Video e-mail system and associated method
First Claim
1. A computer network-based video email system comprising:
- (a) a sender'"'"'s remote computer operatively coupled to a global computer network, the sender'"'"'s remote computer including a display screen, at least one manual i/o device, a video camera, at least one of (i) a browser application and (ii) a dedicated electronic messaging application installed thereon, and a camera control application installed thereon;
(b) a recipient'"'"'s remote computer operatively coupled to the global computer network, the recipient'"'"'s remote computer including a display screen, at least one manual i/o device, and at least one of (i) a browser application and (ii) a dedicated electronic application installed thereon;
(c) an electronic message server operatively coupled to the global computer network, including composing screen code downloadable by the sender'"'"'s remote computer and compatible with the browser or dedicated electronic messaging application installed on the sender'"'"'s remote computer, the composing screen code being configured to provide, (i) electronic-message composition graphical interface elements, enabling the sender to compose an electronic message using the browser or dedicated electronic messaging application, (ii) video recording graphical interface elements enabling the sender to direct and monitor the recording of media on the sender'"'"'s computer, and (iii) functional interface elements providing a functional interface between at least the video recording graphical interface elements and the camera control application installed on the sender'"'"'s remote computer; and
(d) a video server operatively coupled to the global computer network adapted to stream media to the recipient'"'"'s remote computer;
(e) wherein the camera control software is configured to (i) record media onto the sender'"'"'s remote computer, (ii) communicate with the video server to upload the recorded media to the video server, (iii) to obtain or define an identity of the uploaded media, and (iv) to interface with the functional interface elements of the composing screen code for inserting an address to the video server along with the identity of the uploaded media into the composed electronic message.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A computer implemented system and method in which a user can send e-mail messages that include full-motion video and audio (or, alternatively, audio only), along with (if desired) the text messages to an e-mail recipient. The sender merely needs to incorporate camera control software according to certain aspects of the present invention into his/her remote computer/terminal that will coordinate the recording and exchange of such videos using the sender'"'"'s remote computer and associated video camera. In the exemplary embodiment, the compose screen code includes pre-existing e-mail application code and custom code inserted into pre-existing templates provided by the pre-existing e-mail application code; and further, the camera control application is a discrete application that communicates with pre-existing video camera support application residing on the sender'"'"'s remote computer. Accordingly, the video email system is configured to operate with pre-existing e-mail application codes and pre-existing video camera support applications without invading the basic system codes of either.
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Citations
8 Claims
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1. A computer network-based video email system comprising:
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(a) a sender'"'"'s remote computer operatively coupled to a global computer network, the sender'"'"'s remote computer including a display screen, at least one manual i/o device, a video camera, at least one of (i) a browser application and (ii) a dedicated electronic messaging application installed thereon, and a camera control application installed thereon;
(b) a recipient'"'"'s remote computer operatively coupled to the global computer network, the recipient'"'"'s remote computer including a display screen, at least one manual i/o device, and at least one of (i) a browser application and (ii) a dedicated electronic application installed thereon;
(c) an electronic message server operatively coupled to the global computer network, including composing screen code downloadable by the sender'"'"'s remote computer and compatible with the browser or dedicated electronic messaging application installed on the sender'"'"'s remote computer, the composing screen code being configured to provide, (i) electronic-message composition graphical interface elements, enabling the sender to compose an electronic message using the browser or dedicated electronic messaging application, (ii) video recording graphical interface elements enabling the sender to direct and monitor the recording of media on the sender'"'"'s computer, and (iii) functional interface elements providing a functional interface between at least the video recording graphical interface elements and the camera control application installed on the sender'"'"'s remote computer; and
(d) a video server operatively coupled to the global computer network adapted to stream media to the recipient'"'"'s remote computer;
(e) wherein the camera control software is configured to (i) record media onto the sender'"'"'s remote computer, (ii) communicate with the video server to upload the recorded media to the video server, (iii) to obtain or define an identity of the uploaded media, and (iv) to interface with the functional interface elements of the composing screen code for inserting an address to the video server along with the identity of the uploaded media into the composed electronic message. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A computer implemented video messaging method, comprising the steps of:
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(a) accessing a sender'"'"'s electronic message server computer over a computer network by a sender'"'"'s computer;
(b) downloading, by the sender'"'"'s computer, compose screen code from the sender'"'"'s electronic message server to an electronic messaging application running on the sender'"'"'s computer;
(c) composing a message using the compose screen and recording a video on the sender'"'"'s computer utilizing camera control software installed on the user'"'"'s computer that interacts with the compose screen code;
(d) activating an icon on the compose screen associated with a send-message command;
(e) the camera control software on the sender'"'"'s computer performing the steps of, in no specific order, compressing the recorded video, uploading the compressed video to a video server over the computer network, and retrieving a video identification from the video server;
(f) inserting, by the compose screen code on the sender'"'"'s computer, the video identification, along with an address to the video server, into the composed message;
(g) uploading, by the sender'"'"'s computer, the composed message with the inserted video identification and address to the sender'"'"'s electronic message server;
(h) sending, by the sender'"'"'s electronic message server, the composed message with the inserted video identification and address to a recipient'"'"'s electronic message server;
(i) accessing the recipient'"'"'s electronic message server computer over a computer network by a recipient'"'"'s computer;
(j) downloading, by a recipient'"'"'s computer, the composed message with the inserted video identification and address to a browser or an electronic messaging application running on the recipient'"'"'s remote computer, which displays the message;
(k) accessing, by the recipient'"'"'s computer, the video from the video server over the computer network using the video identification and address inserted in the composed message;
(l) downloading, by the electronic messaging application running on the recipient'"'"'s remote computer, code from the video server to set up a video viewing window on the recipient'"'"'s remote computer; and
(m) streaming, by the video server to the video viewing window on the recipient'"'"'s computer, over the computer network, the accessed video. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8)
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Specification