US20190391787A1 - Media Sharing Community - Google Patents
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- US20190391787A1 US20190391787A1 US16/558,861 US201916558861A US2019391787A1 US 20190391787 A1 US20190391787 A1 US 20190391787A1 US 201916558861 A US201916558861 A US 201916558861A US 2019391787 A1 US2019391787 A1 US 2019391787A1
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- H04B1/38—Transceivers, i.e. devices in which transmitter and receiver form a structural unit and in which at least one part is used for functions of transmitting and receiving
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- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
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- Information Transfer Between Computers (AREA)
- Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)
Abstract
The present invention enables a user to share his/her listening experience selectively with others without sharing headphones and without disturbing others who do not want to listen. In a preferred embodiment, a first listener can accomplish this by storing in a Portable Electronic Device or similar device a library of listening experiences, listening to one of the listening experiences, and while listening to that one listening experience streaming the one listening experience to at least one other Portable Electronic Device or similar device. A second listener at the other Portable Electronic Device can then listen to the same listening experience as the first listener at the same time. It is expected that the listening experiences will typically be songs or other music but the invention may be practiced with any type of audio content. The first listener may also create a playlist of the listening experiences in the library and make the playlist available to others. Others may use the playlist to access the library and listen to one or more listening experiences stored in the library. Also, utilizing the same interface and communication methodologies as described above, the technology platform detailed in this application can be used for commercial purposes to stream location based content, audio and otherwise, to a connected network of Portable Electronic Devices. Commercial uses of this functionality include providing commercial establishments with the ability to create synchronous (users come into a stream at the exact point that it is being streamed in real time) and or asynchronous (users can select and start a transmission from the beginning) featured channels (location based) where they can stream any self created or otherwise authorized content to other Portable Electronic Devices in their range.
Description
- This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 13/135, 687, filed Jul. 13, 2011, which application claims the benefit of provisional application Ser. No. 61/364,375, filed Jul. 14, 2010, provisional application Ser. No. 61/450,863, filed Mar. 9, 2011, and provisional application Ser. No. 61/516,287, filed Mar. 31, 2011, each of which applications is incorporated herein in its entirety,
- A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
- Submitted herewith are two identical copies (Copy 1 and Copy 2) of a compact disc (Disc 1) containing computer program listings that are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety in the present application. Identification of the files on Disc 1, their sizes and their dates of last modification are set forth in Exhibit 1 of the Transmittal Letter that accompanies Disc 1.
- This relates to media sharing communities and to methods, apparatus and software for supporting such communities. The invention is described in detail in the context of communities for sharing audio information such as music using Portable Electronic Devices and the like; but the invention may also be practiced to share other information and/or using other modalities. The sharing of location based audio streams and or other digital files can be used for both personal and commercial purposes using the described methods, apparatus and software networks for supporting such functionalities.
- Portable Electronic Devices such as the iPhone and the Android and other consumer electronic products such as iPod touches and iPads are widely used to listen to music that is stored in the listener's Portable Electronic Device or other product and/or as it is streamed from a source such as the iTunes store. We will refer to these and all other devices capable of supporting our functionality as Portable Electronic Devices. Often, the listener uses a set of headphones to listen to the music. If the listener desires to share his/her listening experience, choices are limited. The use of speakers probably is not feasible because the headphones are likely being used because the listener is in a public place where others do not want to listen to the music. And sharing the headphones at best creates an awkward situation in which two listeners are tethered together by the signal leads to the headphones.
- In one embodiment, the present invention enables a user to share his/her listening experience selectively with others without sharing headphones and without disturbing others who do not want to listen.
- In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a first listener can accomplish this by storing in a Portable Electronic Device a library of listening experiences, listening to one of the listening experiences, and while listening to that one listening experience streaming said listening experience to at least one other Portable Electronic Device. A second listener at the other Portable Electronic Device can then listen to the same listening experience as the first listener at the same time. It is expected that the listening experiences will typically be songs or other music but the invention may be practiced with any type of audio content.
- Numerous variations may be practiced in the preferred embodiment. For example, the first listener may create a playlist of the listening experiences in the library and make the playlist available to others. Others may use the playlist to access the library and listen to one or more listening experiences stored in the library and identified by the playlist.
- Utilizing the same interface and communication methodologies as described herein, the technology platform can be used for commercial purposes to stream location based content, audio and otherwise, to a connected network of Portable Electronic Devices. Commercial uses of this functionality include providing commercial establishments with the ability to create a featured channel (location based) where they can stream any self created or otherwise authorized content to other Portable Electronic Devices in their range.
- Commercial applications of said invention fall into two core categories: situations where users want to be able to start a transmission from the intended beginning of the file and situations where a user would like to come into a transmission at the exact point where the live transmission is being streamed in real time. Examples of the former include using the technology platform in a museum where a user would like to hear the audio description of an exhibit from the beginning, or going on a walking tour of a city and hearing a description of the landmark that they are near. Those functionalities utilize our asynchronous streaming technology described in greater detail below. Examples of the later include hearing the live audio feed of a TV station at a fitness club directly on a user's Portable Electronic Device, hearing the live (real time) audio of a Broadway play or movie (location based) in real time, hearing a featured audio channel at a department store or local coffee shop, or hearing the live (real time) audio of a lecture.
- These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of the following detailed description in which:
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FIG. 1 depicts a typical Portable Electronic Device that can be used in the practice of the invention; -
FIG. 2 is a block diagram depicting several components of a Portable Electronic Device that may be used in the practice of the invention; -
FIG. 3 depicts a user interface for use in practicing the invention; -
FIG. 4 is a flowchart depicting an embodiment of the invention; -
FIGS. 5A-5O depict illustrative user interfaces in the practice of an illustrative embodiment of the invention; and - Throughout
FIGS. 3, 4 and 5A-5O , the same numbers are used to represent the same or similar components. -
FIG. 1 depicts the front side of a typical PortableElectronic Device 100 that may be used in the practice of the invention. The Portable Electronic Device includes a touch sensitive display screen (or “touch screen”) 110 mounted in acase 150. In the edge of the case at one end are afirst microphone 160, aheadphone jack 165 and an on/off switch 170. In the edge of the case at the opposite end are asecond microphone 180 and a speaker 185. Keystrokes may be input to the Portable Electronic Device through a keyboard displayed on the touch screen and messages may be displayed on the touch screen. - Various software applications (or Apps) come pre-loaded in some Portable Electronic Devices and additional Apps may be downloaded to the Portable Electronic Device from a variety of sources. In the case of Portable Electronic Devices sold by Apple, Inc such as the iPhone and other products such as iPod Touches and iPads, Apps may be obtained from Apple's iTunes Store. In one or more modes of operation, icons representing the Apps that are loaded in the Portable Electronic Device can be displayed on
touch screen 110; and the software application can be activated by touching the appropriate icon. For purposes of illustration,FIG. 1 depicts anicon 120 that is used to obtain local weather information and anicon 130 labeled “MyStream” that is used to activate the software of the present invention. As will be appreciated,icon 130 is only illustrative of one way to activate the software. Other ways such as keyboard entries may also be used; and other designs and labeling may be used on the icon. - As is well known, Portable Electronic Devices have a wide range of capabilities. Some of these capabilities are depicted in the block diagram of
FIG. 2 . Withincase 150 are one ormore computer processors 210, amemory 220, a memory controller, 230 and aperipherals interface 240 which are interconnected by acommunications bus 250. The peripherals interface connects to several components including radio frequency (RF)circuitry 260,audio circuitry 262, and an input/output (I/O) system 264 that includestouch screen 150.Memory 220 may include high speed random access memory and may also include flash memory and one or more magnetic disk drive storage devices. Memory 220 stores the operating system for the Portable Electronic Device, various modules to control certain of its operations, and various software applications that are either pre-loaded or installed by the Portable Electronic Device's user. Some of these are depicted inFIG. 2 . Of particular note,memory 220 includes an audio library. A more extensive listing of illustrative software is set forth in FIGS. 1A and 1B of U.S. Pat. No. 7,479,949, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. - Portable Electronic Devices have extensive communication capability using an antenna secured within the case. Of particular note, Portable Electronic Devices can connect to one or more wireless telephone networks. They may also connect to Bluetooth® transceivers using Bluetooth® technology; and they may also connect with other transceivers using Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) (e.g., 808.11 protocols such as IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, and/or IEEE 802.11n). Further information about typical Portable Electronic Device communication capabilities is found in the above-referenced U.S. Pat. No. 7,479,949. See, for example, FIGS. 1A and 1B and Col. 10, line 53 to Col. 11, line 20.
- As described above, in one embodiment, software for practicing the invention is made available as a software application (or App) and can be downloaded by a user to his/her Portable Electronic Device from a source such as the iTunes Store. In one embodiment, when such software is installed in the user's Portable Electronic Device an icon representing that software such as
icon 130 is made available for display ontouch screen 110 along with icons representing other Apps stored in the same Portable Electronic Device. A user may activate the software of the present invention by touchingicon 130. Upon doing so, adisplay 310 such as that depicted inFIG. 5G appears ontouch screen 110. -
FIG. 3 depicts the general format of an illustrative embodiment of the user interface used in the practice of the invention. Specific instances of the user interface are depicted inFIGS. 5A-5O . The interface includes anupper margin 310, anintermediate space 330 and alower margin 350.Intermediate space 330 is used for the display of graphic information, text and messages as well as certain soft keys as described more fully below. Illustratively, immediately above the upper margin is adisplay line 380 that indicates the name of the wireless service provider and the time. The upper margin includes at 315 the name of the App, which illustratively is myStream, and one or moresoft keys intermediate space 330.Lower margin 350 contains foursoftkeys FIGS. 5H and 5I below;Streamers key 365 is used to provide a listing of users of the MyStream App within the network as illustrated inFIGS. 5I-5K below; MyPlaylist key 370 displays the MyPlaylist screen such as that illustrated inFIG. 5F below; and the MyProfile key 375 displays user settings such as those illustrated inFIGS. 5N and 5O below. -
FIG. 4 is a flowchart depicting the overall operation of an illustrative embodiment of the invention. Illustratively, the software is made available for purchase and download from a source such as the iTunes Store as described above. Upon downloading the software, the user is invited by a screen displayed on thetouch screen 110 to begin the process as atstep 420 of creating a playlist of listening experiences stored in his/her audio library in his/her Portable Electronic Device. At this point, the user is likely to complete a profile atstep 430 that sets options on access to the listening experiences identified in MyPlaylist as well as methods of communication such as Bluetooth® and availability of streaming. If the user approves of access to his/her listening experiences, MyPlaylist is made available atstep 440 to everyone connected to the same communication network. - When a user wants to listen to one of the listening experiences identified in a MyPlaylist he/she created, he/she selects that experience from the list as at
step 450. Atstep 460, the selected listening experience is read from memory in the Portable Electronic Device in the form of electromagnetic signals and these signals are converted by the audio circuitry of the Portable Electronic Device to audio signals that are supplied to the user through the speaker of the Portable Electronic Device or through headphones connected to the headphone jack of the Portable Electronic Device. The electromagnetic signals are also transmitted to others from an appropriate Portable Electronic Device transmitter if the user had indicated a willingness to share his/her listening experience in the profile completed atstep 430. Accordingly, in this case, anyone connected to the same communication network can listen to the same listening experience atstep 470 by touching theStreamers Tab 365 on his/her Portable Electronic Device and then selecting the streamer who is playing that listening experience. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the listening experiences are synchronized by providing the same electromagnetic signal to all listeners at the same time so that everyone is listening to the same experience at substantially the same point in time. As a result, a listener will ordinarily not hear the entire listening experience when he/she first begins listening because he/she will probably access the listening experience mid-file. He/she will only hear that portion of the listening experience that remains to be streamed at the time the listener selects that listening experience. However, after the initial connection is made, it is likely that users will be able to hear entire streamed listening experiences from the beginning since they have already made the connection to the other listener's device and subsequent streamed experiences will not have to start mid transmission. - In a preferred embodiment, each listener to a streaming listening experience is offered an opportunity at
step 475 to purchase a copy of the listening experience from the iTunes store or some other source. Advantageously, a listener can initiate such a purchase by touching a “BUY” soft key on the listener's Portable Electronic Device. - Alternatively, at
step 480, someone may select from MyPlaylist a different listening experience from that being listened to by the first user. In that case, the different listening experience is provided atstep 490 ordinarily starting with the beginning of the experience. In some instances, it may be desirable to limit the time duration of the listening experience that is provided to avoid copyright issues. In a preferred embodiment, each listener is offered an opportunity atstep 495 to purchase a copy of the listening experience from the iTunes store or some other source. Advantageously, a listener can initiate such a purchase by touching a “BUY” soft key on the listener's Portable Electronic Device. -
FIGS. 5A-5O are a set of screenshots that depict various stages in the operation of the MyStream App as it is applied to the illustrative example of managing and playing a collection of music. - At the time the MyStream App is obtained from a source such as the iTunes Store, the user has not had the opportunity to establish his/her playlist or profile. Accordingly, these are the first order of business. Upon touching the
MyStream icon 130 ontouch screen 110, the user is presented with the main screen depicted inFIGS. 5G and 5H . In thebottom margin 350 ofFIGS. 5G and 5H arc the MyStream, Streamers, MyPlaylist andMyProfile keys - Upon first touching the MyPlaylist
soft key 360, ascreen 510 such as that ofFIG. 5A is presented ontouchscreen 110.Screen 510 includes inupper margin 310soft keys lower margin 350 the MyStream, Streamers, MyPlaylist and My Profilesoft keys screen 515 such as that ofFIG. 5B is presented ontouchscreen 110. This screen provides a list of the various categories of listening experiences that are available in the audio library of the Portable Electronic Device.Screen 515 also providessoft keys - To determine what is m any of these categories, the user touches that category on
touch screen 110. If the number of entries in the audio library is relatively small, the user can select them all by touching Select All key 516. If the number of entries in the audio library is relatively large, some of the categories may be further sub-divided. For example, the Artists category may be sub-divided by the names of the individual artists. - As a result of this selection process, a
list 520 such as that ofFIG. 5C is ultimately displayed ontouch screen 110. This list includes the names 521 of individual songs, a checkmark 522 indicating the selected/not selected status of the songs, andsoft keys soft key 524 or the name of the individual song. Selected songs are indicated by a filled in checkmark 522. Songs may be deselected by touching the name or the checkmark of the song to be deselected. - When the selection process is complete, the user touches Save
soft key 526. At this point the selected songs are mapped into a MyStream MyPlaylist; and a list of those songs is generated. Alist 530 of selected songs such as that depicted inFIG. 5D is then displayed ontouch screen 110. Also presented withlist 530 aresoft keys soft keys soft key 532 and then touches the name of the song. To add a song, the user touches Add Mediasoft key 531. This returns the user to the screen ofFIG. 5C where the selection process can be resumed. To edit the list, the user touches Edit soft key 534. - Touching Edit softkey 534 presents the user with
screen 535 ofFIG. 5E which displays the names of the songs on MyPlaylist along with asymbol 536 andsoft keys soft key 537. The order of songs in the list can be changed by touchingsymbol 536 alongside the name of any song and dragging the symbol to any other spot on the list and then releasing it. When the user is satisfied with the order of the songs, he/she can then touch Donesoft key 539. - The display on
touch screen 110 then becomes a list of selected audio files showing artist name, song name, album name and length of song as depicted inFIG. 5F . The screen also includes the MyStream, Streamers, MyPlaylist, and MyProfilesoft keys 360. 365, 370, 375. This same screen is also presented to the user anytime the user touches theMyStream icon 130 after MyPlaylist has been created. -
FIGS. 5G and 5H depict the main screen. The main screen may be accessed from any screen that displays a MyStreamsoft key 360 by touching that key. The main screen may also be accessed by touchingicon 130 ontouch screen 110 before MyPlaylist is created. In the bottom margin ofFIGS. 5G and 5H are the MyStream, Streamers, MyPlaylist and MyProfilesoft keys soft keys Soft key 541 controls whether the contents of MyPlaylist are made asynchronously available to others so that a third party can select and listen to a listening experience identified on a user's MyPlaylist even though the user is not listening to it.Soft key 542 controls whether streaming is enabled so that a listening experience then being listened to be a user is also made available by streaming to others. As shown inFIG. 5G , MyPlaylist can be accessed asynchronously (key 541) and a listening experience can be shared with others by streaming (key 542). Touching either soft key toggles its state. Thus, touchingsoft key 542 disables streaming and changes the label on the key to that shown inFIG. 5H . Touchingsoft key 542 inFIG. 5H re-enables streaming and changes the label on the key back to the label inFIG. 5G .Soft key 541 operates the same way in enabling asynchronous access to MyPlaylist. Optionally, one or more advertisements 543 may also be displayed on the main screen. -
FIGS. 5I-5M depict operation of the streaming function. These screens provide a listing of everyone who is connected to the network regardless of whether they are currently streaming a listening experience to the network. If a song is being streamed, the song title, artist and album title are shown in the display area as is the case foriPhone 4 inFIG. 4I and as is the case for both streamers inFIG. 4J . Others connected to the network but not actively listening will only be identified. These listings may be accessed from any screen that displays Streamerssoft key 365 by touching that key. In thebottom margin 350 ofFIGS. 5I-5L are the MyStream, Streamers, MyPlaylist and MyProfilesoft keys intermediate portion 330.FIGS. 5I-5M also depict the user interface in which commercial content will be visible and featured.Element 554 depicts the button that allows a user to determine file selection, including starting a chosen file at the beginning of a request from a listening user. In its current depiction it is shown as a button labeled “Access My Playlist” which is supported by our asynchronous streaming technology. It can be utilized for commercial uses such as in a museum where a user would like to hear the audio description of an exhibit from the beginning, or for a walking tour of a city where a user would like to hear a description of a landmark that he/she is near.Element 550 depicts the button that allows a user to access the live (real time) transmission of commercial content. This commercial use is in addition to its functionality as a personal music sharing tool described below since both functionalities operate utilizing the same technological methodologies. Such commercial uses include hearing the live audio feed of a TV station at a fitness club directly on a user's Portable Electronic Device or a featured audio channel at that fitness club location, hearing the live (real time) audio of a Broadway play or movie (location based), or hearing the live (real time) audio of a lecture. The following description of the invention will only depict the technology platform in terms of its use as a personal, location based, audio (primarily music) streaming application, since its commercial uses (described above) follow the same logical flow (and utilize the same technological communication methodologies and user interface) as described below except instead of commercial content being listed simply as another user's “Playlist” or “Live Stream” it is listed as a featured stream (within the “Streamers” tab shown as element 365) with unique content available from its “Live Stream” or in its “Playlist” tab. - Touching the identification of a particular streamer as displayed in
FIG. 5I or 5J results in the display as depicted inFIG. 5K of the selected streamer's profile andsoft keys Soft keys FIG. 5L along with asoft key 554. for accessing his/her playlist. - If a new listener touches a
soft key 550 that provides a connection to a listening experience then being streamed, the new listener's Portable Electronic Device connects to the streaming signal; and the listening experience begins for the new listener at whatever point the streaming signal has reached. Once one listening experience has finished, the next listening experience on the streamer's playlist will start. At the same time, the touch screen will provide a graphic such as an album cover or the dust jacket of an audio book related to the listening experience. One such example is shown inFIG. 5M . Information such a time elapsed, length of the selection and play list count is also displayed. Start, stop, back and volume controls are also displayed assoft keys -
FIGS. 5N and 5O depict the MyProfile screens. In thebottom margin 350 ofFIGS. 5N and 5O are the MyStream, Streamers, MyPlaylist and MyProfilesoft keys intermediate portion 330 are ON/OFF soft keys 561, 562, 563 that allow the user to control access to his/her playlist, and to enable streaming and Bluetooth®. Each switch is a toggle. Touching a switch that bears the label ON will disable the function controlled by the switch and change the label on the switch to OFF; and touching a switch that bears the label OFF will enable the function controlled by that switch and change the label to ON. - Numerous variations may be practiced in the embodiments depicted above. For example, the invention may be practiced with any form of listening experience. While music selections are likely to be most popular, the listening experiences may include audio books, drama, lectures and other instructional material, commentary, descriptions of sports events, and most of the experiences that have attracted radio audiences for years. The invention also makes it possible to reach selected groups of people with distinctive listening content in circumstances where the distinctive contents might otherwise have “drowned” each other out. For example, different streams of music might be provided to different listeners at a gym or other public assembly. Different shopping information might be provided to different shoppers in a department store or mall. Different instructions might be given to different students assembled in a common meeting room. Numerous other examples will be evident in view of the foregoing.
- As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, numerous other variations may be practiced within the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Claims (19)
1. A method of operating a first network communication apparatus having a transmitter and a receiver comprising:
storing electronically in a memory in the first network communication apparatus a plurality of digital files;
generating from the memory a first signal representing first digital file of said plurality of digital files; and;
generating from memory a second signal representing the first digital file of said plurality of digital files;
generating from memory a third signal representing a second digital file of said plurality of digital files; and
simultaneously, at a first time, using in the first network communication apparatus data corresponding to the first signal, and, at substantially the same time, transmitting the second signal to a second network communication apparatus for use by the second network communication apparatus, and, at substantially the same time, transmitting a third signal to a third network communication apparatus for use by the third network communication apparatus.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the digital files comprises compressed data.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first signal is transmitted to the second network communication apparatus by streaming.
4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of generating a list of digital files stored in the memory and transmitting the list to the second network communication apparatus.
5. The method of claim 4 further comprising the step of receiving at the first network communication apparatus from a user of the second network communications apparatus a selection of one of the digital files on the list of digital files and in response to such selection transmitting to the second network communications apparatus a signal representing the selected digital file.
6. Three network communication devices capable of reading stored and streamed data, each network communication device including a transmitter and a receiver, and each network communication device storing application software for:
storing electronically in memory in a first network communication device a plurality of digital files;
generating in the first network communication device a first signal representing a first digital file;
providing to the first network communication device the first signal corresponding to the first digital file; and, at substantially the same time, generating a second signal representing a first digital file; and
transmitting the second signal from the transmitter of the first network communication device to the receiver of a second network communication device, wherein the first signal is used by the first network communication device at substantially the same time that the second signal is provided to the second network communication device;
generating in the first network communication device a third signal representing a second digital file; and
transmitting from the first network communication device to a third network communication device the third signal for use by the third network communication device at substantially the same time that the first signal is transmitted from the first network communication device to the second network communication device.
7. The network communication devices of claim 6 wherein at least one of the digital files is a compressed digital file.
8. The network communication devices of claim 6 wherein the first signal transmitted to the second network communication device is transmitted by streaming.
9. The network communication devices of claim further comprising software for generating a list of digital files stored in the memory and transmitting the list from the transmitter of the first network communication device.
10. The first network communication device of claim 6 further comprising mobile application software for receiving at the first network communication device a selection by another network communication device of one of the digital files on the list of digital files and in response to such selection providing to the transmitter of the first network communication device a signal representing the selected digital information.
11. The device of claim 6 wherein the transmitter is a digital network transmitter.
12. A wireless network comprising:
a first device comprising a first transmitter, a first receiver, and a first processor;
a second device comprising a second transmitter, a second receiver, and a second processor,
a third device comprising a third transmitter, a third receiver, and a third processor;
said first device further comprising first software that configures the first device for:
storing electronically in a first memory in said first device a signal representing a first digital file;
generating from the first memory a signal representing the first digital file;
at a first time, and, at substantially the same time, generating from memory a second signal representing the first digital file and providing the second signal to the first transmitter for transmission to a second device, and, at substantially the same time, providing to the first device a first signal corresponding to the first digital file;
receiving at the first receiver a signal transmitted by the second device;
said second device further comprising second software that configures the second device for:
receiving at the second receiver a signal transmitted from the first wireless device and
at said first time, providing to the second device said first data corresponding to the second signal wherein the first device and the second device receive the same digital information at substantially the same time; and
a third device further comprising third software that configures the third device for:
receiving at the third receiver a third signal transmitted from the first device representing a second digital file; and
providing to the third device the third signal corresponding to the second digital file at substantially the same time as the first and second signals.
13. The wireless network of claim 12 wherein the first device further comprises software for:
generating a list of digital files stored in the first memory, transmitting the list from the first transmitter to the third receiver, receiving at the first receiver a selection by the user of the third device of one of a digital file on the list of digital files, and in response to such selection providing to the first transmitter a signal representing the second digital file for transmission to the third wireless device.
14. The network of claim 12 wherein the first digital file comprises a graphic image.
15. A method of operating a wireless network comprising at least three devices, each device including a transmitter, a receiver, and a processor, the method comprising:
storing in a first memory in a first device a plurality of digital files;
generating from the first memory a first signal representing a first digital file;
at a first time providing to the first device a signal corresponding to a first data, and, at substantially the same time, generating from memory a second signal representing the first digital file, providing to the transmitter of the first device the second signal for transmission to a second device, for use at substantially the same time by the second device;
generating from the first memory a third signal representing a second digital file;
providing the third signal to the transmitter of the first device for transmission to a third device for use at substantially the same time by the third device;
receiving at a third receiver of the third device the third signal transmitted from the first device and, at substantially the same time, providing to the third device digital information corresponding to the third signal.
16. The method of claim 15 wherein the first signal is transmitted from the first device to the second device by streaming.
17. The method of claim 15 further comprising generating a list of digital files stored in the first memory of the first device and transmitting the list from the transmitter of the first device to the receiver of the second device and the receiver of the third device.
18. The method of claim 15 further comprising receiving at the first device a selection by the user of the third device of one a digital file on the list of digital files and, in response to such selection, providing to the transmitter of the first device a signal representing the selected digital file.
19. The method of claim 15 wherein the transmitter is a digital network transmitter.
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US20060008256A1 (en) * | 2003-10-01 | 2006-01-12 | Khedouri Robert K | Audio visual player apparatus and system and method of content distribution using the same |
US8713702B2 (en) * | 2004-06-21 | 2014-04-29 | Intel Corporation | Digital media content distribution |
US20050286546A1 (en) * | 2004-06-21 | 2005-12-29 | Arianna Bassoli | Synchronized media streaming between distributed peers |
US20070150360A1 (en) * | 2005-12-02 | 2007-06-28 | Buyseasons, Inc. | System and method for purchasing goods being displayed in a video stream |
US8099508B2 (en) * | 2005-12-16 | 2012-01-17 | Comcast Cable Holdings, Llc | Method of using tokens and policy descriptors for dynamic on demand session management |
US20070240030A1 (en) * | 2006-04-07 | 2007-10-11 | Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ab | Interactive podcast |
US7925244B2 (en) | 2006-05-30 | 2011-04-12 | Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ab | Mobile wireless communication terminals, systems, methods, and computer program products for publishing, sharing and accessing media files |
US7881315B2 (en) * | 2006-06-27 | 2011-02-01 | Microsoft Corporation | Local peer-to-peer digital content distribution |
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US8564544B2 (en) | 2006-09-06 | 2013-10-22 | Apple Inc. | Touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for customizing display of content category icons |
US20080162668A1 (en) * | 2006-12-29 | 2008-07-03 | John David Miller | Method and apparatus for mutually-shared media experiences |
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US8566353B2 (en) * | 2008-06-03 | 2013-10-22 | Google Inc. | Web-based system for collaborative generation of interactive videos |
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US8260883B2 (en) * | 2009-04-01 | 2012-09-04 | Wimm Labs, Inc. | File sharing between devices |
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