Shared online experience encapsulation system and method

• US 7,530,028 B2
• Filed: 02/03/2004
• Issued: 05/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Elliott, Geoffrey, Roseway, Asta, Ferguson, Heather, Zaner, Melora, Mulcahy, Kathleen, Savage, Tammy, Chung, Eun-Kyung
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhou; Ting
• Application Number:
  US10/770,794
• Publication Number:
  US 20040205091A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,918 Days
• Field of Search: 715/753, 715/759, 715/772, 715/758, 715/751, 715/835, 715/706, 345/473
• US Class Current: 715/772
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A novel technique enables participants of an online group interaction to capture and encapsulate an ongoing activity at a particular moment in time. During the online group interaction, a user activates an icon, and is enabled to select properties of the saved memory, such as icon color/image for the saved material, what parts of the shared experience to save, etc. For example, the user may want to save all or some of the conversation, music played, scores for a game played, and the pictures viewed during the session, as well as any other portion desired. The saved material may represent a snapshot of the activity at save time, or may comprise a sequence of events up to the point that the material was saved. While saving the selected material, the application displays an animation such as an origami-type animation of a box folding up from a flat sheet.

Claims

1. A method of preserving materials from an online group interaction session comprising:

receiving a user command to create a replayable memory file based on a present state of the online group interaction session, wherein the present state of the online group interaction session includes one or more media files, wherein selection of the command by the user is further operable to cause at least one other user interface to be displayed, wherein the at least one other user interface comprises one or more user-selectable options for defining at least one property of the replayable memory file, wherein the at least one property of the replayable memory file comprises which portion of the online session is included in the saved representation;

creating the replayable memory file comprising the one or more media files, wherein the replayable memory file is represented by a geometric form, and wherein the replayable memory file is viewable when the geometric form is opened, and wherein the replayable memory file comprises media data including audio data or video data;

while creating the replayable memory file, displaying to the user an animation of an object progressing from an initial state to a final state, wherein the initial state is a flattened representation of the geometric form and the final state is the geometric form; and

displaying an icon associated with the geometric form, wherein the icon exhibits one or more motional aspects.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving a user selection specifying at least one property of the repayable memory file, and wherein the step of creating the replayable memory file further comprises setting the at least one property of the replayable memory file in accordance with the user selection.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the at least one property is selected from the group consisting of file icon color and file icon shape.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the at least one property is a file icon wrap image.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more media files further represent photographs, wherein the photographs have an order in the session, and wherein the step of creating the replayable memory file comprises saving to memory the data of the one or more media files along with a representation of their order in the session.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the replayable memory file comprises one or more links referencing the one or more media files.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein another of the one or more media files represents a collage of the photographs, and wherein creating the replayable memory file further comprises saving to memory data representative of the collage.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein creating the replayable memory file comprises creating an executable file.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein creating the replayable memory file comprises creating a nonexecutable file.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the session comprises a series of events, and wherein creating replayable memory file comprises storing in memory a representation of that series of events.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the replayable memory file can be view by a user or a group.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the replayable memory file can be viewed from the beginning to the end.

13. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for performing a method of preserving materials from an online group interaction session, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a user command to create a replayable memory file based on a present state of the online group interaction session, wherein the present state of the online group interaction session includes one or more media files, wherein selection of the command by the user is further operable to cause at least one other user interface to be displayed, wherein the at least one other user interface comprises one or more user-selectable options for defining at least one property of the replayable memory file, wherein the at least one property of the replayable memory file comprises which portion of the online session is included in the saved representation;

creating the replayable memory file comprising the one or more media files, wherein the replayable memory file is represented by a geometric form, and wherein the replayable memory file is viewable when the geometric form is opened, and wherein the replayable memory file comprises media data including audio data or video data;

while creating the replayable memory file, displaying to the user an animation of an object progressing from an initial state to a final state, wherein the initial state is a flattened representation of the geometric form and the final state is the geometric form; and

displaying an icon associated with the geometric form, wherein the icon exhibits one or more motional aspects.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, further comprising instructions for receiving a user selection specifying at least one property of the replayable memory file, and wherein the step of creating the replayable memory file further comprises setting the at least one property of the replayable memory file in accordance with the user selection.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein creating the replayable memory file comprises creating an executable file.

16. The computer readable-medium of claim 13, wherein the session comprises a series of events, and wherein creating the replayable memory file comprises storing in memory a representation of that series of events.

17. A computer-readable storage medium having thereon computer-executable instructions for creating a user interface for providing an online group interaction session, the user interface comprising:

a display region for displaying visual material pursuant to the online group interaction session; and

a tool bar for displaying at least one tool including a user-selectable memory tool, wherein selection of the memory tool by the user causes a representation of a current state of the online group interaction session to be saved to memory, at which time a progressive animation comprising a folding animation, progressing from an initial state to a final state, wherein the initial state of the animation comprises an image of a substantially flat sheet, wherein the final state of the animation comprises an image of a folded object, is displayed to the user, wherein the representation of the current state of the online group interaction comprises a plurality of images configured to define a geometric form and is viewable when the geometric form is opened by the user, wherein the saved representation comprises media data including audio data or video data, wherein selection of the memory tool by the user is further operable to cause at least one other user interface to be displayed, wherein the at least one other user interface comprises one or more user-selectable options for defining at least one property of the saved representation of the current state of the online group interaction session, wherein the at least one property of the saved representation of the current state of the online group interaction session comprises which portion of the online session is included in the saved representation.

18. The computer-readable medium according to claim 17, wherein causing a representation of the current state of the online group interaction session to be saved to memory comprises saving data representative of each of the plurality of images to memory.

19. The computer-readable medium according to claim 17, wherein the folded object is a container.

20. The computer-readable medium according to claim 19, wherein the container is a box.

21. The computer-readable medium according to claim 17, wherein the at least one property comprises a property of a file icon associated with the saved representation of the current state of the online group interaction session.

22. The computer-readable medium according to claim 17, wherein the at least one property comprises a property of data associated with the saved representation of the current state of the online group interaction session.