Content creation and distribution system

• US 8,464,304 B2
• Filed: 07/18/2011
• Issued: 06/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Covenant Global Alpha Fund, L.P. (CFS, LLC), Covenant Private Equity Partners II Inc., VidStream LLC
• Original Assignee: Youtoo Technologies
• Inventors: Harwell, Mark A., Reed, Ryland M., Wyatt, Christopher W.
• Primary Examiner(s): SHEPARD, JUSTIN E
• Application Number:
  US13/185,471
• Publication Number:
  US 20120192239A1
• Time in Patent Office: 694 Days
• Field of Search: 725/37
• US Class Current: 725/115
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2343 involving reformatting operations of video signals for distribution or compliance with end-user requests or end-user device requirements video transcoding H04N19/40; media packet handling at the source H04L65/762
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26258 for generating a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlist, or scheduling item distribution according to such list retrieval of multimedia data based on playlists G06F16/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2743 Video hosting of uploaded data from client

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for receiving and distributing user-generated video content. In one aspect, a method includes receiving video data from a client computing device, where the video data is captured using a camera connected to the client computing device in accordance with instructions executed on the client computing device to provide the video data in accordance with predetermined constraints. The video data is automatically transcoded into at least one different format based on user credentials associated with a user of the client computing device and/or attributes associated with the video data. At least one format of the transcoded video data defines a video file in a format appropriate for inclusion in a linear television programming transmission. The transcoded video data is uploaded to a server for distribution.

Claims

1. A method performed by data processing apparatus, the method comprising:

receiving video data from a client computing device at a server system, wherein the video data is captured using a camera connected to the client computing device in accordance with instructions executed on the client computing device, wherein the instructions are provided to the client computing device by the server system and cause the video data to be captured in accordance with predetermined constraints and the predetermined constraints include a frame rate defined by the instructions;

automatically transcoding the video data, using a server included in the server system, into at least one different format based on at least one of user credentials associated with a user of the client computing device or attributes associated with the video data, wherein at least one format of the transcoded video data defines a video file in a format appropriate for inclusion in a linear television programming broadcast; and

uploading the transcoded video data to a distribution server for distribution.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the instructions executed on the client computing device include scripts received by the client computing device from a web application, wherein the scripts are adapted to cause the video data to be captured in accordance with the predetermined constraints.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the instructions executed on the client computing device are executed within at least one of a browser or a browser plugin on the client computing device.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the instructions executed on the client computing device are included in an application installed on the client computing device.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein at least a portion of the video data is buffered on the client computing device using scripts included in the instructions executed on the client computing device based on bandwidth constraints for transmitting the video data from the client computing device.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the video data is transmitted by the client computing device in FLV format.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the video data is transmitted by the client computing device in a native media container format for the client computing device.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the predetermined constraints include a bit rate and an image resolution sufficient to enable transcoding of the video data into the format appropriate for inclusion in the linear television programming broadcast.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein transcoding the video data includes using a predetermined automated transcoding workflow corresponding to the predetermined constraints to transcode the video data into the transcoded video data.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein transcoding the video data includes transcoding the video data into a plurality of different video file formats.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising performing an automated review of at least one of the video data or the transcoded video data to identify potentially inappropriate content.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

retrieving the transcoded video data for manual review; and

presenting a review interface adapted to;

provide an indication of at least one frame within the transcoded video file including content identified as potentially inappropriate content; and

allow an administrator to select the transcoded video file for manual review.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

retrieving the transcoded video data for manual review;

presenting a review interface adapted to allow an administrator to select among a plurality of transcoded video files for manual review;

receiving a selection of a particular transcoded video file for review through the review interface;

presenting video defined by the particular transcoded video file through the review interface in response to the selection; and

receiving a selection of the particular transcoded video file for publication through the review interface, wherein uploading the transcoded video data to a distribution server is performed in response to the selection of the particular transcoded video file for publication.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the video data is received in response to a request to submit content for potential inclusion in a linear television programming broadcast.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein automatically transcoding the video data includes transcoding the video data into at least one format appropriate for Internet distribution, the method further comprising storing the transcoded video data in the at least one format appropriate for Internet distribution on a web server adapted to allow retrieval through a web page.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising distributing the transcoded video data to a plurality of social networking web sites.

17. A non-transitory computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

displaying, on a client computing device, a user interface adapted to allow a user to selectively record content including high definition video content through a digital camera communicably coupled to the client computing device, wherein the user interface is provided in accordance with instructions received from a server system and the instructions cause the content to be captured in accordance with predetermined constraints that include a frame rate defined by the instructions;

receiving a user selection to record content;

capturing high definition video data using the digital camera during a continuous recording segment;

formatting the high definition video data in accordance with the predetermined constraints; and

transmitting at least a portion of the formatted high definition video data to a storage server of the server system during the continuous recording segment.

18. The computer storage medium of claim 17 wherein the operations are performed using scripts transmitted to the client computing device in a web page and executed on the client device using at least one of a web browser or a web browser plugin.

19. The computer storage medium of claim 17 wherein the predetermined constraints are adapted to enable a transcoding server to perform automated transcoding of the high definition video data into a plurality of video file formats.

20. The computer storage medium of claim 17, the operations further comprising caching a portion of the high definition video data on the client computing device for transmission in accordance with bandwidth limitations on transmitting the formatted high definition video data.

21. The computer storage medium of claim 17, the operations further comprising associating one or more attributes with the formatted high definition video data, the one or more attributes associated with at least one of a request for submissions of content to be included in a television broadcast or a user credential.

22. A non-transitory computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

displaying, on a client computing device, a user interface adapted to allow a user to selectively record content including high definition video content through a digital camera communicably coupled to the client computing device, wherein the user interface is provided in accordance with instructions received from a server system and the instructions cause the content to be captured in accordance with predetermined constraints that include a frame rate defined by the instructions;

receiving a user selection to record content;

capturing high definition video data using the digital camera during a continuous recording segment;

formatting the high definition video data in accordance with the predetermined constraints;

establishing a connection with a content submission server in response to a user selection to upload the high definition video data; and

transmitting the formatted high definition video data to a storage server of the server system using the connection in response to the user selection, wherein the predetermined constraints are adapted to facilitate transcoding of the formatted high definition video data into a format appropriate for inclusion in a linear television programming broadcast.

23. The computer storage medium of claim 22 wherein formatting the high definition video data includes formatting the high definition video data in a native media container format for the client computing device.

24. The computer storage medium of claim 22 wherein the operations are performed using instructions transmitted to the client computing device downloaded from a web server and installed on the client device, and capturing high definition video data using the digital camera includes interfacing with native device recording capabilities.

25. The computer storage medium of claim 22, the operations further comprising associating one or more attributes with the formatted high definition video data, the one or more attributes associated with at least one of a request for submissions of content to be included in a television broadcast or a user credential.

26. A system comprising:

a user device; and

one or more servers operable to interact with the user device and to;

provide instructions for use by the user device for capturing video data in accordance with predetermined constraints, wherein the predetermined constraints include a frame rate defined by the instructions;

receive video data in a predetermined format from the user device, wherein the video data is captured using the instructions;

transcode the video data into one or more video formats that differ from the predetermined format using an automated transcoding workflow corresponding to the predetermined format;

store the transcoded video data; and

distribute the transcoded video data for inclusion in a linear television programming broadcast.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein the one or more servers are further adapted to provide instructions for execution on the user device in a web page, wherein the instructions are adapted to cause the user device to capture the video data using a camera connected to the user device and to transmit at least a portion of the video data to a web server of the one or more servers as the video data is captured.

28. The system of claim 26 wherein the one or more servers are further adapted to transcode the video data into a format appropriate for inclusion in a linear television programming transmission.

29. The system of claim 26 wherein the one or more servers are further adapted to:

retrieve the transcoded video data for manual review; and

present a review interface adapted to;

provide an indication of at least one frame within the transcoded video file including content identified as potentially inappropriate content; and

allow an administrator to select the transcoded video file for manual review.

30. The system of claim 26 wherein the one or more servers are further adapted to:

retrieve the transcoded video data for manual review;

present a review interface adapted to allow an administrator to select among a plurality of transcoded video files for manual review;

receive a selection of a particular transcoded video file for review through the review interface;

present video defined by the particular transcoded video file through the review interface in response to the selection; and

receive a selection of the particular transcoded video file for inclusion in the television broadcast, wherein the transcoded video data is distributed for inclusion in a television broadcast in response to the selection of the particular transcoded video file for inclusion in the television broadcast.