Program guide based on sharing personal comments about multimedia content

• US 8,725,816 B2
• Filed: 05/03/2011
• Issued: 05/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Scenera, Inc.
• Original Assignee: VMTV, Inc.
• Inventors: Lee, David D., Lim, Jaegeun, Jeong, Dongcheol, Yoon, Youngwoon
• Primary Examiner(s): MIRZA, ADNAN M
• Application Number:
  US13/100,105
• Publication Number:
  US 20120284343A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,106 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/206
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

Members of a social network service may share real-time comments about multimedia content they are viewing. The comments are attached to bookmarks that allow other members to view the video and add to the discussion thread.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for sharing video between members of a social network service (SNS), the method comprising:

in real-time while one or more member(s) of an existing Internet-based social network service are each viewing a video;

receiving comments about the video from the viewing member(s);

organizing the comments into a discussion thread for the video, the discussion thread further comprising video bookmarks, wherein the comments are attached to video bookmarks and each video bookmark comprises a frame of the video that marks a time point in the video corresponding to the comment, the video bookmarks enabling playback of the video in different formats on different devices; and

sharing the discussion thread with members of the social network service according to privacy rules for the social network service, wherein members can join or modify their viewing of the video by activating video bookmarks and can provide further comments to the discussion thread;

storing the discussion thread for subsequent searching; and

publishing public parts of the discussion thread for subsequent searching, wherein the video bookmarks can be further shared with members of a second existing Internet-based social network service according to privacy rules for the second social network service.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

after the members who created the discussion thread have completed their viewing of the video and after the discussion thread has been published;

receiving additional comments from members viewing the video; and

adding the comments to the discussion thread.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the discussion thread further comprises SNS profile information attached to comments in a manner that attributes the comment to the member.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the discussion thread further comprises non-personal metadata about the video.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the discussion thread further comprises bibliographic information about the video.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the bibliographic information comprises any of background music from the video, title of the video, and identity of the source of the video.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

organizing the discussion thread by the members making the comments.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

organizing the discussion thread by the members receiving the comments.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

organizing the discussion thread according to content of the comments.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

organizing the discussion thread by video bookmark.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

organizing the discussion thread by level of recommendation of the comments.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

presenting to the members of the social network service, information concerning member comments about the video.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein said information relates to the volume of comments attached to different time points in the video.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein said information relates to the volume of comments made by different members of the social network service.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein said information relates to a content of the comments.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

aggregating and organizing discussion threads for many videos into a comment-based video guide; and

publishing the video guide.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one member makes comments at a same time and using a same device from which the member is viewing the video.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one member makes comments at a same time but using a different device from which the member is viewing the video.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one member activates video bookmarks from one device and views the video on the same device.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one member activates video bookmarks from one device and views the video on a different device.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein a format of the video changes depending on the device used to view the video.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein the video can be viewed in a teletext format.

23. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

presenting video bookmarks to the member as the member is viewing the video, each video bookmark presented at the corresponding time point in the video, wherein the member selects a video bookmark in order to make a comment attached to that video bookmark.

24. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

presenting SNS button(s) to the member while the member is viewing the video, wherein the member selects an SNS button in order to share the member'"'"'s comment with members of that social network service.

25. The method of claim 1 wherein the video bookmark is a thumbnail of the video image at the marked time point.

26. The method of claim 25 further comprising:

capturing the thumbnail from the video while the member is viewing the video.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein the thumbnail is captured before the member views and comments on the video.

28. The method of claim 1 wherein the existing Internet-based social network service is Facebook.

29. The method of claim 1 wherein the existing Internet-based social network service is Twitter.

30. The method of claim 1 wherein the comment is an instant message.

31. The method of claim 1 wherein the video is a broadcast of a live event.

32. The method of claim 1 wherein the video is a broadcast of a prerecorded video.

33. The method of claim 1 wherein the video is a broadcast premiere of a prerecorded video.

35. The method of claim 1 wherein the video bookmark comprises timestamps, thumbnails, and metadata identifying scenes in the video corresponding to the comments.

34. A computer program product for use with a computer, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having a computer program code embodied therein for sharing video between members of a social network service (SNS), the computer program code performing the steps of:

in real-time while one or more member(s) of an existing Internet-based social network service are each viewing a video;

receiving comments about the video from the viewing member(s);

organizing the comments into a discussion thread for the video, the discussion thread further comprising video bookmarks, wherein the comments are attached to video bookmarks and each video bookmark comprises a frame of the video that marks a time point in the video corresponding to the comment, the video bookmarks enabling playback of the video in different formats on different devices; and

sharing the discussion thread with members of the social network service according to privacy rules for the social network service, wherein members can join or modify their viewing of the video by activating video bookmarks and can provide further comments to the discussion thread;

storing the discussion thread for subsequent searching; and

publishing public parts of the discussion thread for subsequent searching, wherein the video bookmarks can be further shared with members of a second existing Internet-based social network service according to privacy rules for the second social network service.