Multi-user interaction of multimedia communication

• US 6,185,602 B1
• Filed: 10/16/1998
• Issued: 02/06/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Snaptrack Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Bayrakeri, Sadik
• Primary Examiner(s): Meky, Moustafa M.
• Application Number:
  US09/173,987
• Time in Patent Office: 844 Days
• Field of Search: 709/200, 709/201, 709/203, 709/204, 709/205, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44012 involving rendering scenes according to scene graphs, e.g. MPEG-4 scene graphs
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4431 characterized by the use of Application Program Interface [API] libraries
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47205 for manipulating displayed content, e.g. interacting with MPEG-4 objects, editing locally
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/632 using a connection between clients on a wide area network, e.g. setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet for retrieving video segments from the hard-disk of other client devices broadcast-related systems characterised by transmission among terminal devices H04H60/80; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104

Abstract

The present invention provides multi-user interaction for multimedia communication. In one embodiment, a process for multi-user interaction for multimedia communication includes generating a message on a local user machine, the message including object-based media data (i.e., streamed, digital audio data or streamed, digital video data or both), and transmitting the message to a remote user machine, in which the local user machine displays a scene that includes the object-based media data, the scene being shared by the local user machine and the remote user machine. The remote user machine constructs the message using a message handler class. In one embodiment, the multi-user inter-action for multimedia communication is an extension to MPEG-4 Version-1.

Claims

1. A process for multi-user interaction for multimedia communication, the process comprising:

generating a message in response to a change in a local scene displayed on a local user machine, the message comprising object-based media data; and

transmitting the message to a remote user machine to change a remote scene displayed on the remote user machine, the message containing information to modify the remote scene to reflect the change in the local scene using the object-based media data.

2. The process of claim 1 further comprising:

instantiating the message on the local user machine using a message class, wherein the message class comprises multiple messages of variable types.

3. The process of claim 2 further comprising:

constructing the message on the remote user machine using a message handler class.

4. The process of claim 3 further comprising:

reading an argument of the message using a read arguments method of the message class.

5. The process of claim 4 further comprising:

establishing a multi-agent connection for multi-user interaction.

6. The process of claim 5 wherein the message class and the message handler class are implemented in a JAVA programming language.

7. An article of manufacture for a computer-readable medium for multi-user interaction in multimedia communication, the article of manufacture comprising:

instructions for generating a message in response to a change in a local scene displayed on a local user machine, the message comprising object-based media data; and

instructions for transmitting the message to a remote user machine to change a remote scene displayed on the remote user machine, the message containing information to modify the remote scene to reflect the change in the local scene using the object-based media data.

8. The article of manufacture of claim 7 further comprising:

a message class, the message class instantiating the message on the local user machine,

wherein the message class comprises multiple messages of variable types.

9. The article of manufacture of claim 8 further comprising:

a message handler class, the message handler class constructing the message on the remote user machine.

10. The article of manufacture of claim 9 wherein the message class further comprises:

a read arguments method, the read arguments method reading an argument of the message.

11. The article of manufacture of claim 10 wherein the message handler class further comprises:

a multi-agent connection method, the multi-agent connection method establishing a connection between the local user machine and the remote user machine for multi-user interaction.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 11 wherein the message class and the message handler class are implemented in a JAVA programming language.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 7 further comprising:

instructions for generating a state message in response to a change in state of the local scene displayed at the local user machine,

wherein the state message is transmitted to the remote user machine.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 7 further comprising:

instructions for dynamically constructing a received message at the local user machine, wherein the received message was transmitted from the remote user machine, and the received message comprises object-based media data.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 7 wherein the message further comprises state or control information.

16. A machine for multi-user interaction for multimedia communication, the machine comprising:

a viewing device to display a local scene;

a message manager operatively coupled to the viewing device, the message handler configured to generate a message in response to a change in the local scene displayed on the viewing device, the message comprising object-based media data and information to modify a remote scene displayed at a remote user machine in accordance to the change in the local scene, the message manager further configured to transmit the message to the remote user machine; and

a microprocessor operatively coupled to the viewing device, the microprocessor configured to execute the message manager to implement the multi-user interaction.

17. The machine of claim 16 further comprising:

a message class executed on the microprocessor, the message class instantiating the message,

wherein the message class comprises multiple messages of variable types.

18. The machine of claim 17 further comprising:

a message handler class executed on the microprocessor, the message handler class constructing a receives message, the received message comprising a media object, wherein the media object is used to modify the local scene displayed on the viewing device to reflect a change in the remote scene displayed at the remote user machine.

19. The machine of claim 18 further comprising:

instructions for generating a state message executed on the microprocessor, wherein the state message is transmitted to the remote user machine in response to a change in state of the local scene,

and wherein the local scene coincides with the remote scene displayed at the remote user machine.

20. The machine of claim 19 wherein the machine and the remote user machine are in data communication via an Internet.

21. An article of manufacture for a data signal in a carrier wave for multi-user interaction for multimedia communication, the data signal comprising:

an object-based media message, the object-based media message including information to modify a remote scene displayed at a remote machine in accordance to a change in a local scene displayed at a local machine, the object-based media message comprising object-based media data of the local scene; and

a network address of the remote machine,

wherein the object-based media message is transmitted to the remote machine using a message agent at the local machine.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 21 further comprising:

a control message, the control message comprising control information,

wherein the control message is transmitted to the remote machine, and the control information indicates location of the object-based media data in the remote scene, the local scene and the remote scene being a shared scene.

23. The article of manufacture of claim 22 further comprising:

a state message, the state message comprising change in state information generated by a state agent at the local machine,

wherein the state message is transmitted to the remote machine, and the state information indicates a change in state of the local scene.

24. The article of manufacture of claim 23 wherein the local machine and the remote machine are in data communication via an Internet.

25. The article of manufacture of claim 24 wherein the object-based media message, the control message, and the state message each comprise a unique message object dynamically instantiated by a message class of the local machine, the message class comprising multiple messages of variable types.

26. The article of manufacture of claim 25 wherein the message class is implemented using a JAVA programming language.

27. The article of manufacture of claim 25 wherein the object-based media message is processed by the remote machine using a message handler class, the message handler class being implemented using a JAVA programming language.