Methods and systems for creating and managing multi participant sessions

Abstract

A method of creating a multi participant session among a plurality of viewers of media content. The method comprises automatically identifying which media content is currently presented on a plurality of client terminals of a plurality of subscribers, receiving, from a first subscriber, a first selection indicative of a template of a multi participant session object and a second selection indicative of a group from the plurality of subscribers, creating a multi participant session object adapted for simultaneous presentation with the media content according to first and second selections and establishing a multi participant session among at least one member of the group and the first subscriber using the multi participant session object.

1 - 81 . (canceled) 
     
     
         82 . A method for selecting at least one interactive application, comprising:
 identifying a plurality of interactive applications which are available to a client terminal of a user;   identifying a media content item being currently presented on said client terminal;   automatically identifying at least one media content characteristic of said media content item, wherein each of said at least one media content characteristic is one of: a genre, a length, a rating, an age rating, a language, an origin country, a production source, a production date and indirect advertising content;   automatically selecting a group of said plurality of interactive applications according to said at least one media content characteristic; and   presenting icons corresponding to members of said group on a display of said client terminal concurrently with presenting said media content item.   
     
     
         83 . The method of  claim 82 , wherein one of said at least one media content characteristic is a genre. 
     
     
         84 . The method of  claim 82 , wherein one of said at least one media content characteristic is a length. 
     
     
         85 . The method of  claim 82 , wherein one of said at least one media content characteristic is a rating. 
     
     
         86 . The method of  claim 82 , wherein one of said at least one media content characteristic is an age rating. 
     
     
         87 . The method of  claim 82 , wherein one of said at least one media content characteristic is a language. 
     
     
         88 . The method of  claim 82 , wherein one of said at least one media content characteristic is an origin country. 
     
     
         89 . The method of  claim 82 , wherein one of said at least one media content characteristic is a production source. 
     
     
         90 . The method of  claim 82 , wherein one of said at least one media content characteristic is a production date. 
     
     
         91 . The method of  claim 82 , wherein one of said at least one media content characteristic is indirect advertising content. 
     
     
         92 . The method of  claim 82 , wherein said media content item is a broadcast. 
     
     
         93 . The method of  claim 82 , wherein said media content item is a video on demand (VOD) content selected by said user. 
     
     
         94 . The method of  claim 82 , wherein said media content item is locally stored on a memory of said client terminal. 
     
     
         95 . The method of  claim 82 , wherein said media content item is locally stored on a memory device connected to said client terminal. 
     
     
         96 . The method of  claim 82 , wherein said plurality of interactive applications is stored on said client terminal. 
     
     
         97 . The method of  claim 82 , wherein said plurality of interactive applications is stored on a remote network node. 
     
     
         98 . The method of  claim 82 , wherein at least one of said plurality of interactive applications is a commercial application which contains commercial content. 
     
     
         99 . A computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions adapted to perform the method of  claim 82 . 
     
     
         100 . A system for selecting at least one interactive application, comprising:
 a database storing a plurality of media content records each indicative of one media content item and at least one corresponding media content characteristic, wherein each one of said media content characteristic is one of: a genre, a length, a rating, an age rating, a language, an origin country, a production source, a production date and indirect advertising content;   a central unit that is configured to receive a request with an identifier of a media content item currently presented by a client terminal and to automatically send a response with said at least one corresponding media content characteristic from said plurality of media content records; and   a client module installed on said client terminal; said client module is configured to receive said response, to automatically select a group of a plurality of interactive applications available to said client terminal according to said at least one media content characteristic and to present icons corresponding to members of said group on a display of said client terminal concurrently with presenting said media content item.   
     
     
         101 . A computer program product for selecting at least one interactive application, said computer program product comprising:
 a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon:   first program instructions executable by a processor to cause said processor to store in a database a plurality of media content records each indicative of one media content item and at least one corresponding media content characteristic, wherein each one of said media content characteristic is one of: a genre, a length, a rating, an age rating, a language, an origin country, a production source, a production date and indirect advertising content;   second program instructions executable by a central unit to cause said central unit to receive a request with an identifier of a media content item currently presented by a client terminal and automatically send a response with said at least one corresponding media content characteristic from said plurality of media content records; and   third program instructions executable by a client module installed on said client terminal to cause said client module to receive said response; automatically select a group of a plurality of interactive applications available to said client terminal according to said at least one media content characteristic; and present icons corresponding to members of said group on a display of said client terminal concurrently with presenting said media content item.