INTERACTIVE VIDEO DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM AND VIDEO PLAYER UTILIZING A CLIENT SERVER ARCHITECTURE

• US 20190261044A1
• Filed: 01/17/2019
• Published: 08/22/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Scorpcast LLC (d/b/a HaulStars)
• Original Assignee: Scorpcast LLC (d/b/a HaulStars)
• Inventors: Avedissian, Narbeh, Sreenath, Nikhil
• Granted Patent: US 10,560,738 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0278 Product appraisal
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/10 Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4223 Cameras H04N23/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4312 involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4756 for rating content, e.g. scoring a recommended movie
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02

Abstract

An interactive video distribution system and video player are described. A client server arrangement may be used for providing a video player and video content to a client device. The video player may display navigation images enabling navigation to specific portions of the video content by activating a corresponding navigation image. The video player may also enable the sharing of a segment of the video with other video players, enabling the video players to play the streamed segment of the video without having to play the entire video, thereby reducing network bandwidth usage. The video player may be embeddable. The server may associate searchable tags with respective video segments.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. A system, comprising:

a network interface;

at least one processing device;

non-transitory memory storing programmatic code that when executed by the at least one processing device, cause the system to;

cause a first user interface to be displayed that enables a first user to upload a first video or provide a link to the first video to a remote system;

provide over a network using the network interface an upload of a first video or a link thereto to remote system identified by the first user via the first user interface;

cause a second user interface to be displayed that enables the first user to;

provide at least one of an upload indication for or a link to an image,

add text to be associated with the image, and

add a link to a destination;

provide, over the network using the network interface to the remote system;

an upload of a first image, a received link to the first image, and/or a received first item of text, and

a received link to a first destination;

display the first video via a content player in association with a scrubber bar;

receive from the first user, via the scrubber bar and a first control, a definition as to when the first image and/or first item of text are to be displayed as an overlay when the first video is played back;

provide, over the network using the network interface to the remote system, the definition as to when the first image and/or first item of text are to be displayed when the first video is played back;

provide, over the network using the network interface to the remote system;

an upload of a second image, a received link to the second image, and/or a received second item of text, and

a received link to a second destination;

receive from the first user, via the scrubber bar and a first control, a definition as to when the second image and/or second item of text are to be displayed as an overlay when the first video is played back;

provide, over the network using the network interface to the remote system, the definition as to when the second image and/or second item of text are to be displayed when the first video is played back;

wherein the remote system is configured to;

enable a video player on a first user terminal of a second user to play the first video, and display;

the first image and/or first item of text as an overlay in accordance with the definition as to when the first image and/or text are to be displayed when the first video is played back;

the second image and/or second item of text as an overlay in accordance with the definition as to when the second image is to be displayed when the first video is played back;

wherein in response to detecting that the second user has selected;

the first image and/or first item of text, or

the second image and/or second item of text,

a respective destination link, comprising a respective destination URL is activated, and a respective network destination corresponding to the respective destination URL is accessed by the first user terminal.

3. The system as defined in claim 2, wherein the video player is configured to provide a share control, wherein in response to detecting activation of the share control, a link to content of the first video is shared with a first recipient.

4. The system as defined in claim 2, wherein the video player is configured to provide a like control, wherein in response to detecting activation of the like control, a like indication is caused to be stored.

5. The system as defined in claim 2, further comprising wherein the system is configured to provide a preview control, which when activated, enables the first user to review the first video prior to posting the first video.

6. The system as defined in claim 2, wherein the system is configured to provide an upload interface configured to enable a user to drag content to the upload interface to initiate an upload of the content dragged to the upload interface to the remote system.

7. The system as defined in claim 2, wherein the system is configured to provide an interface configured to display a user to organize videos of the user by category.

8. The system as defined in claim 2, wherein the system is configured to limit the size of uploaded videos to a first file size.

9. The system as defined in claim 2, wherein the system is configured to limit the time length of uploaded videos to a first time length.

10. The system as defined in claim 2, wherein the remote system is configured to enable the video player to be embedded on a third party site and the first video to be played via the video player embedded on the third party site.

11. The system as defined in claim 2, wherein the remote system is configured to enable the video player to be embedded on a social networking site and the first video to be played via the video player embedded on the social networking site, wherein viewers are enabled to add comments related to the first video.

12. The system as defined in claim 2, wherein the system is configured to display:

a user interface that enables the first user to define a plurality of segments in the first video by selecting a starting frame from the first video for each segment,

a user interface enabling the first user to;

define a hot spot to be provided within a video player playback area, and

define a navigation operation associated with activation of the hot spot, wherein activation of the hot spot while the first video is played back by the video player causes a navigation action to be performed.

13. The system as defined in claim 2, wherein the system is configured to receive from the first user a definition of a plurality of segments in the first video via a selection of a starting frame from the first video for a given segment.

14. The system as defined in claim 2, wherein the remote system is configured to provide a user interface to the first user terminal enabling the second user to specify a communication channel from a set communication channels for sharing the content of the first video, the set of communication channels comprising a social network service, a microblogging service, and email.

15. The system as defined in claim 2, wherein the system is configured to provide a user interface enabling the first user to navigate backwards and forwards through the first video to select a frame to be associated with a given image uploaded by the first user separately from the first video.

16. The system as defined in claim 2, wherein the system is configured to provide a user interface enabling the first user to define a hot spot to be provided within a video player playback area and define a navigation operation associated with activation of the hot spot, wherein activation of the hot spot while the first video is played back by the video player causes a navigation action to be performed.

17. The system as defined in claim 2, wherein the system is configured to display the first image adjacent to a scrubber during a corresponding segment when the first video is played back.

18. The system as defined in claim 2, wherein the system is configured to provide a user interface to the remote system enabling the first user edit first video data.

19. A computer implemented method, comprising:

causing, by a computer system comprising hardware, a first user interface to be displayed that enables a first user to upload a first video or provide a link to the first video to a remote system;

providing, by the computer system over a network, an upload of a first video or a link thereto identified by the first user via the first user interface to the remote system;

causing, by the computer system, a second user interface to be displayed that enables the first user to;

provide at least one of an upload indication for or a link to an image,

add text to be associated with the image, and

add a link to a destination;

provide, over the network using the network interface to the remote system;

an upload of a first image, a received link to the first image, and/or a received first item of text, and

a received link to a first destination;

displaying, by the computer system, the first video via a content player in association with a scrubber control;

enabling, by the computer system, the first user to define when the first image and/or first item of text are to be displayed when the first video is played back;

receiving, at the computer system, from the first user a definition as to when the first image and/or first item of text to be displayed when the first video is played back;

providing, by the computer system over the network to the remote system, the definition as to when the first image and/or first item of text are to be displayed when the first video is played back;

provide, over the network using the network interface to the remote system;

an upload of a second image, a received link to the second image, and/or a received second item of text, and

a received link to a second destination;

enabling the first user to define when the second image and/or second item of text are to be displayed when the first video is played back;

receiving at the computer system from the first user a definition as to when the second image and/or second item of text are to be displayed when the first video is played back;

providing, by the computer system over the network to the remote system, the definition as to when the second image and/or second item of text are to be displayed when the first video is played back.

20. The method as defined in claim 19, the method further comprising:

displaying an interface configured to enable a user to drag content to the interface and to upload the content dragged to the interface to the remote system;

displaying for display an interface configured to enable a user to organize videos of the user by category; and

enabling the size of uploaded videos to be limited to a first file size; and

wherein the video player is embeddable on a third party site.

21. The method as defined in claim 19, the video player is embeddable on a social networking site and the first video to be played via the video player embedded on the social networking site, wherein viewers are enabled to add comments related to the first video.

22. The method as defined in claim 19, wherein enabling the first user to define when the first image is to be displayed when the first video is played back, further comprises enabling the first user to define, using the scrubber control, when the first image is to be displayed when the first video is played back.

23. The method as defined in claim 19, the method further comprising enabling the second user to specify a communication channel from a set communication channels for sharing the content of the first video, the set of communication channels comprising a social network service and a microblogging service.

24. The method as defined in claim 19, the method further comprising displaying a user interface that enables the first user to navigate backwards and forwards through the first video to select a frame to be associated with a given image uploaded by the first user separately from the first video.

25. Non-transitory computer-readable media including computer-executable instructions that, when executed by computer system, cause the computer system to at least:

cause a first user interface to be displayed that enables a first user to upload a video or provide a link to the video to a remote system;

provide an upload of a first video or a link thereto, identified using the first user interface, to the remote system;

provide, over the network using the network interface to the remote system;

an upload of a first image, a link to the first image, and/or a first item of text, and

a link to a first destination;

display the first video via a content player in association with a scrubber control;

receive from the first user a definition as to when the first image and/or first item of text are to be displayed when the first video is played back, wherein the definition as to when the first image and/or first item of text are to be displayed is provided at least in part via the scrubber control;

provide to the remote system the definition as to when the first image and/or first item of text are to be displayed when the first video is played back;

provide, over the network using the network interface to the remote system;

an upload of the second image, a link to the second image, and/or a second item of text, and

a link to a second destination;

receive from the first user a definition as to when the second image is to be displayed when the first video is played back; and

provide, by the computer system over the network to the remote system, the definition as to when the second image and/or second item of text are to be displayed when the first video is played back.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable media as defined in claim 25:

wherein the provision of the upload of or a link to the first image, the first item of text, the first link, the definition as to when the first image is to be displayed when the first video is played back, the upload of or a link to the second image, the second item of text, and the second link, and the definition as to when the second image is to be displayed when the first video is played back is configured to enable, at least in part;

enable a video player displayed on a user terminal of a second user to;

play the first video, and

display;

the first image in accordance with the definition as to when the first image is to be displayed when the first video is played back;

the second image in accordance with the definition as to when the second image is to be displayed when the first video is played back;

wherein in response to detecting that the second user has selected the first or the second image, a respective link, comprising a respective destination URL is activated, and a respective network destination corresponding to the respective destination URL is accessed by the user terminal.

27. The non-transitory computer-readable media as defined in claim 25, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by computer system, cause the computer system to:

display an interface configured to enable a user to drag content to the interface and to upload the content dragged to the interface to the computer system; and

display an interface configured to enable a user to organize videos of the user by category.

28. The non-transitory computer-readable media as defined in claim 25, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by computer system, cause the computer system to enable the video player to be embedded on a social networking site and the first video to be played via the video player embedded on the social networking site, wherein viewers are enabled to add comments related to the first video.

29. The non-transitory computer-readable media as defined in claim 25, wherein enabling the first user to define when the first image is to be displayed when the first video is played back, further comprises enabling the first user to define, using the scrubber control, when the first image is to be displayed when the first video is played back

30. The non-transitory computer-readable media as defined in claim 25, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by computer system, cause the computer system to provide a user interface to be displayed that enables the first user to navigate backwards and forwards through the first video to select a frame to be associated with a given image uploaded by the first user separately from the first video.