Selection bins for browsing, annotating, sorting, clustering, and filtering media objects

• US 7,509,321 B2
• Filed: 01/21/2003
• Issued: 03/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Glatzer, Asta L., Glenner, Steve, Wong, Curtis G., Drucker, Steven M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cottingham; John R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pham; Michael
• Application Number:
  US10/348,423
• Publication Number:
  US 20040143590A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,254 Days
• Field of Search: 707/102, 707/200, 707/104.1, 725/60
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/904 Browsing; Visualisation therefor for navigating the web G06F16/954; browsing optimisation for the web G06F16/957
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

The present invention provides a unique system and method for facilitating browsing, sorting, clustering, and filtering any number of media objects grouped together in a quick and easy manner. In particular, the invention involves annotating the media objects, which have been clustered, sorted, and/or filtered en masse rather than individually, with metadata. The media objects may be selected by a user and annotated with a plurality of metadata as desired by a user in order to optimize utilization of the media objects. The media objects may also be combined and/or mixed in any number of ways to create new media objects. Media objects may include an audio component, a visual component, a portion thereof, and/or any combination thereof.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates working with media objects, the system comprising:

at least one processor coupled to at least one memory;

at least one bin component generated by at least a single digit number key stroke selected by a user that creates a work space for a set of media objects;

a component that facilitates tagging metadata with the at least one bin component;

a component that facilitates moving respective temporary copies of at least one media object selected from among the set of media objects into the at least one bin component and annotating the respective temporary copies of the at least one selected media object with metadata associated with the at least one bin component without modifying or annotating respective permanent versions of the at least one selected media object corresponding to the respective temporary copies;

a component that facilitates removing the respective temporary copies of the at least one media object from the at least one bin component;

a scrubber that removes extraneous metadata from the respective temporary copies of the at least one media object based on user instructions, wherein the extraneous metadata removed by the scrubber comprise respective metadata of the metadata tagged to the at least one bin component with which the respective temporary copies of the at least one media object has been removed;

a media analyzer-annotation component that analyzes the respective temporary copies and the respective permanent versions of the at least one selected media object, extracts one or more characteristics common to the respective temporary copies and the respective permanent versions of the at least one selected media object, generates metadata based at least in part on the characteristics common to the respective temporary copies and the respective permanent versions of the at least one selected media object, and annotates the respective temporary copies of the at least one selected media object with the generated metadata; and

a metadata historical component that tracks and records current metadata tagged to the respective permanent versions of the at least one selected media object and the respective temporary versions of the at least one selected media object corresponding to the at least one bin component, tracks and records previous metadata which have been removed from the respective temporary copies of the at least one media object corresponding to at least one bin component into which the respective temporary copies of the at least one media object have been previously tagged and subsequently removed from the respective temporary copies of the at least one media object by the scrubber, and ranks the current metadata.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a user selection component that facilitates selecting media objects to be placed in the at least one bin component.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a scrolling component that facilitates browsing of the at least one bin component.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising an object counter associated with respective bin components that provides a quantity of media objects included therein.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising a bin component label associated with respective bin components that generally identifies the media objects included therein.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the media objects overlap between one or more bin components.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein media objects in a bin component are enlarged for browsing and viewing upon selection of the bin component.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one bin component comprises one or more media objects that are accessible to one or more users via secured communication portals.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the bin component is accessible to a first user and hidden from at least a second user.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the bin component is transmitted via email.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one media object in the bin component is rotated according to user preferences.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the bin component is saved and retained for later use.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the bin component is ordered based at least in part on user instructions.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the media objects in the respective bin components are ordered based at least in part on user instructions.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the metadata associated with the bin component is compatible and annotatable to a media object comprising any suitable file format.

34. The system of claim 1, further comprising a component that facilitates deletion of the at least one bin component and the temporary copy of the media object placed therein.

35. The system of claim 1, further comprising a component that annotates a media object with metadata associated with at least one bin component into which the temporary copy of the media object is placed upon identifying a user preference for permanent annotation of the media object.

36. The system of claim 1, wherein the metadata historical component further tracks and records one or more actions performed on the at least one bin component.

37. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more media objects are secured from manipulation by one or more users via a password.

16. A system that facilitates working with media objects, the system comprising:

at least one processor coupled to at least one memory;

at least one media object selected from a group of media objects;

at least one bin component that facilitates creating a work space for the selected media objects upon a user-selected single digit number key stroke, the at least one bin component having respective temporary copies of at least one selected media object associated with the at least one bin component;

a component that facilitates tagging metadata to the at least one bin component, moving the respective temporary copies of the at least one selected media object to the at least one bin component, and annotating the respective temporary versions of the at least one selected media object associated with the at least one bin component with metadata comprising the metadata tagged to the at least one bin component, wherein the annotating is performed without altering or tagging respective permanent versions of the at least one selected media object corresponding to the respective temporary copies;

a metadata removing component that facilitates removing extraneous metadata from the respective temporary copies of the at least one selected media object, the removed extraneous metadata comprises respective metadata of the metadata tagged to the at least one bin component with which the respective temporary copies of the at least one selected media object has been removed, the extraneous metadata is removed by the metadata removing component based at least in part on user instructions;

a media analyzer-annotation component that analyzes the respective temporary copies and the respective permanent versions of the at least one selected media object and extracts one or more characteristics common to the respective temporary copies and the respective permanent versions of the at least one selected media object, generates metadata based at least in part on the characteristics common to the respective temporary copies and the respective permanent versions of the at least one selected media object and annotates the respective temporary versions of the selected media objects with the generated metadata; and

a metadata historical component that stores current metadata tagged to the respective permanent versions of the at least one selected media object and the respective temporary copies of the at least one selected media object corresponding to the at least one bin component, stores previous metadata that have been removed from the respective temporary copies of the at least one selected media object corresponding to at least one bin component into which the respective temporary copies of the at least one selected media object has been previously associated and subsequently removed from the respective temporary copies of the at least one selected media object by the metadata removing component, and ranks the current metadata.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising a user selection component that facilitates selecting media objects to be placed in the at least one bin component.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein a media object is temporarily placed in a bin component for metadata annotation.

38. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

a component that facilitates removal of a bin component; and

a component that facilitates deletion of the respective temporary versions of media objects associated with a removed bin component.

19. A method of working with media objects comprising:

selecting at least one media object from a set of media objects using a computer comprising a processor and a memory;

creating at least one bin component that facilitates creating a workspace for the at least one selected media object upon a user-selected single digit number key stroke, wherein the at least one bin component is associated with respective temporary versions of the at least one selected media object;

tagging metadata to the at least one bin component;

moving the respective temporary versions of the at least one media object selected from the set of media objects to the at least one bin component;

annotating the respective temporary versions of the at least one selected media object associated with the at least one bin component with metadata comprising the metadata tagged to the at least one bin component, wherein the annotating is performed without altering or tagging the permanent versions of the at least one media object corresponding to the respective temporary versions;

removing extraneous metadata from the respective temporary versions of the at least one selected media object based on user instructions, the removed extraneous metadata comprising respective metadata of the metadata tagged to the at least one bin component with which the respective temporary versions of the at least one selected media object has been removed;

analyzing the respective temporary versions and the respective permanent versions of the at least one selected media object and extracting at least one characteristic common to the respective temporary versions and the respective permanent versions of the at least one selected media object, generating metadata based at least in part on the characteristics common to the respective temporary versions and the respective permanent versions of the at least one selected media object, and annotating the respective temporary versions of the at least one selected media objects with the generated metadata;

recording current metadata tagged to the respective permanent versions copies of the at least one selected media object and the respective temporary versions of the at least one selected media object corresponding to the at least one bin component and previous metadata removed from the respective temporary versions of the at least one selected media object corresponding to the at least one bin component into which the respective temporary versions of the media object has previously been tagged and subsequently removed from the respective temporary versions of the media object via the removing of extraneous metadata; and

ranking the current metadata.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein creating the bin component occurs concurrently with moving the at least one media objects.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising generating new metadata based at least in part upon the selected media objects.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising annotating the selected media objects en masse with the metadata associated with the at least one bin component.

23. The method of claim 19, further comprising searching for related media objects based at least in part upon the metadata associated with the respective bin components.

24. The method of claim 19, further comprising identifying metadata associated with the bin component based at least in part upon the at least one selected media object.

25. The method of claim 19, further comprising printing the bin component and the at least one selected media object therein.

26. The method of claim 19, further comprising saving the bin component and the at least one selected media object therein for later use.

27. The method of claim 19, further comprising sharing the bin component and the at least one selected media object therein with other users.

28. The method of claim 19, wherein the selected media objects are placed in the bin component en masse and subsequently annotated with metadata en masse.

29. The method of claim 19, wherein at least one selected media object in the bin component is individually annotated with metadata according to user instructions.

30. The method of claim 19, further comprising ordering the selected media objects in the bin component based at least in part on user instructions.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the selected media objects are manually ordered in the bin component based at least in part on user instructions.

32. The method of claim 19, further comprising prioritizing respective bin components based at least in part on user instructions.

39. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

deleting the at least one bin component; and

deleting the respective temporary copies of media objects moved to the at least one bin component upon deletion of the at least one bin component.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the deleting of the respective temporary copies of media objects comprises deleting the respective temporary copies of media objects after a predetermined period of time following deletion of the at least one bin component.

33. A system that facilitates working with media objects, the system comprising:

at least one memory coupled to at least one processor;

means for selecting at least one media object;

means for creating at least one bin component that facilitates creating a workspace for the at least one selected media object upon a user-selected single digit number key stroke, the at least one bin component having respective temporary versions of at least one selected media object associated with the at least one bin component;

means for tagging metadata to the at least one bin component;

means for moving the respective temporary versions of the at least one selected media object to the at least one bin component;

means for annotating the respective temporary versions of the at least one selected media object with metadata comprising the metadata tagged to the at least one bin component, wherein the annotating is performed without altering or tagging permanent versions of the at least one selected media object corresponding to the respective temporary versions;

means for removing extraneous metadata from the respective temporary versions of the at least one selected media object, the removed extraneous metadata comprising respective metadata of the metadata tagged to the at least one bin component with which the respective temporary versions of the at least one selected media object has been removed, wherein the removing of the extraneous metadata is based at least in part on user instructions;

means for analyzing the respective temporary versions and the respective permanent versions of the at least one selected media object and extracting at least one characteristic common to the respective temporary versions and the respective permanent versions of the at least one selected media object, generating metadata based at least in part on the characteristics common to the respective temporary versions and the respective permanent versions of the at least one selected media object, and annotating the respective temporary versions of the selected media objects with the generated metadata;

means for recording current metadata tagged to the respective permanent versions of the at least one selected media object and the respective temporary versions of the at least one selected media object corresponding to at least one bin component;

means for recording previous metadata removed from the respective temporaries versions of the at least one selected media object corresponding to at least one bin component into which the respective temporary versions of the at least one selected media object has previously been tagged and subsequently removed from the respective temporary copies of the at least one selected media object via the removing of extraneous metadata; and

means for ranking the current metadata.