Registering, transferring, and acting on event metadata

• US 9,613,032 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2011
• Issued: 04/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Sadovsky, Vladimir, Jaisimha, Mysore Y., Rosenbloom, Oren
• Primary Examiner(s): Chen, Susan
• Application Number:
  US13/340,216
• Publication Number:
  US 20120096110A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,923 Days
• Field of Search: 707899, 707104, 707803, 725 46, 725 61, 705 59, 379 8814, 370260, 715744
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/437 Administration of user profiles, e.g. generation, initialisation, adaptation, distribution

Abstract

A technique and associated mechanism is described for registering event metadata at a first site, transferring the event metadata to a second site using a portable module, and processing the event metadata at the second site. A user can register the event metadata at the first site in the course of consuming broadcast content. Namely, when the user encounters an interesting portion of the broadcast content, the user activates an input mechanism, resulting in the storage of event metadata associated with the interesting portion on the portable module. The second site can upload the event metadata from the portable module and, in response, provide content associated with the event metadata, including recommended content associated with the event metadata.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

causing, via a portable device, a user to be exposed to media content via a delivery device, the delivery device being selectively coupled to the portable device;

receiving, via the portable device, a user actuation that corresponds to at least one user interest associated with the media content;

registering first event metadata on the portable device based at least in part on the at least one user interest and the media content;

sending the first event metadata to a remote server device;

receiving, from the remote server device, processed event metadata that identifies one or more items that relate to the at least one user interest and the media content, the processed event metadata including first processed metadata associated with the first event metadata and second processed event metadata based at least in part on the at least one user interest and the media content, wherein the second processed event metadata is received by the remote server device from a supplemental service server; and

receiving, at the portable device, the one or more items.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first event metadata includes preference data that identifies the one or more items associated with the media content.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first event metadata includes intent data that reflects user instructions to perform an action associated with the media content.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first event metadata includes context data regarding circumstances surrounding a user actuation associated with the media content.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising receiving, at the portable device, one or more recommendations for additional media content based at least in part on the processed event metadata.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the first event metadata is processed to retrieve the media content and the one or more recommendations for the additional media content.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one user interest associated with the media content corresponds to a place or an event, and wherein the one or more items transmitted to the portable device includes information associated with the place or the event.

8. A computer-readable storage device having stored thereupon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving an indication of broadcast media content that is exposed through a first device from a first media source;

receiving, via the first device, an indication of a user actuation relating to at least one user interest associated with the broadcast media content;

based at least partly on the user actuation, registering first event metadata relating to the at least one user interest, the first event metadata identifying a portion of the broadcast media content being broadcast at a time of the user actuation;

transmitting, the first event metadata to a remote server device to identify one or more items that relate to the at least one user interest and the broadcast media content, the remote server device identifying the one or more items by processing the first event metadata and second event metadata based at least in part on the at least one user interest and the media content, wherein the second processed event metadata is received by the remote server device from a supplemental service server; and

receiving, from the remote server device, the one or more items at a second device that is physically different and separate from the first device.

9. The computer-readable storage device as recited in claim 8, wherein the one or more items comprise one or more recommendations of additional media content items based at least in part on one of the first event metadata or the second event metadata.

10. The computer-readable storage device as recited in claim 8, wherein the user actuation is in response to the broadcast media content being transmitted through the first device.

11. The computer-readable storage device as recited in claim 8, wherein the user actuation is associated with a profile criteria that is pre- registered by a user.

12. The computer-readable storage device as recited in claim 8, wherein the first device is a first media player, the second device is a second media player, and the first media source is a first server device.

13. A computer-readable storage device having stored thereupon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

causing, via a portable device, a user to be exposed to media content via a delivery device, the delivery device being selectively coupled to the portable device associated with the user;

receiving, via the portable device, a user actuation that corresponds to at least one user interest associated with the media content;

registering first event metadata on the portable device while the media content is being presented via the delivery device, the first event metadata based at least in part on the at least one user interest and the media content;

uploading the first event metadata from the portable device to a remote server, the remote server to process the first event metadata and second event metadata to generate processed event metadata and to further identify one or more items that relate to the at least one user interest and the media content based at least in part on the processed event metadata, the second event metadata being received from a supplemental service server and being based at least in part on the at least one user interest and the media content;

receiving, from the remote server, the one or more items; and

transmitting the one or more items to the portable device.

14. The computer-readable storage device as recited in claim 13, wherein the first event metadata includes preference data that corresponds to the at least one user interest associated with the media content.

15. The computer-readable storage device as recited in claim 13, wherein the first event metadata includes intent data that reflects user instructions to perform an action associated with the media content.

16. The computer-readable storage device as recited in claim 13, wherein the first event metadata includes context data regarding circumstances surrounding a user actuation associated with the media content.

17. The computer-readable storage device as recited in claim 16, wherein the user actuation is associated with a profile criteria that is pre- registered by the user.

18. The computer-readable storage device as recited in claim 13, wherein the one or more items comprise recommendations for additional media content.

19. The computer-readable storage device as recited in claim 13, wherein the first event metadata and the second event metadata is processed to retrieve the media content and the one or more items.