MANAGING RELATED DIGITAL CONTENT

• US 20130074133A1
• Filed: 06/27/2012
• Published: 03/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Audible Incorporated (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Douglas S. Goldstein, Guy A. Story, Jr.
• Inventors: Hwang, Douglas C., Arora, Ajay, Goldstein, Douglas S., Yang, Shirley C., Story, Guy A. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 9,734,153 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/93
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to one or more configured computing systems identifying companion content and supplemental content for a base content. Companion content may include, for example, video adaptations of the base content. Supplemental content may include content referenced or related in subject matter to the base content. Information regarding companion content may be utilized to enable a user to interchangeably or synchronously present either a base content (e.g., an eBook or audio book) with the companion content (e.g., a movie adaptation). Information regarding supplemental content may be utilized to present the supplemental content during consumption of a base content, or to save supplemental content for later viewing.

Claims

1. A system for facilitating presentation of supplemental content, the system comprising:

one or more data stores configured to store;

information regarding a base content;

information regarding one or more items of supplemental content, wherein each item of supplemental content comprises a video content associated with at least one subject referenced by the base content; and

content synchronization information that correlates positions within the base content with the one or more items of supplemental content; and

one or more computer systems in communication with the one or more data stores, the one or more computer systems configured to;

receive consumption information indicating a position of consumption of the base content;

identify at least one item of supplemental content from the one or more items of supplemental content based at least in part on the received consumption information and the content synchronization information; and

transmit the at least one item of supplemental content to a user device for presentation to a user.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the user device is at least one of a tablet, a laptop, a desktop, a mobile phone, a PDA, an eBook reader, a DVR, or a television.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the base content is at least one of an eBook or an audio book.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein an item of supplemental content comprises at least one of a movie, a television show, a documentary, an educational video, an interview, fan generated content, a placeholder for future content, a spin-off of a base content, or a derivative of the base content.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the base content references at least one of the one or more items of supplemental content.

6. A computer-implemented method for facilitating presentation of supplemental content, the computer-implemented method comprising:

under control of one or more computing devices configured with specific computer executable instructions,

receiving consumption information regarding consumption of a base content, the consumption information indicating a position of consumption of the base content;

identifying one or more subject matters associated with the consumption information, the subject matters corresponding to subjects referenced by the base content;

determining one or more items of supplemental content, each item of supplemental content regarding at least one of the identified one or more subject matters, wherein each item of supplemental content differs from the base content in content medium; and

transmitting at least a portion of the one or more items of supplemental content to a user device for presentation to a user.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the user device corresponds to a device from which consumption information was received.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein determining one or more items of supplemental content comprises determining one or more items of supplemental based on synchronization information mapping supplemental content to one or more portions of the base content.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 further comprising generating the synchronization information.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein identifying one or more subject matters associated with the consumption information comprises at least one of automatically identifying one or more subject matters associated with the consumption information or manually identifying one or more subject matters associated with the consumption information.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein manually identifying one or more subject matters associated with the consumption information is based at least in part on user classifications assigned to one or more portions of the base content.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein automatically identifying one or more subject matters associated with the consumption information comprises utilizing a search engine to search for supplemental content regarding text contained within the base content.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the computer-implemented method is performed in real time or substantially real time.

14. A computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium having at least one computer-executable module for facilitating presentation of supplemental content, the at least one computer-executable module comprising:

a content management module configured to;

receive consumption information indicating a position of consumption of a base content;

determine at least one item of supplemental content associated with a subject referenced by the base content based at least in part on the received consumption information, wherein each item of supplemental content differs from the base content in content medium; and

transmit the at least one item of supplemental content to a user device for presentation to the user.

15. The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of claim 14, wherein the user device does not correspond to a device from which consumption information was received.

16. The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of claim 14, wherein the content management module is configured to transmit the at least one item of supplemental content to a user device for presentation to the user by streaming the at least a portion of the one or more items of supplemental content to the user device.

17. The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of claim 14, wherein the content management module is configured to determine that the user device has access to the one or more items of supplemental content.

18. The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of claim 14, wherein the user device is configured to synchronously present the base content and the at least one item of supplemental content.

19. The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of claim 14, wherein the user device is configured to enqueue the at least one item of supplemental content.

20. The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of claim 14, wherein the content management module is further configured to determine at least one item of supplemental content associated with a subject referenced by the base content base at least in part on synchronization information.

21. The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of claim 14, wherein the synchronization information maps the at least one item of supplemental content to one or more portions of the base content.

22. The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of claim 14, wherein the position of consumption of a base content represents a percentage of the base content consumed by the user.