Aggregating characteristic information for digital content

• US 8,001,143 B1
• Filed: 05/31/2006
• Issued: 08/16/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Gupta, Pankaj, Shrivastava, Swapnil
• Primary Examiner(s): CHANNAVAJJALA, SRIRAMA T
• Application Number:
  US11/444,642
• Time in Patent Office: 1,903 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 3, 707/7, 707/10, 707/100, 707/102, 707/104.1, 707/200, 707/636, 707/688, 707/694, 707/732, 707/758, 707/781, 707783-785, 707/804, 707821-822, 707825-827, 707/912, 707/923, 707/770, 707913-917, 715201-202, 715/206, 715/704, 715/716, 715/719, 715722-723, 715727-728, 715/730, 715732-733, 715737-756, 715761-762, 715/844, 715/720, 725/101, 725/37, 345/586, 345613-614, 345/634, 345/650, 345/661, 345/676
• US Class Current: 707/770
• 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 16/7867 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, title and artist information, manually generated time, location and usage information, user ratings
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/913 Multimedia

Abstract

A method includes receiving characteristic information pertaining to respective portions of content from each of a plurality of users. Aggregate characteristic information is updated based on the received characteristic information. The aggregate characteristic information is communicated to a user to assist the user in navigation of the content.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving user-generated information that identifies a portion of digital content as being designated by a user and as being exhibitory of a user-perceivable characteristic perceived in the portion by the user;

identifying the digital content based on the received user-generated information, the digital content including the portion identified as being designated by the user and as being exhibitory of the user-perceivable characteristic;

accessing an aggregate of user-generated information received from a plurality of users, the aggregate corresponding to the identified digital content and indicating a plurality of portions of the digital content as being exhibitory of the user-perceivable characteristic perceived in the plurality of portions by the plurality of users; and

updating the aggregate with the received user-generated information, the updating of the aggregate being performed using a processor of a machine.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the digital content includes at least one of video data, audio data, image data, or document data; and

the portion of the digital content includes at least one of a video frame, an audio time sequence number, a plurality of pixels, or document text.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the user-generated information includes a characteristic identifier that identifies the user-perceivable characteristic perceived in the portion of the digital content by the user.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein:

the characteristic identifier is selected from a group consisting of;

favorite, violence, and action.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the user-generated information includes a degree identifier that identifies a degree to which the user-perceivable characteristic was perceived in the portion of the digital content by the user.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein:

the degree identifier is a numerical value.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the updating of the aggregate includes incrementing a count that corresponds to the portion of the digital content and that indicates a size of the plurality of users.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the updating of the aggregate includes incrementing a count that corresponds to the user-perceivable characteristic and that indicates a size of the plurality of users.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

communicating at least some of the aggregate to a media player device configured to generate a presentation of the digital content based on the at least some of the aggregate communicated.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

receiving a request for the at least some of the aggregate from the media player device; and

wherein the communicating of the at least some of the aggregate is responsive to the receiving of the request.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the request includes a demographic criterion that specifies the at least some of the aggregate; and

the method further comprises

identifying the at least some of the aggregate based on the demographic criterion.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the demographic criterion is at least one of;

a gender, an age, or an age range.

13. A method comprising:

accessing an aggregate of user-generated information that corresponds to digital content, the aggregate identifying a plurality of portions of the digital content as being designated by a plurality of users and as being exhibitory of a user-perceivable characteristic perceived by the plurality of users;

generating a presentation of the digital content based on the aggregate, the presentation of the digital content including the plurality of portions and being navigable using at least some of the aggregate, the generating of the presentation being performed using a processor of a machine;

receiving a navigation input generated by a user and indicative of a portion of the digital content selected by the user from the plurality of portions of the digital content; and

presenting the selected portion of the digital content in response to the navigation input.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

requesting the aggregate of user-generated information from a server; and

receiving the aggregate.

15. The system of claim 13 further comprising:

receiving further user-generated information that corresponds to the digital content, the user-generated information identifying the portion of the digital content as being designated by a user of the plurality of users and as being exhibitory of the user-perceivable characteristic perceived in the portion by the user; and

incorporating the further user-generated information into the aggregate.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the navigation input includes a position of a graphical slider icon.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the presentation of the digital content includes a graph generated based on the aggregate.

18. A system comprising:

an input module to receive user-generated information that identifies a portion of digital content as being designated by a user and as being exhibitory of a user-perceivable characteristic perceived in the portion by the user; and

an aggregation module implemented using a processor of a machine, the aggregation module to;

identify the digital content based on the received user-generated information, the digital content including the portion identified as being designated by the user and as being exhibitory of the user-perceivable characteristic;

access an aggregate of user-generated information received from a plurality of users, the aggregate corresponding to the identified digital content and indicating a plurality of portions of the digital content as being exhibitory of the user-perceivable characteristic perceived in the plurality of portions by the plurality of users; and

update the aggregate with the received user-generated information.

19. A system comprising:

a tracker module implemented using a processor of a machine, the tracker module to;

access an aggregate of user-generated information that corresponds to digital content, the aggregate identifying a plurality of portions of the digital content as being designated by a plurality of users and as being exhibitory of a user-perceivable characteristic perceived by the plurality of users; and

generate a presentation of the digital content based on the aggregate, the presentation of the digital content including the plurality of portions and being navigable using at least some of the aggregate;

an input interface to receive a navigation input generated by a user and indicative of a portion of the digital content selected by the user from the plurality of portions of the digital content; and

a player module to present the selected portion of the digital content in response to the navigation input.

20. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving user-generated information that identifies a portion of digital content as being designated by a user and as being exhibitory of a user-perceivable characteristic perceived in the portion by the user;

identifying the digital content based on the received user-generated information, the digital content including the portion identified as being designated by the user and as being exhibitory of the user-perceivable characteristic;

accessing an aggregate of user-generated information received from a plurality of users, the aggregate corresponding to the identified digital content and indicating a plurality of portions of the digital content as being exhibitory of the user-perceivable characteristic perceived in the plurality of portions by the plurality of users; and

updating the aggregate with the received user-generated information.

21. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

accessing an aggregate of user-generated information that corresponds to digital content, the aggregate identifying a plurality of portions of the digital content as being designated by a plurality of users and as being exhibitory of a user-perceivable characteristic perceived by the plurality of users;

generating a presentation of the digital content based on the aggregate, the presentation of the digital content including the plurality of portions and being navigable using at least some of the aggregate;

receiving a navigation input generated by a user and indicative of a portion of the digital content selected by the user from the plurality of portions of the digital content; and

presenting the selected portion of the digital content in response to the navigation input.