Wireless Networked Record Session Device
Patent No. US11792350 (titled "Wireless Networked Record Session Device") was filed by Fun In There Entertainment Llc on Dec 27, 2021.
What is this patent about?
’350 is related to the field of social media and entertainment, specifically addressing the problem of content discovery and presentation in a user-generated video and audio streaming environment. The background involves the resurgence of interest in vintage recording booths, like the Voice-O-Graph, and the desire to replicate that experience in a modern, networked context. Existing social media platforms often lack focused content streams, leading to user frustration and difficulty in finding relevant or desirable content.
The underlying idea behind ’350 is to create a virtual recording booth experience on mobile devices, enabling users to create short, filtered video and audio recordings and share them in a social network. The key inventive insight is to structure the content stream around channels and categories, allowing users to easily find and consume content that aligns with their interests. This is further enhanced by a rating system that dynamically promotes popular content, ensuring that the most engaging recordings are readily accessible.
The claims of ’350 focus on a social entertainment device implemented as a computer program on a wireless device. The program enables users to record short video sessions (up to 65 seconds), apply selectable video filters, and associate these recordings with a specific hashtag-defined video channel. The claims also cover the immediate playback of other users' recordings upon startup, the sequential arrangement of recordings from a subset of users, and the application of a branded watermark to the video stream. A push notification alerts other users of pending playback.
In practice, the invention works by providing a mobile app that emulates the look and feel of a vintage recording booth. Users can purchase tokens to initiate a recording session, during which they can apply various audio and video filters to create a unique recording. These recordings are then uploaded to a central server and streamed to other users who have selected the corresponding channel and category. The rating system , based on both passive metrics (number of viewers, watch time) and active metrics (likes, social media mentions), dynamically adjusts the order in which recordings are presented, ensuring that the most popular content is prioritized.
The invention differentiates itself from prior approaches by combining the nostalgia of vintage recording booths with the functionality of modern social media platforms. Unlike general-purpose video sharing sites, ’350 offers a curated content stream based on channels, categories, and ratings. The short recording length encourages creativity and spontaneity, while the filtering options allow users to express their individual style. The branded watermark provides a mechanism for monetization and sponsorship, further incentivizing content creation and consumption.
How does this patent fit in bigger picture?
Technical landscape at the time
In the mid-2010s when ’350 was filed, mobile devices were commonly used for recording and sharing audio and video content. At a time when live streaming was typically implemented using dedicated servers and client-server architectures, hardware and software constraints made real-time video processing and low-latency streaming on mobile devices non-trivial.
Novelty and Inventive Step
The examiner approved the application because the closest prior art, Bernstein et al. and Hebbar et al., did not teach or suggest the specific limitations of the claimed "social entertainment device." These limitations include: causing a push notification to other devices to announce a pending recording, intermittently operating a camera to record a live session for a selectable maximum time of 65 seconds, transforming an image from the camera for use as a selectable video filter, transforming video using the filter, associating the recorded session for arranged playback with other devices' sessions, applying a branded watermark, and immediately playing another device's session with the watermark upon startup. The examiner also stated that the claim limitations did not fall within abstract idea groupings.
Claims
There are 16 claims in total, with claim 1 being the only independent claim. The independent claim focuses on a social entertainment device implemented as a computer program on a wireless device, enabling recording, filtering, and sharing of short video sessions with other devices. The dependent claims generally elaborate on and refine the features and functionalities of the social entertainment device described in the independent claim, such as specific camera types, video length, and additional features.
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Date
Description
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US11792350
- Application Number
- US17562995
- Filing Date
- Dec 27, 2021
- Status
- Granted
- Expiry Date
- Oct 3, 2036
- External Links
- Slate, USPTO, Google Patents