Methods and systems for selection of multimedia presentations

• US 7,281,199 B1
• Filed: 04/27/2000
• Issued: 10/09/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.), Verizon Corporate Services Group Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Nicol, John Raymond, Martin, Christopher Michael, Wittenburg, Kent Barrows, Paschetto, James Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore; William
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; MaiKhanh
• Application Number:
  US09/560,006
• Time in Patent Office: 2,721 Days
• Field of Search: 715/501.1, 715/500.1, 715/514, 715/526, 715/853, 715/854, 345/760, 345/855, 345/853, 345/854, 705/26, 705/27, 705/44, 705/77, 705/78
• US Class Current: 715/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4393 Multimedia presentations, e.g. slide shows, multimedia albums
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191

Abstract

A variety of techniques for both (1) viewing multimedia-based information in accordance with user controls for speed and direction of the multimedia presentation and in accordance with a user selection device being in a particular location and (2) presenting multimedia data items. When a user device is within the defined area, the speed and direction control are on, and when it leaves the defined area, the speed and direction are off. Also described is a system using a browser tool for displaying multimedia data in accordance with these viewing techniques which are indices into multimedia presentations. A user selection is made by viewing the multimedia data items and control is transferred accordingly to an appropriate application to present a multimedia presentation corresponding to a selected multimedia data item. An index database of the multimedia data items is used as indices into the multimedia presentations.

Claims

1. A method executed in a computer system for selecting a multimedia presentation comprising:

providing a plurality of multimedia presentations in accordance with predetermined criteria;

providing one or more multimedia data items, each of said one or more multimedia data items being a duplicate of a portion of a corresponding one of said plurality of multimedia presentations;

presenting said one or more multimedia data items using a browser to select at least one of the plurality of multimedia presentations, said one or more multimedia data items being presented separately from said plurality of multimedia presentations, said viewing one or more multimedia data items includes;

a) presenting a hierarchical description of the information in an outline area; and

b) presenting said one or more multimedia data items in a presentation area, said hierarchical description being synchronized with a first temporal arrangement of said one or more multimedia data items in said presentation area;

controlling direction and speed of said presenting of said one or more multimedia data items;

selecting a first of said one or more multimedia data items; and

transferring control to machine executable code associated with a first of said plurality of multimedia presentations corresponding to said first multimedia data item;

wherein some of said multimedia data items includes a group of one or more images having a parent-child relationship in which there is one parent multimedia data item and one or more child multimedia data items, and the method further includes;

dividing said presentation area into four quadrants;

presenting said parent multimedia data item near a center of said presentation area; and

presenting subsequent child multimedia data items beginning in an upper left quadrant and proceeding to present successive multimedia data items on a clockwise rotation in successive quadrants.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein transferring control comprises transferring control to machine executable code for display of the first multimedia presentation including additional portions that differ from and do not include the portion duplicated by the first multimedia data item.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

presenting said first multimedia presentation by executing said machine executable code.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said first multimedia presentation is a video for video-on-demand selection.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein said first multimedia presentation is a speaker presentation comprising a plurality of media streams, where a first of said plurality of media streams includes said first multimedia data item.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said first multimedia data item is a miniature viewgraph indexing into other media streams that include an audio file, an image file of speaker notes, and a video file of a speaker giving a presentation.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein each of said multimedia presentations includes at least two media streams, a first media stream being used and index into said second media stream, wherein said first and second media streams are different.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said second media stream is an audio stream and said first media stream is an image-based medium.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein each of said first and second media streams are the same.

10. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

producing a database of indices, each of said indices being a multimedia data item.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said multimedia data items are presented in said presentation area using a stacking technique in which successive multimedia data items are presented slightly overlapping one or more previously presented multimedia data items, and the method further includes:

controlling speed and direction of said one or more multimedia data items presented by stacking and unstacking successively presented multimedia data items in said presentation area.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said multimedia data items are presented in said presentation area using a scrolling technique in which successive images are presented along a two-dimensional axis, and the method further includes:

controlling speed and direction of said one or more multimedia data items are presented by controlling the direction and speed at which said one or more multimedia data items are presented along said two-dimensional axis.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said multimedia data items are presented in said presentation area using a three-dimensional presentation technique in which said multimedia

data items are presented with a three-dimensional perspective with regard to a display viewpoint at a particular time.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein each of said four quadrants is further divided into four subquadrants, each of said four quadrants having an outermost subquadrant corresponding to an outermost corner of said quadrant with respect to said presentation area, each of said child multimedia data items being presented in an outermost subquadrant associated with a quadrant, an outer corner of said each child multimedia data item being randomly located within said outermost subquadrant.

15. A computer program product stored in a computer-readable medium for selecting a multimedia presentation comprising:

machine executable code for providing a plurality of multimedia presentations in accordance with predetermined criteria;

machine executable code for providing one or more multimedia data items, each of said one or more multimedia data items being a duplicate of a portion of a corresponding one of said plurality of multimedia presentations;

machine executable code for presenting said one or more multimedia data items using a browser to select at least one of said plurality of multimedia presentations, said one or more multimedia data items being presented separately from said plurality of multimedia presentations, wherein said machine executable code for presenting said one or more multimedia data items includes;

a) machine executable code for presenting a hierarchical description of the information in an outline area; and

b) machine executable code for presenting said one or more multimedia data items in a presentation area, said hierarchical description being synchronized with a first temporal arrangement of said one or more multimedia data items in said presentation area;

machine executable code for controlling direction and speed of said presenting of said one or more multimedia data items;

machine executable code for selecting a first of said one or more multimedia data items; and

machine executable code for transferring control to machine executable code associated with a first of said plurality of multimedia presentations corresponding to said first multimedia data item;

wherein some of said multimedia data items includes a group of one or more images having a parent-child relationship in which there is one parent multimedia data item and one or more child multimedia data items, and the computer program product further includes;

machine executable code for dividing said presentation area into four quadrants;

machine executable code for presenting said parent multimedia data item near a center of said presentation area; and

machine executable code for presenting subsequent child multimedia data items beginning in an upper left quadrant and proceeding to present successive multimedia data items on a clockwise rotation in successive quadrants.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein said machine executable code for transferring control includes machine executable code for transferring control to machine executable code for display of the first multimedia presentation including additional portions that differ from and do not include the portion that is duplicated by the first multimedia data item.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, further comprising:

machine executable code for presenting said first multimedia presentation by executing said machine executable code.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein said first multimedia presentation is a video for video-on-demand selection.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein said first multimedia presentation is a speaker presentation using a plurality of media streams and a first of said plurality of media streams includes said first multimedia data item.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein said first multimedia data item is a miniature viewgraph indexing into other media streams that include an audio file, an image file of speaker notes, and a video file of a speaker giving a presentation.

21. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein each of said multimedia presentations includes at least two media streams, a first media stream being used and index into said second media stream, wherein said first and second media streams are different.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein said second media stream is an audio stream and said first media stream is an image-based medium.

23. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein each of said first and second media streams are the same.

24. The computer program product of claim 16 further comprising:

machine executable code for producing a database of indices, each of said indices being a multimedia data item.

25. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein said multimedia data items are presented in said presentation area using a stacking technique in which successive multimedia data items are presented slightly overlapping one or more previously presented multimedia data items, and the computer program product further includes:

machine executable code for controlling speed and direction of said one or more multimedia data items presented by stacking and unstacking successively presented multimedia data items in said presentation area.

26. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein said multimedia data items are presented in said presentation area using a scrolling technique in which successive images are presented along a two-dimensional axis, and the computer program product further includes:

machine executable code for controlling speed and direction of said one or more multimedia data items are presented by controlling the direction and speed at which said one or more multimedia data items are presented along said two-dimensional axis.

27. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein said multimedia data items are presented in said presentation area using a three-dimensional presentation technique in which said multimedia data items are presented with a three-dimensional perspective with regard to a display viewpoint at a particular time.

28. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein each of said four quadrants is further divided into four subquadrants, each of said four quadrants having an outermost subquadrant corresponding to an outermost corner of said quadrant with respect to said presentation area, each of said child multimedia data items being presented in an outermost subquadrant associated with a quadrant, an outer corner of said each child multimedia data item being randomly located within said outermost subquadrant.