Methods, systems and computer program products for displaying video content with aging

• US 7,945,866 B2
• Filed: 05/25/2005
• Issued: 05/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Jebcom Limited
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Dunko, Gregory A., Vasa, Yojak H., Asokan, Ram
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Thai
• Assistant Examiner(s): DUNN, MISHAWN N
• Application Number:
  US11/137,731
• Publication Number:
  US 20060268183A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,183 Days
• Field of Search: 709/205, 709/206, 709/219, 709/230, 715/864, 715/867, 455414-420, 455/566, 455/574, 368/41, 368/107, 345/227.1, 345/589, 345/602, 386/200, 386/230
• US Class Current: 715/867
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72427 for supporting games or graphical animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/64 file transfer between terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4402 involving reformatting operations of video signals for household redistribution, storage or real-time display details of conversion of video standards at pixel level H04N7/01; video transcoding H04N19/40; adapting incoming signals to the display format of the display terminal G09G5/005; media handling at the source in data packet switching networks H04L65/764
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/442 Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk arrangements for monitoring broadcast services or broadcast-related services H04H60/29; arrangements for identifying or recognising characteristics with a direct linkage to broadcast information H04H60/35; monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; monitoring in wireless networks H04W24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4424 Monitoring of the internal components or processes of the client device, e.g. CPU or memory load, processing speed, timer, counter or percentage of the hard disk space used error monitoring in general G06F11/30; arrangements for monitoring conditions of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/32; diagnosis, testing or measuring for television receivers H04N17/04

Abstract

Methods of displaying video content include obtaining a video content record to be displayed and determining an associated aging characteristic associated with the video content record. A current age is determined for the obtained video content record and a modified video content record is generated for display based on the determined aging characteristic and the determined current age of the obtained video content record. The obtained video content record may be an animation, which may include audio data. The obtained video content record may also be a still image.

Claims

1. A method of displaying video content, comprising:

obtaining a video content record to be displayed;

determining an associated aging characteristic associated with the video content record;

determining a current age for the obtained video content record;

generating a modified video content record for display based on the determined aging characteristic and the determined current age of the obtained video content record; and

displaying the modified video content record on a display of a processor device, wherein the processor device comprises a mobile terminal and wherein determining a current age comprises obtaining a count of power cycles since a first display of the obtained video content record, obtaining a count of calls at the mobile terminal since a first display of the obtained video content record and/or determining a charge level for a battery of the mobile terminal.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the obtained video content record comprises an animation.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the animation includes audio data.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the obtained video content record comprises a still image.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the method further comprises repeating determining a current age, generating a modified video content record and displaying the modified video content to continue aging the obtained video content record.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein determining a current age and generating a modified video content record are preceded by displaying the obtained video content record and wherein a frequency of repeating determining a current age and generating and displaying a modified video content record is based on a predetermined elapsed time interval after displaying the obtained video content record.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein determining a current age comprises measuring a metric of the processor device and wherein generating a modified video content record comprises generating the modified video content record based on the measured metric and the aging characteristic of the video content record.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein a frequency of repeating determining a current age and generating and displaying a modified video content record is based on a value of the measured metric.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the metric comprises at least one of an event count, battery life of the processor device, a time elapsed and/or occurrence of a specified event on the processor device.

10. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

saving an initial state of the obtained video content record;

receiving a request to restore a obtained video content record; and

replacing a current modified video content record with the saved initial state responsive to a received request to restore an obtained video content record.

11. The method of claim 5 wherein the processor device comprises a mobile device and wherein the obtained video content record is an icon and/or background for the display of the mobile device.

12. The method of claim 5 wherein the processor device comprises a mobile terminal and wherein obtaining a video content record comprises downloading the video content record over a wireless communication link to the mobile terminal from a content server.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the downloaded video content record comprises an initial age state of a representation of a living object and wherein generating a modified video content record comprises increasing the age state of the representation of a living object based on the current age for the downloaded video content record.

14. The method of claim 5 wherein generating a modified video content record includes modifying at least one of a brightness and/or sound of the modified video content record.

15. The method of claim 5 wherein determining a current age and generating a modified video content are performed by an aging algorithm executing on the processor device and wherein the associated aging characteristic is obtained by the aging algorithm from the video content record.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the video content record comprises obtaining the video content record from a memory operatively coupled to a data processing system and wherein generating the modified video content record is followed by:

storing the modified video content record in the memory; and

displaying the modified video content record on a display of the data processing system.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein storing the modified video content record is followed by:

obtaining the modified video content record from the memory;

determining a new current age for the obtained modified video content record; and

generating a new modified video content record for display based on the determined aging characteristic and the determined new current age of the obtained modified video content record.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the current age for the obtained video content record is a variable that can be an initial age or at least one other age.

19. A method of displaying video content, comprising:

obtaining a video content record to be displayed;

determining an associated aging characteristic associated with the video content record;

determining a current age for the obtained video content record;

generating a modified video content record for display based on the determined aging characteristic and the determined current age of the obtained video content record; and

displaying the modified video content record on a display of a processor device, wherein determining a current age and generating a modified video content are performed by an aging algorithm executing on the processor device and wherein generating a modified video content record includes obtaining the associated aging characteristic from a database communicatively coupled to the aging algorithm.

20. A method of displaying video content, comprising:

obtaining a video content record to be displayed;

determining an associated aging characteristic associated with the video content record;

determining a current age for the obtained video content record;

generating a modified video content record for display based on the determined aging characteristic and the determined current age of the obtained video content record; and

displaying the modified video content record on a display of a processor device, wherein determining a current age and generating a modified video content are performed by an aging algorithm executing on the processor device and wherein the associated aging characteristic is a value maintained by the aging algorithm that is independent of content of the obtained video content record.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the aging characteristic comprises a plurality of values, each associated with a file type of a video content record to be displayed.

22. A method of displaying video content, comprising:

obtaining a video content record to be displayed;

determining an associated aging characteristic associated with the video content record;

determining a current age for the obtained video content record;

generating a modified video content record for display based on the determined aging characteristic and the determined current age of the obtained video content record; and

displaying the modified video content record on a display of a processor device, wherein the modified video content record for display comprises a sequence of still images associated with different ages of the obtained video content record updated to include a still image associated with the current age for the obtained video content record and wherein displaying the modified video content record comprises displaying the sequence of still images.

23. A method of displaying video content, comprising:

obtaining a video content record to be displayed;

determining an associated aging characteristic associated with the video content record;

determining a current age for the obtained video content record;

generating a modified video content record for display based on the determined aging characteristic and the determined current age of the obtained video content record; and

displaying the modified video content record on a display of a processor device, wherein the video content record comprises a contact list of the processor device and wherein generating a modified video content record comprises generating a re-ordered display sequence for the contact list based on a most recent usage of respective contacts within the contact list.

24. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a display;

a video content record to be displayed; and

an aging module configured to;

determine an associated aging characteristic associated with the video content record;

determine a current age for the obtained video content record by obtaining a count of power cycles since a first display of the obtained video content record, obtaining a count of calls at the mobile terminal since a first display of the obtained video content record and/or determining a charge level for a battery of the mobile terminal; and

generate a modified video content record for display based on the determined aging characteristic and the determined current age of the obtained video content record.

25. A method of playing audio content on a mobile terminal, comprising:

obtaining an audio content record to be played;

determining an associated aging characteristic associated with the audio content record;

determining a current age for the obtained audio content record by obtaining a count of power cycles since a first playing of the obtained audio content record, obtaining a count of calls at the mobile terminal since a first playing of the obtained audio content record and/or determining a charge level for a battery of the mobile terminal; and

generating a modified audio content record for play based on the determined aging characteristic and the determined current age of the obtained audio content record.

26. The method of claim 25 further comprising playing the modified audio content record on a processor device.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein the method further comprises repeating determining a current age, generating a modified audio content record and playing the modified audio content to continue aging the obtained audio content record.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein determining a current age and generating a modified audio content record are preceded by playing the obtained audio content record and wherein a frequency of repeating determining a current age and generating and playing a modified audio content record is based on a predetermined elapsed time interval after playing the obtained audio content record.

29. The method of claim 27 wherein determining a current age comprises measuring a metric of the processor device and wherein generating a modified audio content record comprises generating the modified audio content record based on the measured metric and the aging characteristic of the audio content record.

30. The method of claim 27 further comprising:

saving an initial state of the obtained audio content record;

receiving a request to restore a obtained audio content record; and

replacing a current modified audio content record with the saved initial state responsive to a received request to restore an obtained audio content record.

31. The method of claim 27 wherein the processor device comprises a mobile terminal and wherein obtaining an audio content record comprises downloading the audio content record over a wireless communication link to the mobile terminal from a content server.