NARRATIVE-BASED MEDIA ORGANIZING SYSTEM FOR CONVERTING DIGITALMEDIA INTO PERSONAL STORY

• US 20130198602A1
• Filed: 02/03/2011
• Published: 08/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Nik Software, Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Kokemohr, Nils
• Granted Patent: US 9,460,068 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/233
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/41 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4393 Multimedia presentations, e.g. slide shows, multimedia albums
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes

Abstract

A computer system for a narrational media organizer for transforming digital media into a personal, memorable story with minimal user input having a processor and storage with instructions for creating a narrational media organizer (NMO) environment, where a user can annotate one or more than one digital media file or graphical representations of the digital media files using a user interface; and an NMO data structure for storing the digital media and annotations of the NMO environment.

Claims

1. A computer system for a narrational media organizer for transforming digital media into a personal, memorable story with minimal user input, the system comprising:

a) one or more than one processor;

b) a machine readable storage connected to the one or more than one processor;

c) a set of machine readable instructions stored in the machine readable storage and operable on the one or more than one processor for creating a narrational media organizer (NMO) environment, where the instructions enable a user to annotate one or more than one digital media file, where the one or more than one digital media files are displayed as graphical representations of each of the digital media files;

d) a user interface operably connected to the set of computer instructions for transmitting one or more than one command to the one or more than one processor;

e) an NMO data structure operably connected to the computer instructions and the user interface for storing the digital media and annotations; and

f) a storage operably connected to the one or more than one processor for storing the narrational media organizer environment data structure.

2. The system of claim 1, where the computer instructions further comprises instructions to receive textual annotations from the user and to place a graphical instance of the textual annotations between the graphical representations of the digital media representations.

3. The system of claim 1, where the computer instructions further comprises instructions to receive input from the user that construct a paragraph within the NMO environment.

4. The system of claim 1, where the computer instructions further comprises instructions to receive input from the user to exclude one or more than one digital media from the NMO environment, thereby making space available for the remainder of the digital media collection.

5. The system of claim 4, where the excluded digital media file is represented in a form that requires less display space in the NMO environment.

6. The system of claim 4, where the computer instructions further comprises instructions to re-include a digital media file in the NMO environment.

7. The system of claim 4, where the computer instructions further comprises instructions for excluding the excluded digital media in an NMO output.

8. The system of claim 2, where the computer instructions for receiving textual annotations from the user further comprises instructions to receive annotations that relate to an event that occurred between two digital media.

9. The system of claim 2, where the computer instructions for receiving textual annotations from the user further comprises instructions to receive annotations that relate to contents of a single digital media.

10. The system of claim 2, where the computer instructions to receive textual annotations from the user further comprises instructions to receive annotations that relate to one or more than one detail within the digital media.

11. The system of claim 2, where the computer instructions for receiving textual annotations from the user further comprises instructions to receive annotations related to contents of a following numbered series of digital media.

12. The system of claim 2, where the computer instructions for receiving textual annotations from the user further comprises instructions to receive annotations related to contents of a following unnumbered series of digital media.

13. The system of claim 2, where the computer instructions for receiving textual annotations from the user further comprises instructions to receive a paragraph headline annotation related to the contents of a following section of digital media.

14. The system of claim 3, where the computer instructions further comprises instructions for the creation of a paragraph using an input device, a gesture or both an input device and a gesture, thereby, adding space between the digital media in the form of a new paragraph.

15. The system of claim 14, where the creation of a new paragraph also includes adding space in the NMO environment for a headline.

16. The system of claim 14, where the gesture is performed by the user by taking the graphical representation of the digital media with a pointing device and dragging it down.

17. The system of claim 1, where the computer instructions further comprises instructions to reposition a cursor between the graphical representation of the digital media.

18. The system of claim 17, where the cursor position can be controlled by arrow keys, keyboard key combinations, or by a pointing device.

19. The system of claim 18, where the cursor position can be controlled by the return key to create a paragraph, and thereby move the digital media subsequent to the cursor position to be moved down and form a new paragraph.

20. The system of claim 19, where the creation of a new paragraph also includes adding space in the NMO environment for a headline.

21. The system of claim 1, where the computer instructions further comprises instructions to provide the user control over a cursor positioned between digital media, where the position of the cursor can be controlled by the user to add a textual input by the user;

where the textual input will trigger instructions to the NMO environment to receive the textual input as an annotation and place it at the position of the cursor.

22. The system of claim 1, where the computer instructions further comprises instructions to present a user interface menu option for switching between a first mode and a second mode, where the first mode is suitable to review the digital media collection with the current status of annotations, and the second mode is suitable to receive annotations or digital media exclusion information from the user.

23. A system for a narrational media organizer for transforming digital media into a personal, memorable story with minimal user input, the system comprising:

a) providing the system of claim 1;

b) a display of digital media and narration as a sequence of icons of digital media and other elements, the display comprising;

1) an algorithm suitable to display all digital media initially at same on-screen height;

2) an algorithm to display comments in-between the digital media;

3) graphical marks to indicate different types of narrational annotations; and

4) vertical spatial inserts between the digital media chosen by the user to indicate that a section or paragraph is to be displayed at this location, leaving room for a paragraph headline at this location.

24. The system of claim 23, where the size of a selection of the displayed digital media can be increased to emphasize the selected digital media.

25. The system of claim 23, where one or more than one of the displayed digital media comprises a flag to emphasize the displayed digital media.

26. The system of claim 23, further comprising means for generating NMO output, where the emphasized digital media are displayed in a larger size.

27. The system of claim 23, further comprising means for generating NMO output, where the emphasized digital media are displayed on a dedicated page.

28. The system of claim 23, further comprising means for generating NMO output, where the emphasized digital media are displayed with an animated presentation.

40. The system of claim 1, where the computer instructions further comprises instructions for cropping one or more than one digital media within the NMO environment.

41. The system of claim 40, where the computer instructions further comprises instructions for rescaling the digital media preview and to rearrange, if necessary, subsequent digital media in the NMO environment.

46. The system of claim 1, where the data structure comprises:

a) one or more than one fields for storing a list of digital media elements information;

b) one or more than one fields for storing annotation information; and

c) one or more than one fields for storing paragraph information.

47. The system of claim 46, where the annotation information comprises a data field for storing the type of the annotation, where the data field also comprises a hyperlink field suitable to link the annotation to one or more than one digital media parameters.

48. The system of claim 47, where the digital media parameters are selected from the group comprising a digital media detail, a series of digital media files and a single digital media file.

49. The system of claim 46, where the one or more than one digital media information field comprises actual digital media data, a storage location of the digital media data, or both the actual digital media data and the storage location of the digital media data.

50. The system of claim 46, where the one or more than one digital media information field comprises a marker to indicate the exclusion of the digital media from the NMO output.

51. The system of claim 46, where the one or more than one digital media information field comprises a marker to indicate whether or not the digital media will be printed at a larger size in the NMO output.

52. The system of claim 46, further comprising a second list of digital media elements where the second list is created when a user triggers the system to output an NMO output.

53. The system of claim 46, where the user can choose between more than one lists related to one digital media collection.

54. The system of claim 47 where the one or more than one list represent different versions of a user narrated story for the digital media collection.

55. The system of claim 1, where the data structure comprises a first list and a second list, where the first list and the second list comprise one or more of the following:

a) digital media; and

b) a reference to digital media data.

56. The system of claim 55, where the first list is a list of elements pointing to elements in the second list, and where the first or the second list contain information or pointers to information to annotations and information regarding the type of the annotation, the information being suitable to link the annotation to one or more than one of the following:

A digital media detail, a series of digital medias, a digital media.

57. The system of claim 23, further comprising the step of non-destructive exclusion of one or more than one of the digital media.

58. The system of claim 57, where the step of non-destructive exclusion is performed by clicking on an icon superimposed on each of the digital media, thereby minimizing the digital media.

59. The system of claim 58, where the minimized digital media can be represented by a smaller version of the digital media.

60. The system of claim 58, where the minimized digital media can be represented by an icon that is displayed at the location of the digital media.

61. The system of claim 57, where the step of non-destructive exclusion is performed by initially displaying the digital media on a side bar, top bar or gutter, and then selecting and positioning each selected digital media on a large space suitable to receive and arrange the selected digital media and annotations.

62. The system of claim 57, where the step of non-destructive exclusion is performed by initially displaying the digital media in a sequence and providing a side bar, top bar or gutter where the user can move the digital media to be excluded from the narration.

29. A method for a narrational media organizer for transforming digital media into a personal, memorable story with minimal user input, the method comprising the steps of:

a) presenting to the user a collection of digital media;

b) receiving one or more than one different types of digital media annotations;

c) receiving a selection to exclude digital media from the digital media narration; and

d) producing graphics that comprise both one or more versions of the digital media and digital media annotations that are suitable to be uploaded or mailed or shared.

30. The method of claim 29, where the presented collection is transformed into smaller resolution versions of the original digital media.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising the step of uploading, emailing, or both uploading and emailing the smaller resolution versions of the digital media and adding a link to an internet accessible data store comprising the original digital media.

32. A method for a narrational media organizer for transforming digital media into a personal, memorable story with minimal user input, the method comprising the steps of:

a) providing a user menu where the user can choose from a list of NMO outputs;

b) providing at least one algorithm suitable to interpret a data structure representing digital media and one or more than one annotation type and suitable to generate at one or more than one NMO outputs based on the same data structure; and

c) outputting the NMO data structure to a physical format, a virtual format, or both a physical and virtual format.

33. The method of claim 32, where the NMO output is selected from the group comprising, a web page, a PDF, a photo book, or a printed photo collection, and an email with contents of text and digital media suitable to represent the story created in the NMO environment.

34. The method of claim 32, further comprising the step of applying a graphical style to the digital media, where the style can change parameters of the displayed digital media.

35. The method of claim 34, where the style can comprise one or more than one of the following:

a) a digital media filter to the digital media;

b) a background graphic behind the digital media;

c) a text style of the textual annotations;

d) a spatial arrangement; and

e) a layout style of the digital media and annotations.

36. The method of claim 35, where the style can be applied to a selection of the digital media.

37. The method of claim 35, where the style can be applied to a paragraph of the digital media.

38. The method of claim 35, where the style can be applied to all of the digital media.

39. The method of claim 35 further comprises the step of outputting the NMO environment with the applied style.

42. A method for a narrational media organizer for transforming digital media into a personal, memorable story with minimal user input, the method comprising the steps of:

a) generating an NMO output;

b) uploading the NMO output to a publicly accessible digital storage;

c) uploading the NMO output to a web community.

43. A system for a narrational media organizer for transforming digital media into a personal, memorable story with minimal user input, the system comprising:

a) means for generating an NMO output;

b) means for uploading the NMO output to a publicly accessible digital storage; and

c) means for uploading a hyperlink to the NMO output to a web community.

44. The system of claim 43, where the hyperlink further comprises a title for a story created in the NMO environment.

45. The system of claim 43, where the NMO output further comprises an icon representing the story, and a hyperlink from the web community to the publicly accessible digital storage.

63. A method for a narrational media organizer for transforming digital media into a personal, memorable story with minimal user input, the method comprising the steps of:

a) combining two or more different digital media collections of one or more than one event from two or more contributing users;

b) providing an algorithm suitable to combine the different digital media collections into a single NMO environment;

c) editing the single NMO environment by two or more users; and

d) outputting a single NMO output to the two or more users.

64. The method of claim 63, where the combined data collection comprises at least two different annotation types.

65. The method of claim 63, where an excluded digital media in one of the two or more different digital media collections are not combined in the single NMO environment.

66. The method of claim 63, further comprising the step of granting permissions to a non-contributing user that did not provide any of the digital media, where the non-contributing user can add annotations to the digital NMO environment, and where the contributing users can add the non-contributing user'"'"'s annotations into each of the two or more different digital media collections.

67. A method for a narrational media organizer for transforming digital media into a personal, memorable story with minimal user input, the method comprising the steps of:

a) providing a standard NMO environment;

b) providing a preview NMO environment;

c) non-destructively excluding digital media from the NMO environment;

d) including at least two different annotation types;

e) automatically creating an NMO output;

f) providing a preview to a user of the NMO output on a display within a preview NMO environment;

g) editing annotations within the NMO output preview on the display;

h) updating the NMO output preview;

i) updating the NMO data structure;

j) updating the displayed contents in the NMO environment;

k) outputting from the NMO environment; and

l) providing an output creation algorithm for outputting data stored in the NMO environment.

68. The method of claim 67, where the algorithm is operable to transform the NMO output to a hardcopy format of the NMO environment.

69. The method of claim 68, where the algorithm is operable to transform the NMO output to a digital copy of the hardcopy, where the digital copy can be accessed and previewed using the Internet.

70. The method of claim 69, where the digital copy can be ordered as a hardcopy of the NMO output.

71. A method for a narrational media organizer for transforming digital media into a personal, memorable story with minimal user input, the method comprising the steps of:

a) creating an NMO output;

b) providing an NMO output creation algorithm, where the algorithm is operable to output a hardcopy of an NMO output, a digital copy of the NMO output, or both a hardcopy and a digital copy of the NMO output;

c) uploading the digital copy to a web community or a public forum; and

d) providing a means for ordering a hardcopy of the NMO output hardcopy.

72. A method for a narrational media organizer for transforming digital media into a personal, memorable story with minimal user input, the method comprising the steps of:

a) providing one or more than one digital media files;

b) adding annotations to the one or more than one digital media files;

c) non-destructively excluding one or more than one of the digital media files from being output within an NMO environment;

d) providing an algorithm suitable to produce a hardcopy of the NMO environment; and

e) providing an algorithm suitable to produce a virtual copy of the NMO environment.

73. The method of claim 72, further comprising the step of providing a selector of at least two different NMO output types.

74. The method of claim 72, where the hardcopy is selected from the group consisting of a printed journal, a photo book, a calendar, a series of printed digital media with or without annotations, a scrapbook and a family history.

75. The method of claim 72, further including the step of providing access to the virtual copy of the NMO environment.

76. The method of claim 75, where the access to the virtual copy of the NMO environment comprises a physical data storage including data of digital media not included in the NMO output, a code, a web link, a password to access a website, an authentication code suitable to authenticate an owner of the NMO output hardcopy to retain the digital media data from a manufacturer of an NMO output hardcopy, from the provider of the NMO environment software, or from a third trusted company.

77. A computer system for a narrational media organizer for transforming digital media into a personal, memorable story with minimal user input, the system comprising:

a) one or more than one processor;

b) a machine readable storage connected to the one or more than one processor;

c) a set of machine readable instructions stored in the machine readable storage and operable on the one or more than one processor for creating a narrational media organizer environment, where the instructions enable a user to annotate one or more than one digital media file, where the one or more than one digital media files are displayed as graphical representations of each of the digital media files;

d) a user interface operably connected to the set of computer instructions for transmitting one or more than one command to the microprocessor;

e) an NMO data structure operably connected to the computer instructions and the user interface for storing the digital media and annotations; and

f) a storage operably connected to the microprocessor for storing the narrational media organizer environment data structure.

78. The system of claim 77, where the computer instructions further comprises instructions for displaying a selection of the narrational media organizer on a graphical representation of the one or more than one digital media to non-destructively excluded digital media.

79. The system of claim 77, where the computer instructions further comprises instructions for displaying a selection of the narrational media organizer on a graphical representation of the one or more than one digital media tore-include previously excluded digital media.

80. The system of claim 79, where there-included digital media is restored to a full graphical representation of the digital media.

81. The system of claim 77, where the computer instructions further comprises instructions for displaying a selection of the narrational media organizer on a graphical representation of the one or more than one digital media to destructively exclude the digital media.

82. A method for a narrational media organizer for transforming digital media into a personal, memorable story with minimal user input, the method comprising the steps of:

a) providing a standard NMO environment;

b) providing a preview NMO environment;

c) non-destructively excluding digital media from the NMO environment;

d) including at least two different annotation types;

e) automatically creating an NMO output; and

f) providing a preview to a user of the NMO output on a display within a preview NMO environment.

83. A method for a narrational media organizer for transforming digital media into a personal, memorable story with minimal user input, the method comprising the steps of:

a) editing annotations within the NMO output preview on the display;

b) updating the NMO output preview;

c) updating the NMO data structure;

d) updating the displayed contents in the NMO environment;

e) outputting from the NMO environment; and

f) providing an output creation algorithm for outputting data stored in the NMO environment.