US 10,708,663 B2Granted

Apparatus and method for media on demand commentaries

AssigneeAT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.

InventorsLinda Roberts, E-Lee Chang, Ja-Young Sung, Natasha Barrett Schultz, Robert King

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Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a system having a controller to present an overlay to be combined with media content during presentation at each of a plurality of computing devices to illustrate a collection of user-generated comments temporally associated with portions of the media content, wherein the portions of the media content comprise portions of a media on demand presentation in an interactive television network, collect the user-generated comments from the plurality of computing devices, identify target portions of the media content that each satisfy a threshold number of comments and non-target portions of the media content that do not satisfy the threshold number of comments, generate comment groups of the user-generated comments, and provide the comment groups to the plurality of computing devices for presentation in the overlay.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

providing, by a processing system including a processor, an overlay to be combined with media content during presentation at a user device to illustrate a collection of user-generated comments temporally associated with portions of the media content, wherein the portions of the media content comprise portions of a media on demand presentation in an interactive television network;
selecting, by the processing system, a plurality of computing devices according to a geographic location of each of the plurality of computing devices, wherein each of the plurality of computing devices is associated with a respective user;
collecting, by the processing system, the user-generated comments from the plurality of computing devices that are selected;
identifying, by the processing system, target portions of the media content that each satisfy a threshold number of comments and non-target portions of the media content that do not satisfy the threshold number of comments, wherein the target portions are associated with corresponding target comments of the user-generated comments, and wherein the non-target portions are associated with corresponding non-target comments of the user-generated comments;
determining, by the processing system, target commentaries associated with the target portions of the media content, wherein the target commentaries are different from the user-generated comments, and wherein the target commentaries are provided by one or more parties associated with the media content, the one or more parties comprising a director of the media content, an actor of the media content, a member of a supporting staff associated with the media content, or a combination thereof;
combining, by the processing system, the target commentaries of the one or more parties associated with the media content with the target comments of the user-generated comments to form a combined commentary overlay for presentation in the overlay, the combined commentary overlay including distinguishable graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to distinguish the target commentaries of the one or more parties associated with the media content from the target comments of the user-generated comments;
and
providing, by the processing system, the combined commentary overlay to the user device for presentation in the overlay.

5 more elements

A system comprising:

a processor;
and
a memory storing executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, perform operations, the operations comprising:
providing an overlay to be combined with media content during presentation of the media content at a user device and to receive a collection of user-generated comments temporally associated with portions of the media content, wherein the portions of the media content comprise portions of a media on demand presentation in an interactive television network;
selecting a plurality of computing devices according to a geographic location of each of the plurality of computing devices, wherein each of the plurality of computing devices is associated with a respective user;
collecting, from the plurality of computing devices that are selected, the user-generated comments;
identifying target portions of the media content based on a number of comments corresponding to each of the target portions that satisfies a comment frequency threshold, wherein the target portions are associated with corresponding target comments of the user-generated comments;
determining target commentaries from the target portions of the media content, wherein the target commentaries are different from the user-generated comments, and wherein the target commentaries are provided by one or more parties associated with the media content, the one or more parties comprising a director of the media content, an actor of the media content, a member of a supporting staff associated with the media content, or a combination thereof;
aggregating the target commentaries of the one or more parties associated with the media content with the target comments of the user-generated comments to form an aggregated commentary overlay for presentation in the overlay, the aggregated commentary overlay including distinguishable graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to distinguish the target commentaries of the one or more parties associated with the media content from the target comments of the user-generated comments;
and
transmitting to the user device the aggregated commentary overlay for presentation in the overlay.

8 more elements

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, perform operations, the operations comprising:

providing an overlay to be combined with media content during presentation of the media content at a user device to illustrate a group of user-generated comments temporally associated with portions of the media content, wherein the portions of the media content comprise portions of a media on demand presentation in an interactive television network;
selecting a plurality of computing devices according to a geographic location of each of the plurality of computing devices, wherein each of the plurality of computing devices is associated with a respective user;
accumulating the user-generated comments from the plurality of computing devices that are selected;
identifying target portions of the media content that each satisfy a threshold number of comments and non-target portions of the media content that do not satisfy the threshold number of comments, wherein the target portions are associated with corresponding target comments of the user-generated comments, and wherein the non-target portions are associated with corresponding non-target comments of the user-generated comments;
identifying, from the target portions of the media content, target commentaries, wherein the target commentaries are different from the user-generated comments, wherein the target commentaries are provided by sources associated with the media content;
combining the target commentaries with the target comments of the user-generated comments to form a combined commentary overlay, the combined commentary overlay including distinguishable graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to distinguish the target commentaries of the sources associated with the media content from the target comments of the user-generated comments;
and
transmitting the combined commentary overlay to the user device for presentation in the overlay.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/408,592Filed 18 Jan 2017 · continuation
Priority: 13 Nov 2009
Published: US 2017/0127136 A14 May 2017
Granted: 7 Jul 2020
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification11 codes

H04N 21/4788
Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application: communicating with other users, e.g. chatting
G11B 27/00
Editing
H04N 21/23418
Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing of video streams or manipulating encoded video stream scene graphs: involving operations for…
H04N 21/2353
Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors: specifically adapted to content descriptors,…

Family

Application12/617,813Parent of this continuation · filed 13 Nov 2009
Application14/636,877Parent of this continuation · filed 3 Mar 2015
US 2017/0127136 A1Pre-grant publication · published 4 May 2017
US 9,584,864 B2Parent of this continuation
US 9,015,778 B2Parent of this continuation
US 2011/0119694 A1Published application
US 2015/0181297 A1Published application
US 10,708,663 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.