System and method for providing multimedia tours

• US 20060259239A1
• Filed: 04/17/2006
• Published: 11/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: GuyTech USA, Inc.
• Original Assignee: GuyTech USA, Inc.
• Inventors: Nouri, Guy
• Application Number:
  US11/405,328
• Publication Number:
  US 20060259239A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/211
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4393 Multimedia presentations, e.g. slide shows, multimedia albums
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/33378 Type or format of data, e.g. colour or B/W, halftone or binary, computer image file or facsimile data

Abstract

A system and method for generating and publishing multimedia tours. A system is provided that includes: a tour editing system for creating and editing a tour at a first client system, wherein the tour editing system includes a system for capturing images of different formats, a system for converting captured images to tour images having a common format, and a system for storing the tour in a remote database located apart from said first client system; and a tour presentation system having a tour player that can be run from a second client system, wherein the tour player includes a system for accessing the tour and any updates from the remote database, a system for playing the tour, a system for linking to content associated with tour images appearing in the tour, and a system for forwarding tours and associated dynamically updated advertisements by email.

Claims

1. A system for providing multimedia tours, comprising:

a tour editing system for creating and editing a tour at a first client system, wherein the tour editing system includes a system for capturing images of different formats, a system for converting captured images to tour images having a common format, and a system for storing the tour in a remote database located apart from said first client system; and

a tour presentation system having a tour player that can be run from a second client system, wherein the tour player includes a system for accessing the tour from the remote database, a system for playing the tour, and a system for linking to content associated with tour images appearing in the tour.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the tour editing system includes a system for creating thumbnail images for each of the captured images.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the common format comprises format selected from the group consisting of:

a JPEG format and a SWF format.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote database comprises a plurality of tours created by a plurality of different users, and wherein the plurality of tours in the remote database can be searched by a Web search system.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first and second client systems comprises a system selected from the group consisting of:

a Web browser, a cellular phone, and a mobile device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote database is located at a Web server.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the tour includes a tour identifier that can be shared among a plurality of users over a network in order to allow the plurality of users to access and view the tour from the remote database.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the captured images are derived from files selected from the group comprising:

an HTML file, a JPEG file, a bitmap file, a word processing file, a PDF file, an MP3 file, a SWF file and an AVI file.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising an ad processing system that dynamically generates and displays ad content whenever the tour is played at a client system.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the ad content travels with the tour when the tour is forwarded among users.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising a transaction system that provides an interface for accessing third party transactions over a network.

12. A method for playing a tour in a viewer, comprising:

pointing the viewer to a tour database having a plurality of tours stored therein, wherein the tour database is remotely located from a device running the viewer;

displaying a tour player in the viewer;

playing the tour in the tour player; and

displaying ad content in relation to the viewer with the tour player, wherein the ad content is dependent upon a set of ad rules.

13. The method of claim 12, comprising the further step of interfacing with a third party transaction system.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of pointing the viewer to a tour database includes the steps of:

submitting a query to a search system;

receiving back a list of search results, wherein at least one of the search results comprises a tour located in the tour database; and

selecting the tour from the list of search results.

15. The method of claim 12, comprising the further step of emailing a tour identifier to a recipient.

16. The method of claim 12, comprising the further step of linking to a Web page by selecting an image in the tour.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the ad content travels with the tour when the tour is forwarded among users.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the ad rules are determined by a system selected from the group consisting of:

an ad processing system and a third party ad server.

19. A method for composing a tour that can be played in a Web browser, comprising:

capturing images from Web pages being viewed on a computer system, wherein the Web pages have an HTML format;

converting the captured images to a set of tour images having a non-HTML format;

composing the tour from the tour images; and

storing the tour in a remote database located apart from the computer system.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising the steps of:

capturing images from non-HTML files; and

converting the captured images to the non-HTML format.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein each image in the set of tour images includes locator information that links the images to the Web pages from which they were captured.

22. The method of claim 20, comprising the further step of generating a set of thumbnail images.

23. The method of claim 20, comprising the further step of updating the tour images when the Web pages are modified.

24. The method of claim 20, comprising the further step of notifying viewers of a tour that the tour images have been updated.

25. A computer program product stored in computer memory that is downloadable to a remote computer system where the computer program product can be executed to play a tour, wherein the computer program product comprises:

program code configured for displaying a tour player in a viewing platform;

program code configured for allowing a user to select a tour from a plurality of tours stored in a database located remotely from the computer system running the viewing platform;

program code configured for playing the tour in the tour player; and

program code configured for displaying ad content with the tour player, wherein the ad content is dynamically served to the tour player.

26. The computer program product of claim 25, further comprising program code configured for displaying a set of thumbnail images in the tour player.

27. The computer program product of claim 25, further comprising program code configured for allowing a first user to email a tour identifier to a second user.

28. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the viewing platform comprises a Web browser.

29. The computer program product of claim 25, further comprising program code configured for allowing a user to link to a Web page by selecting an image in the tour.

30. A system for playing tours in a viewer, comprising:

a system for directing the viewer to a tour database having a plurality of tours stored therein, wherein the tour database is remotely located from a device running the viewer;

a tour player for displaying a selected tour in the viewer; and

a transaction interface that is displayed with the selected tour in the viewer, wherein the transaction interface provides a mechanism for making an interactive transaction over a network.

31. The system of claim 30, further comprising a system for updating a tour whenever tour content changes.

32. The system of claim 30, wherein the interactive transaction comprises a purchase.