System and method for generating coded video sequences from still media

• US 7,996,878 B1
• Filed: 08/29/2000
• Issued: 08/09/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Basso, Andrea, Greenspan, Steven Lloyd, Weimer, David M., Cosatto, Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): HUYNH, AN SON PHI
• Application Number:
  US09/650,355
• Time in Patent Office: 3,997 Days
• Field of Search: 725/46, 725/135, 725/47, 725/32, 725 34- 36, 725/42, 345/722, 345/723, 715/723
• US Class Current: 725/135
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23412 for generating or manipulating the scene composition of objects, e.g. MPEG-4 objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8153 comprising still images, e.g. texture, background image

Abstract

The invention provides a system and method that transforms a set of still/motion media (i.e., a series of related or unrelated still frames, web-pages rendered as images, or video clips) or other multimedia, into a video stream that is suitable for delivery over a display medium, such as TV, cable TV, computer displays, wireless display devices, etc. The video data stream may be presented and displayed in real time or stored and later presented through a set-top box, for example. Because these media are transformed into coded video streams (e.g. MPEG-2, MPEG-4, etc.), a user can watch them on a display screen without the need to connect to the Internet through a service provider. The user may request and interact with the desired media through a simple telephone interface, for example. Moreover, several wireless and cable-based services can be developed on the top of this system. In one possible embodiment, the system for generating a coded video sequence may include an input unit that receives the multimedia input and extracts image data, and derives the virtual camera scripts and coding hints from the image data, a video sequence generator that generates a video sequence based on the extracted image data and the derived virtual camera scripts and coding hints, and a video encoder that encodes the generated video sequence using the coding hints and outputs the coded video sequence to an output device. The system may also provide customized video sequence generation services to subscribers.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a plurality of still images, from a subscriber, that includes viewer-specific image data, wherein the plurality of still images are independent of a video sequence;

extracting image data from the plurality of still images to yield extracted image data;

deriving a virtual camera script and a coding hint from the extracted image data to yield a derived virtual camera script, wherein the derived virtual camera script comprises a set of image processing instructions that simulates camera movement over portions of the plurality of still images, and wherein the virtual camera script specifies a variable assigned to one piece of the viewer-specific image data;

taking the extracted image data, the derived virtual camera scripts and the coding hint to yield a generated video sequence;

coding the generated video sequence based on the coding hint to yield a coded video sequence, wherein the coding hint references a coding process and a temporal evolution for each still image of the plurality of still images; and

inserting a customized advertisement in the coded video sequence, wherein the customized advertisement includes an offer of an award to a user contingent tied to a user interaction with the customized advertisement.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving preference information from one of the subscriber and a service provider; and

storing the preference information in a subscriber profile, wherein the generated video sequence is based on the subscriber'"'"'s profile.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the subscriber'"'"'s profile includes at least one of format settings, coding preferences, handicap settings, storage addresses of image data, device characteristics, and billing information.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the format settings include at least one of text font settings, text style settings, and display settings.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the coding preferences are used as coding hints and include at least one of audio coding preferences and visual coding preferences.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the handicap settings include at least one of visual enhancement settings and audio enhancement settings.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the storage addresses of image data include at least one of a computer image file, an image database, a Web page address, a universal resource locator (URL), a floppy disk, and CD ROM.

8. The method of claim 3, further comprising outputting the coded video sequence includes one or more images based on the storage addresses of image data from the subscriber'"'"'s profile.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein the subscriber'"'"'s profile includes billing information.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the subscriber provides multimedia data input and preference information to the input unit using at least one of a touch-tone menu, an interactive voice response system, a voice recognition system, a touch screen, a stylus, a keyboard, a Web page, the Internet, to telephone, a cable TV, a personal computer, and a wireless communication device.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein the subscriber'"'"'s profile includes information about the display devices owned by the subscriber.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the coded video sequence is customized for at least one of the devices included in the subscriber'"'"'s profile.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the extracted image data in an image data database, the derived virtual camera scripts in a virtual camera scripts database, and the derived coding hints in a coding hints database.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving at least one input command from a user, wherein at least one of the steps of extracting, deriving, taking and coding are performed based on the at least one input command from the user.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the image data include image data from at least one of images, pixelmaps, a series of still frames, panorama images, a series of photographs from a film, web-pages, single files containing vector representation of text and graphics, short video clips, single files containing a vector representation of synthetically coded 3D worlds, and lightfields of single objects.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual camera scripts include at least one of a sliding window of resolution, a document browsing simulation, a general composition of images, synthesized videos from a set of images, a panorama synthesis, and parallax techniques.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the coding hint comprises at least one of motion information used to generate a sequence of frames, temporal evolution of each frame, and coding parameters for each image.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the taking step uses a rendering plug-in to decode portions of the image data into pixel maps.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the taking step uses addresses to generate an image sequence.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the addresses include URLs.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the taking step generates the video sequence from more than one multimedia source.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the multimedia sources include at least one of television, cable TV, interactive TV, Internet, telephone, computer generated images, wireless communications, photographs and electronically stored still images.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an audio input corresponding to the generated video sequence.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising synchronizing the audio input with the generated video sequence.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving audio input from the subscriber, the audio input stored as at least one of a computer file or an address;

storing the subscriber'"'"'s audio input in the subscriber'"'"'s profile;

retrieving the subscriber'"'"'s audio input; and

outputting the subscriber'"'"'s audio input in conjunction with the generated video sequence.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the coded video sequence is output using scrolling techniques.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein the inserted customized advertisement is personalized to a user.