Content linking

• US 10,726,194 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2017
• Issued: 07/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/03/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cable Television Laboratories Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Cable Television Laboratories Incorporated
• Inventors: Glennon, Stephen, Agranoff, David, Buck, Stephen
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh, Cong-Lac
• Application Number:
  US15/633,897
• Publication Number:
  US 20170293594A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,127 Days
• Field of Search: 715205, 715206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/94 Hypermedia Hyperlinking G06F40/134
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9558 Details of hyperlinks; Management of linked annotations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload

Abstract

Linking, tying, referencing or otherwise utilizing characters, images, alphanumerical values, codes and other metadata to link content, media, information, data and other electronically transmittable matter to an application, program, process or other logically executing construct is contemplated. Such content linking may include but is not necessarily limited to enabling content linking without requiring a server or other entity posting a corresponding link to host the linked-to content.

Claims

1. A method for linking content comprising:

determining a message resulting from a first application operating on a first device indicating occurrence of a linking operation associated with a user thereof desiring to share a like or a comment for a content being accessed through the first device;

generating a link having a plurality of characters sufficient for identifying a protocol identifier and a content identifier associated with the content, the link being selectable such that a second application facilitating selection of the link from within a webpage obtains the protocol identifier and the content identifier therefrom; and

providing a handler to a second device operating the second application, the handler associating a third application with the protocol identifier such that the second device automatically executes the third application with selection of the link.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the third application using the content identifier to facilitate downloading the content to the second device from a first server operating independently of a second server sourcing the webpage.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the third application using the content identifier to facilitate downloading additional information to the second device from a first server operating independently of a second server hosting the webpage, the additional information being sufficient for displaying through the third application additional posts related to the content.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating the link as a non-Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) link.

5. The method claim 1 further comprising generating the plurality of characters such that at least part of the protocol identifier includes “

eidr;

///”

.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating the link as a redirect to a universal resource locator (URL), the URL pointing to a first server from which the protocol identifier and the content identifier are downloaded upon selection of the link from within the webpage, the first server operating independently of a second server capable of sourcing the content to the second device.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising generating the URL to include the phrase “

http;

//” and

generating the content identifier without the phrase “

http;

//”

.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising randomly generating the protocol identifier.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a plurality of instructions executable with a processor to facilitate linking to content, the plurality of instructions being sufficient for:

determining a content ID for the content;

associating a protocol ID with the content ID;

generating a link for associating the protocol ID with the content ID; and

associating a handler with the protocol ID, the handler being sufficient for a device to automatically launch an application when detecting the protocol ID during selection of the link such that the application then processes the content ID therein to download or otherwise facilitate access to the content.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 further comprising the non-transitory instructions being sufficient for the protocol ID to be generated in response to determining a post from another device indicating a user thereof desiring to share a like or a comment for the content.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 further comprising the non-transitory instructions being sufficient for representing the like or the comment with the link such that the like or the comment appears within the webpage when displayed on the device.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 further comprising the non-transitory instructions being sufficient for representing the protocol ID and the content ID such that neither of the protocol ID and the content ID are displayed within the webpage until scrolled over with a cursor of the device.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 further comprising the non-transitory instructions being sufficient for determining the content ID from the user of the another device.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 further comprising the non-transitory instructions being sufficient for:

the protocol ID to be randomly generated after receiving the post; and

transmitting the handler to the device after randomly generating the protocol ID.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 further comprising the non-transitory instructions being sufficient for transmitting the application a decryption key to decrypt the encrypted protocol ID.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 9 further comprising the non-transitory instructions being sufficient for encrypting the protocol ID prior to including the protocol ID with the link.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a plurality of non-transitory instructions executable with a processor to facilitate sharing a comment generated during viewing of a program with a social media website, the non-transitory instructions being sufficient for:

receiving a post from a first application operating on a first device while a viewer views the program therethrough, the post including the comment and a content ID associated with the program;

selecting a handler from a plurality of handlers, each of the plurality of handlers launching a different one of one of a plurality of content applications to facilitate accessing the program and/or additional information associated therewith;

associating a protocol ID with the selected handler; and

instructing the social media website to facilitate sharing the comment by including therein the comment and a link having the content ID and the protocol ID.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 further comprising the non-transitory instructions being sufficient for providing the selected handler to a second device operable to access the social media website through a second application operating thereon, the selected handler launching the one of the plurality of content applications associated therewith in response to the second application detecting the protocol ID during selection of the link, the content application then automatically launching on the second device to process the content ID within the link to facilitate accessing the program and/or additional information associated therewith.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 further comprising the non-transitory instructions being sufficient for:

encrypting the protocol ID such that the protocol ID is encrypted when included within the webpage link;

providing a decryption key to the second application sufficient for recovering the encrypted protocol ID from the webpage link.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 further comprising the non-transitory instructions being sufficient for randomly generating the protocol ID.