Aggregation of related media content

• US 9,159,364 B1
• Filed: 01/30/2012
• Issued: 10/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Matias, Yossi, Sharifi, Matthew, Roblek, Dominik, Chen, Annie, Bugnon, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Thai
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dunn, Mishawn
• Application Number:
  US13/361,778
• Time in Patent Office: 1,352 Days
• Field of Search: 386/278, 386/282, 386/225, 386/232, 709201-205, 709/217, 709/219, 709/226, 709/227, 382/276, 382/284, 382/294, 382/224, 715/719, 348/512, 348/500, 455/456.3
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/447 Temporal browsing, e.g. timeline
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/41 Higher-level, semantic clustering, classification or understanding of video scenes, e.g. detection, labelling or Markovian modelling of sport events or news items segmenting video sequences G06V20/49
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/031 Electronic editing of digitised analogue information signals, e.g. audio or video signals
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/10 Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/28 by using information signals recorded by the same method as the main recording G11B27/22 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/3081 used signal is a video-frame or a video-field (P.I.P)
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/698 for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/04 Synchronising for television systems using pulse code modulation H04N7/56

Abstract

Systems and methods for media aggregation are disclosed herein. The system includes a media system that can transform media items into one aggregated media item. A synchronization component synchronizes media items with respect to time. The synchronized media items can be analyzed and transformed into an aggregated media item for storage and/or display. In one implementation, the aggregated media item is capable of being displayed in multiple ways to create an enhanced and customizable viewing and/or listening experience.

Claims

1. A media system, comprising:

a memory that stores computer executable components;

a processor that executes the following computer executable components stored in the memory;

an identification component configured to identify a set of media items pertaining to a common event;

a synchronization component configured to time synchronize the set of media items;

an aggregation component that aggregates the set of media items to generate a composite media item such that a set of segments of the set of media items correspond to a common time of the composite media item; and

an analyzer component that analyzes the set of media items and ranks respective segments of the set of segments as a function of a frequency of appearance of an entity in the respective segments, wherein a first segment of the respective segments and a second segment of the respective segments are determined to be associated with the common time based at least in part on the time synchronization of the set of media items, and wherein the analyzer component ranks the first segment relative to the second segment in accordance with the time synchronization.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the aggregation component aggregates the set of segments by stitching the respective segments as a function of the ranking and the time synchronization.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the analyzer component ranks the respective segments of the set of segments as a function of the frequency of appearance of the entity in the respective segments and at least one of an angle of an object captured in the respective segments, a video quality, an audio quality, or a video composition.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the analyzer component ranks a subset of the set of media items as a function of user relevance, wherein the user relevance is based at least in part on an affinity of a user to an individual or item viewable in the subset of the set of media items.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising an editing component that provides for user modification of the ranking and aggregation of the set of media items.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising an output component that outputs the composite media item via at least one of broadcasting, streaming, or uploading.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the aggregation component aggregates the composite media item by stitching at least a portion of the respective segments of the set of segments to form a mosaic media item.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the aggregation component aggregates the composite media item by stitching at least a portion of the respective segments of the set of segments to form a playable panoramic media item.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising an output component that pivots displaying across the playable panoramic media item such that the portion of the respective segments of the playable panoramic media item are seamlessly rotated without interrupting playback of the playable panoramic media item.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the output component pivots displaying across the playable panoramic media item based at least in part on user input.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the analyzer component is further configured to independently analyze audio channels and video channels of the set of segments, and wherein the aggregation component is further configured to aggregate the audio channels and video channels to generate the composite media item.

12. A method, comprising:

employing a processor to execute computer executable components stored in a memory to perform the following operations;

determining that a plurality of video items are associated with a common event, wherein the plurality of video items are captured by a plurality of devices;

synchronizing the plurality of video items at least as a function of time;

aggregating the synchronized plurality of video items into a composite video item for aggregated playback such that more than one video item is simultaneously played-back at a common time; and

ranking respective segments of the plurality of video items based at least in part on a frequency of appearance of an entity in the respective segments, wherein the ranking further comprises ranking a first segment of the respective segments with respect to a second segment of the respective segments, wherein the first segment and the second segment are determined to be associated with a common time period based at least in part on the synchronizing.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

alternating between the view points of the composite video item based at least in part on user input.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the ranking further comprises ranking the respective segments of the plurality of video items based at least in part on respective locations associated with the respective segments.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

alternating between view points of the composite video item based at least in part on the ranking.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the ranking the respective segments further comprises ranking a subset of segments of the plurality of video items as a function of audio quality.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

alternating audio playback between audio tracks associated with the plurality of video items based at least in part on the ranking of the subset of segments of the plurality of video items as the function of the audio quality.

18. A system, comprising:

means for receiving a plurality of media items regarding a common event;

means for synchronizing media items of the plurality of media items at least as a function of time;

means for aggregating the synchronized media items for aggregated playback such that respective content of a plurality of the synchronized media items is associated with an overlapping time period, wherein the respective content is simultaneously playable during the overlapping time period; and

means for analyzing respective segments of a set of segments of the plurality of media items to determine a frequency of appearance of an entity in the respective segments of the set of segments, wherein the respective segments are ranked as a function of the frequency of appearance of the entity in the respective segments, wherein a first segment of the respective segments and a second segment of the respective segments are determined to be associated with a common time period based at least in part on the synchronizing, and wherein the first segment is ranked relative to the second segment in accordance with the synchronizing.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising:

means for analyzing the synchronized media items and ranking, based at least in part on the synchronizing, the respective segments of the plurality of media items.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

means for selecting a view point for the aggregated playback based at least in part on the ranking of the respective segments.