System and method for group participation in a digital media presentation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10015217-B2
Application number	US-201615166731-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 27, 2016
Priority date	Jun 4, 2013
Publication date	Jul 3, 2018
Grant date	Jul 3, 2018

Abstract

System and method for group participation in a digital media presentation are provided that are capable of selecting digital media items for inclusion in the presentation from multiple participant's accounts thereby creating a group presentation in which digital media items of each participant are included in the presentation. Selections of digital media items for inclusion in the presentation can be made directly at the direction of the participations or inferentially according to a selection algorithm. Selections can be made during the presentation thereby allowing a participant to join the presentation after it has started and contribute digital media items to the presentation while it is running.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
at a media presentation system that includes or is coupled to electronic components for presenting digital media, the media presentation system comprising one or more processors, memory, and one or more programs stored in the memory and executed by the one or more processors to perform the method, performing operations comprising:
establishing a media presentation session with a media presentation server over a network, the media presentation session established for a digital media presentation to be presented at the media presentation system;
receiving, from the media presentation server over a network, one or more first links to one or more first digital media items to be presented in the digital media presentation;
using the one or more first links to download the one or more first digital media items from one or more content item repositories over a network;
presenting the one or more first digital media items as part of the digital media presentation via the electronic components for presenting digital media;
receiving, during the digital media presentation, from the media presentation server over a network, one or more second links to one or more second digital media items to be presented in the digital media presentation;
using the one or more second links to download, during the digital media presentation, the one or more second digital media items from one or more content item repositories over a network;
automatically presenting, during the digital media presentation, the one or more second digital media items as part of the digital media presentation via the electronic components for presenting digital media; and
wherein at least the operations of receiving the one or more first links and receiving the one or more second links are performed while the media presentation session is established and during the digital media presentation.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more first digital media items are associated with an account of a first user, and the one or more second digital media items are associated with an account of a second user, different from the first user.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more second digital media items is related to at least one of the one or more first digital media items based on one or more access descriptors for the one or more second digital media items and based on one or more access descriptors for the one or more first digital media items.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more second digital media items is related to at least one of the one or more first digital media items based on one or more privacy descriptors for the one or more second digital media items and based on one or more privacy descriptors for the one or more first digital media items.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
presenting an identifier of the media presentation session at the media presentation system;
receiving the identifier of the media presentation session in a request from a personal computing device of a first user to join the media presentation session;
wherein the one or more first digital media items are associated with a user account held by the first user;
receiving the identifier of the media presentation session in a request from a personal computing device of a second user to join the media presentation session; and
wherein the one or more second digital media items are associated with a user account held by the second user.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving an identifier of the digital media presentation with the receiving of the one or more first links;
based on the identifier, selecting the digital media presentation to present the one or more first digital media items linked to by the one or more first links;
receiving the identifier of the digital media presentation with the receiving the one or more second links; and
based on the identifier, selecting the digital media presentation to present the one or more second digital media items linked to by the one or more second links.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving presentation control information from the media presentation server;
displaying the digital media presentation according to the presentation control information; and
wherein the presentation control information includes one or more: digital media item ordering information, digital media item presentation timing information, or transition effects that the presentation media system is to apply and present for aesthetic transitioning between presentation of successive digital media items.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, while the media presentation session is established, sending capabilities and characteristics of the media presentation system to the media presentation server, the capabilities and characteristics indicating one or more of: screen size of the media presentation system, screen resolution of the media presentation system, or available media decoders of the media presentation system.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more first links and each of the one or more second links is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the media presentation system is a smart television device.

11. A system for group participation in a digital media presentation, the system comprising:
a media presentation system that includes or is coupled to electronic components for presenting digital media, the media presentation system comprising one or more processors, memory, and one or more programs stored in the memory and executed by the one or more processors, the media presentation system configured to:
establishing a media presentation session with a media presentation server over a network, the media presentation session established for a digital media presentation to be presented at the media presentation system;
receiving, from the media presentation server over a network, one or more first links to one or more first digital media items to be presented in the digital media presentation;
using the one or more first links to download the one or more first digital media items from one or more content item repositories over a network;
presenting the one or more first digital media items as part of the digital media presentation via the electronic components for presenting digital media;
receiving, during the digital media presentation, from the media presentation server over a network, one or more second links to one or more second digital media items to be presented in the digital media presentation;
using the one or more second links to download, during the digital media presentation, the one or more second digital media items from one or more content item repositories over a network;
automatically presenting, during the digital media presentation, the one or more second digital media items as part of the digital media presentation via the electronic components for presenting digital media; and
wherein at least the receiving the one or more first links and receiving the one or more second links are configured to be performed while the media presentation session is established and during the digital media presentation.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more first digital media items are associated with an account of a first user, and the one or more second digital media items are associated with an account of a second user, different from the first user.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein at least one of the one or more second digital media

Assignees

• Dropbox Inc

Inventors

• Varenhorst Chris
• Kluesing Daniel

Classifications

• H04L12/18

  for broadcast or conference {, e.g. multicast} · CPC title

• H04L65/403 Primary

  Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences (data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15) · CPC title

• H04L67/06

  specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP] · CPC title

• H04L65/1069

  Session establishment or de-establishment · CPC title