Persistent media playback

• US 9,690,866 B2
• Filed: 06/19/2009
• Issued: 06/27/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Tahir, Sara, Pina, Marcus E., Mains, Richard L., Evans, Christopher A., Gibson, Chad C.
• Primary Examiner(s): BHARGAVA, ANIL K
• Application Number:
  US12/488,195
• Publication Number:
  US 20100325549A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,930 Days
• Field of Search: 715733
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

Persistent media playback techniques are described. In an implementation, a media player is served via a network for display by a browser of a device. Web pages are served via the network for display by the browser of the device. Each of the web pages is configured for integration with the media player so that the media player is persistently displayed by the browser during navigation among the web pages. The media player may be configured to play media files providing a variety of different media types. The media player may also provide contextual suggestions of media.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

serving a media player as a first webpage for display by a browser of a device, the media player being configured to play media of a website including the first webpage, and being served from the website without client side components for installation by the device; and

serving at least a second webpage of the website as an integrated component of the first webpage for display within the first webpage by the browser of the device so that the media player is persistently displayed by the browser to play media of at least the second webpage.

2. The method as described in claim 1 , wherein media comprises audio, video, a game, a podcast, or a software application.

3. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the media player comprises a queue including selected media to be played by the media player.

4. The method as described in claim 3, further comprising receiving the selected media from at least one of the web pages and causing the media to be inserted in the queue.

5. The method as described in claim 3, further comprising providing a context-based suggestion of additional media to be added to the queue.

6. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the media player comprises a task bar integrated within the first webpage and displayed by the browser.

7. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the serving is performed without providing the client side components that include a plug-in module for installation by the device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the first webpage and the second webpage are displayed within a first frame of the browser of the device.

9. One or more computer-readable media devices comprising instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by a device, causes the device to persistently display a media player as a first webpage of a website via a browser of the device, the media player provided by the first webpage without any client side component installations by the device and enabling playback of media of the website during navigation between a plurality of subsequent webpages of the website, wherein each of the plurality of subsequent webpages are displayed within the first webpage as an integrated component of the first webpage.

10. The one or more computer-readable media devices as described in claim 9, wherein the media comprises audio, video, a game, or a software application.

11. The one or more computer-readable media devices as described in claim 9, wherein the media comprises a queue including the media to be played by the media player.

12. The one or more computer-readable media devices as described in claim 11, further comprising instructions that, responsive to execution by the device, cause the device to receive selected media from at least one of the webpages and cause the media to be inserted in the queue.

13. The one or more computer-readable media devices as described in claim 11, wherein the media player is configured to provide a context-based suggestion of media files to be added to the queue.

14. The one or more computer-readable media devices as described in claim 9, wherein the client side component installations comprise a plug-in module for installation by the device.

15. A system implemented using one or more servers configured to perform operations comprising:

serving a media player as a first webpage via a network for display by a browser of a device, the media player being configured to play media of a website including the first webpage and being served without any client side components for installation by the device;

serving one or more of a plurality of subsequent webpages of the website as an integrated component of the first webpage for display within the first webpage by the browser of the device so that the media player is persistently displayed by the browser during navigation among the plurality of subsequent webpages of the website as the media player plays media of the plurality of subsequent webpages; and

providing context-based suggestions of additional media to be added to a queue of the media player.

16. The system as described in claim 15, wherein a context-based suggestion is based on media played by the media player.

17. The system as described in claim 15, wherein the additional media comprises at least two different types of media.

18. The system as described in claim 17, wherein the types of media comprise audio, video, a game, or a software application.

19. The system as described in claim 15, wherein additional media of a particular context-based suggestion is available for selection from the plurality of subsequent webpages.

20. The system as described in claim 19, wherein the one or more servers are configured to receive a selection of the additional media from at least one of the plurality of subsequent webpages and cause the media to be inserted in the queue.