Patent Application
20100175031
As digital media has grown in popularity, the quantity of available digital media content has become substantially large. So much so, that it has become increasingly challenging for users to find new content of interest. In some cases, users may turn to social networks to find digital media. For example, a user may discover new music from the collections or recommendations of their friends through listings on social networking websites. Subsequently, the user may have to navigate to a separate music website or use another application to listen to and/or purchase a recommended selection. At present, there exists no such mechanism for discovering information related to digital media content in view of social networking relationships that is presented in a visual and intuitive manner.
Accordingly, various embodiments related to facilitating the discovery of media content are disclosed. For example, one disclosed embodiment provides a computing device configured to perform a method displaying information related to media items in a graphical user interface. The method includes displaying one or more available media items in a view of the graphical user interface, and displaying a control operable to display an exploratory overlay related to a media item. The method further includes receiving via the graphical user interface a user selection of the control for a selected media item, and in response, displaying the exploratory overlay, the exploratory overlay comprising a visual representation of the selected media item and visual representations of a plurality of related media items that are related to the selected media item. The method further comprises transforming a display state of the exploratory overlay based on a user interaction with the exploratory overlay
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 to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure.
Media item interaction application 108 may be configured to generate a graphical user interface (GUI) 110 that may be presented by display device 102. A user may interact with GUI 110 to discover information related to various media items displayed in GUI 110. More particularly, a user may provide user input via GUI 110 that transforms the display state of GUI 110 to reveal information related to various media items. In particular, media item interaction application 108 may be configured to display, in GUI 110, representations of one or more available media items, wherein the term “available” indicates that the represented media items are accessible by the user. In some embodiments, a plurality of media items may be organized according to various media item types. In one example, the plurality of media items are associated with music and organized into a catalogue of different types of media items that include musical artists, musical albums, and users of an online entertainment service. Other non-limiting examples of media item types may include music videos, television shows, episodes, channels, networks, video games, movies, actors, directors, etc. Graphical user interface 110 may be configured to enable a user to make a selection of a selected media item from a plurality of available media items that invokes a detailed view 112 of the selected media item to be displayed in GUI 110. Detailed view 112 may comprise information related to the selected media item.
Media item interaction application 108 may be configured to display, in GUI 110, a control operable by a user to display an exploratory overlay 114 over detailed view 112 (among other views displayed in the GUI) for a selected media item. Exploratory overlay 114, in one example embodiment, may comprise a centrally located visual representation of the selected media item as well as peripherally located visual representations of media items related to the selected media item. The display state of exploratory overlay 114 may be transformed by user interaction via GUI 110. Transformation of the display state of the exploratory overlay will be discussed in further detail below with reference to
The visual representations of the media items displayed in exploratory overlay 114 may comprise any suitable depiction. For example, the visual representations may be image tiles. Revisiting the music example discussed above, the visual representations may include images of musical artists, album cover art, and user created images. Further, the media items may be related through different relationship types. Example relationship types may include a related album, a related artist, an influencer, influenced by, friend of, top listener, friend listener, recently played, top played, favorite artist, and favorite album.
Media items that are related to the selected media item may be chosen to populate exploratory overlay 114 in any suitable manner. In one example, a list of related media items may be created that ranks the related media items based on a relationship strength algorithm between the selected media item and the related media item. A plurality of related media items may be selected from the list to populate exploratory overlay 114 based on various selection criteria. For example, the highest ranked media items may be selected. As another example, the highest ranked media items of each media item type may be selected. As yet another example, the highest ranked media items of different relationship types may be selected. As still yet another example, the related media items may be selected randomly from the list. In some cases, media items that have a relationship strength above a threshold relationship strength may be selected. It will be appreciated that media items may be chosen for display in exploratory overlay 114 based on criteria other than relationship strength. In some cases, media items in the list may be excluded from selection to be displayed in exploratory overlay 114. For example, different versions of a media item may be excluded from selection. In one particular example, karaoke versions of a musical album are excluded from selection.
Continuing with
Like first-party catalogue database 118, third-party catalogue database 130 may comprise third-party media items 132 that may be presented via GUI 110 to facilitate discovery of and interaction with various media items. However, third-party catalogue database 130 is not associated with media item interaction application 108. Thus, in some cases, for any variety of reasons (e.g., no license, does not meet standards, etc.), third-party media items 132 do not comprise playable media content. As such, third-party media items 132 may be provided to supplement media item information (e.g., artist information, album information, etc.) presented to a user to facilitate discovery of various media items.
It will be appreciated that a media item may exist in both first-party catalogue database 118 and the third-party catalogue database 130. In some embodiments, first-party catalogue database 118 and/or the third-party catalogue database 130 may be stored locally in local data storage 106, while in other embodiments, first-party catalogue database 118 and/or third-party catalogue database 130 may be stored remotely, such as across a network.
Media item interaction application 108 may receive media items and associated information for use in detailed view 112 and exploratory overlay 114 from first-party catalogue database 118 and third-party catalogue database 130. For example, the associated information may be used to create a list of media items that are related to a media item selected for display in exploratory overlay 114. The list may include media items in first-party catalogue database 118 and media items in third-party media item catalogue database 130. The media items may be ranked according to a relationship strength with the selected media item. Further, a plurality of media items may be selected to populate exploratory overlay 114 based on their relationship strength with the selected media item. In some embodiments, media items provided from first-party database 118 may be weighted to have a higher relationship strength than media items provided from the third-party catalogue database 130 so that content from the associated catalogue may be featured over third-party content.
At 206, the method may comprise displaying a detailed view of the selected media item in the graphical user interface. The detailed view may comprise a control operable by a user to display an exploratory overlay over the detailed view of the selected media item. In some embodiments, the control may be displayed in views other than the detailed view of the selected media item and may be operable to display the exploratory overlay. For example, the control may be displayed in a collection or gallery view, a marketplace view, a social view, and/or a now playing view of the graphical user interface. At 208, the method may comprise receiving via the graphical user interface a user selection of the control.
At 210, the method may comprise, in response to receiving the user selection of the control, displaying an exploratory overlay over the detailed view of the selected media item. The exploratory overlay may comprise a centrally located visual representation of the selected media item and peripherally located visual representations of a plurality of related media items related to the selected media item. One or more of the related media items may be of a different media item type than the selected media item. For example, where a musical artist is selected for presentation in the exploratory overlay, a visual representation of the selected musical artist may be positioned centrally in the exploratory overlay and visual representations of related artists, albums, and/or user may be presented peripherally around the visual representation of the selected media artist in the exploratory overlay.
In some embodiments, the exploratory overlay may be displayed in response to the selection of the selected media item from the one or more available media items (represented by the dashed line from 204 to 210). In this case, the detailed view of the selected media item may not displayed in some cases, and instead the exploratory overlay may be displayed over the view of the one or more available media items. Further, in some embodiments, the exploratory overlay may be displayed in response to a user selection to play a track (e.g., song) associated with a specified media item. Further, such a selection may cause a different view to be displayed (e.g. a now playing view) and the exploratory overlay may be displayed over that different view. In these embodiments, the control comprises each selectable media item in the one or more available media items.
At 212, the method may comprise transforming a display state of the exploratory overlay based on a user interaction with the exploratory overlay. A user may interact with the exploratory overlay in a variety of ways to effect different transformations. For example, as indicated at 214, the method may comprise receiving via the graphical user interface a user selection of a selected related media item from the plurality of related media items for discovery. At 216, the method may comprise, in response to receiving the user selection of the selected related media item, transforming a display state of the exploratory overlay by moving the visual representation of the selected related media item to a central position of the exploratory overlay. At 218, the method may include displaying peripherally located visual representations of another plurality of media items that are related to the selected related media item. At 220, the method may include, in response to moving the visual representation of the selected related media item to the central position, displaying a thumbnail of the selected media item in a “history” portion of the user interfaced so that the user can quickly view and locate previously discovered media items. Additional examples of user interaction and associated transformations of the exploratory overlay will be discussed in further detail below with reference to
The above described method may be performed to bring together correlated media items across different types of relationships into a single view to facilitate user interaction that promotes discovery of different related media items. Moreover, by using visual representations of media item arranged in a contextual overlay, the relationships between media items may be easily realized through visualization.
It will be appreciated that part or all of the above described method may be implemented as instructions stored in data storage 106 and executed by processor 104 of
One or more of the plurality of related media items that correspond to visual representations 402 may be of a media item type different than the media item type of the selected media item. For example, visual representations of the plurality of related media items 402 may correspond to artists, albums, and/or users having some type of relationship with the selected artist. Furthermore, since an artist type media item is featured, relationship types of media items that are related to the artist may include related albums, related artists, followers of artist, influencers of artist, other albums by artist, friend listeners, and top listeners.
As discussed above, the plurality of related media items may be selected to populate exploratory overlay 114 according to a variety of different methods. In one example related media items are selected based on relationship strength with the selected media item. The relative size and position of visual representations of the plurality of related media items 402 are based on relationship strength. For example, a round robin approach may be used to populate the exploratory overlay where a media item having the highest relationship from each media item type or relationship type may be selected and the relative size of the visual representation may correspond to the order of selection (e.g., first media item selected is largest, second media item selected is second largest, and so on).
User interaction via GUI 110 may transform the display state of exploratory overlay 114. In one example, a user interacts with exploratory overlay 114 via user input cursor 404. In the illustrated embodiment, user input cursor 404 may roll over a visual representation of a selected related media item (i.e., related album 1) 406 to transform the display state of the visual representation of the selected related media item. In particular, when user input cursor 404 rolls over the visual representation of the selected related media item 406, the visual representation may become animated to temporarily grow in size as indicated by solid lines (the originally sized and positioned visual representation is indicated by dashed lines). Animating the growth may highlight the visual representation to draw the user's attention to the selected related media item to promote further discovery. Furthermore, when user input cursor 404 rolls over the visual representation of the selected related media item 406, a dialogue box 408 may be displayed. Dialogue box 408 may comprise a name of the selected related media item and a relationship type with the selected media item.
Exploratory overlay 114 may be transparent so that detailed view 112 is at least partially visible through the exploratory overlay. The ability for a user to view detailed view 112 while interacting with exploratory overlay 114 may allow a user to be visually reminded of the originally selected media item while discovering other media items. Furthermore, exploratory overlay 114 may comprise a back selector 410 that may be configured to transform a display state of GUI 110 to a previous display state. In the illustrated embodiment, selection of back selector 410 would cause detailed view 112 to be displayed by GUI 110. Back selector 410 may permit a user to retrace their steps to view previously selected media items during discovery of other media items.
Each visual representation of the plurality of media items 600 may be animated to temporarily grow in appearance in response to appearing in exploratory overlay 114 of GUI 110. Moreover, during animation, each visual representation may be temporarily displayed in front of the selected related media item. For example, the media items, related artist 4 and related album 2, have a relationship with related album 1 and have been selected to populate exploratory overlay 114. As shown, the visual representations of related artist 4 and related album 2 have just appeared in exploratory overlay 114, and thus are animated to temporarily grow in size as indicated by the solid lines. The actual size of the visual representations is indicated by the dashed lines. The visual representations are animated to grow in size upon appearing in exploratory overlay 114 to divert the user's attention to the related media items. As such, the related media items may be highlighted to promote discovery by a user.
The display state of exploratory overlay 114 may be transformed further upon the visual representation of the selected related media item 406 moving to the center position by a media item tracking thumbnail 602 being displayed in exploratory overlay 114. Media item tracking thumbnail 602 may be positioned peripherally in exploratory overlay 114 so as to not draw too much attention from other media items. Media item tracking thumbnail 602 may be displayed to act as a visual reminder of a previously selected media item, and thereby to display a history of previously-discovered items. In the illustrated case, media tracking thumbnail 602 provides a visual reminder of selected media item 400. Media item tracking thumbnail 602 may be selected to return to the previous display state where that media item is featured with associated related media items. As related media items are selected for discovery and the display state of exploratory overlay 114 is repeatedly transformed, additional media item tracking thumbnails may be displayed in the order of media items selected. Accordingly, a list of previously discovered media items may be tracked so that a user may easily revisit them as desired.
Furthermore, a media item tracking thumbnail 904 of the selected related media item (e.g., related album 1) is displayed in response to the visual representation of user type media item 900 moving to the center position. Media item tracking thumbnail 904 may act as a visual reminder of the previously selected media item. Media item tracking thumbnail 904 may be selected to display the previously selected related media item 406 and related media items 600.
In some embodiments, the visual layout of the exploratory overlay may differ from the layout that includes the centrally positioned visual representation of the selected media item and the peripherally positioned visual representations of the media items related to the selected media item. Instead, for example, a tree type visual layout may be employed where the selected media item is the root from which related items branch off according to media item type and relationship type.
It will be appreciated that each time a media item is selected or refreshed other than from selection of a media item tracking thumbnail or the back selector, the exploratory overlay may be repopulated with a different set of related media items to further promote discovery of different media items. The repopulation may be performed randomly. Consequently, the different set of related media items may include previously displayed related media items.
In some embodiments, the display state of exploratory overlay may be transformed automatically without user interaction based on different trigger events. For example, the display state of the exploratory overlay may be transformed after a predefined duration. In one particular example, the display state of the exploratory overlay is transformed after thirty seconds have elapsed without user interaction with the exploratory overlay. In one embodiment, the transformation of the display state may include updating one of the visual representations of the related media items with a new related media item selected at random. The display state continues to be transformed by displaying a visual representation of a randomly selected related media item after every twenty second duration without user interaction.
As another example, the display state of the exploratory overlay is transformed in response to different tracks being played. Accordingly, when one track ends and/or is switched to another track, the display state transforms to display a visual representation associated with the currently playing track in the central position of the exploratory. In other words, the display state of the exploratory overlay transforms to keep up with the track that is currently playing. In some cases, the display state may be selectively transformed based on whether or not a user is interaction with the exploratory overlay.
It will be appreciated that the computing devices described herein may be any suitable computing device configured to execute the programs described herein. For example, the computing devices may be a mainframe computer, personal computer, laptop computer, portable data assistant (PDA), gaming console, computer-enabled wireless telephone, networked computing device, or other suitable computing device, and may be connected to each other via computer networks, such as the Internet. These computing devices typically comprise a processor and associated volatile and non-volatile memory, and are configured to execute programs stored in non-volatile memory using portions of volatile memory and the processor. As used herein, the term “program” refers to software or firmware components that may be executed by, or utilized by, one or more computing devices described herein, and is meant to encompass individual or groups of executable files, data files, libraries, drivers, scripts, database records, etc. It will be appreciated that computer-readable media may be provided having program instructions stored thereon, which upon execution by a computing device, cause the computing device to execute the methods described above and cause operation of the systems described above.
Furthermore, in some embodiments, the above described software programs may be implemented on a server computing system that serves data to requesting client computing devices. For example, the media item interaction application may be implemented as a “web application” accessible at a website via the Internet.
It should be understood that the embodiments herein are illustrative and not restrictive, since the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims rather than by the description preceding them, and all changes that fall within metes and bounds of the claims, or equivalence of such metes and bounds thereof are therefore intended to be embraced by the claims.
