Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Bret P O'Rourke

Steven Nabil Bathiche

Dawson F Dean

Zachary Lewis Russell

Eric Peter Wilfrid

John Mark Miller

James Morris Alkove

Boyd Cannon Multerer

Jon Marcus Randall Whitten

Oliver R Roup

Nigel Stuart Keam

Andrew David Wilson

Matthew Bret MacLaurin

William T Flora

Anton Kucer

Shai Guday

Patrick Nelson

Sohail Baig Mohammed

Chadd B Knowlton

Kevin Timothy Shields

Khurshed Mazhar

Kevin P Larkin

Shafiq Rahman

David J Roth

Mark D Van Antwerp

Chih-Kan Wang

Palamalai Gopalakrishnan

Marc Randall Whitten

Christopher G Knowlton

Manuel Uris Bronstein Bendayan

Ravi Raman

A system for dynamic content delivery is provided. The system includes a control component to determine location, preferences, and state of a user. A delivery component dynamically selects and provides content to the user as a function of the user's location, preferences, and state.

Dynamic awareness involving location

An exemplary system includes a media control operable to begin playing a media segment automatically after buffering the media segment, and a host application operable to receive a reference to the media segment, initialize the media control with the media segment, and cause the media control to postpone playing of the media segment after the media segment is buffered. An exemplary method includes receiving a playlist referencing a first media segment and a second media segment, the second media segment operable to play automatically without a prompt after being loaded, presenting the first media segment, and prerolling the second media segment.

Incorporating interactive media into a playlist

A system (and corresponding method) that can enhance a user experience by augmenting real-world experiences with virtual world data to is provided. The augmented reality system discloses various techniques to personalize real-world experiences by overlaying or interspersing virtual capabilities (and data) with real world situations. The innovation can also filter, rank, modify or ignore virtual-world information based upon a particular real-world class, user identity or context.

Augmented reality and filtering

A system to facilitate royalty tracking is provided. The system includes at least one tag to identify a portion of a creative work. A distribution component tracks the portion of the creative work and a crediting component reports usage of the creative work when the portion is detected in a larger body of work.

Distribution channels and monetizing

A system that facilitates data presentation and management includes at least one database to store a corpus of data relating to one or more topics. The system further includes a summarizer component to automatically determine a subset of the data over the corpus of data relating to at least one of the topic(s), wherein the subset forms a summary of at least one topic.

Auto-summary generator and filter

A system that facilitates enhancing a game, game play or playability of a game may include an experience component, a game component and an alteration component. The experience component can collect a portion of data related to a game in which the portion of data indicates at least one of a tip or a tactic for the game. The game component can dynamically incorporate the portion of data into the game during game play to enhance playability of such game for a user with assistance provided by at least one of the tip or the tactic. The alteration component may alter the game during game play.

Dynamic problem solving for games

A cache server includes a media serving engine that is capable of distributing media content. A cache engine is coupled to the media serving engine and capable of caching media content. A set of cache policies is accessible by the cache engine to define the operation of the cache engine. The cache server can be configured to operate as either a cache server or an origin server. The cache server also includes a data communication interface coupled to the cache engine and the media serving engine to allow the cache engine to receive media content across a network and to allow the media serving engine to distribute media content across the network. The cache policies include policies for distributing media content from the media server, policies for handling cache misses, and policies for prefetching media content.

Method and apparatus for selecting cache and proxy policy

A system (and corresponding methodology) that dynamically alters a storybook (e.g., literary work). Preferences, policies and contexts can be considered and incorporated into the storyline of the book to enhance interest by creating a rich, personalized experience. By enhancing readability and features (e.g., sensory features), stories become more true-to-life and enjoyable by altering the story over time or to differing context (or content).

Dynamic storybook

Dynamic streaming media management is described. In one aspect, media content is managed by accessing the first playlist that has a non-canonical format. Multiple translators are provided to translate playlists from multiple different native data formats to a canonical data format. One of the translators is invoked to translate the first playlist into the canonical data format. This forms a second playlist that is based on the canonical data format.

Dynamic streaming media management

An implementation of trick mode methodology receives a first request to stream media for presentation at a first normal playback rate; streams a first media stream configured to the first normal playback rate; receives a second request to stream the media for presentation at a second greater playback rate; and performs one of the following responsive to receiving the second request: switching from streaming the first media stream to streaming from an appropriate position in a second media stream that corresponds to the second greater playback rate; or in an event that a second media stream corresponding to the second greater playback rate is not available, then streaming the first media stream at a higher bit rate in an attempt to comply with the second request.

Advanced trick mode

Incorporating interactive media into a playlist allows for media, operable to play automatically without a prompt after being loaded, to be loaded into a playlist and played from the playlist without overlapping playback with other media in the playlist. Incorporating interactive media into a playlist involves employing a playlist, a media wrapper, a media control, and a media player to preroll media, immediately stop playing the prerolled media while other media is playing, signal that media has finished playing in order to seamlessly begin playing the next media in the playlist.

Systems and methods for combining streaming media content items for streaming to a client computer across a network are described. In one aspect, a server computer receives a request from a client computer for one or more content items. Responsive to receiving the request, the server computer identifies a data structure that refers to the one or more further content items. The server computer modifies the data structure to reference the requested content items. The server computer provides the content items referenced by the modified data structure to the requesting client computer for streaming media content to a user.

Wrapper playlists on streaming media services

Systems and methods for combining streaming media content items for streaming to a client computer across a network are described. In one aspect, a playlist is maintained on a server computer. The playlist includes at least one reference to a streaming media content item and at least one placeholder. A request for a requested streaming media content item is received at the server computer from a client computer over a network. The server computer modifies the playlist to create a modified playlist by replacing at least one placeholder with a reference to a streaming media content item. This is accomplished such that the modified playlist includes at least one reference to the requested streaming media content item and at least one reference to at least one further streaming media content item. The streaming media content items referenced by the modified playlist are provided to the client computer over the network.

Growing community of inventors

Kirkland, WA, United States of America

Bret P O'Rourke