Patent Application
20140214504
The present application relates generally to virtual meeting lobbies for waiting for online events.
Despite wide ranging network applications, a need exists to bring people together online to share in a common experience such as movie going that closely mimics attending movies in person with a group of friends, including providing a virtual lobby that gives service providers the opportunity to advertise their products just as at the theater.
Accordingly, a device includes a computer processor, a display controlled by the processor, and a computer readable storage medium accessible to the processor and bearing instructions which when executed by the processor to cause the processor to present on the display a first user interface (UI) presenting a selector element which when selected provides an option to host, at a later time, an audio video event online. The processor presents on the display date and time entry elements enabling a user to select a date and time the event is desired to start, and also presents on the display an invitee entry element enabling a user to enter invitees to the event. The processor sends to the invitees event information along with an invitation to access the event online at the date and time date. Also, the processor configures the device to access a lobby page on a computer network that is also accessible to accepting invitees. The lobby page includes images of accepting invitees who also are viewing the lobby page, an image representing the event, an indication of a countdown to the time the event is desired to start, and a chat window facilitating computer chat among viewers of the lobby page.
In some examples the event is an online movie and the invitee entry element enables a user to select invitees from a social networking computer site.
If desired, the processor can receive acceptances of the invitations and present indications thereof on the host device. The first UI may present a price box informing a user of a cost of the movie. The cost can be a per participant cost and the first UI can indicate that the per participant is reduced with larger numbers of participants.
In example implementations the processor configures the device to access a theater page on a computer network also accessible to accepting invitees. The theater page shows thumbnails of events other than the selected event, some of which may be accompanied by an indication of a future event time for an event associated with the thumbnail indicating that an online event has also been scheduled for the event associated with the thumbnail. The theater page may further include advertisements targeted to an invitee to the audio video event online at least in part using information related to the invitee. The information related to the invitee can be obtained from a social networking site.
In another aspect, a device includes a computer processor, a display controlled by the processor, and a computer readable storage medium accessible to the processor and bearing instructions which when executed by the processor to cause the processor to, responsive to receiving an invitation from a host device to attend an online event, present on the display a first user interface (UI). The first UI includes an image related to the online event along with an image or icon or other symbol associated with a user host of the host device and a message that the host has invited a user associated with the device having a display associated with the processor to join the online event. The first UI can also include a scheduled time of the event, a list of people who have already accepted to join the event, and an “accept” selector element selectable to cause a message to be sent indicating acceptance of the invitation.
In another aspect, a method includes using a host computing device for selecting a movie, a show time, and one or more invitees. Responsive to selecting one or more invitees, an invitation is sent one or more respective guest devices associated with the respective one or more invitees to join in viewing the movie at the show time. Responsive to an invitee returning an acceptance of an invitation to join in viewing the movie, information indicating that the invitee has accepted to join is presented on the host device. Before the show time, the host device is configured to access a lobby page hosted on a network, and the lobby page includes information related to the movie. At the show time, the movie is streamed to accepting invitees.
The details of the present invention, both as to its structure and operation, can best be understood in reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts, and in which:
Referring initially to
Note that the host device 12 may be implemented by other computing devices, including, without limitation, a PC, laptop, or notebook computer, a slate computer, a TV, a home entertainment controller, a game console, a personal digital assistant, etc. The same is true of the below-described guest devices.
A guest device 26 which may be implemented by a tablet or laptop or notebook computer may include a processor 28 accessing a disk-based or solid state computer readable storage medium 30 to execute logic for controlling a video display 32 to output data, typically in the form of images and user interfaces, thereon. One or more audio speakers 33 can also be provided. The processor 28 may communicate general data with other devices in the system 10 through one or more transceivers 34 (only one transceiver shown for clarity), which may be a wireless transceiver such as but not limited to WiFi transceiver, Bluetooth transceiver, and the like. The processor 28 may receive user input from one or more user input devices 36 such as keyboards, keypads, mice, trackballs, other point-and-click devices, voice recognition software operating on audio captured by a microphone (not shown), touch capability of the display 32, and so on. The system 10 may include “N” guest devices as shown, wherein “N” is an integer.
A content server 36 that sources online movies or other online content may include one or more processors 38 accessing one or more storage devices 40 to supply, through one or more computer transceivers 42, content to the devices 12, 26 through the Internet 44.
The UI 54 of
On the other hand, the user may select an option 62 to host, at a later date, a movie night online according to principles explicated further below. Alongside the “host movie night” option 62, a price box 64 may be presented informing the user of the cost of the movie. In one example, the cost presented in the box 64 is the cost per accepting participant. In another embodiment the cost may be a total group cost. In some embodiments the cost may indicate a cost “or less” with explanation 66 being provided that the cost per participant is reduced with larger numbers of participants. For instance, the cost per participant may be a first cost for five or less participants, a second cost per participant for five to ten participants, and yet a third cost for more than ten participants, with the first cost being higher than the second cost which is higher than the third cost. In general, the explanation 66 advises that each participant pays less the more participants there are.
In the standalone mode, selection of the “host movie night” option 62 causes the UI 68 of
The UI 76 of
To elect to join the online movie night event, the user may select an “accept” selector element 90. This causes a message to be sent to the host device 12 in standalone mode and/or the content server 36 in third party server mode, which compiles a list of invitees who have agreed to participate. Periodically, the host device or server may send a reminder to the accepting guest devices or the accepting guest devices may self-generate reminders of the upcoming movie night start time, e.g., four, two, and one half hour before the event.
As described further below, the host device 12 and/or server 36 can construct a movie night site on the basis of the selected movie and the accepting invitees. For example, using demographics of the invitees that may be gleaned from the social networking site from which they were selected (when such is used to select them), targeted advertisements, e-coupons, and the like may be constructed or fetched from a storage correlating specific advertisements, etc. to demographics groups. Accepting invitees may also indicate proclivities and preferences on the social networking site, and in addition to or in lieu of demographics, these proclivities and preferences can be correlated to specific products and services and advertisements therefor. A recommendation engine may also generate a list of recommended movies based on the selected movie according to content recommendation principles known in the art, e.g., people who liked movie 3 are likely to want to see movies A, B, and C.
With the above in mind, a theater site showing clips of recommended movies and/or thumbnails of recommended movies may be compiled and the address of the site (such as a hyperlink to the site) provided to the host device 12 for dissemination thereof to the guest devices of accepting invitees, or provided to the guest devices of accepting invitees directly. Such a site is shown in
Accordingly and turning now to
A “go to lobby” selector element 98 may also be provided in the theater page 92 which when selected causes the lobby page 100 of
Block 122 indicates that accepting guests, a few minutes or a few hours before the scheduled screen time, can enter the lobby page 100 of
The movie starts at the scheduled start time at block 124 by, e.g., sending a video stream from a movie provider to each guest device and to the host device 12 (pending payment when appropriate). When the movie starts the chat window 110 of
After the post selector is manipulated in
Thus, present principles are directed to online meeting places for events such as watching, as a distributed group, an online movie/online film festival, using a standalone application or integrated with a movie selection site such as Crackle. Reduced viewing fees may be provided for larger groups, and e-vendors can use the online meeting places to solicit food, online refreshments, etc. Advertising may also be provided and may be targeted to the participants, who typically are known. E-coupons, door prizes, and other inducements may be presented. Other events to which the meeting places can pertain include virtual weddings, graduation ceremonies and the like.
While the particular VIRTUAL MEETING LOBBY FOR WAITING FOR ONLINE EVENT is herein shown and described in detail, it is to be understood that the subject matter which is encompassed by the present invention is limited only by the claims.
