Presenting a collection of media objects

• US 20040019608A1
• Filed: 07/29/2002
• Published: 01/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Obrador, Pere
• Granted Patent: US 7,149,755 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/104.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/447 Temporal browsing, e.g. timeline
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/489 using time information
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

Systems and methods of presenting media objects are described. In one aspect, a group of media objects is selected from the collection based upon media object relevance to one or more data structures of a selected media file of indexed, temporally-ordered data structures. The selected media file and the media objects of the selected group are presented contemporaneously. In another aspect, media objects in the collection are grouped into multiple clusters based upon one or more media object relevance criteria. The media object clusters are arranged into a hierarchy of two or more levels. A selected media object cluster is presented contemporaneously. Systems for implementing these media object presentation methods also are described.

Claims

1. A method of presenting a collection of media objects, comprising:

selecting a group of media objects from the collection based upon media object relevance to one or more data structures of a selected media file of indexed, temporally-ordered data structures; and

contemporaneously presenting the selected media file and the media objects of the selected group.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein media object relevance corresponds to browsable links between media objects of the selected group.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the selected group consists of media objects linked directly to one or more data structures of the selected media file.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein contemporaneously presenting comprises presenting the data structures of the selected media file in sequence and presenting each media object of the selected group in timed relationship with a respective linked data structure of the selected media file.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein presentation of a media object of the selected group is initiated when a respective linked data structure of the selected media file is presented.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein all of the data structures of the selected media file are presented within a media file presentation period and media objects of the selected group are presented during respective media object presentation periods.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein one or more media object presentation periods are longer than presentation periods of respective linked data structures of the selected media file.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein presenting a given media object further comprises displaying one or more links from the given media object to respective linked media objects in the collection.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein media object relevance corresponds to a selected metadata similarity between media objects and the one or more data structures of the selected media file.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein metadata similarity corresponds to one or more of color similarity, motion activity similarity, texture content similarity, audio similarity, data similarity, and name similarity.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the selected metadata similarity corresponds to inclusion of similar objects.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the selected metadata similarity corresponds to inclusion of similar persons or similar places.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the selected group consists of media objects of highest metadata similarity to the one or more data structures of the selected media file.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein selecting media objects comprises selected a predetermined number of media objects.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein contemporaneously presenting comprises simultaneously displaying graphical representations of the selected media file and the media objects of the selected group.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein simultaneously displaying comprises displaying graphical representations of the media objects of the selected group around the graphical representation of the selected media file.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein simultaneously displaying comprises displaying a stack of graphical representations of the media objects of the selected group.

18. The method of claim 9, further comprising grouping media objects in the collection into one or more clusters based upon one or more metadata similarity criteria.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein each cluster consists of a predetermined number of media objects.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein grouping media objects into clusters comprises assigning media objects to clusters based upon degree of mutual metadata similarity.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein grouping media objects into clusters further comprises arranging media object clusters into a hierarchy for each of one or more metadata similarity criteria.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein media objects in clusters lower in the hierarchy are represented by respective media objects higher in the hierarchy.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising selecting a representative media object based upon an ordering of media objects in accordance with one or more metadata similarity criteria.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein each media object in the selected group represents an associated media object cluster.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising presenting the media objects of a given cluster in response to user selection to browse through a media object representative of the given cluster.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein each link is browsable from a given data structure of the selected media file to a linked media object and from the linked media object to the given data structure.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein the media file comprises a sequence of full-motion video frames each identified by an associated index value.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein media objects comprise one or more of the following:

text, audio, graphics, animated graphics, and full-motion video.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein media objects are distributed across one or more computer networks.

30. A system for presenting a collection of media objects, comprising a media manager operable to:

select a group of media objects from the collection based upon media object relevance to one or more data structures of a selected media file of indexed, temporally-ordered data structures; and

contemporaneously present the selected media file and the media objects of the selected group.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein media object relevance corresponds to browsable links between media objects of the selected group.

32. The system of claim 30, wherein media object relevance corresponds to a selected metadata similarity between media objects and the one or more data structures of the selected media file.

33. A method of presenting a collection of media objects, comprising:

grouping media objects in the collection into multiple clusters based upon one or more media object relevance criteria;

arranging the media object clusters into a hierarchy of two or more levels; and

contemporaneously presenting a selected media object cluster.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein grouping media objects into clusters comprises assigning media objects to clusters based upon degree of mutual metadata similarity.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein grouping media objects into clusters further comprises arranging media object clusters into a hierarchy for each of one or more metadata similarity criteria.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein media objects in clusters lower in the hierarchy are represented by respective media objects higher in the hierarchy.

37. The method of claim 36, further comprising selecting a representative media object based upon an ordering of media objects in accordance with one or more metadata similarity criteria.

38. A system for presenting a collection of media objects, comprising a media manager operable to:

group media objects in the collection into multiple clusters based upon one or more media object relevance criteria;

arrange the media object clusters into a hierarchy of two or more levels; and

contemporaneously present a selected media object cluster.