CONTENT SHARING VIA SOCIAL NETWORKING

• US 20130073622A1
• Filed: 02/16/2012
• Published: 03/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Color Labs Inc. (Apple Inc.)
• Inventors: Nguyen, Bill, Mallet, Vincent, Woods, Nicholas, Cheng, Jessica, Chokshi, Sandip, Ramanarayanan, Ganesh, Streich, Megan
• Granted Patent: US 8,412,772 B1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/06 Generation of reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/19 at layers above the network layer network arrangements for networked applications for scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/61 for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1006 with static server selection, e.g. the same server being selected for a specific client
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/101 based on network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1012 based on compliance of requirements or conditions with available server resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1019 Random or heuristic server selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 : Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2187 : Live feed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23103 : using load balancing strategies, e.g. by placing or distributing content on different disks, different memories or different servers storage management G06F3/0604; allocation of resources considering the load in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/505; techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system G06F9/5083; access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. load balancing, in data networks H04L67/1001
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2402 : Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available traffic monitoring in data switching networks H04L43/00; monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2743 : Video hosting of uploaded data from client
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 : embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4314 : for fitting data in a restricted space on the screen, e.g. EPG data in a rectangular grid
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47205 : for manipulating displayed content, e.g. interacting with MPEG-4 objects, editing locally
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 : communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/488 : Data services, e.g. news ticker systems specially adapted for using meteorological information in broadcast systems H04H60/71

Abstract

Example systems and methods of content sharing via social networking are presented. In one example, availability of a first user device to provide media content over a communication network is detected. A second user device is identified via an association of the first user device with the second user device that is specified in a social network. An acceptance by the second user device to receive the media content from the first user device is determined. In response to the acceptance, transmission of the media content provided by the first user device over the communication network to the second user device is initiated.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

detecting availability of a first user device to broadcast live media content generated by the first user device over a communication network;

identifying, using at least one processor, a second user device via an association, specified in a social network, of the first user device with the second user device;

determining an acceptance by the second user device to receive the live media content from the first user device; and

in response to the acceptance, initiating transmission of the live media content provided by the first user device over the communication network to the second user device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting over the communication network an invitation to the first user device to broadcast the live media content, the detecting of the availability of the first user device comprising receiving a response to the invitation indicating the availability of the first user device to broadcast the live media content.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving an indication of a location of the first user device, the transmitting of the invitation to the first user being based at least on the receiving of the indication of the location of the first user device.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

transmitting to the second user device a notification of the availability of the first user device to broadcast the live media content in response to receiving the response to the invitation, the determining of the acceptance by the second user device comprising receiving a request from the second user device to receive the live media content in response to the notification.

5. The method of claim 1, the detecting of the availability of the first user device to broadcast the live media content comprising receiving an indication of the live media content being captured at the first user device.

6. The method of claim 1, the detecting of the availability of the first user device to broadcast the live media content comprising receiving from the first user device a command to initiate a transfer of the live media content over the communication network from the first user device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a notification to the second user device, the determining of the acceptance by the second user device to receive the live media content comprising receiving a request from the second user device to receive the live media content in response to the notification.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

transmitting over the communication network an invitation to the first user device to broadcast the live media content in response to receiving the request from the second user device, the detecting of the availability of the first user device comprising receiving a response to the invitation indicating the availability of the first user device to broadcast the live media content.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing user preference data corresponding to the second user device, the determining of the acceptance by the second user device to receive the live media content being based on the user preference data.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving from the second user device a communication relating to registration of the second user device with a service providing the live media content, the communication comprising at least a portion of the user preference data.

11. The method of claim 9, the user preference data comprising a preference by a user of the second user device for live media content from a first user of the first user device.

12. The method of claim 9, the user preference data comprising a preference by a user of the second user device for a type of media content corresponding to the live media content to be received from the first user device.

13. The method of claim 9, the user preference data being specified by a user of the second user device.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

accessing historical data describing previous actions initiated via a user of the second user device; and

generating the user preference data based at least on the historical data.

15. The method of claim 14, the historical data describing at least one of previous media content received at the second user device, sources of the previous media content received at the second user device, previous websites visited via the second user device, and timing data involving actions by the second user device.

16. The method of claim 14, the historical data describing activities within the social network by a user of the second user device.

17. The method of claim 1, the initiating of the transmission of the live media content comprising determining a distribution server to distribute the live media content, and transmitting an identification of the distribution server to the first user device and the second user device.

18. The method of claim 1, the live media content comprising at least one of a video stream, an audio stream, and a plurality of photo images.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

detecting availability of a first user device to broadcast live media content generated by the first user device over a communication network;

identifying, using at least one processor, a second user device via an association, specified in a social network, of the first user device with the second user device;

determining an acceptance by the second user device to receive the live media content from the first user device; and

in response to the acceptance, initiating transmission of the live media content provided by the first user device over the communication network to the second user device.

20. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

a plurality of modules comprising instructions executable by the at least one processor, the modules comprising;

a social network contacts module to identify a first user device and a second user device associated with each other as specified in a social network;

a status module to detect availability of the first user device to broadcast live media content over a communication network, and to determine an acceptance by the second user device to receive the live media content from the first user device; and

a content module to initiate transmission of the live media content provided by the first user device over the communication network to the second user device in response to the acceptance.

21. The system of claim 20, further comprising:

a user preferences module to access user preference data corresponding to the second user device, the status module to determine the acceptance by the second user device to receive the live media content based on the user preference data.

22. The system of claim 21, the user preference data comprising at least one of a preference by a user of the second user device for live media content from a user of the first user device, and a preference by the user of the second user device for a type of media content corresponding to the live media content to be received from the first user device.

23. The system of claim 22, the preference by the user of the second user device for live media content from the user of the first user device comprising at least one of a like indication and a positive comment regarding previous media content received from the user of the first user device.

24. The system of claim 21, the user preference data comprising at least one of data specified by a user of the second user device, and data generated based on historical data describing previous actions of the user of the second user device.

25. The system of claim 20, further comprising:

a content storage module to store the live media content received from the first user device prior to transmission of the live media content to the second user device.

26. The system of claim 20, the modules further comprising an interface module to receive content transmission control commands from the second user device, the content storage module to control the transmission of the live media content to the second user device, the content transmission control commands comprising at least one of a pause command and a rewind command.

27. A user device comprising:

at least one processor; and

a plurality of modules comprising instructions executable by the at least one processor, the modules comprising;

a social network interface module to identify a user of a second user device that is associated with a user of the user device via a social network; and

an interface module to receive from a server a notification of availability of the second user device to broadcast live media content, to provide the notification to the user of the user device, to receive a user input indicating an acceptance of the live media content by the user of the user device, to transmit the acceptance to the server, to receive the live media content from the server in response to the acceptance, and to present the live media content to the user of the user device.

28. The user device of claim 27, the interface module to capture second media content at the user device, to present to the user of the user device an indication of the user of the second user device based on the identification by the social network interface module, to receive from the user of the user device a selection of the user of the second user device, to transmit the selection of the user of the second user device to the server, to receive an identification of a distribution server, and to transmit the second media content to the distribution server for transmission to the second user device.

29. The user device of claim 28, further comprising a location services module to determine a location of the user device, the interface module to transmit an indication of the location to the server, to receive an invitation to provide the media content to the second user device in response to the indication of the location, the presenting to the user of the user device of the indication of the user of the second user device being in response to the receiving of the invitation.

30. The user device of claim 29, further comprising an environment detection module to detect at least one environmental condition in a vicinity of the user device to enhance the indication of the location.