Relevant content to enhance a streaming media experience

• US 9,489,383 B2
• Filed: 04/18/2008
• Issued: 11/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Beats Music, LLC (Apple Inc.)
• Inventors: Hyman, David, Marinescu, Andrei M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Reagan, James A
• Application Number:
  US12/105,294
• Publication Number:
  US 20090265213A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,126 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/437 Administration of user profiles, e.g. generation, initialisation, adaptation, distribution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/438 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

A method, system and apparatus of relevant content to enhance a streaming media experience are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes selecting a media content from a content database having content of a plurality of artists and media labels based on a request of a user of a social community environment, automatically selecting a relevant content related to the media content from at least one of a user generated content library and a professional content library based on match between a meta-data associated with the media content and the relevant content, streaming the media content from a central server associated with the central content database to the user without requiring consideration of the user to access the media content, and displaying the relevant content to the user when the media content is being streamed.

Claims

1. A method executed by a central server communicatively coupled to a content database that maintains media content items and associated metadata, a relevant content database that maintains a user-generated content library of content items and associated metadata and a professional content library of content items and associated metadata, the central server being communicatively coupled to a social community environment by a network, the method comprising:

receiving a selection of a media content item from the content database of the central server based on a request of a user device through the social community environment, the media content item having associated metadata;

automatically selecting a relevant content item from the relevant content database, the relevant content item having associated metadata, the relevant content item being automatically selected based on a match between the metadata associated with the media content item and the metadata associated with the relevant content item;

streaming the media content item from the content database of the central server, without requiring consideration of the user to access the media content item, to the user device connected to the social community environment, wherein the media content item includes at least one of audio content or video content; and

providing the relevant content item to the user device associated with the user for display while the media content item is being streamed to the user device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user generated content library includes at least one of the blog content, the performances or events content, the content containing discussions by the other users, and the content containing listening activity of the other users;

wherein the content containing discussions by the other users includes a discussion content and a chat content, the content containing listening activity of the other users includes an indicator that illustrates which other users are concurrently listening to the media content, and the performances or events content includes a karaoke performance.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the meta data associated with the media content item is at least one of an artist name, a track name, an album name, a genre, and a theme.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein an electronic message is sent to the user after the media content item is streamed, the electronic message having an additional relevant content item related to the media content item of the central server, and the additional relevant content item being automatically selected based on a profile of the user in the social community environment.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the relevant content item is displayed in a dropdown banner adjacent to a location in the social community environment in which the user selected the media content item.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a server-side media player associated with the social community environment that enables the user to stream the media content item along with the relevant content item to the user device; and

providing a widget of the server-side media player that is embeddable across different websites such that users of the different websites are able to stream the media content item along with the relevant content item to their respective user devices from the central server through the different websites.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

processing a transaction in which the user purchases a downloadable copy of the media content item; and

communicating the downloadable copy of the media content item to the user device when the transaction is complete.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a different relevant content item to be displayed after the relevant content item when the media content item is still being streamed to the user device such that the different ones of the relevant content items are targeted toward at least one of a beginning portion, an middle portion, an ending portion, and an arbitrary portion of the streaming of the media content item.

9. The method of claim 1 in a form of a machine-readable medium embodying a set of instructions that, when executed by a machine, causes the machine to perform the method of claim 1.

10. A system, comprising:

a central server to stream a media content item to a user device connected to a social community environment and to automatically select, from a relevant content database, a relevant content item related to the media content item, the selection based on a match between metadata associated with the media content item and metadata associated with the relevant content item, the relevant content item to be simultaneously displayed with the media content item being streamed;

a media content database associated with the central server having the media content item and the associated metadata and being selected based on a request of the user;

the relevant content database associated with the central server and having a user generated content library and a professional content library, the user generated content library and the professional content library having relevant content items and associated metadata; and

the user device to display the relevant content item related to the media content item while the media content item is being streamed to the user without requiring consideration from the user to access the media content item.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the user generated content library includes at least one of the blog content, the performances or events content, the content containing discussions by the other users, and the content containing listening activity of the other users;

wherein the content containing discussions by the other users includes a discussion content and a chat content, the content containing listening activity of the other users includes an indicator that illustrates which other users are concurrently listening to the media content, and the performances or events content includes a karaoke performance.

12. The system of claim 10, further comprising a communication module of the central server to transmit an electronic message to the user after the media content item is streamed, the electronic message having an additional relevant content item related to the media content item of the central server, wherein the additional relevant content item is automatically selected based on a profile of the user in the social community environment.

13. At least one non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions stored thereon that when executed by a processor of a central server communicatively coupled to a content database that maintains media content items and associated metadata, a relevant content database that maintains a user-generated content library of relevant content items and associated metadata, a professional content library of relevant content items and associated metadata, and to a social community environment by a network, causes the central server to:

receive a selection of a media content item from the content database of the central server, the request being received from a user device through the social community environment;

stream the media content item from the central server without requiring consideration of the user to access the media content item, wherein the media content item includes at least one of streaming audio content or streaming video content;

automatically selecting a relevant content item related to the media content item, the relevant content item being automatically selected from the relevant content database based on a match between the meta data associated with the media content item and the metadata associated with relevant content item; and

provide to the user device, the relevant content item while the media content item is being streamed to the user device.

14. The at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the user generated content library includes at least one of the blog content, the performances or events content, the content containing discussions by the other users, and the content containing listening activity of the other users;

wherein the content containing discussions by the other users includes a discussion content and a chat content, the content containing listening activity of the other users includes an indicator that illustrates which other users are concurrently listening to the media content, and the performances or events content includes a karaoke performance.

15. The at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the meta data associated with the media content item is at least one of an artist name, a track name, an album name, a genre, and a theme.

16. The at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, further comprising:

instruction to select a different relevant content item after displaying the relevant content item and while the media content item is still being streamed to the client device such that the different ones of the relevant content item are targeted toward at least one of a beginning portion, an middle portion, an ending portion, and an arbitrary portion of the streaming of the media content item.

17. The at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein an electronic message is sent to the user after the media content item is streamed, the electronic message having additional relevant content item related to the media content item of the central server, and the additional relevant content item being automatically selected based on a profile of the user in the social community environment.

18. The at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the relevant content item is displayed in a dropdown banner adjacent to a location in the social community environment in which the user selected the media content item.

19. A method executed by a central server communicatively coupled to a content database that maintains media content items and associated metadata, a relevant content database that maintains a user-generated content library of content items and associated metadata and a professional content library of content items and associated metadata, the central server being communicatively coupled to a social community environment by a network, the method comprising:

receiving a selection of a media content item from the content database of the central server based on a request of a user device through the social community environment, the media content item having associated metadata;

automatically selecting a relevant content item from either the user-generated content library or the professional content library of the relevant content database, the relevant content item having associated metadata, the relevant content item being automatically selected based on a match between the metadata associated with the media content item and the metadata associated with the relevant content item;

streaming the media content item from the content database of the central server to the user device connected to the social community environment, wherein the media content item includes at least one of audio content or video content; and

providing the relevant content item to the user device associated with the user for display while the media content item is being streamed to the user device.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the professional content library includes news content, event content, background information content, lyrics content, or performance content.

21. The method of claim 19 wherein the user-generated content library includes blog content, a karaoke performance, discussion content, chat content, or concurrent listening content.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the metadata associated with the media content item is at least one of an artist name, a track name, an album name, a genre, and a theme.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein an electronic message is sent to the user after the media content item is streamed, the electronic message having an additional relevant content item related to the media content item of the central server, and the additional relevant content item being automatically selected based on a profile of the user in the social community environment.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the user generated content library includes at least one of the blog content, the performances or events content, the content containing discussions by the other users, and the content containing listening activity of the other users;

wherein the content containing discussions by the other users includes a discussion content and a chat content, the content containing listening activity of the other users includes an indicator that illustrates which other users are concurrently listening to the media content, and the performances or events content includes a karaoke performance.

25. The method of claim 19, wherein the relevant content item is displayed in a dropdown banner adjacent to a location in the social community environment in which the user selected the media content item.

26. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

providing a server-side media player associated with the social community environment that enables the user to stream the media content item along with the relevant content item to the user device; and

providing a widget of the server-side media player that is embeddable across different websites such that users of the different websites are able to stream the media content item along with the relevant content item to their respective user devices from the central server through the different websites.

27. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

processing a transaction in which the user purchases a downloadable copy of the media content item; and

communicating the downloadable copy of the media content item to the user device when the transaction is complete.

28. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

selecting a different relevant content item to be displayed after the relevant content item when the media content item is still being streamed to the user device such that the different ones of the relevant content items are targeted toward at least one of a beginning portion, an middle portion, an ending portion, and an arbitrary portion of the streaming of the media content item.