ASSOCIATION OF COMMENTS WITH SCREEN LOCATIONS DURING MEDIA CONTENT PLAYBACK

• US 20120151347A1
• Filed: 12/12/2011
• Published: 06/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ecolab USA Incorporated (Ecolab, Inc.), Quib Inc.
• Original Assignee: Quib Inc.
• Inventors: McClements, James Burns IV
• Granted Patent: US 9,189,818 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/716
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/7867 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, title and artist information, manually generated time, location and usage information, user ratings
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/101 Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/08 specially adapted for terminal emulation, e.g. Telnet
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices are described for associating comments with playback of media content. In these methods, systems, and devices, a selection of a screen location during the playback of the media content may be received from a user at an input device. A comment associated with the media content may also be received. The comment may be associated with the selected screen location at the input device. A data store may store the association of the selected screen location with the comment. A playback device may receive the comment and the associated screen location from a data store, monitor the playback of the media content to identify a point during the playback of the media content that is associated with the comment, and display an indication that the comment is associated with the screen location at the point during the playback that is associated with the comment.

Claims

1. A method of associating comments with playback of media content, the method comprising:

receiving from a user at an input device a selection of a screen location during the playback of the media content;

receiving from the user at the input device a comment associated with the media content; and

associating the comment with the selected screen location.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the selected screen location and the comment to a data store of stored comments associated with the media content.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving from the user a selection of a point during the playback of the media content for insertion of the comment; and

associating the selected screen location and the comment with the selected point during the playback of the media content.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying an image feature near the selected screen location; and

associating the comment with the identified image feature.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

providing a graphical indication to the user that the image feature has been associated with the comment.

6. An apparatus for associating comments with playback of media content, the apparatus comprising:

a selection receiving module configured to receive from a user a selection of a screen location during the playback of the media content;

a comment receiving module configured to receive from the user a comment associated with the media content; and

an association module configured to associate the comment with the selected screen location.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising:

a data store transmission module configured to transmit the selected screen location and the comment to a data store of stored comments associated with the media content.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein:

the selection receiving module is further configured to receive from the user a selection of a point during the playback of the media content for insertion of the comment; and

the association module is further configured to associate the selected screen location and the comment with the selected point during the playback of the media content.

9. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising:

an image feature identification module configured to identify an image feature near the selected screen location; and

wherein the association module is further configured to associate the comment with the identified image feature.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein:

the image feature identification module is further configured to provide a graphical indication to the user that the image feature has been associated with the comment.

11. A method of associating comments with playback of media content, the method comprising:

receiving a selection of a screen location associated with the playback of the media content and a comment associated with the screen location from a user input device over a network; and

associating the comment with the screen location in a data store of stored comments associated with the media content.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a selection of a point during the playback of the media content for insertion of the comment over the network; and

associating the selected screen location and the comment with the selected point in time during the playback of the media content in the data store of stored comments associated with the media content.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving an identification of an image feature near the selected screen location; and

associating the comment with the identified image feature in the data store of stored comments associated with the media content.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a request for comments associated with the media content from a playback device; and

providing the comment and a representation of the selected screen location associated with the comment to the playback device.

15. A method of providing comments during playback of media content, the method comprising:

receiving a comment associated with a screen location in the media content from a data store of comments associated with the media content;

monitoring the playback of the media content to identify a point during the playback of the media content that is associated with the comment; and

displaying an indication that the comment is associated with the screen location at the point during the playback of the media content that is associated with the comment.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

displaying the indication at the selected screen location at the point during the playback of the media content that is associated with the comment.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving the point during the playback of the media content that is associated with the comment from the data store.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the screen location comprises an image feature.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the monitoring the playback of the media content to identify the point that is associated with the comment comprises determining that the image feature is currently being displayed during the playback of the media content.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

monitoring a current position of the image feature during the playback of the media content; and

dynamically updating a position of the indication based on the current position of the image feature.