Video annotation system

• US 9,767,087 B1
• Filed: 07/31/2012
• Issued: 09/19/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Petrov, Tsvetomir Petrov
• Primary Examiner(s): To, Jennifer
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fortino, Ashley
• Application Number:
  US13/563,055
• Time in Patent Office: 1,876 Days
• Field of Search: 715719
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/437 Interfacing the upstream path of the transmission network, e.g. for transmitting client requests to a VOD server flow control in data networks H04L47/10; streaming protocols, e.g. RTP or RTCP, H04L65/65; scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests in data packet switching networks H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4542 Blocking scenes or portions of the received content, e.g. censoring scenes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47205 for manipulating displayed content, e.g. interacting with MPEG-4 objects, editing locally
• 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 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/858 Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot

Abstract

A system and method for annotating video content is disclosed. The system comprises a communication module, a monitor module and a sensor module. The communication module is communicatively coupled to a network to receive the video content. The monitor module is communicatively coupled to the communication module to receive an input and derive an annotation event. The sensor module is communicatively coupled to the monitor module to receive annotation data for annotating the video content. The annotation data comprises position data, time data and annotation content data. The annotation data comprises one or more of a text annotation, an audio, a video, a drawing, a sketch, an image, a streaming feed and a streaming video. The annotation data is either created by a user or uploaded or selected from one or more existing sources when the user adds it.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computer system, from a first client device, annotation data of an annotating user for a video, wherein the annotation data comprises annotations, specifies time portions of the video to include the annotations, and specifies a set of users with whom the annotating user is to share the video with the annotations;

generating, by the computer system, the annotations to be included in the specified time portions of the video based on the annotation data;

receiving, by the computer system from a second client device of a viewing user, a request of the viewing user to view the video with the annotations, wherein the request of the viewing user is associated with a preference of the viewing user for a presentation of the annotations during particular time portions of the video while the video is played; and

responsive to determining that the viewing user is one of the set of users, transmitting the video with the annotations to the second client device for presentation of the annotations with the video in accordance with the annotation data of the annotating user specifying the time portions of the video to include the annotations and the preference of the viewing user for the presentation of the annotations during particular time portions of the video, wherein the preference of the viewing user for the presentation of the annotations indicates a preference to display or to hide the annotations during the particular time portions of the video while the video is played.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the annotations comprise an audio annotation.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising

allowing the annotating user to annotate the video responsive to receiving permission data from a content provider of the video indicating that annotation of the video is permitted.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising

transmitting to a third client device associated with at least one user of the set of users a notification indicating that the video has been annotated by the annotating user.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the annotation data is generated at the first client device concurrent with streaming the video to the first client device.

6. A system comprising:

a network interface; and

a processor, coupled to the network interface, to;

receive from a first client device, via the network interface, annotation data of an annotating user for a video, wherein the annotation data comprises annotations, specifies time portions of the video to include the annotations, and specifies a set of users with whom the annotating user is to share the video with the annotations;

generate the annotations to be included in the specified time portions of the video based on the annotation data;

receive, from a second client device of a viewing user, a request of the viewing user to view the video with the annotations, wherein the request of the viewing user is associated with a preference of the viewing user for a presentation of the annotations during particular time portions of the video while the video is played; and

responsive to determining that the viewing user is one of the set of users, transmit, via the network interface, the video with the annotations to the second client device for presentation of the annotations with the video in accordance with the annotation data of the annotating user specifying the time portions of the video to include the annotations and the preference of the viewing user for the presentation of the annotations during particular time portions of the video, wherein the preference of the viewing user for the presentation of the annotations indicates a preference to display or to hide the annotations during the particular time portions of the video while the video is played.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the annotations comprise an audio annotation.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the processor is further to

allow the annotating user to annotate the video responsive to receiving permission data from a content provider of the video indicating that annotation of the video is permitted.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the processor is further to

transmit to a third client device associated with at least one user of the set of users, via the network interface, a notification indicating that the video has been annotated by the annotating user.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the annotations comprise at least one of an audio annotation, a video, a drawing, or an image.

11. The system of claim 6 wherein the annotation data is generated at the first client device concurrent with streaming the video to the first client device.

12. A computer program product comprising non-transitory computer readable medium encoding instructions that, in response to execution by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by the computing device from a first client device, annotation data of an annotating user for a video, wherein the annotation data comprises annotations, specifies time portions of the video to include the annotations, and specifies a set of users with whom the annotating user is to share the video with the annotations;

generating, by the computing device, the annotations to be included in the specified time portions of the video based on the annotation data;

receiving, by the computing device from a second client device of a viewing user, a request of the viewing user to view the video with the annotations, wherein the request of the viewing user is associated with a preference of the viewing user for a presentation of the annotations during particular time portions of the video while the video displayed; and

responsive to determining that the viewing user is one of the set of users, transmitting the video with the annotations to the second client device for presentation of the annotations with the video in accordance with the annotation data of the annotating user specifying the time portions of the video to include the annotations and the preference of the viewing user for the presentation of the annotations during particular time portions of the video, wherein the preference of the viewing user for the presentation of the annotations indicates a preference to display or to hide the annotations during the particular time portions of the video while the video is played.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the annotations comprise an audio annotation.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise

allowing the annotating user to annotate the video responsive to receiving permission data from a content provider of the video indicating that annotation of the video is permitted.

15. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein the operations further comprise

transmitting to a third client device associated with at least one user of the set of users a notification indicating that the video has been annotated by the annotating user.

16. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein transmitting the video with the annotations to the second client device for presentation of the annotations, the operations further comprising transmitting the video with the annotations according to the preference of the viewing user to display or to hide the annotations during the particular time portions of the video while the video is played.

17. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein the annotation data generated at the first client device concurrent with streaming the video to the first client device.