SYSTEM AND METHOD TO ENABLE LAYERED VIDEO MESSAGING

• US 20160165183A1
• Filed: 02/16/2016
• Published: 06/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wohlert, Randolph
• Granted Patent: US 10,313,631 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q

Abstract

A method includes determining, at a first computing device, first capabilities of a second computing device. The method includes setting, at the first computing device, a user configurable option based on a first capability of a second computing device, a second capability associated with a bandwidth of a network, or a combination thereof. The method includes generating, at the first computing device, multimedia content. The multimedia content includes a first layer and a second layer. The first layer includes first media content received from a first content source. A first bit rate of the first layer is determined based on the user configurable option. The method also includes sending the multimedia content to the second computing device.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

setting, at a first computing device, a user configurable option based on a first capability of a second computing device, a second capability associated with a bandwidth of a network, or a combination thereof;

generating, at the first computing device, multimedia content, wherein the multimedia content comprises a first layer and a second layer, the first layer including first media content received from a first content source, wherein a first bit rate of the first layer is determined based on the user configurable option; and

sending the multimedia content from the first computing device to the second computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising setting, at the first computing device, a second user configurable option based on the first capability, the second capability, or a combination thereof, wherein the second layer includes second media content received from a second content source, and wherein a second bit rate of the second layer is determined based on the second user configurable option.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, from the first content source, live content received via an image capture device of the first computing device; and

receiving, at the first computing device, prerecorded content from the second content source, the second computing device, or another computing device that is remote to the first computing device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether each of the first capability and the second capability satisfies a threshold, wherein the user configurable option comprises a first resolution of the first layer, wherein the first resolution is set to a first value in response to both the first capability and second capability satisfying the threshold or is set to a second value lower than the first value in response to either the first capability or second capability not satisfying the threshold.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, at the first computing device, location data that identifies a location corresponding to a location of the first computing device; and

receiving description data associated with the location based on the location data, wherein the multimedia content further comprises an information layer including the description data.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the description data represents textual information that is descriptive of the location or identifies a point of interest near the location.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the location data includes global positioning data generated by a global positioning system of the first computing device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a query from the first computing device to the second computing device to request the first capability of the second computing device; and

responsive to the query, receiving, at the first computing device, the first capability of the second computing device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first bit rate corresponds to a data transmission rate of the first media content transmitted from the first computing device to the second computing device via the network.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first layer corresponds to a first representation of the first media content in the multimedia content, wherein the second layer corresponds to a second representation of the second media content in the multimedia content, and wherein the first layer at least partially overlaps the seconds layer.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the bandwidth comprises an available bandwidth of the network.

12. A computer-readable storage device storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

setting, at a first computing device, a user configurable option based on a first capability of a second computing device, a second capability associated with a bandwidth of a network, or a combination thereof;

generating multimedia content comprising a plurality of layers that include a first layer including first media content received from a first content source, wherein a first bit rate of the first layer is determined based on the user configurable option; and

sending the multimedia content to the second computing device via the network.

13. The computer-readable storage device of claim 12, wherein the user configurable option comprises a size of the first layer.

14. The computer-readable storage device of claim 13, wherein the size of the first layer corresponds to dimensions of the first layer, a number of pixels of the first layer, a percentage of a display area corresponding to the first layer, or a combination thereof.

15. The computer-readable storage device of claim 12, wherein the user configurable option comprises a transparency level of the first layer, a display resolution of the first layer, a percentage representing an allocation of the bandwidth for the first layer, or a combination thereof.

16. The computer-readable storage device of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise:

prior to setting the user configurable option;

comparing the first capability to a first threshold; and

comparing the second capability to a second threshold,

wherein the user configurable option is set to a first value in response to the first capability satisfying the first threshold and the second capability satisfying the second threshold.

17. The computer-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

displaying a preview at a display device coupled to the first computing device prior to sending the multimedia content to the second computing device; and

sending the second multimedia content to a third computing device.

18. The computer-readable storage device of claim 12, wherein the first capability comprise a display rate of the second computing device.

19. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory including instructions executable by the processor perform operations comprising;

setting a user configurable option based on a first capability of a computing device, a second capability associated with a bandwidth of a network, or a combination thereof;

generating multimedia content comprising a plurality of layers that include a first layer including first media content received from a first content source, wherein a first bit rate of the first layer is determined based on the user configurable option; and

sending the multimedia content to the computing device via the network.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the multimedia content is generated when the computing device has insufficient computing capabilities to generate the multimedia content.