Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
WO 2017/146912 PCTfUS2017/017182
METHODS AND SYSTEM FOR DISTRIBUTING INFORMATION VIA MULTIPLE
FORMS OF DELIVERY SERVICES
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is the Canadian National Phase Entry of
International
Application No. PCT/US2017/017182 filed February 9, 2017 which in turn claims
priority to
U.S. Patent Application No. 15/050,204 filed February 22, 2016.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention is related to media collection,
processing, and
distribution.
Description of the Related Art
[0003] Social networking and microblogs enable users to quickly
share
information. However, conventional media, such as television, radio, and
newspapers,
typically lack the immediacy and interactivity offered by social networks and
microblogs.
[0004] Social network platforms also suffer from certain
deficiencies. For
example, conventional social networks often fail to provide a well-defined and
recurring
system in place for users to distribute the content that they create.
SUMMARY
[0005] The following presents a simplified summary of one or more
aspects in
order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an
extensive
overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intended to neither identify key
or critical
elements of all aspects nor delineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its
sole purpose is to
present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude
to the more
detailed description that is presented later.
[0006] Certain example embodiments provide a system and process that
enable
users to share information, content, and items. Such shared information and
content may be
distributed over one or more distribution channels.
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[0007] Certain optional embodiments provide a system and method that
enables a
publisher to submit a request for content to a system, such as a content
distribution
facilitation system. The system may selectively transmit the request to one or
more potential
respondents. The potential respondents may optionally be identified by the
system based at
least in part on the request and/or other criteria specified by the requester,
and/or potential
respondents may be specifically identified by the publisher. The request may
optionally
specify an expiration date/time, wherein if the request is not satisfied by
the specified
date/time, the request may expire, and potential respondents may no longer
accept the
request.
[0008] One or more potential respondents may provide content in
response to the
request. The content may be newly created content, that is created in response
to the request,
and/or the content may comprise preexisting, previously recorded content. The
system may
receive and provide the response, optionally including the content, to the
requester, or the
responses may be provided directly to the requester without traversing the
content
distribution facilitation system.
[0009] The requester may optionally evaluate the content from some
or all of the
respondents and may accept one or more content items (e.g., to use and
distribute via one or
more avenues of distribution). The acceptance indication may optionally be
provided via a
user interface presented to the requester, and the acceptance indication may
be received by
the content distribution facilitation system. The respondent(s) whose content
was accepted
may optionally be notified of the acceptance via the content distribution
facilitation system or
otherwise (e.g., via email, a short messaging service, an instant message, a
dedicated
application, a webpage or otherwise). The respondent(s) whose content was
accepted
(sometimes referred to herein as a content contributor) may optionally be
compensated (e.g.,
via currency or other item of value) directly by the requester and/or by the
content
distribution facilitation system operator.
[0010] Optionally, the requester need not have to actively accept
content, but may
still be permitted to use the content.
100111 An aspect of the disclosure relates to a content management
and
distribution system, comprising some or all of the following: a computer
system comprising
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one or more computing devices; a network interface; and a computer storage
system
comprising a non-transitory storage device, said computer storage system
having stored
thereon executable program instructions that direct the computer system to at
least: maintain
a data store comprising: profiles of a plurality of content contributors,
including an
identification of professions associated with at least a portion of the
content contributors,
wherein the identified professions for the portion of the content contributors
include at least
one of the following: athlete, actor, agent, athlete scout, medical expert, or
celebrity, and
access indicators for the content contributors indicating which content
requesters may submit
content requests to a given content contributor; provide an interface
configured to receive a
request to be provided to a given content contributor for video and audio
content of the
given content contributor; identify a first requester accessing the content
management and
distribution system; based at least on the identity of the first requester,
locate in the data store
content contributors that the first requester is permitted access to; provide
a search user
interface enabling the first requester to search for content contributors;
receive a search query
from the first requester via the search user interface; identify, using a
search engine,
matching content contributors in response to the search query; provide a
listing of the
matching content contributors, wherein the listing of the matching content
contributors is
restricted to those content contributors to whom the first requester is
permitted access to;
receive a request for new content from the first requester, the content
request comprising: a
selection of a set of content contributors from a user interface that lists,
using assigned set
identifiers, a plurality of content contributor sets defined by the content
requester and/or one
or more specifically identified content contributors; a content subject matter
specification
provided via the content subject matter interface, including a request for
video and audio
content of a content contributor discussing a first specified subject; and
response deadline
timing information; transmit, using the network interface, at least a portion
of the content
request, including the content subject matter specification and deadline
timing information,
to respective applications installed on mobile communication devices of the
selected set of
content contributors and/or of the one or more specifically identified content
contributors,
wherein the respective applications are configured to display the request, and
at least partly
in response to a given contributor providing a first input, prompt the given
contributor to
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capture the requested video and audio content; receive an indication from one
or more of the
mobile communication devices of the selected set of content contributors
and/or of the one or
more specifically identified content contributors, that video and audio
content is being
provided; provide, over a network, the first requester with access to items of
content captured
by a respective mobile communication device from a camera from one or more
content
contributors in the selected set of content contributors; and provide a
control enabling the
first requester to selectively download one or more of the items of content to
a system
associated with the first requester and a control enabling the first requester
to selectively
cause one or more of the items of content to be transmitted to a cloud based
storage
destination specified by the first requester.
100121 One specific embodiment of this aspect of the disclosure relates to a
content
management and distribution system, comprising a computer system comprising
one or more
computing devices; a network interface; and a computer storage system
comprising a non-
transitory storage device, the computer storage system having stored thereon
executable
program instructions that direct the computer system to at least: maintain a
data store
comprising: profiles of a plurality of content contributors, including an
identification of
professions associated with at least a portion of the content contributors,
wherein the
identified professions for the portion of the content contributors include at
least one of the
following: athlete, actor, agent, athlete scout, medical expert, or celebrity,
and access
indicators for the content contributors indicating which content requesters
may submit
content requests to a given content contributor; provide an interface
configured to receive a
request to be provided to a given content contributor for video and audio
content of the given
content contributor; identify a first requester accessing the content
management and
distribution system; based at least on the identity of the first requester,
locate in the data store
content contributors that the first requester is permitted access to; provide
a search user
interface enabling the first requester to search for content contributors;
receive a search query
from the first requester via the search user interface; identify, using a
search engine,
matching content contributors in response to the search query; provide a
listing of the
matching content contributors, wherein the listing of the matching content
contributors is
restricted to those content contributors to whom the first requester is
permitted access to;
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receive a request for new content from the first requester, the content
request comprising: a
selection of a set of content contributors from a user interface that lists,
using assigned set
identifiers, a plurality of content contributor sets defined by the content
requester and/or one
or more specifically identified content contributors; a content subject matter
specification
provided via the content subject matter interface, including a request for
video and audio
content of a content contributor discussing a first specified subject; and
response deadline
timing information; transmit, using the network interface, at least a portion
of the content
request, including the content subject matter specification and deadline
timing information,
to respective applications installed on mobile communication devices of the
selected set of
content contributors and/or of the one or more specifically identified content
contributors,
wherein the respective applications are configured to display the request, and
at least partly
in response to a given contributor providing a first input, prompt the given
contributor to
capture the requested video and audio content; receive an indication from one
or more of the
mobile communication devices of the selected set of content contributors
and/or of the one or
more specifically identified content contributors, that video and audio
content is being
provided to a cloud-based non-transitory storage system, wherein the video and
audio content
is provided to the cloud-based non-transitory storage system via an
application programming
interface (API); provide, over a network, the first requester with access to
items of content
captured by a respective mobile communication device from a camera from one or
more
content contributors in the selected set of content contributors; provide a
control enabling the
first requester to selectively download or to selectively stream one or more
of the items of
content from the cloud-based non-transitory storage system to a system
associated with the
first requester; enable a second content contributor, responding to the
request for new
content, to stream from the cloud-based non-transitory storage system a first
item of content
captured by a mobile communication device of a first content contributor
responding to the
request for new content, and to record a comment comprising audio and video on
at least the
streamed first item of content captured by the mobile communication device of
the first
content contributor; and link the recorded comment from the second content
contributor with
the first item of content from the first content contributor, for which the
recorded comment is
being provided; display a visual indication of a parent-child relationship
with respect to the
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recorded comment from the second content contributor and the first item of
content from the
first content contributor, for which the recorded comment is being provided.
[0013] In one embodiment, the program instructions further direct the computer
system to use a voice biometrics analysis engine to determine if a voice in a
second of the
one or more items of content belongs to a corresponding third content
contributor to whom
the content request was transmitted to, wherein the voice biometrics analysis
engine uses one
or more of: a Hidden Markov model, a neural network, a Gaussian mixture model,
or
frequency estimation.
[0014] In one embodiment, the program instructions further direct the computer
system to: use a face recognition system to compare facial features of a first
face in a second
of the one or more items of content to reference facial features of a content
contributor to
whom the content request was transmitted to, to determine if the first face
belongs to the
content contributor to whom the content request was transmitted to, wherein
the face
recognition system uses one or more of: PCA (Principal Component Analysis),
Independent
Component Analysis (ICA), EBGM (Elastic Bunch Graph Matching), LDA (Linear
Discriminate Analysis), Trace transform, 3-D morphable face model, HMM (Hidden
Markov
model), or MSL (Multilinear Subspace Learning).
[0015] In one embodiment, the program instructions further direct the computer
system to provide a user interface enabling a content requester to define a
set of content
contributors from the plurality of content contributors; provide a user
interface enabling the
content requester to assign an identifier to a defined set of content
contributors; provide a
user interface that lists, using assigned set identifiers, a plurality of
content contributor sets
defined by the content requester and that enables the content requester to
select one or more
content contributor sets to whom a content request is to be submitted.
[0016] In one embodiment, the program instructions further direct the computer
system to prompt the first requester to issue an electronic request to at
least one content
contributor, requesting the at least one content contributor post content
received from the at
least one content contributor, or a link to such content, on a social media
site.
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[0017] In one embodiment, the program instructions further direct the computer
system to determine in real time which content contributors are currently
watching a first
program and identifying such content contributors to at least one content
requester.
[0018] In one embodiment, the request for content from the first requester
comprises
a video file, or a link to a video file, or both a video file and a link to a
video file, and
wherein transmission of at least a portion of the content request further
comprises
transmission of the video file, or the link to a video file, or both the video
file and the link to
a video file to the selected set of content contributors, and the content
subject matter
specification from the first requester comprises a request to comment on the
video file.
[0019] In one embodiment, the program instructions further direct the computer
system to at least partly in response to receiving a content item from at
least one content
contributor in response to the request from the first requester, identify a
verification
destination specified by the at least one content contributor, and inhibit
first requester access
to the content item from the at least one content contributor until a
verification indication is
received from the verification destination.
100201 In one embodiment, the program instructions further direct the computer
system to at least partly in response to receiving a content item from at
least one content
contributor in response to the request from the first requester: identify a
verification
destination specified by the first requester; and inhibit access to the
content item from the at
least one content contributor to one or more users associated with the first
requester until a
verification indication is received from the verification destination.
[0021] In one embodiment, the program instructions further direct the computer
system to receive profile information from a third content contributor; enable
a second
requester to add first information to the third content contributor; enable a
third requester to
add second information to the third content contributor; receive a search
query from the
second requester; use the profile information from the third content
contributor and the first
information to return a first search result to the second requester and
inhibit the first search
result from including the second information; receive a search query from the
third requester;
and use the profile information from the third content contributor and the
second information
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to return a second search result to the third requester and inhibiting the
second search result
from including the first information.
[0022] An aspect of the disclosure relates to a method of managing
content and
content requests, the method comprising some or all of the following acts:
maintaining, at a
content distribution facilitation system comprising specially configured
servers and a
network interface configured to interface with a plurality of terminals in a
client server
relationship and with a cloud-based storage system, a data store comprising:
profiles of a
plurality of content contributors, including an identification of professions
associated with at
least a portion of the content contributors, wherein the identified
professions for the portion
of the content contributors include at least one of the following: athlete,
actor, agent, athlete
scout, medical expert, or celebrity, and access indicators for the content
contributors
indicating which content requesters may submit content requests to a given
content
contributor; providing a content subject matter interface configured to
receive a request to be
provided to a given content contributor for video and audio content of the
given content
contributor discussing a specified subject; identifying a first requester
accessing the content
distribution facilitation system; based at least on the identity of the first
requester, locating in
the data store content contributors that the first requester is permitted
access to; providing a
search user interface enabling the first requester to search for content
contributors; receiving
a search query from the first requester via the search user interface;
identifying matching
content contributors in response to the search query; providing a listing of
the matching
content contributors, wherein the listing of the matching content contributors
is restricted to
those content contributors to whom the first requester is permitted access to;
receiving, at a
content distribution facilitation system, a request for new content from the
first requester, the
content request comprising: a selection of a set of content contributors
previously defined by
the first requester from a user interface that lists, using assigned set
identifiers, a plurality of
content contributor sets defined by the content requester and/or one or more
specifically
identified content contributors; a content subject matter specification
provided via the content
subject matter interface, including a request for video and audio content of a
content
contributor discussing a first specified subject; and response deadline timing
information;
transmitting, by the content distribution facilitation system, at least a
portion of the content
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request, including the content subject matter specification and deadline
timing information,
to respective applications installed on mobile communication devices of the
selected set of
content contributors and/or of the one or more specifically identified content
contributors,
wherein the respective applications are configured to display the request, and
at least partly
in response to a given contributor providing a first input, prompt the given
contributor to
capture the requested video and audio content; providing, via the content
distribution
facilitation system, the first requester with access to items of content
captured by a respective
mobile communication device from a camera from one or more content
contributors in the
selected set of content contributors; and providing a control enabling the
first requester to
selectively download one or more of the items of content to a system
associated with the first
requester and a control enabling the first requester to selectively cause one
or more of the
items of content to be transmitted to a cloud based storage destination
specified by the first
requester.
[0023] One specific embodiment of this aspect of the disclosure
relates to a
method of managing content and content requests, the method comprising:
maintaining, at a
content distribution facilitation system comprising specially configured
servers and a
network interface configured to interface with a plurality of terminals in a
client server
relationship and with a cloud-based storage system, a data store comprising:
profiles of a
plurality of content contributors, including an identification of professions
associated with at
least a portion of the content contributors, wherein the identified
professions for the portion
of the content contributors include at least one of the following: athlete,
actor, agent, athlete
scout, medical expert, or celebrity, and access indicators for the content
contributors
indicating which content requesters may submit content requests to a given
content
contributor; providing a content subject matter interface configured to
receive a request to be
provided to a given content contributor for video and audio content of the
given content
contributor discussing a specified subject; identifying a first requester
accessing the content
distribution facilitation system; based at least on the identity of the first
requester, locating in
the data store content contributors that the first requester is permitted
access to; providing a
search user interface enabling the first requester to search for content
contributors; receiving
a search query from the first requester via the search user interface;
identifying matching
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content contributors in response to the search query; providing a listing of
the matching
content contributors, wherein the listing of the matching content contributors
is restricted to
those content contributors to whom the first requester is permitted access to;
receiving, at a
content distribution facilitation system, a request for new content from the
first requester, the
content request comprising: a selection of a set of content contributors
previously defined by
the first requester from a user interface that lists, using assigned set
identifiers, a plurality of
content contributor sets defined by the content requester and/or one or more
specifically
identified content contributors; a content subject matter specification
provided via the content
subject matter interface, including a request for video and audio content of a
content
contributor discussing a first specified subject; and response deadline timing
information;
transmitting, by the content distribution facilitation system, at least a
portion of the content
request, including the content subject matter specification and deadline
timing information,
to respective applications installed on mobile communication devices of the
selected set of
content contributors and/or of the one or more specifically identified content
contributors,
wherein the respective applications are configured to display the request, and
at least partly
in response to a given contributor providing a first input, prompt the given
contributor to
capture the requested video and audio content; providing, via the content
distribution
facilitation system, the first requester with access to items of content
captured by a respective
mobile communication device from a camera from one or more content
contributors in the
selected set of content contributors and stored on a cloud-based non-
transitory storage
system, wherein the captured content is provided to the cloud-based non-
transitory storage
system via an application programming interface (API); providing a control
enabling the first
requester to selectively download or to selectively stream one or more of the
items of content
from the cloud-based non-transitory storage system to a system associated with
the first
requester; enabling a second content contributor, responding to the request
for new content,
to stream from the cloud-based non-transitory storage system a first item of
content captured
by a mobile communication device of a first content contributor responding to
the request for
new content, and to record a comment comprising audio and video on at least
the streamed
first item of content captured by the mobile communication device of the first
content
contributor; linking the recorded comment from the second content contributor
with the first
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item of content from the first content contributor, for which the recorded
comment is being
provided; and displaying a visual indication of a parent-child relationship
with respect to the
recorded comment from the second content contributor and the first item of
content from the
first content contributor, for which the recorded comment is being provided.
[0024] In one embodiment, the method further comprises performing a
voice
biometrics analysis to determine if a voice in a second of the one or more
items of content
belongs to a third content contributor to whom the content request was
transmitted to,
wherein the voice biometrics analysis utilizes a Hidden Markov model, a neural
network, a
Gaussian mixture model, and/or frequency estimation.
[0025] In one embodiment, the method further comprises using a face
recognition
system to compare facial features of a first face in at least one of the one
or more items of
content to reference facial features of a second content contributor to whom
the content
request was transmitted to, to determine if the first face belongs to the
respective content
contributor to whom the content request was transmitted to, wherein the face
recognition
system uses one or more of: PCA (Principal Component Analysis), Independent
Component
Analysis (ICA), EBGM (Elastic Bunch Graph Matching), LDA (Linear Discriminate
Analysis), Trace transform, 3-D morphable face model, HMM (Hidden Markov
model), or
MSL (Multilinear Subspace Learning).
[0026] In one embodiment, the method further comprises providing a
user
interface enabling a content requester to define a set of content contributors
from the plurality
of content contributors; providing a user interface enabling the content
requester to assign an
identifier to a defined set of content contributors; and providing a user
interface that lists,
using assigned set identifiers, a plurality of content contributor sets
defined by the content
requester and that enables the content requester to select one or more content
contributor sets
to whom a content request is to be submitted to.
[0027] In one embodiment, the method further comprises prompting the
first
requester to issue an electronic request to a third content contributor,
requesting the third
content contributor post content received from the third content contributor,
or a link to such
content, on a social media site.
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[0028] In one embodiment, the method further comprises determining
in real time
which content contributors are currently watching a first program and
identifying such
content contributors to at least one content requester.
[0029] In one embodiment, the request for content from the first
requester
comprises a video file, or a link to a video file, or both a video file and a
link to a video file,
and wherein transmitting at least a portion of the content request further
comprises
transmitting the video file, or the link to a video file, or both the video
file and the link to a
video file to the selected set of content contributors, and the content
subject matter
specification from the first requester comprises a request to comment on the
video file.
[0030] In one embodiment, the method further comprises, at least
partly in
response to receiving a content item from a third content contributor in
response to the
request from the first requester, identifying a verification destination
specified by the third
content contributor, and inhibiting first requester access to the content item
from the third
content contributor until a verification indication is received from the
verification destination.
[0031] In one embodiment, the method further comprises, at least
partly in
response to receiving a content item from a third content contributor in
response to the
request from the first requester: identifying a verification destination
specified by the first
requester; and inhibiting access to the content item from the third content
contributor to one
or more users associated with the first requester until a verification
indication is received
from the verification destination.
[0032] In one embodiment, the method further comprises receiving
profile
information from a third content contributor; enabling a second requester to
add first
information to the third content contributor profile information; enabling a
third requester to
add second information to the third content contributor profile information;
receiving a
search query from the second requester; using the profile information from the
third content
contributor and the first information to return a first search result to the
second requester and
inhibiting the first search result from including the second information;
receiving a search
query from the third requester; and using the profile information from the
third content
contributor and the second information to return a second search result to the
third requester
and inhibiting the second search result from including the first information.
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[0033] An aspect of the disclosure relates to a computer storage
system
comprising a non-transitory storage device, said computer storage system
having stored
thereon executable program instructions that when executed by a computer
system, cause the
computer system to perform operations comprising some or all of the following:
maintain a
data store comprising: profiles of a plurality of content contributors,
including an
identification of professions associated with at least a portion of the
content contributors,
wherein the identified professions for the portion of the content contributors
include at least
one of the following: athlete, actor, agent, athlete scout, medical expert, or
celebrity, and
access indicators for the content contributors indicating which content
requesters may submit
content requests to a given content contributor; provide an interface
configured to receive a
request to be provided to a given content contributor for video and audio
content of the
given content contributor; identify a first requester accessing the content
management and
distribution system; based at least on the identity of the first requester,
locate in the data store
content contributors that the first requester is permitted access to; provide
a user interface
comprising a listing of content contributors restricted to those content
contributors to whom
the first requester is permitted access to and content contributor sets
previously defined by
the content requester; receive a request for new content from the first
requester, the content
request comprising: a selection of one or more sets of content contributors
and/or one or
more specifically identified content contributors from the user interface
comprising the
listing of content contributors restricted to those content contributors to
whom the first
requester is permitted access to and the content contributor sets previously
defined by the
content requester; a content subject matter specification provided via the
content subject
matter interface, including a request for video and audio content of a content
contributor
discussing a first specified subject; and response deadline timing
information; transmit at
least a portion of the content request, including the content subject matter
specification and
deadline timing information, to respective applications installed on mobile
communication
devices of the selected set of content contributors and/or of the one or more
specifically
identified content contributors, wherein the respective applications are
configured to display
the request, and at least partly in response to a given contributor providing
a first input,
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prompt the given contributor to capture the requested video and audio content;
receive an
indication from one or more of the mobile communication devices of the
selected set of
content contributors and/or of the one or more specifically identified content
contributors,
that video and audio content is being provided; provide the first requester
with access to
items of content captured by a respective mobile communication device from a
camera from
one or more content contributors in the selected set of content contributors;
and provide a
control enabling the first requester to selectively download one or more of
the items of
content to a system associated with the first requester and a control enabling
the first
requester to selectively cause one or more of the items of content to be
transmitted to a cloud
based storage destination specified by the first requester.
100341 One specific embodiment of this aspect of the disclosure relates to
computer
storage system comprising a non-transitory storage device, the computer
storage system
having stored thereon executable program instructions that when executed by a
computer
system, cause the computer system to perform operations comprising: maintain a
data store
comprising: profiles of a plurality of content contributors, including an
identification of
professions associated with at least a portion of the content contributors,
wherein the
identified professions for the portion of the content contributors include at
least one of the
following: athlete, actor, agent, athlete scout, medical expert, or celebrity,
and access
indicators for the content contributors indicating which content requesters
may submit
content requests to a given content contributor; provide an interface
configured to receive a
request to be provided to a given content contributor for video and audio
content of the given
content contributor; identify a first requester accessing the content
management and
distribution system; based at least on the identity of the first requester,
locate in the data store
content contributors that the first requester is permitted access to; provide
a user interface
comprising a listing of content contributors restricted to those content
contributors to whom
the first requester is permitted access to and content contributor sets
previously defined by
the content requester; receive a request for new content from the first
requester, the content
request comprising: a selection of one or more sets of content contributors
and/or one or
more specifically identified content contributors from the user interface
comprising the
listing of content contributors restricted to those content contributors to
whom the first
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requester is permitted access to and the content contributor sets previously
defined by the
content requester; a content subject matter specification provided via the
content subject
matter interface, including a request for video and audio content of a content
contributor
discussing a first specified subject; and response deadline timing
information; transmit at
least a portion of the content request, including the content subject matter
specification and
deadline timing information, to respective applications installed on mobile
communication
devices of the selected set of content contributors and/or of the one or more
specifically
identified content contributors, wherein the respective applications are
configured to display
the request, and at least partly in response to a given contributor providing
a first input,
prompt the given contributor to capture the requested video and audio content;
receive an
indication from one or more of the mobile communication devices of the
selected set of
content contributors and/or of the one or more specifically identified content
contributors,
that video and audio content is being provided to a cloud-based non-transitory
storage
system, wherein the video and audio content is provided to the cloud-based non-
transitory
storage system via an application programming interface (API); provide the
first requester
with access to items of content captured by a respective mobile communication
device from a
camera from one or more content contributors in the selected set of content
contributors;
provide a control enabling the first requester to selectively download or to
selectively stream
one or more of the items of content from the cloud-based non-transitory
storage system to a
system associated with the first requester; enable a second content
contributor, responding to
the request for new content, to stream from the cloud-based non-transitory
storage system a
first item of content captured by a mobile communication device of a first
content contributor
responding to the request for new content, and to record a comment comprising
audio and
video on at least the streamed first item of content captured by the mobile
communication
device of the first content contributor; link the recorded comment from the
second content
contributor with the first item of content from the first content contributor,
for which the
recorded comment is being provided; and display a visual indication of a
parent-child
relationship with respect to the recorded comment from the second content
contributor and
the first item of content from the first content contributor, for which the
recorded comment is
being provided.
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[0035] In one embodiment, the program instructions further direct the computer
system to perform operations comprising use a voice biometrics analysis engine
to determine
if a voice in a second of the one or more items of content belongs to a
corresponding third
content contributor to whom the content request was transmitted to, wherein
the voice
biometrics analysis engine uses one or more of: a Hidden Markov model, a
neural network, a
Gaussian mixture model, or frequency estimation.
[0036] In one embodiment, the program instructions further direct the computer
system to perform operations comprising compare facial features of a first
face in a second of
the one or more items of content to reference facial features of a third
content contributor to
whom the content request was transmitted to, and determine if the first face
belongs to the
third content contributor to whom the content request was transmitted to,
wherein the face
recognition system uses one or more of: PCA (Principal Component Analysis),
Independent
Component Analysis (ICA), EBGM (Elastic Bunch Graph Matching), LDA (Linear
Discriminate Analysis), Trace transform, 3-D morphable face model, HMM (Hidden
Markov
model), or MSL (Multilinear Subspace Learning).
[0037] In one embodiment, the program instructions further direct the computer
system to perform operations comprising provide a user interface enabling a
content
requester to define a set of content contributors from the plurality of
content contributors;
provide a user interface enabling the content requester to assign an
identifier to a defined set
of content contributors; and provide a user interface that lists, using
assigned set identifiers, a
plurality of content contributor sets defined by the content requester and
that enables the
content requester to select one or more content contributor sets to whom a
content request is
to be submitted.
[0038] In one embodiment, the program instructions further direct the computer
system to perform operations comprising prompt the first requester to issue an
electronic
request to a third content contributor, requesting the third content
contributor post content
received from the third content contributor, or a link to such content, on a
social media site.
[0039] In one embodiment, the program instructions further direct the computer
system to perform operations comprising determine in real time which content
contributors
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are currently watching a first program and identifying such content
contributors to at least
one content requester.
[0040] In one embodiment, the request for content from the first requester
comprises
a video file, or a link to a video file, or both a video file and a link to a
video file, and
wherein transmission of at least a portion of the content request further
comprises
transmission of the video file, or the link to a video file, or both the video
file and the link to
a video file to the selected set of content contributors, and the content
subject matter
specification from the first requester comprises a request to comment on the
video file.
100411 In one embodiment, the program instructions further direct the computer
system to perform operations comprising at least partly in response to
receiving a content
item from a third content contributor in response to the request from the
first requester,
identify a verification destination specified by the third content
contributor, and inhibit first
requester access to the content item from the third content contributor until
a verification
indication is received from the verification destination.
[0042] In one embodiment, the program instructions further direct the computer
system to perform operations comprising at least partly in response to
receiving a content
item from a third content contributor in response to the request from the
first requester:
identify a verification destination specified by the first requester; and
inhibit access to the
content item from the third content contributor to one or more users
associated with the first
requester until a verification indication is received from the verification
destination.
[0043] In one embodiment, the program instructions further direct the computer
system to perform operations comprising: receive profile information from a
third content
contributor; enable a second requester to add first information to the third
content contributor
profile information; enable a third requester to add second information to the
third content
contributor profile information; receive a search query from the second
requester; use the
profile information from the third content contributor and the first
information to return a
first search result to the second requester and inhibit the first search
result from including the
second information; receive a search query from the third requester; and use
the profile
information from the third content contributor and the second information to
return a second
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search result to the third requester and inhibiting the second search result
from including the
first information.
[0044] In an example embodiment, a data store of profiles of
potential content
contributors is provided. A request from a first requester for content
comprising content
criteria is received, the content criteria comprising content contributor
characteristics and/or
content contributor identifiers, which may be a content contributor name, and
content subject
matter. Based on the content contributor characteristics, content contributor
identifiers,
and/or the profiles, at least a first potential content contributor is
identified. At least a portion
of the content request content criteria is transmitted to the first potential
content contributor.
Recorded content is received from the first content contributor. The first
requester is
provided with access to the received recorded content. At least partly in
response to
acceptance by the first requester of the received recorded content, the first
requester is
enabled to publish the accepted received recorded content for at least a first
period of time.
For example, the first requester may optionally download the recorded content,
and publish
the downloaded recorded content via a website, broadcast television, broadcast
radio,
software applications, by saving it to a file sharing service, by publishing
the content to a
social media feed, etc.
[0045] An example aspect provides a method of managing content and
content
requests, the method comprising: maintaining a data store of profiles of
potential content
contributors; receiving, at a content distribution facilitation system, a
request for new content
from a first requester, the content request comprising content criteria,
comprising: content
contributor characteristics and/or content contributor identifiers; content
subject matter;
instructions for contributors, duration of request; and/or content length;
based at least on the
content contributor characteristics and/or content contributor identifiers
included in the
request and the profiles of potential content contributors, identifying, by
the content
distribution facilitation system, at least a first plurality of potential
content contributors;
transmitting, by the content distribution facilitation system, at least a
portion of the content
request content criteria to the first plurality of potential content
contributors; receiving, by the
content distribution facilitation system, recorded content from one or more of
the first
plurality of potential content contributors; providing, via the content
distribution facilitation
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system, the first requester with access to the received recorded content;
receiving, by the
content distribution facilitation system, acceptance by the first requester of
at least one item
of the received recorded content, and enabling the first requester to publish
the accepted
received recorded content. For example, the first requester may optionally
download the
recorded content, and publish the downloaded recorded content via a website,
broadcast
television, broadcast radio, software applications, by saving it to a file
sharing service, by
publishing the content to a social media feed, etc.
[0046] An example aspect provides a method of managing content and
content
requests, the method comprising: maintaining a data store of profiles of
potential content
contributors; receiving, at a content distribution facilitation system, a
request for content
from a first requester, the content request comprising content criteria,
comprising: content
contributor characteristics, and/or content contributor identifiers and/or
content subject
matter; based at least on the content contributor characteristics and/or
content contributor
identifiers included in the request and/or the profiles of potential content
contributors,
identifying, by the content distribution facilitation system, at least a first
potential content
contributor; transmitting, by the content distribution facilitation system, at
least a portion of
the content request content criteria to the first potential content
contributor; receiving, by the
content distribution facilitation system, recorded content from the first
content contributor;
providing, via the content distribution facilitation system, the first
requester with access to
the received recorded content; receiving, by the content distribution
facilitation system,
acceptance by the first requester of the received recorded content, and
enabling the first
requester to publish the accepted received recorded content. For example, the
first requester
may optionally download the recorded content, and publish the downloaded
recorded content
via a website, broadcast television, broadcast radio, software applications,
by saving it to a
file sharing service, by publishing the content to a social media feed, etc.
[0047] An example aspect provides a system, comprising: at least one
computing
device comprising hardware; non-transitory memory coupled to the at least one
computing
device that stores instructions that when executed by the at least one
computing device cause,
at least in part, the system to perform operations comprising: maintaining a
data store of
profiles of potential content contributors; receiving, at a content
distribution facilitation
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system, a request for content from a first requester, the content request
comprising content
criteria, comprising: content contributor characteristics and/or content
contributor identifiers;
content subject matter; based at least on the content contributor
characteristics and/or
content contributor identifiers included in the request and the profiles of
potential content
contributors, identifying at least a first potential content contributor;
transmitting at least a
portion of the content request content criteria to the first potential content
contributor;
receiving recorded content from the first content contributor; providing, via
the content
distribution facilitation system, the first requester with access to the
received recorded
content; receiving acceptance by the first requester of the received recorded
content; and
enabling the first requester to publish the accepted received recorded
content. For example,
the first requester may optionally download the recorded content, and publish
the
downloaded recorded content via a website, broadcast television, broadcast
radio, software
applications, by saving it to a file sharing service, by publishing the
content to a social media
feed, etc.
[0048] Optionally, the system restricts a given content requester's
access to
content contributors to a subset of content contributors. The restriction may
be defined by a
system operator, as specified by respective content contributors, and/or
according to defined
rules (e.g., a rule may specify that athletes are accessible to all requesters
associated with a
media publisher).
[0049] An example aspect provides a non-transitory memory storing
instructions
that when executed by a computer system comprising at least one computing
device, cause
the system to perform operations comprising: maintaining a data store of
profiles of potential
content contributors; receiving, at a content distribution facilitation
system, a request for
content from a first requester, the content request comprising content
criteria, comprising:
content contributor characteristics; content subject matter; based at least on
the content
contributor characteristics included in the request and the profiles of
potential content
contributors, identifying at least a first potential content contributor;
transmitting at least a
portion of the content request content criteria to the first potential content
contributor;
receiving recorded content from the first content contributor; providing, via
the content
distribution facilitation system, the first requester with access to the
received recorded
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content; receiving acceptance by the first requester of the received recorded
content; and
enabling the first requester to publish the accepted received recorded content
[0050] An aspect of the disclosure relates to a content management and
distribution
system, comprising: a computer system comprising one or more computing
devices; a
network interface; and a computer storage system comprising a non-transitory
storage device.
Said computer storage system has stored thereon executable program
instructions that direct
the computer system to at least: enable a first entity to access a group
identification user
interface enabling members of a communications group to be defined and
enabling an
associated group identifier to be defined; receive, using the network
interface, from a user
device associated with the first entity, via the group identification user
interface,
identification of members to be included in a first communications group, and
an associated
first communications group identifier; provide for display on the first entity
user device a
user interface comprising a field that enables the first entity to specify a
content request and
an interface that enables the first entity to identify one or more social
media platforms to
which the requested content is to be shared; provide for display on the first
entity user device
a user interface that enables the first entity to select the first
communications group; receive a
selection of the first communications group by the first entity via the group
selection user
interface; enable the first entity to initiate transmission of the content
request, including a
specified camera orientation, to content sharing applications hosted on camera-
equipped
devices of members of the selected first communications group, wherein the
content request
is configured to cause content sharing applications hosted on camera-equipped
devices of
members of the selected first communications group to generate an instruction
to orient the
camera-equipped devices to the specified camera orientation.
[0051] An aspect of the disclosure relates to a computer-implemented method,
the
method comprising: enabling, using a first computer system, a first entity to
access a user
interface enabling members of a group to be defined and enabling an associated
group
identifier to be defined; receiving from the first entity, via the user
interface, identification of
members to be included in a first group, and an associated first group
identifier; enabling a
user interface configured to receive a content request to be displayed to the
first entity via a
first entity display, wherein user interface configured to receive a content
request enables the
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first entity to specify a content request and an identification of one or more
social media
platforms to which the requested content is to be shared; enabling a user
interface configured
to receive a group selection to be displayed via the first entity display, the
user interface
configured to receive a group selection enabling the first entity to select
the first group;
receiving a selection of the first group by the first entity via the user
interface configured to
receive a group selection; enabling the first entity to initiate transmission
of the content
request, including a specified camera orientation, to content sharing
applications hosted on
devices of members of the selected first group, wherein the content request is
configured to
cause content sharing applications hosted on camera-equipped devices of
members of the
selected first group to provide an instruction to orient the camera-equipped
devices to the
specified camera orientation; enabling the first entity to create at least a
first folder on a
remote storage device, the first folder configured to store at least visual
media provided in
response to the content request; enabling the first entity to access visual
media provided in
response to the content request and stored in the first folder, and to cause
the visual media to
be displayed via the first entity display; enabling the first entity to
conduct a chat interaction
with one or more members of the first group via the content sharing
applications respectively
hosted on the devices of the members of the first group; enabling the first
entity to selectively
publish on one or more social media platforms one or more items of visual
media provided in
response to the content request; providing a user interface for display to the
first entity that
enables the first entity to configure a cloud storage setting; and
determining, using metadata
associated with an item of visual media, whether the visual media was captured
at a location
specified in the content request. enable the first entity to create at least a
first folder on a
remote storage device, the first folder configured to store at least visual
media provided in
response to the content request; enable the first entity to access visual
media provided in
response to the content request and stored in the first folder; enable the
first entity to conduct
a chat interaction with one or more members of the first communications group
via the
content sharing applications respectively hosted on the camera-equipped
devices of the
members of the first communications group; enable the first entity to
selectively publish, on
one or more social media platforms, one or more items of visual media provided
in response
to the content request; provide a user interface for display to the first
entity that enables the
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first entity to configure a cloud storage setting; and determine, using
metadata associated
with an item of visual media, whether the visual media was captured at a
location specified in
the content request.
[0052] An aspect of the disclosure relates to a non-transitory storage media
having
stored thereon executable program instructions configured to direct a computer
system to
perform operations comprising: enable a first entity to access a user
interface enabling
members of a group to be defined and enabling an associated group identifier
to be defined;
receive from a user device associated with the first entity, via the user
interface, identification
of members to be included in a first group, and an associated first group
identifier; receive
from the first entity user device a content request, the content request
identifying one or more
social media platforms to which the requested content is to be shared; enable
the first entity
to select the first group via a user interface configured to receive a group
selection; receive a
selection of the first group by the first entity via the user interface
configured to receive a
group selection; enable the first entity to initiate transmission of the
content request,
including a specified camera orientation, to content sharing applications
hosted on devices of
members of the selected first group, wherein the content sharing applications
hosted on
camera-equipped devices of members of the selected first group are configured
to provide an
instruction to orientate the camera-equipped devices to the specified camera
orientation;
enable the first entity to access visual media provided in response to the
content request and
stored in a first folder; enable the first entity to conduct a chat
interaction with one or more
members of the first group via the content sharing applications respectively
hosted on the
devices of the members of the first group; enable the first entity to
selectively publish one or
more items of visual media provided in response to the content request with a
plurality of
social media platforms; provide a user interface for display to the first
entity that enables the
first entity to configure a cloud storage setting; and determine, using
metadata associated
with an item of visual media, whether the visual media was captured at a
location specified in
the content request.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0053] Embodiments will now be described with reference to the
drawings
summarized below. These drawings and the associated description are provided
to illustrate
example embodiments, and not to limit the scope of the invention.
[0054] Figure 1 illustrates an example process.
[0055] Figure 2 illustrates an example environment.
[0056] Figures 3, 4, 5A, 5B, 6A, 6B, and 7 illustrate example user
interfaces.
[0057] Figures 8-12 illustrate additional example processes.
[0058] Figures 13A-17C illustrates additional example user
interfaces.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0059] Systems and methods are described that enable users to share
information,
content (e.g., audio, video, and/or text content), and items. Such shared
information and
content may be distributed over one or more distribution channels. For
example, certain
embodiments enable requests for content to selectively be submitted to a
specific target
group of potential responders, such as athletes, actors, agents, athlete
scouts, medical experts,
opinion leaders, industry experts, celebrities, a social or working group, or
the like.
Optionally, the request may be directed to a specific person or group. Certain
embodiments
reduce the need for content capture and storage infrastructure, as distributed
user devices
may be used to capture content, and cloud based systems may be used to store
and distribute
content captured from the user devices.
[0060] For example, certain embodiments provide a system that
enables a
publisher to submit a request for such content to a content distribution
facilitation system,
which may then selectively transmit the request to one or more potential
respondents. The
potential respondents may be identified by the system based at least in part
on the request
and/or other criteria specified by the requester. The request may specify an
expiration
date/time, wherein if the request is not satisfied by the specified date/time,
the request may
expire, and potential respondents may no longer accept and/or respond to the
request. By
way of example, the publisher may be an entity that needs information,
commentary, or other
content, such as a producer or distributor of a television program (e.g., a
live sports program,
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such as a game broadcast), a radio program, or an online newspaper. By way of
further
example, the publisher may be a venue, such as a stadium, where the
responder's submission
in response to the request may be published on an electronic sign or display
(e.g., a large-
screen television) within the venue.
[0061] The one or more potential respondents may provide content in
response to
the request. The content may be newly created content, that is created in
response to the
request or the content may be preexisting, previously recorded content. The
system may
receive and provide the response, including the content, to the requester, or
the responses
may be provided directly to the requester without traversing the content
distribution
facilitation system. The requester may then evaluate the content from some or
all of the
respondents and accept one or more to use and distribute via one or more
avenues of
distribution. The acceptance indication may be provided via a user interface
presented to the
requester (e.g., by activating an acceptance control), and the acceptance
indication may be
received by the content distribution facilitation system. The respondent(s)
whose content
was accepted may be notified of the acceptance via the content distribution
facilitation
system or otherwise (e.g., via email, a short messaging service, an instant
message, a
dedicated application, a webpage or otherwise). Optionally, the respondent(s)
whose content
was accepted (sometimes referred to herein as a content contributor) may be
compensated
directly by the requester and/or by the content distribution facilitation
system operator.
Optionally, the respondent(s) are not compensated.
[0062] Optionally, the requester does not have to actively accept
the content in
order to use the content and optionally no content acceptance notification is
provided to the
respondent. For example, the requester (e.g., a publisher) may have pre-
negotiated (prior to
the content request) an arrangement with the respondent to provide future
content for a
specified period of time (e.g., a one year contract), for a specific event
(e.g., a sports
tournament or a specific game or set of games), or for specific subject
matter. Hence, the
respondent may be under a contractual obligation to provide the content and
the requester
may have the right to use the content even in the absence of a formal
acceptance of the
received content. Optionally, even if a formal acceptance notification is not
provided to the
respondent, the system may provide a notification indicating if the requester
utilized the
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responder's content and may optionally indicate how/where the content was used
(e.g., on
broadcast television, on an online website, via a streaming television
services, etc.).
Optionally, the requester may instruct the system to provide such a
notification (and may
specify how the content was used) or not to provide such a notification. The
system will then
store and execute the requester's instruction.
[0063] Optionally, prior to the content being provided to the
requester, the
content distribution facilitation system may provide access to the submitted
content to a
verification entity that automatically and/or manually examines the content
and determines if
the content violates content rules or guidelines established and/or recorded
by the requester
or by a third party whose rules or guidelines the content needs to satisfy in
order for the
content to be published/broadcast by the requester. For example, if the
content is being
provided by a player for a sports team to a sports broadcasting network, the
content may be
examined by the verification entity to ensure that the submitted content meets
the rules or
guidelines of the union to which the player belongs (e.g., to ensure the
content will not
trigger a grievance). The guidelines or rules may be stored in a data store.
The verification
can be performed automatically by a verification system (which may be included
in the
content distribution facilitation system described herein or which may be a
separate system
operated by a separate entity) that has access to the data store of rules, and
that is configured
to convert the voice content (if the content includes a sound/voice track) to
text using a
continuous speech recognition engine, and to compare the text to the rules to
detect whether
the content violates one or more rules.
[0064] For example, the continuous speech recognition engine may
utilize natural
language processing. Optionally, the natural language processing may utilize a
parse tree
representing a syntactic structure of a phrase or sentence according to a
formal grammar.
Optionally, the natural language processing may utilize statistical modeling
configured to
make soft probabilistic decisions based on attaching real-valued weights to
respective input
features. Optionally, the natural language processing may utilize semantic
indexing.
[0065] The verification system may generate a report identifying the
rules
violated and/or the content that violated the rules. For example, the report
may include rule
text (e.g., "players are not allowed to criticize the team manager" or
"players are not
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permitted to use the following obscenities: (list of prohibited words)"), a
media file (e.g., an
audio file or an audio/video file) that includes the content that violates the
rule(s), and/or the
corresponding transcribed content text (e.g., "the manager is doing a terrible
job of hiring key
players" or the obscenity) obtained from the speech recognition engine. The
report may be
provided to the requester, the content submitter, and/or an operator
associated with the
verification entity. Optionally, the verification process, or portions
thereof, may be
performed manually by a human, although this may be a more time consuming and
less
accurate verification method, and a human may not be able to process large
numbers of rules
or content, or ensure rule consistency. Optionally, the verification system
and a human may
together perform the verification. For example, the verification system may
generate the
report, which may be reviewed and/or approved or disapproved by a human
operator. By
way of further example, based on or more rules, certain content may be
automatically
reviewed and certain content may be flagged for review or for further review
by a human
operator.
[0066] Optionally, with respect to manual verification, those that
are not the
verification entity are prevented from viewing the content, unless and until
the verification
entity approves the content. Thus, for example, if the verification entity is
a particular user
or department (e.g., a legal department or brand management department) at a
company that
has been designated as a content verifier by the content requester, other
users at the company
that are not designated as content verifiers are not permitted to view the
content until the
content verifier verifies the content.
[0067] A rules user interface may be provided to the content
requester and/or to a
third party whose rules or guidelines the content needs to satisfy in order
for the content to be
broadcast/published by the requester. The rules user interface may enable
textual words
and/or phrases to be entered that correspond to prohibited phrases comprising
one or more
words, or to permitted phrases. In addition or instead, the rules user
interface may enable a
file containing an audio track of prohibited phrases and/or permitted phrases
to be loaded by
the system. The rules may also indicate to which type of content provider
(e.g., based on the
role/profession of the content provider) and/or which type of requester the
rules are to be
applied to. For example, different rules may be specified for players,
coaches, managers,
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and/or team medical personnel. Further, different rules may be applied for
print publishing,
online distribution, radio, cable and/or over the air television broadcasting.
The rules may be
evaluated using a rules engine which may be included in the verification
system. The rules
engine may be configured to register, define, classify, define relationships
between rules,
and/or manage rules. The rules engine may optionally be configured to verify
the
consistency of rules definitions.
[0068] If an item of submitted content violates a rule, the
verification system may
inhibit the content from being provided to the requester (e.g., prevent the
content from being
forwarded or accessed by the content requester), or the content may be
provided to requester
with an alert/rule violation indication so that the requester is informed of
the rules violation.
For example, the indication may optionally be provided via text (e.g., "this
content has
violated one or more rules"), an icon, a color, or otherwise. Optionally, the
verification
system may notify the content submitter of the rule violation (e.g., as
discussed above), and
enable the content submitter to submit new or corrected content that complies
with the
violated rule(s) as well as the other rules. The new or corrected content will
then be
examined to ensure it complies with the rules, as similarly discussed above.
[0069] Optionally, the verification entity has a specified period of
time to review
submitted content (where the time period may be specified by the
publisher/requester or the
third party). Optionally, if so specified by the requester (e.g., publisher)
or authorized third
party, if the verification entity does not disapprove the content within the
specified period of
time, the content is automatically considered approved and an approval
indication and
optionally access to the content is provided to the requester for publication
(e.g., print,
broadcast, online, other form of publication). This optional feature may be
particularly
helpful when the content is to be used in a near-live feed (e.g., for a
television or radio
broadcast of a game). For example, the if the content submitter has been asked
to comment
on a play in a game being broadcast, the approval time period may optionally
be set to be
very short (e.g., less than 15 seconds, less than 10 seconds, or less than 1
second), so that the
comment can be broadcast very soon after the play took place. Optionally
instead, if so
specified by the requester (e.g., publisher) or authorized third party, if the
verification entity
does not approve the content within the specified period of time, the content
is automatically
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considered disapproved and is not provided to the content requester for
publication and/or a
disapproval indication is provided to the requester. A countdown timer may
optionally be
generated and displayed to a verification operator to indicate a remaining
time to approve or
disapprove the content.
[0070] The verification system may maintain a queue of content that
is awaiting
verification. The verification system may optionally order the queue as a
first-in-first-out
queue, where the content is ordered so that the oldest (first) entry, is
processed first, the next
oldest entry is processed second, and so on. The verification system may
optionally order the
queue based on a priority assigned by the content requester. For example, the
content
requester may value content from a first content provider more than content
from a second
content provider, and may specify that the content from the first content
provider is to be
verified before the content from the second content provider, even if the
second provider
provided the content first. Optionally, the verification system may present,
via a user
interface (e.g., to an operator), the current content in the queue and the
queue ordering. Once
an item of content has been approved or disapproved, the item of content may
be removed
from the queue of content to be verified.
[0071] Optionally, a content provider can specify that his/her
content is to be
verified prior to the content being provided to a publisher (whether or not
the content was
specifically requested by the publisher, or the content is being provided
without being
solicited by the publisher). Thus, for example, the content provider may
specify rules as
similarly discussed above with respect to the content requester, and the
content may be
similarly verified by the verification entity. Optionally, the verification
system may enable
the content provider to specify which verification entity is to perform the
verification (e.g., if
the content provider is an actor, the verification entity may be a publicist
or management
entity, who is to ensure that the actor's content is not offensive to the
actor's fans).
Optionally, those that are not the verification entity are prevented from
viewing the content,
unless and until the verification entity approves the content. Thus, for
example, if the
verification entity is a particular user or department (e.g., a legal
depaitment or brand
management department) at a company that has been designated as a content
verifier, other
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users at the company that are not designated as content verifiers are not
permitted to view the
content until the content verifier verifies the content.
[0072] Optionally, with reference to Figurel0A, the content
requester may
specify that responders to a particular request may view the content of other
responders (or of
other specifically selected responders). The content distribution facilitation
system may store
such specification in memory. The content distribution facilitation system may
then detect
when content is received from a given responder (block 1000A), based at least
in part on the
specification, determine which other responders are permitted to view such
content (block
1002A), notify such other responders of the receipt of the content (block
1004A), and enable
the other responders to view the content (e.g., using a mobile device
application or via a
webpage) (block 1006A). Optionally, the other responders are inhibited from
downloading
the content and may only view the content in streaming mode. Optionally, the
other
responders are enabled to download the content.
[0073] Optionally, a responder reviewing content from another
responder can
record a comment (e.g., a video recording with an audio track, an audio
recording, or a text
comment) regarding the viewed content, and the comment may be provided to, and
published
by the requester (block 1008A). Another responder may in turn record a comment
on the
original comment and/or on the content, and so on. The content and comments
may be
linked and displayed in threaded fashion (e.g., visually indicating the parent-
child
relationship of the content) (block 1010A). The content requester may then
select the content
and one or more of the comments for publication. For example, the content
requester may
optionally download the recorded content, and publish the downloaded recorded
content via
a website, broadcast television, broadcast radio, software applications, by
saving it to a file
sharing service, by publishing the content to a social media feed, etc.
[0074] Optionally, the requester may select a complete thread of
content and
comments for publication, and a publication system may be configured to then
publish the
content (e.g., video content, audio content, and/or textual content) in
sequential or other
order.
[0075] Optionally, in the foregoing example, rather than commenting
on content
submitted by another content provider, an expert/contributor may record a
question for
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another expert/contributor or for multiple experts/contributors (where a given
expert may be
requested to have already submitted content or where a given expert need not
have already
submitted content). The question and response(s) may be presented to the
content requester
in threaded fashion. As similarly discussed above, a publication system may be
configured
to then publish the content (e.g., video content, audio content, and/or
textual content) in
sequential, selected, or other order.
[0076] A given content contributor may have a profile. The profile
may include
some or all of the following information and/or other information: how much
the content
provider charges for different types of content (e.g., editorial content such
as news reporting,
opinion, or commentary, "commercial" content which may include incidental
product
placements and/or endorsements, wherein a given item of content may be paid or
unpaid
content, and/or may be provided under a previously existing contract) and/or
different
lengths of content, the types of content the content provider is interested in
creating, fields of
knowledge, job history (e.g., teams played for, positions played), hobbies,
personal interests,
age, gender, city of residence, shows in which a given personality has been or
will be part of
the cast, demographics of a given personality's fans, what endorsements deals
the personality
has (e.g., a sponsorship from an athletic wear or equipment company), etc. The
profile may
have been created by the content contributor or by a content requester (e.g.,
a publisher).
The profile data may be stored in a searchable content contributor profile
data store.
[0077] Optionally, a content creator may have created a profile, and
a given
content requester may add additional information to the content creator
profile. Thus, a first
content requester may have access to a first version of the content
contributor's profile,
where the first version includes the profile information provided by the
content contributor
and the customized information added by the first content requester. A second
content
requester may have access to a second version of the content contributor's
profile, where the
second version also includes the profile information provided by the content
contributor and
includes customized information added by the second content requester.
Optionally, a given
content requester may be prevented from accessing or viewing the customized
portion of a
profile entered by another content requester. Thus, different versions of a
profile for a given
content provider may be presented to different content requesters. Further,
the search engine
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may be configured to limit a content provider profile search of a given
content requester to
only profile information accessible to all content requesters (e.g., the
portion of the profile
entered by the content provider) and to profile information entered by the
given content
requester.
[0078] Optionally, a user interface is provided that enables a given
content
requester to specify whether other content requesters are to be provided with
access
customized profile information entered by the given content requester for a
given content
contributor. The sharing specification may be stored and used to determine who
is permitted
to access the customized portion of the given content contributor's profile.
[0079] Thus, for example, optionally, a publisher (e.g., a
television network, radio
network, web network, newspaper, etc.), may store profiles of their
actors/correspondents/personalities (collectively referred to as
"personalities" herein, unless
the context indicates otherwise). The profiles may indicate the personalities'
fields of
knowledge, their hobbies, personal interests, age, gender, shows in which a
given personality
has been or will be part of the cast, demographics of a given personality's
fans, what
endorsements deals the personality has (e.g., a sponsorship from an athletic
wear or
equipment company), etc. When an event occurs (e.g., at a sporting event, at a
movie
preview, a new product release, etc.), the system may identify, using a search
engine,
appropriate personalities to provide commentary regarding the event.
[0080] For example, a publisher may specify one or more desired
personality
characteristics. The characteristics may be specified in real-time, in
response to the event, or
the characteristics may have been pre-specified for the type of event, where
the specification
may be saved as a content submitter search query. For example, if the event is
the winning
of a baseball game by the Dodgers, and the content is to be presented as part
of a news alert
on a television program directed to teenagers, a personality search query may
specify that the
personality is to be between the ages of 13 and 19, be a fan of the Dodgers,
be an actor on a
comedy series, and be currently viewing the game (e.g., based on the
personality checking in
via the mobile device application).
[0081] By way of further example, if a publisher wishes to find a
content
contributor that played for a specific sports team or type of a specific
college, the publisher
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query may include the sports team name and/or the sports team type (e.g.,
women's
basketball) and/or the college name.
[0082] Optionally, the publisher may specify via the search user
interface or via a
publisher profile preferences user interface that the search results are to be
limited to only
those content contributors that the publisher has previously designated as
acceptable. For
example, the publisher may have entered into a content supply agreement (a
contract) with
one or more content contributors. The publisher may want to limit the search
results to only
those content contributors that the publisher has such an active agreement
with (where the
agreement is still in force). The publisher may be previously indicted, via an
uploaded list,
via a selection of contributors presented by the system, or otherwise such
acceptable
personalities.
[0083] The search engine may then process the search query and
identify, from
the stored profiles, personalities or other content contributors that satisfy
the query. As noted
elsewhere herein, a given profile may include information generally available
to all content
requesters and may include customized profile information that is only
searchable and
accessible by the content requester that provided the customized profile
information. Thus,
the search may be limited to profile information that the publisher is
permitted to search. A
list of matching personalities or other content contributors may be presented
to the publisher
(or other authorized entity). Optionally, the search engine may be configured
to execute
incremental searches as a user enters query characters. For example, the
search engine may
be configured to detect each character of query as it is being entered by the
user and identify
in substantially real time matches based on the current query term characters.
Such an
incremental search technique will often enable the user to find desired
matching personalities
or other content contributors without having to enter the entire personality
query.
[0084] Optionally, an interface is provided via which the user
(e.g., a publisher or
other content requester) can select one or more of the personalities or other
content
contributors included in the search results and save them as a list, with a
list name assigned
by the user. For example, if the search was for former Dodgers catchers, the
user can select
some or all of the personalities or other content contributors returned by the
search engine
and save the selection in a list entitled "Former Dodgers catchers"). The user
can then access
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and select this list (or a subset of the list personality entries) for future
content requests.
Optionally, when conducting a search, if the publisher has predefined sets of
content
contributors the publisher may instruct the system to limit the search to
those content
contributors in one or more specified predefined sets of content contributors.
Optionally, the
system restricts a given content requester's access to content contributors to
a subset of
content contributors. The restriction may be defined by a system operator, as
specified by
respective content contributors, and/or according to defined rules (e.g., a
rule may specify
that athletes are accessible to all requesters associated with a media
publisher). Thus, results
of a search conducted by a content requester may optionally be limited to
those content
contributors to which the requester is permitted access to by the system, and
will not include
those content contributors to which the requester is not permitted access to.
100851 The system may then automatically, or in response to a
selection by the
publisher, transmit the content request to one or more of the matching
personalities or other
content contributors. Optionally, a content submitter (e.g., a user responding
to a content
request) is prevented from submitting content during certain specified times
of days or from
certain specified locations. Optionally, a content submitter is prevented from
submitting
content recorded during certain specified times of days or recorded at certain
specified
locations. Optionally, instead, when a content submitter submits content
during certain
specified times of days or from certain specified locations, an alert
indication is stored in
association with the content, and such content is subjected to a more thorough
verification
and/or the content is not automatically approved even if a specified approval
period has
expired. An operator may specify such time periods and/or locations via a user
interface, and
the system may store the specification in memory. The operator may also
specify one or
more rules for how the content is to be processed if the content is being
submitted and/or
recorded within the specified time period and/or within the specified location
(e.g., a
geographical and/or named location, such as a stadium or restaurant). For
example, the
operator may specify that such content be prevented from being submitted
and/or published,
or that such content be subject to a higher level of scrutiny and verification
(e.g., operator
verification).
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[0086] When a content submitter (or other content submitter)
attempts to submit
content, the system may access the specifications and determine from metadata
associated
with the content (e.g., time and/or location data, such as GPS data) whether
the content is
being submitted within and/or recorded within the specified time period and/or
location.
[0087] For example, it may be determined that content providers
submitting
content between 12:00AM and 4:00AM often appear drowsy or may appear to be
inebriated.
Therefore, such content may often be undesirable and so may, as a rule,
automatically be
prevented from being submitted and/or published, or may be subject to a higher
level of
scrutiny and verification. Optionally, if content being submitted has an
associated recording
timestamp, the system may determine whether the timestamp falls within the
specified period
of time, and if so, the content may automatically be prevented from being
submitted and/or
published, or may be subject to a higher level of scrutiny and verification.
[0088] Similarly, certain locations may be considered potentially
undesirable.
For example, it may be undesirable to have certain types of content recorded
in a bar or at an
adult entertainment venue, because if the content includes a video track the
bar or adult
entertainment venue may be viewed in the background, and if the content
includes an audio
track, inappropriate language may be recorded. By way of further example, it
may be
undesirable to have content recorded at a venue associated with a competitor
of the content
requester/publisher. Therefore, such content may be undesirable and so may, as
a rule,
automatically be prevented from being submitted and/or published, or may be
subject to a
higher level of scrutiny and verification. Optionally, if content being
submitted has an
associated recording timestamp, the system may determine whether the timestamp
falls
within the specified period of time, and if so, the content may automatically
be prevented
from being submitted and/or published, or may be subject to a higher level of
scrutiny and
verification.
[0089] As discussed above, a content submitter may be compensated
for
providing content. Optionally, the compensation may be timed/event based. For
example, if
the content is received during a live sporting event broadcast where the
content may be used,
the responder may receive a relatively higher level than if the content is
received after the
live sporting event for use in a news report reporting on the sporting event.
Optionally, a
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responder may receive a relatively lower compensation for providing the
content if the
content is submitted in response to the request, but is not accepted.
Optionally, if the content
is not accepted by the requester within a specified period of time, the
ability of the requester
to accept the content may expire, and the content may be offered to others on
an exclusive (or
non-exclusive) basis. For example, if the content is not accepted by the
requester within a
specified period of time, the system may offer the content to other potential
users (e.g., media
partners), optionally with a designated acceptance period. Once that
acceptance period
passes without a purchase by such a media partner, or if the responder
indicated that they do
not want the content offered to other media partners, then the content may be
automatically
published out to social media (e.g., a microblog, a blog, a social network
page, etc.), some or
all of which may be hosted by the system or by third party systems. For
example, the system
may host a website where a given responder/content contributor (e.g., an
athlete or celebrity)
is provided a page or site, where the content provided in a response, as well
as other content
(e.g., videos, photos, text, conversations) may be posted in association with
ads or
sponsorships, enabling richer fan interactions, and generating revenue for
such content
providers.
[0090] Optionally, the requester may specify different amounts of
compensation
for different response times. For example, the requester may specify that the
responder will
receive $500 if the response is received within 5 minutes of the request being
submitted,
$300 if the response is received between 6-30 minutes of the request being
submitted, and
$150 if the response is received between 31 minutes and 4 hours of the request
being
submitted. In this example, the requester may specify that the offer expires
if the content is
not received within 4 hours of the request being submitted. In addition to or
instead of
specifying relative time, the request may specify absolute time periods. For
example,
requester may specify that the responder will receive $500 if the response is
received by 1:15
PM, $300 if the response is received between 1:16PM-1:45PM, and $150 if the
response is
received between 1:46PM and 5:45PM.
[0091] Optionally, a point system may be used in addition to or
instead of the
currency payment system described herein. For example, a responder may be
awarded a first
set of points (e.g., 5 points or other number of points) for submitting a
response to a requester
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(e.g., video, audio, and/or text media), and may be awarded a second number of
points (e.g.,
3 to 10 times as many points as the first number of points), if the requester
uses the submitted
response (e.g., by broadcasting it via television, radio, webpage, SMS
message, or email).
Optionally, the system may enable the responder to convert the points to an
item of value,
such as currency, a gift card, a product, and/or a service. Optionally, some
or all of the items
of value may be provisioned by a sponsor seeking to advertise their product
and/or service.
For example, a golf equipment company may provide golfing equipment which the
responder
would "purchase" via the system or otherwise using points. The sponsor may
obtain the
benefit of having a well-known responder (e.g., a well-known athlete) use
their product
and/or service, and may optionally be entitled to identify, via advertisements
or otherwise,
that the responder uses the sponsor's products and/or services. Optionally,
the sponsor may
specify that in order to receive the item of value, the responder needs to
include the item in a
video response that includes the responder (e.g., for product placement).
Optionally, the
responder may need to have at least a threshold amount of points in order to
exchange the
points for an item of value. Optionally, a given point may be assigned a
certain currency
value (e.g., each point or each 10 points equal one dollar).
[0092] The requester may be provided with an exclusive right to
utilize the
accepted content for a specified time period or indefinitely, number of views,
and/or for one
or more specified distribution channels (e.g., television, radio, print,
etc.). For example, the
length of exclusivity may be based on the fee, wherein the relatively larger
the fee for a given
item of content, the relatively longer the period of exclusivity. Optionally,
once the period of
exclusivity ends, the content may be automatically published via one or more
other
publication channels and/or control of the content may be transferred to the
system operator
or to the content contributor. For example, the content, or a portion thereof,
may
automatically be published on a micro-blogging site, a conventional blog, a
social
networking site, via email, via short messaging service message, and/or
otherwise.
Optionally, at least partly in response to the expiration of the exclusivity
or a date related
thereto, a notification is posted on a social networking site associated with
the publisher
and/or the content contributor (or elsewhere) regarding the loss of
exclusivity and/or
indicating (with text, a link, or otherwise) where else the content can now be
found (e.g., on
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the content contributor's social network page). Instead or in addition, the
notification may be
provided via a microblog, text message, email, or otherwise. Optionally, once
the requester
has published the content, the content contributor may be enabled to
(immediately, or after a
specified period of time) repost the content or a link to the content via a
micro-blogging site,
a conventional blog, a social networking site, via email, via short messaging
service message,
and/or otherwise. Optionally, the system may enable the content contributor to
post the
content (e.g., to a social media page associated with the content contributor)
whether or not
the requester has published the content (e.g., substantially immediately after
the content is
submitted by the content contributor). Optionally, the system will inhibit the
content
contributor from posting the content until approval is received from the
content requester.
For example, the system may automatically (or in response to a content
contributor request)
transmit an approval request to the content requester in response to receiving
content, and
upon receiving approval from the content requester, enable the content
contributor to post the
content.
[0093] The publication channels may be associated with the responder
and/or the
system operator. For example, the content may be published on the
contributor's social
networking page and/or microblog after the exclusivity expiration. Advertising
(e.g., from
sponsors that pay a fee) may be provided on such a site, where the revenue may
be shared by
the responder and the content distribution facilitation system. During the
period of
exclusivity, the system may ensure that the accepted content is not
distributed via the system
to other requesters during the period. Optionally, when an exclusivity period
expires, a
notification may be transmitted by the system to the requester and to the
corresponding
responder regarding the expiration of the exclusivity.
[0094] Optionally, the requester is not granted exclusive rights.
Optionally, the
requester is assigned ownership of the content.
[0095] For example, if during a live sporting event, such as a
baseball game, a
notable event occurs (e.g., a player hitting four home runs in a game, a
record breaking event,
a unusual event, a notable statistic, etc.), a broadcaster of the live event
may want to request
that other players that have achieved the same feat provide commentary
regarding the feat
while the game is still in progress to enhance the excitement of the game
broadcast and to
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add a social networking aspect to the game broadcast. The broadcaster may
submit, via a
user interface provided by the system, a request for such commentary during
the game (e.g.,
almost immediately after the event occurred) and may specify that the query is
to be directed
to athletes, and in particular to other players that have previously achieved
the feat. The
request may specify the subject that the athlete is to discuss (e.g., how they
feel regarding
another athlete achieving the feat). The requester may also specify a response
deadline, the
media type for the response (e.g., video (including an audio track), static
images (e.g.,
photographs), audio only track, text, etc.), and other response criteria via
the user interface.
For example, the response criteria may specify a response length.
100961 Optionally, potential responders may have an application or
application
programming interface (API) installed on their devices that detect certain
actions being
performed by the responders. For example, the application may detect in real
time if a
responder is viewing a program, such as a sporting event, and may identify
which program is
being watched, and may transmit such detection to the content distribution
facilitation
system. Optionally, the application prompts the potential responder to
indicate (e.g., by
tapping on a corresponding control or otherwise) that he or she is (or is not)
watching a
specific program, and the application will cause the indication to be
transmitted to the
content distribution facilitation system. Optionally, with or without being
requested by a
particular content requester, or by the application, the potential responder
may check-in via
an application, wherein the check-in indicates which event the potential
responder plans on
or is currently attending (e.g., a particular baseball game) or viewing. The
potential
responder may in addition or instead check-in to a particular publisher (e.g.,
a particular
network). The requester may specify that the request is to be provided to
potential
responders that are currently watching a specified program. For example, the
request may
specify that the responder is to comment on an event that just took place in
the program (e.g.,
hitting of a home run or a triple play). Optionally, if the request includes a
response
deadline, one or more reminder notifications may be generated and provided to
the potential
responder via the application. For example, a reminder may be generated two
hours before
the deadline expiration, one hour before the deadline expiration, and 30
minutes before the
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deadline expiration. Optionally, a content submitter can submit content
unprompted. For
example, optionally the content submitted can submit content for a live-feed.
[0097] Optionally, in addition to or instead of requesting a
recorded submission,
the requester may request that a responder participate in a live
interview/discussion, either
substantially immediately (e.g., within 1 minute, 5, minutes, 10 minutes, 30
minutes, or 1
hour of the request) or at some specified date/time (e.g., September 30, 2013
at 11:00AM).
One or more responders may agree to the request and the requester may engage
one or more
of such responders. Optionally, a responder may participate in the
interview/discussion using
the responder's mobile device (e.g., mobile telephone) camera and/or
microphone to capture
video and/or voice. Other devices, such as a desktop computer, laptop
computer, tablet
computer, television, game console, etc. that are coupled to a camera and/or
microphone may
be used to capture the responder's video and/or voice and to transmit them in
substantially
real-time (e.g., with less than a second lag) via the system described herein
or other system.
Likewise, the responder device may be used to receive video and audio from the
requester,
enabling the requester and responder to engage in an audio-video discussion.
[0098] By way of illustration, if the response is to be a video or
audio response,
the request may specify the minimum and/or maximum time length of the
response, and if
the response is text, the request may specify minimum and/or maximum number of
words
and/or characters. By way of further example, if the response is video or a
still image, the
response criteria may include orientation (e.g., landscape or portrait), which
may be selected
based at least in part to the target content reproduction device (e.g.,
television sets, phones,
tablet computers, desktop computers, etc.), and/or desired resolution of the
video and/or
image quality.
[0099] The requester may also indicate a desired period of time of
exclusivity
and/or a desired exclusive form of distribution. Corresponding fees may be
specified by the
system to the requester for different lengths of exclusivity and/or avenues of
distribution.
Optionally, the requester may specify the fees the requester is willing to pay
for the same, as
part of the request criteria. Optionally, no fee is to be paid by the
requester. For example, a
potential responder may wish to provide content as a form of self-promotion,
even in the
absence of a fee. Optionally, a requester (e.g., a publisher) may have pre-
negotiated an
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arrangement with one or more content contributors to provide content (e.g.,
without any fee;
with a fixed fee for an event or period of time, with a per item of content
fee, and/or a fee for
each item of content used) on an exclusive or a non-exclusive basis. For
example, a
publisher may have retained a content contributor to provide a specified
number of items of
content over a specified time period or for a specific event on a non-
exclusive basis without a
fee. By way of further example, a publisher may have retained a content
contributor to
provide content (without specifying the number of items) over a specified time
period on an
exclusive basis for a specified fee.
101001 Using the requester criteria, the system may search its
database of
potential responders, such as athletes, actors, celebrities, experts,
designers, artists,
musicians, etc., for potential responders whose stored profiles match the
requester criteria
and that have agreed to receive such requests. For example, the database may
include
profiles of athletes, such as baseball players, which may include various
statistics, events,
and achievements from some or all of the games they have played in (including
those that
result from an aggregation of achievements over multiple games, such as how
many games
the player has played in a row, or how may games in a row the player has hit a
home run).
The system may transmit the request to matching potential responders, where
the request
may include some or all of the requester specified response criteria. By way
of example, the
request may be transmitted to a potential responder via email, short messaging
service (e.g.,
SMS, MMS, etc.), instant messaging service, an application (sometimes referred
to as an
"app") downloaded to or otherwise installed on a potential recipient device
(e.g. a mobile
phone, tablet computer, entertainment device, etc.), and/or otherwise. For
example, as noted
above, the notification may be provided as an "in-app" notification by an
application
installed on the responder's mobile phone, tablet computer, or entertainment
device.
101011 Optionally, a given potential responder that receives the
request may
record the content requested via a mobile device, such as a phone. For
example, a phone
application may be configured to both present the request and enable the
recording of the
response content, optionally at the same time. By way of illustration, if the
request includes
a request for video content of the recipient, the application may activate a
front facing camera
of the phone and present a user interface on the phone display showing the
image being
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captured by the front facing camera, where the request may be displayed at the
same time. A
record control may be provided. When the recipient activates the record
control, a recording
of the recipient (e.g., discussing the subject matter included in the request)
is initiated. A
timer (e.g., a countdown counter) may be presented while the recording is in
process which
may count down a time corresponding to the requested length of the video
content. For
example, the request transmitted to the user phone application may include the
requested
length, and the application may load the timer with a corresponding time.
Optionally, once
the timer has reached a certain value (e.g., 0), the recording may be
automatically halted by
the application. Optionally, instead, the recording may continue until the
recipient activates a
stop or pause control (optionally an indication is provided that the recording
has exceeded the
requested length). The recorded content may be transmitted to the content
distribution
facilitation system or the content distribution facilitation system may
otherwise access the
content.
[0102] Optionally, a content item may be divided into subsets or
chunks for
transmission to reduce the probability of an error occurring during
transmission of the
content item and having to re-transmit the entire content item again. By way
of example, a
chunk may be packetized for transmission over a packet network (e.g., an IP
network) and
may include verification data (e.g., a checksum). If the receiving system
detects an error
with respect to a chunk (e.g., a failure to receive the corresponding packet
or a defect in the
received packet) it may transmit a request to the system that sent the packet
to resend that
packet/chunk.
[0103] Optionally, the application may continue transmitting a
content item to the
content distribution facilitation system even when the application is running
in the
background after the content contributor has finished interacting with the
application and the
application is no longer being displayed.
[0104] Thus, one or more responses, including requested content or
links thereto,
may be provided by the requested recipients. The responses may be received by
content
distribution facilitation system. The content distribution facilitation system
may forward the
responses to the requester or otherwise notify the requester and enable the
requester to access
the responses. For example, a user interface provided by the content
distribution facilitation
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system to the requester via a requester terminal may display a listing of
responses from
which the requester can select. Optionally, a watermark may be embedded in the
content
provided to the requester for review, to prevent or discourage the use of the
content until
accepted by the requester and/or paid for by the requester. For example, with
respect to
video or image content, the watermark may be visual. With respect to audio
content, the
watermark may be audible. The content may be provided without the watermark
once
accepted by the requester.
[0105] In an example embodiment, the requester may access the
responses via a
list presented in a web page provided for display by the system, via a
dedicated software
application, or otherwise. The requester may click on a control, such as a
view control,
presented in association with a respective response entry, and the
corresponding response is
presented (e.g., presented as text, video, and/or audio). The requester may
then provide, via a
user interface, an indication of acceptance of one or more of the responses.
The acceptance
may be recorded by the system and the system may then charge or invoice the
requester for
the accepted responses. The accepted response may then be automatically
downloaded to the
requester system or the accepted response may be downloaded in response to
receiving a
specific download instruction from the requester (via the requester system).
[0106] Optionally, an interface may be provided enabling the
requester to specify
reasons as to why the requester did not accept a given response (e.g., the
video quality was
poor, the camera was shaky, the sound quality was poor, the content was
uninteresting, the
content included objectionable content (e.g., obscene language, racist
language, etc.)). A
notification may be transmitted to the responders indicating acceptance or non-
acceptance of
respective responses (optionally including reasons for non-acceptance provided
by the
requester), and a confirmation of the acceptance may be transmitted to the
requester.
[0107] Optionally, content not accepted by the requester may then be
offered to
others for use on an exclusive or non-exclusive basis (e.g., where the
requester affirmatively
specifies that the content is not accepted or a predetermined period of time
elapses without an
acceptance by the requester and so the content is designated by the system as
"not-
accepted"). For example, other potential licensees/purchasers of the content
may be provided
by the system with a search interface where they can enter search queries to
identify content
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they may be interested in. By way of further example, such interface may
include fields
enabling a searcher to specify subject matter criteria (e.g., home runs),
author criteria (e.g., a
pitcher), content specifications (e.g., format, length, type (e.g., audio
video, audio only,
images, etc.), availability of exclusive rights, and/or other criteria
discussed herein with
respect to requester-specified criteria. The system may then return matching
search results
(if any), with an associated control enabling the searcher to specify they
want to
licensee/purchase a given item of content identified in the search results.
Optionally, the
responder may correct the issue(s) identified by the requester and may
resubmit the corrected
content which the requester may or may not accept, as similarly described
above.
[0108] After the requester has accepted and received the content
(e.g., via a
download to the requester system), the requester may publish the accepted
content
accordingly (e.g., in a television program, radio program, online news
program, etc.).
Optionally, the requester may inform the system where (e.g., which channel,
station, online
media, URL, etc.) and when (e.g., time and date) the content will be
published, and the
system will cause a notification to be presented to potential consumers,
indicating where and
when they can find and view (and/or listen to) the content. Optionally, such a
notification is
posted on a social networking site associated with the publisher and/or the
content
contributor indicating (with text, a link, or otherwise) where and when the
content can be
found. Instead or in addition, the notification may be provided via a
microblog, text
message, email, or otherwise by the system, content provider, and/or
publisher. Optionally,
in addition to or instead of the link, the content itself may be posted.
[0109] Optionally, an editing application may be provided to enable
manual
and/or automatic editing of content via a web-based application or an
application hosted on
the requester's system. For example, a user interface may be provided via
which the
requester can requests that specified edits may be to the content. For
example, the
application may be configured to perform one or more of the following: trim
the duration of
the video to a specified length by trimming the video on one or both ends; add
pre-roll or
post-roll bumpers (where a bumper is a short video clip (e.g., 5-15 seconds in
duration);
and/or adding watermarks overlaid onto an image or video included in the
content.
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101101 Further non-limiting examples of the type of criteria that
may be specified
by a requester will now be described. A user interface may be provided
enabling the user to
specify, by way of example:
[0111] region (e.g., city),
[0112] sport,
[0113] team,
[0114] accomplishments (all-star, Cy Young award winner, Heisman trophy
winner, specified RBI range, specified stolen base range, specified number of
consecutive games in which the responder accomplished a specified act,
specified
number of singles, doubles, and/or triples per game, specified number of at
bats,
specified passing, rushing, receiving, punting, kick, touchdown
accomplishments,
etc.),
[0115] age range (athletes over 40),
[0116] medical condition or procedure (e.g., having a type of surgery, such as
ligament reconstruction surgery, having numbness in a limb),
[0117] which years played and/or under what coaches,
[0118] which bowl games played,
[0119] which positions played,
[0120] which and how many season games played in,
[0121] which and how many post-season/playoff game(s) played in,
[0122] which and how many world series games played in, etc.
[0123] By way of further example, for movie or television related
content, the
criteria may specify:
[0124] profession type (e.g., actor, writer, director, editor, composer, set
designer, comedian, musician, producer, analyst, anchor, correspondent,
reporter,
sideline reporter, other, etc.),
[0125] award-types won (e.g., Academy Award, People's Choice Award,
Critics Award, Emmy Awards etc.),
[0126] award category (e.g., Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor,
Best Supporting Actress),
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[0127] movies appeared in or otherwise participated in,
[0128] television shows appeared in or otherwise participated in,
[0129] etc.
[0130] By way of further illustration, an online newspaper or other
news site may
be publishing an article regarding a crime, such as a murder. The publisher
may want audio
commentary regarding the crime from a psychologist. The publisher may submit a
request to
the system for audio content, of a specified length, commenting on the subject
of the crime,
from a psychologist having an expertise in criminal psychology. The system may
identify
psychologists meeting the publisher's criteria, and transmit the request to
some or all of the
identified psychologists. Optionally, in addition or instead, the publisher
may specify/select
a particular content contributor via a user interface to whom the request is
to be transmitted.
The responses, including audio content, may be received by the system and made
available to
the publisher (e.g., via a website, dedicated application, or otherwise). The
publisher may
listen to the audio content from several or all of the responses from the
psychologists. The
publisher may accept a response. The publisher may then embed in the article a
link to the
audio content. A user can then read the article and activate the link in order
to hear the audio
content.
[0131] An application programming interface may be provided enabling
third
party systems to gain access to some or all of the services provided by the
content
distribution facilitation system. The operator of a third system may pay a
licensing fee for
such access.
[0132] The operator of the system may utilize one or more fee
arrangements to
obtain compensation for the services provided and to reimburse the fees paid
to content
providers. By way of example, publishers may pay a periodic subscription fee
in order to
utilize the system and obtain the right (e.g., the exclusive right for a least
a period of time) to
utilize content provided by content providers (e.g., athletes, celebrities,
medical personal,
etc.) and accepted by the requester. Optionally, the subscription service may
only enable the
requester to issue requests for and/or accept a specified number of items of
content within a
specified period of time (e.g., the requester may only be permitted to submit
5 requests per
month).
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[0133] Compensation may also be received from sponsors and
advertisers.
Optionally, a content contributor responding to a request may be compensated
in whole or in
part via compensation sponsored by a third party (e.g., that wants to
advertise its goods,
services, or brand name). For example, a contributor may be given a gift card
(which may be
a new gift card or a recharge of value of a gift card previously distributed
to the contributor)
for each submission (or for a specified number of submissions), the gift card
provided in
association with an advertisement from a sponsor that is paying for all or a
portion of the gift
card value.
101341 Optionally, in addition or instead, the content contributor
may be provided
with a portion of the revenue from a sponsor sponsoring a show, newspaper, or
other medium
using and distributing the content. For example, if the content is a 1 minute
video of an
athlete content contributor being displayed during a broadcast of a live game,
the video may
be introduced as "this minute of baseball starring John Smith is presented by
[sponsor
name]". The sponsor may pay to have their brand associated with the video, and
the athlete
may receive some or all of the sponsorship fees. Optionally, the content
contributor may be
paid a fixed amount. Optionally, certain requesters (e.g., companies) may
request the
responder (e.g., a celebrity, such as an athlete or actor) to perform product
placement acts
and compensate the responder accordingly. For example, a company may request,
and pay a
fee for certain celebrities to say "Happy Mother's Day" while holding a food
product
provided by the company. By way of further example, certain requesters (e.g.,
companies)
may request that the responder include the requester's logo (e.g., via a
watermark or
otherwise) into videos submitted by the responder in response to a request
from the requester
offering payment for inclusion of the logo and/or to requests from other
requesters and/or for
videos distributed by one or more specified media partners. The logo may be
provided by
the requester and inserted by the responder, the system, or otherwise.
[0135] Optionally, the amount, if any, the content contributor is
paid for his or her
contribution may vary and may be determined based on one or more of the
following factors
and/or other factors:
[0136] length/size of content;
[0137] type of content (e.g., video, audio, text);
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101381 type of use by publisher (e.g., television, radio, printed newspaper,
online newspaper, online broadcast, blog, pushed out to users (e.g., via
email, SMS,
website, microblog, etc.), etc.);
[0139] timing of the provision of the content from the contributor (e.g., how
long after the content request was submitted the content was received by the
publisher);
[0140] length of exclusivity;
[0141] identity of the contributor (e.g., how famous or popular the
contributor
is);
[0142] etc.
101431 Optionally, a requester can request items other than
publishable content.
For example, a requester may specify that they want a specific type of item of
memorabilia
from a specific potential responder and/or from a responder selected from a
group of
responders that satisfy the requester's criteria. As similarly described
above, the criteria may
be specified via a user interface provided by the system. For example, the
requester may
request a signed baseball from a specific baseball player, or the requester
may request a
signed baseball from any current player on a specified baseball team. The
requester may also
specify a time frame in which the memorabilia needs to be received by the
requester. For
example, the requester may want to ensure that the memorabilia is received by
a designated
gift recipient in time for the gift recipient's birthday.
[0144] The system may access its database to identify potential
responders that
satisfy the requester criteria, and transmit the request to some or all of the
identified potential
responders. If a potential responder accepts the request, the system may
receive the
acceptance and notify other potential responders that the request has been
taken and is no
longer available to service. The responder that accepted the request then
provides the
requested memorabilia to the requester. A fixed fee may be specified for
different types of
memorabilia, or the requester may specify in the request how much they are
willing to pay
for the memorabilia, and the potential responder may determine whether they
want to satisfy
the request based at least in part on the fee amount. The responder is
correspondingly
compensated and the requester is correspondingly charged.
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[0145] The foregoing process may be similarly performed by the
system for other
types of requests. For example, a requester may request that a specific
potential responder
(e.g., a specified athlete, musical performer, actor, celebrity, etc.) or a
potential responder
satisfying criteria specified by the user, provide a recorded video of the
potential responder
singing happy birthday, wherein the rendition of happy birthday is to include
the recitation of
a specified recipient of the video (e.g., a boy or girl whose birthday it is).
By way of further
example, the request may be a request to answer a question by the requester
(e.g., regarding a
statistic, opinion (e.g., who was the best play at a specified position) or a
personal fact of the
potential responder. Optionally, the request may include text that the
responder is to recite in
the response (e.g., where the text may include the name of a host of a show on
which the
content is to be used, such as "Hello, Joe, let me tell you what I think of
the last play ..").
Such requests and responses may be processed as similarly discussed above, and
the content
may be provided to the requester and/or directly to a specified gift recipient
(e.g., via a video
download file, streaming media, a DVD, or otherwise).
[0146] Optionally, the system enables users (e.g., celebrities,
athletes, etc.) to
create unsolicited content and offer the content to potential content
consumers (e.g.,
publishers, individual end-users, etc.). The user may tag the content with
appropriate
descriptors. For example, the tags may indicate the media type, the media
length, the media
content subject matter, the user's credentials and/or resume information
(e.g., the user's
profession, awards, notable accomplishments, area of expertise, etc.), the use
fee, etc. The
user may also specify specific users (e.g., producers or broadcasters of
specific television
shows) and/or specific types of users (e.g., producers or broadcasters of
sports programs) to
whom the content offer is to be made. The content offer may then be sent out
to the potential
consumer(s) as specified by the user.
[0147] Optionally, the user (content contributor), a requester
(e.g., publisher),
and/or system operator may be able to specify that a given user is to be
accessible only to one
requester or to a specified set or classes of requesters Optionally the
accessibility restrictions
may be limited to one or more specified subject areas (e.g., sports, movies,
television, music,
medicine, legal matters, etc.), for a specific event (e.g., a particular
sports tournament, game,
or trial), and/or may be limited to a specific period of time (e.g., one year,
a specific sports
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season, etc.). The system will then store such accessibility information in
the user profile
information and/or elsewhere. Optionally, the user will be excluded from
search results
presented to other content requesters during such an exclusivity period or
event and/or for
requests related to the subject matter for which there is exclusivity.
Optionally, if a requester
(e.g., publisher) indicates some form of exclusivity with respect to a user
(content
contributor), the system will transmit a communication (e.g., an email, text
message, web
page notification, etc.) to the user (content contributor) asking for
confirmation. If the user
confirms the requester-specified exclusivity, then the system will store the
exclusivity
information in association with the user profile information with an
indication that the
exclusivity information is in force. If the user (content contributor)
responds with an
exclusivity denial, optionally the system will not store the exclusivity
indication in
association with the user profile information with an indication that the
exclusivity
information is in force. Optionally, in response to such a denial indication
the system will
transmit a notification to the requester regarding the exclusivity denial.
[0148] Optionally, when a requester submits a search query for
content
contributors, the system will determine if a given content contributor is
exclusive to another
requester (e.g., based on time period, event, and/or subject matter). If the
system determines
that the given content contributor is exclusive to another requester, the
system will exclude
that content contributor from the search results returned by the system.
Optionally, when a
requester submits a search query for content contributors, the system will
determine if the
requester has been granted access to a given content contributor. If the
system determines
that the requester has not been given access to a given content contributor,
the system will
exclude that content contributor from the search results returned by the
system.
[0149] Optionally a requester (e.g., a publisher) may make an
arrangement (e.g.,
with the system operator) to make one or more content contributors exclusive
based on
content contributor characteristics (e.g., profession, team, player position,
player statistics,
awards won, location, gender, age, profession, expertise, other
characteristics disclosed
herein, etc.), rather than based on the identity of the content contributors.
For example, a
publisher may request exclusivity with respect to all former players of a
specified team for a
specified game, optionally without specifying specific player names.
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11501 Optionally, prior to storing the new exclusivity information
with an
indication that the exclusivity information is in force in association with
the profile
information for a given content contributor, the system will inspect and
validate that the new
exclusivity information specified for the given content provider does not
conflict with
previously specified exclusivity information that is still in force. For
example, the system
may compare the previously specified exclusivity information from a first
content requester
with the newly specified exclusivity information from a second content
requester to
determine if there is an impermissible overlap in subject areas, events,
and/or time period. If
there is an overlap, a message may be generated and transmitted to the content
requester that
provided the new exclusivity information, the message indicating that the new
exclusivity
information is in conflict with previous, in force exclusivity information,
and that the new
exclusivity information will not be approved. In the event of such conflicting
overlap, the
system will not store the new exclusivity information with an indication that
the exclusivity
information is in force in association with the profile information for the
given content
contributor.
101511 Optionally, the system may access accounts of potential
consumers of the
content, and determine if the potential content consumers have requested to be
notified when
content that meets specified criteria has become available for publishing. The
system may
compare the specified criteria from one or more potential content consumers
with the tags,
and if there is a sufficient match (and optionally only if the potential
consumers match the
user's criteria), notify potential content consumers of the content which they
may accept or
not accept as similarly described above, and for which compensation may be
paid as
similarly discussed above.
101521 For example, an athlete may want to make a significant
announcement by
recording a video offering it via the system to different media partners.
Optionally, rather
than offering an already recorded video, the athlete offer may state a subject
regarding which
the athlete is willing to provide content on. For example, if an athlete was
recently in an
accident which ended his professional playing career, the offer may be an
offer to record a
video where the athlete would discuss his feelings and health. The offer may
specify a price,
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format (e.g., encoding type (e.g., MP4, AVI, MOV, etc.), number of pixels in
the height and
width dimensions, etc.) and/or length.
[0153] Optionally, the system includes a bidding engine enabling
potential
content consumers to bid on the content (or the offer to record the content).
The auction
winner's rights may include exclusive access to the content, time-limited
exclusive access,
distribution-limited access, and non-exclusive rights.
[0154] If the offer is an offer to record content, an accepting
media partner may
specify a length, format, and content details that the media partner expects
or requires with
respect to the content to be recorded by the athlete. Optionally, the athlete
may refuse the
media partner's acceptance if the requirements set forth by the media partner
are not
acceptable to the athlete.
[0155] The system operator may, in certain embodiments, retain or be
paid a
percentage of a fee paid by requester or a sponsor, or a flat fee, for the use
of a given item of
content or a certain number of content items. The system operator may, in
certain
embodiments, be paid a portion of advertising and/or sponsorship fees
associated with the
use of an item of content. The content contributors may optionally specify
charities or other
non-profits to which some or all of the compensation due to the contributor
may be
contributed.
[0156] Optionally, the system operator may submit requests to
potential
responders on its own behalf, where the system operator may act as a
publisher. For
example, the system operator may submit a question to multiple athletes
regarding an event
(e.g., "identify and discuss the most satisfying pitch you have thrown") and
assemble content
from some or all the responses into a single item of content. The system
operator may then
license the assembled content (and/or the individual responses) to a third
party and/or post
the assembled content (and/or the individual responses) on a site, such as a
publically
accessible website.
[0157] Certain embodiments may track how many items of content a
given user
has submitted and/or how many items of submitted content have been accepted.
Such
contributing users may be ranked based on such tracked information, and the
rankings may
be published via social media (e.g., social network, blog, etc.), or
otherwise. This may
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incentivize users to increase their content contributions and the quality of
their content
contributions.
[0158] Referring to Figure 1, an example process is illustrated. At
state 102,
profile information for potential contributors is received and stored in a
database as similarly
described above. At state 104, account information for potential content
publishers is
received and stored (e.g., publisher name, content information, payment
related information
(e.g., a payment source identifier, such as a credit card or deposit account),
etc.). At state
106, a request for content from a content publisher is received at a system.
As discussed
above, the request may include criteria describing responders and/or may
specify particular
selected responders that should be targeted with the request (e.g., an athlete
that had achieved
a specified milestone), and the type of content desired (e.g., a 2 minute
video wherein the
athlete describes his feels at achieving the milestone). The request may
specify a deadline
for providing a response, the amount of compensation that will be paid, a
desired period of
exclusivity, the type of use to which the content will be put, and/or other
information. The
request may include content, such as a video file or image, or a link to a
video file or image,
that responders are requested to provide comments on (e.g., in the form of
video comments)
in their submission. For example, the video file may include a segment from a
sporting event
(e.g., a knockout in a boxing match) or a television show (e.g., a statement
from a guest on a
talk show) that the responders are being requested to provide comments on. For
example, the
system operator may create a channel on a third party site that hosts video
content.
[0159] By way of example, a media request user interface may be
provided to a
potential content publisher. The user interface may ask to identify a field of
interest (e.g.,
sports, entertainment, etc.). If, for example, the content publisher selects
sports, a menu of
sports/sports leagues may be presented to the content publisher from which the
content
publisher may select. For example, the menu may list Major League Baseball
(MLB),
National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL),
National Hockey
League (NHL), and/or other sports leagues. Based at least in part on the
league/sports
selection, the system may optionally select a sport attributes user interface
to display to the
publisher. For example, the sport attributes user interface may list teams
corresponding to
the selected league, player positions corresponding to the league sport (e.g.,
baseball player
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positions, football player positions, etc.), non-player professions (e.g.,
agent, coach, scout,
medical, etc.) from which the publisher may select. The publisher's selections
may then be
received and stored by the system as request criteria. Optionally, the
publisher may also
have previously defined a "favorites" list of experts. A user interface may
optionally be
provided to the publisher listing the favorites that meet some or all of the
other request
criteria specified by the publisher, where the publisher can select one or
more of the favorites
to whom the request should be sent to.
[0160] At state 108, the system utilizes at least a portion of the
requester specified
criteria to identify profiles of potential contributors in the database that
sufficiently match
and/or receives the selection of particular contributors by the requester to
access their
profiles. At state 110, the content request is transmitted to the identified
matching potential
contributors and/or the requester-selected contributors. At state 112,
responses are received
by the system from one or more potential contributors. The content may
optionally be stored
with tags corresponding to some or all of the request criteria (e.g., sport,
position, player,
team, etc.), time stamped (e.g., with date/time of receipt), and assigned a
state of "pending".
At state 114, the publisher is provided access to the response(s), including
the content. The
content may be watermarked before providing the publisher access to the
content. At state
116, the system receives a selection and acceptance of at least one response
from the
publisher. At state 118, the system optionally transmits a notification
acceptance to the
corresponding responder and optionally assigns the content a status of
"complete". At state
120, the responder whose content was accepted is optionally compensated and
the publisher
is charged for the content. Optionally, the system operator also receives
compensation as
similarly described above. The publisher may then be provided the content
without the
watermark (e.g., as a download file, a link, via streaming media, or
otherwise). At state 122,
a determination is optionally made as to whether the period of exclusivity has
ended. If the
period of exclusivity has ended, optionally the content may be published via a
social media
platform and/or offered to other publishers for publication.
[0161] Figure 8 illustrates an example process for setting up rules
for verifying
that content submitted by a user meets one or more rules defined by a
requester or by a third
party whose rules or guidelines the content needs to satisfy in order for the
content to be
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published/broadcast. The process may be performed using the content
distribution
facilitation system described elsewhere herein (which optionally includes
verification
system) or by a separate verification system. At block 802, one or more rules
specified by a
requester and/or by an authorized third party are received at the system. The
rules may be
provided via an electronic form presented on a device, transmitted over a
network to the
verification system, and stored in a rules database in association with an
account identifier of
the requester and/or the authorized third party. By way of example, a given
rule may specify
that if certain types of content are included in content submitted by a user,
the user is to be
notified and the content is not to be provided to the requester. At block 804,
prohibited
content and/or permitted content specifications are received from the
requester and/or
authorized third party. For example, the prohibited or permitted content may
include
specified subjects, specified phrases (which may be individual words or
strings of words).
The prohibited content and/or permitted content specifications may be provided
via an
electronic form presented on a device, transmitted over a network to the
verification system,
and may be stored in a subject and phrases database in association with an
account identifier
of the requester and/or the authorized third party. By way of further example,
phrases may
be received via text entries and/or audio files that include spoken versions
of the phrases.
[0162] At block 806, verification routing information is specified.
For example,
the routing information may specify a verification operator that may review
the content or
double check the results of an automatic verification process as described
herein.
[0163] Figure 9 illustrates an example verification process. The
process may be
performed using the content distribution facilitation system described
elsewhere herein or by
a separate verification system. At block 902, content is received from a user
device (e.g.,
from a camera equipped mobile device, such as a phone, from a camera equipped
television,
from a laptop or desktop computer, from an audio recording device, from a game
console,
etc.) at the system.
[0164] The content may be received indirectly, such as from a cloud-
based
storage system. Thus, for example, the user device may be equipped with an
application
configured to upload content to the cloud-based system via an API. The content
distribution
facilitation system or the content requester system may then download the
content from the
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cloud-based storage system via an API using an application hosted on the
content distribution
facilitation system or the content requester system. This technique may reduce
peak network
bandwidth loading and/or local storage requirements. Optionally instead, the
content may be
received and stored by the content distribution facilitation system and the
content distribution
facilitation system may provide the content requester with a user interface
enabling the
content requester to download the content to a content requester system, or
may instruct the
system to upload the content to a cloud-based storage system in association
with an account
of the content requester. The content requester may then access the content
from the cloud-
based system at a later time using a content requester system.
[0165] At block 904, the system identifies the user, the content
requester, the
content verifier (responsible for performing or for double checking the
verification), and/or
the channel(s) of publication (e.g., print publication, broadcast television,
broadcast radio,
internet media, cable television, cable radio, satellite radio, etc.). For
example, the user may
be identified from information transmitted in conjunction with the content,
such as the user's
email address, metadata transmitted by a dedicated application used to
transmit the content,
information provided by the user or the user browser (e.g., if the content is
uploaded via a
browser), or otherwise. The content requester and/or channel(s) of publication
may be
identified from metadata provided by the system to a dedicated application
(e.g., wherein the
dedicated application used to transmit the content to the system, along with
the metadata
(previously received from the system) to the system), from information
provided by the user
or the user browser (e.g., if the content is uploaded via a browser), or
otherwise.
[0166] At block 906, the system uses the identification of the user,
the content
requester, the content verifier, and/or the channels of publication to
identify and locate the
corresponding applicable rules and prohibited and/or permitted content
specifications (e.g.,
from a data store, such as a rules, subject and phrases database). At block
908, a
determination is made as to whether the content complies with the
corresponding rules. For
example, if the user submitting content is an athlete on a professional sports
team, and the
requester is a sports network, and the publication channel is cable
television, the rules may
specify that the content is not to be accepted if it includes subject matter
identified as
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prohibited in the prohibited content specifications. If the content does
comply with the rules,
then at block 916, the system enables the content requester to publish the
content.
[0167] If, at block 908, a determination is made that the content
does not comply
with one or more rules, then the process proceeds to block 910, and a report
is generated that
identifies the portion(s) of the content that do not comply with respective
rules. The report
may include content text, text transcribed from an audio track included in the
content, images
from the content, audio content, video content, bookmarks or time stamps for
audio content
and/or video content, and/or other information that identifies content that
does not comply
with the rules. The report may optionally include the entire content, with the
non-complying
portions identified (e.g., via color, highlighting identifiers in a video or
audio scrubber for
video or audio content, etc.). The rules which a given portion of content
violates may be
identified (e.g., via a textual statement of the rule, via a corresponding
icon, via a rule
alphanumeric identifier, or otherwise). At block 912, a non-compliance
notification and/or a
copy or a link to the report is provided to one or more recipients (e.g., as
specified by the
rules). For example, the non-compliance notification and/or access to the
report may be
provided to the user that submitted the content, to the content requester,
and/or to the
authorized third party (if such exists).
[0168] If the notification and access to the report is provided to
the user that
submitted the content, then optionally the user may be offered the opportunity
of
resubmitting the (corrected) content (or new content) in order to attempt to
comply with the
rules. At block 914, the process determines whether the user resubmitted the
content. If the
user does resubmit the content, then the content may go through the
verification process.
Otherwise, the process may end.
[0169] Referring to Figure 2, an example environment and
architecture is
illustrated. A content distribution facilitation system 204 includes a data
store storing
profiles of potential content contributors as similarly described above. The
content
distribution facilitation system 204 may be configured to perform some or all
of the functions
and processes described above, such as those discussed with respect to Figures
1, and 8-10.
The content distribution facilitation system 204 may be coupled over a wired
and/or wireless
network to one or more publisher systems 206 and 208, from which content
requests may be
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received, and to which content responses from content contributors may be
provided. The
content distribution facilitation system 204 may include or may access a
search engine. The
search engine may be configured to identify potential content contributions
based on their
profiles, geographical location, presence at an event, and/or other criteria.
The content
distribution facilitation system 204 may include or may access a speech
recognition engine
which may optionally be configured to utilize natural language processing. The
speech
recognition engine may utilize natural language processing. The content
distribution
facilitation system 204 may include a content queue for content that is to be
reviewed, as
similarly discussed elsewhere herein. A content contributor system 210 may be
in the form
of a mobile phone with a camera and a browser and/or application installed to
access the user
interfaces discussed above, to record requested content, and to provide the
recorded content
to the content distribution facilitation system 204. The recorded content may
then be
published by a publisher system, and viewed by a user, such as a fan, via a
user terminal 212,
which may be a computer, television, or other terminal type.
[0170] Referring now to Figure 3, an example interface is
illustrated enabling a
user to register as a potential responder. The user interface includes fields
configured to
receive some or all of the following: the user's name, email address, mobile
phone number,
microblog user name (for Twitter in this example), a preference indication
for how the user
wants to be contacted (e.g., email, SMS, phone, etc.), the user's
profession/expertise (e.g.,
sports, entertainment, etc.), and location (e.g., where the user can enter
high-level location
information, such as North America, South America, Europe, etc.). The
information received
by the user may then be stored by the system. As described elsewhere herein,
the location
and profession information may be used by the system to determine which users
should be
sent a given request for content.
[0171] Figure 4 illustrates an example interface enabling the user
to provide more
information regarding the user's profession/expertise. In this example, the
user indicated via
the user interface of Figure 3, that the user's profession is sports, and so
the system selected a
sports user interface to be presented to the user to collect additional
related information. The
example user interface includes an area of expertise field via which the user
can indicate
whether the user is an athlete or a non-player (e.g., where the user may be a
sports agent or
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scout), location fields to receive more detailed location information (e.g.,
country,
state/region, city, etc.), and profession details (e.g., sport type and team).
Optionally, the
user interface may provide a menu (e.g., a drop down menu) that presents
certain sports
and/or sports leagues from which the user may select (e.g., Major League
Baseball (MLB),
National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL),
National Hockey
League (NHL), etc.). In this example, the system may select and provide a menu
of sports
team choices via which the user can select a team, where the menu of choices
is based on the
user's sport selection. For example, if the user selects MLB, the sports menu
may present a
list of MLB teams from which to select. Optionally, the user interface may
enable the user to
select several teams that the user has been associated with. The information
received by the
user may then be stored by the system.
[0172] If the user indicated via the user interface illustrated in
Figure 3 that the
user is a non-player (but is involved in the sports field), then a user
interface may be provided
asking the user to select a sport, as similarly described above with respect
to Figure 4. For
example, a menu may be provided that presents certain sports and/or sports
leagues from
which the user may select. A user interface may be provided asking the user to
identify a
non-player profession (e.g., by selected from a dropdown menu from a set of
professions,
such as official, agent, medical, coach, scout, management, family,
journalist, celebrity fan
(e.g., a movie star), analyst, family, grounds crew, owner, referee/umpire,
scout, etc.), and
optionally in what years for one or more of the teams selected via the user
interface
illustrated in Figure 3.
[0173] If the user indicated via the user interface of Figure 3,
that the user's
profession is entertainment, the system may select an entertainment user
interface to be
presented to the user to collect additional information. For example, a menu
may be
presented asking the user to indicate what type of entertainer the user is
(e.g., actor, musician,
comedian, singer, director, producer, agent, etc.). The information received
by the user may
then be stored by the system.
[0174] Figure 5 illustrates an example content request submittal
user interface.
The example user interface may include fields via which the user can specify a
sport, team,
and/or player as part of the request criteria, may include a list of experts
previously
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designated as favorites or preferred by the user, a field for receiving a
request (e.g., a request
for content related to a specified subject matter), and/or a list of content
(e.g., video content)
provided in response to a previous request. The user may select an item of
content to view,
and may accept or reject the content. Optionally, a list of requests submitted
by other users
may be presented, optionally with timestamps, enabling the user to determine
what subjects
may be of high interest for a given time period.
[0175] Figure 5B illustrates another example content request
creation user
interface. The illustrated example user interface may include one or more of
the following: a
field via which the user can specify the content request, instructions for
recording the video,
a field via which the user can specify the request type (e.g., a timed
request, a request without
a deadline, etc.), a field via which the user can specify the deadline to
respond to the request
(e.g., within 24 hours of the request, by March 1, 2016, or the like), a field
via which the user
can attach a link or video to the request (e.g., a video or link to content
that the content
provider is to comment on), a desired content orientation (e.g., landscape or
portrait), an
indication as to whether the content may be uploaded by the content provider
from a camera
roll or provided via a silo, etc.
[0176] Figure 6 illustrates an example user interface as it may be
displayed on a
device (e.g., a mobile telecommunications device) of a potential responder,
optionally via a
dedicated application as similarly discussed elsewhere herein, via a web page,
or otherwise.
In this example, a content request inbox is provided which visually lists
content requests
transmitted to the potential responder device by a remote system, such as that
discussed
above. In this example, a requester field is provided via which the requester
is identified,
optionally by name and/or icon (e.g., a trademark of the requester).
Optionally, all or a
portion of the content request is displayed is a request subject field. The
date and/or time the
request is received and/or the date and/or the time set by the requester for
the request
response may optionally be displayed in date field. Optionally, the status of
the request may
be displayed. For example, the status may indicate that the potential
responder has submitted
a response, and an indication as to whether the response was accepted (e.g.,
via a checkmark
or other indicator), is pending (not accepted or rejected) e.g., via a
circular arrow or other
indicator), or has been rejected (e.g., via an "X" or other indicator). The
status may
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optionally be tracked and transmitted to the device by the remote system.
Optionally, a
status indication may be provided indicating that the deadline for submitting
a response has
passed and/or that a response from another responder has already been accepted
by the
requester for a given content request. Optionally, the application or the
system filters out
requests where the deadline for submitting a response has passed so that such
requests are no
longer displayed in the content request inbox. The list of requests may be
ordered
automatically or in response to a potential responder instruction (e.g.,
provided by activating
a sort control) by the date/time request was received, by date/time the
request response is
due, by requester name, or by subject. An indicator may be provided to
indicate whether or
not the potential responder has opened a given request. For example, bolding,
underlining,
and icon, or lack thereof may be used to indicate that a request has or has
not been viewed.
[0177] Figure 6B illustrates another example user interface as it
may be displayed
on a device (e.g., a mobile telecommunications device, such as a phone) of a
potential
responder, optionally via a dedicated application as similarly discussed
elsewhere herein, via
a web page, or otherwise. In this example, a content request inbox is provided
which
visually lists content requests transmitted to the potential responder device
by a remote
system, such as that discussed above. In this example, a requester for a given
request is
identified, optionally by name and/or icon (e.g., a trademark of the
requester). The desired
length of the requested content is also specified (e.g., 30 seconds, 2
minutes, etc.).
Optionally, all or a portion of a given content request is displayed in
association with the
content requester identifier. Optionally, the number of content request
answers received may
also be displayed. A chat user interface is optionally provided that enables
the potential
responder to textually chat with the content requester.
[0178] Figure 7 illustrates an example user interface that may be
displayed when
the potential responder selects an item from the request inbox, such as that
illustrated in
Figure 6. The user interface may display the full content request text and
optionally other
content request criteria (e.g., length, type, format, and/or other criteria
discussed herein). The
user interface may also provide compensation information (e.g., an accepted
response is
worth 50 points, $50 dollars, or other type or amount of compensation). A
record control
may be provided, which when activated by the responder may initiate recording
(e.g., voice
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and/or video) by the responder's device. The user interface may also access
and present
instructions specified by the requester (e.g., "Hold the phone level and speak
clearly", "Look
serious while speaking", "look amused while speaking", etc.). The user
interface may
optionally also provide status information with respect to the content
request, as similarly
discussed above with respect to Figure 6.
101791 Optionally, when the responder activates the record button to
initiate a
video recording, the request question and/or text that the request instructs
the responder to
recite, is positioned, sized, and/or segmented by the application to be
positioned near the
responder device's camera lens. This will cause the responder's eyes to be
looking at the
lens region when reading questions and/or text, resulting in a better video.
Optionally, the
application will only display one or two lines of text at a time (the question
text and/or the
text the responder is asked to recite) adjacent to the lens (e.g., just below
the lens), to better
ensure that the responder's eyes are continuously directed to the camera lens
area during the
video recording. If the text is too long to display on one line (or two lines)
adjacent to the
lens, the application may advance the text by scrolling the next portion of
the text onto the
device's display and scrolling off the previous portion of the text, to ensure
the next
displayed text is also displayed adjacent to the lens. The scrolling or other
technique for
changing the text may be performed in response to detecting a responder text
advance
command, automatically based on a desired pace of reading, or otherwise.
Optionally, the
responder may specify whether scrolling is to be enabled or disabled.
101801 Optionally, a marketplace of content providers may be
generated and
maintained by the system. Users, such as potential contributors, may provide
an indication
(e.g., via a webpage or dedicated application) that they are currently
available to provide
content, that they will be available at one or more specified future time
periods, how long
they will be available, their current activity (e.g., watching a particular
sporting event, show,
or network), their planned activity at one or more future time periods, etc.
Such users may be
identified by the system in response to a query from a requester (e.g., a
publisher or other
content requester).
101811 A publisher/content requester may view such information and
select one
or more of the users. The publisher/content requester may generate a request
for content and
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instruct the system to transmit the request to the selected users (e.g., those
watching a
particular sporting event, show, or network associated with the
publisher/content requester).
The offer may specify the type of content requested, as similarly discussed
elsewhere herein.
For example, the publisher/content requester may create a request/offer to ten
selected users
to be a correspondent for particular game. The offer may include an
endorsement
arrangement. For example, the offer may specify that an accepting user will be
paid a
specified amount if the submits content of the user talking about a specific
product in the
context of discussing a particular game event, and if the user's content is
accepted by the
publisher/content requester. Upon detecting that a given user's content was
accepted (e.g.,
by detecting that the publisher/content requester has activated an accept
control presented via
a webpage or a dedicated application), the system may process the payment to
the user whose
content was accepted on behalf of the publisher/content requester. The payment
may be in
the form of an electronic payment transfer from an account of the
publisher/content requester
to an account of the user or may be in the form of a physical payment
instrument (e.g., a
check, a gift card, a funded debit card, etc.).
101821 Figure 10 illustrates an example process of managing a
content request
marketplace. At block 1002, a system, such as the example content distribution
facilitation
system discussed elsewhere herein, may receive availability information from
one or more
users. The availability information may specify that they are currently
available to provide
content of a specified type (e.g., text, audio, and/or video), that they will
be available at one
or more specified future time periods, how long they will be available, their
current activity
(e.g., watching a particular sporting event, show, or network), their current
or future location,
their planned activity at one or more future time periods, the type of
recording/transmission
device that they have (e.g., mobile phone, mobile tablet, brand name of
device, model
number of device, etc.) etc.
101831 At block 1004, a query is received from a content requester
(which may be
a content publisher), specifying criteria for potential content submitters.
For example, the
criteria may specify some or all of the following: the desired profession,
expertise, current
availability to provide content of a specified type (e.g., text, audio, and/or
video), future
availability at one or more specified future time periods, how long they will
be available,
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their current activity (e.g., watching a particular sporting event, show, or
network), their
current or future location, their planned activity at one or more future time
periods, the type
of desired recording/transmission device (e.g., mobile phone, mobile tablet,
brand name of
device, model number of device, etc.), etc.
[0184] At block 1006, a search engine may be used to search for and
identify
potential content contributors that meet the specified criteria or that match
a name or other
identification information specified by (e.g., selected by) the requester. A
list of matching
potential content submitters may be generated and provided to the content
requester. At
block 1008, offer details are received from the content requester. For
example, the offer
details may specify the content that the potential submitter is to submit
(e.g., how they feel
regarding a win by a home team, comments regarding a specific show or event,
etc.). The
requester may also specify a time period is which the potential content
contributor is to be
available, a response deadline, a response length (e.g., in terms of time
length or number of
words), the media type for the response (e.g., video (including an audio
track), static images
(e.g., photographs), audio only track, text, etc.), and/or other response
criteria via a user
interface. The requester may also specify compensation. The requester may
optionally also
specify that it will only accept a specified number of content submissions
(e.g., the first
content submission, the first five content submissions, three content
submissions (which may
or may not be the first three content submissions, etc.).
[0185] At block 1010, a selection of potential content contributors
(e.g., selected
from the list generated at block 1006) is received from the content requester.
At block 1012,
the offer is transmitted to the selected potential content contributors. At
block 1014,
acceptance of the offer may be received from one or more potential content
submitters. For
example, a potential content submitter may activate an accept offer control to
indicate
acceptance (or in some instances, submission of the requested content may act
as an
acceptance of the offer). At block 1016, content or a link to content is
received from one or
more potential content submitters that accepted the offer. For example, the
content may be
recorded and transmitted over a wireless network by a mobile device of the
content submitter
and received and stored at the system.
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[0186] At block 1018, the content is verified (e.g., as similarly
discussed above).
At block 1020, if the content is successfully verified, the content is enabled
to be published
(e.g., access to the content is provided to the content requester or an
indication that the
verification was successful is transmitted to the content requester). If the
content is accepted
by the content requester at block 1022, then at block 1024 the system
optionally causes the
compensation set forth in the offer to be transferred from the content
requester to the content
provider.
[0187] Figure 11 illustrates an example process of defining content
contributor
sets and an example process of utilizing the defined content contributor sets
to issue content
requests. At block 1102, a content contributor search query is received via a
search query
interface from a user (e.g., a publisher). For example, the request may
include text including
desired content contributor characteristics (e.g., profession, team, player
position, player
statistics, awards won, location, gender, age, profession, expertise, etc.).
At block 1104, a
search engine searches a database of content contributor to determine which
stored content
contributor profiles match the search criteria. For example, as similarly
discussed elsewhere
herein, the database may include profiles of athletes, and may include various
statistics,
events, and achievements from some or all of the games they have played in
(including those
that result from an aggregation of achievements over multiple games, such as
how many
games the player has played in a row, how may games in a row the player has
hit a home run,
how many points the player scored in a game, etc.). By way of further example,
the database
may include profiles of personalities or celebrities identifying shows or
movies they have
appeared in, awards or other recognition they have received, their ages,
gender, past
significant others, where they live, what teams they are fans of, etc. The
search engine
returns the matching content contributors in search results presented to the
user. Optionally,
the search results will be in ranked order, with the closet match rated first,
the second closet
match rated second, etc.
[0188] At block 1106, the process detects user selections of one or
more content
contributors included in the search results. The selection may be performed by
the user
clicking on one or more content contributors included in the search results or
otherwise. At
block 1108, the process detects that the user has activated a control
indicating that a set is to
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be created that includes the selected content contributors (where the set may
include a single
content contributor). The process then generates a corresponding file that
defines the set and
the process stores the content contributor set file in association with the
user's account
(which may be an account of the company employing the user). It is understood
that the
stored content contributor set file may, but need not include the actual names
of the content
contributors or pointers or other identifiers associated with the selected
content contributors.
At block 1110, the process receives an identifier from the user for the
content contributor and
stores the identifier in association with the content contributor set. For
example, the
identifier may be a text name that describes the content contributor set in
human
understandable language.
101891 An example process for processing a content request will now
be
described. At block 1150, a content request is received from a user (e.g., a
publisher). For
example, the content request may include content criteria provided via a
content specification
interface, including content subject matter, a content length, a content form
(e.g., video and
audio), when the content is needed by, and/or other criteria. At block 1152, a
user interface
is generated that presents a user with a listing of content contributor sets
that the user has
previously predefined and/or that have been defined by another user where
appropriate
permissions have been granted to the current user (e.g. where both users work
for the same
publisher). For example, the content contributor sets listing may be presented
at least partly
in response to the user logging in to the system and the user selecting an
appropriate control.
In addition or instead, a search interface may be provided enabling a user to
search for
content contributor sets, previously defined by the user or by another user
where appropriate
permissions have been granted, by entering a content contributor sets query.
The process
will then search for content contributor sets that have identifiers and/or
metadata matching
the query (e.g., matching one or more words of the query or a variation of a
word in the
query).
101901 At block 1154, the process detects a user selection of one or
more content
contributor sets. At block 1156, the process transmits the content request to
content
contributors included in the selected content contributor sets. The content
provided in
response to the request may then be received from one or more content
contributors and
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processed and/or distributed as described elsewhere herein or otherwise. The
content may be
received indirectly, such as from a cloud-based storage system. Thus, for
example, the user
device may be equipped with an application configured to upload content to the
cloud-based
system via an API. The content distribution facilitation system or the content
requester
system may then download the content from the cloud-based storage system via
an API using
an application hosted on the content distribution facilitation system or the
content requester
system. This technique may reduce peak network bandwidth loading and/or local
storage
requirements. The process may automatically, or in response to activation of
social share
control, prompt the content requester to transmit a request to the content
contributor to post
the content, or a link to the content on one or more specified social
networking sites (which
may include one or more microblogging sites). The prompt may be provided in
response to
the content requester downloading or otherwise accessing the content.
Optionally, the
prompt may be provided in response to determining that the content requester
has published
the content (e.g., on the content requester's website, television program, or
other content
distribution platform). The determination may be made based on a publication
indication
provided by the content requester.
[0191] Figure 12 illustrates an example process of defining
exclusivity for a
content contributor and an example of filtering search results based on
content contributor
exclusivity. At block 1202 a content contributor exclusivity specification is
received that
identifies one or more content contributors that have profiles stored on the
system or that will
have profiles created and stored on the system. For example, the content
contributor
exclusivity specification may be received from a publisher or from the content
contributor.
The content contributor exclusivity specification may specify one or more
forms of
exclusivity with respect to an identified publisher. For example, the content
contributor
exclusivity specification may specify one or more of the following:
[0192] an exclusivity time period (e.g., a time length from the day the
specification was provided, a start date and end date, a sports season, a
television
season, etc.);
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[0193] an event (e.g., a sports tournament; a specific game; an awards
ceremony; a premiere of a movie, play, or television show; the release of a
music
album, the release of a video game, etc.);
[0194] a subject matter (e.g., sports, television, movies, music, national
news,
international news, medicine, law, celebrities, etc.).
[0195] At block 1204, optionally a verification request is
transmitted to verify
that the exclusivity specification is correct. For example, if the exclusivity
specification was
received from the publisher, the verification request may be transmitted to
the content
contributor (directly or via a representative, such as an agent). By way of
further example, if
the exclusivity specification was received from the content contributor, the
verification
request may be transmitted to the publisher (directly or via a
representative). The
verification request may include the content contributor exclusivity
specification. At block
1206, the process determines whether the content contributor exclusivity
specification was
verified by the recipient of the content contributor exclusivity specification
verification
request. For example, the request may include a verification control and a
decline
verification control. The request recipient may then activate one of the
controls, and the
activation is detected and recorded by the process. Optionally, if the
recipient does not
respond or does not respond within a specified period of time, the process
treats the lack of
response as if the recipient declined verification.
[0196] Optionally, an exclusivity analysis engine may examine the
exclusivity
specification to determine whether it conflicts with a preexisting in-force
exclusivity
specification of another content requester for the content contributor. For
example, the
process may compare a preexisting in-force exclusivity specification from a
first content
requester with the new exclusivity specification to determine if there is an
impermissible
overlap in subject areas, events, and/or time period.
[0197] If the recipient verified the content contributor exclusivity
specification
and/or the exclusivity analysis engine determined there was no conflict with
an existing
exclusivity specification, at block 1208, the process records the content
contributor
exclusivity specification in association with the content contributor's
account/profile. If the
recipient does not verify or declines to verify the content contributor
exclusivity
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specification, and/or if there is a conflict with a preexisting content
specification, at block
1210, the process generates a message and transmits it to the exclusivity
specification
provider indicating the verification failure.
[0198] An example search process that analyzes content contributor
profiles with
respect to exclusivity specifications will now be described. The process may
utilize the
search engine discussed elsewhere herein. At block 1252 a content contributor
search query
is received. For example, as similarly discussed elsewhere herein, the content
contributor
search query may be received via a search query interface from a first user
(e.g., a publisher).
For example, the request may include text including desired content
contributor
characteristics (e.g., profession, team, player position, player statistics,
awards won, location,
gender, age, profession, expertise, etc.). In addition, a content request may
be received. The
content request may include content criteria provided via a content
specification interface,
including content subject matter, a content length, a content form (e.g.,
video and audio),
when the content is needed by, and/or other criteria.
[0199] At block 1254, the process, optionally utilizing the search
engine
described herein, searches a database of content contributors to determine
which stored
content contributor profiles match the search criteria. For example, as
similarly discussed
elsewhere herein, the database may include profiles of athletes that may
include various
statistics, events, and achievements from some or all of the games they have
played in. By
way of further example, the database may include profiles of personalities or
celebrities
identifying shows or movies they have appeared in, awards or other recognition
they have
received, their ages, gender, past significant others, etc.
[0200] At block 1256, the process accesses from memory exclusivity
provisions
(e.g., the content contributor exclusivity specification, including an
identifier of the publisher
associated with a given content contributor exclusivity specification) for the
matching
content contributors. At block 1258, the process analyzes the exclusivity
provisions to
identify those matching content contributors that are prohibited from
providing requested
content to the first user (e.g., the publisher). For example, the process may
determine if a
given content contributor exclusivity specification for a given matching
content contributor is
associated with the first user or with a different user (e.g., a different
publisher). If a content
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contributor exclusivity specification for a given content contributor is
associated with the
first user, then the process may determine that the first user may request
content from the
given content contributor. If a content contributor exclusivity specification
for a given
content contributor is not associated with the first user (e.g., it is instead
associated with
another publisher), then the process may determine that the content
contributor exclusivity
specification prohibits the content contributor from providing content to the
first user.
[0201] Optionally, if a content contributor exclusivity
specification for a given
content contributor is not associated with the first user, the process further
analyzes the
content contributor exclusivity specification to determine if the specific
exclusivity
provisions of the content contributor exclusivity specification prohibit the
content contributor
from providing the requested content to the first user. For example, the
process may
determine if the content contributor exclusivity specification indicates that
the current date or
needed by date for the requested content is within an exclusivity date period
specified by the
content contributor exclusivity specification. By way of further example, the
process may
determine if the content request subject matter is covered by a subject matter
exclusivity
provision of the content contributor exclusivity specification. By way of yet
further example,
the process may determine if an event corresponding to the content request is
covered by an
event exclusivity provision of the content contributor exclusivity
specification. If the
analysis indicates that the content request would violate one or more
exclusivity provisions,
then the process may determine that the content contributor exclusivity
specification
prohibits the content contributor from providing content to the first user.
[0202] The process generates content contributor search results,
filtering out those
content contributors that are exclusive to other users (e.g., other
publishers). At block 1258,
the filtered list is provided for display to the first user. The process
returns the filtered
matching content contributors in search results presented to the first user.
Optionally, the
search results will be in ranked order, with the closet match rated first, the
second closet
match rated second, etc.
[0203] Figures 13A-15H illustrate additional example user interfaces
that may be
presented to a user (e.g., by a program or browser hosted on a user device).
The user
interfaces may be configured to enable the user device program and/or the
remote system to
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provide information and instructions to users and to receiving information and
instructions
from users. The information received via the user interfaces may be received
and stored, and
the instructions received via the user interfaces may be carried out.
[0204] Figures 13A-13H illustrate example account creation related
user
interfaces. Information received via the user interfaces may be used to create
a content
provider account for a user and to generate a user profile. Figure 13A
illustrates an example
first account creation user interface for a content contributor. The
illustrated account creation
user interface may be configured to be presented on a mobile device with a
touch sensitive
screen (e.g., via a dedicated application or via a mobile device webpage),
such as a smart
phone or tablet computer. Optionally, the account creation user interface may
be configured
to be presented on a desktop computer display or other terminal type. This
example user
interface includes field for receiving the content contributor's first and
last names, email
address, and password. Figure 13B illustrates another example first account
creation user
interface including fields for receiving a phone address (e.g., a phone
number), a profession
field, and a field via which the user can submit information on how people
best know the
user (e.g., what the content provider is famous or well known for). If the
user selects the
profession field, the example profession menu illustrated in Figure 13C may be
presented.
The user may select a profession from the menu (e.g., by touching the correct
profession),
select the "done" control, and the user's selection will be received and
stored by the system.
[0205] Figure 13D illustrates an example user interface prompting
the user to
record a video of the user, which will be used to confirm the user's identity
and to validate
the user's account. When the user is ready to begin the recording process, the
user may
activate a start recording process control.
[0206] If the user activates the start recording process control
illustrated in Figure
13D, the example help user interface illustrated in Figure 13E may be
presented to the user.
In this example, the help user interface instructs the user to speak clearly
and loudly, make
sure the user has good lighting for the video recording, and to hold the phone
steady at eye
level.
[0207] The orientation of the portable device and/or the portable
device camera
may be detected (e.g., by the dedicated application or by a remote system). If
the orientation
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is improper, a user interface, such as the example illustrated in Figure 13F,
may be presented
instructing the user to rotate the mobile device so it is oriented in a
desired orientation, and
the user interface may instruct the user as to the vertical positioning of the
mobile device
(e.g., eye level).
[0208] Once the mobile device is correctly oriented, the example
user interface
illustrated in Figure 13G may be presented. The user interface may include a
video record
control, text that prompts the user to activate the video record control, wait
for a countdown
interface (e.g., counting down 3-2-1), then state the user's name and
profession, and activate
the record control again to stop the video recording. The recording of the
user may be
displayed in an area of the user interface as the recording is being
performed. The recording
may be performed using a front facing camera of the user mobile device.
[0209] The example user interface illustrated in Figure 13H may be
presented in
response to the user activating the video record control a second time (to
stop the video
recording). The example user interface illustrated in Figure 13H includes a
preview control,
a redo control, and a submit control. In response to detecting that the user
has activated the
preview control, the video recording of the user may be played back to the
user on the mobile
device. If the user is unhappy with the recording, the user may activate the
redo control, and
the example user interfaces illustrated in Figures 13D, 13E, 13F, or 13G may
be presented
again so that the user can re-record the video. If the user is ready to submit
the video
recording for verification, the user can activate the submit control.
102101 For example, a video recording of the user made utilizing the
foregoing
user interfaces may be transmitted to the remote system. The remote system may
enable an
operator to playback and manually inspect the video recording to verify that
the person in the
video is the person that corresponds to the name and/or other profile
information provided by
the user. Optionally, face recognition technology embodiment in a facial
recognition engine
may be used in addition or instead to compare the person in the video with a
known image of
the person that the user is claiming to be. For example, a face recognition
system may
compare facial features (e.g., shape, size, and/or relative position of eyes,
ears, nose, jaw,
cheekbone, skin color, skin texture, etc.) and/or other features of the person
in the video
recording with the facial features of the person that the user is claiming to
be from a known
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still image or video image of that person. Example algorithms that may be used
include PCA
(Principal Component Analysis), Independent Component Analysis (ICA), EBGM
(Elastic
Bunch Graph Matching), LDA (Linear Discriminate Analysis), Trace transform, 3-
D
morphable face model, HMM (Hidden Markov model), MSL (Multilinear Subspace
Learning), etc. Optionally in addition or instead of using facial recognition,
voice
authentication may be performed using a voice recording (which may be a voice
track
included in the video recording). For example, the system may include a voice
biometrics
analysis engine to determine if the user's voice matches that of a known voice
recording of
the person the user claims to be. The voice engine may use one or more of the
following
algorithms and/or other algorithms: Hidden Markov models, neural networks,
Gaussian
mixture models, frequency estimation, pattern matching algorithms, matrix
representation,
vector quantization, etc.
[0211] If the user is not validated to be the person the user claims
to be,
optionally, the system will not create an operable account to the user and may
optionally
inform the user of the validation failure and of the account denial.
[0212] Figures 14A-14D illustrate example user interfaces related to
a content
request. Figure 14A illustrates an example content request configured to be
presented on a
user mobile device. The content request and associated criteria may have been
received at
the user mobile device from the remote content distribution facilitation
system. For example,
the content request may include a subject matter, a response deadline, the
number of other
users that have responded to the content request and/or other information,
such as that
discussed elsewhere herein. In this example, the user is prompted to respond
to a question
regarding a sports tournament ("What team are you most excited about watching
this March
Madness?"). The example user interface also has an optional countdown timer
indicating
how long the user has to respond to the content request (e.g., "23 hours, 59
minutes left" in
this example). The example user interface also includes an optional indication
as to how
many other users have already responded to the same request. In this example,
no one has
responded to the request, and so the user interface indicates that the request
is unanswered.
[0213] Referring again to Figure 14A, an example dashboard is
provided towards
the bottom of the user interface (although it could be positioned elsewhere),
indicating how
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many content requests are still pending for the user, the user activity (e.g.,
the number of
submissions by the user), and device settings, user preferences, terms of
service, an
administrative information. If the user activates a "next" control (which may
be in the form
of an arrow or other graphic and/or in the form of text), the example user
interface illustrated
in Figure 14B may be presented. The example user interface illustrated in
Figure 14B
repeats the request question, includes the countdown timer, and the indication
as to how
many other users have already responded to the same question (which may have
been
updated). The example user interface indicates that the user will be asked to
state the user's
name at the beginning of the recording and then answer the question. Once the
user is ready
to answer the question, the user can activate the "answer" control, which will
cause the
example user interface illustrated in Figure 14C to be presented. Optionally,
additional
instructional user interfaces, similar to those illustrated in Figures 13E and
13F may be first
presented.
[0214] The example user interface illustrated in Figure 14C repeats
the prompt to
state the user's name, the content subject matter question, and the deadline
for submitting the
content. The user interface includes a video record control, text that prompts
the user to
activate the video record control, wait for a countdown interface to reach a
certain number
(e.g., 1 or 0) to begin stating the user's name and answer, and to activate
the record control
again to stop the video recording. Once the user activates the record control
presented via
the user interface, the user's mobile device will begin recording the user's
statement of name
and answer to the question (e.g., using a front facing camera of the mobile
device). The
recording of the user made using the front facing camera may be displayed in
an area of the
user interface as the recording is being performed so that the user may view
the recording in
real time.
[0215] The example user interface illustrated in Figure 14D may be
presented in
response to the user activating the video record control a second time (to
stop the video
recording). The example user interface illustrated in Figure 14D includes a
preview control,
a redo control, and a submit control. In response to detecting that the user
has activated the
preview control, the video recording of the user may be played back to the
user on the mobile
device via a playback user interface and associated content player. The
playback user
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interface may be used to playback content, such as video content (including an
audio track)
and may include some or all of the following: a play control, a pause control,
a rewind
control, a fast rewind control, a fast forward control, a scrubber bar, and a
volume control. If
the user is unhappy with the recording, the user may activate the redo
control, and the
example user interface illustrated in Figures 14B or 14C may be presented
again so that the
user can re-record the video. If the user is ready to submit the video
recording, the user can
activate the submit control.
[0216] Figures 15A-15H illustrate example user interfaces for a
content requester,
such as a user associated with a publisher. Figure 15A illustrates an example
log-in user
interface including fields for a user email address or other user ID and a
password. If the
user enters in the correct login information, the system may grant the user
access to the user's
and/or the publisher's account and may generate and provide user interfaces
customized for
the user and/or the publisher.
[0217] Figure 15B illustrates an example user interface including a
dashboard
listing content requests that have been sent. A control ("all requests") is
provided which
when activated by the user causes the system to generate and present a listing
of all pending
(and/or no longer pending) content requests of the publisher. Another control
is provided
("your requests") which when activated by the user causes the system to
generate and present
a listing of all pending (and/or no longer pending) content requests of the
user. A given
listed request may include a content request summary, including the subject
matter (e.g., a
question regarding a sporting event), the identity of the user that issued the
request, the date
and time the request was issued, an indication as to whether the request is
still pending/open
(an optionally, how long the request is still open) or if the request has
expired (and optionally
how long ago the request expired), and/or a control to access additional
request details and/or
content contributors to whom the request was sent. The example user interface
also includes
a listing of sets of content contributors previously defined by other
publisher users and
includes a separate listing of the sets of content contributors previously
defined by the user
("My lists"). Optionally, the foregoing lists may be combined into a single
list. The system
also calculates and displays via the user interface the number of lists in
each category. A
create request control is provided, which when selected by the user, causes a
content request
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user interface form to be displayed via which the user can specify a new
content request,
such as described elsewhere herein.
[0218] Figure 15C illustrates an example content request details
user interface
which may be presented in response to a user selecting a request details
control displayed in
association with request summary, such as is illustrated in Figure 15B. The
content request
details user interface may be presented as a pop-up window over the user
interface illustrated
in Figure 15B, in a separate pane, or otherwise. The content request details
user interface
may present some of all of the following information and/or other information:
the full text
of the request provided to content providers, instructions for the content
providers, an
indication as to whether there is a fixed deadline for responses from content
providers or
whether the response deadline is open, the identity of the person who
submitted the content
request, the number of content providers the request was sent to ("Your
Experts (number of
content providers)"), the names of the content providers the request was sent
to, an indication
so to whether those content providers provided content in response to the
request, and links
(e.g., "videos downloaded") to content provided by the content providers. A
control is
provided via which the user can add additional content providers to receive
the content
request ("add expert"). A control is provided ("Close Topic") via which the
user can close
the request to make the request expire so that content providers may be
informed that no
further request responses are needed and/or will be accepted.
[0219] Figure 15D illustrates an example expanded view of the user
interface
illustrated in Figure 15B. In addition to the user interfaces and information
discussed above
with respect to Figure 15B, the expanded view includes a listing of responses
received from
content providers to whom requests were provided. A given response entry may
include the
name of the content provider that submitted the response, timing information
as to when the
response was received (e.g., a specified number of days ago, an exact date,
etc.), and/or an
indication as to whether the received content (if any) has been downloaded.
Optionally, the
download indicator may also be used to instruct the system to download the
item of content if
it has not yet been downloaded. A play control may be provided enabling the
user to initiate
playback of the received, downloaded content. A redo request control is
provided, where, in
response to the user activating the redo request control, a message is
transmitted to the
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content provider asking the content provider to re-record the response to the
content request.
Optionally, a redo request user interface is provided via which the user may
enter a message
to be included in the redo request. For example, the message may indicate what
the user did
not like in the original content submission and/or provide instructions as
what the user would
like with respect to the re-recorded content.
[0220] Figure 15E illustrates an example content playback user
interface for
playback of an item of content associated with a response listing in the user
interface
illustrated in Figure 15D. The example playback user interface may be
presented in a popup
window, in a separate pane, or otherwise in response to user activation of a
playback control
displayed in the corresponding response listing. The playback user interface
may be used to
play back content, such as video content (including an audio track) and may
include some or
all of the following: a play control, a pause control, a rewind control, a
fast rewind control, a
fast forward control, a scrubber bar, and a volume control. The playback user
interface may
be generated to include the time length of the content, the request text to
which the content
provider is responding to, the name of the content provider, how long ago the
content was
received, and a rating of the content (e.g., previously provided by the user
or other person
associated with the publisher that requested the content) and/or a rating of
the content
provider (e.g., where the ratings may have been previously provided by the
user or other
person associated with the publisher that requested the content).
[0221] Figure 15F illustrates an example content provider set user
interface. The
content provider set user interface lists the members of a selected pre-
defined set of content
providers. For example, a user may have defined a set of comedians, and named
the set
"Comedians". When the user later selects the set(s) from a presented list of
sets, the user
interface is dynamically updated to include a listing of content contributor
members of the
selected set or sets, including details on the members. For example, a given
content
contributor listing entry may include a photograph, name, field (e.g.,
entertainment, sports,
law, medicine, celebrities, etc.), occupation, educational institutions and/or
other details (e.g.,
a brief biography/work history) of the content contributor.
[0222] Referring again to Figure 15F, each content contributor
listing entry may
include a select control. When the user wants to submit a content request to
one or more
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members of the displayed set, the user may activate the corresponding select
control of the
members to whom the content request is to be transmitted. A "select all"
control may be
provided to enable the user to select all members of the set with a single
activation. A "select
none" control may be provided to enable the user to unselect all members of
the set with a
single activation. A create request control is provided, which when activated,
will cause a
content request user interface to be presented via which the user can specify
the content
request that is to be sent to the selected members. Examples of the content
request user
interface are described elsewhere herein. The example content provider set
user interface
includes a content contributor search field configured to receive a text
query. A "fields" drop
down menu may be provided enabling the user to limit the search to matches in
particular
metadata (e.g., name, occupation, educational institution, prior or current
employer, etc.). A
search engine will then search for corresponding matching content providers
and provide the
search results for display as discussed elsewhere herein in greater detail.
[0223] Figure 15G illustrates an example content provider set
creation user
interface. The user interface in this example lists content contributors
identified as a result of
a user query submitted using a search user interface. A name field is
configured to receive a
set name provided by the user (e.g., a descriptive name). As similarly
discussed above with
respect to Figure 15E, a given content contributor entry may include a
photograph, name,
field (e.g., entertainment, sports, law, medicine, celebrities, etc.),
occupation, educational
institutions and/or other details (e.g., a brief biography/work history) of
the content
contributor. Each content contributor listing entry may include a select
control. When the
user wants to include content contributor in the set, the user may activate
the corresponding
select control. A "select all" control may be provided to enable the user to
select all the
listed content contributors for inclusion in the set. A "select none" control
may be provided
to enable the user to unselect all the listed content contributors with a
single activation. A
save control is provided, which when activated, will cause the selected
content contributors
to be saved as part of the set, where the set is associated with the user
provided name.
[0224] Figure 15H illustrates an example content request creation
user interface.
The content request creation user interface may include some or all of the
following fields:
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[0225] a text field configured to receive request text specifying what the
user
wants the content provider to speak about in the requested content;
[0226] a video instructions field configured to receive request text
specifying
compositional needs for the requested content (e.g., describing the desired
lighting,
location, positioning of the camera, clothing, etc.);
[0227] a request type field includes a selectable menu of request types (e.g.,
open (no response deadline) or deadline for requests with a set response
deadline);
[0228] a time for response field via which the user can specify the response
deadline (e.g., in days, hours, or minutes) if any;
[0229] a "make default" field which causes the specified request type and the
specified time for response to be used as default values for future content
requests
from the user.
[0230] A send control is provided, which when activated, will cause
the content
request to be transmitted to the content contributors selected by the user.
[0231] Figure 151 illustrates an example content contributor
selection user
interface that enables the user to select individual content contributors
and/or contributor
lists. The example user interface may include the text of the content request,
a link to content
(or a copy of the content itself) that the content contributor is to comment
on, a contributor
search field configured to receive a search query for contributors, and a
"fields" menu via
which the user can specify the data store fields the request is to be limited
to (e.g., expertise,
occupation, name, details, etc.). The list of content contributors may
optionally include fields
for some or all of the following: a photograph or video of a given content
contributor, a
name, a subject area of expertise (e.g., media, baseball, mergers,
entertainment, other, etc.),
an occupation, a college, and details (e.g., details on the contributor's
current job function,
hobbies, awards, etc.).
[0232] Figure 16A-16D illustrate various example user interfaces
related to the
cloud-based storage of content. Figure 16A illustrates an example user
interface providing
controls that enables a content requester to enable the content distribution
facilitation system
to access a cloud-based storage system account of the content requester.
Figure 16B
illustrations a user interface that identifies which account folder is
configured to interface
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with the content distribution facilitation system for receiving content. A
change folder
control is provided, enabling the user to cause content to be uploaded to a
different cloud-
based storage folder. Figure 16C illustrates an interface enabling the content
requester to
select a content distribution facilitation system folder for receiving and
storing content.
Figure 16D illustrates a list of content received from content contributors.
Figures 16D
further illustrates controls enabling the content requester to instruct the
content distribution
facilitation system to download content selected from the list of content
contributor content
or to upload the selected content to the designated cloud-based storage
filter.
102331 Figure 17A illustrates an automatically generated user
interface presented
to the content requester in response to the content requester activating the
download control
or the cloud-based storage upload control, or in response to activation of
social share control.
The user interface is configured to enable the content requester to invite
content contributors
to share content via one or more social media platforms (e.g., microblogs or
other social
networking platforms). A first field is configured to receive a name of a
content creator. A
second field is configured to receive a link to the content contributor's
content. A third field
is configured to receive microblog edit suggestions (e.g., "what may video
online at [URL]).
A control is provided via which the content requester can issue the invitation
to the
designated content creator. Figure 17B illustrates a user interface enabling
the content
requester to instruct the system to provide a preview of the request and to
send the microblog
communication.
[0234] Figure 17C illustrates an example user interface that enables
a user (e.g.,
the content requester) to edit content. The example illustrated user interface
enables the user
to trim the duration of the video to a specified length by trimming the video
on one or both
ends, add pre-roll or post-roll bumpers, (where a bumper is a short video clip
(e.g., 5-15
seconds in duration), select a branding package, and/or add watermarks
overlaid onto an
image or video included in the content. The example user interface includes a
video player
enabling the user to play the edited and/or unedited video content. The video
player includes
a play control and may include a scrubber bar that enables a user to view the
relative position
of the current frame being shown with respect to the complete video file. A
content trim user
interface may be provided over the scrubber bar (or elsewhere) that enables
the user to click
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on a trim starting point and a trim ending point in the scrubber. The user
interface (or
underlying editing program) calculates the length of content being trimmed and
the total
length of the content after trimming. The user interface may also include the
content request
text (e.g., "Share some footage from the Acme sporting event at Beta
Stadium"), the name of
the content provider, when the content was received, etc. A save control may
be provided
enabling the user to save edits to the content.
[0235] Thus, certain embodiments enable requests for content to
selectively be
submitted to a specific target group of potential responders, such as
athletes, actors, opinion
leaders, industry experts, celebrities, a social or working group, or the
like, and/or
individually-selected or specified content contributors, and further enable
information and
content received from responders to be distributed over one or more
distribution channels.
[0236] Certain embodiments may be implemented via hardware, software
stored
on media, or a combination of hardware and software. For example, certain
embodiments
may include software/program instructions/modules stored on tangible, non-
transitory
computer-readable medium (e.g., magnetic memory/discs, optical memory/discs,
random
access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), FLASH memory, other semiconductor
memory, etc.), accessible by one or more computing devices configured to
execute the
software (e.g., servers or other computing device including one or more
processors, wired
and/or wireless network interfaces (e.g., cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth,
Transmission System 1
(Ti), Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), cable, optical, or other interface(s)
which may be
coupled to the Internet), content databases, customer account databases,
etc.). Data stores
(e.g., comprising databases) may be used to store some or all of the
information discussed
herein in memory.
[0237] By way of example, a given computing device may optionally
include user
interface devices, such as some or all of the following: one or more displays,
keyboards,
touch screens, speakers, microphones, mice, track balls, touch pads, tilt
sensors,
accelerometers, biometric sensors (e.g., fingerprint or face recognition
sensors for
authenticating a user) printers, etc. The computing device may optionally
include a media
read/write device, such as a compact disc (CD), digital video disc (DVD), Blu-
ray, tape,
magnetic disc, semiconductor memory, or other optical, magnetic, and/or solid
state media
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device. A computing device, such as a user terminal, may be in the form of a
general
purpose computer, a personal computer, a laptop, a tablet computer, a mobile
or stationary
telephone, an interactive television, a set top box coupled to a display, etc.
Certain
embodiments may be able to conduct hundreds (or more) of transactions and
processes
described herein within a second.
[0238] While certain embodiments may be illustrated or discussed as
having
certain example components, additional, fewer, or different components may be
used.
Processes described as being performed by a given system may be performed by a
user
terminal or other system or systems. Processes described as being performed by
a user
terminal may be performed by another system. Data described as being accessed
from a
given source may be stored by and accessed from other sources. Transmissions
described
herein may be via a wired and/or wireless network or other communications
link. Further,
with respect to the processes discussed herein, various states may be
performed in a different
order, not all states are required to be reached, and fewer, additional, or
different states may
be utilized.
[0239] User interfaces described herein are optionally presented
(and user
instructions may be received) via a user computing device using a browser,
other network
resource viewer, or otherwise. For example, the user interfaces may be
presented (and user
optionally instructions received) via an application (sometimes referred to as
an "app"), such
as a dedicated app configured specifically for social networking and/or
communications
activities, installed on the user's mobile phone, laptop, pad, desktop,
television, set top box,
phone, or other terminal. For example, an app may be downloaded to a user
mobile device,
such as a smart phone. Various features described or illustrated as being
present in different
embodiments or user interfaces may be combined into the same embodiment or
user
interface.
[0240] Various aspects and advantages of the embodiments have been
described
where appropriate. It is to be understood that not necessarily all such
aspects or advantages
may be achieved in accordance with any particular embodiment. Thus, for
example, it
should be recognized that the various embodiments may be carried out in a
manner that
achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein
without
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necessarily achieving other aspects or advantages as may be taught or
suggested herein.
Further, embodiments may include several novel features, no single one of
which is solely
responsible for the embodiment's desirable attributes or which is essential to
practicing the
systems, devices, methods, and techniques described herein. In addition,
various features of
different embodiments may be combined to form still further embodiments. For
example,
aspects found in different user interfaces may be combined to form still
further user interface.
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