Systems and Methods for Temporarily Sharing Audio Over a Network
AssigneeDaniel Kuniansky
InventorDaniel Ryan Kuniansky
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods presented herein may allow a sending user to stream audio to recipients without providing a permanent audio file, facilitating sharing of audio while retaining control over the audio file and reducing the chances of users copying the file. The sending user may specify number of plays, duration of time audio will be available for streaming, and the number of times the audio can be re-shared in one embodiment. The sending user and recipients may all execute a common client software on their computing devices that causes the computing devices to delete the audio when the streaming is complete and detect attempts to copy the audio at the device.
Claims19
A system for temporarily sharing audio, the system comprising:
- a non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions;
- a communication interface that receives a selected audio file and sharing selections that are selected by a sending user regarding the sharing of that audio file, the sharing selections including:
- a recipient selection of a plurality of recipients with permission to listen to the selected audio file, and
- a restriction on the plurality of recipients listening to the audio file;
- and
- a processor in communication with the interface and the computer-readable medium, wherein the processor executes the instructions to perform stages including:
- translating the audio file into a stream format;
- sending a message to a first recipient user included in the recipient selection regarding listening to audio associated with the audio file;
- receiving a request from the first recipient user to listen to the audio associated with the audio file, the request including;
- verifying the first recipient user can listen to the audio by at least:
- receiving a unique key from the user;
- verifying a software client version based on the unique key;
- and
- checking a database for at least one record regarding a listening history of the recipient user;
- in response to the verification, sending a first portion of the audio to the user;
- and
- automatically deleting the audio file after a period of time.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform steps including:
- receive, via an interface, selections from a sending user including:
- a first input selecting a plurality of recipients;
- a second input selecting at least a portion of an audio file to make available to the plurality of recipients for listening;
- a third input limiting the duration that the audio file is available for listening;
- in response to the sending user selections:
- creating a streamable audio file that is stored locally to the processor;
- creating a unique key for each recipient and sending the respective unique key to each recipient, including a first key that is sent to a first recipient within the plurality of recipients;
- receiving a first stream request from the first recipient to play the audio file, the request including the first key and an identifier of a client software version being run by the first recipient;
- verifying that the user can listen to the streamable audio file comparing the first key to a locally-stored verification key and checking the identifier;
- in response to the verification, streaming at least a first portion of the streamable audio file to a first device associated with the first user;
- and
- deleting the verification key based on the number based on a duration selected by the third input being exceeded.
The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein steps further include:
- receiving a notification from the first device to terminate streaming based on a recording attempt at the first device;
- and
- notifying the second user that the first user attempted to record the audio.
A system for sharing audio, the system including:
- a first device and a second device, each including a processor and circuitry for connecting to a network that includes an Internet;
- a non-transitory computer readable medium containing instructions that are downloaded and executed by at least the first and second devices;
- a server in communication with at least the first and second devices over the Internet, the server performing stages that include:
- receiving, from the first device, an audio sharing request constructed based on the first device executing the downloaded instructions, the audio sharing request including:
- an audio file;
- a first restriction on how long the file will be available for listening;
- a second restriction on the number of times a user may listen to the audio;
- and
- a first selection of recipients that includes a recipient user associated with the second device;
- sending a first playback message to the second device and each recipient in the first selection of recipients that has a computing device that has downloaded the instructions, wherein the playback message includes a unique key for each selected recipient;
- receiving a communication from the second device, the communication being in response to the playback request and based on the second device executing the instructions to create the communication, wherein the communication includes the key received as part of the playback message;
- checking a database based on the key to determine if the second device can stream audio associated with the audio file;
- streaming the audio associated with the audio file;
- deleting the audio file based on the first restriction.
The system of claim 14, the stages performed by the server further including creating the audio associated with the audio file by building a file for streaming that represents only a portion of the audio file.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.