Linking social media and broadcast media

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9306989-B1
Application number	US-201213653356-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Oct 16, 2012
Priority date	Oct 16, 2012
Publication date	Apr 5, 2016
Grant date	Apr 5, 2016

Abstract

The various implementations described herein enable bridging the use of a social networking application with the viewing and listening experiences associated with broadcast media. In particular, users are enabled to share and view nuanced comments associated with media content presented on a first type of device using Internet-enabled second devices. For example, a client device is enabled to synchronize a displayable user interface with a post stream associated with a particular broadcast media program as it is airing; and to present and enable user selection and modification of one or more social network post templates associated with the particular broadcast media program in order to produce a user-specific social network post. The user-specific social network post is then transmitted to a server system. In addition to providing the social network post templates, the server system operates to publish the user-specific social network post in the appropriate post stream.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of generating a social network post in a post stream associated with a particular broadcast media program, the method comprising:
receiving by a second screen device a portion of the particular broadcast media program played on a first screen device in proximity to the second screen device;
sending a reference associated with the received portion of the particular broadcast media program to a server for identifying the particular broadcast media program;
receiving from the server a time marker associated with the particular broadcast media program, the time marker including at least one of a value indicative of a time-offset between the start time of the particular broadcast media program and the portion thereof that was used to generate the sent reference, an absolute time value provided by a system clock maintained by the server, and a relative time value based on the system clock time;
adjusting a local timer using the time marker;
synchronizing the user interface displayed on the second screen device to the post stream associated with the identified particular broadcast media program, wherein the post stream includes a sequence of micro-posts associated with the identified particular broadcast media program;
displaying on the second screen device one or more social network post templates associated with the identified particular broadcast media program, wherein the one or more social network post templates are based on one or more predefined micro-posts associated with the particular broadcast media program;
enabling user selection of at least one of the displayed social network post templates;
receiving an input that is an indication of a user selection of at least one of the social network post templates; and
transmitting the indication of the user selection to a social network server for publication in the post stream associated with the particular broadcast media program.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving a user input, wherein the input is indicative of at least the initiation of user feedback associated with the particular broadcast media program, and wherein the one or more social network post templates are displayed in response to receiving the user input.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving at least one social network post template, wherein each social network post template is associated with at least a portion of the particular broadcast media program.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein a portion of the particular broadcast media program includes at least one of an entire episode of the particular broadcast media program, an advertisement that aired during a showing of the particular broadcast media program, a scene, a moment, a quote or a user defined duration of the particular broadcast media program.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein at least one portion of the particular broadcast media program is associated with a marker, wherein the marker includes data that enables the user device to associate the at least one portion of the particular broadcast media program to a social network post template.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the social network post templates is customizable.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein synchronizing the user interface displayed on the second screen device to the post stream associated with the particular broadcast media program includes the second screen device displaying the post stream associated with the particular media program.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
recording the portion of the particular broadcast media program as it is playing on the first screen device using a microphone of the second screen device; and
providing the reference of the recorded portion of the particular broadcast media program to the server for identifying the particular broadcast media program.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein synchronizing the user interface displayed on the second screen device to the post stream associated with the particular broadcast media program includes:
receiving displayable content from a server, the displayable content including a selectable portion;
displaying the content in the user interface on the second screen device;
receiving a user input indicative of the selection of the selectable portion; and
transmitting the user indication to the server.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the user interface includes at least one of a user device application or a web browser.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating a data structure including the indicator of the selection, wherein the indicator is transmitted to the social network server within the data structure.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the data structure also includes at least one of a program identifier associated with the particular broadcast media program, a time value or an indicator of a portion of a social network associated with a particular user that may view the associated post, the portion of the social network including at least one other user.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a request for confirmation associated with the selected social network post;
prompting a user to provide a confirmation indication; and
receiving an indication that either confirms or denies publishing the selected social network post.

14. A method of generating a social network post in a post stream associated with a particular broadcast media program, performed at a server, the method comprising:
receiving from a second screen device a reference associated with a portion of the particular broadcast media program played on a first screen device, wherein the portion of the particular broadcast media program is received by the second screen device in proximity to the first screen device;
identifying the particular broadcast media program using the received reference;
transmitting to the second screen device a time marker associated with the particular broadcast media program, the time marker including at least one of a value indicative of a time-offset between the start time of the particular broadcast media program and the portion thereof that was used to generate the received reference, an absolute time value provided by a system clock maintained by the server, and a relative time value based on the system clock time at the server;
adjusting a local timer using the timer marker;
transmitting synchronizing data and instructions to the second screen device, wherein the synchronizing data and instructions enable the second screen device to synchronize a social network user interface displayable by the second screen device to the post stream associated with the particular broadcast media program, and wherein the post stream includes a sequence of micro-posts associated with the identified particular broadcast media program;
transmitting one or more displayable social network post templates to the second screen device, wherein the one or more displayable social network post templates are based on one or more predefined micro-posts associated with the particular broadcast media program;
receiving an indication of a social network post selection from the second screen device within a threshold time; and
publishing the social network post selection in the post stream associated with the particular broadcast media program.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising receiving a user input from the second screen device, wherein the input is indicative of at least the initiation of user feedback associated with the particular broadcast media progra

Assignees

• Jayaram Ranjith
• Google Inc

Inventors

• Jayaram Ranjith

Classifications

• H04N21/44008

  involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream (arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59) · CPC title

• H04N21/4788

  communicating with other users, e.g. chatting {(arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104)} · CPC title

• H04N21/8547

  involving timestamps for synchronizing content · 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

• H04L65/612

  for unicast · CPC title