Generating and updating event-based playback experiences

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9280545-B2
Application number	US-201113292998-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 9, 2011
Priority date	Nov 9, 2011
Publication date	Mar 8, 2016
Grant date	Mar 8, 2016

Abstract

Exemplary methods, apparatus, and systems are disclosed for capturing, organizing, sharing, and/or displaying media. For example, using embodiments of the disclosed technology, a unified playback and browsing experience for a collection of media can be created automatically. For instance, heuristics and metadata can be used to assemble and add narratives to the media data. Furthermore, this representation of media can recompose itself dynamically as more media is added to the collection. While a collection may use a single user's content, sometimes media that is desirable to include in the collection is captured by friends and/or others at the same event. In certain embodiments, media content related to the event can be automatically collected and shared among selected groups. Further, in some embodiments, new media can be automatically incorporated into a media collection associated with the event, and the playback experience dynamically updated.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method, comprising:
receiving instances of digital media, the instances of digital media comprising one or more of digital image data, digital video data, or digital audio data and further including data indicating a time at which the digital media was captured and data indicating the GPS coordinates of where the digital media was captured;
generating a group of digital media related by time and location from the received instances of digital media, the generating being performed using the data included with the instances of digital media that indicates the time at which the digital media was captured and the GPS coordinates of where the digital media was captured;
automatically generating playback data for presenting the group of digital media by applying one or more heuristics to the group of digital media data, the playback data comprising data for controlling a sequential presentation of the group of digital media, the one or more heuristics resulting in one or more images from the group of digital media having a modified display duration or location in the sequential presentation; and
outputting the group of digital media and the playback data such that one or more recipients are able to view the presentation of the group of digital media as controlled by the playback data.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a further instance of digital media from one of the recipients; and
automatically updating the group of digital media and the playback data to incorporate the further instance of digital media.

3. The method of claim 2 , outputting data for the further instance such that the one or more recipients are able to view the further instance, the outputting being performed without outputting data for all of the digital media in the group of digital media.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising notifying one or more of the recipients of the updated group of digital media.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the receiving the further instance comprises:
periodically accessing a social network account;
identifying the further instance of digital media from among comments posted at the social network account; and
downloading the further instance of digital media.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the receiving the further instance comprises:
receiving a notification from a social network server that a comment associated with the group of digital media has been posted;
identifying the further instance of digital media from among comments posted at the social network account, the further instance of digital media corresponding to the comment for which the notification was received; and
downloading the further instance of digital media.

7. The method of claim 2 , wherein the further instance of digital media comprises data indicating a comment to a selected one of the instances of digital media in the group of digital media and wherein the automatically updating comprises automatically updating the playback data so that the comment appears together with the selected one of the instances of digital media.

8. The method of claim 2 , wherein the further instance of digital media comprises data indicating a comment to a selected one of the instances of digital media in the group of digital media, the selected one of the instances having been generated by a user, and wherein the method further comprises:
notifying the user of the comment; and
allowing the user to determine whether to update the group of digital media and the playback data with the comment.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the playback data comprises data for defining an appearance of the group of digital media when it is viewed by the one or more recipients, the presentation data comprising one or more of background graphics data, font data, or audio data.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the received instances of digital media are received from a plurality of mobile device users, wherein the one or more recipients include the plurality of mobile device users, and wherein the receiving the further instance comprises receiving the further instance from one of the plurality of mobile device users.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the outputting the group of digital media and the playback data comprises transmitting the group of digital media and the playback data to the one or more recipients or transmitting the group of digital media and the playback data to a social network server.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the outputting the group of digital media and the playback data comprises outputting a data object that combines the group of digital media and the playback data.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
allowing a user to select which of the one or more recipients have permission to further contribute to the group of digital media;
receiving selections from the user of which of the one or more recipients have permission to further contribute to the group of digital media; and
outputting data indicating the user's selections of which of the one or more recipients have permission to further contribute to the group of digital media together with the group of digital media and the playback data.

14. One or more computer-readable storage device storing computer-executable instructions which when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method, the method comprising:
receiving instances of digital media;
automatically generating a group of digital media related by time and location from the received instances of digital media;
outputting the group of digital media such that multiple recipients are able to view a presentation of the group of digital media;
receiving a comment from one of the recipients, the comment being responsive to one of the instances of the digital media in the group of digital media and being from a recipient who did not capture the one of the instances;
before updating the group of digital media with the comment from the recipient who did not capture the one of the instances, allowing only a user who captured the one of the instances to view the comment and to indicate whether to update the group of digital media with the comment via a comment approval interface displayed to the user who captured the one of the instances; and
updating the group of digital media to incorporate the comment into the group of digital media if the user who captured the one of the instances indicates to update the group of digital media.

15. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 14 , wherein the receiving comprises:
accessing a social network account; and
retrieving the comment from the social network account.

16. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 14 , wherein the updating comprises generating data for displaying the comment together with the one of the instances of the digital instances to which the comment is responsive.

17. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 14 , wherein the method further comprises outputting an update to the group of digital media, the update comprising data for displaying the comment but not data for all of the digital media in the group of digital media.

18. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 14 , wherein the method further comprises outputting an updated version of the group of digital media, the updated version including the comment.

19. A system, comprising:
a memory or storage device storing a program;
a processing unit operable to execute the program, wherein said execut

Assignees

• Padmanabhan Udiyan
• Messing William
• Matthews Iii Joseph H
• Shetter Martin
• Gershanovich Tatiana
• Ricker Michael J
• Peters Jannes Paul
• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Padmanabhan Udiyan
• Messing William
• Matthews Iii Joseph H
• Shetter Martin
• Gershanovich Tatiana
• Ricker Michael J
• Peters Jannes Paul

Classifications

• G06F18/21

  Design or setup of recognition systems or techniques; Extraction of features in feature space; Blind source separation · CPC title

• H04N21/42202

  environmental sensors, e.g. for detecting temperature, luminosity, pressure, earthquakes · CPC title

• H04N21/4788

  communicating with other users, e.g. chatting {(arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104)} · CPC title

• H04N21/4223

  Cameras (H04N23/00 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F17/30038 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic