The present invention generally relates to a removable recording medium for recording audio data and/or visual data, such as, for example, a Compact-Disc (“CD”) and a Digital Videodisc (“DVD”). The present invention specifically relates to an addition of interactivity to the audio data and/or visual data as recorded on the removable recording medium.
Currently, various storage formats of a recorded interactive television program are being defined. The efforts in this area are directed to satisfying an anticipated desire by television viewers in interacting with digital televisions. It is also anticipated that users of digital recording devices (e.g., a digital camcorder) will also desire an interactive functioning of the device. Therefore, there is a need to develop a storage format of a stored recording within such devices.
One form of the present invention is a method of operating various types of recording devices (e.g., camcorders, CD players, DVD players and other recording devices as known in the art). First, a recording (e.g., an audio track, a video clip, an audio/visual clip and other types of recordings known in the art) is stored on a removable recording medium (e.g., an optical disk, a cassette, and other types of removable recording mediums known in the art) as commanded by a user of the recording device. Second, interactivity is added to the recording as commanded by the user of the recording device. Third, the recording and an interactive module based on the interactivity added to the recording are linked. Fourth, the interactive module is stored on the removable recording medium. Fourth, Finally, an interactive link representative of the link between the recording and the interactive module is stored on the removable recording medium.
The foregoing form as well as other forms, features and advantages of the present invention will become further apparent from the following detailed description of the presently preferred embodiments, read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The detailed description and drawings are merely illustrative of the present invention rather than limiting, the scope of the present invention being defined by the appended claims and equivalents thereof.
During a stage S104 of the flowchart 100, the central processing unit 30 determines whether the user inputs an indication to add interactivity to the recording 71 as stored on the removable recording medium. In one embodiment, a graphical user interface presents specific screens and menus to the user during stage S104 whereby the user can choose to add interactivity to the recording 71.
If the user does not desire to add interactivity to the recording 71, then the central processing unit 30 terminates flowchart 100.
If the user adds interactivity to the audio/visual recoding 71, then the central processing unit 30 proceeds to a stage S106 of the flowchart 100 to link the recording 71 and an interactive module 72 based on the interactivity added to the recording 71 by the user (i.e., interactive module 72 includes portions of each selected interactive application(s) 42 and any other software necessary to display the interactivity as stored as added to the recording 71). The types and degree of linking of the recording 71 and the interactive module 72 is without limit. In one embodiment, the linking involves identifying a main entrance within recording 71 for executing interactive module 72, identifying any trigger moment information for the interactive module 72, and other links as would occur to those having ordinary skill in the art.
During a stage S108 of the flowchart 100, the central processing unit 30 controls storage of interactive module 72 to the removable recording medium 70. In one embodiment, the interactive module 72 is a conventional MHP module file (“MHP MOD”) as illustrated in
During a stage S110 of the flowchart 100, the central processing unit 30 controls storage of an interactive link 73 that is representative of the linking between the recording 71 and the interactive module 72. In one embodiment, the interactive link 73 is a MHP info file (“MHP INFO”) as illustrated in
A working example of recording device 10 as a camcorder involves a recording 71 of a beautiful scene on removable recording medium 70 by a user of recording device 10. Wishing to add interactivity to the recording 71, the user selects an interactivity option from a first menu. This selection causes a second menu to pop up for the user to choose from interactive applications 42 stored in memory 40 or from a download of interactive applications 42 from a website on Internet 90. Under either choice, a third menu listing the template(s) for the selected interactive application 42 pops up whereby the user chooses a scene interactive application template. Using the template, the user inputs the location name of the recorded scene (e.g., Eindhoven central market) and a brief introduction having a date and a purpose of the recording 71. The user further chooses an important moment in the recorded scene, adds a fancy image to the recorded scene, and presses a label/button to show a word and an image in the recorded scene. From the Internet 90, the user downloads a news application that has the news the day the user recorded recording 71.
Upon completion, recording 71, interactive module 72 and interactive link 73 are stored on the removable recording medium 70 in accordance with flowchart 100 (
For facilitating an understanding of the present invention, the various stages S102-S110 of flowchart 100 (
It is important to note that
While the embodiments of the invention disclosed herein are presently considered to be preferred, various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The scope of the invention is indicated in the appended claims, and all changes that come within the meaning and range of equivalents are intended to be embraced therein.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/IB03/06057 | 12/12/2003 | WO | 6/20/2005 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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60435231 | Dec 2002 | US |