Multimedia content preview rendering in a cloud content management system

• US 9,063,912 B2
• Filed: 06/22/2011
• Issued: 06/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Box Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Box Incorporated
• Inventors: Seibert, Jeffrey H. Jr., Lockhart, Kimber, Silva, Nicholas, Savage, Brandon, Levie, Aaron, Ghods, Sam, Goldberg, Arnold, Jourda, Florian, Lee, David T., Mand, Arshdeep
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, HUY THANH
• Application Number:
  US13/166,733
• Publication Number:
  US 20120328259A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,462 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/116 Details of conversion of file system types or formats
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/00 Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/61 in combination with predictive coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2343 involving reformatting operations of video signals for distribution or compliance with end-user requests or end-user device requirements video transcoding H04N19/40; media packet handling at the source H04L65/762

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing content previews of files, including video files, stored in an online content management system with collaboration environment are disclosed. Permission to view a preview of a file is determined based upon access permissions associated with the file and/or workspace in which the file is stored and the access level of the requesting user. The system can also provide a progress indicator indicating the approximate time remaining to process the file for previewing based upon averages of times for processing previous files having similar attributes. In one aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure include a method, which may be implemented on a system, for downsampling a video file to decrease the processing time for providing a preview.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for predicting a duration for converting a file to a target format for previewing using computing elements, the method comprising:

comparing attributes of the file with attributes of previously converted files;

predicting the duration based upon an average of conversion times for previously converted files with the attributes; and

causing to be displayed an indicator configured to dynamically provide a time remaining for completion of the conversion of the file based upon the predicted duration.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein attributes of the file comprise one or more of:

size of the file, format of the file, and number of steps to be used for converting the file, wherein a step corresponds to each format conversion of the file performed to arrive at the target format.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein for text-based files, attributes of the file further comprise a number of pages of the file, wherein for image files, attributes of the file further comprise one or more of a source width and a source height of a frame of the file prior to conversion, and a target width and a target height of a target frame in the target format, and wherein for video files, attributes of the file further comprise one or more of a play length, a source width and a source height of a frame of the file prior to conversion, and a target width and a target height of a target frame in the target format.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting the predicted duration based upon a current load on a system used to perform the conversion of the file to the target format.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising adjusting the predicted duration based upon reported progress of a step of the conversion of the file to the target format.

6. A computer implemented method for decreasing a time for converting a video file to a target format for previewing using computing elements, the method comprising:

downsampling the video file to a first downsampled video file, wherein the video file has been uploaded to a web-based collaboration platform;

converting the first downsampled video file to a first output file having the target format for previewing using a preview module of a conversion server; and

causing to be displayed the first output file for previewing, wherein the converting is performed on a conversion engine of the conversion server.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein downsampling comprises reducing a height of frames of the video file to a preselected number of pixels while maintaining an aspect ratio of the video file.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising

evaluating a load on a system of distributed conversion servers;

using a distributed queuing system to determine which of the distributed conversion servers to use for performing the downsampling and the conversion.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising

using timing information collected from converting previous files to determine which of the distributed conversion servers to use for performing the downsampling and the conversion to increase a throughput of the system.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising identifying orientation data in the video file and conveying the orientation data to a video player for use in displaying the first output file.

11. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

providing a notification of the previewing by the user to another user of the web-based collaboration platform.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the notification is accessible by the other user when the previewing is displayed.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the notification is presented in a feed stream through a user interface to the web-based collaboration platform.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the other user meets a criteria for receiving the notification.

15. A computer implemented method performed using computing elements, the method comprising:

downsampling a video file to a first downsampled video file, wherein the video file has been uploaded to a web-based collaboration platform;

converting the first downsampled video file to a first output file having a target format; and

downsampling the video file to a second downsampled video file, wherein the second downsampled video file is smaller than the first downsampled video file;

converting the second downsampled video file to a second output file having the target format; and

providing the first output file to a user for previewing if the user subscribes to a higher tier of service with the web-based collaboration platform;

providing the second output file to the user for previewing if the user subscribes to a lower tier of service with the web-based collaboration platform.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

providing the first output file and the second output file to the user to select for previewing, if there is only a single tier of service offered by the web-based collaboration platform.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein downsampling comprises reducing a height of frames of the video file to a preselected number of pixels while maintaining an aspect ratio of the video file.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising

evaluating a load on a system of distributed conversion servers;

using a distributed queuing system to determine which of the distributed conversion servers to use for performing the downsampling and the conversion.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising

using timing information collected from converting previous files to determine which of the distributed conversion servers to use for performing the downsampling and the conversion to increase a throughput of the system.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

providing a notification of the previewing by the user to another user of the web-based collaboration platform.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the notification is accessible by the other when the previewing is displayed.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the notification is presented in a feed stream through a user interface to the web-based collaboration platform.

23. A computer implemented method performed using computing elements, the method comprising:

downsampling a video file to a first downsampled video file, wherein the video file has been uploaded to a web-based collaboration platform;

converting the first downsampled video file to a first output file having a target format; and

downsampling the video file to a second downsampled video file, wherein the second downsampled video file is smaller than the first downsampled video file;

converting the second downsampled video file to a second output file having the target format; and

providing the first output file and the second output file to a user to select for previewing if the user subscribes to a higher tier of service with the web-based collaboration platform;

offering only one of the first output file or the second output file to the user for previewing if the user subscribes to a lower tier of service with the web-based collaboration platform.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein downsampling comprises reducing a height of frames of the video file to a preselected number of pixels while maintaining an aspect ratio of the video file.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

providing a notification of the previewing by the user to another user of the web-based collaboration platform.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the notification is accessible by the other user when the previewing is displayed.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the notification is presented in a feed stream through a user interface to the web-based collaboration platform.

28. A computer implemented method for decreasing a time for converting a video file to a target format for previewing using computing elements, the method comprising:

converting the video file to an intermediate format file, wherein the video file has been uploaded to a web-based collaboration platform;

downsampling the intermediate format file;

converting the downsampled intermediate format file to a target format file

causing to be displayed the target format file for previewing.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein downsampling comprises reducing a height of frames of the video file to a preselected number of pixels while maintaining an aspect ratio of the video file.

30. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

providing a notification of the previewing by the user to another user of the web-based collaboration platform.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the notification is accessible by the other user when the previewing is displayed.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the notification is presented in a feed stream through a user interface to the web-based collaboration platform.

33. A computer implemented method of streaming a video file to a user for previewing prior to completing conversion of the video file to a target format using computing elements, the method comprising:

moving metadata in the video file to a beginning of the video file, wherein the video file has been uploaded to a web-based collaboration platform;

as the video file is being converted to the target format, writing sections of the converted portions of the video file to a location accessible by a video player;

causing the video player to display the converted portions of the video file to the user while a remainder of the video file is converted to the target format.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising downsampling the video file prior to converting the video file.

35. The method of claim 33, further comprising

evaluating a load on a system of distributed conversion servers;

using a distributed queuing system to determine which of the distributed conversion servers to use for performing the conversion.

36. The method of claim 35, further comprising

using timing information collected from converting previous files to determine which of the distributed conversion servers to use for performing the conversion to increase a throughput of the system.

37. The method of claim 33, further comprising identifying orientation data in the video file and conveying the orientation data to a video player for use in displaying the first output file.

38. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

providing a notification of the previewing by the user to another user of the web-based collaboration platform.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the notification is accessible by the other user to when the previewing is displayed.

40. The method of claim 38, wherein the notification is presented in a feed stream through a user interface to the web-based collaboration platform.

41. The method of claim 38, wherein the other user meets a criteria for receiving the notification.

42. A system, comprising:

one or more conversion servers, wherein each conversion server includes a conversion engine that is configured to convert an input format of a file to a target format; and

a progress indicator engine configured to determine a predicted duration for converting the file to the target format and providing a dynamic indicator to indicate to a user a time remaining for the conversion, wherein the target format of the file is used for previewing using a preview module of the one or more conversion servers.

43. The system of claim 42, further comprising a downsampling engine configured to downsample the file to decrease the conversion time.

44. The system of claim 43, further comprising a load balancing engine configured to determine to which of the conversion servers to send the file for conversion.

45. A system, comprising:

means for comparing attributes of the file with attributes of previously converted files;

means for predicting the duration based upon an average of conversion times for previously converted files with similar attributes; and

means for causing to be displayed an indicator configured to dynamically provide a time remaining for completion of the conversion of the file based upon the predicted duration.

46. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium encoded with instructions for performing a method for predicting a duration for converting a file to a target format for previewing, the instructions comprising:

instructions to compare attributes of the file with attributes of previously converted files;

instructions to predict the duration based upon an average of conversion times for previously converted files with the attributes; and

instructions to cause to be displayed, on a display, an indicator configured to dynamically provide a time remaining for completion of the conversion of the file based upon the predicted duration.

47. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 46, wherein attributes of the file comprise one or more of:

size of the file, format of the file, and number of steps to be used for converting the file, wherein a step corresponds to each format conversion of the file performed to arrive at the target format.

48. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 46, further comprising instructions to adjust the predicted duration based upon a current load on a system used to perform the conversion of the file to the target format.