CONVERSION OF DECLARATIVE STATEMENTS INTO A RICH INTERACTIVE NARRATIVE

• US 20120089904A1
• Filed: 12/16/2011
• Published: 04/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Datha, Narendranath, Joy, Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 9,582,506 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/236
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4393 Multimedia presentations, e.g. slide shows, multimedia albums

Abstract

Technologies pertaining to conversion of declarative statements written in a domain-specific language to data that is playable by a rich interactive narrative (RIN) player are described herein. A web browser can be configured to support a RIN player. Source code of a web page includes an indication that the RIN player is to be invoked, declarative statements written in the domain-specific language, and data that identifies a network-accessible location of a converter. The converter is configured to convert declarative statements in the domain-specific language to RIN data that is playable by the RIN player. Thus, a developer of a web page can utilize declarative statements in the domain-specific language to cause a RIN to be included in a web page.

Claims

1. A method that facilitates conversion of declarative statements in a domain specific language to data that is executable by a rich interactive narrative (RIN) player, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of declarative statements in the domain specific language, the plurality of declarative statements defining a narrative, the narrative having a sequence of at least one of audio files, image files, video files, or a combination thereof;

responsive to receiving the plurality of declarative statements in the domain specific language, accessing a computer-executable conversion file that, when provided with the declarative statements in the domain specific language, converts the declarative statements in the domain specific language to RIN data, the RIN data being executable by the RIN player;

receiving the RIN data from the computer-executable conversion file; and

providing the RIN data to the RIN player, the RIN player outputting the at least one of the audio files, the image files, the video files, or the combination thereof in the sequence of the narrative defined in the declarative statements.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of declarative statements are written in XML.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of declarative statements are comprised by a web page.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the narrative comprises a sequence of images that are presented on a web page in an order defined in the plurality of declarative statements.

5. The method of claim 1, the RIN player being referenced in a web page.

6. The method of claim 5 configured for execution by a web browser.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the web page includes machine-readable code, the machine-readable code comprising data that indicates a network-accessible location of the computer-executable conversion file;

the machine-readable code comprising data that indicates a network-accessible location of the at least one of the audio files, the image files, the video files, or the combination thereof.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the declarative statements comprise data that indicates a size of the narrative to be presented by the RIN player on the web page.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the declarative statements comprise an indication of whether selectable controls are desirably displayed on a web page that is to display the narrative, the selectable controls causing the narrative to pause if selected by a user.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable conversion file is accessed from a library of computer-executable conversion files.

11. The method of claim the narrative being a web tutorial that comprises a sequence of instructions.

12. A system that facilitates provision of a rich interactive narrative (RIN) to an end user, the system comprising:

a computer-readable data store that comprises a plurality of declarative statements written in a domain specific language, the plurality of declarative statements defining a narrative having a sequence, the narrative being at least one of an audio or video narrative; and

a converter component that converts the plurality of declarative statements from the domain specific language to a data format that is executable by a RIN player, the RIN player executing the narrative responsive to the converter component converting the plurality of declarative statements from the domain specific language to the data format that is executable by the RIN player.

13. The system of claim 12 being comprised by a mobile telephone.

14. The system of claim 12 being comprised by a tablet computing device.

15. The system of claim 12, the RIN being a downloadable plug-in for a web browser.

16. The system of claim 12, the domain specific language used to define a sequence of images that are desirably displayed on a web page as a slideshow.

17. The system of claim 12, the domain specific language used to define a sequence of audio and/or video instructions in a web tutorial on a web page.

18. The system of claim 12, the rich interactive narrative comprising a sequence of images, and the declarative statements defining an order of presentation of the sequence of images on a web page.

19. The system of claim 18, the declarative statements further defining an amount of time an image is presented on a web page prior to a next image of the sequence being presented to the user.

20. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform acts comprising:

receiving a request to load a web page into a web browser, the web page comprising a plurality of declarative statements therein that are written in a domain specific language, the plurality of declarative statements defining a narrative with a sequence, the sequence comprising a plurality of images that are to be displayed on the web page in conformance with the sequence, the web page comprising an indication of position on the web page where the images are to be displayed, a time interval each image is to be displayed, and network-accessible locations of the images, the web page further comprising a network-accessible location of a computer-executable conversion file that converts the declarative statements in the domain specific language to code that is executable by a rich interactive narrative (RIN) player;

identifying the plurality of declarative statements in the web page;

accessing the computer-executable conversion file at the network-accessible location;

converting the declarative statements into the code that is executable by the RIN player;

initiating the RIN player in the web browser; and

playing the narrative in the RIN player in the web browser such that the plurality of images are displayed on the web page in conformance with the sequence, wherein the plurality of images are displayed on the web page at the position identified in the web page and at time intervals identified in the web page.