Assign photographers on an event invite and automate requesting, uploading, and sharing of photos and videos for an event

• US 9,373,104 B2
• Filed: 01/23/2015
• Issued: 06/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Be TopNotch, LLC
• Original Assignee: Be TopNotch, LLC
• Inventors: Kothari, Ankit Dilip
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Quang N
• Application Number:
  US14/604,248
• Publication Number:
  US 20150281293A1
• Time in Patent Office: 515 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/204, 709/228, 709/229, 709/206, 709/217, 709/219, 709/223, 709/224, 709/226, 707/708, 706/11, 713/171, 715/738
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/103 Workflow collaboration or project management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2743 Video hosting of uploaded data from client
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4223 Cameras H04N23/00 takes precedence

Abstract

Methods, program products and systems to assign photographers on an event invite and automate requesting, uploading and sharing of the event'"'"'s photos/videos are described here. The solution would allow to assign photographers for an event using the event'"'"'s invite itself, indirectly triggering the auto-creation of a new photo/video album and allowing the photographer invitees to upload their photos/videos for the event, either real-time or manually at a later time. Thereafter, once an event is complete, the event'"'"'s photo/video album would be either automatically or manually shared with the event'"'"'s guests depending upon the preferences set by the event'"'"'s owner.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for sharing photos and videos related to an event through a central location comprising:

creating an event, using said computer, wherein said event is to be photographed and/or video recorded;

sending invitations for said event to one or more invitees using said computer, wherein said invitations include a request to take photos and/or videos of said event;

receiving an acceptance from one or more of said invitees to take photos and/or videos during said event;

assigning one or more of said accepting invitees as photographers;

defining a pre-event period and a post-event period;

sending to said assigned photographers, via said computer, a request to take photos and/or videos during said pre-event period;

sending to said assigned photographers a reminder to take photos and/or videos during said event;

sending to said assigned photographers, via said computer, a request to take photos and/or video during said post-event period;

sending at least one reminder to said assigned photographers to share photographs and/or videos taken during said pre-event period, said event, and said post-event period; and

sharing said photographs and/or videos taken during said pre-event period, said event, and said post-event period.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

providing said photographers an upload option for identifying an upload preference to upload said photos or videos to said central location, wherein said upload option is selected from the group comprising (a) automatically, (b) manually, or (c) by confirmation;

providing said photographers the option to change said upload preference at a later time.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 2 further comprising the step of displaying a list of said photographers, each of said photographer'"'"'s upload preference, and each of said photographer'"'"'s response.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 2 further comprising the step of:

defining a manual upload period during which said photographers may continue to manually upload said photos or videos after said event, but before said digital album is shared.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 4 further comprising the step of:

providing said photographers with the opportunity to choose a new photographer response when said event date or time, said pre-event period, said post-event period, or said manual upload period are changed.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

sending a notification to said photographers prior to the beginning of said event reminding said photographers of said photographer response, and informing said photographer that event is about to start.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

limiting said photos or videos which are uploaded to only those produced by a camera of said one or more assigned photographers during said event, pre-event period, or post-event period.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

uploading from a supported device said photos or videos which were taken using an unsupported photo or video taking device and caused to be moved to said supported device.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

providing said event creator with a selectable option to share said digital album with a group of persons selected from the group comprising, (a) all event invitees, (b) event attendees only;

or (c) nobody.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

sharing said digital album using said computer.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

generating recurring event invitations, including requests to share, for recurring events.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein at least one of

a) creating an event,

b) creating a digital album, or

c) taking photos or videos

is accomplished, at least in part, by integrating with a separately installed program on said device.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein said event owner may disable sharing of said photos or videos at any time.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

creating a digital album for collecting said photos and/or videos corresponding to said event.

15. The computer implemented method of claim 14, wherein said request to take photos and/or videos automatically generates said digital album.

16. The computer implemented method of claim 14, wherein said digital album is automatically shared with all event invitees.

17. The computer implemented method of claim 14, wherein said digital album is automatically shared with all event attendees.

18. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

uploading to said central location said photos or videos taken by said photographers during said event.

19. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

visually indicating that said photographs and/or videos are designated for upload on the screen of a device used to take said photos and/or videos in response to at least one of said requests to take photos and/or videos.

20. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein a calendar application is used to create said event, wherein said invitations include a request to take photos and/or videos of said event, and said request to take photos generates a new digital album associated with said event, and thereafter, during said event, any photos or videos taken are automatically uploaded to said digital album.

21. A computer implemented method for sharing photos and/or videos comprising:

creating a digital album that can store photos and/or videos using said computer;

sending invitations to one or more invitees to view and share photos and/or videos in the digital album;

receiving an acceptance from one or more of said invitees (i.e. accepting invitees) to view and share photos and/or videos in the digital album;

assigning one or more of said accepting invitees as photographers;

defining a pre-event period and a post-event period;

sending to said assigned photographers, via said computer, a request to take photos and/or videos during said pre-event period;

sending to said assigned photographers a reminder to take photos and/or videos during said event;

sending to said assigned photographers, via said computer, a request to take photos and/or video during said post-event period;

providing a selectable option, using said computer, to said accepting invitees to upload their photos and/or videos to said digital album using the following options;

(1) automatically without confirmation, (2) automatically with confirmation, and (3) manually within a manual upload period; and

sharing said photos and/or videos taken during said pre-event period, said event, and said post-event period.

22. The computer implemented method of claim 21, wherein the digital album is automatically associated with an event.

23. The computer implemented method of claim 21 wherein photos and videos uploaded to the digital album are automatically shared with the event attendees.

24. A computer implemented method for sharing photos and/or videos comprising:

creating a scheduled event, using said computer, wherein said event is to be photographed and/or video recorded;

sending invitations for said event to one or more invitees using said computer, wherein said invitations include a request to take photos and/or videos of said event, and said request to take photos generates a new digital album for said event;

receiving an acceptance from one or more of said invitees to take photos and/or videos during said event;

assigning one or more of said accepting invitees as photographers;

defining a pre-event period and a post-event period;

sending to said assigned photographers, via said computer, a request to take photos and/or videos during said pre-event period;

sending to said assigned photographers a reminder to take photos and/or videos during said event;

sending to said assigned photographers, via said computer, a request to take photos and/or video during said post-event period;

providing said assigned photographers a selectable option to upload photos and/or videos to said digital album; and

sharing said digital album with said event invitees.

25. The computer implemented method of claim 24, wherein

said invitation for said scheduled event comprises a selectable option to go from said invitation to said digital album associated with said event, and

said digital album comprises a selectable option to go from said digital album to said scheduled event.

26. The computer implemented method of claim 24,

wherein said assigned photographers are able to view:

(1) a list of all invitees,

(2) an indicator of whether each of said invitees accepted or declined the request to take photos and/or videos, and

(3) every assigned photographer'"'"'s photo and/or video upload preference.

27. The computer implemented method of claim 26 further comprising the step of:

sharing of said digital album with event attendees that were present at the event.

28. A computer implemented method for sharing photos and/or videos comprising:

integrating a calendar, camera, and photo album applications on a mobile device,

wherein said calendar application is used to create an event invite,

wherein said event invite includes a request to take photos and/or videos of the event,

wherein said request automatically generates a digital album for said event, and thereafter, when photos and/or videos are taken during said event using said camera application said photos and/or videos are automatically uploaded to said digital album;

providing a selectable option in said calendar application to go to said digital album;

providing a selectable option in said digital album to go to said event invite;

sending said event invite to one or more invitees using said mobile device;

receiving an acceptance from one or more of said invitees to take photos and/or videos during said event;

assigning one or more of said accepting invitees as photographers;

defining a pre-event period and a post-event period;

sending to said assigned photographers, via said mobile device, a request to take photos and/or videos during said pre-event period;

sending to said assigned photographers, via said mobile device, a reminder to take photos and/or videos during said event;

sending to said assigned photographers, via said mobile device, a request to take photos and/or video during said post-event period; and

sharing said photos and/or videos taken during said pre-event period, said event, and said post-event period.

29. The computer implemented method of claim 28 further comprising the step of:

sharing of said digital album with event attendees that were present at the event.