Apparatus and method for monitoring and control on a network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10306325-B2
Application number	US-201615296719-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 18, 2016
Priority date	Jun 25, 2008
Publication date	May 28, 2019
Grant date	May 28, 2019

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a system having a controller to present an overlay that is combined with a presentation of media content, collect one or more user-generated remarks from each of a plurality of computing devices where the one or more user-generated remarks are temporally associated with media content presented at the plurality of computing devices according to the overlay, monitor one or more user-generated comments from each of the plurality of computing devices, and selectively filter the one or more user-generated comments from each of the plurality of computing devices. Other embodiments are disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
providing, by a processing system including a processor, an overlay to a plurality of computing devices for presentation with media content at each of the plurality of computing devices, wherein a first group of computing devices of the plurality of computing devices simultaneously present the media content and the overlay together, wherein a second group of computing devices of the plurality of computing devices at different times from each of the second group of computing devices present the media content and the overlay together, wherein the overlay is configured for illustrating a collection of user-generated comments temporally associated with portions of the media content;
monitoring, by the processing system, for the user-generated comments from each of the plurality of computing devices;
selectively filtering, by the processing system, the user-generated comments from each of the plurality of computing devices based on a commentator rating of a commentator submitting a corresponding comment of the user-generated comments with rating information, each comment submitted by the commentator during presentation of the media content accordingly having the commentator rating associated therewith, the commentator rating comprising one of a plurality of categories based on motion picture ratings association criteria, the categories including R and PG,
wherein the commentator rating is initially established by a designation by the commentator,
wherein the commentator rating is adjusted based on a collective rating generated from group rating information provided by a group of user inputs,
wherein the group rating information is representative of an appropriateness of comments for a group of users of a social network that correspond to the first computing devices of the plurality of computing devices, the appropriateness based at least in part on an affiliating characteristic of the group of users independent of the commentator,
wherein the selectively filtering via the group rating information for the user-generated comments from the first group of computing devices of the plurality of computing devices is limited to the first group of computing devices of the plurality of computing devices and not the second group of computing devices of the plurality of computing devices;

managing, by the processing system, the social network to include or exclude members of the social network, according to control settings established by the members of the social network for their associated computing devices; and
monitoring, by the processing system, a set of user registrations at a particular computing device,
wherein the commentator rating includes an indication of educational benefit for a viewer.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the affiliating characteristic comprises an age category of the group of users.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein a portion of the group of user inputs is associated with multiple users of a single device of the plurality of computing devices.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adding or deleting, by the processing system, members from the group of users of the social network based on the user-generated comments.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising selectively filtering, by the processing system, the user-generated comments based on the set of user registrations at the particular computing device.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising selectively filtering, by the processing system, the user-generated comments based on the set of user registrations actively participating on the overlay.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising selectively filtering, by the processing system, the presentation of media content based on the set of user registrations at the particular computing device.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the presentation of media content is audio only or video only.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the processor operates from one of the plurality of computing devices, and wherein the monitoring and the selectively filtering are performed by the processor.

10. A device, comprising:
a processing system including a processor; and
a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations comprising:
presenting an overlay that is combined with a presentation of media content;
collecting user-generated remarks from a plurality of computing devices, wherein the user-generated remarks are temporally associated with media content presented at the plurality of computing devices according to the overlay;
monitoring for user-generated comments from the plurality of computing devices;
selectively filtering the user-generated comments from the plurality of computing devices based on a commentator rating of a commentator submitting a corresponding comment of the user-generated comments with rating information, each comment submitted by the commentator during presentation of the media content accordingly having the commentator rating associated therewith, the commentator rating comprising one of a plurality of categories based on motion picture ratings association criteria, the categories including R and PG,
wherein the commentator rating is initially established by a designation by the commentator,
wherein the commentator rating is adjusted based on a collective rating generated from group rating information provided by a group of user inputs, and
wherein the group rating information is representative of an appropriateness of comments for a group of users of a social network that correspond to the plurality of computing devices, the appropriateness based at least in part on an affiliating characteristic of the group of users independent of the commentator and comprising an age category of the group of users,

wherein a first subset of the plurality of computing devices synchronize the presentation of the media content with each other and actively participate in generating comments for the overlay, wherein a second subset of the plurality of computing devices present the media content asynchronously, and wherein the selectively filtering of the user generated comments from the first subset is limited to the first subset; and
managing the social network to include or exclude members of the social network, according to control settings established by the members of the social network for their associated computing devices,
wherein the processing system limits access to the media content and the user-generated comments based on a permission list, wherein the permission list identifies first users that must be accessing the media content in order for second users to access the media content,
wherein the processing system collects the user-generated comments at least in part by converting recorded comments into text, and
wherein the processing system monitors a set of users registered at a particular computing device or monitors a set of users actively participating on the overlay.

11. The device of claim 10 , wherein the processing system selectively filters the user-generated comments based on a registration of a particular set of users registered at the particular computing device.

12. The device of claim 10 , wherein a portion of the user generated comments is received via an internet protocol multimedia subsystem network.

13. The device of claim 10 , wherein the processing system monitors a set of users registered at a particular computing device and selectively filters the presentation of media content based on a registration of the set of users registered at the particular

Assignees

• At & T Ip I Lp

Inventors

• Roberts Linda Ann
• Chang E-Lee
• Sung Ja-Young
• Schultz Natasha Barrett
• King Robert

Classifications

• G06Q10/10

  Office automation; Time management · CPC title

• H04N21/2221

  being a cable television head-end (CATV in broadcast systems H04H20/78) · CPC title

• H04N7/17318

  Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests · CPC title

• G06Q30/02

  Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising · CPC title

• H04N21/64322

  IP · CPC title