Browser for use in navigating a body of information, with particular application to browsing information represented by audiovisual data

• US 6,880,171 B1
• Filed: 06/25/1999
• Issued: 04/12/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Interval Licensing LLC
• Original Assignee: Interval Research Corporation
• Inventors: Cousins, Steve B., Farber, Emanuel E., Ullmer, Brygg A., Horner, Christopher D., Ahmad, Subutai, Freiberger, Paul A., Bhadkamkar, Neal A., Piernot, Philippe P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Hai V.
• Application Number:
  US09/344,213
• Time in Patent Office: 2,118 Days
• Field of Search: 725134-139, 386/96, 345/723, 348/231.99, 348/468, 707/101, 707/516, 710/1, 434/262, 463/1, 382100-197, 275/240.01, 275/240.16
• US Class Current: 725/134
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/738 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/739 in form of a video summary, e.g. the video summary being a video sequence, a composite still image or having synthesized frames
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/7834 using audio features
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/7844 using original textual content or text extracted from visual content or transcript of audio data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/785 using colour or luminescence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02

Abstract

The invention facilitates and enhances review of a body of information, such as a set of audio, video and text data or some combination thereof, enabling the body of information to be quickly reviewed so to obtain an overview of the content of the body of information and allowing flexibility in reviewing. In on embodiment, the content is acquired from a first set of one or more sources, i.e. TV news, and text news stories are acquired from a second set of one or more sources, i.e. On-line services. The invention enables the user to access the information randomly, thereby enhancing the speed of accessing/locating among news stories/programs pertaining particular subject. Additionally, the user while observing a particular news story, the invention can identify and display related news stories.

Claims

1. A system for acquiring and reviewing a body of information, wherein the body of information includes a plurality of segments, each segment representing a defined set of information in the body of information, the system comprising:

means for acquiring data representing the body of information;

means for storing the acquired data;

first display means for generating a display of a first segment of the body of information from data that is part of the stored data;

means for comparing data representing a segment of the body of information to data representing a different segment of the body of information to determine whether, according to one or more predetermined criteria, the compared segments are related, wherein said data representing a segment of the body of information comprises a first vector representing the content of said segment, said data representing a different segment of the body of information comprises a second vector representing the content of said different segment, and determining whether the segments are related comprises calculating a normalized dot product of said first and second vectors, the normalized dot product representing a degree of similarity between immediately adjacent video frames;

second display means for generating a display of a portion of, or a representation of, a second segment of the body of information from data that is part of the stored data, wherein the second display means displays the portion or representation of the second segment in response to the display by the first display means of a first segment to which the second segment is related; and

means for controlling the first display means to automatically display in sequence summaries of a plurality of segments.

2. A system as in claim 1, wherein the segment summaries are beginning parts of the segments.

3. A system as in claim 1, wherein at least some of the body of information is represented by audiovisual data.

4. A system as in claim 1, further comprising:

means for selecting a segment as a summary of the segment is being displayed by the first display means; and

means for enabling display, in response to the selection of a segment using the means for selecting, of a part of the selected segment in addition to the summary of the selected segment.

5. A system as in claim 4, wherein, after selection of a segment suing the means for selecting, the display of the selected segment continues from the point in the segment at which the selection occurred.

6. A system as in claim 4, wherein, after selection of a segment using the means for selecting, the display of the selected segment continues from the beginning of the selected segment.

7. A system for acquiring and reviewing a body of information, wherein the body of information includes a plurality of segments, each segment representing a defined set of information in the body of information, the system comprising:

means for acquiring data representing the body of information;

means for storing the acquired data;

first display means for generating a display of a first segment of the body of information from data that is part of the stored data;

means for comparing data representing a segment of the body of information to data representing a different segment of the body of information to determine whether, according to one or more predetermined criteria, the compared segments are related, wherein said data representing a segment of the body of information comprises a first vector representing the content of said segment, said data representing a different segment of the body of information comprises a second vector representing the content of said different segment, and determining whether the segments are related comprises calculating a normalized dot product of said first and second vectors, the normalized dot product representing a degree of similarity between immediately adjacent video frames;

second display means for generating a display of a portion of, or a representation of, a second segment of the body of information from data that is part of the stored data, wherein the second display means displays the portion or representation of the second segment in response to the display by the first display means of a first segment to which the second segment is related; and

means for controlling the first display means to automatically display part or all of one or more segments in a predetermined sequence of segments.

8. A system as in claim 7, wherein:

the segments of the body of information have associated therewith one or more subject matter categories; and

each of the predetermined sequence of segments has associated therewith at least one subject matter category that is also associated with all of the other segments of the predetermined sequence of segments.

9. A system as in claim 7, wherein:

at least some of the segments of the body of information are news stories from one or more news programs; and

each of the predetermined sequence of segments is a news story from a single news program.

10. A system for acquiring and reviewing a body of information, wherein the body of information includes a plurality of segments, each segment representing a defined set of information in the body of information, the system comprising:

means for acquiring data representing the body of information;

means for storing the acquired data;

first display means for generating a display of a first segment of the body of information from data that is part of the stored data;

means for comparing data representing a segment of the body of information to data representing a different segment of the body of information to determine whether, according to one or more predetermined criteria, the compared segments are related;

second display means for generating a display of a portion of, or a representation of, a second segment of the body of information from data that is part of the stored data, wherein the second display means displays the portion or representation of the second segment in response to the display by the first display means of a first segment to which the second segment is related; and

means for searching the body of information to identify one or more segments that satisfy one or more search parameters;

wherein the second segment is determined to be related to the first segment by representing the content of the first segment as a first vector, representing the content of the second segment as a second vector, and calculating a normalized dot product of said first and second vectors, the normalized dot product representing a degree of similarity between immediately adjacent video frames.

11. A system as in claim 10, wherein:

at least some of the segments of the body of information are represented by text data; and

the means for searching further comprises;

means for specifying one or more keywords; and

means for searching the body of information to identify one or more segments represented by text data that satisfy one or more search parameters based on the one or more keywords.

12. A system for acquiring and reviewing a body of information, wherein the body of information includes a plurality of segments, each segment representing a defined set of information in the body of information, the system comprising:

means for acquiring data representing the body of information;

means for storing the acquired data;

first display means for generating a display of a first segment of the body of information from data that is part of the stored data;

means for comparing data representing a segment of the body of information to data representing a different segment of the body of information to determine whether, according to one or more predetermined criteria, the compared segments are related;

second display means for generating a display of a portion of, or a representation of a second segment of the body of information from data that is part of the stored data, wherein the second display means displays the portion or representation of the second segment in response to the display by the first display means of a first segment to which the second segment is related; and

means for displaying a table of contents describing segments available for display by the first display means;

wherein the second segment is determined to be related to the first segment by representing the content of the first segment as a first vector, representing the content of the second segment as a second vector, and calculating a normalized dot product of said first and second vectors, the normalized dot product representing a degree of similarity between immediately adjacent video frames.

13. A system as in claim 12, wherein the means for acquiring data representing the body of information further comprises means for acquiring television broadcast signals.

14. A system as in claim 12, wherein the means for acquiring data representing the body of information further comprises means for acquiring radio broadcast signals.

15. A system as in claim 12, wherein the means for acquiring data representing the body of information further comprises means for acquiring computer-readable data over a computer network from an information providing site that is part of that network.

16. A system as in claim 12, wherein at least some of the body of information is represented by audiovisual data.

17. A system as in claim 12, wherein at least some of the body of information is represented by text data.

18. A system as in claim 12, wherein at least some of the body of information further comprises one or more news programs.

19. A system as in claim 12, wherein the means for displaying a table of contents further comprises means for displaying a text listing of available segments.

20. A system as in claim 12, wherein the means for displaying a table of contents further comprises means for displaying thumbnails representing available segments.

21. A system as in claim 20, wherein the means for displaying thumbnails representing available segments further comprises means for displaying keyframes representing available segments.

22. A system as in claim 21, wherein:

at least some of the available segments are represented by visual data and text data; and

the means for displaying thumbnails representing available segments further comprises;

means for displaying keyframes representing visual data of segments that are represented by visual data and text data; and

means for displaying a part of the text data of segments that are represented by visual data and text data.