Method and Apparatus for Adding and Displaying an Inline Reply Within a Video Message

• US 20140280626A1
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ARRIS Enterprises LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: General Instrument Corporation (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ayoub, Ramy S., Girish, Praveen, Gondi, Santosh, Kumar, Sadeesh, Nataraju, Manohar Thagadur
• Granted Patent: US 9,485,542 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4786 e-mailing message switching systems, e.g. electronic mail systems H04L51/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104

Abstract

Methods of adding an inline reply to a video email/message and presenting a chain of video emails/messages are provided. A video email/message is received and an inline reply to the video email/message is generated and associated with a point during playback of the video email/message. The inline reply is sent by return email such that, during subsequent playback of the video email/message, playback of the video email/message is paused at the point and the inline reply is displayed.

Claims

1. A method of adding an inline reply to a video message, comprising the steps of:

receiving an electronic communication with a multimedia client device, the electronic communication providing a video message;

generating an inline reply to the video message and associating the inline reply with a point during playback of the video message; and

transmitting a reply electronic communication such that, during subsequent playback of the video message, playback of the video message is paused at the point and the inline reply is displayed.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step of generating the inline reply includes a step of generating metadata concerning the inline reply, the metadata providing information with respect to the point at which the inline reply should be displayed during playback of the video message, and said transmitting step includes sending the metadata with the reply electronic communication.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the information provided by the metadata with respect to the point during the playback of the video message is selected from the group consisting of offset information, time information, video frame information, and marker information.

4. A method according to claim 2, wherein the inline reply is a reply video, and wherein the metadata includes an identification of a composer of the inline reply, a uniform resource locator (URL) of the reply video comprising the inline reply, and a URL of the video message.

5. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

playing the video message with the multimedia client device; and

pausing playback of the video message at the point when the inline reply is to be displayed;

wherein said step of generating the inline reply and the metadata with the multimedia client device occurs after said pausing step so that information of the point is automatically captured by the multimedia client device and represented in the metadata.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein said step of playing the video message includes displaying a video progress bar providing a timeline representation of where the inline reply is to be played within a duration of the video message.

7. The method according to claim 2, wherein the inline reply is in the form of a reply video, and wherein said generating step includes recording the reply video.

8. The method according to claim 2, wherein the video message includes an inline video reply as received as part of a chain of electronic communications, and wherein said step of generating metadata concerning an inline reply is with respect to an additional inline reply to the video message.

9. The method according to claim 2, wherein the video message includes an inline video reply as received as part of a chain of electronic communications, and wherein said step of generating metadata concerning an inline reply is with respect to a counter inline reply to the inline video reply as received as part of the chain of electronic communications, and wherein the point is a point within the inline video reply as received as part of the chain of electronic communications.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step of generating an inline reply to the video message and associating the inline reply with a point during playback of the video message includes creating a new interstitial video composed of existing video components of the video message and a new video component of the inline reply.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the multimedia client device is selected from the group consisting of a smartphone, tablet, personal computer, lap-top computer, set-top box, and IP-enable device having an associated display screen, camera and microphone.

12. A method of presenting a video message, comprising the steps of:

receiving an electronic communication with a multimedia client device, the electronic communication being in the form of an email chain including an original video message composed by a first participant and a reply message composed by a second participant;

displaying the original video message and the reply message such that the reply message is displayed at a point within playback of the original video message after a beginning of the original video message and before an ending of the original video message and such that playing of the original video message is paused while the reply message is displayed.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein, when the reply message is displayed, the original video message ceases from being displayed and only resumes being displayed after completion of the reply message in a manner simulating a live video conference.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein, when the reply message is displayed, the original video message is displayed in a paused condition in a part of a display on which the reply message is displayed in a manner simulating a live video conference.

15. The method according to claim 12, wherein said step of receiving the electronic communication includes receiving metadata providing information with respect to the point at which the reply message should be displayed during playback of the original video message, and wherein the information provided by the metadata with respect to the point during the playback of the original video message is selected from the group consisting of offset information, time information, video frame information, and marker information.

16. A method according to claim 15, wherein the reply message is a reply video, wherein the metadata includes an identification of a composer of the reply message, a uniform resource locator (URL) of the reply video comprising the reply message, and a URL of the original video message, and wherein the multimedia client device is selected from the group consisting of a smartphone, tablet, personal computer, lap-top computer, set-top box, and IP-enable device having an associated display screen, camera and microphone.

17. The method according to claim 12, wherein said step of displaying the original video message includes displaying a video progress bar providing a timeline representation of where the reply message is to be played within a duration of the original video message.

18. A multimedia client device, comprising:

at least one electronic processing unit for receiving electronic communications including a video message and for playing and displaying the video message on an associated display screen;

said at least one electronic processing unit being configured to generate an inline reply to the video message, associate the inline reply with a point during playback of the video message, and transmit the inline reply to recipients via an electronic communication such that, during subsequent playback of the video message, playback of the video message is paused at the point and the inline reply is displayed.

19. A multimedia client device according to claim 18 wherein said at least one electronic processing unit is configured to receive a chain of electronic communications including a video message and a reply message associated with a point during playback of the video message and to pause playback of the video message at the point, display the reply message, and then resume playback of the video message such that the reply message is displayed inline with the playback of the video message.

20. A multimedia client device according to claim 19, wherein the reply message is a reply video, and wherein the at least one electronic processing unit uses metadata provided with the chain of electronic communications to identify the point during playback of the video message when the reply message is to be displayed.