Patent ID: 8490144

Claim:
A system supporting the communication and consumption of media using a common user interface, the system comprising: a television display in a first home; a first storage for storing media, in the first home, having a first associated network address, the first storage communicatively coupled to the television display; a first graphical user interface for display on the television display, the first graphical user interface having at least one view comprising graphical representations of one or more media channels supporting the communication and consumption of media, and having a first look and feel; a personal computer monitor in a second home; a second storage for storing media, in the second home, having a second associated network address, the second storage communicatively coupled to the personal computer monitor; a second graphical user interface for display on the personal computer monitor, the second graphical user interface having at least one view comprising graphical representations of the one or more media channels supporting the communication and consumption of media, and having a second look and feel; software resident in a first memory at the first home and a second memory at the second home, the software enabling a user at the first home to construct, at the first home, the one or more media channels from user selected and scheduled media content, the software also enabling closed and secure communication of the one or more media channels to members of a user group, in a peer to peer manner, from the first home to the second home; software that receives a request that identifies one of the first and second associated network addresses, and responds by identifying the other of the first and second associated network addresses to support the communication via the communication network of media between the first storage and the second storage for consumption; and the first graphical user interface and the second graphical user interface being substantially the same graphical user interface, the first look and feel and the second look and feel being substantially the same.