METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CONTENT SHARING AND DISCOVERY
A method for chat room facilitation, the chat room including a plurality of chat groups each including one or more participants, the method including determining a chat group priority for each of a plurality of chat groups, simultaneously presenting audio and video streams of the plurality of chat groups on a user device based on the respective chat group priority, and adjusting a chat group priority in response to a user action.
1 . A method comprising:
determining a chat group priority for each of a plurality of chat groups;
simultaneously presenting audio and video streams of a set of chat groups on a user device based on the respective chat group priority, the set of chat groups comprising a subset of the plurality of chat groups; and
adjusting a chat group priority in response to a user action.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining a chat group priority for each of a plurality of chat groups comprises determining a chat group priority for each of a plurality of chat groups based on a degree of similarity between a user profile associated with the user device and user profiles of secondary users within each of the chat groups.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein simultaneously presenting videos streams for the set of chat groups comprises:
compositing individual video streams sent by user devices associated with users participating within a chat group of the set into a composite video stream for the respective chat group; and
playing the composite video stream for the chat group at the user device.
4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein compositing the individual video streams comprises selecting the individual video stream of the chat group corresponding to an audio stream having an audio signal above an ambient signal threshold.
5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein simultaneously presenting audio and video streams for the set of chat groups comprises:
selecting a primary chat group comprising the highest priority from the set;
playing individual video streams sent by user devices associated with users participating within the primary chat group at the user device; and
playing individual audio streams sent by the user devices associated with users participating within the primary chat group at the user device.
6 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising mapping each of the set of chat groups to virtual locations relative to a virtual user location, wherein determining a chat group priority for each of a plurality of chat groups comprises determining a chat group priority for each of the plurality of chat groups based on a virtual distance between the respective chat group location and the virtual user location, wherein the respective chat group priority decreases with virtual distance away from the virtual user location;
7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein simultaneously presenting audio streams of the chat group set comprises:
mixing the audio streams of the chat groups of the set into a stereophonic audio stream, wherein an aural position of an audio stream is based on the virtual location of the respective chat group relative to the virtual user location; and
playing the stereophonic audio stream on the user device.
8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein simultaneously presenting video streams of the chat group set comprises:
displaying the composite video streams of chat groups of the set at positions corresponding to the virtual location of the respective chat group relative to the virtual user location, wherein the virtual user location corresponds to a center of a display of the user device.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of chat groups comprise chat groups of the plurality of chat groups having a chat group priority over a priority threshold.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein simultaneously presenting the audio streams of chat groups of the set comprises:
dampening the audio stream of chat groups of the set based on a respective chat group priority, wherein the dampening increases with decreasing chat group priority;
mixing the dampened audio streams of the chat groups into a final stream; and
playing the final stream at the device.
11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising simultaneously playing the audio streams of a second set of chat groups with the audio streams of the first set, the second set comprising chat groups of the plurality that are excluded from the first set, wherein simultaneously playing the audio streams of a second set of chat groups with the audio streams of the first set comprises:
mixing the audio streams of the chat groups within the second set into a dampened ambient stream; and
mixing the dampened ambient stream into the final stream.
12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein adjusting a chat group priority in response to the user action comprises increasing the chat group priority in response to a user selection of a representation of the respective chat group.
13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the user selection comprises a transient chat group selection.
14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the transient selection comprises a mouseover.
15 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
capturing a window of a native application on the user device; and
streaming the window in near-real time to a first chat group.
16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein capturing a window of a native application on the user device comprises capturing the window of the native application through the application programming interface of the native application.
17 . A method for facilitating a chat room, the chat room comprising a plurality of chat groups, each chat group having a chat group priority, the method comprising:
for a first chat group having a first priority and comprising a first and a second audio and video stream sent by a first and a second user device, respectively, playing the first and second audio and video streams at a primary user device;
for a second chat group having a second priority lower than the first priority and comprising a third and fourth audio and video stream sent by a third and fourth user device, respectively:
playing a composite video stream comprising one of the third and fourth video streams concurrently with the first and second video streams at the primary user device; and
playing an adjacent audio stream comprising the third and fourth audio stream dampened a first amount concurrently with the first and second audio streams at the primary user device.
18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising: for a third chat group having a third priority lower than the second priority and comprising a fifth and sixth audio and video stream sent by a fifth and sixth user device, respectively: playing an ambient audio stream comprising the fifth and sixth audio stream dampened a second amount, the second amount more than the first amount, concurrently with the first, second, third, and fourth audio streams at the primary user device.
19 . The method of claim 18 , further comprising mixing the ambient audio stream comprising the fifth and sixth audio stream dampened a second amount at a server and sending the mixed ambient audio stream to the primary user device.
20 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the first audio and video stream comprises audio and video captured from an application executed on the first user device.
21 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising concurrently playing a default audio stream selected from a database at the primary user device.
22 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising mapping each of the plurality of chat groups to a virtual location within the chat room; determining the chat group priority for each chat group based on a virtual distance between the respective virtual location of the chat group and a virtual reference location, wherein the chat group priority decreases with increasing virtual distance away from the virtual reference location, wherein aural positions of the third and fourth audio streams within the adjacent audio stream are based on the virtual location of the third and fourth chat groups relative to the virtual reference location, respectively.