Frameless video system

• US 9,817,547 B2
• Filed: 03/24/2014
• Issued: 11/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Avazap, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Avazap, Inc.
• Inventors: Varela, William A., Bendrick, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Barry, Lance L
• Application Number:
  US14/223,714
• Publication Number:
  US 20140281963A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,331 Days
• Field of Search: 715764, 715706
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• 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 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8583 by creating hot-spots

Abstract

A frameless audio/video object (FAVO) that provides information to a user. In one embodiment, the FAVO is interactive, such as having hotspots for allowing a user to select more features or information. The information may be advertising. The user can select a desirable FAVO, such as a favorite celebrity.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

displaying a frameless object video on a user computing device, said frameless object video having a non-rectangular border matching the boundaries of the frameless object video, the borders changing with a movement of the video;

wherein said frameless object visually persists at least independent of any particular web page on a website and independent of any particular application window, with the frameless object video being played outside of a webpage, a web browser, and applications windows and floating on the top layer of an operating system and other application windows allowing it to co-exist along with other software applications;

the frameless object video having a z-order that allows it to float-on-top of other software applications;

tracking appearances of said frameless object video on the user computing device;

reporting the tracked appearances of said frameless object video appearing on the user computing device;

detecting user interaction with said frameless object video;

providing information associated with said frameless object video in response to said user interaction;

locally monitoring user interaction with said frameless object video on the user computing device using a client software;

reporting the user interaction with said frameless object video to a remote server;

storing and reporting the user interaction with the frameless object video;

storing and reporting the tracked appearances of the frameless object video;

said frameless object video appearing independent of a browser and other applications, and being customized for providing a reminder to a particular user;

wherein said frameless object video includes at least one hotspot where a user can click to interact;

wherein the hotspot comprises only a predetermined portion of said frameless object;

wherein an aspect of said frameless object video is selected by said user;

wherein detecting user interaction with said frameless object video comprises detecting a user moving a pointer over said frameless object video; and

wherein providing information associated with said frameless object video in response to said user interaction comprises providing an advertisement in response to the user moving the pointer over said frameless object video, the advertisement not previously being visible;

downloading, from a remote server to the user computing device, client software for rendering the frameless object video;

locally tracking appearances of said frameless object video on the user computing device using the client software; and

reporting the tracked appearances of said frameless object video from the client software to the remote server.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said aspect is a character that has entertainment characteristics independent of said user interaction with said frameless object video.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising tracking said frameless object and said user interactions with said frameless object video across multiple devices.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving user-generated content for said frameless object video, so that the frameless object video comprises a video provided by a user;

removing a background from the user-generated content to isolate the frameless object video.