Claims:1. A computer-implemented method of automatically manipulating and sharing multimedia content items, comprising:
a. acquiring multimedia content items
b. graphical user interface; and
c. transferring the multimedia content items and the related item information to selected destinations
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia content items include at least one of a
a. text files
b. a photograph,
c. a video,
d. an audio file,
e. an HTML file,
f. a mixed media presentation,
g. a PDF document,
h. an executable program file,
i. and a database file.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein, the multimedia content items having at least a one of a camera, a phone, a scanner, a memory device, an email, a network, and a computer and further comprising editing the multimedia content items by at least one of adding captions, adding dates, adding notes, cropping the items, reducing the file size of the items, and reducing the duration of items.
4 The method of claim 1 wherein, the defining includes at least one of adding metadata and specifying the formation of a multimedia content item collection.
5 The method of claim 4 wherein, adding metadata includes at least one of adding captions, adding dates, adding notes, adding names to automatically recognized faces.
6 The method of claim 4 wherein, specifying the formation includes at least one of selecting multimedia content items, determining an attachment sequence, setting transfer constraints, and defining destination constraints.
7 The method of claim 1 wherein, the graphical user interface depicts multimedia content items as at least one of icons and thumbnails.
8 The method of claim 1 wherein, the multimedia content items, and the related item information are represented in the graphical user interface by a collection token.
9 The method of claim 1 wherein, the graphical user interface is implemented on at least one of a touchscreen devices, a non-networked camera, a networked camera, a non-networked computer, and a networked computer and GUI having function-specific areas including at least one of a main stage, a filter area, a collection assembly area, a user guidance area, persistent context-sensitive action but tons, and a sharing dock with destination containers.
, Description:Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to managing multimedia content, more specifically to cropping and sharing videos via various computer sites and social networks.
Background of the Invention
The digital cameras are becoming cheaper, more powerful, and more widely used. High resolution images and high definition videos can be immediately captured and stored on high capacity memory devices for less than what a good SLR film camera once cost. Currently available digital cameras also typically have color displays to show captured images and videos on the spot.
Social networks are becoming increasingly popular. Sites or services like YouTube TM, Facebook TM, Picasa TM, and others enable users to distribute text, images, and videos via the internet. Unfortunately, managing images, videos, and other multimedia content items can be complicated. Subsequently transferring these items to online sites can involve additional user aggravation and drudgery, as each site may have its own application program interface (API) and constraints on uploads, and these may change over time.
People who want to manage and share content can be divided into different possible market segments. The “habitual sharers' for example want simplicity and speed to “share the moment with friends or to show off something they did.
Both user groups want to annotate or cropped content items and assemble them into presentations or collections but may prefer not to modify original multimedia content items. Instead, they would provide additional material that is linked to the original items and transferred along with items for correlated presentations. Both user groups may also prefer to do these tasks directly with a digital camera, if that option were available, versus requiring Subsequent computer interaction. As a result, there is a need for an in-camera tool to easily automatically cropped and share photos, videos, and other content via various computer sites and social networks.
Object of the Invention
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for video cropping and transferring them in social network.
Another object of the invention is video editing and transferring them in networking sites via graphical user interface.
Summary of the Invention
A system, method, and computer program product for automatically cropping and sharing multimedia. Exemplary invention acquires multimedia content items, then present a graphical user interface by which a user may define information related to the items. The multimedia content items, and the related item information are then transferred to selected destinations, whereby the related item information is retained. Multimedia content items may include a text file, a photograph, a video, an audio file, an HTML file, a mixed media presentation, a PDF document, an executable program file, a database file, or other content items and combinations thereof as may be known in the art. The multimedia content items may be input from or acquired from a camera, a phone, a scanner, a memory device, an email, a network, a computer, or other content sources as may be known in the art.
Embodiments, or a human user, may edit the original multimedia content items by adding captions, dates, and notes, or by cropping the items, reducing the items file size, reducing the duration of video or presentation type items. Embodiments, or a human user, may also add metadata or specify the formation of a multimedia content item collection.
Adding metadata includes preserving the original multimedia content items but providing additional information that governs its modification during presentation as previously noted such modifications may include adding captions, dates, and notes, as well as adding names to images having automatically recognized faces.
The formation of a collection may include selecting multimedia content items, determining an attachment sequence, setting transfer constraints, and defining destination constraints. Embodiments may represent the multimedia content items and the related item information in a graphical user interface by icons, thumbnails, or collection tokens. The graphical user interface may be implemented on a touch screen device, a camera, or a computer, each of which may be attachable to a network.
The graphical user interface may include function-specific areas such as a main stage, a filter area, a collection assembly area, a user guidance area, persistent context-sensitive action buttons, and a sharing dock with destination containers. The transferring of multimedia content items or col lections and the related item information includes moving a multimedia content item or a collection token into a destination container on the graphical user interface. The destination container may be easily identified by the user by incorporating a label with a name or logo. The transfer may be immediate or delayed for a predetermined time or until a connection is made, according to a user-defined transfer constraint.
The designated destinations may include public or private sites, email accounts, social networking sites, content publishing sites, interchange servers, and archives. In one embodiment, the destination is an inter change server that automatically manages an additional transfer to an additional destination that has its own destination constraints. In this manner, a given multimedia content management tool can leave the management of the transfer details to the interchange server, which may dynamically update its operations in accordance with changing destination constraints.
In another embodiment, computer-executable program instructions for implementing the graphical user interface may be transferred from a first computing device to a second computing device. In this manner, the multimedia content and the multimedia content management tool may both be portable together. As described more fully below, the apparatus and processes of the embodiments disclosed permit automatic management and sharing of multimedia content items.
Further aspects, objects, desirable features, and advantages of the apparatus and methods disclosed herein will be better under stood and apparent to one skilled in the relevant art in view of the detailed description and drawings that follow, in which various embodiments are illustrated by way of example. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the claimed invention.
Brief Description of the Drawings
FIG. 1 depicts a flowchart of embodiment process 600 is shown.
Detailed Description of Invention:
A digital camera-based implementation of an embodiment of the invention is shown. Implementations may also be on another touchscreen device such as a Smartphone or may be on a computer. The label is a software tag that is integrated with the image during display, though the captured image file may or may not be edited itself to include the label. The software tag is thus an example of information related to the content item that may be linked with the item and carried along as metadata. The camera also has icons for sharing and discarding images or vid COS. Upon selection of the sharing icon, graphical user interface for sharing is presented. Checkboxes may be individually selected to enable content sharing to destinations, including Social networking sites/services (e.g. You Tube TM, Facebook TM, Picasa 'TM) or email accounts (e.g. grandpa, family, friends, John) that have been previously defined.
The destinations may be identified by labels with names, thumbnails, and logos as shown. Further, an explanatory movie (not shown) can be played on power-up of the camera to help users understand the camera's features. Power-up should preferably occur in less than a second for fast image acquisition. Use of a common look and feel between different products made by the camera's manufacturer will also help reduce user confusion. The camera may be the Sony R. Bloggie Touch TM product for example. Graphical user interface according to an embodiment on a computer is shown.
This embodiment is more sophisticated than that shown. These content items may include for example text files, photographs, videos, audio files, HTML files, mixed media presentations, PDF documents, executable program files, or database files. The content items may be input or acquired from a camera, a phone, a scanner, a memory device, an email, a network, or a computer for example. The graphical user interface has several features that will be discussed in turn. Unlike conventional graphical user interfaces, there is no traditional menu bar nor file folders as used with conventional pointing devices, because this interface may be used with touchscreen devices. Undo button allows actions to be undone, as is familiar to users of web browsers.
A redo button (not shown) may also be implemented. Search bar accepts search terms from a user to help identify relevant multimedia content items, for example by searching metadata. View selection buttons in views bar enable a user to view multimedia content items one at a time, two at a time, as a list, or as a grid of thumbnails. Slider bar lets a user navigate through presented items. The graphical user interface further comprises function-specific areas including main stage, filter area, collection assembly area, user guidance area, persistent context-sensitive action buttons, and a sharing dock with destination containers. The main stage is the primary central display area where icons or thumbnails representing multimedia content items are shown and arranged for viewing and manipulation. The items are brought into the main stage by direct acquisition, or importation from a memory or attached or networked devices for example provided to trigger presentation of user instructions in the user guidance area, also referred to as the “voice” area. The voice area provides important information and helpful tips on how to do things, what options are currently available (e.g. display or edit metadata) and provides a modal dialog or wizard to guide the user. The main stage can be resized depending on “voice” area actions, i.e. the Voice area can temporarily take more display space as needed.
The filter area comprises several filter tabs that can be applied to content items in the main stage so a user can identify those items meeting desired filter criteria, such as last viewed or last imported or view trash can for example. Items may also be selected based on their metadata Content. Persistent context-sensitive action buttons are provided to indicate to the user what primary actions are available. These actions are available at the bottom of the interface for example and are context-sensitive, i.e. they change based on user actions to denote currently operable commands. The sharing dock with destination containers is shown at the top of the interface in this exemplary embodiment.
Destination containers are easily accessible icons representing folders in which multimedia content items may be stored. The containers may have labels including names or logos on them for easy user recognition of corresponding destinations. Items or collections of items placed in containers, e.g. by dragging and dropping, are queued for sharing to selected destinations, so the user can see past or pending transfers. The destinations may include public or private sites, email accounts, social networking sites, content publishing sites, interchange servers, and archives, for example. Transfers to destinations may occur immediately, upon docking with a computer or other device, after a user-specified delay,
In another embodiment, computer-executable program instructions for implementing the graphical user interface may be transferred from a first computing device to a second computing device. The multimedia content and the multimedia content management tool may thus both be transferred together graphical user interface including video management according to an embodiment is shown. A user has selected for example YouTube as the desired (and thus highlighted) destination for a col lection of six videos. YouTube TM has destination constraints that limit the duration of uploads. The embodiment thus notes that the content item is too long, violating the constraint.
The embodiment may reduce the duration or file size of content items, as well as add user-specified dates or other notes, or crop or further compress content items to meet destination constraints., a flowchart of embodiment process. Briefly, a user instructs the embodiment to acquire or import multimedia content. The embodiment may then display the content items in step. A user may then filter them as desired in step. The user may edit or annotate content items. The embodiment may assemble a collection of content items for the user, then assign the collection to a destination for transfer.
The embodiment may then transfer the collection as specified in step. As used herein, the terms “a” or “an' shall mean one or more than one. The term “plurality” shall mean two or more than two. The term "another' is defined as a second or more. The terms “including and/or “having” are open ended (e.g., comprising). Reference throughout this document to “one embodiment”, “certain embodiments”, “an embodiment’ or similar term means that a feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment.
Thus, the appearances of such phrases in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner on one or more embodiments without limitation. The term 'or' as used herein is to be interpreted as inclusive or meaning any one or any combination. Therefore, A, B or C' means “any of the following: A, B, C: A and B; A and C: B and C: A, B and C'.
An exception to this definition will occur only when a combination of elements, functions, steps or acts are in some way inherently mutually exclusive. In accordance with the practices of persons skilled in the art of computer programming, embodiments are described below with reference to operations that are per formed by a computer system or a like electronic system. Such operations are sometimes referred to as being computer executed. It will be appreciated that operations that are symbolically represented include the manipulation by a processor, Such as a central processing unit, of electrical signals representing data bits and the maintenance of data bits at memory locations, such as in System memory, as well as other processing of signals.
The memory locations where data bits are maintained are physical locations that have electrical, magnetic, optical, or organic properties corresponding to the data bits. When implemented in software, the elements of the embodiments are essentially the code segments to perform the necessary tasks. The non-transitory code segments maybe stored in a processor readable medium or computer read able medium, which may include any medium that may store or transfer information. Examples of Such media include an electronic circuit, a semiconductor memory device, a read only memory (ROM), a flash memory or other non-volatile memory,a floppy diskette, a CD-ROM, an optical disk, a hard disk, a fiber optic medium, a radio frequency (RF) link, etc. User input may include any combination of a keyboard, mouse, touch screen, voice command input, etc. User input may similarly be used to direct a browser application executing on a user's computing device to one or more network resources, such as web pages, from which computing resources may be accessed. While the invention has been described in connection with specific examples and various embodiments, it should be readily understood by those skilled in the art that many modifications and adaptations of the automatic multimedia content item management and sharing tool described herein are possible without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed hereinafter.
Thus, it is to be clearly understood that this application is made only by way of example and not as a limitation on the scope of the invention claimed below. The description is intended to cover any variations, uses or adaptation of the invention following, in general, the principles of the invention, and including Such departures from the present disclosure as come within the known and customary
Referring now to FIG. 1, a flowchart of embodiment process 600 is shown. Briefly, a user instructs the embodiment to acquire or import multimedia content items in step 602. The embodiment may then display the content items in step 604. A user may then filter them as desired in step 606. The user may edit or annotate content items in step 608. The embodiment may assemble a collection of content items for the user in step 610, then assign the collection to a destination for transfer in step 612. The embodiment may then transfer the collection as specified in step 614.
While the invention has been described in connection with specific examples and various embodiments, it should be readily understood by those skilled in the art that many modifications and adaptations of the automatic multimedia content item management and sharing tool described herein are possible without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed hereinafter. Thus, it is to be clearly understood that this application is made only by way of example and not as a limitation on the scope of the invention claimed below. The description is intended to cover any variations, uses or adaptation of the invention following, in general, the principles of the invention, and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within the known and customary practice within the art to which the invention pertains.