Authoring system for combining temporal and nontemporal digital media

• US 20040268224A1
• Filed: 07/08/2004
• Published: 12/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Crofton T. Winton, Glenn Mcelhoe, Peter A. Balkus, Thomas C. Purcell
• Original Assignee: Crofton T. Winton, Glenn Mcelhoe, Peter A. Balkus, Thomas C. Purcell
• Inventors: Balkus, Peter A., Purcell, Thomas C., McElhoe, Glenn, Crofton, T. Winton
• Application Number:
  US10/887,072
• Publication Number:
  US 20040268224A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4393 Multimedia presentations, e.g. slide shows, multimedia albums
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• 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 21/854 Content authoring

Abstract

An authoring tool has a graphical user interface enabling interactive authoring of a multimedia presentation including temporal and nontemporal media. The graphical user interface enables specification of the temporal and spatial relationships among the media and playback of the presentation with the specified temporal and spatial relationships. The spatial and temporal relationships among the media may be changed independently of each other. The presentation may be viewed interactively under the control of the author during the authoring process without encoding the audio and video data into a streaming media data file for combination with the other media, simulating behavior of a browser that would receive a streaming media data file. The multimedia presentation may include elements that initiate playback of the presentation from a specified point in time. After authoring of the presentation is completed, the authoring tool assists in encoding and transferring the presentation for distribution. Information about the distribution format and location may be stored as user-defined profiles. Communication with the distribution location may be tested and presentation and the distribution information may be audited prior to encoding and transfer to reduce errors. A presentation is encoded according to the defined temporal and spatial relationships and the distribution format and location information to produce and encoded presentation. The encoded presentation and any supporting media data are transferred to the distribution location, such as a server. A streaming media server may be used for streaming media, whereas other data may be stored on a conventional data server. Accounts may be provided for a streaming media server for authors to publish their presentations. The authoring tool may be associated with a service that uses the streaming media server. Such streaming media servers also may be a source of stock footage for use by authors.

Claims

1. A method for publishing a streaming media presentation containing temporal media and events associated with references to nontemporal media combined according to a timeline and a layout specification, comprising:

confirming availability of all of the data files including the temporal and nontemporal media in the streaming media presentation;

encoding the streaming media presentation;

transferring the streaming media presentation to a first streaming media server; and

transferring the nontemporal media data files to a second server.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising previewing the streaming media presentation from the first streaming media server.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising previewing the streaming media presentation before transferring the streaming media presentation.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising setting up a profile indicating account access information, a pathname for reading, a pathname for writing for each of the first and second servers and associated with a name.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein encoding uses the profile to create the streaming media presentation.

6. A system for providing a service to an author for publishing a multimedia presentation, comprising:

an encoder having a first input for receiving a timeline comprising one or more first tracks for temporal media and one or more second tracks for nontemporal media, a second input for receiving a layout specification indicating an association between each of the one or more first tracks and one or more second tracks and a display location and having an output for providing a streaming media presentation containing the temporal media and the nontemporal media combined according to the timeline and the layout specification;

a transfer tool for transferring the streaming media presentation file to a first media server and the nontemporal media to a second media server;

wherein the user has a first account for the streaming media server;

wherein the user has a second account for the second media server; and

wherein the authoring tool has an association with a service that provides the streaming media server.

7. A system for providing a service to authors for creating and publishing multimedia presentations, accessible remotely by an authoring tool capable of transferring data between the authoring tool and the system, comprising:

an account management system enabling multiple users to register, each with a usemame and password and billing information;

a server including computer readable storage media having storage space allocated for each of the registered users, for publishing multimedia presentations for access through a publicly accessible computer network;

a media publication management system for interacting with the authoring tool to enable transfer of streaming media from multimedia presentations from the authoring tool to the server; and

a media access management system accessible by each registered user and enabling each registered user to transfer multimedia data from the system to the authoring tool for use in a multimedia presentation.

8. A method for publishing a presentation specified by a timeline including a plurality of tracks and a layout defining a spatial relationship among media in the plurality of tracks, comprising:

receiving an indication of a distribution format for the presentation and one or more destination storage locations;

for each file referred to in the timeline of the presentation, create a file name for the file in the one or more destination storage locations;

encoding the presentation in the distribution format using the file names in the one or more destination storage locations and indicating the spatial relationship; and

transferring the encoded presentation and each file to the one or more destination storage locations.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising verifying connections with the destination storage location before transferring.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more destination storage locations includes a first media streaming server for the encoded presentation and a second server for each file referred to in the timeline of the presentation