Peer-to-peer identity-based activity sharing

Abstract

A system and method to allow a user of instant messaging chat modules in a network to share identity-based activity of the certain user and/or related information with contacts. For example, the user's instant messenger contacts may view recent active content, ongoing and recent online activity, etc., of another user. A sender peer includes an application module to activate a media content file from a content repository, or perform online activities through an activity server. The sender peer also includes a chat module, which detects identity-based activity and sends related indications to a recipient peer. The recipient peer includes a chat module to display identity-based activity based on the indications and an application module to activate related content files. A content enhancement server provides supplemental content information for display at the recipient peer and content previews. The content enhancement server also enables a transaction related to the content file such as a purchase of an MP3 copy of the content.

1 . A peer for sharing identity-based activity with a plurality of peers, comprising: 
 a content daemon to detect and store identity-based activity; and    an instant messaging module, communicatively coupled to the content daemon, to send an indication of recent identity-based activity to at least one of the plurality of peers, the recent identity-based activity related to a user logged-in to the instant messaging module.    
   
   
       2 . The peer of  claim 1  wherein identity-based activity comprises content customized by the user that is accessible to the plurality of peers.  
   
   
       3 . The peer of  claim 2 , wherein the customized content comprises a current online auction posted by the user.  
   
   
       4 . The peer of  claim 1 , wherein identity-based activity comprises instances of active content by a user logged-in to the instant messaging module.  
   
   
       5 . The peer of  claim 4 , wherein recently active content comprises multimedia files played back in the peer.  
   
   
       6 . The peer of  claim 1 , further comprises an application module to view identity-based content, and wherein the content daemon detects and stores identity-based activity in the application module.  
   
   
       7 . The peer of  claim 1 , wherein the content daemon detects and stores identity-based activity by communicating with an activity server that hosts the identity-based activity.  
   
   
       8 . The peer of  claim 1 , wherein the content daemon detects and stores identity-based activity after logging-in the user to the instant messaging module, and wherein the instant messaging module sends an update to the recent identity-based activity.  
   
   
       9 . The peer of  claim 1 , wherein the indication comprises a unique identifier related to the identity-based activity.  
   
   
       10 . The peer of  claim 1 , wherein the content daemon is part of an operating system running on the peer.  
   
   
       11 . The peer of  claim 1 , wherein the instant messaging module further outputs a received indication of recent identity-based activity of another user.  
   
   
       12 . The peer of  claim 1 , further comprising a content transaction module to enable a transaction related to the identity-based activity.  
   
   
       13 . The peer of  claim 1 , wherein the peer is communicatively coupled to the plurality of peers through a network.  
   
   
       14 . A method of sharing identity-based activity with a plurality of peers, comprising: 
 detecting identity-based activity;    storing the identity-based activity; and    sending an indication of recent identity-based activity to at least one of the plurality of peers, the recent identity-based activity related to a user logged-in to an instant messaging module.    
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein identity-based activity comprises content customized by the user that is accessible to the plurality of peers.  
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the customized content comprises a current online auction posted by the user.  
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein identity-based activity comprises instances of active content by a user logged-in to the instant messaging module.  
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein recently active content comprises multimedia files played back in the peer.  
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising: 
 viewing identity-based content; and    detecting and storing identity-based activity.    
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprises: 
 detecting and storing identity-based activity independent of viewing identity-based activity.    
   
   
       21 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the indication comprises a unique identifier related to the identity-based activity.  
   
   
       22 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the detecting comprises detecting identity-based activity of an application module in an operating system.  
   
   
       23 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the instant messaging module further outputs a received indication of recent identity-based activity of another user.  
   
   
       24 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising: 
 enabling a transaction related to the identity-based activity.    
   
   
       25 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising: 
 communicating with the plurality of peers through a network.    
   
   
       26 . A computer program product, comprising: 
 a computer-readable medium having computer program instructions and data embodied thereon for sharing identity-based activity with a plurality of peers, comprising: 
 detecting identity-based activity;  
 storing the identity-based activity; and  
 sending an indication of recent identity-based activity to at least one of the plurality of peers, the recent identity-based activity related to a user logged-in to an instant messaging module.  
   
   
   
       27 . The computer program product of  claim 26 , wherein identity-based activity comprises content customized by the user that is accessible to the plurality of peers.  
   
   
       28 . The computer program product of  claim 27 , wherein the customized content comprises a current online auction posted by the user.  
   
   
       29 . The computer program product of  claim 26 , wherein identity-based activity comprises instances of active content by a user logged-in to the instant messaging module.  
   
   
       30 . The computer program product of  claim 29 , wherein recently active content comprises multimedia files played back in the peer.  
   
   
       31 . The computer program product of  claim 26 , further comprising: 
 viewing identity-based content; and    detecting and storing identity-based activity.    
   
   
       32 . The computer program product of  claim 26 , further comprising: 
 detecting and storing identity-based activity independent of viewing identity-based activity.    
   
   
       33 . The computer program product of  claim 26 , wherein the indication comprises a unique identifier related to the identity-based activity.  
   
   
       34 . The computer program product of  claim 26 , wherein the detecting comprises detecting identity-based activity of an application module in an operating system.  
   
   
       35 . The computer program product of  claim 26 , wherein the instant messaging module further outputs a received indication of recent identity-based activity of another user.  
   
   
       36 . The computer program product of  claim 26 , further comprising: 
 enabling a transaction related to the identity-based activity.    
   
   
       37 . The computer program product of  claim 26 , further comprising: 
 communicating with the plurality of peers through a network.