Periodic broadcast and location of evolving media content with application to seminar and stroke media

• US 7,305,011 B2
• Filed: 06/14/2001
• Issued: 12/04/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Shae, Zon-Yin, Tseng, Belle L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham; Chi
• Assistant Examiner(s): TRAN, PHUC H
• Application Number:
  US09/881,323
• Publication Number:
  US 20030028901A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,364 Days
• Field of Search: 370/464, 370/487
• US Class Current: 370/487
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/30 using hierarchical techniques, e.g. scalability H04N19/63 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Techniques are provided for broadcasting history or coarse representations or both of stroke media and other media. Levels are created for media, and the levels are periodically broadcast. The levels segment the media and allow the media to be examined with details that range from coarse to fine or examined with varying importance or both. The periodic broadcast of the levels provides history of the media. In particular, for stroke data, levels of detail are determined through a certain method. Each level of detail is periodically broadcast. The levels of detail may be shown by themselves or combined at a receiver to create segmented views of the stroke data. A user can select a coarse view of the stroke data to quickly see the stroke history. Additionally, techniques are provided for quickly and repeatedly accessing data elements in already existing data structures. Generally, a description is created that describes data elements in a preexisting data structure. One or more links are created, from the description, which allow a user to directly access particular data elements for the preexisting data structure.

Claims

1. A method for periodically broadcasting levels of detail of stroke data, comprising the steps of:

determining original stroke data from a whiteboard;

for each of a plurality of levels of detail, determining predicted stroke data from The original stroke data, wherein the step of determining predicted stroke data further comprises the steps of;

for a lowest level of detail, determining segmentation points of the original stroke data and using the segmentation points as the predicted stroke data for the lowest level of detail; and

for higher levels of detail, determining feature points determined by using an area-based error method that uses points in a lower level of detail, wherein the feature points are used as the predicted stroke data; and

periodically transmitting the predicted stroke data for each level of detail.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of periodically transmitting further comprises the steps of:

determining a latency for each level of detail; and

transmitting each level of detail within its respective latency.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of determining bandwidth for each level of detail by using a respective latency.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining feature points determined by using an area-based error method that uses points in a lower level of detail further comprises the steps of:

determining two points that are contained in a lower level of detail; and

iterating the following steps until a first area is within a predetermined amount from a second area;

selecting a prediction point from the original stroke data, wherein the prediction point is between the two points on a line formed by the original stroke data;

selecting a local point immediately prior to or after the prediction point on the line formed by the original stroke data;

determining the first area of a triangle formed by the prediction point, one of the two points, and the local point;

determining the second area of a triangle formed by the prediction point, the other of the two points, and the local point;

comparing the first and second areas; and

when the first area is within a predetermined amount from the second area, selecting the prediction point as a feature point.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a set of the levels of detail; and

displaying this set of the levels of detail by combining points from the each level of detail in the set.

6. A system for periodically broadcasting levels of detail of stroke data, comprising:

a memory that stores computer-readable code; and

a processor operatively coupled to the memory, the processor configured to implement the computer-readable code, the computer-readable code configured to;

determine original stroke data from a whiteboard;

fox each of a plurality of levels of detail, determine predicted stoke data horn the original stroke data, wherein the computer-readable code is further configured, when determining predicted stroke data, to;

for a lowest level of detail, determine segmentation points of the original stroke data and using the segmentation points as the predicted stroke data for the lowest level of detail; and

for higher levels of detail, determine feature points determined by using an area-based error method that uses points in a lower level of detail, wherein the feature points are used as the predicted stroke data; and

periodically transmit the predicted stroke data for each level of detail.