Accessing medial context information using contextual links

• US 20060206428A1
• Filed: 03/11/2005
• Published: 09/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Vidos, Hugh Christopher, Talley, Dean Wayne, Zoller, David Ethan
• Granted Patent: US 9,424,563 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/50
• 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: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/123 Shopping for digital content
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/1235 with control of digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4143 embedded in a Personal Computer [PC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4431 characterized by the use of Application Program Interface [API] libraries
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4825 using a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlists

Abstract

The systems and methods described herein are directed toward launching a third party application in a media center module using a contextual link. The media center module is configured to enable the third party application to register with the module and to associate a contextual link corresponding to the third party application with a context provided by the media center module. In response to a request for information related to the context, the media center module is configured to direct to a location associated with the contextual link. The media center module is further configured to provide to the location data that identifies the context. In response to the provided data, the location is populated with the requested information. Thus, the use of conditional link enables a third party application to register to be a context handler for a media center module.

Claims

1. One or more device-readable media encoded with device-executable instructions for performing steps comprising:

identifying a link corresponding to an entry point for an application;

incorporating the link into a link structure associated with a media center module;

identifying a media item associated with the context in a graphical user interface provided by the media center module; and

associating the identified item with the link.

2. The one or more device-readable media as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a selection of the media item;

receiving another selection to access information associated with the selected item; and

directing to a location indicated by the link.

3. The one or more device-readable media as recited in claim 2, further comprising providing data that identifies the context to the indicated location.

4. The one or more device-readable media as recited in claim 3, further comprising sending an HTTP POST request with the data to the location.

5. The one or more device-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the media item includes at least one of video files, audio files, documents, graphics, or pictures.

6. The one or more device-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the context includes at least one of artist, album, genre, song, producer, director, music and radio.

7. A computing device configured to access the device-readable media and to perform the device-executable instructions as recited in claim 1.

8. One or more device-readable media encoded with device-executable instructions for performing steps comprising:

determining a plurality of context associated with a media application;

registering the media application with a media center module for the plurality of context;

receiving a request from the media center module for information;

determining a context identifier from the request, the context identifier identifying at least one of the plurality of context; and

providing the information associated the identified context to the media center module.

9. The one or more device-readable media as recited in claim 8, further comprising providing a link to the media center module as an entry point for the media application, the link associated with a location managed by the media application.

10. The one or more device-readable media as recited in claim 9, further comprising receiving the request at the location.

11. The one or more device-readable media as recited in claim 10, further comprising providing the information associated with the identified context at the location.

12. The one or more device-readable media as recited in claim 10, wherein the location includes at least one of a local file, a network address, or a web page.

13. The one or more device-readable media as recited in claim 8, wherein the identified context includes at least one of artist, album, genre, song, producer, director, music and radio.

14. The one or more device-readable media as recited in claim 8, wherein the received a request is embodied in an HTTP message.

15. The one or more device-readable media as recited in claim 14, wherein the information associated the identified context is included in as POST data in the HTTP message.

16. The one or more device-readable media as recited in claim 8, wherein registering the media application with a media center module is performed by submitting an extensible markup language (XML) file that identifies the plurality of context to the media center module.

17. One or more device-readable media encoded with one or more device-executable components including a media center module configured to manage applications, the media center module comprising:

a link structure including links associated with the applications, each of the links correspond to an entry point for at least one of the applications; and

a registration manager configured to register the applications at the media center module to handle context information requests, the registration manager further configured to incorporate the link corresponding to each registered application into locations in the link structure associated with the context registered to the application.

18. The one or more device-readable media as recited in claim 17, wherein the registration manager is further configured to register each application to handle context information requests for a plurality of context.

19. The one or more device-readable media as recited in claim 17, wherein the media center module is further configured to determine a request for information associated with the context and to send a message with the request to the application registered for the context.

20. The one or more device-readable media as recited in claim 17, wherein the message is a HTTP message having information identifying the context as the POST data.