METHODS, APPARATUS AND SYSTEMS FOR TIME-BASED AND GEOGRAPHIC NAVIGATION OF VIDEO CONTENT

• US 20150310895A1
• Filed: 03/24/2015
• Published: 10/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TVU Networks Corporation
• Original Assignee: TVU Networks Corporation
• Inventors: Shen, Paul, McEwen, Matthew Richard, Yao, Shiwen
• Granted Patent: US 9,640,223 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/732 Query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/78 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/7867 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, title and artist information, manually generated time, location and usage information, user ratings
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/787 using geographical or spatial information, e.g. location
• 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 21/2353 specifically adapted to content descriptors, e.g. coding, compressing or processing of metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2743 Video hosting of uploaded data from client
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47205 for manipulating displayed content, e.g. interacting with MPEG-4 objects, editing locally
• 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

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, and systems for time-based and geographic navigation of video content are provided. Video content and associated metadata information are recorded and encoded using a video capture and encoding module. The associated metadata information includes at least one of date and time information of the recording and geographic position information indicative of a recording location. The recorded video content and the associated metadata information are communicated to a remote storage and web server device. A graphical user interface enables the display of an interactive map showing a route and current location of the video capture and encoding module. The video content may be searched using at least one of the graphical user interface and the interactive map by the date and/or time information and the geographic position information. Selected video content can be streamed or downloaded to a select location for display or storage.

Claims

1. A system for time-based and geographic navigation of video content, comprising:

an Internet enabled video capture and encoding module for recording and encoding video content and associated metadata information for storage and transmission, the associated metadata information including at least one of date and time information of the recording and geographic position information indicative of a recording location of the video capture and encoding module during the recording;

a remote storage and web server device for receiving the recorded video content and the associated metadata information from the video capture and encoding module; and

a graphical user interface associated with the remote storage and web server device comprising an interactive map showing a route and a current location of the video capture and encoding module and enabling a search of the recorded video content by the at least one of the date and time information and the geographic position information;

wherein selected recorded video content is one of streamed or downloaded to a select location for display or storage.

2. A system in accordance with claim 1, further comprising:

a local storage module associated with the video capture and encoding module for locally storing the recorded video content and associated metadata information.

3. A system in accordance with claim 2, wherein the local storage module is one of integrated into the video capture and encoding module or connected to the video capture and encoding module via a wired or wireless connection.

4. A system in accordance with claim 2, wherein the local storage module stores one of a high-resolution version of the video content or a low resolution version of the video content.

5. A system in accordance with claim 4, wherein the low-resolution version of the video content is provided to the remote storage and web server device.

6. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein at least one of a high-resolution version or a low-resolution version of the video content is provided to the remote storage and web server device.

7. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein, upon selection of the recorded video content, a high-resolution version of the selected recorded video content is streamed or downloaded to the select location.

8. A system in accordance with claim 7, wherein the high-resolution version of the selected recorded video content is streamed or downloaded from one of a local storage module associated with the video capture and encoding module or the remote storage and web server device.

9. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the select location comprises one of a video server, a client viewing device, a broadcast television channel, a streaming channel, a newsfeed, a website, a social media platform, a playout server, an archive server, a news automation system, a non-linear editing system, a content delivery network (CDN), and an online video portal (OVP).

10. A system in accordance with claim 1, comprising:

multiple video capture and encoding modules;

wherein a corresponding plurality of routes and current locations for each of the plurality of the video capture and encoding modules are displayed on the interactive map.

11. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein:

for each of the recording locations along the route, a waypoint indicator is displayed on the route on the interactive map.

12. A system in accordance with claim 11, wherein selecting one of the waypoint indicators enables viewing of one of a low-resolution photograph or a low resolution video clip from the recorded content at the corresponding recording location.

13. A system in accordance with claim 11, wherein the waypoint indicators comprise one of a low-resolution photograph or a low resolution video clip from the recorded content at the corresponding recording location.

14. A system in accordance with claim 11, wherein a number of waypoint indicators displayed along each route is configurable.

15. A system in accordance with claim 11, wherein a number of waypoint indicators displayed along each route is automatically adjusted when zooming or expanding a map view of the map.

16. A system in accordance with claim 11, wherein:

the graphical user interface further comprises a table showing date, time and GPS coordinates for each way point; and

selecting an entry from the table enables viewing of one of a low-resolution photograph or a low resolution video clip from the recorded content at the corresponding recording location.

17. A system in accordance with claim 1, further comprising:

a GPS module associated with the video capture and encoding module for providing the geographic position information.

18. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein:

the metadata information further comprises at least one of camera location, length of video, video and audio format, timecode, size of video file, camera identification information, ownership and copyright information, and additional metadata information predefined or dynamically logged by a user;

the additional metadata information includes at least one of assignment name, geographic location, camera man name, reporter name, camera crew name, assistant name, producer name, story title, subject matter reference, program name, and user comments;

the video content is searchable by any of the metadata information or a combination of any of the metadata information.

19. A system in accordance with claim 18, wherein the video content is further searchable using at least one of a range of dates, a range of times, a timecode, and a current time.

20. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the interactive map displays current position, speed, and direction information of the video capture and encoding module.

21. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the video capture and encoding module comprises one of a video camera, a camcorder, a television camera, a movie camera, a portable electronic device, a tablet computer, a smart phone, and an IP or web camera.

22. A system in accordance with claim 1, further comprising:

a remote access device for remotely accessing the remote storage and web server device;

wherein;

the graphical user interface is displayed on the remote access device; and

the remote access device comprises one of a computer, a laptop computer, a portable electronic device, a tablet computer, and a smart phone.

23. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the remote storage and web server device comprises one of a computer running a local software application or a cloud-based application.

24. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the selected recorded video content comprises one of a selected portion of the recorded content at high-resolution or low resolution, the entirety of the recorded content at high-resolution or low resolution, and a selected image or images from the recorded content at high-resolution or low-resolution.

25. A system in accordance with claim 1, the metadata is one of:

recorded and stored simultaneously with the recorded video content at the remote storage and web server device in real-time or near real-time;

or subsequently transferred with the recorded video content to the remote storage and web server device from local storage associated with the video capture and encoding module.

26. A system in accordance with claim 1, the metadata is one of:

recorded and stored without the recorded video content at the remote storage and web server device in real-time or near real-time;

or subsequently transferred to the remote storage and web server device from local storage associated with the video capture and encoding module separately from the recorded video content.

27. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface further comprises at least one of:

a zoom feature for zooming in on the route or a portion of the route;

an expand feature for expanding an area of the map;

a location change feature for changing a display location of the map;

a selection interface for selecting at least one of a time and date range of the route being displayed.

28. A method for time-based and geographic navigation of video content, comprising:

recording and encoding video content and associated metadata information for storage and transmission using a video capture and encoding module, the associated metadata information including at least one of date and time information of the recording and geographic position information indicative of a recording location of the video capture and encoding module during the recording;

communicating the recorded video content and the associated metadata information from the video capture and encoding module to a remote storage and web server device;

enabling, via a graphical user interface associated with the remote storage and web server device, display of an interactive map showing a route and current location of the video capture and encoding module;

searching the recorded video content using at least one of the graphical user interface and the interactive map by the at least one of the date and time information and the geographic position information; and

selecting recorded video content for one of streaming or downloading to a select location for display or storage.