METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR HANDLING MONTAGE VIDEO DATA

• US 20070263984A1
• Filed: 05/04/2007
• Published: 11/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/07/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wellcomemat LLC
• Original Assignee: Wellcomemat LLC
• Inventors: DiGuilio, Philip, Zainy, Haider, Sterner, Christian
• Granted Patent: US 8,170,395 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 386/234
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/28 by using information signals recorded by the same method as the main recording G11B27/22 takes precedence

Abstract

Video data may be extremely useful in online property commerce. However, the current methods of handling this video data fail to provide users of the data with effective and convenient ways of consolidating footage from multiple videos or portions thereof and conveying their particular viewpoints and other property features. Among other things, embodiments of the invention address these failures by providing methods and systems for generating and handling montage video data.

Claims

1. A system for generating video using cue point information, the system comprising:

a video server configured to serve a set of base video files indexable by a set of video identifiers,

a cue point server configured to serve a set of cue point information,

a cue point handler configured to generate a relational cue point dataset comprising a set of associations between at least a portion of the set of cue point information and at least a portion of the set of video identifiers, and

a video generator configured to generate a video montage file based at least in part on the relational cue point dataset.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a video playback environment configured to transmit data readable by a client terminal to display the video montage file.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a montage cue point generator configured to generate a set of montage cue points based at least in part on the relational cue point dataset.

4. The system of claim 3, further comprising a video playback environment configured to transmit data readable by a client terminal to display the video montage file, wherein the video playback environment is configured to transmit data readable by a client terminal to display the set of montage cue points.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the cue point information substantially defines at least one of a metatag, a cue point name, a cue point time location, or a cue point hierarchy.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the video generator is configured to extract a set of base video data beginning at a time location within one of the set of base video files.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the time location is based at least in part on a portion of the set of cue point information.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the video generator is configured to concatenate a plurality of sets of base video data to generate at least a portion of the montage video file.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the video server is in operative communication with at least one of a network or the video generator.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the cue point server is in operative communication with at least one of the network, the video server, or the video generator.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of associations comprises a representation of a subset of the set of video base files relating to the subset of cue point information substantially matching an association criterion.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the set of cue point information comprises a set of cue point names, and the association criterion comprises at least one of the set of cue point names.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one base video file comprises footage relating to at least one of real property, personal property, or information property.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the set of cue point information defines a set of metatags, and at least a portion of the set of metatags represent a subordinate category of a different portion of the set of metatags.

15. A method for generating video using cue point information, the method comprising:

providing a computer system

having at least one computer-readable medium comprising a video playback environment, and

in operative communication with a network;

receiving over the network, using the computer system, a video montage request;

analyzing the video montage request;

generating a relational dataset based at least in part on the video montage request, a set of cue point information, and a set of video information; and

generating a video montage file based at least in part on the relational dataset.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising transmitting data readable by a client terminal to display the video montage file.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the cue point information substantially defines at least one of a metatag, a cue point name, a cue point time location, or a cue point hierarchy.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the at least one computer-readable medium further comprises a montage cue point generator configured to generate a set of montage cue points based at least in part on the relational dataset.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising generating a set of montage cue points.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein at least a portion of the set of montage cue points represents a set of metatags corresponding to a hierarchical categorization of at least a portion of the set of video information.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising transmitting data readable by a client terminal to display the set of montage cue points.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein generating a video montage file comprises:

extracting a plurality of sets of base video data beginning at a set of time locations in a set of base video files, and

concatenating at least a portion of the plurality of sets of base video data into a montage video file.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the set of time locations is based at least in part on the set of cue point information.

24. The method of claim 15, wherein generating a video montage file comprises:

extracting a plurality of sets of base video data beginning at a set of time locations in a set of base video files,

concatenating at least a portion of the plurality of sets of base video data into a montage video file, and

generating a set of montage cue points corresponding to the set of time locations.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

receiving, over the network, a signal representing a request to view a select base video file, a time location of the select base video file corresponding to a select montage cue point; and

transmitting one of the select base video file or a pointer to the select base video file.

26. A system for generating video using cue point information, the system comprising a video generator operatively connected to a network and configured to perform the steps of:

receiving, over the network, a video montage request;

analyzing the video montage request;

generating a relational dataset based at least in part on the video montage request, a set of cue point information, and a set of video information; and

generating a video montage file based at least in part on the relational dataset.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the video generator is further configured to generate a set of montage cue points based at least in part on the relational dataset.