Interactive video distribution system and video player utilizing a client server architecture

• US 10,057,628 B2
• Filed: 10/30/2017
• Issued: 08/21/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Scorpcast LLC (d/b/a HaulStars)
• Original Assignee: Scorpcast LLC (d/b/a HaulStars)
• Inventors: Avedissian, Narbeh, Sreenath, Nikhil
• Primary Examiner(s): Huerta, Alexander Q
• Application Number:
  US15/797,988
• Publication Number:
  US 20180063573A1
• Time in Patent Office: 295 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/7867 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, title and artist information, manually generated time, location and usage information, user ratings
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0278 Product appraisal
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/10 Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4223 Cameras H04N23/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4312 involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4756 for rating content, e.g. scoring a recommended movie
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02

Abstract

An interactive video distribution system and video player are described. A client server arrangement may be used for providing a video player and video content to a client device. The video player may display navigation images enabling navigation to specific portions of the video content by activating a corresponding navigation image. The video player may also enable the sharing of a segment of the video with other video players, enabling the video players to play the streamed segment of the video without having to play the entire video, thereby reducing network bandwidth usage. The video player may be embeddable. The server may associate searchable tags with respective video segments.

Claims

1. A video system, comprising:

at least one processing device;

non-transitory memory storing programmatic code that when executed by the at least one processing device, cause the video system to;

receive over a network, from a first user terminal of a first user, an upload of a first video or a link thereto;

provide over the network to the first user terminal a user interface that enables the first user to associate a given navigation image from a source other than the first video with a respective segment in the first video, wherein the user interface enables the user to provide a link to a given image from a source other than the first video or to upload a given image from a source other than the first video to the video system;

receive, over the network video from the first user terminal via the user interface that enables the first user to associate a given navigation image from a source other than the first video with a respective segment in the first video, an association of a given navigation image from a source other than the first video with a respective segment in the first video;

receive an association of a link, comprising a destination Uniform Resource Locator (URL), with a respective navigation image from a source other than the first video;

provide a video player for display on a second user terminal of a second user;

enable the video player to play the first video, including multiple segments of the first video, and

display at the same time;

a first navigation image associated with a corresponding first segment of the first video, and

a second navigation image associated with a corresponding second segment of the first video, the second segment later in time than the first segment,

while a segment of the first video is playing,

where the first navigation image associated with the first segment of the first video is displayed by the video player at a first location overlaying the segment of the first video, the first location indicative of a relative position of the first segment in the first video, and

where the second navigation image associated with second segment of the first video is displayed by the video player at a second location overlaying the segment of the first video, the second location indicative of a relative position of the second segment in the first video, wherein the second segment is later in time than the first segment,

where the first navigation image is associated with a first link, comprising a first URL, to a first networked destination, the first navigation image from a source other than the first video, and the second navigation image is associated with a second link, comprising a second URL, to a second networked destination, the second navigation image from a source other than the first video;

wherein in response to detecting that the second user has selected the first or the second navigation image displayed by the video player at the first location or the second location overlaying the segment, a respective link, comprising a respective URL to a respective network destination is activated, and the respective network destination corresponding to the respective URL is accessed by the second user terminal.

2. The video system as defined in claim 1, wherein the video player is configured to provide a share control, wherein in response to detecting activation of the share control, a link to content of the first video is shared with a first recipient.

3. The video system as defined in claim 1, wherein:

the user interface enables the first user to define a plurality of segments in the first video by selecting a starting frame from the first video for each segment, and

the video system is configured to;

provide a user interface to the first user terminal enabling the first user to;

define a hot spot to be provided within a video player playback area, and

define a navigation operation associated with activation of the hot spot, wherein activation of the hot spot while the first video is played back by the video player causes a navigation action to be performed,

provide a user interface to the second user terminal enabling the second user to specify a communication channel from a set communication channels for sharing the content of the first video, the set of communication channels comprising a social network service, a microblogging service, and email,

provide a user interface to the first user terminal enabling the first user to navigate backwards and forwards through the first video to select a frame to be associated with a given navigation image.

4. The video system as defined in claim 1, wherein the user interface enables the first user to define a plurality of segments in the first video by selecting a starting frame from the first video for a given segment.

5. The video system as defined in claim 1, wherein the video system is configured to provide a user interface to the second user terminal enabling the second user to specify a communication channel from a set communication channels for sharing the content of the first video, the set of communication channels comprising a social network service, a microblogging service, and email.

6. The video system as defined in claim 1, wherein the video system is configured to provide a user interface to the first user terminal enabling the first user to navigate backwards and forwards through the first video to select a frame to be associated with a given navigation image.

7. The video system as defined in claim 1, wherein the video system is configured to provide a user interface to the first user terminal enabling the first user to define a hot spot to be provided within a video player playback area and define a navigation operation associated with activation of the hot spot, wherein activation of the hot spot while the first video is played back by the video player causes a navigation action to be performed.

8. The video system as defined in claim 1, wherein the video system is configured to provide a user interface to the first user terminal enabling the first user to define data that is to be displayed over the first video separate from the given image.

9. The video system as defined in claim 1, wherein the video system is configured to provide a user interface to the first user terminal enabling the first user to associate different metadata with different video segments, wherein the video system further comprises a search engine that enables users to search for video segments, wherein the search engine is configured to compare search query terms with segment metadata to identify matches.

10. The video system as defined in claim 1, wherein at least one navigation image further comprises text.

11. A system, comprising:

at least one processing device;

non-transitory memory storing programmatic code that when executed by the at least one processing device, cause the system to;

receive over a network, from a first user terminal of a first user, an upload of a first video or a link thereto;

provide over the network to the first user terminal a user interface that enables the first user to define a plurality of segments in the first video by indicating a corresponding frame from the first video for a given segment;

receive, over the network video from the first user terminal via the user interface that enables the first user to define a plurality of segments in the first video by indicating a corresponding frame from the first video for a given segment;

provide over the network to the first user terminal a user interface that enables the first user to associate respective segments in the first video with respective navigation images from a source other than the first video uploaded by the first user or linked to by the first user;

receive, over the network from the first user terminal via the user interface that enables the first user to associate respective segments in the first video with respective navigation images from a source other than the first video uploaded by the first user or linked to by the first user, associations of respective segments in the first video with respective navigation images;

receive an association of respective networked destination links, wherein a given destination link comprises a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) associated with a respective network destination, with respective navigation images;

provide a video player for display on a second user terminal of a second user that plays the first video, including multiple segments of the first video, and

displays at the same time;

a first navigation image associated with a corresponding first segment of the first video, and

a second navigation image associated with a corresponding second segment of the first video, the second segment later in time than the first segment,

while a segment of the first video is playing,

where the first navigation image associated with the first segment of the first video is displayed by the video player at a first location overlaying the segment of the first video, the first location indicative of a relative position of the first segment in the first video, and

where the second navigation image associated with second segment of the first video is displayed by the video player at a second location overlaying the segment of the first video, the second location indicative of a relative position of the second segment in the first video, wherein the second segment is later in time than the first segment,

where the first navigation image is associated with a first link, comprising a first URL, to a first networked destination, and the second navigation image is associated with a second link, comprising a second URL, to a second networked destination;

wherein in response to detecting that the second user has selected the first or the second navigation image displayed by the video player at the first location or the second location overlaying the segment, a respective link, comprising a respective URL to a respective network destination is activated, and the respective network destination corresponding to the respective URL is accessed by the second user terminal.

12. The system as defined in claim 11, wherein the system is configured to provide a user interface to the second user terminal enabling the second user to specify a communication channel from a set communication channels for sharing the content of the first video, the set of communication channels comprising a social network service, a microblogging service, and email.

13. The system as defined in claim 11, wherein the system is configured to:

provide a user interface to the second user terminal enabling the second user to specify a communication channel from a set communication channels for sharing the content of the first video, the set of communication channels comprising a social network service, a microblogging service, and email,

provide a user interface to the first user terminal enabling the first user to navigate backwards and forwards through the first video to select a frame to be associated with a given navigation image.

14. The system as defined in claim 11, wherein the system is configured to provide a user interface to the first user terminal enabling the first user to navigate backwards and forwards through the first video to select a frame of the first video to be associated with a given navigation image.

15. The system as defined in claim 11, wherein the system is configured to provide a user interface to the first user terminal enabling the first user to define a hot spot to be provided within a playback area of the video player and a navigation operation associated with activation of the hot spot, wherein activation of the hot spot while the first video is played back by the video player causes a navigation action to be performed.

16. The system as defined in claim 11, wherein the system is configured to provide a user interface to the first user terminal enabling the first user to define data that is to be displayed over the first video separate from the display of the navigation images.

17. The system as defined in claim 11, wherein the system is configured to provide a user interface to the first user terminal enabling the first user to associate different metadata with different video segments, wherein the system further comprises a search engine that enables users to search for video segments, wherein the search engine is configured to compare search query terms with segment metadata to identify matches.

18. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, over a network by a computer system from a first user terminal of a first user, an upload of a first video or a link thereto;

providing by the computer system over the network to the first user terminal a first user interface that;

enables the first user to associate navigations images with respective segments in the first video by associating navigation images with respective segment start positions, and

enables the first user to associate respective networked destination links, comprising respective uniform resource locators (URLs), with respective navigation images;

receiving, via the first user interface;

an association of a first navigation image with a first segment, and an association of the first navigation image with a first URL;

an association of a second navigation image with a second segment, and an association of the second navigation image with a second URL;

providing, by the computer system, a video player for display on a second user terminal of a second user that;

displays at the same time;

the first navigation image associated with the first segment of the first video, and

the second navigation image associated with the second segment of the first video, the second segment later in time than the first segment,

while a segment of the first video is playing,

where the first navigation image associated with the first segment of the first video is displayed by the video player at a first location overlaying the segment of the first video, the first location indicative of a relative position of the first segment in the first video, and

where the second navigation image associated with second segment of the first video is displayed by the video player at a second location overlaying the segment of the first video, the second location indicative of a relative position of the second segment in the first video, wherein the second segment is later in time than the first segment;

wherein in response to detecting that the second user has selected the first or the second navigation image displayed by the video player at the first location or the second location overlaying the segment, a respective link, comprising a respective URL, and a respective destination corresponding to the respective URL, is accessed by the second user terminal.

19. The method as defined in claim 18, the method further comprising providing a user interface to the second user terminal enabling the second user to specify a communication channel from a set communication channels for sharing the content of the first video, the set of communication channels comprising a social network service, a microblogging service, and email.

20. The method as defined in claim 18, the method further comprising:

providing a user interface to the second user terminal enabling the second user to specify a communication channel from a set communication channels for sharing the content of the first video, the set of communication channels comprising a social network service, a microblogging service, and email,

providing a user interface to the first user terminal enabling the first user to navigate backwards and forwards through the first video to select a frame to be associated with a given navigation image.

21. The method as defined in claim 18, the method further comprising providing a user interface to the first user terminal enabling the first user to navigate backwards and forwards through the first video to select a frame to be associated with a given navigation image.

22. The method as defined in claim 18, the method further comprising enabling the first user to define data that is to be displayed over the first video separate from the display of the navigation images.

23. The method as defined in claim 18, wherein providing the video player for display on the second user terminal of the second user further comprises embedding the video player in a third party website using an application programming interface.

24. The method as defined in claim 18, wherein providing the video player for display on the second user terminal of the second user further comprises embedding the video player in a third party banner using an application programming interface.

25. The method as defined in claim 18, the method further comprising:

selecting interstitial content to be provided for display to the video player for presentation between the first segment and the second segment based at least in part on;

tags associated with the first segment, or tags associated with the second segment, or historical viewing information associated with the second user, or any combination thereof; and

enabling the selected interstitial content to be presented by the video player between the first segment and the second segment.

26. The method as defined in claim 18, the method further comprising providing a polling interface for display in association with the video player that enables the second user to request feedback from other users regarding content of the first video.

27. The method as defined in claim 18, the method further comprising providing an interface for display in association with the video player that enables the second user to publish the first video on a social networking site that enables other users to selectively provide positive feedback regarding the first video.

28. The method as defined in claim 18, the method further comprising:

compressing the first video;

storing multiple copies of the first video on a backup enabled system comprising multiple computer storage mediums; and

inhibiting uploads of videos of greater than a specified threshold in size.