Television viewing communities
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of enabling a community of users to view the same programs, the method comprising:
- transmitting a reference identifying a program recommended by a first user to one or more users of the community;
receiving an electronic communication by a device associated with a second user, said electronic communication including said reference, said device being operable to selectively show said program to the second user.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Digital technology based consumer media devices have many desirable features, including the ability to easily find and watch television shows, and/or automatically record programs of interest. Disclosed is a system and method for allowing a group of television viewers to share program viewing information. This information, exchanged through various on-line community modalities (including Internet chat rooms, email, Internet Web Logs, and the like), can be used within a consumer media device to influence the decision process concerning which programs to record, buffer or view.
236 Citations
46 Claims
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1. A method of enabling a community of users to view the same programs, the method comprising:
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transmitting a reference identifying a program recommended by a first user to one or more users of the community;
receiving an electronic communication by a device associated with a second user, said electronic communication including said reference, said device being operable to selectively show said program to the second user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of sharing programs by a community of users, each user being associated with a networked CMD, with each networked CMD being in communication with the other CMDs, the method comprising:
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designating a recommended program by a first user;
generating an electronic communication by the networked CMD associated with said first user, said electronic communication including a reference identifying said recommended program;
transmitting said electronic communication by said networked CMD on the shared network;
receiving said electronic communication by the networked CMD associated with a second user; and
showing said program by said second CMD to the second user. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for sharing a plurality of program links on a plurality of networked CMDs, the method comprising:
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publishing a list of program links on an electronic publishing site, each program link identifying a program to be broadcast;
downloading said list at one CMD; and
updating a program list at said CMD to include at least one program from said list of programs, said program list identifying programs to be viewed or recorded by said one CMD. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A networked CMD for communally viewing programs by several users, the networked CMD comprising:
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an input receiving an electronic communication from the network, said electronic communication including a program link identifying a program to be broadcast;
a tuning circuit; and
a controller that utilizes the program link to selectively cause said tuning circuit to be tuned to a channel associated with said program link. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A networked CMD for sharing program links among several users, the networked CMD comprising:
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an interface for retrieving a published list of program links from an electronic publishing site; and
a controller using the list of published program links as a designated recording list for recording programs by the networked CMD. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A network for sharing program links comprising:
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a server connected by a distributed communication network; and
a plurality of CMDs coupled to said distributed communication network, each of said CMDs receiving from said server a program link and updating a program list using said program link. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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Specification