METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PREVIEWING MEDIA OVER A NETWORK

• US 20080271095A1
• Filed: 04/24/2007
• Published: 10/30/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Oath Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Shafton, Peter
• Application Number:
  US11/739,532
• Publication Number:
  US 20080271095A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/87
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23109 by placing content in organized collections, e.g. EPG data repository details of retrieval of video data and associated meta data in video databases G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2323 using file mapping
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2326 Scheduling disk or memory reading operations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23424 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for inserting or substituting an advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4438 Window management, e.g. event handling following interaction with the user interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8549 Creating video summaries, e.g. movie trailer retrieval in video databases by using presentations in form of a video summary G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed that allow a user to preview media content on a device while the device is downloading the media content and without interrupting the downloading of the media content. In addition, the user may preview any location within a media file regardless of whether the media data for the location has been received by the user'"'"'s device. The user'"'"'s device, upon receipt of a command to preview a specific location within a file already being downloaded, determines if the data for that location have already been received. If so, the user'"'"'s device generates a preview frame from the downloaded data. If not, the user'"'"'s device transmits a preview request to the media server which generates the preview frame and transmits back to the user'"'"'s device.

Claims

1. A method of previewing media content, comprising:

downloading a renderable media file;

while downloading the renderable media file, rendering a retrieved portion of the media file;

while downloading the renderable media file, receiving a preview command indicating a preview location different from the location within the renderable media file concurrently being rendered;

ceasing rendering of the media file; and

displaying a preview frame corresponding to the preview location without interrupting the downloading operation, the preview frame generated from the renderable media file.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining, based on the preview location, that media data of the renderable media file corresponding to the preview location have already been downloaded.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

generating the preview frame from the media data corresponding to the preview location.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

rendering the media file from the preview location.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining, based on the preview location, that media data of the media file corresponding to the preview location have not already been downloaded.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

transmitting a preview request identifying the preview location.

7. (canceled)

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

while concurrently displaying the preview frame and downloading the renderable media file, receiving a subsequent preview command indicating a subsequent preview location different from the preview location; and

displaying a subsequent preview frame generated from the renderable media file corresponding to the subsequent preview location without interrupting the downloading operation.

9. A method of previewing media content, comprising:

transmitting a renderable media file to a remote device;

receiving, from the remote device while transmitting the renderable media file, a preview request indicating a preview location identifying media data that has not yet been transmitted to the remote device;

generating a preview frame corresponding to the preview location without interrupting the transmitting operation; and

transmitting the preview frame to the remote device.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

receiving, from the remote device while transmitting the renderable media file, a subsequent preview request indicating a subsequent preview location identifying media data that has not yet been transmitted to the remote device;

generating a subsequent preview frame corresponding to the preview location without interrupting the transmitting operation; and

transmitting the subsequent preview frame to the remote device.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

receiving, from the remote device while transmitting the renderable media file, a transmit from preview location request;

ceasing transmitting the renderable media file to the remote device; and

transmitting, from the preview location within the renderable media file, the renderable media file to the remote device.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

receiving a download request for the renderable media file from the remote device;

retrieving the renderable media file from storage; and

storing the renderable media file in memory.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

generating the preview frame from the renderable media file in memory.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

generating the preview frame from the renderable media file in storage.

15. A system for previewing video files, comprising:

a media server that receives a request for a video file and transmits the requested video file to the requestor and that receives a preview request from the requestor and, in response, transmits a requested portion of the video file concurrently with transmitting the video file.

16. The system of claim 15 further comprising:

a requesting device that receives the requested video file, and in response to a preview command indicating a portion of the requested video file, generates a preview request to the server.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the preview request identifies a preview location within the video file that has not yet been transmitted to the requestor when the preview request is received, and wherein the media server further comprises:

a preview module that generates a preview frame based on the preview location from the video file; and

transmits the preview frame to the requestor.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the preview frame is an I frame nearest the preview location.

20. The system of claim 17 wherein the preview frame contains data in a different format than data in the video file.

22. The system of claim 16 wherein the requesting device further determines from the preview command if the media data corresponding to a preview location identified in the command has already been received and, if the media data has already been received, generates a preview frame based on the media data.

18. (canceled)

21. (canceled)

23. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method comprising:

downloading a renderable media file;

while downloading the renderable media file, receiving a preview command indicating a preview location different from the location within the renderable media file concurrently being rendered; and

displaying a preview frame corresponding to the preview location without interrupting the downloading operation, the preview frame generated from the renderable media file.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 23 wherein the method further comprises:

determining, based on the preview location, whether or not media data of the renderable media file corresponding to the preview location have already been downloaded.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 24 wherein the method further comprises:

generating the preview frame from the media data corresponding to the preview location.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 24 wherein the method further comprises:

rendering the media file from the preview location.

27. (canceled)

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 27 wherein the method further comprises:

transmitting a preview request identifying the preview location.

29. (canceled)

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 29 wherein the method further comprises:

while concurrently displaying the preview frame and downloading the renderable media file, receiving a subsequent preview command indicating a subsequent preview location different from the preview location; and

displaying a subsequent preview frame generated from the renderable media file corresponding to the subsequent preview location without interrupting the downloading operation.