System and method for interactive remote movie viewing, scheduling, and social connectivity

Abstract

To provide a shared experience of licensed media content, such as movies, in a media sharing system. The cinema system includes a web server that communicates with multiple client devices via the Internet, thereby enabling multiple social content users to participate in a synchronized stream of licensed media content, such as a movie, to schedule a multi-user experience of the licensed media content and further synchronize the streaming of the licensed content so that multiple participating users receive the media stream in a substantially synchronized manner. The cinema system also further provides social content interaction among multiple recipients, such that multiple users can interact in a temporally contextual manner consistent with the substantially synchronized reception of the licensed media content.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to an interactive movie system that enables group scheduling, digital rights management, and social connection.

Background Art

[0002] [Cross-Reference to Related Applications] This application claims priority to U.S. Patent Application No. 13 / 756,444, filed on January 31, 2013, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein. Certain online / internet-based video systems are known in the art. Such known systems allow users to post video content that other users can "stream," and provide a comment field below the video window for users to comment on the video, such as YouTube (registered trademark). Many other social and news sites operate videos in a similar manner to public broadcasters such as Facebook (registered trademark), Hulu (registered trademark), and NBC, CBS, Fox, etc., providing video streaming and comments by registered users. Such sites also provide the ability to "share" a link to a viewed video so that someone on Facebook (registered trademark) can share a video with another user's video stream via email. And public news media broadcasters generally provide a "share" link, whereby a viewed video / news article can be "shared" into a user's social media circle via quick links to, for example, Google+ (registered trademark), Twitter (registered trademark), Facebook (registered trademark), LinkedIn (registered trademark), and Pinterest.

[0003] Other known internet video systems include those that provide video conferencing, such as Google+ Hangouts, WebEx®, and Skype®. These types of systems generally provide multi-user video interaction through streamed raw audio and video from one user to multiple other users, and in some cases from multiple users to multiple other users. These video systems also generally provide chat interaction (text instant messaging supplementing the video stream) from one user to multiple other users, or to selected other users.

[0004] Furthermore, other known video systems offer downloads of licensed media content. Such systems include ParamountMovies.com, Amazon, Netflix, and others. Through these sites, users can purchase and download licensed media content and post notifications to social media feeds indicating that other users have purchased / downloaded the indicated content. The sites also occasionally offer comments / reviews provided on the purchase site, but this is generally limited to the extent to which possible social interaction is available. [Overview of the project]

[0005] The aforementioned known online / internet sites have several shortcomings. In the context of providing an interactive movie experience, it is desirable for multiple friends or family members to participate together in the movie-watching experience, thereby socially participating in the context of the movie in real time. Such interactions are ideally created to match the scenes that appear in the movie. In other words, conventional systems do not replicate the personal experience of watching a movie with friends and loved ones across the internet.

[0006] The embodiments described herein provide a digital rights management tool for purchasing licensed media content, such as movies and songs, and for managing playback counts and / or group purchases encompassing multiple users, viewers, and purchasers of licensed media content. The embodiments described further provide group scheduling of common viewing times for licensed media content and sharing of comments as the movie unfolds and the context of the movie viewing itself. Furthermore, the embodiments described enable temporal indexing of movies so that real-time comments surrounding the movie viewing experience can be shared and recorded within the context of the movie viewing experience so that friends within the viewer's social group or family can later watch a recorded version of the movie and see contextual social comments provided by the viewer's friends and / or family.

[0007] In short, the disclosed system and method provide synchronization of recorded media delivery to multiple groups while providing contextual social chat about the media delivery. The described embodiment includes a technique for holding synchronized video streams to viewing groups much earlier or much later. This synchronization can be provided, for example, by providing a feedback loop that returns from the receiving client's media player to a server running on the main system via internet communication, and by indexing the media streams themselves, which can be used to slow down or accelerate one or more media streams to provide simultaneous delivery of the same media context and to help ensure relative synchronicity. The described system can further operate to use time coding and voting games for trivia related to favorite movie scenes and characters. This and other second-screen content, in addition to the features described above, can be provided to play the movie in real time along with the interactive experience for greater participation.

[0008] Generally speaking, the system described provides a shared experience of licensed media content, such as movies or proprietary raw video streams. Such a system may include a web server that communicates with multiple client devices over the internet, thereby allowing users' multi-social content to participate in synchronized streams of licensed media content, such as movies. The system schedules multi-user experiences of licensed media content and further enables the synchronization of streaming of licensed content so that participating users receive the media stream in a substantially synchronized manner. The system also further provides social content interaction among multiple recipients so that multiple users can interact in a temporal contextual manner that harmonizes with the substantially synchronized reception of licensed media content. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] For a more complete understanding of this disclosure, exemplary embodiments and their effects, references are made to the following description, with similar reference numbers indicating similar features in the attached drawings. [Figure 1] Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a system for interactive remote movie viewing, scheduling, and social connectivity. [Figure 2] Figure 2 is a screenshot of the landing site of an exemplary system as shown in Figure 1. [Figure 3] Figure 3 is another screenshot of an exemplary system as described herein. [Figure 4] Figure 4 shows another screenshot that offers promotional footage of a movie or other shared media content to encourage content purchase and social interaction around the content. [Figure 5]Figure 5 is another screenshot providing an example of a media content player (e.g., a video player) that combines a playback screen with temporal contextual social interaction. [Figure 6] Figure 6 is a screenshot showing the social viewing scheduling function. [Figure 7] Figure 7 is a screenshot showing the synchronized user chat functionality in more detail. While similar reference numbers may be used for convenience to refer to similar elements, it should be understood that each of the various exemplary embodiments may be considered a distinct variation. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0010] Figure 1 illustrates the architecture of an exemplary embodiment of system 100 for interactive remote movie viewing, scheduling, and social connectivity. In the exemplary embodiment, various exemplary servers, client machines, and external services are illustrated as interactive system 100. System elements for an exemplary service provider 102 configuration are provided behind a service gateway 104 that acts as a firewall and / or external connection from the service provider 102 shown in the figure to (multiple) "cloud" internet connections. It should be understood that the connections through the service gateway may include one or more physical network connections via one or more servers (e.g., (multiple) web servers 108 and (multiple) intermediary servers 115, which are described further below), and that multiple virtual tunnels may be formed through these one or more physical network connections.

[0011] In the exemplary embodiment, the “service provider” 102 may include multiple related / interconnected systems and subsystems that may be managed through one or more business partnerships or vendor relationships, but for ease of understanding, it should be understood that in this embodiment a single connected system is illustrated. In the exemplary embodiment, (multiple) web servers 108 generally provide top-level interaction with various client devices 106. The web servers 108 communicate appropriately with the client devices 106 to provide user logins through those client devices, maintain and update information about user profiles or user preferences, and similarly prompt the purchase of licensed media content and / or physical goods.

[0012] Referring further to Figure 1, user preferences, purchases, etc., are stored in the user profile database 110 via the web server 108. While the embodiment shown in the figure shows the user profile database 110 directly connected to the web server 108, it should be understood that there may be a database server or other intermediate server interposed between the web server 108 and the user profile database 110. The illustrated embodiment also provides a product procurement server 150, which communicates with the web server 108 and can operate to prompt user payment for purchased content, such as online media content and / or physical goods transported via conventional ground transport. The product procurement server 150 is used when a user purchases content and processes payment from a credit card, PayPal®, or other payment system.

[0013] Once a purchase is approved, the system grants the user a "license" for media to be delivered online, or proceeds with processing the physical goods for shipment. For licensing media for online delivery, the product procurement server 150 connects directly or indirectly to a digital rights management (DRM) server 114 that uses secure encryption, and the DRM server 114 can, in turn, access declassified media content stored in the movie or other media database 120, stream it, or "declassify" the distribution of media from the primary media server 112 that prompts streaming.

[0014] It should also be understood that the procurement server 150, the DRM server 114, and the web server 108 remain in communication with each other to ensure that the appropriate licensed rights are synchronized and recorded in the user profile database 110. Licensed media content includes media content intended for which digital rights are to be retained, and it should be further understood that multiple technologies exist to protect the exclusive rights to streams of such media, including watermarks and various types of digital rights management (DRM). Currently known commercial implementations of such technologies for protecting licensed media content include the digital entertainment content ecosystem "UltraViolet" (see www.uvvu.com) and Microsoft's "Silverlight". It should also be understood that these and other technologies, subject to design selection as described herein, are capable of operating to generate licensed media content.

[0015] The primary media server 112 shown in Figure 1 may be provided by a conventional server machine (computer), as with other servers and computing machines described herein, but the server described may be a group of servers or a distributed server, etc. Such a group of servers may be a content delivery network or CDN, such as one provided by a company like Akamai. These types of networks provide or facilitate streaming and multicast of media content over the internet. Such a CDN includes not only distributed computing machines but also storage devices for buffering the content being delivered.

[0016] Also provided in Figure 1 is an auxiliary content / game content server 125. This auxiliary content may include second-screen content available to the user in parallel with the playback of media content. The "Scene It?" franchise could be one possible implementation of this auxiliary content. Furthermore, with respect to second-screen content, this additional content can be delivered in a different window on the viewing client 106, or a separate client 106 may be used for streaming media content and second-screen content (for example, the main streaming may be on a personal computer and smart TV, and the second-screen content on a tablet computer or smartphone). More generally, both media content and second-screen content can be displayed across multiple platforms, including interactive / IP TVs, personal computers, console game devices, tablet devices, netbooks, laptops, and mobile phones, all of which can be displayed on these various devices regardless of the operating system.

[0017] Referring further to Figure 1, an external social media interface server 130 is provided to provide updates and, in other words, to exchange information with external social media sites such as Facebook®, LinkedIn®, Google+®, Pinterest, etc. The implementation of the present invention, in its embodiment, provides tight integration with one or more of these external social media sites, thereby posting any activity you perform and integrating it into your “wall” or other news feed. For example, if you invite your friends to watch a movie, or watch a movie with your friends, that could be an “event” posted to your wall or news feed. Purchases can also be news articles that not only share but can also help drive additional content sales revenue. For example, a news feed item could include a link to a trailer that subsequently offers the option to purchase content through a service provider’s website.

[0018] One possible social networking approach, which can be carried out through an external social network or a service provider directly managing the customer's social network, or through a combination of the aforementioned, allows the purchaser to send “event” invitations to multiple of his or her social network connections, thereby allowing the system to schedule social viewing for multiple invited persons who accept the invitation. A DRM server 114 connected to the web server 108 or other described server can be operated to manage digital rights over social viewing, ensuring that only the permitted number of digital media download streams are provided.

[0019] Regarding social viewing scheduling and payment, a possible approach is to charge a specific fee that includes multiple viewer licenses, such as the ability to invite up to 10 friends to a scheduled one-time social viewing. The scheduling server 117 provides communication with a web server and an external social media site (server 140) that promotes the scheduling or social viewing of an interactive group media stream for the user's social network. At the end of the social viewing, the system can present that one or more invited friends can purchase a similar license or an equivalent regular DVD for transportation through conventional over-the-air delivery, and of course, can also provide other possible promotional offers to the participants.

[0020] Similar to other embodiments described herein, the "10 friends" mentioned earlier for the schedule invitation is merely exemplary, and the number of invitations can be any other number according to the type of single invitation, up to 10 invitations, up to 100 invitations, or the implementation form considered. For example, the described system further enables large-scale events for purchase (revenue) purposes or free (for promotion) purposes. Thus, you can hold a "corporate-sponsored event" where hundreds or thousands of viewers can sign up for a live stream with comments, second-stream content, and / or game content or interactions. These hundreds or thousands of attendees can be by scheduled invitation or an "open" invitation.

[0021] As another example, for a video hit, there may be a public viewing of a "director's cut" where the director can provide comments during and / or between the main themes of the playback. Thus, for example, it may be shown that a screening can be scheduled for Sunday night at 6:00 PM (e.g., Central Time), and there can potentially be hundreds or thousands of viewers watching simultaneously.

[0022] A competitive trivia contest can be presented on a second screen, and the synchronization made possible by the embodiments described herein substantially mitigates the risk of someone attempting to cheat in the game (for example, by communicating with someone on a stream at a slightly different timing). Specific challenges that the disclosed system addresses for synchronization are differing latencies between viewers / clients and multiple bandwidth challenges between clients / viewers. The disclosed embodiments can not only delay playback in certain examples but can also actually increase playback (compression time) to catch up delayed feeds. Furthermore, when the system detects that playback is out of sync, it can disable certain functionality (e.g., real-time games) that is significantly affected by the lack of synchronization. To encourage synchronization among multiple users participating in a media content feed, feedback can be provided from each user's video or media player via internet communication, thereby enabling the primary media server 112 or intermediary server 115 to accelerate or decelerate their respective streaming deliveries to different players to encourage synchronization or resynchronization of connections according to the received feedback. While internet communication has been described for this feedback loop, it should be understood that this is a design choice, and other communication methods (such as other wired networks, wireless telephone networks, cable television networks, etc.) may be more suitable depending on the design considerations.

[0023] The disclosed system can further implement an approach in which a group of people, though collectively, owns all licenses for a particular media title they wish to view over the internet from different locations. Additionally, the associated servers, which are part of the DRM server 114 and the service provider 102, can operate to verify the rights of each person in the group, and the scheduling server 117 can operate to schedule viewing by all users to be given a synchronized, common media streaming experience.

[0024] In any of the above implementation forms, the first user may start and schedule a social viewing experience, but in certain embodiments, any of the participating viewers may be enabled to control playback or any other aspect of the social interaction related to playback. As far as other types of control are concerned, there may be a role for "chat" or other "second screens", or other types of functions other than media playback. Further, the control is open and can be controlled by any user at any time (for example, any user can stop the playback of a movie at any time). Or the control may be continuously passed from one user to another.

[0025] Further, referring to FIG. 1, an intermediary server 115 is shown intervening between the primary media server 112 and the gateway 104 to the Internet. The intermediary server 115 is operable to synchronize media streams coming from outside the primary media server 112 so that the received group (client 106) receives all media streams in a substantially synchronized state. This streaming and synchronization is shown as being formed by the collective activities of both servers 112 and 115, but the described embodiments should not detract from the generality of any claim arising from this example, and the primary media server 112, as described above, may be a group of servers or a cloud-based content delivery network (CDN), and further, the synchronization functionality may be integrated into the primary media server 112 so that a separate intermediary server 115 is not required.

[0026] "Substantially synchronized," as stated above, may mean synchronized within 5 minutes, 1 minute, 30 seconds, 5 seconds, or 1 second, depending on the application and design requirements. In particular, when certain chat or game functions are enabled, clients should receive synchronized media streams so that all users have roughly the same number of seconds, within the same total number of seconds (or not invalid for more than 1 second), or in a way that allows them to react to a movie, such as responding to trivia questions without seeing "spoilers" in the chat window while friends are watching a movie together. Thus, the need for synchronization depends on whether its absence would ultimately impair the functionality used by the user.

[0027] All of the aforementioned functionalities can be distributed between servers and / or vendors according to system design choices, and it is explicitly stated that all of the described functionalities can be incorporated into a single server, web server, and / or a vendor hosting a server or multiple servers, and furthermore, all of the described functionalities can be distributed between various servers, web servers, and / or vendors hosting multiple servers. The server partitions described may be physical or virtual partitions, and the various servers may be in the same or different physical locations.

[0028] Referring to Figure 2, screenshots of an exemplary user interface for System 100 of the exemplary embodiment described above are provided hereby. The screenshots illustrate an example of what is displayed on the client device 106 in Figure 1 through the interaction between the (multiple) web servers 108 and these client devices. As shown in Figure 2, when a user is directed to this landing page about the service from, for example, a movie site (e.g., www.next*big*movie.com), the user is welcomed to a branded service site about the service described herein. In this example, the service site is generally referred to as the “Social Movie System,” and therefore the landing page displays, in this example, “Welcome to the Social Movie System.” From this page, button 202 gives the user the option to return to the original movie site from which they came or logged in (each of buttons 204, 206) to begin interacting with the site and information in their individual profile (such as stored in the user profile database 110). The system allows the user to log in to enhance their user profile and to purchase and share their social movie system activity on their social networks (per button 208). This login further enables scheduling interactive movie viewing on scheduling server 117, allowing the user to watch licensed media content with their friends in a synchronized manner.

[0029] Referring to Figure 3, this figure illustrates an exemplary screenshot of the system at a subsequent level from the landing site. In this version, there may be several other bases to reach this screen from the landing page, as in some examples the user was likely logged in, but the circulating movie promotional spots are displayed in the central window 310. The user is offered a 10-minute free viewing of one of the multiple movies being advertised, inviting them to click on one of these advertisements. Of course, the amount of free viewing offered, or the type of advertisement, is merely illustrative and should never be argued to limit the scope of the claims so as not to hold the system liable for merely having this same advertisement presentation.

[0030] Referring further to Figure 3, as previously described with respect to Figure 2, button 302 is provided to return the user to the original movie site or other lower sites that guided the user to the site for the system described here. In this case, there is also button 304 that provides a user pull-down menu for user-oriented functions. A site navigation menu 306 is further provided to the left of the promotional window 310. These navigation menus 306 take the user to a “Featured Movies” page, for example, which includes photos of scenes from movies, social sharing functions, purchase options and scheduling options, thereby allowing the user to purchase a movie and schedule a social viewing of the movie with him and all his friends. Other options on the site navigation menu include an image and video page button 306 that has multiple thumbnails and provides a “click-through” and / or allows the purchase of products related to the corresponding media or image. As in Figure 2, a “Share” button 308 is provided so that the user can share their activity with their social circle.

[0031] Referring to Figure 4, this figure shares many similarities with Figure 3. The buttons representing the Feature Movie Homepage 402 and User Menu 404 have similar functions to those described for the corresponding buttons in Figure 3. The Navigation Menu 406 and the "Share" button 408 also have the same or similar functions as described for the menus / buttons 306 and 308 in Figure 3. A new aspect illustrated in Figure 4 relates to presenting the Video Player window 410, which now plays the first 10 minutes of the movie (again, for example) to prompt the user to purchase the movie. New social buttons 412, 414, and 416 are further provided below the Video Player window 410.

[0032] Referring further to Figure 4, the new social buttons shown in this figure relate to the actual purchase of promotional content (with button 412), initiating the user purchase through the product procurement server 150 (see Figure 1) as previously described. A share / scheduling button 414 is also provided, which is an interface for internal or external social media functions to invite and inform other users about a user's purchase / viewing / sharing / scheduling of online media content. Embodiments disclosed herein provide scheduling via a scheduling server 117 for multiple users who are physically in different locations but simultaneously viewing and participating with each other during remote screening of licensed media content via parallel media streaming. Furthermore, an "auxiliary content" button 416 is provided, which presents an option to provide "second screen" content, such as "Scene It?", IMDb, or similar movie reviews and informational content, or other movie-oriented games, chat windows, or any number of other possible second screen options.

[0033] Referring to Figure 5, this figure provides an exemplary screenshot of a video player window 510 when a user is involved with the content video player they are actually viewing, after having processed the purchase or securing of video rights to the licensed content. This video window has video controls (e.g., play, fast forward, rewind, stop, etc.) and can extend compatibility with the display on which the content was being played. As previously mentioned, the video controls may be "open" so that any user can change to video playback, or "closed" so that only one user can do so at a time, although in other possible embodiments, a first master user may pass control to another user, etc.

[0034] The social elements in this diagram are provided to fully engage the user with their friends and family who are watching the content with them. Specifically, as illustrated in Figure 4, there is a “second screen” option button 516 that brings up additional information about the movie being watched or plays a game related to the movie (e.g., “Scene It?” or other movie trivia or action game-themed). Also on this screen is a “share” button 508 to inform the user of their social networks of their activity, and as illustrated in this embodiment, the share button 508 is essentially advertised from the screen behind the previously mentioned video screen.

[0035] Referring further to Figure 5, a chat window 520 or other window is provided for the user to interact with friends of the user who are watching the movie with them. The system also provides the ability to mark / annotate video images through a marking tool or other device, and through indexing of video content, all of this interaction is stored and recalled in certain embodiments through subsequent viewing by the same or different system users who are in the original user's social circle and have been granted the right to view the licensed content.

[0036] In other words, recorded social viewing is fully archived and replayed later, along with the social interactions that occurred during the original viewing, as if the content's viewers were watching it in real time. This feature allows friends and family in the other world to further enjoy the conversations that take place around the scene and see the conversations in the context of parts of the film that are inspired by the comments.

[0037] Regarding the description of the video player, it should be noted that these video players, the means of providing the second screen, and other social interaction functions can be achieved by different means. One approach is to incorporate a standard video player window as a frame within the web page provided through this system and provide compatible synchronized content through the standard video player. The other approach is to provide a customized player. The method by which the system provides video to the system and combines it with the content of the second screen can be realized according to the choice made in this regard. That is, for "frame" content, a separate tunnel can be established to deliver both the original media and the content of the second screen to the web page. For customized players, it is possible (though not necessary) for a server behind a firewall to combine the feeds and provide them to the customized player as a single stream. Those skilled in the art can apply an architecture that follows the design requirements of the system along one of these paths.

[0038] In other words, referring to the video player design, some parts of the player's functionality may be operated by a server provided by the overall service, while the player itself has built-in functionality to achieve some of the functions described above. Thus, various functionalities exist in system 100 and can be distributed among different components within the system.

[0039] Further reference to the social interactions facilitated by the associated tools described with respect to Social Overlay 520 and Figure 5, the embodiments described herein not only open up a very new way of sharing the movie-watching experience socially, but also go beyond those described for socially watching movies in real time and remotely with friends and family. By tracking the temporal indexing and capabilities of this video system, the system provides an unprecedented ability to share screenshots and comments of favorite movie scenes with a person's social circle while watching a movie in real time. Again, this type of social media sharing fundamentally provides the excitement surrounding media content available for licensing / sale when it is linked to a link that can take social network contacts to where the referenced content is purchased. This functionality essentially takes the time code of the movie, takes a snapshot or movie clip and shares it with the user's social network along with the user's comments, reviews, or invitations to watch the movie with them or others in a social viewing event.

[0040] Referring to Figure 6, an exemplary embodiment of the scheduling function described herein is illustrated in this figure. Screenshots are provided here by a web server 108, and scheduling information is established and coordinated through the web server 108 by a scheduling server 117 (see Figure 1). As previously stated, a player window 610 may be provided simultaneously, which can display promotional videos or the usual licensed media streams shown here. Various other menu options are shown above as menu items 620. The scheduling options provided include a calendar 630, a time 640, a friends list 650, and sending invitations 660. In an embodiment, the calendar 630 provides calendar dates for social viewing, and the time 640 may be a time established for social viewing (for each reference time zone adjusted according to the time zones of invited friends to provide consistent invitations). Furthermore, the "My Friends" button 650 may be a complete list of friends showing the status of all friends for the specified event (invited, accepted, pending, etc.), while the "Send Invitation" button 660 may invite existing friends or currently unconnected friends known by their email or other online identifiers.

[0041] Regarding the various options shown in menu item 620, many of these have been described previously, but for the purpose of a brief summary, the options shown in this embodiment are as follows:

[0042] a. "Viewing and Purchasing": After viewing the promotional portion of the movie, you will be presented with options to purchase and schedule social viewing events.

[0043] b. "Images" Gain access to various images captured from movies, share these movie images on your social network, connect you with your network to enable the use of these images, establish and schedule viewing events.

[0044] c. "Applications (Apps)" Access and / or download various applications that may be a second screen coordinated with social viewing events.

[0045] d. "Characters": Collect social information about the characters in various films and establish viewing events themed around these characters.

[0046] e. “Cast and Crew” Limited screenings associated with the film to be released. This may also be coordinated with various promotions that allow a selected group of members of the general public to obtain access to the limited screenings. As previously described with respect to similar functions as “Director’s Cut” screenings, the temporal indexing of the embodiments described herein provides a high degree of ability to provide detailed background information as part of the film’s context and screening.

[0047] f. "Shop" A shop for online or physical goods.

[0048] g. "Music" Similar to the "Images" feature, this could allow users to share music clips or songs from the movie on their social networks, thereby enabling users to comment and interact around the song (and potentially metadata that places the song in context) and providing links that can lead social users back to the interactive movie site from where the song was played. As with the other described features, this interaction may lead to group viewing scheduling either directly on the social site or behind the interactive movie site, or both.

[0049] h. Various social network connections provided within the coordinated domain of the "social" system.

[0050] i. "Logged in" This is a login area that grants users access to their purchased content, friend list, etc., and may be provided through user records stored in the user profile database 110 (see Figure 1).

[0051] Referring to Figure 7, this figure shows more detailed social chat functionality. As previously described, there is a player window 710 and the menu options 720 mentioned above. This figure also shows a group of friends discussing a particular scene, such as one that occurs in a movie. Conventional video players could not stream licensed content and allow multiple users to provide comments to each other while all users were watching essentially the same scene. Furthermore, this system allows one of the participants, or another user in one of their social circles, to archive the playback along with the comments so that at a later time they can view the licensed content and the comments left by their friends in the same context as when their friends made the comments (while playing the same scene in the movie). Figure 7 also shows a "Current Viewers" bar 740 that shows who is currently watching the movie and gives an "Invite" button to invite other users to join.

[0052] Referring to all the figures described above and the overall description of the features and functionality described herein, the described system also includes functionality that may suggest to the user that popular scenes or images be shared through their social network while a real-time video stream is being viewed, either through second-screen data or multiplexed data on the media player. In this way, a prompt to share an image or song is highlighted to the user while watching live media, and the image or song clip and user comments may be posted to Facebook® or other social media sites.

[0053] Like other concrete embodiments of interaction on social media sites, virtual “pinboards” exist on the internet as a means of socially sharing and posting images or links of interest, allowing your social network to further comment on and add posts to them. One such system currently in existence is Pinterest (www.pinterest.com). This system allows the posting of approved movie images, along with official or unofficial metadata, for movies and / or specific movie scenes. With hyperlinks included, social media sites can direct social network users directly to, for example, movie landing pages and / or some of the web pages described herein, thereby allowing users to, for example, be given promotional presentations, watch multiple parts of the movie related to the posted image, and purchase and schedule social viewing.

[0054] The same real-time index information synchronized with the type data on the second screen allows the system to display video clips of the background of a filmed scene and to warn consumers when such scenes are available during real-time playback. Thus, there may be a warning (e.g., a spotlight) on the primary or second screen informing the user that the background of a filmed scene is available. Similarly, the descriptive data on the second screen can be synchronized with video playback, and contextually relevant information may be provided in this manner in the embodiments described. Likewise, soundtrack and score information can also be available synchronized with real-time film playback and available for sale and / or sharing via social networks.

[0055] By further general reference to all embodiments described herein, it should be understood that the chat function and / or second screen function described herein may be implemented through the web server 108, or through a separate auxiliary content server 125, or through other servers. Furthermore, the chat function, second screen function, metadata information feed, or any other additional functions described herein may be implemented in or integrated into the video player itself and / or provided through the media server 112 or intermediary server 115. The described functionality may be divided among hardware and software elements in various ways according to business or design requirements, and such variations may remain within the scope of the claims to any patent arising from this application.

[0056] While various embodiments based on the disclosed principles have been described above, it should be understood that these are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not limiting. Therefore, the scope and range of the exemplary embodiments described herein should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the claims and their equivalents arising from this disclosure. Furthermore, while the above-described advantages and features are provided in the described embodiments, the use of the claims thus arising should not be limited to any or all of the above-described processes and structures.

[0057] As used in multiple disclosures and appended claims, the terms “example embodiment,” “exemplary embodiment,” and “present embodiment” do not necessarily refer to a single embodiment, but these and various exemplary embodiments can be readily combined and replaced without departing from the scope or spirit of the multiple exemplary embodiments. Furthermore, the technical terms used herein are intended to describe only the multiple exemplary embodiments and are not intended to be limiting. In this regard, as used herein, the term “in” includes “in” and “on,” and the terms “a,” “an,” and “the” include singular and plural citations. Furthermore, as used herein, the term “by” may also mean “from,” depending on the context. Furthermore, as used herein, the term “if” may also mean “when” or “upon,” depending on the context. Furthermore, as used herein, the plural words “and / or” refer to and encompass all possible combinations of one or more associated items.

[0058] For example, as used herein, a machine or engine may be a virtual machine, computer, node, instance, host, or machine in a networked computing environment. Also, as used herein, a networked computing environment is a group of machines connected by communication channels that facilitate communication between machines capable of sharing resources within the machine. A network also refers to a medium of communication between multiple processes on the same machine. Also, as used herein, a server is a machine deployed to run programming that acts as a socket listener, and may include a software instance.

[0059] Resources may encompass any type of resources to run an instance, including hardware (such as servers, clients, mainframe computers, networks, network storage, data sources, memory, central processing time, scientific instruments, and other computing devices), as well as software, software licenses, available network services, and other non-hardware resources or combinations thereof.

[0060] A networked computing environment may include, but is not limited to, a computing grid system, a distributed computing environment, a cloud computing environment, and the like. Such a networked computing environment includes hardware and software infrastructure configured to form a virtual organization of multiple resources that may be geographically distributed. Although various computer components have been illustrated herein as a single computer server or machine, such components may be operated on several different physical machines, or they may be combined to run code instances that run on a single physical machine. The claims of this application encompass such variations in physical machine configurations.

[0061] Although various computer components have been illustrated herein as a single computer server or machine, such components may be operated on several different physical machines, or they may be combined to run code instances on a single physical machine. The claims of this application encompass such variations in physical machine configurations.

[0062] Various terms used herein have special meanings within the art of this application. Whether a particular term should be interpreted as such a “technical term” depends on the context in which it is used. The terms “Connected to,” “in communication with,” and other similar terms should be interpreted broadly and generally to include situations in which communication and connection occur both directly between the referenced components or through one or more intermediates, including through the Internet or several other communication networks, between the referenced components. The terms “Network,” “system,” “environment,” and other similar terms generally refer to a networked computing system that embodies one or more aspects of this disclosure. These and other terms should be interpreted in the context in which they are used in this disclosure, and they should be understood in the disclosed context as understood by those skilled in the art. The above definitions do not preclude any other meanings that may be attributed to these terms based on the disclosed context.

[0063] Words related to comparison, measurement, and timing such as "at the time," "equivalent," "during," and "complete" should be understood to mean "substantially during," "substantially equivalent," "substantially complete," etc., where "substantially" means that such comparison, measurement, and timing are implicitly or explicitly stated to be feasible to achieve the desired result.

[0064] Furthermore, the headings of multiple sections in this specification are written for readability. These headings are not intended to limit or characterize any invention described in any claim arising from this disclosure. Specifically, the description of the technology in the background art should not be construed as accepting that the technology is prior art to any (multiple) inventions in this disclosure. Furthermore, where the singular "invention" is referred to in this disclosure, it should not be used to argue that there is only a single novel point in this disclosure. Multiple inventions may be defined in accordance with the limitations of multiple claims arising from this disclosure, and such claims shall appropriately define the (multiple) inventions and their equivalents that are protected thereby. In all examples, the scope of such multiple claims shall be considered in light of this disclosure in terms of their own multiple merits, but shall not be limited by the headings in this specification. [Item 1] A media sharing system that provides a shared experience of licensed media content, wherein the media sharing system is a) A web server connected to an internet gateway, which is capable of operating to communicate with multiple client devices connected to the internet, b) A user profile database that communicates with the web server and is capable of storing user profile data including user social network data and user media content selection, c) A scheduling server that communicates with the web server and the user profile database, and is capable of operating to establish a schedule and participant list for a multi-user shared experience of licensed media content in response to a user request for scheduling a multi-user shared experience of licensed media content, d) A media server communicating with the web server and the scheduling server, which is capable of providing licensed media streams to a plurality of scheduled user participants in accordance with the schedule and participant list established by the scheduling server, and is capable of synchronizing playback for the plurality of participants so that the plurality of participants receive the licensed media streams in a substantially synchronized manner, e) A media database that communicates with the media server, and which has the licensed media content that is streamed by the media server, f) A social content server that communicates with the web server, which provides social interaction among the multiple participants, and which is capable of operating such that the social interaction occurs within a context that aligns with the substantially synchronized reception of the licensed media content by the multiple participants. A system equipped with these features. [Item 2] The system described in item 1, wherein the web server and the scheduling server are separate servers. [Item 3] The system described in item 1, wherein the web server and the scheduling server are performing functions on the same physical server. [Item 4] The web server and the scheduling server are distributed computing instances of the system described in item 1. [Item 5] The media server and the social content server are separate servers, as described in any one of items 1 to 4 of the system. [Item 6] The media server and the social content server are systems described in any one of items 1 to 4, performing functions on the same physical server. [Item 7] The media server and the social content server are distributed computing instances, and are systems as described in any one of items 1 to 4. [Item 8] The media server is a system according to any one of items 1 to 7, which provides a communication channel from the social content server along with the licensed media stream. [Item 9] The aforementioned licensed media content is a film, and the system is one of the items described in items 1 through 8. [Item 10] The aforementioned licensed media content is a song, and the system is one of the items described in items 1 through 9. [Item 11] The system described in any one of items 1 to 10, where "substantially synchronized" means that the same scene is received by the multiple participants within one second of each other. [Item 12] The media server is a content distribution network, as described in any one of items 1 to 11. [Item 13] The social interaction provided by the social content server is a chat window between the multiple participants, as described in any one of items 1 to 12. [Item 14] The social interaction provided by the social content server is an interactive game, as described in any one of items 1 to 13. [Item 15] The aforementioned interactive game is a general knowledge game, as described in item 14. [Item 16] The substantially synchronized reception of the licensed media content is achieved in part by receiving multiple synchronization feedback signals received from multiple video players associated with the multiple participants, as described in any one of items 1 to 15. [Item 17] The media server is a system according to any one of items 1 to 16, which provides chat functionality to an integrated data stream displayed on the video player window along with the licensed media content. [Item 18] The system as described in item 17, wherein the media server further provides auxiliary content to the integrated data stream displayed on the video player window together with the licensed media content. [Item 19] A media sharing system that provides a shared experience of licensed media content, wherein the media sharing system is a) A web server connected to an internet gateway, which is capable of operating to communicate with multiple client devices connected to the internet. b) A user profile database that communicates with the web server and is capable of storing user profile data including user social network data and user media content selection, c) A media server communicating with the web server, which is capable of operating to provide licensed media streams to a plurality of participants connected via the Internet, and is capable of operating to synchronize playback for the plurality of participants so that the plurality of participants receive the licensed media streams in a substantially synchronized manner, d) A social content server that communicates with the web server and is capable of providing social interaction among the multiple participants, thereby enabling the social interaction to occur within the context of substantially synchronized reception of the licensed media content by the multiple participants. Equipped with, A media sharing system in which the social content server is further capable of communicating with a plurality of external social servers to prompt a participant to post user activity or user-requested media content to at least one of the plurality of external social networks. [Item 20] The system further comprises a scheduling server that communicates with the aforementioned web server and the aforementioned user profile database, The aforementioned scheduling server, A media sharing system as described in item 19, capable of scheduling a multi-user shared experience of licensed media content in response to a user request, and establishing a schedule and participant list for said multi-user shared experience of the licensed media content. [Item 21] The media sharing system according to item 20, wherein the scheduling server communicates with the plurality of external social servers, thereby the scheduling of the licensed media content's multi-user shared experience is communicated or coordinated through the plurality of external social servers. [Item 22] The aforementioned user-requested media content posting is a media sharing system as described in item 20 or 21, including the posting of images of multiple movie scenes. [Item 23] The posting of the aforementioned images of multiple movie scenes is a media sharing system as described in item 22, including the posting of metadata related to these images. [Item 24] The metadata includes trivia about the films related to multiple images, as described in item 23, for the media sharing system. [Item 25] The media sharing system described in item 24 includes one or more hyperlinks that direct the accessing browser to a site associated with the media sharing system. [Item 26] A media sharing system that provides a shared experience of licensed media content, wherein the media sharing system is a) A web server connected to an internet gateway, which is capable of operating to communicate with multiple client devices connected to the internet, b) A user profile database that communicates with the web server and is capable of storing user profile data including user social network data and user media content selection, c) Means for facilitating the scheduling of multi-user shared experiences of licensed media content in accordance with the schedule and list of licensed participants, d) Means for prompting the provision of licensed media streams to multiple licensed participants in accordance with the schedule and the list of licensed participants, e) means for facilitating the synchronization of multiple media streams among the multiple licensed participants, thereby enabling the multiple licensed participants to receive the licensed media streams in a substantially synchronized manner. A media sharing system equipped with the following features.

Claims

1. A media sharing system that provides a shared experience of media streams, wherein the media sharing system is At least one server that communicates with a user profile database, Communicating with multiple client devices connected to the internet via a network, The first user is enabled to share a link to a media stream, and the sharing of the link enables multiple users associated with the multiple client devices to share the media stream, The media stream is provided to the plurality of client devices such that it is displayed on the plurality of display screens of the plurality of client devices in a substantially synchronized manner, wherein the plurality of client devices include at least one mobile device. The system enables multiple users to interact via the multiple client devices such that, using the multiple client devices, user interactions are exchanged simultaneously with the display of the media stream on the multiple display screens of the multiple client devices, and the user interactions are displayed on the multiple display screens of the multiple client devices simultaneously with the media stream. To enable one or more of the aforementioned users to see the visual marks applied to the media stream, a second user who receives the media stream can use a marking tool to visually mark the media stream, Receiving user playback control from the first user and controlling the substantially synchronized playback of the media stream, The first user is enabled to record the substantially synchronized media stream, including the visual markers and user interactions, for future playback. It comprises at least one server capable of performing the following: The first user may transfer control of the user interactions displayed concurrently with the substantially synchronized playback of the media stream to the third user, so that the third user controls the user interactions displayed concurrently with the substantially synchronized playback of the media stream. The media stream includes video content, The auxiliary content server, which is different from the at least one server, provides auxiliary content for transmission to the plurality of client devices. The auxiliary content is displayed on the multiple client devices simultaneously with the media stream. system.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one server is operable to schedule viewing of the media stream by the plurality of users, which are given a multi-user shared experience of the media stream.

3. The system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the control includes at least one of fast-forward control or rewind control.

4. The system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the media stream includes the video content and audio content.

5. The system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the at least one server is further operable to enable the first user to share a link to the media stream on the first user's social network.

6. The system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the user interaction is indexed to the media stream so that the user interaction can be viewed together with the media stream on a computing device different from at least one of the plurality of client devices during future playback of the media stream.

7. The system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the substantially synchronized display of the media stream is partially achieved by receiving a plurality of synchronization feedback signals from the plurality of client devices.

8. The system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein separate routes are provided for transmitting the media stream and the auxiliary content from the at least one server and the auxiliary content server, respectively.

9. The system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the auxiliary content is associated with the first user.

10. A media sharing method, The process involves at least one server communicating with multiple client devices connected to the internet via a network, The steps include: the at least one server enabling a first user to share a link to media content on the first user's social network; The steps include: providing the media content to the multiple client devices in a substantially synchronized manner, where the at least one server provides the media content to the multiple client devices so that the media content is displayed on the multiple display screens of the multiple client devices; The steps include: enabling at least one server to enable multiple users associated with the multiple client devices to interact via the multiple client devices so that, using the multiple client devices, user interactions are exchanged simultaneously with the display of the media content on the multiple display screens of the multiple client devices, and so that the user interactions are displayed on the multiple display screens of the multiple client devices simultaneously with the media content; The steps include enabling a second user who has received the media content to visually mark the media content using a marking tool, so that at least one server can see the visual marks applied to the media content, The steps include: a step in which at least one server receives user playback control from the first user and controls the substantially synchronized playback of the media content, wherein the first user can pass control of the user interaction displayed simultaneously with the substantially synchronized playback of the media content to the third user so that the third user controls the user interaction displayed simultaneously with the substantially synchronized playback of the media content; The step of enabling the first user to record the substantially synchronized media content, including the visual markers and user interactions, for future playback. Equipped with, The shared link enables the multiple users to share the media content. The user interaction is indexed to the media content so that it can be viewed together with the media content on a computing device different from at least one of the multiple client devices during future playback of the media content. The auxiliary content server, which is different from the at least one server, provides auxiliary content for transmission to the plurality of client devices. The auxiliary content is displayed on the multiple client devices simultaneously with the media content. method.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising the step of the at least one server scheduling viewing of the media content by the plurality of users, which are given a multi-user shared experience of the media content.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the media content includes a real-time media stream.

13. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 12, wherein the plurality of client devices include at least one mobile device.

14. A media sharing system that provides a shared experience of media streams, wherein the media sharing system is A means of communicating with multiple mobile client devices via a network, Means enabling a first user to share a link to a media stream on the first user's social network, wherein the shared link enables multiple users associated with the multiple mobile client devices to share the media stream, and means enabling link sharing. Means for providing the media stream to the plurality of mobile client devices such that the media stream is displayed on the plurality of display screens of the plurality of mobile client devices in a substantially synchronized manner, Means enabling multiple users to interact via the multiple mobile client devices such that user interactions are exchanged simultaneously with the display of the media stream on the multiple display screens of the multiple mobile client devices, and that user interactions are displayed on the multiple display screens of the multiple mobile client devices simultaneously with the media stream; Means enabling a second user who receives the media stream to visually mark the media stream using a marking tool so that one or more of the aforementioned users can see the visual marks applied to the media stream, A means for receiving user playback control from the first user and controlling the substantially synchronized playback of the media stream, wherein the first user can pass control of the user interaction displayed simultaneously with the substantially synchronized playback of the media stream to the third user so that the third user controls the user interaction displayed simultaneously with the substantially synchronized playback of the media stream; Means enabling the first user to record the substantially synchronized media stream, including the visual markers and user interactions, for future playback. Equipped with, A means for providing auxiliary content, distinct from the means for providing the media stream, provides auxiliary content for transmission to the plurality of mobile client devices. The auxiliary content is displayed on the multiple mobile client devices simultaneously with the media stream. system.

15. The system according to claim 14, further comprising means for scheduling viewing of the media stream by the plurality of users, wherein the media stream is given a multi-user shared experience of the media stream.

16. The system according to claim 14 or 15, wherein the user interaction is indexed to the media stream so that the user interaction can be viewed along with the media stream on a computing device different from at least one of the plurality of mobile client devices during future playback of the media stream.

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