AUDIOVISUAL RECORD OF A USER READING A BOOK ALOUD FOR PLAYBACK WITH A VIRTUAL BOOK

• US 20100216108A1
• Filed: 02/19/2010
• Published: 08/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jackson Fish Market, LLC
• Original Assignee: Jackson Fish Market, LLC
• Inventors: Smith, Walter, Cooperman, Hillel, Lam, Jenny
• Granted Patent: US 9,064,424 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 434/317
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/062 Combinations of audio and printed presentations, e.g. magnetically striped cards, talking books, magnetic tapes with printed texts thereon

Abstract

An audiovisual recording of a user reading a book aloud is generated for playback with a virtual book. A book reading user interface presents a virtual book concurrently with a current image of the user. The virtual book may be presented based at least in part on an aspect ratio of the virtual book. As the user reads the virtual book aloud, an audiovisual recording of the user is generated. In addition, synchronization information is recorded that enables the audiovisual recording to be synchronized with the presentation of pages of the virtual book during playback. The generated audiovisual recording is stored in a database and may be played back to a recipient on demand.

Claims

1. A system for generating an audiovisual recording of a user reading a virtual book for playback with the virtual book, the system comprising:

a virtual book database configured to store;

a plurality of virtual books, wherein a virtual book comprises electronic images associated with pages of the virtual book; and

a view indicator associated with each of the plurality of virtual books, wherein the view indicator specifies how the corresponding virtual book is to be displayed by a client application, and wherein the view indicator is based at least in part on an aspect ratio of the virtual book;

an audiovisual recording database configured to store;

a plurality of audiovisual recordings, wherein an audiovisual recording comprises a record of a user reading a virtual book aloud;

a book identifier associated with each audiovisual recording, wherein the book identifier specifies the virtual book to which the audiovisual recording corresponds; and

page synchronization information associated with each audiovisual recording, wherein the page synchronization information enables the corresponding audiovisual recording to be synchronized with the pages of the corresponding virtual book during playback; and

a web application server coupled to the virtual book database and the audiovisual recording database, wherein the web application server is configured to transmit an audiovisual recording and a virtual book to a client application for display to a recipient.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of virtual books is a children'"'"'s book.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of virtual books has a physical counterpart, and wherein the images of the at least one virtual book are obtained by scanning pages of the physical counterpart.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of virtual books has a physical counterpart, and wherein the images of the at least one virtual book are obtained by rendering design files used to produce the physical counterpart.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of virtual books does not have a physical counterpart, and wherein the images of the at least one virtual book are created in electronic form using an electronic multimedia program.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the client application is accessible via a web browser of the client.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the client application is a standalone application on the client.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the client is a mobile device.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the transmitted virtual book is rendered by the client application at run time.

10. A method in a computer system of generating an audiovisual recording of a user reading a virtual book for playback with the virtual book, the method comprising:

displaying via a display device of a computer system one or more virtual books;

receiving via the computer system a user selection of one of the displayed virtual books;

displaying via the display device;

the selected virtual book, where an amount of the selected virtual book that is displayed is based on an aspect ratio of the selected virtual book; and

a video window configured to display an image of the user reading the selected virtual book aloud as an audiovisual recording of the user is being generated,

wherein the selected virtual book and the video window are concurrently displayed; and

generating by the computer system the audiovisual recording of the user reading the selected virtual book aloud, wherein the generating comprises, for each page of the selected virtual book;

receiving from the user a selection of a page of the selected virtual book;

receiving audiovisual data of the user reading the selected page aloud;

recording the received audiovisual data; and

recording synchronization information that enables the selected page to be presented in synchronization with the received audiovisual data during playback.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the selected virtual book is a children'"'"'s book.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the selected virtual book is displayed via a web browser, and wherein the display of the selected virtual book is modified if the user resizes the web browser.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the method further comprises:

displaying via the display device one or more objects selectable by the user for incorporation into the display of the virtual book.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the method further comprises:

receiving from the user a selection of an object for incorporation into the display of the selected virtual book;

recording the selected object; and

recording synchronization information that enables the selected object to be presented in synchronization with the received audiovisual data during playback.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein the synchronization information comprises an indication of the selected page and an indication of a current time in the audiovisual recording.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein the user has been invited by another user to read the virtual book.

17. The method of claim 10 wherein the amount of the selected virtual book that is displayed is also based on a size of the display device.

18. A method in a computer system of playing back an audiovisual recording along with a presentation of a virtual book, the method comprising:

receiving by a computer system a user selection of a virtual book reading, wherein the virtual book reading comprises an audiovisual recording and a virtual book, and wherein the audiovisual recording comprises a record of another user reading the virtual book aloud;

displaying via a display device of the computer system the audiovisual recording and the virtual book, wherein the audiovisual recording and the virtual book are concurrently displayed; and

presenting via the display device pages of the virtual book, wherein the pages of the virtual book are presented in synchronization with the audiovisual recording, and wherein the pages of the virtual book are selectable by the user to control a portion of the audiovisual recording that is presented.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein an amount of the virtual book that is displayed is based at least in part on an aspect ratio of the virtual book.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein if the virtual book has a first aspect ratio, its pages are presented one at a time, and

wherein if the virtual book has a second aspect ratio, its pages are presented two at a time.

21. The method of claim 18 wherein the displayed audiovisual recording is resizable by the user.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein if the user increases the size of the displayed audiovisual recording, the displayed virtual book is decreased in size, and

wherein if the user decreases the size of the displayed audiovisual recording, the displayed virtual book is increased in size.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein the displayed audiovisual recording automatically increases in size for a first portion of the other user reading the virtual book aloud, and automatically decreases in size for a second portion of the other user reading the virtual book aloud.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the first portion is an introduction to the virtual book by the other user.

25. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

displaying a marker in association with text contained on the pages of the virtual book, wherein the marker identifies portions of the text and moves in synchronization with the audiovisual recording.

26. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

generating a second audiovisual recording, wherein the second audiovisual recording comprises a record of the user as the audiovisual recording and the virtual book are displayed; and

recording the second audiovisual recording.

27. The method of claim 18 wherein the audiovisual recording and the virtual book are displayed in real time or near real time as the other user reads the virtual book aloud.

28. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

transmitting to a computer system of the other user a notification that the audiovisual recording and the virtual book have been displayed to the user.