PROVIDING MULTIPLE DEGREES OF CONTEXT FOR CONTENT CONSUMED ON COMPUTERS AND MEDIA PLAYERS

• US 20090327941A1
• Filed: 06/29/2008
• Published: 12/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Fong, Jeffrey C., Andrews, Anton O.
• Granted Patent: US 8,631,351 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/765
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/44 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones

Abstract

Multiple degrees of context for media content that is consumable on computing platforms including PCs and personal media players is provided by logically organizing context objects into halos that surround each piece of consumable content. The context objects represent information and experiences that are contextually associated with media content to enable users to easily discover content and experiences that they will find interesting in a rich and personal manner. As a user navigates from a content item to a context object in the halo, the context object itself morphs into content that is then surrounded by a new halo of context objects to which the user may navigate. The organization of media content and information into halos enables an effective contextual paradigm that cuts across strict hierarchical structures to allow the user experience to be much more seamless and free-flowing.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium containing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors disposed in an electronic device, implement a method for organizing media content and related contextual information and experiences, the method comprising the steps of:

logically surrounding a content item with a halo comprising a plurality of context objects, the content item representing an item of entertainment, the context objects being contextually related to the content item and representing at least one of media content, information, data, or an interactive experience for a user of the device, the context objects being displayable on a display screen on the device;

supporting one or more user controls for interacting with the context objects in the halo so that manipulating the one or more controls enables navigation between the content item and the context objects in the halo; and

enabling interaction with a context object by the user to facilitate control over a user experience supported by the device.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 in which the context object represents at least one of static content, dynamic content, content culled from one or more websites, user contributions or additions, commercial content, content associated with a community, or content associated with a social graph of a user.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 in which the manipulating comprises pulling a context object into focus, the context item being positioned off the display screen, or a portion of the context object is positioned off the display screen.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 in which the manipulating comprises pulling a context object into focus, the context object being simultaneously displayed with the content item on the display screen.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 4 in which the context object is shown as a thumbnail.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 in which the manipulating comprises flipping a content item over to expose a context object on its reverse side.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 3 including a further step of morphing a context object into a second content item and creating a second halo of context objects for the new content item.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 in which the interactive user experience comprises discovery of new content items.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 in which the device is one of PC, mobile phone, PDA, media player, handheld game device, smart phone, ultra-mobile computer, or a device having a combination of functionalities provided therein.

10. A method for providing a media content delivery service to a remote device over a network, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a request to download media content from the media content delivery service;

supplying media content to an intermediary device in response to the request;

providing a context object that is associated with the supplied media content, the context object being usable in a halo used for logical organization in which in which a plurality of context objects are populated, each of the context objects representing at least one of media content, information, data, or an interactive experience for a user of the device; and

enabling the context object to be transferred from the intermediary device to the remote device.

11. The method of claim 10 in which the intermediary device is a PC, the remote device is a personal media player, and the context object is transferred during a synchronization process between the personal media player and the PC.

12. The method of claim 10 in which the context object is contextually associated with an item of entertainment.

13. The method of claim 12 in which the item of entertainment includes media content comprising one of audio or video, the audio being selected from a group consisting essentially of music, audio book, podcast, news, or commentary, the video being selected from the group consisting essentially of television program, music video, video clip, movie, or feature film.

14. A personal media player, comprising:

a display screen configured for rendering text and graphics;

user controls;

a digital media processing system interfacing with the display screen to render a GUI showing one or more content items; and

memory bearing computer-readable instructions which, when executed by one or more processors in the personal media player i) implement the GUI on the display screen, the GUI arranged for displaying a plurality of context objects that are logically populated within a plurality of halos, each of the halos surrounding a content item to provide contextual meaning to the content item, and ii) enable the user controls to be manipulated by the user to navigate to context objects that are displayable on the display screen.

15. The personal media player of claim 14 in which the user controls comprise a D-pad supporting control actuation in a center direction, left direction, right direction, up direction, and down direction.

16. The personal media player of claim 14 in which the user controls comprise a G-pad comprising a switch and a touch sensitive surface, the G-pad replicating functionality of a D-pad by supporting control actuation in a center direction, left direction, right direction, up direction, and down direction.

17. The personal media player of claim 14 further including a synchronization port by which the portable media player may be synchronized with an intermediary device to obtain context objects from a remote service.

18. The personal media player of claim 14 in which the digital media processing system is configured for receiving media content, storing the media content, and rendering portions of the media content on the display screen.

19. The personal media player of claim 14 in which the manipulation comprises grabbing the context objects and pulling the context objects into focus.

20. The personal media player of claim 14 in which the manipulation comprises navigating from a content item to a context object in an iterative manner.