Process and method of providing a shared experience with multimedia content

摘要

A system, method and computer readable media are disclosed for presenting a simultaneous multimedia experience to a plurality of computing devices, each at different locations. The method involves coordinating a simultaneous presentation of multimedia content to a plurality of computing devices, receiving a control signal from a computer of one of the plurality of computing devices to control the presentation of multimedia content, and broadcasting the control assigned to each of the plurality of computing devices such that a control event substantially simultaneously occurs in the presentation of a multimedia content at each of the plurality of computing devices. Where commercial breaks and length of presentation differences occur in various time zones or geographically disparate areas, the method may include utilizing synchronization points, adding new content in time gaps at a computing device and/or modifying the length of the presentation to maintain synchronization among the computing devices in a group.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
receiving, from a plurality of computing devices located at disparate geographic locations, information associated with a presentation of multimedia content; synchronizing the presentation of the multimedia content across the disparate geographic locations, to yield synchronized multimedia content; receiving control signal votes from a plurality of viewers, the plurality of viewers associated with the plurality of computing devices, wherein each control signal vote in the control signal votes is associated with a viewer in the plurality of viewers, and wherein each control signal vote has a weight which increases based on an amount of time the viewer associated with the each control signal vote has been in the plurality of viewers; determining a control signal using the control signal votes to control presentation of the synchronized multimedia content; and communicating the control signal to each of the plurality of computing devices such that the synchronized multimedia content is presented in a synchronized form at each of the plurality of computing devices per the control signal.