Content creation and distribution system

• US 8,601,506 B2
• Filed: 08/10/2012
• Issued: 12/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2011
• 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: Reed, Ryland M., Wyatt, Christopher W., Harwell, Mark A.
• Primary Examiner(s): SCHNURR, JOHN R
• Application Number:
  US13/571,476
• Publication Number:
  US 20120304237A1
• Time in Patent Office: 480 Days
• Field of Search: 725/32, 725/36, 725/105, 725/109, 725/110, 725/114, 725/115, 725/116, 725/133, 725/141, 725/153
• US Class Current: 725/32
• 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 communicably coupled 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 video length defined by the instructions, with the video length predefined at the server system in accordance with a time slot in a linear television programming broadcast;

transcoding the video data, using a server included in the server system, into at least one different format, wherein at least one format of the transcoded video data defines a video file in a format appropriate for inclusion in the linear television programming broadcast; and

transferring 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 including the video length.

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 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.

7. 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.

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

9. 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.

10. 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 transferring the transcoded video data to a distribution server is performed in response to the selection of the particular transcoded video file for publication.

11. 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.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the instructions further cause the video data to be transmitted to the server system as the video data is captured.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the predetermined constraints include a frame rate for the video data, with the frame rate defined by the instructions.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the instructions further cause a recording time remaining to be displayed on the client computing device in accordance with the defined video length as the video data is captured.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the video length is defined at the server system for a plurality of users.

16. 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 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 video length defined by the instructions, with the video length centrally predefined at the server system for a plurality of users;

receiving a user selection to record content;

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

formatting the video data in accordance with predetermined constraints; and

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

17. The computer storage medium of claim 16 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.

18. The computer storage medium of claim 16 wherein the predetermined constraints are adapted to enable a transcoding server to perform automated transcoding of the video data into a plurality of video file formats.

19. The computer storage medium of claim 16, the operations further comprising associating one or more attributes with the formatted 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.

20. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 16 wherein the user interface includes a display, as the video data is captured, of a recording time remaining in accordance with the defined video length.

21. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 16 wherein the video length is enforced in accordance with instructions included in a web page defined by the server system.

22. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 16 wherein the video length is defined in accordance with a time slot in linear television programming.

23. 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 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 video length defined by the instructions, wherein the video length is centrally defined at the server system for a plurality of users;

receiving a user selection to record content;

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

formatting the 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 video data; and

transmitting the formatted 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 video data into a format appropriate for inclusion in a linear television programming broadcast.

24. The computer storage medium of claim 23 wherein the operations are performed using instructions transmitted to the client computing device from a web server and installed on the client device, and capturing video data using the digital camera includes interfacing with native device recording capabilities.

25. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 23 wherein the video length is defined in accordance with a time slot in linear television programming.

26. A system comprising:

a plurality of user devices; and

one or more servers operable to interact with the plurality of user devices and to;

provide instructions for use by the user devices for capturing video data in accordance with predetermined constraints, wherein the predetermined constraints include a video length defined by the instructions, wherein the video length is centrally defined at the one or more servers for the plurality of user devices;

receive video data in a predetermined format from one or more of the user devices, 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 communicably coupled 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:

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.

29. The system of claim 26 wherein the instructions for use by the user device for capturing video data include instructions that cause a recording time remaining to be displayed on the user device in accordance with the defined video length as the video data is captured.

30. The system of claim 26 wherein the video length is defined in accordance with a time slot in the linear television programming broadcast.