Synchronizing digital content

• US 9,697,265 B2
• Filed: 03/23/2011
• Issued: 07/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.), Audible Incorporated (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.), Audible Incorporated (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Tolea, Mugur F., Story, Jr., Guy A., Lester, Kevin S., Galkin, Alexander, Snodgrass, Ryan J., Israel, Bruce N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Phillips, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): RAHGOZAR, OMEED DANIEL
• Application Number:
  US13/070,313
• Publication Number:
  US 20120246343A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,295 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/275 Synchronous replication
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/10 Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to one or more configured computing systems identifying when decoupled content includes companion content that can be synchronously presented. Once a content match is identified, a device to receive synchronization information can also be identified. The synchronization information can enable one or more devices to synchronously present companion content.

Claims

1. A system for providing content synchronization information, the system comprising:

a data store configured to store content information and content synchronization information; and

one or more computer systems in communication with the data store that are configured to;

identify a content match using the content information in the data store by determining that a degree to which text of a first content and audio of a second content correlate indicates that the text of the first content can be synchronously presented with the audio of the second content, wherein the first content is decoupled from the second content;

identify a device to receive the content synchronization information in response to identifying the content match, the content synchronization information comprising information regarding textual positions of the text of the first content to synchronously present with playback positions of the audio the second content, the device storing the first content and the second content, and the device configured to present the first content and the second content synchronously using the content synchronization information; and

cause transmission of the content synchronization information from the data store to the device via a network.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first content is decoupled from the second content by initially being stored on a separate device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first content is decoupled from the second content by being obtained at a different time.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the first content is further decoupled from second content by being obtained from a different source.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the first content comprises an e-book and the second content comprises an audio book.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more configured computer systems are further operative to generate the content synchronization information in response to said identifying the content match.

7. A system for providing synchronization information, the system comprising:

a data store configured to store synchronization information for synchronously presenting a first content and a second content; and

one or more computer systems in communication with the data store that are configured to;

identify a content match by determining that a degree to which portions of the first content and portions of the second content correlate indicates that the first content can be synchronously presented with the second content, wherein the first content is decoupled from the second content;

identify a device to receive the synchronization information in response to identifying the content match; and

cause transmission of the synchronization information from the data store to the device, wherein the synchronization information is used by the device to synchronously present the first content with the second content.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the synchronization information comprises content synchronization information.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the synchronization information comprises information identifying one or more companion content pairs.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the one or more configured computer systems are further operative to:

obtain content information for the second content from the device, and

identify the content match based at least in part on the content information for the second content.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more configured computer systems are further operative to:

obtain content information for the first content from a source other than the device; and

identify the content match based at least in part on the content information for the second content.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the source is a second device storing the first content.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the device and the second device are associated with at least one of a common user and a common account.

14. The system of claim 7, wherein, prior to receiving synchronization information from the one or more configured computer systems, the device does not have access to at least a portion of at least one of the first content and the second content.

15. The system of claim 7, wherein the one or more configured computer systems are further operative to generate synchronization information in response to said identifying the content match.

16. A computer-implemented method comprising:

as implemented by one or more computing devices configured with specific executable instructions,

identifying a content match by determining that a degree to which text of a first content and audio of a second content correlate indicates that the text of the first content can be synchronously presented with the audio of the second content, wherein the first content is decoupled from the second content; and

obtaining content synchronization information for synchronously presenting textual positions of the text of the first content and playback positions of the audio of the second content.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the content match is identified automatically.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the content match is identified at the direction of a user.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein obtaining content synchronization information includes requesting the content synchronization information from a separate computing device.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein obtaining content synchronization information comprises generating the content synchronization information.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 20, further comprising causing transmission of the content synchronization information from a first computing device to a second computing device.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, further comprising synchronously presenting the first content and the second content using the content synchronization information.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 22, wherein presenting the first content and the second content is performed by the same computing device.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 22, wherein presenting the first content and the second content is performed by different computing devices.

25. The computer-implemented method of claim 22, wherein presenting the first content and the second content comprises presenting a visual presentation of the first content and presenting an aural presentation of the second content.

26. The computer-implemented method of claim 25, wherein presenting the first content and the second content comprises visually presenting, in the visual presentation of the first content, an indicator of a position of the aural presentation of the second content.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, further comprising detecting whether a match score satisfies a predetermined threshold, the match score indicating a degree of the content match.

28. The computer-implemented method of claim 27, further comprising presenting a user with an option to synchronously present the first content and the second content based at least in part on the match score.

29. The computer-implemented method of claim 27, further comprising disabling a subset of synchronous presentation features when the match score does not satisfy the predetermined threshold.

30. The computer-implemented method of claim 27, further comprising identifying a portion of the first content that does not match the second content when the match score does not satisfy the predetermined threshold.

31. The computer-implemented method of claim 30, further comprising disabling synchronous presentation of the portion of the first content that does not match the second content when the match score does not satisfy the predetermined threshold.

32. A computer readable, non-transitory storage medium having at least one computer-executable component for providing synchronization information, the at least one computer-executable component comprising:

a content management module configured to;

identify a content match indicating that a first content and a second content can be synchronized, wherein the first content and the second content correspond to different versions of the same or similar content associated with a user, and wherein the user obtained access to the first content and the second content via separate transactions; and

identify a device associated with the user to receive synchronization information corresponding to the content match in response to identifying the content match, the synchronization information comprising information regarding presentation positions of the first content to synchronously present with presentation positions of the second content.

33. The computer readable, non-transitory storage medium of claim 32, wherein the content management module is further operative to generate the synchronization information.

34. The computer readable, non-transitory storage medium of claim 32, wherein the content management module is further operative to cause transmission of the synchronization information to the device associated with the user.

35. The computer readable, non-transitory storage medium of claim 32, further comprising a user interface component operative to generate a user interface that enables a user to select default actions associated with identifying the content match.

36. The computer readable, non-transitory storage medium of claim 32, further comprising a user interface component operative to generate a user interface that enables a user to identify a content match.

37. The computer readable, non-transitory storage medium of claim 36, wherein the user interface component is further operative to generate a user interface that enables the user to request synchronization information associated with the content match.

38. The computer readable, non-transitory storage medium of claim 32, wherein the different versions comprise audio content and visual content.