Selection bins

• US 20040143590A1
• Filed: 01/21/2003
• Published: 07/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Glatzer, Asta L., Glenner, Steve, Wong, Curtis G., Drucker, Steven M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,509,321 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/102
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/904 Browsing; Visualisation therefor for navigating the web G06F16/954; browsing optimisation for the web G06F16/957
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

The present invention provides a unique system and method for facilitating browsing, sorting, clustering, and filtering any number of media objects grouped together in a quick and easy manner. In particular, the invention involves annotating the media objects, which have been clustered, sorted, and/or filtered en masse rather than individually, with metadata. The media objects may be selected by a user and annotated with a plurality of metadata as desired by a user in order to optimize utilization of the media objects. The media objects may also be combined and/or mixed in any number of ways to create new media objects. Media objects may include an audio component, a visual component, a portion thereof, and/or any combination thereof.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates working with media objects comprising:

at least one bin component that creates a work space for the media objects; and

a component that facilitates associating metadata with the at least one bin component.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein a plurality of metadata is associated with the at least one bin component.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the bin component is a temporary work space for the media objects.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a historical component that records activity associated with the at least one bin component.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a user selection component that facilitates selecting media objects to be placed in the at least one bin component.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a scrolling component that facilitates a user'"'"'s browsing of the bin components.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising an object counter associated with the respective bin component that provides a quantity of media objects included therein.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising a bin component label associated with the respective bin component that generally identifies the media objects included therein.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the bin component label is metadata that is annotated to the media objects which are included therein.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the bin component is created by at least a single digit number key stroke selected by a user.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the media objects overlap between one or more bin components.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the media objects in the bin component are temporarily modified with metadata associated with the bin component.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the media objects in the bin component can be enlarged for browsing and viewing by selecting the bin component.

14. The system of claim 1, the bin component comprising one or more media objects is accessible to one or more users via secured communication portals.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the bin component is accessible to a first user and hidden from at least a second user.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the bin component is transmitted via email.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the media objects in the bin component is rotated according to user preferences.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the bin component is saved and retained for later use.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the bin components are ordered based at least in part on a user'"'"'s instructions.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the media objects in the respective bin components are ordered based at least in part on a user'"'"'s instructions.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the metadata associated with the bin component is compatible and annotatable to a media object comprising any suitable file format.

22. A system that facilitates working with media objects comprising:

one or more selected media objects;

one or more bin components that facilitate creating a work space for the selected media objects, the one or more bin components comprising at least one selected media object; and

a media analyzer-annotation component that analyzes the selected media objects and extracts one or more characteristics common to the selected media objects, generates metadata based at least in part on the characteristics common to the selected media objects and annotates the selected media objects with the metadata.

23. The system of claim 22, further comprising a user selection component that facilitates selecting media objects to be placed in the at least one bin component.

24. The system of claim 22, further comprising a plurality of metadata associated with the media objects in the bin components.

25. The system of claim 22, further comprising a metadata removing component that distills extraneous and undesirable metadata from at least one media object in the bin component.

26. The system of claim 22, wherein the media objects in the bin component are temporarily placed for metadata annotation.

27. The system of claim 22, further comprising a historical component that records metadata annotated to at least one media object in the bin component.

28. The system of claim 22, wherein a copy of an image of the selected media object is moved to the bin component.

29. A method of working with media objects comprising:

selecting a subset of the media objects;

creating at least one bin component;

moving the subset of media objects to the at least one bin component; and

annotating the subset of media objects with metadata.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein creating the bin component occurs concurrently with moving the media objects to the bin component.

31. The method of claim 29, further comprising generating new metadata based at least in part upon the selected media objects.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising annotated the selected media objects en masse with the new metadata.

33. The method of claim 29, further comprising searching for related media objects based at least in part upon the metadata associated with the respective bin component.

34. The method of claim 29, further comprising identifying metadata associated with the bin component prior to annotating the media objects with the metadata.

35. The method of claim 29, further comprising identifying metadata associated with the bin component based at least in part upon the media objects in the media component.

36. The method of claim 29, further comprising printing the bin component and the media objects therein.

37. The method of claim 29, further comprising saving the bin component and the media objects therein for later use.

38. The method of claim 29, further comprising sharing the bin component and the media objects therein with other users.

39. The method of claim 29, further comprising removing the metadata attached to a media object in the bin component when the media object is discarded from the bin component.

40. The method of claim 29, wherein the selected media objects are placed in the bin component en masse and subsequently annotated with metadata en masse.

41. The method of claim 29, wherein at least one of the selected media objects in the bin component is individually annotated with metadata according to a user'"'"'s instructions.

42. The method of claim 29, further comprising ordering the selected media objects in the bin component based at least in part on a user'"'"'s instructions.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the selected media objects are manually ordered in the bin component based at least in part on a user'"'"'s instructions.

44. The method of claim 29, further comprising prioritizing the bin components based at least in part on a user'"'"'s instructions.

46. A computer readable medium having computer executable instructions for carrying out the method of claim 29.

45. A data packet adapted to be transmitted between two or more computer processes facilitating visual annotation of media objects, the data packet comprising:

information associated with a cluster of media objects related to at least one bin component, the cluster being based, at least in part, upon metadata associated with the at least one bin component and newly generated metadata associated with the media objects.

47. A system that facilitates working with media objects, comprising:

means for selecting a subset of the media objects;

means for creating at least one bin component;

means for moving the subset of media objects to the at least one bin component; and

means for annotating the subset of media objects with metadata.