a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlists
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73

Abstract

A method that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, receiving a selection from a media device corresponding to a first media content, generating a play list at a server where the play list includes second media content that is associated with the first media content by at least one of genre, artist and being published in temporal proximity, and providing play list content comprising at least a portion of the first and second media content to the media device, where at least one of the generation of the play list and the providing of the play list content is based on metadata pointers associated with the first and second media content. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A media device, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

receiving a selection of a first media content item for reception from a media content provider;

presenting a graphical user interface comprising second media content items that can be presented at the media device, wherein the graphical user interface presents a mapping of relationships showing temporal proximity of the first media content item and the second media content items by displaying the second media content items as selectable elements on a timeline;

receiving an interaction with the graphical user interface to identify selected media content items from the second media content items that are displayed on the timeline;

generating a playlist from the selected media content items based on playlist criteria and the relationships between the first media content item and the second media content items; and

receiving the selected media content items according to the playlist and source location information for the selected media content items.

2. The media device of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface presents a graphical representation of a first relationship of the relationships between the first media content item and the second media content items.

3. The media device of claim 1, wherein the mapping illustrates a first relationship between the first media content item and a first set of the second media content items and wherein the mapping illustrates a second relationship between the first media content item and a second set of the second media content items.

4. The media device of claim 1, wherein the source location information is determined according to first metadata pointers associated with the selected media content items.

5. The media device of claim 1, wherein the interaction comprises receiving an approval of the second media content items.

6. The media device of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise determining that the second media content items can be presented at the media device.

7. The media device of claim 1, wherein the source location information is further determined according to a profile associated with the media device.

8. The media device of claim 1, wherein the source location information is further determined according to reliability of a source location.

9. The media device of claim 1, wherein the source location information is further determined according to cost of accessing a source location.

10. The media device of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise transmitting the playlist to a second device.

11. A first communication device, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

receiving a selection of a first media content item;

presenting a graphical user interface comprising second media content items that can be presented at a second media device, wherein the graphical user interface presents a mapping that depicts temporal proximity relationships between the first media content item and the second media content items by displaying the second media content items as selectable elements on a timeline;

receiving an interaction with the graphical user interface to identify selected media content items from the second media content items that are displayed on the timeline; and

generating a playlist from the selected media content items based on playlist criteria and the relationships between the first media content item and the second media content items, wherein the playlist enables receiving the selected media content items according to source location information for the selected media content items.

12. The first communication device of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise providing the playlist to the second media device to enable the second media device to access the second media content items via metadata pointers.

13. The first communication device of claim 12, wherein a media server retrieves the selected media content from the source location according to the metadata pointers.

14. The first communication device of claim 11, wherein the source location information is determined according to metadata pointers.

15. The first communication device of claim 11, wherein the interaction comprises receiving a second selection of one of the second media content items.

16. The first communication device of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise determining that the second media content items can be presented at the second media device.

17. A method, comprising:

presenting, by a system comprising a processor, a mapping of a first media content item and related media content items, wherein the mapping presents relationships of temporal proximity between the related media content items and the first media content item by displaying the related media content items as selectable elements on a timeline;

generating, by the system, a playlist comprising a second media content item of the related media content items that is selected from the mapping, wherein the playlist is generated based on playlist criteria and the relationships between the first media content item and the second media content item; and

transmitting, by the system, the playlist to a media device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the related media content items were created in temporal proximity to the first media content item.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the related media content items comprise media that can be presented by the system.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising determining, by the system, that the related media content items can be presented by the system.