Patent ID: 8006274

Claim:
A method comprising: identifying a group of media entertainment client devices; generating a group identity having no associated members; receiving a group membership request to associate with the group identity, the group membership request including: data indicating a timeline position; and a media content identifier associated with media content presented by the media entertainment client devices; determining a first media entertainment client device of the group which is furthest, in presenting of the media content, from a beginning of a timeline associated with the media content; determining a second media entertainment client device of the group which is closest, in presenting of the media content, from the beginning of the timeline associated with the media content; calculating a time to synchronize the first and second media entertainment client devices on the timeline; generating a first synchronization command, the first synchronization command including a pause command which directs the first media entertainment client device to pause presenting the media content; generating a second synchronization command, the second synchronization command including a fast-forward command which directs the second media entertainment client device to fast-forward presenting the media content at a first rate; and communicating the first and second synchronization commands to the first and second media entertainment client devices, respectively, such that execution of the synchronization commands by the media entertainment client devices results in synchronized presentation of media content by each of the media entertainment client devices.