DISTRIBUTING AND SHARING CONTENT IN A NETWORK

• US 20100153410A1
• Filed: 12/15/2008
• Published: 06/17/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Data Services LLC (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Sakharov, Alex, Xia, Wei, Jin, Zhiying, Chen, Guanrao, Hao, Jack Jianxiu, Mehta, Gaurav D., Zhu, Fang
• Granted Patent: US 8,965,920 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/758
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/437 Administration of user profiles, e.g. generation, initialisation, adaptation, distribution

Abstract

A method may include receiving, from a first user device associated with a user profile, a first request for a media file and streaming the media file over a network to the first user device in a first format appropriate for the first device. The method may also include stopping the streaming of the media file and associating a stop time with the stopping, wherein the stop time indicates a position in the media file and receiving, from a second user device different from the first user device, a second request for the media file, the second user device being associated with the user profile. The method may also include streaming, starting at the stop time, the media file over the network to the second user device in a second format appropriate for the second device and different than the first format.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, from a first user device associated with a user profile, a first request for a media file from a database;

streaming the media file to the first user device over a network in a first format appropriate for the first device;

stopping the streaming of the media file and associating a stop time with the stopping, wherein the stop time indicates a position in the media file;

receiving, from a second user device different from the first user device, a second request for the media file from the database, the second user device being associated with the user profile; and

streaming, starting at the stop time, the media file to the second user device over the network in a second format appropriate for the second device and different than the first format.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the stop time to the second user device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

inspecting the user profile to identify the second user device associated with the user profile; and

transmitting the stop time to the second user device based on a result of the inspecting.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining whether the first user device is authorized to receive the media file based on metadata associated with the media file.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transcoding the media file, where wherein the first format and the second format include different video resolutions.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a first address of the media file to the first user device in response to the first request and transmitting a second address of the media file to the second device in response to the second request.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising

indexing the media in a search server;

and

receiving search queries and transmitting search results in response to search queries.

8. A method comprising:

receiving, from a first user device associated with a user profile, a first request for a media file;

sending the media file to the first user device in a first format appropriate for the first device;

receiving, from the first user device, a stop time indicating a position in the media file up to which the media file was played;

determining a second user device, different from the first user device, associated with the user profile; and

transmitting the stop time to the second user device.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving, from the second user device, a second request for the media file; and

sending the media file to the second user device in a second format appropriate for the second device and different than the first format.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining whether the first user device is authorized to receive the media file based on metadata associated with the media file.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

transcoding the media file, where wherein the first format and the second format include different video resolutions.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

transmitting a first address of the media file to the first user device in response to the first request and transmitting a second address of the media file to the second device in response to the second request.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising

indexing the media in a search server;

and

receiving search queries and transmitting search results in response to search queries.

14. A system comprising:

one or more devices including;

one or more memories configured to store a first database including media files and a second database including user profiles associated with user devices;

a receiver to receive, a first user device associated with one of the user profiles, a first request for a media file from the first database;

a transmitter configured to send the media file to the first user device in a first format appropriate for the first device; and

a processor configured to associate a stop time associated with the streaming the media file to the first user device, wherein the stop time indicates a position in the media file;

wherein the receiver is further configured to receive, from a second user device, a second request for the media file from the first database, wherein the second user device is different than the first user device and the second user device is associated with the one of the user profiles; and

wherein the transmitter is further configured to stream, starting at the stop time, the media file to the second device in a second format appropriate for the second device and different than the first format.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the transmitter is further configured to send the stop time to the second user device.

16. The system of claim 15,

wherein the processor is further configured to inspect the user profile to determine the second user device associated with the user profile;

and

wherein the transmitter is further configured to send the stop time to the second user device based on a result of the query.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the first database includes metadata associated with the media file, the metadata including information to determine whether the first user device is authorized to receive a media file.

18. The system of claim 14, further comprising a transcoder, wherein the first format and the second format include different video resolutions.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the transmitter is further configured to send a first address of the media file to the first user device in response to the first request and send a second address of the media file to the second device in response to the second request

20. The system of claim 14, further comprising a search server including a processor to index the media files stored in the first database and a transmitter configured to send search results in response to search queries.