Patent Application
20080263449
Media content, such as digital photographs and video, is frequently pooled from multiple different users using resources provided over distributed networks like the Internet. For example, several web-enabled services are available that provide users with an ability to upload photographs or video clips to servers that organize and display such media content in a single large media content pool. Users can view media items held in the pool which, for example, might be associated with particular subject matter or reflect contributions from users that belong to a common group or organization. The pool typically grows in size over time as new media content is added.
When the new pieces of media content are added, and the pool size increases, it may become difficult for users to distinguish new or particularly interesting items from the older ones in the pool that have already been viewed. The older media content tends to dilute the impact of other content, particularly in pools that have existed for awhile and contain a lot of content. A particular piece of media content that might be very representative of the group, or which may have a high level of emotional meaning can often get lost in a large mass of less relevant or unimportant content.
Some services address this issue by imposing date ordering by which the new media items are given priority over the older content. Thus, for example, photographs are displayed in the pool by their contribution date so that new photographs are shown first and a user may need to page or scroll the display in order to view older photographs in the pool. However, such approach is not always feasible as some services are not suited for displaying media content using any kind of prioritization or order. It may be desirable, for example, to show all the media content in a particular pool without imposing a display order, while still enabling users to readily discriminate among media content based on the length of time they have been in the pool, and manage the pool content with a minimal amount of effort.
This Background is provided to introduce a brief context for the Summary and Detailed Description that follow. This Background is not intended to be an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter nor be viewed as limiting the claimed subject matter to implementations that solve any or all of the disadvantages or problems presented above.
Automated maintenance of media content such as digital photographs and video held in a pool is provided by an arrangement in which the interval of time that each piece of media content remains in the pool is tracked and modified by user-behavioral factors. This time interval, or “virtual age,” of the media content is depicted on a representative image displayed by a graphical user interface (“GUI”) through the use of visual metaphors that simulate the physical characteristics of an actual object such as a printed photograph as it ages over time. As the virtual age of the media content in the pool increases, visual metaphors including image fading or yellowing, and physical deterioration such as tattering, creasing, and ripping are overlaid as effects onto the displayed image to simulate physical aging. The visual metaphors are typically added as effects to the image only, and without modification to the underlying media content itself. Users can thus quickly and readily distinguish among newer and older media content in the pool as the representative images with simulated aging effects using the visual metaphors are viewed. Older media content in the pool is displayed by the GUI using images which have increased fading or yellowing and greater amounts of physical deterioration until, in one illustrative example, an image appears to crumble to dust, at which point the associated media content is deleted from the pool in an automated manner.
In another illustrative example, images representing respective pieces of media content in a pool exposed by a service provided at a central server are displayed by the GUI as a filmstrip displayed on a client's desktop that streams continuously with no predefined beginning or end. The filmstrip is displayed as part of a shared space that all users in a group can see and with which they can interact. As media content remains in the pool, their associated images in the filmstrip undergo simulated aging through application of visual metaphors, and also through the use of optional tags or labels that display a text-based description of the content's condition (e.g., “pristine,” “good, “fair,” “poor,” etc.) and a numerical rating (e.g., 100/100, 90/100, etc.).
Users in a group may add media content to the pool by dragging an image onto the filmstrip from their desktops and manually delete content by dragging images off the filmstrip. Comments and annotations to the images in the filmstrip may be added by users. Media content may be selected for printing or grouping into slideshows by interacting with the filmstrip images displayed by the GUI.
In addition, the virtual age of media content in the shared pool may be modified by users through use of a physical “polishing” metaphor in which a user can select an image in the filmstrip for a virtual renewal treatment that removes virtual age and rejuvenates the selected media content to a newer condition, or back to its original as-new condition. A user may either explicitly invoke the polishing feature through a command or menu item provided by the GUI, or polishing may be invoked implicitly when a user performs an activity with the media content such as adding a comment to an image in the filmstrip, creating a slideshow, or printing a piece of media content. Accordingly, older, unliked, or non-interesting media content in the shared pool will “age out” over time and be automatically deleted unless a user interacts with the media content. Only new, well-liked, or interesting pieces of media content will remain in the pool and displayed in the filmstrip to thereby ensure that their impact will not be diluted.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Like reference numerals indicate like elements in the drawings.
Group members upload media content to the central server 116, typically in the form of photographs or video in digital form. While users often upload such media content from the desktops of personal computers as shown in
Server 116 hosts a content sharing service 122 that interoperates with respective content sharing clients 127-1, 2 . . . N on client computers 106. Content sharing service 122 receives media content uploaded by the client computers 106 and exchanges messages and other data with the clients 127 as required to implement a media content sharing session.
As shown in
GUI 302 is displayed by each of one or more clients 127 as a shared space so that each user in a group sees the same scrolling filmstrip 306. The speed of the scrolling, size of the filmstrip 306 and other display preferences may be arranged to be user-selectable in some implementations.
Filmstrip 306 scrolls along as a continuous loop of images, with no defined beginning or end. Users can open other windows and applications on the desktop and perform various tasks and work as the filmstrip 306 scrolls (either in the background, or in a window that a user may optionally select as always on top). The media content represented by the filmstrip 306 may include both digital photographs and video, or media content of solely one type. In the case of video, a representative still image is typically depicted in the filmstrip 306.
In some implementations, the GUI 302 is arranged so that when a user selects, or moves the cursor over, an image in the filmstrip 306, an enlarged view of the image is shown, as indicated by reference numeral 311. Additional details associated with the photograph or video are displayed such as title, author, date etc. Various input screens, menus, and dialog boxes may also be provided to enable users to provide comments and annotations to the media content. GUI 302 is also typically arranged to enable a user to perform any of a variety of activities and tasks with the pooled media content that is displayed as images in the filmstrip 306. For example, a user may select a piece of media content shown on the filmstrip 306 for printing, or multiple pieces may be arranged in a slideshow.
GUI 302 also enables a user to manually delete a piece of media content from the shared pool 110, for example, by dragging its associated image from the filmstrip 306 to the desktop 310, a folder or to the recycle bin or trash (not shown). As depicted in
As a result of its continuous display, filmstrip 306 does not provide a particular order to the media content. Thus, the concepts of “first” and “last” tend to lose their distinction in such a continuous display. However, it is still desirable to keep the filmstrip 306 fresh whereby new media content is not diluted by older content, particularly as the size of the filmstrip 306 grows in size over time. An aging model is therefore applied to media content in the pool 110 in which the interval of time that each piece of media content remains in the pool is tracked.
This time interval, or “virtual age,” of the media content is depicted on the filmstrip 306 through the use of visual metaphors. In literature, a metaphor is commonly defined as a figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarity. The metaphors used here are visual and represent physical aging of an actual object such as a photograph that is imaged (e.g., printed) on photographic paper or stock. Hence, the suggestion put forth by the visual metaphor is aging of the media content as if it were a physical object in the real world.
As the virtual age of the media content in the pool 110 increases, visual metaphors—including optical deterioration such as fading, bleaching, desaturating, or yellowing, and physical deterioration such as tattering, tearing, fraying, dog-earring, creasing, cracking, and ripping—are overlaid as effects onto the content's representative image in the filmstrip 306. Older media content appears in the filmstrip 306 with increased fading, bleaching, or yellowing and with greater amounts of physical deterioration until, in some implementations of the present arrangement, the oldest images in the filmstrip 306 appear to crumble to dust, at which point the associated media content is deleted from the pool 110 by the content sharing service 127. This deletion is generally performed in an automated manner without user intervention so that maintenance of the media content pool can be accomplished with a minimal amount of effort. It is noted that the particular choice of visual metaphors used to represent a particular virtual age for media content can vary according to the needs of a specific implementation.
Another visual effect that may be usable in some implementations of the present arrangement is for an image in the filmstrip 306 to diminish in size as the virtual age of its associated media content in the media pool increases. Such diminution continues over time until the image recedes completely from view at which point the associated media content is deleted from the pool 110 by the content sharing service 127.
In most typical applications, the visual metaphors and effects are applied to the images in the filmstrip 306 to reflect virtual aging of the underlying media content in pool 110 as time progresses (i.e., virtual time and real time are synchronous). However, in an optional arrangement, virtual aging is counted asynchronously from real time. For example, media content in the pool 110 will not virtually age unless the media sharing client 127 is running. So if a user is away from the computer for a period of time, no virtual aging occurs and the visual metaphors and effects applied to the images in the filmstrip 306 will remain unchanged. When the user logs back on to the computer and launches client 127, then virtual aging restarts and the filmstrip images show increased simulated aging as time progresses.
Image 512 shows the application of several illustrative visual metaphors to indicate an intermediate amount of virtual age of the content in the media pool 110. These visual metaphors are overlaid onto the image in the filmstrip 306, and are typically stored in a separate data structure or file so as not to perform any modifications to the underlying media content (i.e., the digital photograph of the man and the infant) itself. As shown, the image is faded so that detail is lost. In addition, the corners of the image are depicted as being worn (e.g., tattered and/or dog-eared), as indicated by reference numeral 515, as if the real physical printed photograph has been handled and exposed to sunlight over time. In addition to the loss of detail as shown in image 512, color effects may be utilized (although not shown in
Image 518 shows the application of several more illustrative visual metaphors to indicate a more advanced amount of virtual age of the media content in the pool 110. These visual metaphors include creasing 525, cracking 532, and ragged and torn edges 540 around the border of the image 518. In addition, image 518 includes a higher degree of fading than is evident with image 512. As before, all of the visual metaphors are overlaid onto the image as effects and do not represent modifications to the actual underlying digital photograph. Color effects may also be utilized. Here, the amount of color desaturation or yellowing would be greater than for an image with an intermediate amount of virtual aging.
While image 512 and 518 show two examples of the application of various visual metaphors for physical aging of an actual object, it is emphasized that how virtual aging is displayed between the pristine condition and the condition of virtually aged to the point of automatic deletion may vary by implementation. For example, in some implementations, the virtual age of media content may be tracked in discrete steps where each step is decremented by a counter as the media content ages with time. Pristine condition can start at 100 and automatic deletion from the pool 110 occurs when the counter gets decremented to zero. Various amounts of fading, desaturation, and physical deterioration (e.g., creasing, cracking, tearing etc.) may be applied to simulate physical aging at each step or a group of steps. For example, there could be discrete stages of virtual life for content in the media pool 110 with each stage being represented by a specific combination of visual metaphors. Alternatively, the application of the visual metaphors can be performed to visually display virtual aging in a more continuous manner.
In addition to visual metaphors, a text label may be utilized to replace or supplement the visual simulation of aging for the images on the filmstrip 306. With the example given above using a 100 to zero scale, such labels could include “pristine” or “mint” for 100, “good” for 80-90 and so on until the image is on its “last legs” when the counter decrements to the 0-10 range. Such text labels may be helpful, for example, to help novice users in a group understand how the visual metaphors correspond to virtual age and the length of time a particular piece of media content is retained in the filmstrip 305 and the pool 110.
Text labels may also be helpful in adding a measure of objectivity to the virtual aging model, for example, in cases where the image or subject matter contained therein does not lend itself to showing age using visual metaphors. While physical deterioration using tattering and cracking etc., is generally applicable to all images on the filmstrip 306, the use of fading, yellowing, bleaching etc., may not always be evident in some images. For example, images that do not contain a lot of color when in their pristine state might not appear to all users as being significantly different after fading or yellowing effects are overlaid. Some users might also have difficulty perceiving an image's condition when there is a lack of context or familiarity with the subject matter of the image (i.e., the user is unable to tell how the subject matter is supposed to appear).
Text labels may be displayed in any of a variety of conventional ways. As shown in
In addition to displaying virtual age of media content displayed as images in the filmstrip 306, the GUI 302 (
When a user selects a virtually aged image in the filmstrip for polishing, the virtual age counter of its associated media content may be incremented to thereby return it to a newer condition, or back to its as-new, pristine condition. For example, an image having a virtual age counter of 50 may be restored back to 100 when polished by a user, and is displayed in filmstrip 306 in its original, pristine condition. In one illustrative example, a single polishing session can restore an image to an as-new, pristine condition regardless of its virtual age before polishing. In another illustrative example, an instance of polishing might only restore some youth back to the media content such that multiple polishing steps would be required for older content to be restored to new. In a third illustrative example, each time a user clicks on the image while in polishing mode, the counter is incremented by one. This is consistent with the polishing metaphor where each click represents a wipe by the polishing cloth to make the image cleaner with each successive wipe.
Polishing may be implemented as a feature that is explicitly invoked by a user. In this case, a user selects an image and then typically clicks a polishing command from a menu or toolbar, etc. provided by GUI 302. Various polishing options may be provided, in some implementations, for the user to select an amount of polishing to apply, or to designate a particular piece of media content to remain youthful indefinitely and not age (until such designation for eternal youth is removed).
In this illustrative example, any and all members of a group may polish any image in filmstrip 306 as it accumulates virtual age over time. In various optional implementations, it may be desirable to restrict polishing in some ways, or to provide the feature subject to a user privileges model. For example, a user might be restricted to only polishing media content added by others to the pool 110 and displayed as an image in filmstrip 306, but not the user's own content in the pool. Conversely, it might be desirable to let users polish only their own media content in the pool 110, but not content contributed by others in the group.
The automatic deletion feature noted above—in which media content that has virtually aged beyond a predetermined limit are deleted from the media pool 110−may also be implemented using a variety of options. One illustrative option is to remove the aged-out image from the filmstrip 306, but keep the associated media content in the pool 110. Another option is for all deleted media content, both aged-out and manually deleted, to be stored as part of a discarded content group that is kept separate and apart from the filmstrip 306. Members of the discarded group may still be viewed, for example, by invoking commands provided through GUI 302. In some implementations, members of the discarded group can be periodically flushed from the media pool 110 altogether.
Polishing may also be implemented as a feature that is implicitly invoked by a user. Here, media content that accumulates virtual age over time is automatically polished when a user performs an activity with the content such as adding a comment to an image in the filmstrip 306, arranging images from filmstrip 306 to a slideshow, printing, and the like. Thus, in general, the more a piece of media content is subjected to some sort of activity, the more polishing it receives. The amount of automatic polishing utilized for any given activity may be varied depending on the requirements of a specific application of the present automated maintenance arrangement. For example, in some implementations whenever a piece of media content is added by a group member to a slideshow, it is renewed back to pristine condition irregardless of its virtual age. In other implementations, such slideshow usage might only add 20 points of youth back to the media content (i.e., if the media content is in fair condition with a numerical rating of 70, it will be restored to good at 90, but not back to pristine condition).
Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.
