System and methods for alerting a user consuming media to the progress of others consuming media

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11146446-B2
Application number	US-201816045499-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 25, 2018
Priority date	Dec 22, 2015
Publication date	Oct 12, 2021
Grant date	Oct 12, 2021

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided herein for enabling a first user to set up an alert that will notify the first user when the first user has caught up to a second user's progress in consuming media. These systems and methods are used to ensure that the first user is informed, while they are consuming media, that they have caught up to the progress of a second user. By providing an alert while the first user is viewing media, the first user does not have to remember the progress of the second user while viewing the media, alleviating the first user from worrying they will pass the progress made by the second user without realizing they have done so.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for alerting a user when the user has caught up to another user's progress in consuming media, the method comprising:
causing, by a server, a first electronic media consumption device associated with a first user to generate a user interface for receiving an indication from the first user of a second user and receiving an indication of a first media;
in response to a selection made by the first user via the user interface and prior to the first user accessing the first media of a plurality of media using the first electronic media consumption device, receiving, by a control circuitry of the server, a request to generate a notification when progress of the first user in the first media reached progress of the second user in the first media, wherein the request identifies: (a) the second user, and (b) the first media;
in response to receiving the request to generate the notification, receiving by the control circuitry of a server, a second progress point of the second user that has accessed the first media using a second electronic media consumption device;
detecting, by the control circuitry, that the first user is accessing the first media;
comparing, by the control circuitry, a first progress point of the first user with respect to the first media with the second progress point of the second user with respect to the first media;
determining, by the control circuitry, based on the comparing, whether the first progress point has reached the second progress point of the second user; and
in response to determining, by the control circuitry, that the first progress point has reached within the predetermined threshold of the second progress point of the second user, generating for display an alert indicating the first user has caught up to the second user.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
storing a unique media identifier of the first media in a first data structure associated with the first user;
receiving an indication that the first user is using a media consumption application to consume a given media of the plurality of media;
querying the first data structure to determine whether the given media corresponds to the unique media identifier.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein comparing the first progress point of the first user with respect to the first media with the second progress point of the second user with respect to the first media further comprises:
retrieving, from a first data structure associated with the first user, the first progress point of the first user with respect to the first media;
retrieving, from the second data structure, the second progress point of the second user with respect to the first media; and
analyzing a relationship of the first progress point with respect to the second progress point.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the first progress point has reached the second progress point of the second user further comprises:
determining a difference between the first progress point and the second progress point;
comparing the difference with a threshold criterion, wherein the threshold criterion defines a range of relative progress point of the first user with respect to relative progress point of the second user that qualifies the first user's progress point as having reached the second user's progress point; and
triggering the alert to be generated for display if the difference meets the threshold criterion.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
generating for display a plurality of selectable threshold criterion options; and
receiving, from the first user, a selection of a given threshold criterion option of the plurality of selectable threshold criterion options, wherein comparing the difference with the threshold criterion comprises comparing the difference with the given threshold criterion.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the alert further comprises at least one of:
an option to pause the media,
an option to transmit a communication to the second user,
an option to ignore the alert, and
social media information for the second user.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the displayed alert further comprises:
querying a first data structure associated with the first user to identify a second media the first user has accessed;
querying a second data structure associated with the second user to identify a third media the second user has accessed;
comparing the respective metadata of the second media and the third media to determine whether the second media matches the third media;
in response to determining that the second media matches the third media, determining whether the first progress point of the first user with respect to the second media is less than the second progress point of the second user with respect to the third media; and
in response to determining that the first progress point is less than the second progress point, generating, for display on the alert, an indication that the first user has not caught up to the second user with respect to the second media.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to determining that the first progress point has reached the second progress point of the second user, pausing, without further input from the user, playback of the first media, wherein the alert is generated for display while the playback of the first media is paused.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating for display the displayed alert comprises:
querying a second data structure associated with the second user to identify a second media the second user has accessed;
determining whether the first user has accessed the second media;
in response to determining that the first user has not accessed the second media, retrieving, from the second data structure, media progress point of the second user for the second media;
determining whether a threshold criterion is met by the media progress point for the second media by the second user;
in response to determining that the threshold criterion is met by the media progress point for the second media by the second user, generating, for display with the alert, a selectable option for the first user to access the second media, wherein the selectable option is accompanied by an indicator of the media progress point by the second user of the second media.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating for display the displayed alert comprises:
generating, for display, an option to continue consumption of the first media;
receiving, from the first user, a selection of the option; and
in response to receiving the selection, transmitting to the second user an alert indicating that the first user has caught up to the second user and is continuing media consumption.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising in response to determining, by the control circuitry, that the first progress point has not reached within the predetermined threshold of the second progress point of the second user, generating for display a second alert indicating the first user has not caught up to the second user.

12. A system for alerting a user when the user has caught up to another user's progress in consuming media, the system comprising:
control circuitry configured to:
cause, by a server, a first electronic media consumption device associated with a first user to generate a user interface for receiving an indication from the first user of a second user and receiving an indication of a first media;
in response to a selection made by the first user via the user interface and prior to the first user accessing the first media of a plurality of media using the fi

Assignees

• Rovi Guides Inc

Inventors

• Shanware Ajit

Classifications

• G06Q10/40

  Business processes related to social networking or social networking services · CPC title

• H04L67/535

  Tracking the activity of the user (network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34) · CPC title

• H04N21/258

  Client or end-user data management, e.g. managing client capabilities, user preferences or demographics, processing of multiple end-users preferences to derive collaborative data {(arrangements for services using the result on the distributing side of broadcast systems H04H60/66; profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/30)} · CPC title

• G06F3/04842

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04N21/47202

  for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand · CPC title