WO2003050659A2

WO2003050659A2 - Methods and systems for media distributed networking

Info

Publication number: WO2003050659A2
Application number: PCT/US2002/039787
Authority: WO
Inventors: Cedric J. Gore
Original assignee: Gore Cedric J
Priority date: 2001-12-11
Filing date: 2002-12-11
Publication date: 2003-06-19
Also published as: AU2002365043A8; AU2002365043A1; WO2003050659A3

Abstract

The present invention discloses methods and systems to track usage of media (15a-15n). A server (12) is configured to include a log (13). User information is received at the server from a client (14a-14n) in a client-server relationship with the server where the client utilizes the media to access the server. In response to receipt of the user information, the server is caused to provide the user informtion to the log. The server receives media information from the client. In response to receiving the media information, the server is caused to provide the media information to the log. The log is caused to associate the media information with the user information. Additionally, the present invention discloses methods and systems that allow users to synchronize his or her media to the media of another user in the client-server network.

Description

METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR MEDIA DISTRIBUTED NETWORKING

CROSS-REFERENCE ' .LATΕD APPLICATION

The present e -tion claims priority to and the benefit of the prior filed co-pending and commonly owned provisional application, filed in the United States Patent and Trademark Office on December 11, 2001, assigned Application Number 60/338,518, and incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates in general to the field of client-server networks.

This invention relates in particular to the field of media distributed networking. Even more particularly, this invention relates to the field of media distributed networking utilizing audio and/ or visual media in a client- server network.

BACKGROUND

In recent years, people have begun to utilize the internet more and more. Today, households all over the world have at least one, and commonly multiple computers connected to the internet. Moreover, the advent of technology such as Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) and cable modems has enabled internet users to stay connected to the "web" without interrupting or interfering with phone service. As the internet's popularity and accessibility have grown, it has become an invaluable source of information, as well as an outlet for entertainment. For millions of consumers worldwide, the internet has emerged as a primary source for information and entertainment. To capitalize on this developing market, more and more areas of commerce are searching for viable means of exploiting the vast potential of the internet. An example of one such burgeoning area of internet commerce is the entertainment industry. The music industry, in particular, continues to develop technology that is both a sound financial investment for the company and an affordable, entertaining experience for the consumer. To this end, the music industry has developed enhanced compact discs. Billed as a new generation of compact disc (CD), the enhanced compact disc rewards consumers with data content in addition to the audio content on the CD. When played on a personal computer (PC) with a CDROM (compact discread only memory) player rather than a standard CD player, the enhanced CD reveals additional content, often in the form of a visual page containing more information about the artist, or a hyperlink to the artist's website. While initially intriguing, enhanced CDs have yet to truly receive widespread acceptance from consumers because they offer little more than would be offered by simply including the artist's web address on the back cover of the CD. A major drawback of enhanced CDs is that the additional content included on the CD is static, and quickly becomes stale and outdated. Once the "enhanced" data is accessed and explored — especially time sensitive information like schedules for concert dates, singles releases, or personal appearances — there is very little to compel the consumer to continue utilizing the enhanced CD for purposes other than listening. This drawback is exasperated if the enhanced CD is not purchased very early in the life of the particular enhanced CD's sales period. Thus, the benefits of purchasing an enhanced CD have a relatively short shelf life. Even with traditional CDs, -5

consumers often fail to continue to listen to the compact disc year after year, especially when the artist has a more recently retailed compact disc.

Although the enhanced CD is described as "interactive," another drawback of utilizing any enhanced CD at home is the lack of interaction such as one would experience in a live music venue. People want the convenience of home listening, yet still yearn for an entertainment experience that captures or rivals the energy, excitement, community building vibe and the interaction with the artist and other fans that a concert provides. Shared music experiences and communication between fans while listening to a particular CD are somewhat rare. If a person wants to seek out other fans, the person has relatively few means outside searching the internet for fan websites. Unfortunately, internet searches are often over-inclusive and thus extremely time consuming unless the artist has a highly unique name. Even then, depending on the quality of the website, these search efforts may only lead to minimal contact with other fans.

When it comes to contact between the fans and the artist, communication is even less frequent. Barring concert attendance, seeking out an artist's personal appearance schedule, or the occasional live chat opportunity, there is very little true interaction built into the artist-fan relationship. This not only affects the eager fan hoping to meet a favorite artist, but being out of touch with fans puts the artist at a disadvantage as well.

Record companies base artist's success on the quantity of albums sold and the amount of radio or video "airplay" an artist receives. The amount of play a single receives on the radio or video channels has been tracked for years. Often, prestigious industry honors and lucrative contracts are awarded based on the amount of airplay. Thus, an important aspect within the career of an artist is the ability to release songs that will be well received by the listening audience. Following a hit single with another hit can often lead to benefits such as increased record sales, an expansion of the artist's fan base, lucrative endorsement deals, and even opportunities for renegotiation of their contract. Alternatively, following a hit single with a less than desirable single can often signal "death" for an artist, who may, in turn, become a "one-hit wonder."

Currently, to determine which of an album's songs are most popular, artists have to guess based on audience reaction at live concerts. However, such a method is undesirable since it would also encompass the risk of performing highly unpopular songs at the live concerts. Additionally, concert attendees represent only a fraction of the artist's actual fan base. Without more consistent interaction between the musician and his or her fan base, many artists are faced with the inability to accurately predict the next single to release in the wake of a hit single, and are often forced to use "guesswork." Many record companies and artists initially viewed enhanced CDs as a method of providing additional content and information to their fans. However, the information provided on enhanced CDs flows only one-way. Information flows from the artist to the fan, but not vice versa. Clearly, this makes for more informed fans — to the extent that the enhanced information is timely and fresh, as noted earlier —but fails to allow the artist to tap into the needs and preferences of the fans, vital information that is of en missing from the equation.

Also noted previously, the information contained on enhanced CDs does not change, so the opportunities for updating or sharing fresh information with fans via this technology is limited to releasing another enhanced CD, a time consuming and costly endeavor.

In sum, there is need for systems and methods for providing entertainment fans with the convenience of home listening, while providing an entertainment experience that captures or rivals the energy, excitement, community building vibe and the interaction with the artist and other fans that a concert provides. Additionally, there is a need to provide entertainers with methods and systems for increased interaction with their fans. Particularly, there is a need for methods and systems that provide entertainers with information from their fans especially regarding which song the entertainer should release next.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The methods and systems according to the present inventions overcome the drawbacks of the prior art. The inventions described herein provide fans with the convenience of home listening and/ or viewing while providing interaction with the entertainers and other fans. The methods and systems according to the present invention automatically connects a user to a client-server network that provides a web-based environment specific to a particular entertainer. Additionally, the methods and systems according to the present invention allows users to synchronize his or her media to the media of another user in the client-server network. Moreover, the methods and systems according to the present invention tracks user actions and provides the entertainer with statistics and data regarding the user actions. Stated generally, the present invention discloses methods and systems for providing entertainment fans associated with a client-server network with an interactive web-based community while proving entertainers with powerful marketing information obtained by tracking fans on the client- server network. More specifically, the present invention discloses a method to track usage of media in a system for playback of media on a client in a client-server network. The system causes the client to utilize a media to access a server. The media may be a software encoded CD or DVD. Once the client has access to the server, the client may provide user information to the server. In response to the receipt of the user information, the server is caused to provide the user information to a log. The client may also be caused to provide media information to the server. Upon receipt of the media information, the server may be caused to provide the media information to the log. Additionally, the client may also be caused to provide user action information to the server, which in-turn is caused to provide the user action information to the log.

Even more specifically, the present invention discloses methods for tracking usage of media. A server is configured to include a log. User information is received at the server from a client in a client-server relationship with the server where the client utilizes the media to access the server. In response to receipt of the user information, the server is caused to provide the user information to the log. The server receives media information from the client. In response to receiving the media information, the server is caused to provide the media information to the log. The log is caused to associate the media information with the user information.

The present invention further discloses a system to track the usage of media applications on a client. A client is operative to make a media accessible to a client. Upon gaining access to the media, the client is operative to utilize the media in order to gain access to a server. In response to gaining access to the server, the client may also be operative to provide user information to the server. Upon receiving the user information, the server is also operative to provide user information to a log. The client is further operative to provide media information to the server. In response to receiving the media information, the server is operative to provide the media information to the log. The present invention also discloses a method to synchronize the usage of a plurality of CDs. A plurality of users may utilize a chat environment in which a first user of the plurality of users views the user chat information of a second user of the plurality of users. The first user may provide a request to the server to synchronize a first track of a first CD to a second track of a second CD. In response to receiving the request, the server synchronizes the first track with the second track.

The present invention further discloses a system for viewing and accessing image, video and audio information in a web-based environment. A client-server network operative to provide a web-based environment associated with a media. A browser screen is operative to allow a plurality of users to navigate the web-based environment. A chat screen operative to allow the plurality of users to communicate on the client-server network. A player screen operative to provide the plurality of users with media controls. Advantageously, the methods and systems according to the present invention provide entertainers with a way to track media usage outside of the established avenues of radio and video airplay. In addition, the present invention provides fans with an interactive web-based environment that allows the fans to communicate with the artist as well as other fans. Yet another advantage of the present invention is that fans can access up-to-date entertainer information, view and listen to video and audio content associated with the entertainer, and communicate with other fans of a particular entertainer without having to perform a time consuming search.

These and other feature and advantages of the methods and systems according to the present invention may be more clearly understood and appreciated from a review of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and by reference to the appended drawings and claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the inventions.

Fig. 2 illustrates an exemplary computing environment.

Fig. 3 is a flow diagram of the general actions taken by an exemplary embodiment of the inventions during the initial setup.

Fig. 4 is a flow diagram of the general actions taken by an exemplary embodiment of the inventions to synchronize a plurality of users.

Fig. 5 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of the Installation screen.

Fig. 6 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of the Browser screen. Fig. 7 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of the

Browser Mailing List screen.

Fig. 8 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of the Browser Photograph screen.

Fig. 9 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of the Browser Bonus Content screen.

Fig. 10 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of the Chat screen.

Fig.ll illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of the Chat User Detail screen. Fig.12 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of the Chat

User Hover screen.

Fig. 13 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of the Rooms View screen. Fig. 14 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of the Player screen.

Fig. 15 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of the Artist Login screen. Fig. 16 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of the

Artist Profile screen.

Fig. 17 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of the CD Information screen.

Fig. 18 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of the Multimedia screen.

Fig. 19 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of the Photograph screen.

Fig. 20 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of the Geography Statistics screen. Fig. 21 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of the

Hourly Statistics screen.

Fig. 22 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of the Page Hit Statistics screen.

Fig. 23 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of the Statistics Overview screen.

Fig. 24 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of the Track Statistics screen.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The following detailed description utilizes a number of acronyms that are generally well known in the art. While definitions are typically provided with the first instance of each acronym, for convenience, Table 1 below provides a list of the acronyms and abbreviations used herein along with their respective definitions.

TABLE 1

ACRONYM DEFINITION

CD Compact Disc

DSL Digital Subscriber Line DVD Digital Video Disc LAN Local Area Network PC Personal Computer PDA Personal Digital Assistant RAM Random Access Memory ROM Read Only Memory USB Universal Serial Bus WAN Wide Area Network

The methods and systems according to the present inventions contemplate interaction of a server and one or more clients within a client- server network. The "client-server" network may refer to a hardware configuration, to a software configuration, or to a combination thereof.

A "client" in a hardware configuration generally is a computer such as a personal computer (PC), intelligent device, personal digital assistant (PDA) or workstation used by a user. In use, the client may carryout tasks in the process of which the client may request information or otherwise may use the resources of another object such as the server or another client to accomplish such tasks. A "server" in a hardware configuration generally also is a computer such as a personal computer (PC) or other intelligent device. A server typically performs the bulk of the centralized or generalized tasks in the network and often has more memory, processing speed, and storage than the other device on the client-server network. Alternatively, the server may perform specialized tasks such as distributing electronic mail, data storage or printing.

In the software arrangement, a "server" typically is a program that provides data, stores data, or provides some service to other programs to which the server is connected. A server may be a program with higher priority, greater memory, or greater capabilities compared to the other programs connected through the network. A server also may be a program that includes specialized capabilities or has higher priority with respect to certain tasks or functions. A "client" in the software arrangement generally is a program used by a user. A client program typically makes use of data, processing, storage, or other resources of another program. A client may be used to communicate with a source or destination through a higher priority, more powerful, more capable or different program. Any given device or program may be capable of acting as a client and/ or a server depending on the role the device or program plays based on the nature of the connection between the device or program and other elements. In other words, rather than a specific type of device or program, the terms "client" and "server" refer to the role a device or program performs during a specific connection or communication with another device, program or element.

An Exemplary Embodiment - Figure 1 Figure 1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a client-server network according to the present inventions. Specifically, Figure 1 illustrates a client-server network 10 including a server 12 connected to a plurality of clients (hereafter referred to as "clients") 14a-n, an administrating client 16, and a supervising client 18. An especially powerful server may be referred to as a super-server. A server can be specialized such as a print server, mail server, etc. Nonetheless, a server that performs the bulk of centralized or generalized tasks in the network often has more memory, processing speed, and storage than other computers, devices, or systems on the network. Alternatively, a client-server network may have more than one server, and multiple servers in a network are not uncommon. Additionally, in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the server 12 of the client- server network 10 may be accessible to the clients 14a-n over a data and/ or network. The server 12 in an exemplary embodiment of the invention includes a log 13. The log 13 may be a listing, a table, a record, a database, or any other structured and organized collection of data. For example, the log 13 may be a database that records information provided by the clients 14a-n, the location of the clients 14-n, and the time and date of the communication with the clients 14a-n. More specifically, in an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the log 13 may record information related to the users utilizing the clients 14a-n, information related to the media 15a-n associated with the clients 14a-n and information related to the users' actions on the clients 14a-n. Information related to the users utilizing the clients may be referred to as "user information." However, information related to the uses' actions on the client may be referred to as "user action information." For example, the log 13 may record user information such as a user's name, age, sex, address, geographic location, email address, login name and/ or password. In an alternative exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the log 13 may record user action information, such as the current track playing, the elapsed playing time of the current track, the portion of the media the user is currently utilizing, listening to and/ or viewing and how long the user has been utilizing, listening to, and/ or viewing a particular portion of the media 15a-n. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, a "track" may be any division of information on the media 15a-n. For example, a track may be a song on a CD or a segment of a movie on a DVD. The log 13 may be included in the server 12 or accessible to the server 12. Further, the log 13 may possess information to access the information provided by the clients 14a-n rather than to store the information.

Media 15a-n may be any multimedia product or any encoded media device. For example, in an exemplary embodiment of the inventions, the media 15a-n may be a CD, a DVD, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a miniature CD, a miniature DVD, a miniature disk, a memory card, a memory stick, etc., any of which may be encoded. In an exemplary embodiment of the inventions, the media 15a-n may be associated with client 14a-n. For example, media 15a- n may be associated with client 14a-n by placing the media 15a-n within the client 14a-n, the client 14a-n accessing the media 15a-n located without the client 14a-n, or the client 14a-n accessing another device that in turn has access to the media 15a-n.

As a further example, in an exemplary embodiment, media 15a-n comprise software encoded CDs, and the clients 14a-n are PCs each equipped with a CD ROM player. The software encoded CDs 15a-n are associated with the PCs 14a-n by placing a software encoded CDs 15a-n into a CD ROM player of PCs 14a-n. In an exemplary embodiment of the inventions, the encoded media 15a-n may be encoded with self -installing software that automatically begins once the encoded media 15a-n is associated with the clients 14a-n. For example, upon being placed into the clients 14a-n, the encoded media 15a-n automatically installs software onto the clients 14a-n and downloads any missing and/ or necessary files from the server 12 or from the appropriate intra- and/ or inter-network location. In an exemplary embodiment of the inventions, once the software is installed on the clients 14a~n, the clients 14a-n may communicate with any other element within the client-server network 10. For example, the clients 14a-n may communicate with other clients 14a-n, the server 12, the administrating client 16 and/ or the supervising client 18. As a further example, in an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the supervising client 18 may communicate with the clients 14a-n, the server 12, and the adrninistrating client 16.

The administrating client 16 may be any client utilized by an administrator. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, an administrator may be any person or automated device responsible for the upkeep of any aspect of the client-server network 10. For example, an administrator may be a person responsible for updating the content viewed by the users, uploading multimedia content into the client-server network, and/ or providing and maintaining the software utilized on the encoded media 15a-n. As a further example, the administrator may be a company or person responsible for developing and/ or encoding the media 15a-n.

In an exemplary embodiment of the inventions, the admir sfrating client 16 is associated with an administrating media 17. In an exemplary embodiment of the inventions, the adminisfrating media 17 may be an encoded media device. For example, the administrating media 17 may be a CD encoded with software associating the administrating client 16 with the client-server network 10. Additionally or alternatively, the administrating media 17 in an exemplary embodiment of the invention may be a copy of the media 15a-n. For example, media 15a-n and administrating media 17 may be separate copies of a specific music CD by a particular musician. Just like the media 15a-n, in an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the administrating media 17 may be any multimedia product. For example, in an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the administrating media 17 may be a CD, a DVD, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a miniature CD, a miniature DVD, a miniature disk, a memory card, a memory stick, etc.

The supervising client 18 may be any client utilized by a supervisor. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, a supervisor may be any person or automated device responsible for the upkeep of any aspect of the content of the media 15a-n, the adminisfrating media 17, and/ or supervising media 19. For example, a supervisor may be a musician that performed the songs on a CD, any band member that performed on the CD, a manager, attorney, publicist, agent, record company, distribution company associated with the musician or band that performed on the CD, an actor that performed in the movie on a DVD, any cast member that performed on the DVD, etc. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the supervising client 18 is associated with a supervising media 19.

Just like the media 15a-n and the administrating media, in an exemplary embodiment of the inventions, the supervising media 19 may be any multimedia product. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention the supervising media 19 may be a CD, a DVD, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a miniature CD, a miniature DVD, a miniature disk, a memory card, a memory stick, etc., any of which may be encoded. For example, the supervising media 19 may be a CD encoded with software that automatically associates the supervising client 18 with the client-server network 10. Additionally or alternatively, the supervising media 19, in an exemplary embodiment of the inventions, may be a copy and/ or master of the media 15a-n and/ or administrating media 17. As a further example, media 15a-n, admimstrating media 17 and supervising media 19 may be separate copies of a specific music CD by a particular musician.

In an exemplary embodiment of the inventions, anyone utilizing the client-server network 10 may synchronize the media in his or her client and/ or server to any other person or automated device utilizing the client- server network 10. For example, a user utilizing a client 14a may synchronize his or her media 15a with the media 15b being utilized by a separate user on client 14b. As a further example, a person may utilize his or her PC to synchronize the tracks on his or her CD to the tracks on the CD of another user associated with the client-server network.

An Exemplary Computing Environment - Figure 2

Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary environment 20 for implementing the inventions in or through use of a personal computer (PC). For example, the inventions may be implemented through an application program running on an operating system of a PC. The inventions also may be practiced with other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor based or programmable consumer electronics, mini- computers, mainframe computers, etc.

The application program may include routines, programs, components, data structures, etc. that implement certain abstract data types, perform certain tasks or actions. In a distributed computing environment, the application program (in whole or in part) may be located in local memory, or in other storage. In addition, or in the alternative, the application program (in whole or in part) may be located in remote memory or in storage to allow for the practice of the inventions where tasks are performed by remote processing devices linked through communications network. Figure 2 illustrates a PC 20 including a processor (also referred to as a processing means or processing unit) 22 joined by a system bus 24 to a memory (also referred to as system memory) 26. The memory 26 may include read only memory (ROM) 28 and random access memory (RAM) 30. The ROM 28 stores the basic input/ output systems (BIOS) 32, which contains basic routines that aid in transferring information between elements within the PC 20 during start-up, and at other times. The RAM 30 may store program modules and drives. In particular, the RAM 30 may include an operating system 34, one or more application programs 35, a web browser program 38, program data 40, etc.

The PC also may include a plurality of drives interconnected to other elements of the PC 20 through the system bus 24 (or otherwise). Exemplary drives include a hard disk drive 42, a magnetic disk drive 44, an optical disk drive 46, etc. Specifically, each disk drive may be connected to the system bus 24 through an appropriate interface (respectively, a hard disk drive interface 48, a magnetic disk drive interface 50, an optical drive interface 52, etc.). Further, the PC 20 may include non-volatile storage or memory through the drives and their associated computer-readable media. For example, the magnetic disk drive 44 allows for the use of a magnetic disk 54; and the optical disk drive 46 allows for the use of an optical disk 56. Other types of media that are readable by a computer, e.g., magnetic cassettes, digital video disks, flash memory cards, ZIP cartridges, JAZZ cartridges, etc., also may be used in the exemplary operating environment.

In addition, the PC 20 may include a serial port interface 58 connected to the system bus 24. The serial port interface 58 connects to input devices that allow commands and information to be entered. These input devices may include a keyboard 60, a mouse 62, and/ or other input devices. Pens, touch-operated devices, microphones, joysticks, game pads, satellite dishes, scanners, etc also may be used to enter commands and/ or information. The input devices also may be connected by other interfaces, such as a game port or a universal serial bus (USB). Further, the PC 20 may include a monitor or other display screen 66. The monitor 66 is connected through an interface such as a video adapter 68 to the system bus 24. The PC 20 may include other peripheral and/ or output devices, such as speakers or printers (not illustrated).

The PC 20 may be connected to one or more remote computers 70, and may operate in a network environment. The remote computer 70 may be a PC, a server, a router, a peer device or other common network node, and may include many or all of the elements described in relation to the PC 20. The connection between the PC 20 and the remote computer 70 may be through a local area network (LAN) 72 and/ or a wide area network (WAN) 74. The PC is connected to the LAN 72 through a network interface 76. With respect to the WAN 74, the PC 50 may include a modem 78 or other device to channel communications over the WAN 74, or global data communications network (e.g., the Internet). The modem 78 (internal or eternal) is connected to the system bus 24 via the serial port interface 58. The network connections illustrated in Figure 2 are exemplary and other ways of establishing a communications link between the PC 20 and a remote computer 70 may be used.

Flow Diagram Illustrating an Exemplary Embodiment - Figure 3

Figure 3 illustrates a flow diagram of the general actions taken by the client-server network during the initial setup according to an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions. After start 80, the user associates the media with the client in action 82. In action 84, the media automatically determines whether the client can be networked. In an alternative exemplary ιy

embodiment of the present inventions, the media may be prompted to determine whether the client can be networked. In decision block 86 a determination is made as to whether or not the client can be networked. If the client cannot be networked, the user will be notified to allow the client to be networked in action 88 after which the method of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention ends at action 90. If the client can be networked, then the method continues as explained below. In an alternative exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the media may initiate the first application on the media rather than end at action 90. Referring once again to Figure 3, in action 92, the client is networked with the server, thereby becoming a part of the client-server network. In action 94, the media automatically determines whether the client has all the necessary and/or most recent installation files. A determination is made, in action 96, as to whether or not the client has all the necessary files for installation.

If the client does not have all the necessary files, in action 98, a determination is made as to whether the use agreement 142 has been previously accepted. In an alternative exemplary embodiment the use agreement 142 may be any type of legal and/ or informational text that must be accepted by the user prior to continuing. If the user agreement has not been previously accepted, the client displays the use agreement to the user in action 100. A determination is made, in action 102, as to whether the use agreement has been accepted. If the use agreement is not accepted, the user is notified that the use agreement must be accepted to continue, in action 112, after which the method of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention ends at action 114. In an alternative exemplary embodiment, the media may initiate the first application on the media rather than end at action 114. If, however, a determination is made that the use agreement has been accepted, in either action 98 or action 102, the server provides the client with all the necessary files for installation in action 104.

For example, the server may provide recently updated files to the client. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the updated files are necessary because of changing technology and/ or standards. Thus, in an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, administrators are able to adapt to changes in the field of art because the necessary files are retrieved from the server instead of being encoded on the media. In action 106, the client installs all the necessary files to complete installation. The client then initiates the first application (also referred to as a

"track") on the media in action 108. For example, the media may be a CD playing the first track on the CD. Referring back to action 96, if a determination is made that the client has all the necessary files, the method of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will proceed to action 108. After action 108, the client provides a browser screen for the user in action 110. For example, in an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the client may provide the user with a web-based browser utilized by the client- server network. Thereafter, the method of an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions ends at action 114.

Flow Diagram Illustrating Synchronizing in an Exemplary Embodiment - Figure 4

Figure 4 illustrates a flow diagram of the general actions taken by the client-server network to synchronize a plurality of clients according to an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions. After start 120, a first user and a second user both log into a chat environment associated with the client- server network, in action 122. In action 124, the second user views user details of the first user. The second user then provides a request, to synchronize with the first user, to the second client in action 126. Next, the second client provides the request, to synchronize the second user with the first user, to the server in action 128.

In action 130, the server requests the first media information of the first user from the first client and the server requests the second media information of the second user from the second client. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the media information may be any information about the media. For example, in an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the media may be a CD and the media information may be the CD title, the number of tracks on the CD, the title of the currently playing track, the current elapsed time of the currently playing track, etc. In action 132, the first client provides the first media information to the server and second client provides second media information to the server. The server utilizes the first media information and the second media information to synchronize the second user with the first user in action 134. Thus, in the previous example, the server would utilize information regarding the CD tracks to synchronize the tracks of the two listeners. Thus, in an example of an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the two listeners would ultimately be listening to the same song, at the same time, on the CD. Thereafter, the method of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention ends at action 136. In an alternative embodiment, the first user may be provided with the opportunity to decline to be synchronized with the second user.

As previously discussed in connection with Figure 3, in an exemplary embodiment of the inventions, after installing the required files and/ or software, the user is provided with a web-based browser. In the exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the user may navigate through various screens to experience the convenience of home entertainment, while capturing or rivaling the energy, excitement, community building vibe and the interaction with the artist and other fans that a concert or live play provides. The remaining figures illustrate respective exemplary embodiments of the various potential screens that may be viewed, accessed and/ or interacted by the users, supervisors and/ or administrators to provide the interactive multimedia community.

Installation screen - Figure 5

The screen shot of Figure 5 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of the Installation screen 140. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the Installation screen 140 may be used to install software onto the users clients 14a-n. For example, the Installation screenl40 may be viewed the first time the user inserts a CD, on which there is software associated with the client-server network, into his or her PC. The exemplary embodiment of the Installation screen 140 may include use agreement 142 to which the user must agree prior to proceeding with installation. The use agreement 142 may be a legal notice, a license agreement, an update, etc. An exemplary embodiment of the present inventions may also include installation links 144 that allow the user to determine whether or not and where the software should be installed on his or her PC. For example, the installation links 144 may include, among other things, links to browse the user's PC, to install the software or to install the software at a later time. Additionally, an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions may also include a banner 146. A banner 146, in an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions may include a company logo and/ or company information. Browser screen - Figure 6

In an exemplary embodiment, the main screen is the Browser screen 148. Figure 6 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of the Browser screen 148. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the Browser screen 148 is within a browser skin 149. A browser skin 149 is a customizable browser border. For example, a browser skin 149 may identify the artist on the media. The Browser screen 148 allows the user to select various viewing, interactive and listening options. The view links 150 allow the users to determine how to view the media content. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the view links 150 may include links to a browser view, a chat view and a player view. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the Browser screen may include media controls 152. Media controls 152 allow the user to control the media in a manner that simulates a non-networked media player. For example, in an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the media controls 152 may allow the user to control the volume, play, fast forward, reverse, pause, stop, scan, shuffle, repeat and eject the CD, much like a typical CD player.

An exemplary embodiment of the present inventions may also include page links 154. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, page links 154 may be utilized by the user to view various interactive and informational pages associated with the media. For example, a user could choose to enter his or her contact information into a mailing list, view or listen to bonus content such as additional songs or video clips, view an artist discography or biography, view current news or tour information regarding the artist or view photographs of the artist. An exemplary embodiment of the present inventions may include track links 156. For example, a user may utilize the track links 156 to select any track on the CD or view the lyrics to any of the tracks on the CD whether or not it is the track to which the user is Δt

currently listening. An exemplary embodiment of the Browser screen 148 may have additional elements such as a header 159 including the artist name, an image of the artist, the CD title, the current date or the current time of day. Additionally, an exemplary embodiment of the inventions may include an image of the CD cover artwork 158.

Browser Mailing List screen - Figure 7

The screen shot of Figure 7 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a Browser Mailing List screen 160. The Browser Mailing List screen 160 may be utilized by the user to input contact information into contact fields 162 for inclusion in the artist's mailing list. For example, contact fields 162 may include fields for a user's name, email address, street address, city, state, country and zip. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the Browser Mailing List screen 160 may also include, among other things, a browser skin 149, view links 150, media controls 152 and page links 154.

Browser Photograph screen - Figure 8

The screen shot of Figure 8 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a Browser Photograph screen 166. This screen may be utilized to display additional photographs of the artist. For example, this screen could contain various links or thumbnail photographs 168 of artist photographs. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the thumbnail photographs 168 may display a larger view of a particular photograph when selected by a user. In an exemplary embodiment of the inventions, the larger view of a photograph may be viewed by providing a user with a separate photograph browser 170 in which to view the photograph. Alternatively, the larger view of a photograph may be displayed within the Browser Photograph screen 166. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the Browser Photograph screen may also include, among other things, a browser skin 149, view links 150, media controls 152 and page links 154.

Browser Bonus Content screen - Figure 9 The screen shot of Figure 9 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a

Browser Bonus Content screen 172. The Browser Bonus Content screen 172 may be utilized by the user to access additional audio or video content not accessible via a standard CD player. For example, this screen may include bonus content links 174 that provide access to additional songs, music videos, audio or video artist interviews, audio or video statements from the artist to the user and/ or video footage of live performances. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, bonus content links 174 may provide a separate bonus content browser 176 for viewing or listening to the additional bonus content on the media. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the Browser Bonus Content screen 172 may also include, among other things, a browser skin 149, view links 150, media controls 152 and page links 154.

Chat screen - Figure 10 Figure 10 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of the

Chat screen 180. This screen allows the users to communicate with each other while continuing to listen to the artist CD. For example, the user may continue to listen to the artist CD while discussing current issues related to the artist. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the Chat screen 180 may include dialog area 182. A dialog area 182 in an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions may include a field for a user to input text to communicate with other users and a field to view text entered by other users. An exemplary embodiment of the present inventions may include chat controls 184. Chat controls 184 may provide links to enter or clear the text field in the dialog area 182 and links to various chat menu options. In an exemplary embodiment of the inventions, the chat menu within the chat controls 184 may include links to connect or disconnect a network connection, create additional chat rooms, invite other users to a particular chat room, register as a new user in the chat room, change from the current user account to a different chat room user account and edit the user account details. For example, a user may decide to set his or her preferences so as to prohibit other users from synchronizing to his or her CD. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the Chat screen 180 may also include, among other things, a browser skin 149, view links 150, media controls 152 and page links 154.

Chat User Detail screen - Figure 11

Figure 11 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of Chat User Detail screen 188. The Chat User Detail screen 188 allows a user to view and update his or her user information. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the Chat User Detail screen may include user detail fields 190 and user detail controls 192. An exemplary embodiment of the user detail fields 190 may include, among other things, the user screen name, the user first name, last name, sex, age, email address, mailing address, city, state and country. For example, user detail fields 190 may allow a user to update his or her email address or mailing address. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the user detail controls 192 may include links to view user information, save updated information and to exit the Chat User Detail screen 188. Chat User Hover screen - Figure 12

The screen shot of Figure 12 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a Chat User Hover screen 194. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the Chat User Hover screen 194 may be accessed from the Chat screen 180. The Chat User Hover screen 194 allows a user to view information regarding another user. For example, a user may view the title, track number and elapsed track time of a song to which another user is listening, the title of the CD and the name of the artist, whether the user is synchronized with another user and the screen names of any synchronized users. In an exemplary embodiment of the Chat Hover screen 194, user information may be viewed by selecting another user by clicking on the screen name. In another exemplary embodiment of the Chat Hover screen 194, user information may be viewed by simply "hovering" a cursor over the screen name of another user. Hovering a cursor consists of placing a cursor over an item for at least short period of time.

Rooms View screen - Figure 13

The screen shot of Figure 13 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a Rooms View screen 198. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the Rooms View screen 198 may be accessed in the Chat screen 180. This screen allows a user to view and/ or select alternative chat rooms associated with the user's current chat room and provides information related to the various chat rooms. For example, a user may view a listing of the various chat rooms and hover his or her cursor over a chat room to view a room description box 200. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, a room description box 200 may include, among other things, the number of other users currently utilizing that particular chat room. Player screen - Figure 14

Figure 14 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of the Player screen 202. The Player screen 202 allows the user to view and select from a list of the applications on the media. For example, a user may view the various tracks on a CD, select which track to listen to and/ or view the lyrics to the tracks on the CD. An exemplary embodiment of the Player screen may include a track list 204. In an exemplary embodiment of the inventions, the track list 204 may include a listing of the number and titles of the tracks on a CD, the length of each track and the lyrics of each song. For example, a user may view the lyrics of a particular track by selecting the track. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the track list 204 may be a portion of the information utilized to compile the track information.

Track information may be any information associated with the applications on the media. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, track information may be information obtained in the track list 204 as well as the elapsed track time of a particular application, the number of times an application on the media is accessed by the user, when an application on the media is accessed, where the user accessing the application on the media is located, etc. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, additional information associated with the application may be viewed in the track lyrics area 206. For example, a user may utilize the track lyrics area 206 to view the lyrics to a particular song on the CD. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the user may utilize the polling area 208 to participate in customizable polls by using the voting buttons in the polling area 208. For example, a user may vote to indicate how much he or she likes a particular track on a CD. Thus, in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a supervisor and/ or administrator may view the results of any polls conducted in the polling area 208 and utilize the results to better respond to the likes and dislikes of the users. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the Player screen 202 may also include, among other things, a browser skin 149, view links 150, media controls 152 and page links 154.

Artist Login screen - Figure 15

The screen shot of Figure 15 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an Artist Login screen 210. In an exemplary embodiment of an Artist Login screen 210 the supervisor and/ or administrator is required to provide a login and password, in the login fields 212, prior to viewing and updating information on the media. An exemplary embodiment of an Artist Login screen 210 may further include links and information related to the media provider, supplier, developer, etc. For example, an Artist Login screen 210 may include, among other things, links to current news related to the company responsible for developing the media and/ or links to additional products offered by that company in the products area 214. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, navigation links 218 may be utilized by the supervisor and/ or administrator to view additional area and/ or pages related to the company responsible for encoding the media, developing the media and/ or producing the media, etc. For example, the navigation links 218 may include, among other things, links to contact the company, a members' area, a support area and/ or a site map.

Artist Profile screen - Figure 16

Figure 16 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of the Artist Profile screen 220. This screen may be utilized as the main screen, by the supervisors and/ or administrators, to manage the content viewed by the users. For example, the artist may view and update member information, biography information and tour information in the profile fields 224. Additionally, an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may include retrieval links 222. The retrieval links 222 may be utilized by the supervisors and/ or administrators to view data accumulated by tracking the actions of the users (user actions information) on the client-server network. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the retrieval links 222 may include, among other things, media usage statistics, a preview of the display viewed by the users, mailing list information submitted by the users and/or customizable skin updates. The exemplary embodiment of the Artist Profile screen 220 may include profile update links 226. In an exemplary embodiment of the inventions, the profile update links 226 may be utilized by the supervisors and/ or administrators to view and update the artist profile, artist bonus multimedia content, artist photographs and CD information. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the Artist Profile screen may also include navigation links 218.

CD Information screen - Figure 17

Figure 17 is a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of a CD Information screen 228. This screen may be used by the supervisors and/ or administrators to view and update information regarding the media. For example, an exemplary embodiment of the CD Information screen 228 may include, among other things, media information fields 230 and media liner browser 232. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the media information fields 230 may include, among other things, input fields to view and/ or update the media title, release date and cover artwork. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the media liner browser 232 may include input fields for the CD title, release date, track lyrics, track titles, track credits and album credits. An exemplary embodiment of the present inventions may also include, among other things, navigation links 218 and profile update links 226.

Multimedia screen - Figure 18

Figure 18 is a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of a Multimedia screen 236. This screen is used by the artist to view, update and upload additional multimedia content. An exemplary embodiment of a Multimedia screen may include multimedia fields 238 for updating and/ or uploading the title of the media, the media type, a description of the multimedia and multimedia content. An exemplary embodiment of a Multimedia screen 236 in the present inventions may further include, among other things, navigation links 218, retrieval links 222 and profile update links 226.

Photograph screen - Figure 19

The screen shot of Figure 19 is an exemplary embodiment of a Photograph screen 240. This screen is utilized by a supervisor and/ or administrator to view, update and upload additional photographic content. An exemplary embodiment of a Photograph screen 240 may include photograph upload fields 242 for the input of the title of the photographs, the order of the photographs , a description of the photographs and uploading the photographs. For example, photograph upload fields 242 may include thumbnail photographs displaying the currently uploaded photographs. An exemplary embodiment of a Photograph screen 240 in the present inventions may further include, among other things, navigation links 218, retrieval links 222 and profile update links 226. Geography Statistics screen - Figure 20

The screen shot of Figure 20 is an exemplary embodiment of a Geography Statistic screen 244. This screen may be used by a supervisor and/ or administrator to view statistics related to the geography of the users. For example, an exemplary embodiment of a Geography Statistics screen 244 may display a color-coded map where a variety of colors represent various level of users. Alternatively, an exemplary embodiment of the Geography Statistic screen 244 may display charts and/ or tables filled with data representing the geographic location of users. Additionally, an exemplary embodiment of the Geography Statistic screen 244 may allow the supervisor and/ or administrator to view detailed geographic information by selecting particular portions of a geographic area.

Hourly Statistics screen - Figure 21 Figure 21 is a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of an Hourly

Statistic screen 246. This screen may utilized by a supervisor and/ or administrator to view, access and sort information regarding usage of the media during various temporal periods. For example, an artist may view usage data for a particular CD and sort the data according to hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, bi-annually and/ or yearly periods. In an exemplary embodiment of the inventions, a supervisor and/ or administrator may view hourly playback reports 248, general statistics 250 and an hourly distribution chart 252. An hourly playback report 248, in an exemplary embodiment, may include, among other things, links to data in the aggregate, per hour, week, month, quarter and/ or over longer periods of time. For example, an artist may view how often users have utilized a CD during each hour of a specific day. An exemplary embodiment of general statistics 250 may include the total number of times users have accessed the media, the number of times users have accessed the media on a particular date, the total number of users that have accessed the media and the number of new users that have accessed the media on a particular day. An hourly distribution chart 252 may be used to graphically display media playback reports 248 and/ or general statistics 250. For example, an exemplary embodiment of an hourly distribution chart may include a vertical and/ or horizontal graph representing the hourly usage of a CD and the percentage of the total usage the particular hourly usage represents.

Page Hit Statistics screen - Figure 22

The screen shot of Figure 22 is an exemplary embodiment of a Page Hit Statistic screen 252 . This screen may be utilized by a supervisor and/ or administrator to view, access and sort information regarding the number of times particular areas of the site associated with the media have been accessed. For example, supervisors and/ or administrators may view how many times users have viewed the artist biography. In an exemplary embodiment of the Page Hit Statistic screen 254, an artist may view page hit playback reports 256, page hit general statistics 258 and a page hit distribution chart 260. A page hit playback report 256, in an exemplary embodiment, may include, among other things, links to data in the aggregate, per hour, week, month, quarter and/ or over longer periods of time. For example, an artist may view how often users have visited a particular area of the media during each hour of a specific day.

An exemplary embodiment of page hit general statistics 258 may include the total number of pages users have accessed, the number of times users have accessed the media, the total number of times users have accessed the most popular page and the average number of pages viewed by the users when the media is accessed. A page hit distribution chart 260 may be used to graphically display page hit general statistics. For example, an exemplary embodiment of the Page Hit Statistic screen may include a vertical or horizontal table graphically representing the number of times the users have accessed various pages and the percent of total visits various pages have received by the users. For example, a page hit distribution chart may track and display, among other things, the number of times users have accessed the artist biography, bonus content, discography, main browser page, mailing list, news, photographs and/ or tour dates.

Statistics Overview screen - Figure 23

Figure 23 is a screen shot of an exemplary embodiment of the Statistics Overview screen 262. The Statistics Overview screen may be used to display general statistics related to the media. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the Statistics Overview screen 262 may include, among other things, summary statistics 264 and total hit statistics 266. In an exemplary embodiment of the inventions, the summary statistics 264 may include links to information regarding the number of times each particular application on the media has been accessed and/ or links to various pages with additional statistics associated with the media. For example, the summary statistics 264 may have links to the Hourly Statistics screen 246 and/ or the Page Hit Statistics screen 254. In an exemplary embodiment of the present inventions, the total hit statistics 266 may include data associated with the amount of times users have access particular portions of all the various versions of the media. For example, total hit statistics 266 may include statistics tracking the number of total hits a CD has received and the distribution of the total hits for an edited version of a CD and/ or an unedited version of the CD.

Track Statistics screen - Figure 24 The screen shot of Figure 24 is an exemplary embodiment of a Track

Statistics screen 268. The Track Statistics screen 268 may be used to display various statistics related to each application on the media. For example, an exemplary embodiment of a Track Statistics screen may include a listing of the tracks on the CD, the number of times each track has been played, the percentage of total plays each track has received, the scores to various customizable polls conducted regarding the tracks and the number of users that have voted in each poll.

Conclusion From the foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments of the inventions and operation thereof, other embodiments will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the scope of t e inventions is to be limited only by the claims below and equivalents thereof.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. A method for tracking usage of a media, comprising: configuring a server to include a log; receiving user information at the server from a client in a client-server relationship with the server where the client utilizes the media to access the server; in response to receipt of the user information, causing the server to provide the user information to the log; receiving media information at the server from the client; and in response to receipt of the media information, causing the server to provide the media information to the log; and causing the log to associate the media information with the user information, whereby the log tracks usage of the media through the user information and the media information provided from the client to the server and to the log.

2. The method of Claim 1, further comprising: receiving user action information at the server from the client; and in response to receipt of the user action information, causing the server to provide the user action information to the log; and causing the log to associate the user action information with the user information and the media information.

3. The method of Claim 1, wherein: the media comprises a software encoded compact disc (CD); the client comprises a computer with a CD read-only-memory (ROM); and the media information comprises track information on the software encoded CD.

4. The method of Claim 1, further comprising: receiving a request for the user information at the server from a supervising client; and causing the server to provide the user information to the supervising client.

5. The method of Claim 1, further comprising: receiving a request or the media information at the server from a supervising client; and causing the server to provide the media information to the supervising client.

6. The method of Claim 2, further comprising: receiving a request for the user action information at the server from a supervising client; and causing the server to provide the user action information to the supervising client.

7. The method of Claim 6, wherein the request for the user action information comprises a request resulting from provision of security information necessary to generate the request.

8. A method for tracking usage of a media, comprising: providing a log; receiving respective usage information regarding use of a media from one or more clients, with the usage information comprising user information and media information; and storing the usage information in the log by reference to the one or more clients, whereby the log tracks the usage of the media by including the respective usage information from the one or more clients.

9. The method of Claim 8, wherein the usage information with respect to each client comprises track information; and further comprising: receiving a request from a client to synchronize playing of the media of the client with the playing of the media of another client; and synchronizing the playing by using track information of the client and track information of the other client.

10. The method of Claim 9, further comprising: providing a chat environment accessible to the one or more clients, and wherein the chat environment relates to the media.

11. The method of Claim 10, wherein the request from the client results from participation in the chat environment by the user and the other user.

12. With respect to a client-server network including two clients able to play compact disks (CDs), a method for synchronizing usage of the CDs between the two clients, the method comprising: receiving a request to synchronize playing of a CD on a client with playing of the CD on another client; accessing track information on the playing of the CD of the client; accessing track information on the playing of the CD on the other client; and using the track information to synchronize the playing of the CD on the client with the playing of the CD on the client.

13. In a client-server network for playing media and for providing image and audio information associated with the media to a client, a system for viewing and accessing the image and audio information in a web-based environment, the system comprising: a server including the image and audio information associated with the media, and with the server being connected to and accessible through a data network; a browser screen operative to allow navigation of the image and audio information; the server being responsive to requests for the image and audio information by providing the image and audio information to a client in response to a request; and a player screen operative to provide media controls with respect to the playing of the image and audio information.

14. The system of Claim 13, further comprising a chat screen operative to allow a plurality of users to communicate regarding the media.