Patent Grant
9591345
Aspects of the present invention relate generally to sharing and group editing digital media information. More specifically, aspects of the present invention concern group editing shared media content in wireless personal media devices.
A variety of mobile computing devices exist, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, digital cameras, digital players, mobile terminals, etc. (hereinafter referred to as “mobile devices”). These mobile devices perform various functions specific to the device and are often able to communicate via wireless connections with other devices. A single mobile device may, for example, provide Internet access, maintain a personal calendar, provide mobile telephony, and take digital photographs.
The sharing and editing of content found on multiple mobile computing devices is typically time consuming and limited. For example, a media event such as an anniversary party may warrant media capture of the special event. Each of the attendees of the special event may decide to capture the special event through use of digital photographs taken with their mobile devices. A considerable time after the event, the attendees may share their digital photographs with each other either manually or electronically. In addition, each of the attendees may spend considerable time editing the digital photographs prior to exchanging the digital photographs with other attendees. An attendee may edit what they believe to be the best picture when only later to discover that a better quality picture may have been utilized for editing if the user had access to other attendees' digital photographs. For these and other reasons, therefore, there remains a need for a system and method by which a user can more conveniently share and edit media content stored in wireless personal media devices in a proximity environment.
Aspects of the present invention are directed to communicating and group editing media content stored in media devices. A master device communicates and initiates a group session with at least one slave device. The master device and the at least one slave device may be personal media devices. A media file management application may communicate with the master device in order to provide instructions for group editing selected media content. The selected media content may be chosen from selected media content and related media content. The related media content may be stored in the at least one slave device and may displayed along with the selected media content on a first display of the at least one slave device. The selected media content may be edited to form an edited media content which may be displayed on the master device, the at least one slave device, and/or a television display.
These and other features of the invention will be apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description of preferred embodiments.
The foregoing summary of the invention, as well as the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, is better understood when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which are included by way of example, and not by way of limitation with regard to the claimed invention.
Example Operating Environment
One or more slave handsets 116 may be in communication 117 with the master handset personal mobile server 115. Each of the slave handsets 116 may be a wireless communication device such as a PDA (personal digital assistant), cellular telephone, mobile terminal, or portable media device such as a digital camera, a digital video/audio recorder, a digital video/audio player, a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, or combinations thereof. For example, a slave handset 116 may comprise a digital camera equipped cellular telephone or the like. Furthermore, each of the slave handsets 116 may comprise digital devices that communicate wirelessly but are limited to capturing text files, such as laptop computers. Additionally, the slave handset 116 may be in communication 119 with a slave handset personal mobile server 118, or may comprise an external personal mobile server 118 in communication with. The personal mobile server 118 may provide all or part of the storage capacity the slave handset 116 needs for storing media files. The slave handset personal mobile server 118 may comprise a desktop computer, laptop, set-top box, personal portable server, personal portable media player, network server, personal portable memory or other device capable of storing and accessing data.
Slave handsets 116 and master handset personal mobile server 115 may communicate in a variety of manners. For example, wireless communication system 110 may comprise standard forms of wireless communication including, BLUETOOTH, Wi-Fi, ultra wide band (UWB), low power radio frequency (LPRF), radio frequency identification (RFID), infrared communication, IrDA, third-generation (3 G) cellular data communications, Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), or other wireless communication networks. The master handset personal mobile server 115 may determine if a particular communication service is available from a slave handset device 116. For example, in a BLUETOOTH environment, at the time when a connection is made between BLUETOOTH devices, an exchange of unique BLUETOOTH identities, called global IDs, takes place. A device's global ID indicates its profile and functional capability. Upon matching of the device profile, a connection is made and as the devices exchange data, the BLUETOOTH transceiver chip hops back and forth among frequencies. In general, the master handset personal mobile server 115 may determine if a particular communication service is available from a slave handset device 116 by utilizing monitoring, bonding, authentication, and/or registration means and systems of the used wireless communication system.
Various slave personal mobile servers 118 may be in communication 120 with the master handset personal mobile server 115. Each of the slave handsets 116 may also be in communication 119 with a respective slave personal mobile server 118. In another embodiment of the invention, the master device or slave handset device may have a guest mode in which files may be sent to other devices such as a personal mobile server without the need to pair up the devices and set up passcodes.
Master handset personal mobile server 115 may also be connected to an external display such as a television display 121 in order to enhance the viewing experience of the user. The television display 121 may provide a larger viewing area for a user to display electronic images such as thumbnails or video clips.
As shown in
Similarly, in an aspect of the invention master handset 113 may similar to the slave handset as describe above and illustrated in
Master handset personal mobile server 115 may also include volatile memory 154 (e.g., RAM) and/or non-volatile memory 156 (such as a hard disk drive, tape system, or the like). Software and applications may be stored within memory 154 and/or memory 156 that provides instructions to processor 142 for enabling master handset personal mobile server 115 to perform various functions, such as processing file transfer requests (such as for image files), storing files in memory 154 or memory 156, displaying images and/or other data, and organizing images and/or other data. The invention may enable the combination of different types of media formats such as images, video, music, notes, presentation, and/or graphics, to be copied, moved or included into a one folder, cluster, presentation, or similar.
The other data may include but is not limited to video files, audio files, emails, SMS/MMS messages, weblog documents, other message files, text files, presentations, or other type of media files. Although shown as part of master handset personal mobile server 115, memory 156 could be remote storage coupled to master handset personal mobile server 115, such as an external drive or another storage device in communication with master handset personal mobile server 115. Master handset personal mobile server 115 may also be coupled to a display device 121 (
Similar to the master handset personal mobile server 115 embodiment of
Description of Illustrative Aspects of the Invention
In an aspect of the present invention, the master handset 113 may monitor a particular area of wireless coverage in order identify slave handsets 116. Monitoring an area of wireless coverage may require that the master handset 113 receive signals (i.e. presence information) from potential slave devices that are within close proximity of the master handset 113. Alternatively, monitoring the area of wireless coverage may require that the master handset 113 transmits signals to find potential slave devices that are within close proximity of the master handset 113. In an alternative aspect of the invention, a master handset personal mobile server 115 may receive any and all communication from the slave handsets 118 and relay the necessary information to master handset 113.
Upon receipt of a signal, master handset 113 will determine if the signals are coming from a new slave handset 116, which has yet to be bonded to master handset 113. If the device is identified as a new slave handset 116, the master handset 113 may send out a signal asking for bonding of the potential slave handset 116 and informing the device of media item transfer parameters.
Once the master handset 113 and the slave handset 116 have completed the bonding process, the slave handset 116 may transmit information to an intermediate device such as master headset personal mobile server 115 related to how media files will be shared. In this regard, the slave handset 116 may send to the master handset personal mobile server 115 the address of the receiving device (i.e., the device that will receive the collection of media files). In addition, the slave handsets 116 may send information to the master handset personal mobile server 115 related to collection editing parameters, i.e., requesting that certain media files be omitted or augmented before the master handset personal mobile server 115 communicates the collection to the slave handsets 116 or to the slave handsets personal mobile server 118. In addition, the information transmitted from the slave handset 116 or slave handsets personal mobile server 118 to the master handset personal mobile server 115 may include when to share the files (such as a certain time), or by request, in which file format, or via which network. In addition, the information transmitted from the slave handset 116 or slave handsets personal mobile server 118 to the master handset personal mobile server 115 may include information of the technical capabilities of the slave handset 116 and/or the slave handsets personal mobile server 118 or existence of a media file management application the slave handset 116 and/or the slave handsets personal mobile server 118. Once the master handset 113 has bonded with at least one slave handset 116 and the sharing information has been exchanged, the master handset personal mobile server 115 may receive media file communications from the bonded slave handsets 116 in accordance with the file transfer parameters. The media files communicated from the slave handsets 116 to the master handset personal mobile server 115 may include image files, video files, audio files, text documents, multimedia presentations and the like. Additionally, once the master handset 113 has bonded with at least one slave handset 116 and the sharing information has been exchanged, the master handset personal mobile server 115 may transmit media file communications to the bonded slave handsets 116 in accordance with the file transfer parameters. The media files communicated from the master personal mobile server 115 to the slave handset 116 may include image files, video files, audio files, text documents, multimedia presentations and the like. Additionally, if the receiving slave handset 116 or the slave handsets personal mobile server 118 does not include a media file management application, such as a media diary, the master handset personal mobile server 115 may transmit a media file management application to the slave handset 116 or the slave handsets personal mobile server 118.
For a more detailed description of the bonding process, see co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 10/749,652 filed on Dec. 31, 2003 in the name of inventors Andreas Myka and Christian Lindholm, entitled “Media File Sharing, Correlation of Metadata Related to Shared Media Files and Assembling Shared Media File Collections.” That application is herein incorporated by reference.
Upon bonding of the master handset 113 and the slave handsets 116, the master handset personal mobile server 115 may automatically or by user request execute a media management application, such as a media file management application such as Nokia Lifeblog or a file manager. The exemplary media management application may associate media content items with a moment of time, period of time, event, or any other metadata information so that the user can manage media content items according to a moment of time, period of time, event, or any other metadata information. The media management application may provide instructions for group editing a selected media item. The selected media item may be chosen from selected media content or related media content.
The term “period of time” is used herein to refer to both a time range, as well as, a particular moment in time. Typically, the period of time will be a specific date associated with a date that the media content was created or intended for. For example, if the media content is an image or video file of an anniversary party, the media application may categorize and store the media content according to the date of the anniversary party and/or the couple having the anniversary. For a complete description of the media file management application see co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/715,187, filed on Nov. 17, 2003, in the name of inventor Myka et al., and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention. That application is herein incorporated by reference as if set forth fully herein.
As illustrated in
The slave handset display 404 may be divided into many sections including the master content section 421 and the slave headset's own content section 422. Similar to the master content section 421, the slave headset's own content section 422 may also include a time period 423 which may also be part of a calendar view 418. Alternatively, the whole content of the master personal mobile server display 402 may be transmitted to the slave handsets 116 and displayed as shown in the slave handset display 404. Additionally, the master content section 421 and the slave headset's own content section 422 may be displayed alone and/or toggled between in the display 404.
The slave handset's own content section 422 may include media content items 425 through 428. The media content items displayed in the slave handset's own content section 422 may be related to selected media content items displayed in the master content section 421 by time period information or by any other metadata. The slave handset's own content section 422 may display the related media items automatically. Selected and related media content items may represent an album, a collection, or a file folder. Furthermore, media content items 425 through 428 may include digital media files, such as digital images, digital video, digital audio, computer games, computer software, digital text files, emails, short message service (SMS) messages, multimedia message service (MMS) messages, weblog documents, or the like, to be accessible to the media diary user, in accordance with an aspect of the present invention. One example of a media content item that may be used throughout the various aspects of the present invention comprises an image such as a digital picture represented as a thumbnail image. Those skilled in the art will realize that the use of thumbnail images is illustrative of one form of media content items which may be used with the present invention.
A slave handset 116 utilizing its own media content items may transfer media content items to the master personal mobile server. For instance, selected media content items such as media content item 428 may be selected and copied or transmitted 429 to the master content section 421. The transmitted files are substantially immediately updated on the other displays as illustrated in master personal mobile server display 402 at 430 and/or also to other slave handset displays. Location of the transferred media files in the time-line of the master personal mobile server 115 or in a memory hierarchy may be determined by the active time period 411 in the time-line of the master personal mobile server 115 or by any other metadata of the transferred media files. In addition, the selected media content items may be moved or deleted. Alternatively, the slave handset 116 may transfer media content items from the master content section 421 to the own content section 422 and to the memory the slave handset 116. For instance, one or more selected media content items such as media content item 416 may be selected and copied or transmitted from the master content section 421. The transmitted files are substantially immediately updated on the own content section 422. Location of the transferred media files in the time-line display of the slave handset or in the memory hierarchy may be determined by the active time period 411 in the time-line of the master personal mobile server 115 or by any other metadata of the transferred media files.
In another aspect of the invention, when the master personal mobile server 115 is displaying and sharing a time-line presentation, the slave devices 116 may select any of their own content, such as an album, to be browsed and edited at the same time with the master personal mobile server 115 time-line presentations. Alternatively, any content such as albums or collections, in the master personal mobile server 115 may be shared and displayed in slave handset displays. Additionally, the time-period information from master personal mobile server 115 time-line presentation may be utilized to find media items from any albums in the slave handset 116 that match the time period or a certain range of time around the time period.
As shown in master personal mobile server display 502, media content may be displayed in a calendar view 505, such in a time-line view. The calendar view 505 may include date columns 506, which may correspond to a specific date. For example, three full date columns and one partial date column are visible on the master personal mobile server display 502 corresponding to an active date (i.e., Thu. 14.4.) and dates preceding and subsequent to the active date. Typically, upon activation of the calendar view 505, the current date will be displayed in a middle column of the calendar view 505 with columns for the preceding dates positioned to the left and subsequent dates positioned sequentially to the right. As will be apparent, the calendar view 505 may be oriented differently, such as with rows as opposed to columns or with the current date displayed in alternative positions. The calendar view 505 may be vertically scrollable, so that, all of the media content for a date column will be viewable by the user. In addition, the calendar view will typically be horizontally scrollable to provide for a view of other date or time columns 510.
In an alternative aspect of the calendar view, date columns 506 may include multiple time blocks (not shown) which may provide a descriptive area for information related to calendar events. In this alternative aspect of the invention, time blocks may be used to further partition the date columns 506. For example, the time blocks may be in increments of hours.
Calendar view 505 may include columns which may correspond to different time periods such as years, months, hours or the like. Those skilled in the art will realize that the displays herein depicted and described is by way of example only; other master personal mobile server or slave handset displays that provide for the display of media item representations in association with a moment of time or a time period are also contemplated and within the inventive concepts herein disclosed.
As illustrated in
Media content items 530 and 535 displayed in the slave handset's display 504 may be related to selected media content items displayed in the master personal mobile server display 502. Selected and related media content items may represent an album, a collection, or a file folder. Furthermore, media content items may include digital media files, such as digital images, digital video, digital audio, computer games, computer software, digital text files, emails, short message service (SMS) messages, multimedia message service (MMS) messages or the like, to be accessible to the media diary user, in accordance with an aspect of the present invention. A slave handset 116 utilizing its own media content such as media content items 530 and 535 may transmit or copy media content items to the master personal mobile server 115 (and vice versa). For instance, selected media content items such as media content item 535 may be selected and transmitted 540 to master personal mobile server 515. The transferred files are substantially immediately updated on the other displays as illustrated in master personal mobile server display 502 at 545. Location of the transferred media files in the time-line of the master personal mobile server 115 or location in a relevant album, folder, collection, or similar may be determined by the active time period 411 in the time-line of the master personal mobile server 115 or by any other metadata information, such as a topic, an event, a location, or similar, or any combination thereof. In addition, master personal mobile server 115 may further edit the collected new content which may be stored in the master personal mobile server 115. In addition, the collected new content may be transmitted to bonded slave devices.
In another aspect of the invention, when the master personal mobile server 115 is displaying and sharing a time-line presentation, the slave devices 116 may select any of their own content, such as an album, to be browsed and edited at the same time with the master personal mobile server 115 time-line presentations. Alternatively, any content, such albums or collections, in the master personal mobile server 115 may be shared and displayed in slave handset displays. Additionally, the time-period information from master personal mobile server 115 time-line presentation may be utilized to find or search media items from any albums in the slave handset 116 that match the time period or a certain range of time around the time period. Additionally, any metadata information of the selected media content may be utilized to find or search media items from any albums in the slave handset 116.
In another aspect of the invention, media content items may include metadata information, in the form of a timestamp, event name, file name, topic name, location information, or in the media file, objects in the media file, file type, file size or the like. The media item metadata may be automatically inputted at the time of the creation of the media item or may be manually inputted, such as at the time of creation of the media item or receipt or transfer of the media item. In addition, it is possible for the metadata to previously exist in the media file management application and to be associated with the digital media file at the moment the media item is created, if the device creating the media item executes the media file management application.
Once the media file management application receives the media file, the media item metadata may be combined and/or correlated with the calendar event metadata information, i.e., the date and time, the name of the event or the like. The combined and/or correlated metadata information is associated and stored with the media item in the media diary, such that, when a user accesses the media item via the media item representation the user will be presented with the combined metadata as the related content information has been identified through use of the metadata.
In another aspect of the invention, the master handset 113 may give mastering rights to the master personal mobile server and/or to the media file management application to some of the slave handsets 116 or to slave personal mobile servers for controlling the media file management application in the master personal mobile server, for example in order to download content from the master personal mobile server or to control displaying of the media content.
In another aspect of the invention, various slave personal mobile servers 118 may be in communication 120 with the master handset personal mobile server 115. Each of the slave handsets 116 may also be in communication 119 with a respective slave personal mobile server 118. This means, that in another aspect of the invention, the handset devices, both the master 113 and slaves 116, may be used as an I/O means or devices for the respective personal mobile servers, both the master 115 and the slaves 118. This further means that all the activities, functions, actions, or similar described in the invention may be executed by the personal mobile servers and/or between the personal mobile servers, as described in the
While illustrative systems and methods as described herein embodying various aspects of the present invention are shown by way of example, it will be understood, of course, that the invention is not limited to these embodiments. Modifications may be made by those skilled in the art, particularly in light of the foregoing teachings. For example, each of the elements of the aforementioned embodiments may be utilized alone or in combination with elements of the other embodiments. Also, the invention has been defined using the appended claims; however these claims are exemplary in that the invention is intended to include the elements and steps described herein in any combination or sub-combination. It will also be appreciated and understood that modifications may be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention.
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