PERSISTENT VISUAL MEDIA PLAYER

• US 20110119586A1
• Filed: 01/21/2011
• Published: 05/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Blinnikka Tomi J, Steven L. Horowitz
• Inventors: Horowitz, Steven L., Blinnikka, Tomi. J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,316,300 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/719
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance

Abstract

An apparatus and method for presenting an embedded visual media player included in a web page in a floating mode is disclosed herein. The status of the embedded visual media player and/or the position of the embedded visual media player relative to the current viewable area of a window are monitored to initiate the floating mode. The floating mode keeps the embedded visual media player within the viewable area while the web page is scrolled.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, over a network from a server computing device, instructions, executable by a computing device, for identifying a visual media element from a web page, said instructions enable the visual media element to be persistently presented at a fixed location within a viewable area on a display of the computing device when the web page is simultaneously presented in the viewable area on the display of the computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the visual media element is identified in response to a play status of the visual media element.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the visual media element is identified in response to a portion of the visual media element being outside the viewable area.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the visual media element is identified when a portion of the visual media element being outside the viewable area is eminent.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the visual media element is automatically identified a set time after presentation of the web page in the viewable area.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the persistent presentation of the visual media element comprises overlaying the visual media element over a portion of the web page.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the web page, wherein the instructions for identifying and persistently presenting the visual media element are embedded in the web page.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein identification of the visual media element comprises extracting the visual media element from the web page, and persistent presentation of the visual media element comprises creating a container element at the fixed location.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein identification and persistent presentation of the visual media element comprises preventing the visual media element from repositioning relative to rest of the web page in response to a scrolling action.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the visual media element comprises a visual media item and a visual media player, and the visual media item is at least one of video, animation, slide show, graphics, video conference feed, webcam feed, video phone feed, and an audio player.

11-23. -23. (canceled)

24. A computer program product tangibly encoded on a computer-readable storage medium for execution by at least one processor, comprising:

a first set of instructions executed by one of said at least one processor for implementation with a web page, the web page comprising at least a first content, a visual media item and a visual media player, said first set of instructions utilizing the visual media item and the visual media player from the web page to generate a floating visual media element for the web page,

wherein the floating visual media element is operable to persist regardless of a viewing portion of the web page.

25. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the floating visual media element overlays and hides the first content.

26. The computer program product of claim 24, further comprising a second set of instructions configured to remove the floating visual media element.

27. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the floating visual media element is generated when the visual media player is in play and about to be outside the viewing portion of the web page.

28. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the first set of instructions is included in the web page.

29. A computer system, comprising:

a server configured to execute a first set of instructions tangibly stored on a computer-readable medium associated with the server, said first set of instructions enabled for implementation with a web page having at least a first content, a visual media item and a visual media player, said first set of instructions capable of using the visual media item and the visual media player from the web page to generate a floating visual media element overlaying at least a portion of the web page, wherein the floating visual media element is capable of persisting regardless of a viewing portion of the web page.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the server includes a second set of instructions capable of removing the floating visual media element.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein a second server includes a second web page having at least a second content, a second visual media item, and a second visual media player, and the first set of instructions is operable to generate a second floating visual media element overlaying at least a portion of the second web page using the second visual media item and the second visual media player.