Patent Application
20090326970
Web-based social networking has become a popular way for people to meet and interact with people over public networks like the Internet. Typically, social networking is implemented by websites that provide a social networking service. Social networking services are often stand alone or dedicated web-based services although some services are integrated as part of other service offerings. For example, Microsoft Corporation provides the “Zune Social” brand of social networking service in combination with a media content delivery service for its popular Zune® brand of personal media player.
To use a web-based social networking service, a member may provide information to set up an account with a social networking service. Once a member's account is configured, users can generate “profiles” of themselves. The profiles typically contain a variety of information about a user (such as location, occupation, hobbies, likes/dislikes, friends/social graph, etc.).
Social networking services allow members to view other member profiles, join groups with a common subject or theme, add other members to a contact list, and send messages to other members. Some social networking services are reputation-based where members can receive reviews and ratings from other users and/or receive recognition for possessing certain attributes or performing certain actions. For example a social network member might be a “Power Reviewer” by posting a certain number of reviews or comments about particular topics or subjects. Such reputation features can often add additional dimensions of entertainment and interest in the services because they give members more ways to socially interact. Other members like the recognition features which can help to differentiate them from other members or function as trophies or other indicators of status or standing in the social network.
This Background is provided to introduce a brief context for the Summary and Detailed Description that follow. This Background is not intended to be an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter nor be viewed as limiting the claimed subject matter to implementations that solve any or all of the disadvantages or problems presented above.
A reputation system used in a social networking service provides for recognition for its members in the form of badges that can be displayed on the members' profile pages as a way of indicating a particular status. In various illustrative examples, a “tastemaker” badge may be awarded to a member who plays or recommends to other members (through various recommendation channels such as messages, shared playlists, etc.) particular pieces of media content such as songs or videos in advance of that content becoming popular with the larger community of members in the social network. The tastemaker badge can then be placed on the member's profile page as a symbol of recognition or achievement that can help to increase that member's reputation in the social network.
The reputation of the member as a tastemaker (i.e., a person who is able to spot or lead trends or otherwise be influential in shaping opinions) may be determined by calculating a “popularity difference” for the particular piece of played or recommended media content over some time period. The system tracks usage of all media content throughout the social network so that the difference between a play count of the particular media content at the time of calculation and the play count at the time the content was first played or recommended by the member can be calculated. Higher magnitudes of popularity differences and/or steeper growth rates in popularity difference can indicate greater ability of the member to identify content that will become popular in the larger social network. Differing levels of tastemaking ability may be reflected in different badges, styles, or attributes. For example, a member with a “5 Star” tastemaker badge indicates greater success at spotting or creating popularity trends compared with a member who has a “3 Star” tastemaker badge.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Like reference numerals indicate like elements in the drawings.
The user controls 223, in this example, include a gesture pad 225, called a G-Pad, which combines the functionality of a conventional directional pad (i.e., a “D-pad”) with a touch sensitive surface as described in U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/987,399, filed Nov. 12, 2007, entitled “User Interface with Physics Engine for Natural Gestural Control,” owned by the assignee of the present application and hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety having the same effect as if set forth in length. A “back” button 230 and a “play/pause” button 236 are also provided. However, other types of user controls may also be used depending on the requirements of a particular implementation.
The personal media player 110 is arranged to be operatively couplable with the PC 312 using a synchronization process by which data may be exchanged or shared between the devices. The synchronization process implemented between the PC 312 and personal media player 110 typically enables media content such as music, video, images, games, information, and other data to be downloaded from an online source or media content delivery service 315 over a network such as the Internet 318 to the PC 312. In this way, the PC 312 operates as an intermediary or proxy device between the service 315 and the personal media player 110.
The media content provided by the service 315 will typically be organized and presented to the user 105 using a player application 320 that runs on the PC 312. The player application 320 is arranged to enable the user 105 to browse, select, and download media content from the service 315, often on a fee basis or as part of a subscription plan. In some cases, advertising supported business models may also be utilized. The downloaded media content can be consumed on the PC 312 or be transferred to the personal media player 110. Media content may be protected in some instances where its limitations on its use may be enforced by various DRM (digital rights management) systems that interoperate between the PC 312 and the player 110.
In this example, a social networking service 325 supplements the media content delivery service 315. The social networking service 325 can be supported by a common service provider, as shown, but a service 331 may alternatively be provided by a third party (as indicated by the dashed line in
The user 105 will typically use a web browser 335 running on the PC 312 to interact with the social networking service 325. The social networking service 325 enables the online community of members 334 to explore, discover, and share media content experiences, typically including music and video. For example, a member may recommend a song to a friend, share a playlist of favorite songs, post messages/reviews/ratings in chat room and forums, and conduct discussions, and the like. The members 334 each have a profile page featuring a member card 405 that is supported by the social networking service 325, as illustratively shown in
The member card 405 is automatically updated by the service 325, in this example, to reflect the music that a member plays either on their personal media player (e.g., player 110) or on the player application (e.g., player application 320) that runs on a PC. These updates are reflected by a series of tiles 4081, 2 . . . N that are arranged in a moveable filmstrip-like arrangement that may be configured to scroll horizontally across the member card 405, for example. The tiles 408 will typically show a graphical representation, or thumbnail, to represent the music and may include icons, photographs, text, etc. Typically, the tiles 408 are configured as active links to the music content that they represent.
A member 334 is able to pick a picture 411 to be included in the member card 405, as well as a nickname, usemame, or “tag” or similar type of identification 413. The member card 405 can also be customized with a member-supplied background image 414, or the member 334 can pick from an assortment of service-supplied backgrounds. The member card 405 is also arranged, in this example, to show current status information such as the last song played (as indicated by reference numeral 415) and the reputation of the member as reflected by a numerical reputation badge 418. An assortment of navigation controls, collectively identified by reference 421, is also provided as shown.
In some cases, a tile 408 may be used as a badge or other token to indicate a particular status or reputation of a member 334 in the social network. For example a member 334 might receive a badge 410 for being a “power poster” (i.e., a member who posts beyond a certain number of posts on forums hosted by the service 325). The badges 410 can use different graphical symbols to denote different types of recognition.
Another type of badge is a tastemaker badge 425 which may be awarded to social network members 334 who discover new media content which then becomes popular with the rest of the network community. Eligibility for the tastemaker badge 425 is determined, in one illustrative example, by calculating a “popularity difference” for content over a time period:
popularity difference=(play count)current−(play count)selected
where
(play count) current is the play count of content at the current calculation time and,
(play count) selected is the play count of content at the time it was selected by a member for playback or for a recommendation to the community.
Thus, for example, on April 1 a member selects a song to play on the PC 312 or his media player 110 and likes the song enough to recommend it by posting messages in the social network's chat rooms or forums. At the time it was selected, the song had been played perhaps 100 times by members of the community as a whole so that (play count)current=100. By May 1, a month later, the song has a play count of 1,100 so that (play count)current=1100 giving a popularity difference of 1000. This means the selected song was played an additional 1,000 times by the community of members of the social network during the period of a month.
Popularity differences will generally be calculated by the reputation system per-piece of media content being played and recommended on a per-member basis. In some cases, the popularity differences will be aggregated on a per-member basis to determine eligibility for the tastemaker badge 425. For example, if a tastemaker badge requires a popularity difference of 1,000 over a one month period, then if a member 334 selected one song having a popularity difference of 600 and another with 400 in that month, then the eligibility requirements is satisfied. In other cases, eligibility for the tastemaker badge 425 will be based on single piece of media content only.
It is emphasized that popularity differences do not have to be based only on play count or recommendations. Other indicators of popularity that may be used include, for example, the frequency with which the content is designated as being a member's “favorite”, or ratings given by member to the content, or by some combination of all these criteria.
Different popularity difference thresholds may be used to award the different styles of tastemaker badges, or badges that have different attributes. In this example, as shown in
As shown in the table 505 in
In addition, to the popularity difference thresholds that are indicated in the first column of table 505, consideration may also be given to other factors. For example, the growth rate in popularity of a given piece of content may also be utilized in determining the number of stars used for the tastemaker badge. The growth rate is reflected by the entries in the third and fourth columns of the table. That is, if the popularity differences are achieved over a shorter time period, this indicates a greater rate of growth. Accordingly, a “2 Star” tastemaker badge will be awarded for a popularity difference of 100 that is achieved over a two month period of time as indicated by entry 530 in table 505. This logic is repeated for other entries so that moving up and to the right in the table gives progressively more stars. Thus, a “5 star” tastemaker badge can be received by a member 334 who picks a song, for example, that has a popularity difference of 10,000 within a time period of a single month. That means that the member 334 was able to select a song that got popular very quickly as is thus deserving of the highest award possible that confers the highest tastemaking reputation to that member.
The reputation system is arranged to track the popularity of content including artists, albums, songs, etc., that is consumed by members of the social network on an overall basis (600). In one illustrative implementation, the popularity tracking may be performed by assigning a unique song ID (identification) to each piece of media content in the social network as well as assigning a unique ID for each member (i.e., a “source user ID”). These ID pairs can then be tracked so that as music is played from a profile page, from a message inbox when a song is sent via the messaging system, from a playlist, etc., the reputation system can properly award the correct credit to a member for the tastemaker badge as content is played in the network.
In addition, the system tracks content that is played on a per-member basis (605). The tracking can extend to both the PC 312 and player 110, for example. Content that is recommended by the member through various recommendation channels including messaging, playlists and the like, is also tracked (610). The popularity difference for each piece of content is calculated, as described above, over some time period (615) which may be a running time period (i.e., the last week, last month, etc.) or fixed period (e.g., week 1, week 2, January, February, etc.) on a per-member basis.
The calculated popularity differences are then compared against one or more thresholds, such as those shown in table 505 in
Some of the primary functions of the digital media processing system 702 may include receiving media content files downloaded to the player 110, coordinating storage of such media content files, recalling specific media content files on demand, and rendering the media content files into audio/visual output on the display for the user 105. Additional features of the digital media processing system 702 may also include searching external resources for media content files, coordinating DRM protocols for protected media content, and interfacing directly with other recording and playback systems.
As noted above the digital media processing system 702 further comprises three subsystems: the video rendering subsystem 735 which handles all functionality related to video-based media content files, which may include files in MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) and other formats; the audio rendering subsystem 738 which handles all functionality related to audio-based media content including, for example, music in the commonly-utilized MP3 format and other formats; and the image rendering subsystem 730 which handles all functionality related to picture-based media content, including for example JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group), GIF (Graphic Interchange Format), and other formats. While each subsystem is shown as being logically separated, each may in fact share hardware and software components with each other and with the rest of the personal media player 110, as may be necessary to meet the requirements of a particular implementation.
Functionally coupled to the digital media processing system 702 is the user interface system 708 through which the user 105 may exercise control over the operation of the personal media player 110. A display unit system 713 is also functionally coupled to the digital media processing system 702 and may comprise the display screen 218 (FIG 2). Audio output through the audio jack 202 (
The data port system 724 is also functionally coupled to the digital media processing system 702 and provides a mechanism by which the personal media player 110 can interface with external systems in order to download media content. The data port system 724 may comprise, for example, a data synchronization connector port, a network connection (which may be wired or wireless), or other means of connectivity.
The personal media player 110 has a power source system 728 that provides power to the entire device. The power source system 728 in this example is coupled directly to the digital media processing system 702 and indirectly to the other systems and subsystems throughout the player. The power source system 728 may also be directly coupled to any other system or subsystem of the personal media player 110. Typically, the power source may comprise a battery, a power converter/transformer, or any other conventional type of electricity-providing power source.
The physical components include a central processor 802 coupled to a memory controller/chipset 806 through, for example, a multi-pin connection 812. The memory controller/chipset 806 may be, in turn, coupled to random access memory (“RAM”) 815 and/or non-volatile memory 818 such as solid-state or Flash memory. These physical components, through connectivity with the memory controller/chipset 806, may be collectively coupled to a hard disk drive 821 (or other solid-state memory) via a controller 825, as well as to the rest of the functional component systems via a system bus 830.
In the power supply system 728, a rechargeable battery 832 may be used to provide power to the components using one or more connections (not shown). The battery 832, in turn, may also be coupled to an external AC power adapter 833 or receive power via the sync cable 321 when it is coupled to the PC 312 (
The display screen 218 is associated with a video graphics controller 834. The video graphics controller will typically use a mix of software, firmware, and/or hardware, as is known in the art, to implement the GUI on the display screen 218. Along with the audio jack 202 and its associated audio controller/codec 839, these components comprise the display unit system 713 and may be directly or indirectly connected to the other physical components via the system bus 830.
The user controls 223 are associated with a user control interface 842 in the user interface system 708 that implements the user control functionality that is used to support the interaction with the GUI as described above. A network port 845 and associated network interface 848, along with the sync port 852 and its associated controller 853 may constitute the physical components of the data port system 724. These components may also directly or indirectly connect to the other components via the system bus 830.
Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.
Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.
