Technologies for multi-user interactive media streaming

Abstract

Technologies for streaming multi-user broadcasts include a broadcast management server configured to receive multimedia data captured of a user from a remote computing device. The broadcast management server streams a multimedia broadcast including the multimedia data captured of the user to other users. Additionally, the broadcast management server is configured to receive a request to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast from another user. Multimedia data captured of the other user is received in response to a determination that the request to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast is accepted. The broadcast management server merges the multimedia data captured of the first and second users to generate a merged multimedia broadcast, which is streamed to other users. The broadcast management server also generates a broadcast feed for users. The broadcast feed includes streaming multimedia broadcasts and streaming merged multimedia broadcasts corresponding to other users. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A broadcast management server for streaming multi-user broadcasts, the broadcast management server comprising:
 a broadcast management module to receive multimedia data captured of a first user from a first remote computing device;   a broadcast streaming module to stream a multimedia broadcast comprising the multimedia data captured of the first user;   the broadcast management module is further to (i) receive a request to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast from a second remote computing device, (ii) determine whether the request to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast is accepted, (iii) receive, from the second remote computing device, multimedia data captured of a second user in response to a determination that the request to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast is accepted, and (iv) merge the multimedia data captured of the first user and the multimedia data captured of the second user to generate a merged multimedia broadcast; and   the broadcast streaming module is further to stream the merged multimedia broadcast.   
     
     
         2 . The broadcast management server of  claim 1 , wherein the broadcast management module is further to (i) determine whether the request to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast is transferred to a hold queue and (ii) suppress the request to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast in response to a determination that the request to participate is transferred to the hold queue. 
     
     
         3 . The broadcast management server of  claim 1 , wherein the broadcast management module is further to prevent participation in the streamed multimedia broadcast in response to a determination that the request to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast is not accepted. 
     
     
         4 . The broadcast management server of  claim 1 , wherein the broadcast management module is further to (i) receive an invitation to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast from the first remote computing device, (ii) forward the invitation to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast to a third remote computing device, (iii) determine whether the invitation to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast is accepted, (iv) receive, from the third remote computing device, multimedia data captured of a third user in response to a determination that the invitation to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast is accepted; and
 wherein to merge the multimedia data captured of the first user and the multimedia data captured of the second user comprises to merge the multimedia data captured of the first user, the multimedia data captured of the second, and the multimedia data captured of the third user to generate the merged multimedia broadcast.   
     
     
         5 . The broadcast management server of  claim 4 , further comprising a contact management module to: (i) generate a contact list that corresponds to the first user, the contact list comprises contacts retrieved from at least one of a data storage of the first remote computing device, a social media account associated with the first user, or a data storage of the broadcast management server; and (ii) transmit the contact list to the first remote computing device;
 wherein the invitation to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast received from the first remote computing device comprises recipient data indicative of a contact selected from the contact list to which the invitation is directed; and   wherein the selected contact is the third user.   
     
     
         6 . The broadcast management server of  claim 1 , wherein the multimedia data captured of the first user and the multimedia data captured of the second user comprise live video data captured of the first and second users. 
     
     
         7 . The broadcast management server of  claim 6 , wherein to merge the multimedia data captured of the first user and the multimedia data captured of the second user comprises to merge the live video data captured of the first user and the live video data captured of the second user to generate a merged live video stream comprising a plurality of frames, each frame of the merged live video stream is split into a first frame portion and a second frame portion, wherein the first frame portion of each frame comprises the live video data captured of the first user and the second frame portion comprises the live video data captured of the second user; and
 wherein to stream the merged multimedia broadcast comprises to stream the merged live video stream. 
 
     
     
         8 . The broadcast management server of  claim 1 , further comprising a marketing management module to (i) receive, from the first remote computing device, a request to advertise the multimedia broadcast comprising the multimedia data captured of the first user, (ii) determine one or more users to advertise the multimedia broadcast to as a function of user profile data corresponding to each user, and (iii) add the multimedia broadcast to a broadcast feed of each of the determined one or more users. 
     
     
         9 . The broadcast management server of  claim 1 , further comprising a broadcast feed generation module to (i) determine users that a third user is following and (ii) generate a broadcast feed for the third user, the broadcast feed comprises at least one of a streaming multimedia broadcast for one or more of the determined users or a streaming merged multimedia broadcast for one or more of the determined users. 
     
     
         10 . One or more machine-readable storage media comprising a plurality of instructions stored thereon that in response to being executed by a broadcast management server, cause the broadcast management server to:
 receive multimedia data captured of a first user from a first remote computing device;   stream a multimedia broadcast comprising the multimedia data captured of the first user;   receive a request to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast from a second remote computing device;   determine whether the request to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast is accepted;   receive, from the second remote computing device, multimedia data captured of a second user in response to a determination that the request to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast is accepted;   merge the multimedia data captured of the first user and the multimedia data captured of the second user to generate a merged multimedia broadcast; and   stream the merged multimedia broadcast.   
     
     
         11 . The one or more machine-readable storage media of  claim 10 , wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the broadcast management server to:
 determine whether the request to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast is transferred to a hold queue; and   suppress the request to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast in response to a determination that the request to participate is transferred to the hold queue.   
     
     
         12 . The one or more machine-readable storage media of  claim 10 , wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the broadcast management server to:
 receive an invitation to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast from the first remote computing device;   forward the invitation to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast to a third remote computing device;   determine whether the invitation to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast is accepted;   receive, from the third remote computing device, multimedia data captured of a third user in response to a determination that the invitation to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast is accepted; and   wherein to merge the multimedia data captured of the first user and the multimedia data captured of the second user comprises to merge the multimedia data captured of the first user, the multimedia data captured of the second, and the multimedia data captured of the third user to generate the merged multimedia broadcast.   
     
     
         13 . The one or more machine-readable storage media of  claim 10 , wherein the multimedia data captured of the first user and the multimedia data captured of the second user comprise live video data captured of the first and second users;
 wherein to merge the multimedia data captured of the first user and the multimedia data captured of the second user comprises to merge the live video data captured of the first user and the live video data captured of the second user to generate a merged live video stream comprising a plurality of frames, each frame of the merged live video stream is split into a first frame portion and a second frame portion, wherein the first frame portion of each frame comprises the live video data captured of the first user and the second frame portion comprises the live video data captured of the second user; and   wherein to stream the merged multimedia broadcast comprises to stream the merged live video stream.   
     
     
         14 . The one or more machine-readable storage media of  claim 10 , wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the broadcast management server to:
 receive, from the first remote computing device, a request to advertise the multimedia broadcast comprising the multimedia data captured of the first user;   determine one or more users to advertise the multimedia broadcast to as a function of user profile data corresponding to each user; and   add the multimedia broadcast to a broadcast feed of each of the determined one or more users.   
     
     
         15 . The one or more machine-readable storage media of  claim 10 , wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the broadcast management server to:
 determine users that a third user is following; and   generate a broadcast feed for the third user, the broadcast feed comprises at least one of a streaming multimedia broadcast for one or more of the determined users or a streaming merged multimedia broadcast for one or more of the determined users.   
     
     
         16 . A method for streaming multi-user broadcasts, the method comprising:
 receiving, by a broadcast management server and from a first remote computing device, multimedia data captured of a first user;   streaming, by the broadcast management server, a multimedia broadcast comprising the multimedia data captured of the first user;   receiving, by the broadcast management server and from a second remote computing device, a request to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast;   determining, by the broadcast management server, whether the request to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast is accepted;   receiving, by the broadcast management server and from the second remote computing device, multimedia data captured of a second user in response to a determination that the request to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast is accepted;   merging, by the broadcast management server, the multimedia data captured of the first user and the multimedia data captured of the second user to generate a merged multimedia broadcast; and   streaming, by the broadcast management server, the merged multimedia broadcast.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 determining, by the broadcast management server, whether the request to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast is transferred to a hold queue; and   suppressing, by the broadcast management server, the request to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast in response to a determination that the request to participate is transferred to the hold queue.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the broadcast management server and from the first remote computing device, an invitation to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast;   forwarding, by the broadcast management server, the invitation to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast to a third remote computing device;   determining, by the broadcast management server, whether the invitation to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast is accepted;   receiving, by the broadcast management server and from the third remote computing device, multimedia data captured of a third user in response to a determination that the invitation to participate in the streamed multimedia broadcast is accepted; and   wherein merging the multimedia data captured of the first user and the multimedia data captured of the second user comprises merging the multimedia data captured of the first user, the multimedia data captured of the second, and the multimedia data captured of the third user to generate the merged multimedia broadcast.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the multimedia data captured of the first user and the multimedia data captured of the second user comprise live video data captured of the first and second users;
 wherein merging the multimedia data captured of the first user and the multimedia data captured of the second user comprises merging the live video data captured of the first user and the live video data captured of the second user to generate a merged live video stream comprising a plurality of frames, each frame of the merged live video stream is split into a first frame portion and a second frame portion, wherein the first frame portion of each frame comprises the live video data captured of the first user and the second frame portion comprises the live video data captured of the second user; and   wherein streaming the merged multimedia broadcast comprises streaming the merged live video stream.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 determining, by the broadcast management server, users that a third user is following; and   generating, by the broadcast management server, a broadcast feed for the third user, the broadcast feed comprises at least one of a streaming multimedia broadcast for one or more of the determined users or a streaming merged multimedia broadcast for one or more of the determined users.