Techniques to automatically manage overlapping objects

• US 8,327,277 B2
• Filed: 01/14/2008
• Issued: 12/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Thakkar, Pulin, Jain, Stuti, Hawkins, Quinn, Sharma, Kapil, Bhattacharjee, Avronil, Singh, Noor E-Gagan, Ix
• Primary Examiner(s): Lo, Weilun
• Assistant Examiner(s): Levy, Amy M
• Application Number:
  US12/013,471
• Publication Number:
  US 20090183080A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,786 Days
• Field of Search: 715/733, 715/716, 715/758, 715/751, 715/759, 715/756, 715/753, 707/100, 345/592, 345/634, 345/619
• US Class Current: 715/753
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4393 Multimedia presentations, e.g. slide shows, multimedia albums

Abstract

Techniques to automatically manage overlapping objects are described. An apparatus may include a context module operative to receive context information for a multimedia event, and determine various context parameters and control parameters for the multimedia event. The apparatus may further comprise a blending module communicatively coupled to the context module, the blending module operative to receive multiple media content streams for multiple media content views for the multimedia event, and blend the media content streams for the multiple media content views based on one or more control parameters to form a blended media content stream. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining context information for a multimedia conference event;

generating one or more context parameters utilizing the context information, the one or more context parameters comprising a relevance parameter representing a relative value of a media content view relative to other media content views for the multimedia conference event;

determining one or more control parameters based on the one or more context parameters, the one or more control parameters comprising;

an order parameter representing an order of viewing layers for multiple media content views and an overlap parameter representing an amount of overlap between two or more media content views, the overlap parameter determined based on the relevance parameter; and

a blending parameter representing an amount of blending for the overlapping media content views based on the one or more context parameters;

receiving multiple media content streams for the multiple media content views; and

automatically and dynamically blending the multiple media content streams based on the one or more control parameters to form a blended media content stream.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising displaying overlapping media content views on a display using the blended media content stream.

3. The method of claim 1, the one or more context parameters comprising a refresh time parameter representing a time interval between refresh events for media content for a media content view.

4. The method of claim 1, the one or more context parameters comprising a reference parameter representing a number of times a media content view is referenced by a meeting participant.

5. The method of claim 4, the relevance parameter derived by combining the reference parameter with a refresh time parameter representing a time interval between refresh events for media content for a media content view.

6. An article of manufacture comprising a computer-readable storage medium containing instructions that if executed enable a system to:

generate one or more context parameters to include a refresh time parameter, a reference parameter and a relevance parameter utilizing context information determined for a multimedia conference event, the refresh time parameter representing a time interval between refresh events for media content for a media content view, the reference parameter representing a number of times a media content view is referenced by a meeting participant, the relevance parameter representing a relative value of a media content view relative to other media content views for the multimedia conference event;

determine one or more control parameters comprising an order parameter, an overlap parameter and a blending parameter for multiple media content views based on the one or more context parameters, the order parameter representing an order of viewing layers for the multiple media content views, the blending parameter representing an amount of blending for the overlapping media content views, the overlap parameter representing an amount of overlap between two or more media content views and determined based on the relevance parameter;

receive multiple media content streams for the multiple media content views; and

automatically and dynamically blend the multiple media content streams based on the one or more control parameters.

7. The article of manufacture of claim 6, further comprising instructions that if executed enable the system to display overlapping media content views on a display using the blended media content stream.

8. The article of manufacture of claim 6, the relevance parameter derived by combining the reference parameter with the refresh time parameter.

9. The article of manufacture of claim 6, further comprising instructions that if executed enable the system to buffer one or more of the media content streams to synchronize the media content streams prior to performing blending operations.

10. An apparatus, comprising:

a context module operative to receive context information for a multimedia conference event, and generate one or more context parameters and one or more control parameters for the multimedia conference event, the one or more context parameters generated utilizing the context information and comprising a relevance parameter representing a relative value of a media content view relative to other media content views for the multimedia conference event, the one or more control parameters comprising;

an order parameter representing an order of viewing layers for multiple media content views and an overlap parameter representing an amount of overlap between two or more media content views, the overlap parameter determined based on the relevance parameter; and

a blending parameter representing an amount of blending for the overlapping media content views;

a blending module communicatively coupled to the context module, the blending module operative to receive multiple media content streams for the multiple media content views for the multimedia conference event, and automatically and dynamically blend the multiple media content streams for the multiple media content views based on the one or more control parameters to form a blended media content stream;

a display module communicatively coupled to a display, the display module to receive the blended media content stream, and display the blended media content stream as multiple overlapping media content views on the display; and

a processor implementing one or both of the context module or the blending module.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, the one or more context parameters including comprising a refresh time parameter representing a time interval between refresh events for media content for a media content view and a reference parameter representing a number of times a media content view is referenced by a meeting participant, the relevance parameter derived by combining the reference parameter with the refresh time parameter.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, comprising a content decoder to receive one or more of the media content streams, decode the media content streams, and output the decoded media content streams to the blending module.