Method and system for indexing and controlling the playback of multimedia documents

• US 6,239,801 B1
• Filed: 09/16/1999
• Issued: 05/29/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Van Melle, William J., Chiu, Patrick, Moran, Thomas P., Zellweger, Polle T., Harrison, Steven R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bayerl, Raymond J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Thai, Cuong T.
• Application Number:
  US09/397,665
• Time in Patent Office: 621 Days
• Field of Search: 345/349, 345/302, 345/348, 345/358, 345/328, 345/327, 345/341, 345/974, 707/901, 707/513
• US Class Current: 715/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

An electronic multimedia document system provides temporal icons that provide indices into a recording of a meeting or presentation. The temporal icons index the times of occurrence of events and beginning times, ending times, and time spans of timestreams. The temporal icons provide complete playback control of the document through a gestural interface.

Claims

1. A method for indexing a multimedia document for subsequent presentation, wherein the multimedia document is to expected to have at least one of an event and timestream, the method comprising.

generating a primordial temporal icon that is associated with the expected at least one of the event and the timestream, the primordial temporal icon having at least one undefined temporal attribute;

and

embedding the primordial temporal icon in the multimedia document at a time prior to a beginning of the timestream, such that, in response to the expected at least one of an event and timestream occurring with respect to the multimedia document, at least one of the at least one undefined temporal attribute will be defined;

wherein the at least one of the event and the timestream is independent of, and occurs after and independently of, a creation time of the primordial temporal icon.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing at least one of the event and the timestream that corresponds to the expected at least one event and timestream; and

associating at least one time attribute corresponding to the at least one of the event and the timestream to the primordial temporal icon.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein associating at least one time attribute comprises associating a time of an event.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein associating at least one time attribute comprises associating a beginning time of a timestream.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein associating at least one time attribute comprises associating an ending time of a timestream.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein associating at least one time attribute comprises associating a length of time of a timestream.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the primordial temporal icon comprises a representation of a clock without time attributes.

8. A system for indexing a multimedia document, the multimedia document expected to have at least one of an event and a timestream, the system comprising:

a primordial icon generator that generates a primordial temporal icon corresponding to the expected at least one of the event and the timestream, and that embeds the primordial temporal icon in the multimedia document at a time prior to a beginning of the timestream, the primordial temporal icon having at least one undefined temporal attribute; and

a display that displays the primordial temporal icon and a representation of the expected at least one of the event and the timestream, such that, in response to the expected at least one of an event and timestream occurring with respect to the multimedia document, at least one of the at least one undefined temporal attribute will be defined;

wherein the at least one of the event and the timestream is independent of, and occurs after and independently of, a creation time of the primordial temporal icon.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

a presentation system that presents the multimedia document and that establishes at least one of an event and a timestream corresponding to the expected at least one of the event and the timestream; and

an instantiation system that associates at least one time attribute of the at least one of the event and the timestream to the primordial temporal icon.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the primordial temporal icon comprises a representation of a clock without time attributes.