Patent Application
20120185533
The present disclosure relates generally to mobile communication devices. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to management of multimedia objects associated with mobile communication devices.
Mobile, or portable electronic, communication devices are widely used for performing tasks such as sending and receiving e-mails, placing and receiving phone calls, editing and storing contact information, and scheduling tasks. Mobile communication devices are now commonly integrated with video and still cameras, voice recorders, Internet browsers, etc., which add still further communication capabilities such as video calling, picture tagging, personalized greeting, etc.
Such multi-use, multi-function, mobile devices with integrated cameras, often referred to as smart phones, have had a tremendous social impact over the last decade. The advent of such mobile devices has enabled users to easily create media objects, such as pictures, video clips, voice notes, etc. However, the sharing and management of such media objects can require advanced post-processing, which adds expense and complexity to the use of the multimedia functionality.
Implementations of the present disclosure will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the attached Figures.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repeated among the Figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. In addition, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the implementations described herein. However, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the implementations described herein may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures and components have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the implementations described herein. Also, the description is not to be considered as limited to the scope of the implementations described herein.
The application generally relates to an electronic device, which in the implementations described herein is a portable electronic device. Examples of portable electronic devices include mobile, or handheld, wireless communication devices such as pagers, cellular phones, cellular smart-phones, wireless organizers, personal digital assistants, wirelessly enabled notebook computers and the like. The present disclosure describes a method of managing media files generated by media devices, such as cameras, voice recorders, video recorders and the like, associated with a plurality of portable electronic devices. Media files, termed herein “media objects”, can include, for example, digital photographs, pictures, sound recordings, video recordings and multimedia combinations thereof. The method and system described herein create or define a media project that has associated project parameters. The media project is shared amongst the plurality of portable electronic devices. Media objects meeting the project parameters are then identified, and associated to the media project. Implementations according to the present disclosure provide methods and systems that permit the efficient sharing and management of media objects created on portable electronic communication devices.
The portable electronic device may be a two-way communication device with advanced data communication capabilities including the capability to communicate with other portable electronic devices or computer systems through a network of transceiver stations. The portable electronic device may also have the capability to allow voice communication. Depending on the functionality provided by the portable electronic device, the portable electronic device may be referred to as a data messaging device, a two-way pager, a cellular telephone with data messaging capabilities, a wireless Internet appliance, or a data communication device (with or without telephony capabilities). The portable electronic device may also be a portable device without wireless communication capabilities as a handheld electronic game device, digital photograph album, digital camera and the like. Such a device may include a data port to connect to a general-purpose computer or other device, such as a USB port, to download and upload digital information, such as media files.
Reference is first made to
Although the wireless network 50 associated with the portable electronic device 20 is a GSM/GPRS wireless network in one example implementation, other wireless networks may also be associated with the portable electronic device 20 in variant implementations. The different types of wireless networks that may be employed include, for example, data-centric wireless networks, voice-centric wireless networks, and dual-mode networks that can support both voice and data communications over the same physical base stations. Combined dual-mode networks include, but are not limited to, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) or CDMA1000 networks, GSM/GPRS networks (as mentioned above), and future third-generation (3G) networks like EDGE and UMTS. Some other examples of data-centric networks include WiFi 802.11, Mobitex™ and DataTAC™ network communication systems. Examples of other voice-centric data networks include Personal Communication Systems (PCS) networks like GSM and Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems.
The processor 22 interacts with additional subsystems such as a Random Access Memory (RAM) 28, a flash memory 30, a display device 32, a keyboard 34, a speaker 36, a microphone 38, an auxiliary input/output (I/O) subsystem 40, a data port 42, short-range communications subsystem 44 and other device subsystems 46. In the present implementation, the processor 22 also interacts with the camera module 48 described below.
Some of the subsystems of the portable electronic device 20 perform communication-related functions, whereas other subsystems may provide “resident” or on-device functions. By way of example, the display device 32 and the keyboard 34 may be used for both communication-related functions, such as entering a text message for transmission over the network 50, and device-resident functions such as calculator or task list functions.
The portable electronic device 20 can send and receive communication signals over the wireless network 50 after network registration or activation procedures have been completed. Network access is associated with a subscriber or user of the portable electronic device 20. To identify a subscriber according to the present implementation, the portable electronic device 20 uses a SIM/RUIM card 52 (i.e. Subscriber Identity Module or a Removable User Identity Module) inserted into a SIM/RUIM interface 54 for communication with a network such as the network 50. The SIM/RUIM card 52 is one type of a conventional “smart card” that can be used to identify a subscriber of the portable electronic device 20 and to personalize the portable electronic device 20, among other things. In the present implementation the portable electronic device 20 is not fully operational for communication with the wireless network 50 without the SIM/RUIM card 52. By inserting the SIM/RUIM card 52 into the SIM/RUIM interface 54, a subscriber can access all subscribed services. Services may include: web browsing and messaging such as e-mail, voice mail, Short Message Service (SMS), and Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS). More advanced services may include: point of sale, field service and sales force automation. The SIM/RUIM card 52 includes a processor and memory for storing information. Once the SIM/RUIM card 52 is inserted into the SIM/RUIM interface 54, the SIM/RUIM card 52 is coupled to the processor 22. In order to identify the subscriber, the SIM/RUIM card 52 can include some user parameters such as an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI). An advantage of using the SIM/RUIM card 52 is that a subscriber is not necessarily bound by any single physical portable electronic device. The SIM/RUIM card 52 may store additional subscriber information for a portable electronic device as well, including calendar (or datebook) information and recent call information. Alternatively, user identification information can also be programmed into the flash memory 30.
The portable electronic device 20 is a battery-powered device and includes a battery interface 56 for receiving one or more rechargeable batteries 58. In at least some implementations, the battery 58 can be a smart battery with an embedded microprocessor. The battery interface 56 is coupled to a regulator (not shown), which assists the battery 58 in providing power V+ to the portable electronic device 20. Although current technology makes use of a battery, future technologies such as micro fuel cells may provide the power to the portable electronic device 20.
The portable electronic device 20 also includes an operating system 60 and software components 62 to 72 which are described in more detail below. The operating system 60 and the software components 64 to 72 that are executed by the processor 22 are typically stored in a persistent store such as the flash memory 30, which may alternatively be a read-only memory (ROM) or similar storage element (not shown). Those skilled in the art will appreciate that portions of the operating system 60 and the software components 62 to 72, such as specific device applications, or parts thereof, may be temporarily loaded into a volatile store such as the RAM 28. Other software components can also be included, as is well known to those skilled in the art.
The subset of software applications 62 that control basic device operations, including data and voice communication applications, will normally be installed on the portable electronic device 20 during the manufacture of the portable electronic device 20. Other software applications include a message application 64 that can be any suitable software program that allows a user of the portable electronic device 20 to send and receive electronic messages. Various alternatives exist for the message application 64 as is well known to those skilled in the art. Messages that have been sent or received by the user are typically stored in the flash memory 30 of the portable electronic device 20 or some other suitable storage element in the portable electronic device 20. In at least some implementations, some of the sent and received messages may be stored remotely from the device 20 such as in a data store of an associated host system 100 with which the portable electronic device 20 communicates.
The host system 100 can be a corporate enterprise or other local area network (LAN) comprising one or more servers (not shown), but may also be a home office computer or some other private system, for example, in variant implementations. Typically, a plurality of mobile devices can communicate wirelessly with the host system 100 through one or more nodes of the wireless network 50. It is also contemplated that portable electronic device 20 can communicate with other systems 101. The other systems 101 can include, for example, servers, and associated websites, accessible over the Internet, FTP servers and sites, and “clouds” of servers in a cloud computing environment. According to particular implementations, other systems 101 may be directly accessed by the portable electronic device 20 through network 50, as indicated by the solid line linking network 50 to other systems 101, or through host system 100, as indicated by the hashed line linking host system 100 and other systems 101.
The software applications can further include a device state module 66, a Personal Information Manager (PIM) 68, and other suitable modules (not shown). The device state module 66 provides persistence, i.e. the device state module 66 ensures that important device data is stored in persistent memory, such as the flash memory 30, so that the data is not lost when the portable electronic device 20 is turned off or loses power.
The PIM 68 includes functionality for organizing and managing data items of interest to the user, such as, but not limited to, e-mail, contacts, calendar events, voice mails, appointments, and task items. A PIM application has the ability to send and receive data items via the wireless network 50. PIM data items may be seamlessly integrated, synchronized, and updated via the wireless network 50 with the portable electronic device subscriber's corresponding data items stored or associated or both stored and associated with a host computer system 100. This functionality creates a mirrored host computer on the portable electronic device 20 with respect to such items. This functionality can be particularly advantageous when the host computer system 100 is the portable electronic device subscriber's office computer system.
The portable electronic device 20 also includes a connect module 70, and an information technology (IT) policy module 72. The connect module 70 implements the communication protocols that are required for the portable electronic device 20 to communicate with the wireless infrastructure and any host system 100, such as an enterprise system, with which the portable electronic device 20 is authorized to interface.
The connect module 70 includes a set of APIs that can be integrated with the portable electronic device 20 to allow the portable electronic device 20 to use any number of services associated with the enterprise system. The connect module 70 allows the portable electronic device 20 to establish an end-to-end secure, authenticated communication pipe with the host system 100. A subset of applications for which access is provided by the connect module 70 can be used to pass IT policy commands from the host system 100 to the portable electronic device 20. This can be done in a wireless or wired manner. These instructions can then be passed to the IT policy module 72 to modify the configuration of the device 20. Alternatively, in some cases, the IT policy update can also be done over a wired connection.
Other types of software applications can also be installed on the portable electronic device 20. These software applications can be third party applications, which are added after the manufacture of the portable electronic device 20. Examples of third party applications include games, calculators, utilities, etc.
The additional applications can be loaded onto the portable electronic device 20 through at least one of the wireless network 50, the auxiliary I/O subsystem 40, the data port 42, the short-range communications subsystem 44, or any other suitable device subsystem 46. This flexibility in application installation increases the functionality of the portable electronic device 20 and may provide enhanced on-device functions, communication-related functions, or both. For example, secure communication applications may enable electronic commerce functions and other such financial transactions to be performed using the portable electronic device 20.
The data port 42 enables a subscriber to set preferences through an external device or software application and extends the capabilities of the portable electronic device 20 by providing for information or software downloads to the portable electronic device 20 other than through a wireless communication network. The alternate download path may, for example, be used to load an encryption key onto the portable electronic device 20 through a direct and thus reliable and trusted connection to provide secure device communication.
The data port 42 can be any suitable port that enables data communication between the portable electronic device 20 and another computing device. The data port 42 can be a serial or a parallel port. In some instances, the data port 42 can be a USB port that includes data lines for data transfer and a supply line that can provide a charging current to charge the battery 58 of the portable electronic device 20.
The short-range communications subsystem 44 provides for communication between the portable electronic device 20 and different systems or devices, without the use of the wireless network 50. For example, the short-range communications subsystem 44 may include an infrared device and associated circuits and components for short-range communication. Examples of short-range communication standards include standards developed by the Infrared Data Association (IrDA), Bluetooth™, the 802.11 family of standards developed by IEEE, and other WiFi and Near Field Communication techniques.
Other device subsystems 46 can include, for example, a global positioning system (GPS) or other geo-location systems, as is well-known in the art. Appropriate application software can be provided as part of programs 62 at the electronic device 20 for facilitating functions, such as determining current location, determining map coordinates, and displaying maps.
In use, a received signal such as a text message, an e-mail message, or web page download is processed by the communication subsystem 24 and input to the processor 22. The processor 22 then processes the received signal for output to the display device 32 or alternatively to the auxiliary I/O subsystem 40. A subscriber may also compose data items, such as e-mail messages, for example, using the keyboard 34, which may be implemented in any known manner, such as a touchscreen, a conventional keyboard, with or without the use of auxiliary I/O subsystem 40. The auxiliary subsystem 40 may include devices such as: a mouse, track ball, infrared fingerprint detector, or a roller wheel with dynamic button pressing capability. A composed item may be transmitted over the wireless network 50 through the communication subsystem 24.
For voice communications, the overall operation of the portable electronic device 20 is substantially similar, except that the received signals are output to the speaker 36, and the microphone 38 generates signals for transmission. Alternative voice or audio I/O subsystems, such as a voice message recording subsystem, can also be implemented on the portable electronic device 20. Although voice or audio signal output is accomplished primarily through the speaker 36, the display device 32 can also be used to provide additional information such as the identity of a calling party, duration of a voice call, or other voice call related information.
Referring now to
The portable electronic device 20 also includes the camera module 48 that includes a flash output arrangement 82 and an image capturing system 84 both framed by the housing 80. The image capturing system 84 includes a number of components including an optical system of lenses, an image sensor, a controller and an image processor. It will be appreciated that associated software for controlling the camera module 48 resides on the portable electronic device 20, in the programs 62 at the flash memory 30. By pressing, for example, a key on the keyboard 34 or by selecting a corresponding on-screen menu option or icon, the camera module 48 is turned on as the camera application is launched. The camera module 48 is employed for taking still images by, for example, pressing a key on the keyboard 34 or by pressing the auxiliary I/O subsystem 40 trackball shown in
The associated camera application can permit user interaction with the camera module 48 such as zooming in and out using the keyboard 34 or auxiliary I/O subsystem 40, changing the resolution of the captured image, or turning the flash output arrangement 82 on, off or to an automatic setting, for example. Pictures taken using the camera module 48 can be stored in any suitable format in the flash memory 30, for example, and can be retrieved for viewing, for setting as a background on the display device 32, or for sending as an attachment in a message. It will be appreciated that a picture application can also be provided as part of the programs 62 at the portable electronic device 20 for facilitating management of stored pictures.
The present disclosure can best be illustrated by example. Assume a group of people are travelling together, and each member of the group has a different portable electronic device that includes an integrated digital camera. All members of the group take pictures while on the trip, and wish to combine the group members' pictures into a single digital “album”. Prior methods permit the group members to, for example, individually upload the group members' pictures to a common site. However, the lack of uniformity amongst photographic naming conventions of different manufacturers does not provide a simple, efficient and elegant way to categorize or group the photographs together.
Generally, the present disclosure provides a method of managing, or organizing, media objects, such as photographs, generated by a plurality of diverse portable electronic devices by defining a project and associating media objects created or stored on the plurality of devices to the project. A media project can be created for a single type of media object, e.g. photographs, or can encompass multiple media object types, such as digital photographs, video clips, and multimedia objects, in a single media project. The method can be implemented on, for example, portable electronic device 20, comprising a media device for generating media objects, such as camera module 48. The media objects can be stored in, for example, flash memory 30. The media project, having project parameters and a project name, or other identifier, can also be stored in flash memory 30. Media objects meeting the project parameters can then be associated with the project, under the control of processor 22 configured to identify such media objects, and associate the media objects with the project by, for example, inserting a project tag into metadata associated with each media object.
The disclosed method and system will be described by example with reference to media objects that are pictures or photographs, such as generated by camera module 48. Such description is non-limiting, and, as will be understood by those of skill in the art, the media objects can include any media object including, but not limited to, digital pictures or photographs, sound or voice recordings, video clips, and multimedia objects combining any of the above.
The method is generally shown in
As shown in
The media project application can then prompt the user for a project name (122), or other project identifier. A default project name can be provided, such as based on current date, location or time. Alternately, the user can be prompted to enter a custom name for the media project. Once a project name has been input (124) or accepted, the user can be prompted for project parameters (126), such as one or more of a date, date range, location (e.g. city, GPS coordinates, etc.), and media type(s) to be included in the project. The project parameters can, for example, be input, or directly entered, in response to prompts on the portable electronic device or on another device, such as the user's home computer. As used herein, a “prompt” is any cue or stimulus to input or accept data. For example, referring to
Depending on other factors, such as design preferences, the nature of a particular project and the media type(s) involved, other project parameters can be defined. Non-limiting examples of such additional project parameters can include parameters providing a detailed project description, and parameters defining sub-projects (e.g., a subset of a project having further defining parameters, such as a limited date range or location, or related or a particular media type), due dates, deadlines, and project stakeholders/participants. Again, default values, based on, for example, current date, location or time, can be provided. The creation of a media project is further illustrated in
Once the project parameters have been input (128), the media project application generates a project tag, or label, such as for insertion into metadata associated with media objects eventually associated to the project. As used herein, “metadata” is defined as data about data, such as is commonly used to describe or define digital documents and data. The format and content of the project tag can depend on the metadata commonly associated with a particular media type, the project parameters, and other design preferences. For example, digital photographs are commonly provided with Exchangeable image file format (Exif) metadata tags, as developed by the Japan Electronic Industries Development Association (JEIDA), to specify date and time stamps and camera setting used to take the picture, to provide a thumbnail for previewing, and to provide copyright information. An Exif project tag, for insertion into proprietary or standard Exif metadata associated with each photograph, can therefore be generated. Other metadata tags that can be adapted to include a project tag include, for example, Information Interchange Model (IIM), which defines a set of metadata attributes that can be applied to text, images and other media types, and Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP), which is a standard created by Adobe Systems Inc., for processing and storing standardized and proprietary information relating to the contents of a file.
As shown in
As used herein, a project factor is any factor that indicates or suggests that a media project may be desirable. For example, a project factor can be derived from another data source, such as a calendar application resident on the portable electronic device or on the user's home computer. The creation or activation of a meeting or trip entry can trigger the launch of the media project application, and project parameters and a project tag can be generated based on the parameters defining the meeting or trip (e.g. date, duration, etc.). Another example project factor is a location-based factor. For example, detection, such as through a GPS or other geo-location system, that the portable electronic device is in, or traveling to, a vacation-destination location, such as Las Vegas, could trigger the media project application to query whether a media project should be created. The media project application could be triggered directly in response to detecting the location through the GPS system, or the could be subsequently triggered when a media object, such as a picture, is taken. Project factors can also be derived from other devices. For example, if the portable electronic device were paired with a separate GPS device, the portable electronic device can receive location-based factors from the GPS device, such as current location and destination information (if programmed into the GPS device).
According to a further example implementation, as shown in
Referring again to
According to an example implementation, as shown in
According to another example implementation, as shown in
Referring again to
Referring to
According to a further example implementation, as shown in
The method can then further include post-processing the media objects. Such post-processing can include downloading the media objects from the plurality of portable electronic devices to a central repository, such as well-known web-based photo repositories, such as Picasa® and Flickr®. The central repository can be located in a single server, such as a server resident on the host system 100 or other systems 101, or can be distributed among a plurality of servers and computers, such as in a cloud computing environment. The uploaded media objects can be analyzed to determine if the uploaded media objects are associated with a given media project, such as by examining the metadata to locate a project tag associated with each object. Media objects that are determined to belong to a project can then be grouped into a single collection, and, optionally, further organized within the collection according to other information, such as timestamps.
The disclosure describes a method and system to create and share a media project that automatically tags media objects meeting certain pre-defined parameters or criteria. Not only do the method and system permit media objects created on multiple devices to be easily collected and grouped together, but, through the analysis and modification of metadata associated with each media object, the media objects can be sorted and/or categorized more efficiently once grouped as a project.
In the preceding description, for purposes of explanation, numerous details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the implementations. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that these specific details are not required. In other instances, well-known electrical structures and circuits are shown in block diagram form in order not to obscure the understanding. For example, specific details are not provided as to whether the implementations described herein are implemented as a software routine, hardware circuit, firmware, or a combination thereof.
Implementations of the disclosure can be represented as a computer program product stored in a machine-readable medium (also referred to as a computer-readable medium, a processor-readable medium, or a computer usable medium having a computer-readable program code embodied therein). The machine-readable medium can be any suitable tangible, non-transitory medium, including magnetic, optical, or electrical storage medium including a diskette, compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM), memory device (volatile or non-volatile), or similar storage mechanism. The machine-readable medium can contain various sets of instructions, code sequences, configuration information, or other data, which, when executed, cause a processor to perform steps in a method according to an implementation of the disclosure. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that other instructions and operations necessary to implement the described implementations can also be stored on the machine-readable medium. The instructions stored on the machine-readable medium can be executed by a processor or other suitable processing device, and can interface with circuitry to perform the described tasks.
The above-described implementations are intended to be examples only. Alterations, modifications and variations can be effected to the particular implementations by those of skill in the art without departing from the scope, which is defined solely by the claims appended hereto.
