Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Remote data accessing
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-24
2001-12-11
Vu, Viet D. (Department: 2154)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Remote data accessing
C709S202000, C709S219000, C709S241000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06330593
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the field of computer networking, and more particularly to the use of network protocols to provide services to users that are related to CD ROMs, audio recordings and other distributed media.
2. Related Art
Over the past few years, on-line services have experienced explosive growth and have become a major new form of entertainment. Alongside this new entertainment, more traditional forms such as musical recordings have continued to be consumed on a massive scale.
The traditional experience of the musical recording is listening by a small group of persons gathered together in a room. The music fills the room acoustically, but there is little associated visual content, and there is only a limited interaction with the recording, consisting essentially of deciding which tracks to play and performing simple transformations on the recorded sound, such as setting the volume or applying an audio equalizer. This traditional experience dates back to the early age of 78 r.p.m. musical recordings almost a century ago.
The traditional production of a musical recording complements the traditional experience of the recording. The recording is produced in a number of recording sessions, subject to careful mixing and editing, and then released to the public. At that point, the recording is in a fixed form, nowadays an audio CD, whose purpose is to record as faithfully as possible the final sonic experience designed by its authors, the musicians, producer, and recording engineers.
Music videos have supplemented the traditional experience of musical recordings by allowing the association of visual content with tracks of such a recording. In practice, however, music videos have been broadcast, with all the problems of lack of user control which that implies, and they have not contributed to interactivity or participation by the consumer. On-line services offer opportunities for enriching the experience associated with prerecorded material. The present invention is addressed to computer programs, systems, and protocols which can fulfil this promise.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide computer programs, systems, and protocols which allow producers to deliver entertainment complementary to distributed media recordings by means of on-line services such as the Internet. It is a further object of this invention to provide computer programs, systems, and protocols which allow such complementary entertainment to be meaningfully interactive for the consumer, such that the consumer can also be a creator of the experience.
It is a further object of the invention to achieve the foregoing objects by means of implementations designed to attain integration with existing environments and programs, particularly on the Internet, while retaining the flexibility to adapt to the continuing evolution of standards for on-line services.
In a first aspect of the present invention provides a means for producers and sellers of distributed media such as CDs to maintain and strengthen their connection to their customers. Record companies download and periodically update a central library of complementary content for CDs the company has in the market. The software of the present invention operate as a plug-in to a users web browser and directs a user with a record company's CD to a particular section of the central library appropriate for the user's CD.
In another aspect of the present invention, called “CD Watcher” data representative of the users listening habits relative to a record company's CD is transferred to the record company when complementary content is delivered to the user over a network connection.
Alternatively, record companies contributing and maintaining the central library have access to the listening habits of all users who have accessed the central library for complementary content.
In another aspect of the invention, software is provided which permits a computer program running on a remote host to control a distributed media player such as a compact disk (CD) player, DVD player, or the like on a user's computer. (For convenience, we use the term “CD” to refer to all distributed media and the term “CD player” to refer also to all distributed media players such as DVD players and similar devices.) The software is designed to permit the remote host both to initiate actions on the CD player and to become aware of actions which the user has initiated by other control means, such as the buttons on the CD player's front panel or a different CD player control program. This aspect of the invention is a buildingblock for the provision of complementary entertainment for CD content when those recordings are fixed in the prevailing contemporary form, the CD.
In another aspect of the invention, visual content, including interactive content, may be delivered over an on-line service in such a way that it is synchronized to the delivery of content from a musical recording. Such visual content may, for example, be synchronized to the playing of an audio CD or other distributed media in the user's computer. The visual content is thematically linked to the musical recording, for example in the manner of a music video.
In a further aspect of the invention, a method is provided for determining or assigning a substantially unique identifier to CD or other distributed media content consisting of a number of tracks. A unique identifier is a useful complement to the delivery of supplementary content in conjunction with the playing of a CD or other distributed media in that it allows the software which delivers the supplementary content to be sure that the CD is in fact the correct CD to which the supplementary content corresponds. If the supplementary content is designed, for example, to accompany the Rosary Sonatas of Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, it would presumably not function well if the CD or other distributed media in the user's player were the soundtrack for the film Mary Poppins. The unique identifier also allows a CD or other distributed media to be used as a key to access a premium Web area. Furthermore, the unique identifier can allow the user to be directed to an area of the Web corresponding to the CD or other distributed media which is in the user's machine.
In a still further aspect of the invention, the immensely popular on-line service generally referred to as a “chat room” may be enhanced by means of a link to a CD recording which all persons in the room are playing. A remote host may control distributed media players in multiple remote locations The chat room experience as it exists today in on-line services has a disembodied quality by comparison with traditional face-to-face social encounters in which there are identifiable surroundings. The only common experience to the chat users today are the words of the chat as they fly by on a computer screen, and perhaps the user icons (“avatars”) or other visual content occupying a small space on the screen. The use of a musical recording in conjunction with a chat room opens up the possibility of restoring to the experience a degree of the shared ambience of traditional social encounters. Furthermore, shared content such as a musical recording offers a focal point that allows chatseekers to group together by means of shared interests in a particular type of recording.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4599644 (1986-07-01), Fischer
patent: 4646145 (1987-02-01), Percy et al.
patent: 5237157 (1993-08-01), Kaplan
patent: 5404393 (1995-04-01), Remillard
patent: 5710884 (1998-01-01), Dedrick
patent: 5721827 (1998-02-01), Logan et al.
patent: 5774664 (1998-06-01), Hidary et al.
patent: 5774666 (1998-06-01), Portuesi
patent: 5778181 (1998-07-01), Hidary et al.
patent: 5778187 (1998-07-01), Monteiro
patent: 5796393 (1998-08-01), McNaughton et al.
patent: 5796952 (1998-08-01), Davis et al.
patent: 5809250 (1998-09-01), Kisor
patent: 5809512 (1998-09-01), Kato
patent: 5905865 (1999-05-01), Palmer et al.
patent: 5949411 (1999-09-01), Doerr et a
Greenberg Ann E.
Roberts Dale Tyson
CDDB Inc.
Vu Viet D.
LandOfFree
System for collecting use data related to playback of... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with System for collecting use data related to playback of..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and System for collecting use data related to playback of... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2565959