MULTIMEDIA CONTENT PREVIEW RENDERING IN A CLOUD CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• US 20120328259A1
• Filed: 06/22/2011
• Published: 12/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Box Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Box Incorporated
• Inventors: Ghods, Sam, Mand, Arshdeep, Seibert, Jeffrey H. Jr., Lockhart, Kimber, Silva, Nicholas, Savage, Brandon, Levie, Aaron, Goldberg, Arnold, Jourda, Florian, Lee, David T.
• Granted Patent: US 9,063,912 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 386/230
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/116 Details of conversion of file system types or formats
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/00 Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/61 in combination with predictive coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2343 involving reformatting operations of video signals for distribution or compliance with end-user requests or end-user device requirements video transcoding H04N19/40; media packet handling at the source H04L65/762

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing content previews of files, including video files, stored in an online content management system with collaboration environment are disclosed. Permission to view a preview of a file is determined based upon access permissions associated with the file and/or workspace in which the file is stored and the access level of the requesting user. The system can also provide a progress indicator indicating the approximate time remaining to process the file for previewing based upon averages of times for processing previous files having similar attributes. In one aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure include a method, which may be implemented on a system, for downsampling a video file to decrease the processing time for providing a preview.

Claims

1. A method for predicting a duration for converting a file to a target format for previewing, comprising:

comparing attributes of the file with attributes of previously converted files;

predicting the duration based upon an average of conversion times for previously converted files with the attributes; and

causing to be displayed an indicator configured to dynamically provide a time remaining for completion of the conversion of the file based upon the anticipated duration.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein attributes of the file comprise one or more of:

size of the file, format of the file, and number of steps to be used for converting the file, wherein a step corresponds to each format conversion of the file performed to arrive at the target format.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein for text-based files, attributes of the file further comprise a number of pages of the file.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein for image files, attributes of the file further comprise a source width and a source height of a frame of the file prior to conversion, and a target width and a target height of a target frame in the target format.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein for video files, attributes of the file further comprise a play length, a source width and a source height of a frame of the file prior to conversion, and a target width and a target height of a target frame in the target format.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting the predicted duration based upon a current load on a system used to perform the conversion of the file to the target format.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising adjusting the predicted duration based upon reported progress of a step of the conversion of the file to the target format.

8. A method for determining whether to display a file preview, comprising:

receiving a request from a user to view a preview of a file, wherein the file has been uploaded to a web-based collaboration platform;

causing the preview to be displayed in response to determining that access level of the user permits the user to view the preview.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising causing the file preview to be generated only if the access level of the user permits the user to view the file preview.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

in response to determining that the user is permitted to view the preview, providing a notification of the previewing by the user to another user of the web-based collaboration platform.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the notification is accessible by the other user in real time or near real time to when the previewing is displayed.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the notification is presented in a feed stream through a user interface to the web-based collaboration platform.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the other user meets a criteria for receiving the notification.

14. A method for determining whether to display a file preview, comprising:

receiving a request from a user to view a preview of a file, wherein the file has been uploaded to a web-based collaboration platform;

determining a file access permission associated with the file and a user access level of the user;

causing the preview to be displayed if the user access level satisfies the file access permission.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising causing the file preview to be generated only if the user access level of the user satisfies the file access permission.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

in response to determining that the user is permitted to view the preview, providing a notification of the previewing by the user to another user of the web-based collaboration platform.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the notification is accessible by the other user in real time or near real time to when the previewing is displayed.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the notification is presented in a feed stream through a user interface to the web-based collaboration platform.

19. A method for decreasing a time for converting a video file to a target format for previewing, comprising;

downsampling the video file to a first downsampled video file, wherein the video file has been uploaded to a web-based collaboration platform;

converting the first downsampled video file to a first output file having the target format; and

causing to be displayed the first output the for previewing.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein downsampling comprises reducing a height of frames of the video the to a preselected number of pixels while maintaining an aspect ratio of the video file.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising

evaluating a load on a system of distributed conversion servers;

using a distributed queuing system to determine which of the distributed conversion servers to use for performing the downsampling and the conversion.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising

using timing information collected from converting previous files to determine which of the distributed conversion servers to use for performing the downsampling and the conversion to increase a throughput of the system.

23. The method of claim 19, further comprising identifying orientation data in the video file and conveying the orientation data to a video player for use in displaying the first output file.

24. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

providing a notification of the previewing by the user to another user of the web-based collaboration platform.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the notification is accessible by the otter user in real time or near real time to when the previewing is displayed.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the notification is presented in a feed stream through a user interface to the web-based collaboration platform.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein the other user meets a criteria for receiving the notification.

28. A method comprising:

downsampling a video the to a first downsampled video file, wherein the video the has been uploaded to a web-based collaboration platform;

converting the first downsampled video the to a first output file having a target format; and

downsampling the video file to a second downsampled video file, wherein the second downsampled video file is smaller than the first downsampled video file;

converting the second downsampled video file to a second output file having the target format; and

providing the first output file to a user for previewing if the user subscribes to a higher tier of service with the web-based collaboration platform;

providing the second output file to the user for previewing if the user subscribes to a lower tier of service with the web-based collaboration platform.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

providing the first output file and the second output file to the user to select for previewing, if there is only a single tier of service offered by the web-based collaboration platform.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein downsampling comprises reducing a height of frames of the video file to a preselected number of pixels while maintaining an aspect ratio of the video file.

31. The method of claim 28, further comprising

evaluating a load on a system of distributed conversion servers;

using a distributed queuing system to determine which of the distributed conversion servers to use for performing the downsampling and the conversion.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising

using timing information collected from converting previous files to determine which of the distributed conversion servers to use for performing the downsampling and the conversion to increase a throughput of the system.

33. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

providing a notification of the previewing by the user to another user of the web-based collaboration platform.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the notification is accessible by the other user in real time or near real time to when the previewing is displayed.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the notification is presented in a feed stream through a user interface to the web-based collaboration platform.

36. A method comprising:

downsampling a video file to a first downsampled video file, wherein the video file has been uploaded to a web-based collaboration platform;

converting the first downsampled video file to a first output file having a target format; and

downsampling the video file to a second downsampled video file, wherein the second downsampled video file is smaller than the first downsampled video file;

converting the second downsampled video file to a second output the having the target format; and

providing the first output file and the second output the to a user to select for previewing if the user subscribes to a higher tier of service with the web-based collaboration platform;

offering only one of the first output the or the second output the to the user for previewing if the user subscribes to a lower tier of service with the web-based collaboration platform.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein downsampling comprises reducing a height of frames of the video the to a preselected number of pixels while maintaining an aspect ratio of the video file.

38. The method of claim 36, further comprising:

providing a notification of the previewing by the user to another user of the web-based collaboration platform.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the notification is accessible by the other user in real time or near real time to when the previewing is displayed.

40. The method of claim 38, wherein the notification is presented in a feed stream through a user interface to the web-based collaboration platform.

41. A method for decreasing a time for converting a video the to a target format for previewing, comprising:

converting the video file to an intermediate format file, wherein the video the has been uploaded to a web-based collaboration platform;

downsampling the intermediate format file;

converting the downsampled intermediate format the to a target format file causing to be displayed the target format file for previewing.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein downsampling comprises reducing a height of frames of the video file to a preselected number of pixels while maintaining an aspect ratio of the video file.

43. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

providing a notification of the previewing by the user to another user of the web-based collaboration platform.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein the notification is accessible by the other user in real time or near real time to when the previewing is displayed.

45. The method of claim 43, wherein the notification is presented in a feed stream through a user interface to the web-based collaboration platform.

46. A method of streaming a video the to a user for previewing prior to completing conversion of the video file to a target format, comprising:

moving metadata in the video file to a beginning of the video file, wherein the video file has been uploaded to a web-based collaboration platform;

as the video file is being converted to the target format, writing sections of the converted portions of the video file to a location accessible by a video player;

causing the video player to display the converted portions of the video file to the user while a remainder of the video file is converted to the target format.

47. The method of claim 46, further comprising downsampling the video file prior to converting the video file.

48. The method of claim 46, further comprising

evaluating a load on a system of distributed conversion servers;

using a distributed queuing system to determine which of the distributed conversion servers to use for performing the conversion.

49. The method of claim 48, further comprising

using timing information collected from converting previous files to determine which of the distributed conversion servers to use for performing the conversion to increase a throughput of the system.

50. The method of claim 46, further comprising identifying orientation data in the video file and conveying the orientation data to a video player for use in displaying the first output file.

51. The method of claim 46, further comprising:

providing a notification of the previewing by the user to another user of the web-based collaboration platform.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein the notification is accessible by the other user in real time or near real time to when the previewing is displayed.

53. The method of claim 51, wherein the notification is presented in a feed stream through a user interface to the web-based collaboration platform.

54. The method of claim 51, wherein the other user meets a criteria for receiving the notification.

55. A system, comprising:

one or more conversion servers, wherein each conversion server is configured to convert an input format of a file to a target format;

a progress indicator engine configured to determine a predicted duration for converting the file to the target format and providing a dynamic indicator to indicate to a user a time remaining for the conversion.

56. The system of claim 55, further comprising a downsampling engine configured to downsample the file to decrease the conversion time.

57. The system of claim 56, further comprising a load balancing engine configured to determine to which of the conversion servers to send the file for conversion.

58. A system, comprising:

means for comparing attributes of the file with attributes of previously converted files;

means for predicting the duration based upon an average of conversion times for previously converted files with similar attributes; and

means for causing to be displayed an indicator configured to dynamically provide a time remaining for completion of the conversion of the file based upon the predicted duration.