Method and system for collecting information about a user's media collections from multiple login points

Abstract

Collecting information about a user's media collections at a central location from multiple login points and/or multiple devices owned by the user is disclosed herein. The user establishes a user account at a central server. A client application may be downloaded to the user's device for establishing a connection to the central server. Subsequently, each time the user logs in to the central server, the central server receives a unique machine identifier for the connected and currently in-use user device. The central server receives information about the user's media collection from the user device and stores that media collection by its MID under the user's individual account. The central server obtains and stores information about all the user's media collections owned by user devices connected and in-use and previously connected to the central server rather than only having knowledge of the media collection stored on the currently in-use user device.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A system for obtaining information about distributed media collections over a network at a central server, the system comprising:
 the central server operably connected to the network;   the central server comprising a processor configured to:
 establish a unique account for a distributed media collection; 
 receive information about the distributed media collection from a plurality of associated devices; 
 store the received information about the distributed media collection under the unique account; 
 obtain a recommendation for media content for the unique account; and 
 filter the recommendation if content represented by the recommendation is already associated with the unique account. 
   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2  wherein the distributed media collection is comprised of media types selected from the group consisting of: audio, video, songs, movies, television programs, video clips, and presentations. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2  wherein the processor is further configured to establish a user id and password. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 2  wherein the central server is configured to maintain a persistent connection with at least one of the plurality of associated devices. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the processor is further configured to control the recommendation and download content represented by the recommendation to at least one of the plurality of associated devices. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6  wherein the processor is further configured to download the content based at least in part on available network bandwidth. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the processor is further configured to insert a tag into the recommendation if the recommendation is already on one of the plurality of associated user devices. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the processor is further configured to notify a user of the tag inserted into the recommendation and provide an adjustment score to a score of the recommendation in response to notification. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 10  wherein the processor is further configured to send a message to one of the plurality of associated devices that indicates that content requested for download is already owned by another of the associated devices associated with the user account. 
     
     
         11 . A method of obtaining information about distributed media collections at a central server, comprising:
 establishing a unique account for a distributed media collection;   receiving information about the distributed media collection from a plurality of associated devices;   storing the received information about the distributed media collection under the unique account;   obtaining a recommendation for media content for the unique account; and   filtering the recommendation if content represented by the recommendation is already associated with the unique account.   
     
     
         12 . A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising software with instructions to:
 establish a unique account for a distributed media collection;   receive information about the distributed media collection from a plurality of associated devices;   store the received information about the distributed media collection under the unique account;   obtain a recommendation for media content for the unique account; and   filter the recommendation if content represented by the recommendation is already associated with the unique account.   
     
     
         13 . A system for obtaining information about a user's media collections over a network at a central server, the system comprising:
 the central server operably connected to the network;   the central server comprising a processor configured to:
 establish a unique user account for a user; 
 receive information about the user's media collections from a plurality of user devices associated with the user; 
 store the received information about the user's media collections under the user account associated with the user; 
 obtain a recommendation for media content for the user account; and 
 filter the recommendation if content represented by the recommendation is already associated with the user account. 
   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13  wherein the user's media collection is comprised of media types selected from the group consisting of: audio, video, songs, movies, television programs, video clips, and presentations. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 13  wherein the processor is further configured to establish a user id and password. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 13  wherein the central server is configured to maintain a persistent connection with at least one of the plurality of user devices. 
     
     
         17 . A method of obtaining information about a user's media collections at a central server, comprising:
 establishing a unique user account for a user;   receiving information about the user's media collections from a plurality of user devices associated with the user;   storing the received information about the user's media collections under the user account associated with the user;   obtaining a recommendation for media content for the user account; and   filtering the recommendation if content represented by the recommendation is already associated with the user account.   
     
     
         18 . A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising software with instructions to:
 establish a unique user account for a user;   receive information about the user's media collections from a plurality of user devices associated with the user;   store the received information about the user's media collections under the user account associated with the user;   obtain a recommendation for media content for the user account; and   filter the recommendation if content represented by the recommendation is already associated with the user account.