SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DYNAMICALLY PUBLISHING MULTIPLE PHOTOS IN SLIDESHOW FORMAT ON A MOBILE DEVICE

• US 20090172547A1
• Filed: 06/06/2008
• Published: 07/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Goomzee Corporation
• Original Assignee: Goomzee Corporation
• Inventors: Sparr, Michael J.
• Application Number:
  US12/135,115
• Publication Number:
  US 20090172547A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/730
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00198 Creation of a soft photo presentation, e.g. digital slide-show
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00244 with a server, e.g. an internet server fax-servers or the like for store and forward H04N1/324
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00307 with a mobile telephone apparatus constructional features of portable telephone sets H04M1/0202; mobile radio systems H04W84/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00458 Sequential viewing of a plurality of images, e.g. browsing or scrolling
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/001 Sharing resources, e.g. processing power or memory, with a connected apparatus or enhancing the capability of the still picture apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3226 of identification information or the like, e.g. ID code, index, title, part of an image, reduced-size image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3274 Storage or retrieval of prestored additional information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3278 Transmission

Abstract

A system for publishing multiple photos in slideshow format on a mobile device comprising: means for inputting multiple photo file references to a slideshow generator; a slideshow generator that parses the inputted photo file references, retrieves photo files based on the parsed photo file references, assembles the retrieved photo files into frames, and aggregates the frames into a single, animated slideshow file that rotates through all of the photos based on a specified time delay; a database that stores photo file reference information; a file storage system that stores the aggregated slideshow file generated by the slideshow generator; means for delivering the aggregated slideshow file to a mobile device; and means for rendering the slideshow file as a slideshow on a mobile device. A method for publishing multiple photos in slideshow format on a mobile device using the above-described system.

Claims

1. A system for publishing multiple photos in slideshow format on a mobile device comprising:

(a) means for inputting multiple photo file references to a slideshow generator;

(b) a slideshow generator that parses the inputted photo file references, retrieves photo files based on the parsed photo file references, assembles the retrieved photo files into frames, and aggregates the frames into a single, animated slideshow file that rotates through all of the photos based on a specified time delay;

(c) a database that stores photo file reference information;

(d) a file storage system that stores the aggregated slideshow file generated by the slideshow generator;

(e) means for delivering the aggregated slideshow file to a mobile device; and

(f) means for rendering the slideshow file as a slideshow on a mobile device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein each frame comprises a background, a header, and a photo file.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein each frame further comprises a textual caption.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the slideshow generator resizes each retrieved photo file to specified width and height constraints, converts a textual caption into an image file, layers the resized photo and the caption image file on top of a background to create a frame, and appends the frame to a slideshow frameset with frame control data.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the slideshow generator uses Sun Java AWT library functions to resize the retrieved photo file to specified width and height constraints.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the slideshow generator uses Sun Java 2D library functions to convert the textual caption to an image file, layer the resized photo and caption image file on top of a background to create a frame, and append the frame to a slideshow frameset with frame control data.

7. The system of claim 4 or 6, wherein the frame control data comprises a time delay period for each photo.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for inputting the photo file references to the slideshow generator is a web-based submission form.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the web-based submission form comprises one or more fields for entering photo file references, one or more fields for entering photo captions, one or more fields for entering a delay period between photos in the slideshow, one or more fields for entering photo size, and a window in which the slideshow can be viewed prior to publication.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the web-based submission form further comprises a field for entering the name of the slideshow, a field for entering a reference to a file that will form a background for the photos in the slideshow, a field for entering the font for the slideshow name and the photo captions, and a field for specifying slideshow size.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the web-based submission form displays a preview of the slideshow after the slideshow file is generated.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for inputting the photo file references to the slideshow generator is an Application Programming Interface call.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the Application Programming Interface call submits to the slideshow generator metadata regarding slideshow name, slideshow size, photo size, font family and size, and time delay period between photos.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the metadata submitted by the Application Programming Interface call to the slideshow generator includes file reference information for the photos, textual captions, and size and delay override values.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the slideshow file is a Graphics Interchange Format file.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the slideshow file is in GIF89a file format.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the system allows a publisher to specify a time delay period for each photo or to utilize a default time delay period for all photos.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the slideshow generator uses Sun Java Simple API for XML to parse the inputted photo file references.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the slideshow generator uses Sun Java NET library to retrieve photo files based on the parsed photo file references.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the slideshow generator uses Apache Software Foundation Commons HTTP Client libraries to retrieve photo files based on the parsed photo file references.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the database is a MySQL relational database.

22. The system of claim 1, wherein the file storage system is a local disk or a remote file storage device.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein each frame further comprises a textual caption.

23. A method for publishing multiple photos in slideshow format on a mobile device comprising:

(a) inputting multiple photo file references to a slideshow generator;

(b) parsing the inputted photo file references, retrieving photos based on the parsed photo file references, assembling the retrieved photo files into frames, and aggregating the frames into a single, animated slideshow file that rotates through all of the photos based on a specified time delay;

(c) storing the photo file reference information in a database;

(d) storing the aggregated slideshow file in a file storage system;

(e) delivering the aggregated slideshow file to a mobile device; and

(f) rendering the slideshow file as a slideshow on a mobile device.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein each frame comprises a background, a header, and a photo file.

26. The method of claim 23, further comprising resizing each retrieved photo file to specified width and height constraints, converting a textual caption into an image file, layering the resized photo and the caption image file on top of a background to create a frame, and appending the frame to a slideshow frameset with frame control data.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the step of resizing each retrieved photo file to specified width and height constraints is accomplished using Sun Java AWT library functions.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the steps of converting the textual caption to an image file, layering the resized photo and caption image file on top of a background to create a frame, and appending the frame to a slideshow frameset with frame control data are accomplished using Sun Java 2D library functions.

29. The method of claim 26 or 28, wherein the frame control data comprises a time delay period for each photo.

30. The method of claim 23, wherein the photo file references are inputted using a web-based submission form.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the web-based submission form comprises one or more fields for entering photo file references, one or more fields for entering photo captions, one or more fields for entering a delay period between photos in the slideshow, one or more fields for entering photo size, and a window in which the slideshow can be viewed prior to publication.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the web-based submission form further comprises a field for entering the name of the slideshow, a field for entering a reference to a file that will form a background for the photos in the slideshow, a field for entering the font for the slideshow name and the photo captions, and a field for specifying slideshow size.

33. The method of claim 30, wherein the web-based submission form displays a preview of the slideshow after the slideshow is generated.

34. The method of claim 23, wherein the photo file references are inputted using an Application Programming Interface call.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the Application Programming Interface call submits metadata regarding slideshow name, slideshow size, photo size, font family and size, and time delay period between photos.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the metadata submitted by the Application Programming Interface call includes file reference information for the photos, textual captions, and size and delay override values.

37. The method of claim 23, wherein the slideshow file is a Graphics Interchange Format file.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the slideshow file is in GIF89a file format.

39. The method of claim 23, wherein the method allows a publisher to specify a time delay period for each photo or to utilize a default time delay period for all photos.

40. The method of claim 23, wherein the inputted photo file references are parsed using Sun Java Simple API for XML.

41. The method of claim 23, wherein the photo files are retrieved using Sun Java NET library.

42. The method of claim 23, wherein the photo files are retrieved using Apache Software Foundation Commons HTTP Client libraries.

43. The method of claim 23, wherein the database is a MySQL relational database.

44. The method of claim 23, wherein the file storage system is a local disk or a remote file storage device.