US 8,527,525 B2Granted

Providing multiple degrees of context for content consumed on computers and media players

AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation

InventorsJeffrey C. Fong, Anton O. Andrews

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Abstract

Multiple degrees of context for media content that is consumable on computing platforms including PCs and personal media players is provided by logically organizing context objects into halos that surround each piece of consumable content. The context objects represent information and experiences that are contextually associated with media content to enable users to easily discover content and experiences that they will find interesting in a rich and personal manner. As a user navigates from a content item to a context object in the halo, the context object itself morphs into content that is then surrounded by a new halo of context objects to which the user may navigate. The organization of media content and information into halos enables an effective contextual paradigm that cuts across strict hierarchical structures to allow the user experience to be much more seamless and free-flowing.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A method for providing content items and related dynamic context objects for delivery to a remote device over a network, the method comprising the steps of:

collecting statistics pertaining to a community of users of the service, the statistics including identity of a content item and associated consumption by the community of users;
collecting information that is specific to a user, the information comprising one of social graph of the user, user profile, media content collected on the remote device, or preferences of the user;
logically surrounding a content item with a halo comprising a plurality of dynamic context objects using the collected statistics and information, the content item representing an item of video or audio entertainment, the dynamic context objects being contextually related to the content item and representing at least one of media content, information, data, or an interactive experience for a user of the device, the dynamic context objects being displayable on a display screen on the remote device, each of the dynamic context objects being configured to transform, upon selection by a user, into an additional content item having an additional halo comprising a plurality of dynamic context objects, and wherein the plurality of dynamic context objects comprise only dynamic content objects associated with locally stored media content when the remote device is in a disconnect state from on-line or cloud-based media content delivery services;
delivering the content items and related dynamic context objects for transfer to the remote device such that user manipulation of one of the media content items causes a virtual back surface of the content item to be exposed as a dynamic context object;
and
predicting and pre-fetching additional dynamic context objects associated with the stored media content items based on prior user interaction with the media player when the remote device is operatively connected to an on-line or cloud-based media content delivery service.

3 more elements

A method performed by a personal media player for interacting with media content items provided by a remote service, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving the media content items;
receiving a plurality of dynamic context objects that are contextually associated with the media content items, the dynamic context objects being usable in a halo used for logical organization in which a plurality of dynamic context objects are populated, each of the dynamic context objects representing at least one of media content, information, data, or an interactive experience for a user of the personal media player, each of the dynamic context objects being configured to transform, upon selection by a user, into an additional media content item having an additional halo comprising a plurality of dynamic context objects, in which user manipulation of one of the media content items causes a virtual back surface of the content item to be exposed as a dynamic context object, and wherein the plurality of dynamic context objects comprise only dynamic content objects associated with locally stored media content when the personal media player is in a disconnect state from on-line or cloud-based media content delivery services;
storing the content items on a persistent storage medium disposed in the personal media player;
and
predicting and pre-fetching additional dynamic context objects associated with the stored media content items based on prior user interaction with the personal media player when the personal media player is operatively connected to an on-line or cloud-based media content delivery service.

2 more elements

A personal media player, comprising:

a display screen configured for rendering text and graphics;
user controls;
a digital media processing system interfacing with the display screen to render a GUI showing one or more content items, the digital media processing system including an interface for receiving content items and dynamic context objects from a remote source;
and
memory bearing computer-readable instructions which, when executed by one or more processors in the personal media player:
i) implement the GUI on the display screen, the GUI arranged for displaying a plurality of dynamic context objects that are logically populated within a plurality of halos, each of the halos surrounding a content item to provide contextual meaning to the content item, each of the dynamic context objects being configured to transform, upon selection by a user of the personal media player, into an additional content item having an additional halo comprising a plurality of dynamic context objects, and ii) enable the user controls to be manipulated by the user to navigate to dynamic context objects that are displayable on the display screen, and iii) reduce a number of dynamic context objects in the halo to match locally stored content items when the personal media player is disconnected from the remote source, and iv) enable the user controls to be manipulated to cause a virtual back surface of one of the content items to be exposed as a dynamic context object, and v) perform predicting and pre-fetching of additional dynamic context objects associated with the stored content items based on prior user interaction with the personal media player when the personal media player is operatively connected to an on-line or cloud-based media content delivery service.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.