Methods and apparatus for interactive network sharing of digital video content
First Claim
1. An interactive, electronic method of sharing user perspectives on visual data comprising a plurality of image frames, the method comprising:
- publishing a web page comprising a listing of one or more traversal records, each of the one or more traversal records comprising a time-based perspective of an authoring user on the visual data, each perspective being a spatial subset of the visual data such that each of the one or more traversal records comprises a set of cropped space and time selections from said visual data, wherein said cropped space comprises, for at least one of said plurality of image frames, a portion of said visual data residing within less than an entirety of said at least one of said plurality of image frames, wherein said one or more traversal records are available for viewing by a viewing user different from said authoring user via said web page, and wherein said web page includes an interactive abstract map in which said one or more traversal records are plotted using one or more data markers; and
playing back, for said viewing user, a selected one of the one or more traversal records in response to the viewing user browsing the interactive abstract map and interactively selecting one of said one or more data markers corresponding to said selected one of the one or more traversal records.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides electronic methods and apparatus for interactively authoring, sharing and analyzing digital video content. Methods for authoring include displaying visual data, defining each traversal as a time-based sequence of frames and annotating and storing a record of the traversal and its associated audio records. Defining the traversal includes interactively panning the visual data by positioning an overlay window relative to the visual data and zooming in or out by resizing the overlay window. In alternative embodiments, the visual data may be displayed in a rectangular layout or a cylindrical layout. The methods are practiced using an integrated graphical interface, including an overview region displaying the visual data, a detail region displaying current data within the overlay window, and a worksheet region displaying a list of previously stored annotated traversal records. In a further aspect, the worksheet region list of annotated traversal records is published in a web document accessible via network using a standard HTML browser, and further annotations may be added by a community of network users. Analytical methods are also provided in which data markers corresponding to traversal records are plotted against an interactive abstract map enabling users to shift between levels of abstraction in exploring the video record.
-
Citations
28 Claims
-
1. An interactive, electronic method of sharing user perspectives on visual data comprising a plurality of image frames, the method comprising:
-
publishing a web page comprising a listing of one or more traversal records, each of the one or more traversal records comprising a time-based perspective of an authoring user on the visual data, each perspective being a spatial subset of the visual data such that each of the one or more traversal records comprises a set of cropped space and time selections from said visual data, wherein said cropped space comprises, for at least one of said plurality of image frames, a portion of said visual data residing within less than an entirety of said at least one of said plurality of image frames, wherein said one or more traversal records are available for viewing by a viewing user different from said authoring user via said web page, and wherein said web page includes an interactive abstract map in which said one or more traversal records are plotted using one or more data markers; and playing back, for said viewing user, a selected one of the one or more traversal records in response to the viewing user browsing the interactive abstract map and interactively selecting one of said one or more data markers corresponding to said selected one of the one or more traversal records. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. An interactive, electronic apparatus of sharing user perspectives on visual data, the apparatus comprising:
-
means for publishing a web page comprising a listing of one or more traversal records, each of the one or more traversal records comprising a time-based perspective of an authoring user on the visual data, each perspective being a spatial subset of the visual data such that each of the one or more traversal records comprises a set of cropped space and time selections from said visual data, wherein said cropped space comprises, for at least one of said plurality of image frames, a portion of said visual data residing within less than an entirety of said at least one of said plurality of image frames, wherein said one or more traversal records are available for viewing by a viewing user different from said authoring user via said web page, and wherein said web page includes an interactive abstract map in which said one or more traversal records are plotted using one or more data markers; and means for playing back, for said viewing user, a selected one of the one or more traversal records in response to the viewing user browsing the interactive abstract map and interactively selecting one of said one or more data markers corresponding to said selected one of the one or more traversal records. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
-
Specification