Automated intelligent visualization of data through text and graphics

• US 9,620,173 B1
• Filed: 07/21/2016
• Issued: 04/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NewBlue, Inc
• Original Assignee: NewBlue, Inc
• Inventors: Fay, Todor J., Werner, Jesse I.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jones, Heather
• Application Number:
  US15/216,397
• Time in Patent Office: 264 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/036 Insert-editing
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23406 involving management of server-side video buffer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/251 Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies details of learning user preferences for the retrieval of video data in a video database G06F16/739; computer systems using learning methods G06N3/08
• 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 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44029 for generating different versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4886 for displaying a ticker, e.g. scrolling banner for news, stock exchange, weather data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8126 involving additional data, e.g. news, sports, stocks, weather forecasts
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8133 specifically related to the content, e.g. biography of the actors in a movie, detailed information about an article seen in a video program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/854 Content authoring

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention relate to an automated, intelligent visualization of data through text and graphics for connecting a wide range of data sources to graphics visualization software and automating its presentation, including building on a standard template driven system for generating graphics from data. Some of these building mechanisms include: Service Handlers, which are plugin components with their own process for converting the data into something uniform, Input Behaviors, which define actions and data to deliver from a service, a system for matching templates to input behaviors by the set of variables in each and the rules for matching them, a Schedule Request mechanism, which connects the data from the service, via the input behavior mechanism, to the correct titles, and handles the assignment of data and then conducts the appropriate actions, and the use of handler defined queues for managing the order of things in parallel.

Claims

1. In a computer-based graphical data management system for connecting one or more services to a visualization software engine and automating its presentation on a video output device for playback, a method comprising:

the one or more services generating data input;

the visualization software engine receiving the data input from the one or more services, wherein the visualization software engine comprises a service handler, a scheduler, a play list, a render engine, and a playback engine;

the service handler processing the data input and translating the data input into a set of actions and variables;

the play list having a set of titles;

the scheduler, upon receiving the set of actions and variables from the service handler, delivering the variables to the set of titles in the play list, setting a rendering action with the render engine, and triggering a playback action to the playback engine; and

the render engine rendering a video output defined by a plurality of templates and the set of actions and variables, wherein the video output includes one or more formats supported by the video output device for playback.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data input includes one or more protocols, a data stream and an event stream.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the visualization software engine includes an editor configured to select the service handler that feeds the set of actions and variables to the set of titles.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein service handler includes a service process and a plurality of input behaviors, the service process managing the connection between the one or more services and service handler, translating the data input into a predefined protocol defining a plurality of rules and data which are communicated to the scheduler, and initiating a graphics visualization action through a schedule request call received by the scheduler.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein each input behavior is dependent on the data input from the one or more services, each input behavior creating a visualization objective based on the data input.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the schedule request call includes an identification of the plurality of input behaviors triggering the schedule request call, a set of flags alerting and indicating a corresponding action to take in response to the schedule request call, and a queue having a set of scheduled actions.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the visualization software engine further comprises a template library that is coupled to the play list, wherein the template library stores the plurality of templates.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the visualization software engine includes a template finder that is coupled to the template library, wherein the template finder identifies at least one template for each input behavior.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the template finder includes a template matching service for scanning all of the plurality of templates in the template library and matching a subset of the set of titles that correspond with each of the plurality of input behaviors from the service handler.

10. A computer-based graphical data management system, the system comprising:

an external service device generating one or more data inputs;

a video output device;

a computer having a processor and memory storing capabilities for executing computer instructions using a visualization software engine to;

receive the data input from the external service device, wherein the visualization software engine comprises a service handler, a scheduler, and a play list, a render engine, and a playback engine;

process the one or more data inputs and translating the one or more data inputs into a set of actions and variables;

store a plurality of templates;

generate a set of titles;

upon receiving the set of actions and variables from service handler, feed the variables to the set of titles in the play list, schedule a rendering action with the render engine, and trigger a playback action to the playback engine; and

render a video output defined by the plurality of templates and set of actions and variables to the video output device.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the service handler includes a service process and a plurality of input behaviors, the service process managing the connection between the external service device and the service handler, translating the one or more data inputs into a standard data format, and initiating a graphics visualization action through a schedule request call that is received by the scheduler.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein each input behavior is dependent on the one or more data inputs from the external service device, each input behavior creating a visualization objective based on the one or more data inputs.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the schedule request call includes an identification of the plurality of input behaviors triggering the schedule request call, a set of flags alerting and indicating a corresponding action to take in response to the schedule request call, and a set of queues, each queue having a set of scheduled actions.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the visualization software engine further comprises a template library that is coupled to the play list, wherein the template library stores the plurality of templates.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the visualization software engine includes a template finder that is coupled to the template library, wherein the template finder identifies at least one template for each input behavior.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the external service device is coupled to an electronic scoreboard, a video scoreboard, an electronic measurement device, a digital sound device, a timing system or combination thereof.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the video output device is coupled to a video switcher.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the video switcher is coupled to a television, a phone, a computer, a laptop, a video monitor, a video projector, an electronic billboard, a digital television, a mobile device, a smartphone, a smart watch, a tablet, a web browser, a computer monitor, an electronic display monitor, any display device capable of showing a moving image, a video recording device, or a combination thereof.

19. A computer-based visualization software program comprising:

a non-transient computer readable medium containing program instructions to execute a method for a connecting a one or more services to a visualization software engine and automating its presentation on a video output device, the method comprising;

the visualization software engine receiving one or more data inputs from the one or more services, wherein the visualization software engine comprises a service handler, a scheduler, and play list, a render engine, and a playback engine;

the service handler processing the one or more data inputs and translating the one or more data inputs into a set of actions and variables;

the play list having a set of titles;

the scheduler, upon receiving the set of actions and variables from the service handler, feeding the variables to the set of titles in the play list, scheduling a rendering action with the render engine, and triggering a playback action to the playback engine; and

the render engine rendering a video output defined by a plurality of templates and the set of actions and variables to the video output device for playback.

20. A computer-implemented method for connecting a one or more services to a visualization software engine and automating its presentation on a video output device, comprising executing on a processor the steps of:

receiving an electronic data having a protocol, a data stream, and an event stream in a computer with a memory;

storing in the memory, via a template library, a plurality of templates, wherein each template comprises a play list having a set of titles and variables;

scheduling, via a scheduler, an event for feeding variables to the set of titles in the play list;

managing, via the scheduler, a plurality of queues defining a sequence of scheduled actions, and scheduling, via the scheduler, an event for rendering a video output to a render engine, the scheduler receiving one or more commands from a schedule request, wherein the schedule request comprises

one or more of input behaviors for triggering the schedule request, and

a set of flags indicating a set of actions to apply to the data stream and event stream in the memory;

temporarily storing in the memory, via each queue, a series of render instances which are sequentially ordered to prevent overlapping of the sequence of scheduled actions, wherein each rendered instance comprises three states;

an empty state defined by having no frames stored in the memory,

a partial state defined by an intermediate set of rendered and non-rendered frames stored in the memory, and

a full state defined by a set of fully rendered frames stored in the memory;

controlling the three states of each rendered instance, via the scheduler, as each rendered instance changing from the empty state to the full state while being processed by the render engine;

scheduling the full state of fully rendered frames in the memory for playback to the playback engine; and

transferring the video output from the playback engine, to the video output device, wherein the video output device is coupled to a video switcher for video playback.