Hulu, LLC

Flipboard, Inc.

Airtime Media, Inc.

Eric I Feng

Xin Jin

Hua Zheng

Zhibing Wang

Richard W Tom

Jean-Paul Colaco

Jason A Kilar

Eugene Chuan-Huai Wei

Yuming Liang

Varun Narang

Andrew Cheng-min Lin

Andrew C Lin

Marcos A Weskamp

Ting-Hao Yang

Wing Chit Mak

Johan Prag

Thomas C Tate

Brian Soebekti

Eugene C Wei

Eric Alexander

Adam W Miller

Arthur A Van Hoff

Andrew David Walkingshaw

Boris Lev Aleksandrovsky

Eric Buehl

Andrew Cheng-Min Lin

Ting-hao Yang

Raphael Mauro Schaad

Tienan Ren

Jason Kilar

A client device selects content items associated with various applications executing on the client device and dynamically lays out the selected content items for presentation while the client device is in a locked state. To present the selected content items, the client device selects a page template including slots specifying sizing and relative positioning of content items based on user attributes, geographic information, client device characteristics, and content item attributes. Content items associated with various applications are associated with each slot in the selected page template, and when the client device is in a locked state, the content items are presented with relative sizing and positioning determined by the slots in the selected page template.

Dynamic arrangement of content presented while a client device is in a locked state

A method transmits configuration information including a set of events that define when a media program player should send information regarding playback of an advertisement during an advertisement break in a media program. Also, the method transmits, to the user device, advertising control options configured to be output on the user device. A user selection for a control option in the advertising control options is received from the user device, wherein the control option controls sending of an advertisement to the user device during the advertisement break. The method then receives advertisement viewing data describing a viewing of the advertisement on the user device, wherein sending of the advertisement viewing data by the media program player is triggered based on an event in the set of events occurring at the media program player.

Media player configuration to provide viewing data feedback

A digital magazine application executing on a client device presents a digital magazine to a user including content items retrieved from one or more sources based on information associated with the user. When presenting the digital magazine, a cover is presented including an image and one or more headlines describing one or more content items included in the digital magazine. The cover may be generated by clustering content items included in the digital magazine and ranking content items in various clusters based on their characteristics. Based on the rankings, information describing content items from various clusters is included on the cover. Alternatively, the cover includes information describing content items identified based on the order in which the content items are presented by the digital magazine.

Generating a cover for a section of a digital magazine

A method and apparatus for sharing viewing information is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises receiving an designation of a second user from the first user; and transmitting the first user viewing information to the designated second user. The shared viewing information may comprise the identity of a currently viewed media program, a list of scheduled media program viewings, or the media program itself.

Method and apparatus for sharing viewing information

A method determines user preference information for a user for a number of advertisements in a set of advertising blocks and a temporal distribution of the advertising blocks. When each advertising block in the set of advertising blocks occurs according to the temporal distribution during sending of a video program, the method determines a number of advertisements in the advertising block based on the user preference information, determines advertisements for the advertising block equal to the number of advertisements, and sends the determined advertisements during the advertising block.

Providing directed advertising based on user preferences

Method and system for organizing and sharing content through experience are described. In one embodiment, content may be organized and shared among users through a specific experience. A method for sharing content in a network may include: collecting contents related to a specific experience from a specific user; generating an experience graph of the specific experience; enabling the specific user to invite other users to join the experience graph; and enabling each user inside the experience graph to share new content into the experience graph.

Experience graph

A method, apparatus, article of manufacture, and a memory structure for providing advertisements with a media program transmitted to a user device are described. The method permits the user to control the presentation of advertisements. In one embodiment, the method receives an identification of the media program to be sent to the user device, transmits metadata defining an advertising break having at least one advertisement opportunity within the media program, at the advertisement opportunity, transmits advertising control options, receives a user selection for the advertising control options, sends the advertisement to the user device according to the user selection for the advertising control options, receives advertising viewing data describing the streaming of the advertisement to the user device, and stores the advertisement viewing data.

Method and apparatus for providing directed advertising based on user preferences

A method, apparatus and article of manufacture for providing advertisements into a streamed media program is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises the steps of transmitting a webpage to a user computer, wherein the webpage includes instructions comprising instructions for embedding a media program player in the webpage, wherein the embedded media program player comprises an embedded search utility for accepting a textual user query, receiving a search query from the user computer in a media server, the search query entered into the embedded search utility, generating search results responsive to the user search query, transmitting the search results to the media program player embedded in the webpage, rendering the search results using the media program player; and displaying the rendered search results to the user.

Method and apparatus for presenting a search utility in an embedded video

Experience Graph

A method and apparatus for embedding a media program with a randomly user selected thumbnail is disclosed. The user can scan a media program to identify one of a plurality of media program frames, select the frame of interest, then designate it as the thumbnail to use in connection with the embedded media program.

Method and apparatus for embedding media programs having custom user selectable thumbnails

A method and apparatus for navigating a media program is disclosed. Viewing data for segments of the media program are monitored and used to compile statistics that are presented to the user in a histogram, so that popular portions of the media program can be identified and navigated to. One embodiment includes a searchable transcript of the media program that is synchronized with the histogram.

Method and apparatus for navigating a media program via a histogram of popular segments

A method, apparatus, article of manufacture, and a memory structure for providing advertisements with a media program transmitted to a user device are described. The method permits the user to control the presentation of advertisements to select prefacing advertisements in lieu of more time consuming or more numerous intervening advertisements presented during the media program.

Method and apparatus for user selection of advertising combinations

A method and apparatus for navigating a media program via a searchable transcript of the dialog of the media program is disclosed. In one embodiment, a textural transcript of the dialog is generated, wherein the textural transcript comprising a plurality of portions wherein each portion is associated with a segment of the media program, a command is accepted to display the transcript and in response to that command, user interface data is transmitted to the client computer for presentation in a user interface, wherein the user interface comprising a concurrently presented media program player and the textural transcript.

Navigating a video, a transcript of a dialog, and a histogram

A method, apparatus, article of manufacture, and a memory structure for providing advertisements into a streamed media program is disclosed. One embodiment comprises a user computer for accepting user input, the user input directly defining user preferences regarding the presentation of the advertisements in the streamed media program and for inserting advertisements in the streamed media program according to the defined user preferences; and a media program provider communicatively coupled to the user computer, for transmitting the streamed media program to the user computer for presentation to the user on a display communicatively coupled to the user computer.

Growing community of inventors

Marina Del Rey, CA, United States of America

Eric I Feng