Time-based content synchronization

Inventors: David Gang (Oakton, VA); Bryan Morgan (Ramona, CA)

Assignee: Perfect Sense, Inc.

H04N21/235 H04N21/234 H04N21/242 H04N21/4325

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Quick Facts

Patent No.: US 10,645,431
App. No.: 16/382,563
Granted: May 5, 2020
Kind: B2

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Abstract

In some implementations, a system is capable of dynamically associating content streams to improve a user's viewing experience while accessing primary content. To accomplish this, the CMS uses content association data assigning secondary content items to the primary content. Secondary content items can be assigned to designated frames of the primary content so that the secondary content items are presented to user at specified time points during the playback of the primary content. Secondary content items can represent content that is related to the subject matter of the primary content, or content that a user may be interested in accessing while viewing the primary content.

Claims (86)

1. A method, comprising:

providing, by a server system, an interface for configuring associations between primary content to be accessed on a computing device, and (ii) a set of secondary content items to be accessed in association with the primary content;

obtaining, by the server system, account data that (i) corresponds to a user of the computing device, and (ii) identifies a set of additional computing devices associated with the user;

receiving, by the server system and through the interface, input data indicating a selection of a secondary content item from among the set of secondary content items;

generating, by the server system and based on the input data received through the interface, content association data for the primary content, wherein:

the content association data assigns the secondary content item to a designated frame of the primary content, and

the content association data comprises instructions that are executable by a content server and permit the content server to:

determine that the computing device has accessed the primary content during a time period,

select an additional computing device, from among the set of additional computing devices, that is most likely to be accessed by the user during the time period, and

provide a request to the additional computing device to display a communication that includes a reference to secondary content; and

providing, by the server system and for output to the content server, the content association data.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the instructions permit the content server to:

determine a predicted context associated with the user of the computing device; and

determine that the secondary content item is associated with the predicted context associated with the user.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the account data comprises a set of user attributes for the user; and

the instructions permit the content server to determine that the secondary content item is associated with the set of user attributes.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the instructions permit the content server to:

determine that the additional computing device is located within a threshold proximity to the computing device; and

select the additional computing device based on determining the additional computing device is located within the threshold proximity to the computing device.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein:

the computing device is a stationary display device, and

the additional computing device is a mobile device.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein:

the computing device is configured to run a first operating system; and

the additional computing device is configured to run a second operating system that is different from the first operating system.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the instructions permit the content server to select the additional computing device from among the set of additional computing devices by:

determining, for each additional computing device included in the set of additional computing devices, a respective likelihood that a particular computing device is used by a user of the computing device during a time period in which the primary content is accessed on a computing device; and

selecting the additional computing device from among the set of additional computing devices based on the determined likelihoods.

8. A system comprising:

one or more computers; and

at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage device storing instructions thereon that are executable by the one or more computers to perform operations comprising: