Patent ID: 8065710

Claim:
An apparatus for use with an output device coupled to receive broadcast multimedia content from a service provider, the apparatus comprising: a recorder/player for recording and playing a segment of the broadcast multimedia content received from the service provider; an operator interface configured to receive annotation information responsive to observation by a user of the segment of the broadcast multimedia content; a record generator coupled to the operator interface and configured to generate a record that identifies the segment of the broadcast multimedia content and includes the annotation information; and a network interface coupled to the operator interface and to the record generator, the network interface configured to communicate presence information via a data network that relates to at least one other user of the service provider that is in communication with the data network, and to initiate transmission of an indicator to the at least one other user via the data network, wherein the indicator prompts the at least one other user to initiate reception of the annotation information, wherein when the at least one other user does not have a local recording of the segment of the broadcast multimedia content, the segment of the broadcast multimedia content is transmitted to the at least one other user along with the annotation information, wherein the operator interface is further configured to generate a list of present users of the service provider based on the presence information and to select the at least one other user of the service provider based on the list of present users of the service provider and further based on a user selection, and wherein the network interface is further operable to receive second annotation information from the at least one other user, to determine whether a size of the second annotation information satisfies a threshold, and when the size of the second annotation information satisfies the threshold, to loop the second annotation information until third annotation information is received, wherein the second annotation information is displayable as a transparent overlay over the segment of the broadcast multimedia content.