Napster, Inc.

Google Inc.

The Directv Group, Inc.

Roxio, Inc.

Rhapsody International, Inc.

Edward Kessler

Shawn D Fanning

John Fanning

Anthony John Wood

Karl Alun Townsend

Donald R Woodward, Jr

Douglas Shannon

Spencer Shanson

Grace Chung

Tsung-Yuan Liu

Bruce Leendert Polderman

Jon Napper

Matthew Self

David S Young

Mark Nudelman

Jordan Mendelson

Benjamin L Grol-Prokopczyk

Shawn Fanning

Methods, systems, and computer programs are presented for an online community management system. One method includes detecting that a user has interacted with a post on a social network. The social network provides a plurality of entity contents. Further, the method includes determining a topic of the post based on content of the post. The method includes recommending following a related entity content of the plurality of entity contents to the user in response to determining that the topic is associated with the related entity content, the user is not following the related entity content, one or more users of the social network have posted in connection with the related entity content within a threshold amount of time, and the user is not blocked from accessing the related entity content.

Entity page recommendation based on post content

Methods, systems, and computer programs are presented for an online community management system. One method includes an operation for detecting a post on a social network, where the post is associated with an article. The social network has a plurality of entity pages associated with respective entities. Further, the method includes operations for determining a topic of the article based on a content of the article, and for determining whether the topic is associated with a related entity page on the social network. The related entity page is recommended to a user accessing the post when the topic is associated with the related entity page.

Apparatus and corresponding methods for storing video information. The apparatus includes a means for receiving video information, a means for converting the received video information into digital video information, and a means for storing the digital video information. Converting the received video information into digital video information can include converting it into an MPEG-compatible digital format. The apparatus can include an MPEG-compatible digital encoder, which can include separate audio and video MPEG encoders. The digital video information can be stored on an electromagnetically writable disk drive with an optimized MPEG file system (OMFS) configured to receive the digital video information and store the digital video information on the disk drive, where the OMFS is configured to divide the received digital video information into one or more packets, each packet having the same number of bytes as a sector on a disk in the disk drive. The OMFS can first accumulate one of the packets of digital video information in a cache memory. The OMFS, upon filling the cache memory with a completed packet of digital video information, then stores the completed packet on a single one of the sectors of the disk drive.

Digital recording and playback

A video data recordable having integrated channel guides allowing a user to control recording and storage of television signals into personal channels for later playback and viewing. In the described embodiment, the user may specify criteria for recording of shows from an input source such as a broadcast signal and shows are then selected based on the user specified criteria and recorded for later playback. Storage of the shows may be organized into personal channels in order to facilitate later playback, e.g., the user may specify a channel of action movies, a channel of nature programming, a channel for sports, etc. The shows to be recorded may also have a predefined format which may be used to ease playback of recorded programming by allowing the user to easily locate and playback sections of programming of interest.

Video data recorder with personal channels

A method executed at a client computer accesses a data record having a fixed set of predefined fields and a set of custom fields. Each predefined field has a predefined field name and a field value, and each custom field has a user-specified field name and a field value. The method displays the data record in a graphical user interface, which includes data entry controls for user specification of a field name and a field value. The method receives input from a user that includes a user-specified field name in the data entry controls. When the user-specified field name matches a field name of a predefined field, the method stores a user-supplied value in that predefined field. When the user-specified field name does not match the field name of any predefined field, the method stores the user-specified field name and the user-supplied value in an allocated custom field.

Accordion user interface

The embodiments satisfy the need for a real-time search engine that significantly reduces the cost of constructing a search engine index by providing a method for creating a real-time search engine over the Internet that provides a search response containing data object descriptions and server descriptions of data objects that are currently available for transfer from a provider server directly to a recipient client in response to a recipient client search request. An exemplary method of updating a search-engine index of a search engine serving a plurality of servers is provided. The method comprising the steps of: a. establishing a communication link between the search engine and a first server, b. logging onto the search engine from the first server. The step of logging onto the search engine comprises the steps of: i. uploading a first video data object description of a first video data object from the first server to the search-engine index, ii. uploading a first server description from the first server to a server-description table within the search-engine index, and iii. relating the first server description to the first video data object description within the search-engine index.

Real-time search engine for searching video and image data

A peer-to-peer connection is established by a receiving computer with a sending computer on which a desired file is located. The sending computer encrypts the file using a track key specifically generated for this particular file transfer. Once encrypted, the encrypted file is preferably obfuscated. An application server sends a public key specific to the receiving computer to the sending computer. The sending computer encrypts the track key using the public key associated with the receiving computer, and the sending computer sends the encrypted track key and the encrypted file to the receiving computer. The receiving computer stores the received encrypted track key and the received encrypted file as a secured file on the receiving computer. When a file is transferred, associated business rules are also transferred to the receiving computer. Business rules act to restrict the extent to which a file is read, copied, or distributed.

Method of and apparatus for encrypting and transferring files

A search engine operates substantially in real time through instant updates by the servers on a file sharing network. A server coming on-line in the network and comprising a first data object such as an audio file, video file, executable file, or text file, is configured to upload a description, such as a song title or file name, of the first data object, to the search engine during the log-in process. The search engine comprises a data-object description table for storing and correlating various data object descriptions to respective server identifiers identifying servers currently on line that store the data objects defined by the data object descriptions. During the log-in process, the search engine is configured to correlate the identifier of the server coming on-line with a data-object description of a data object stored in the server coming on-line. A requesting server seeking a specific data file is configured to identify a data object description of the requested data file in a request transmitted to the search engine. In response to a request, the search engine is configured to download to the requesting server the server-identifiers that are stored within the data-object description table in a relationship with the data-object-description of the request. The requesting server is configured to select a source server from among the server identifiers provided by the search engine, and to download the requested data file from the select source server. A server notifies the search engine when the download is complete. The search engine is configured to update the relationships within the data-object description table to reflect that the requested file is now within the requesting server. The search engine is further configured to purge from the data-object description table any relationships between a server and a data-object or data file when that server has gone off line, or when that data file has been removed from the server.

Real-time search engine

The invention contained herein describes a use-sensitive system for distribution of data files between users in a networked community of users. The system comprises each user having a distribution application that has at least one data file repository that has the ability to store at least one data file. The distribution application additionally includes a data file transfer server which makes available all data files located in the data file repository for download by other users, a file transfer client, and a user interface for displaying the actions and status of the distribution application to the user. In the system the file transfer client connects to the file transfer server and downloads a data file, and when the downloaded file is placed in the repository, the distribution application automatically makes available the downloaded data file to other distribution applications in the community of users.

Use-sensitive distribution of data files between users

Disclosed is described a method for creating a real-time search engine over the Internet which provides a search response containing data object descriptions and server descriptions of data objects that are currently available for transfer from a provider server directly to a recipient client in response to a recipient client search request. The method comprises the provider server connecting to a Real-time search engine through the Internet, the provider server providing the Real-time search engine with data object descriptions of data objects residing on the provider server, and the Real-time search engine indexing data object descriptions associated with the data object of the provider server, wherein the data object descriptions provided by the provider server are purged from the Real-time search engine when the provider server is disconnected from the Real-time search engine.

Growing community of inventors

Los Gatos, CA, United States of America

Edward Kessler