System and method for obtaining image-based products from a digital motion picture source

• US 20060147179A1
• Filed: 12/17/2004
• Published: 07/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Monument Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
• Inventors: Mehrotra, Rajiv, Mir, Jose
• Granted Patent: US 7,336,801 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 386/252
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/32 on separate auxiliary tracks of the same or an auxiliary record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00132 in a digital photofinishing system, i.e. a system where digital photographic images undergo typical photofinishing processing, e.g. printing ordering
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00143 Ordering
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00188 Printing, e.g. prints or reprints H04N1/0019, H04N1/00196 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/0019 on souvenir-type products or the like, e.g. T-shirts or mugs
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00198 Creation of a soft photo presentation, e.g. digital slide-show
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00283 with a television apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00297 with a television signal recorder, e.g. for recording facsimile images on a VCR motion video recording combined with still video recording in a still video camera H04N1/212
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2542 for selling goods, e.g. TV shopping payment schemes, payment architectures or payment protocols for electronic shopping systems G06Q20/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42646 for reading from or writing on a non-volatile solid state storage medium, e.g. DVD, CD-ROM
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4333 Processing operations in response to a pause request
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/472 End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47815 Electronic shopping payment schemes, payment architectures or payment protocols for electronic shopping systems G06Q20/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6581 Reference data, e.g. a movie identifier for ordering a movie or a product identifier in a home shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8153 comprising still images, e.g. texture, background image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/835 Generation of protective data, e.g. certificates protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8455 involving pointers to the content, e.g. pointers to the I-frames of the video stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Image-based products are obtained from a digital motion picture source by utilizing a content playing and display system for (a) displaying a sequence of motion picture image frames from a digital motion picture image source containing motion picture contents, and (b) selecting one or more of the image frames for an image-based product and obtaining a unique frame identification for said one or more selected frames; a content management system that (a) utilizes the unique frame identification and determines whether at least one permissible image-based product can be made from said one or more selected frames, and (b), if a permissible image-based product may be made as determined, obtains file data corresponding to said one or more selected frames from a digital source file containg source information corresponding to the motion picture contents; an order management system for preparing order information for the permissible image-based product from the file data; and an order fulfillment system for generating the image-based product from the file data according to the order information.

Claims

1. A method for obtaining image-based products from a digital motion picture source, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) displaying a sequence of motion picture image frames from a digital motion picture image source containing motion picture contents;

(b) selecting one or more of the image frames for an image-based product and obtaining a unique frame identification for said one or more selected frames;

(c) utilizing the unique frame identification to determine whether at least one permissible image-based product can be made from said one or more selected frames;

(d) if a permissible image-based product may be made as determined from step (c), obtaining file data corresponding to said one or more selected frames from a digital source file containing source information corresponding to the motion picture contents;

(e) preparing order information for the permissible image-based product from the file data; and

(f) generating the image-based product from the file data according to the order information.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein a consumer of said image-based products is involved in performing steps (a) and (b), and an owner/manager of the motion picture contents controls the outcome of steps (c) and (d).

3. The method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the determination of whether at least one permissible image-based product can be made from said one or more selected frames in step (c) is based on predetermined rules and policies maintained by the owner/manager.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3 wherein the rules and policies are changeable by the owner/manager.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the file data obtained in step (d) includes at least one of elements and file segments corresponding to static image frames or sequences of image frames, respectively, needed for making the permissible image-based product.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5 wherein said elements and file segments are extracted from the digital source file in response to specification of a particular permissible image-based product in step (c).

7. The method as claimed in claim 5 wherein said elements and file segments are extracted a priori from the digital source file for all permissible image-based products that may be obtained from the digital source file.

8. A system for obtaining image-based products from a digital motion picture source, said system comprising:

a content playing and display system for (a) displaying a sequence of motion picture image frames from a digital motion picture image source containing motion picture contents, and (b) selecting one or more of the image frames for an image-based product and obtaining a unique frame identification for said one or more selected frames;

a content management system that (a) utilizes the unique frame identification and determines whether at least one permissible image-based product can be made from said one or more selected frames, and (b), if a permissible image-based product may be made as determined, obtains file data corresponding to said one or more selected frames from a digital source file containg source information corresponding to the motion picture contents;

an order management system for preparing order information for the permissible image-based product from the file data; and

an order fulfillment system for generating the image-based product from the file data according to the order information.

9. The system as claimed in claim 8 wherein a consumer of said image-based products is involved in the content playing and display system, and an owner/manager of the motion picture contents controls the operation of the content management system.

10. The system as claimed in claim 9 wherein the determination of whether at least one permissible image-based product can be made from said one or more selected frames is based on predetermined rules and policies maintained by the owner/manager.

11. The system as claimed in claim 10 wherein the rules and policies are changeable by the owner/manager.

12. The system as claimed in claim 8 wherein the file data obtained by the content management system includes at least one of elements and file segments corresponding to static image frames or sequences of image frames, respectively, needed for making the permissible image-based product.

13. The system as claimed in claim 12 wherein said elements and file segments are extracted from the digital source file in response to specification of a particular permissible image-based product.

14. The system as claimed in claim 12 wherein said elements and file segments are extracted a priori from the digital source file for all permissible image-based products that may be obtained from the digital source file.

15. The system as claimed in claim 9 wherein the order management system is a web-based system that interacts with the consumer via at least one of an Internet connection and an automated voice communication connection.

16. The system as claimed in claim 8 wherein the orderfulfillment system communicates order status information to the order management system.