Patent Application
20160085762
The present invention generally relates to rendering media content. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method of facilitating the smooth transition of the media content from one scene to another, where the play order of the scenes is not predetermined.
Adding media content such as audio, video, text, image, pdf, MS office Documents etc. to another media is done on presentation module or viewer. The presentation module or viewer combines one or more media content in real time or otherwise, via software, in a specified format. The presentation module or viewer further regulates relaying of scene(s) from one specific source to another and monitors these scene(s). The process is quite simple when the continuity of the media has to be broken as there is no requirement for alignment of the scenes and the place of insertion is predetermined. A simple example of combining media on presentation module or viewer by breaking the continuity is inserting a commercial during a movie. The presentation module or viewer stops the movie after a predetermined running and a commercial follows instantly or shortly with no requirement of alignment. However, the whole equation changes when insertion is to be made during a live transmission or when media is still playing in the background, because such type of insertion requires precise alignment of the scenes with fast seamless switching without any undesirable glitches such as pixelation, flickering, delay in streaming video, undesirable interruptions, dropping content etc.
However, utilizing software to remove the glitches while performing media content transition from one scene to the next is being addressed by one off application development, which results in operating system dependency. Moreover, currently, there is no method and system to bring together different types of media content such as video, audio, image, pdf, office documents on a scene and integrate it into a digital presentation that can be played on different types of hardware devices using different types of technology. The integration of such asset(s) from one scene to another often results in undesirable glitches for example delays in streaming video, undesirable interruptions, dropping content and pixelation or flickering etc. Further, software development to support additional operating systems introduces a development risk such as bugs in the code, additional time for development, testing the application and inflexibility of application.
The undesirable glitches can also be removed by using hardware that could manipulate key frames, for example TV industry utilizes hardware capable of fast seamless switching by making a layered architecture in which stream management is independent of display management. However, the technology is limited by the requirement of alignment of the common frames perfectly; otherwise undesirable glitches such as pixelation appear.
At present there is no rendering tool that facilitates the smooth transitioning of media content from one scene to another by modifying properties of media content asset(s) without any undesirable glitches that occur while combining different types of media content without any predetermined sequence.
Therefore, to overcome the above problems the present invention provides a new system and method for rendering multi-scene rich media content on a media-board presentation for facilitating smooth transition of media content.
A system for facilitating smooth transition of media content from one scene to another scene, the system comprising: media-board application to create a media-board presentation; multi-scene rich media content rendering algorithm, for modifying and managing attributes or properties with respect to media content asset(s); and media-board player, an implementation of the multi -scene rich media content rendering algorithm to play media-board presentations; wherein, said media-board presentation comprises one or more scenes; each scene possesses multiple different asset(s), which are tagged with a unique identifier; and said multi-scene rich media content rendering algorithm pre-checks; and transitions these tagged asset(s) from one scene to another by identifying tagged asset(s) common across two scenes, therefore tagged asset(s) common across scenes are modified according to meta-data relating to the position, size, depth (or layer depth), alpha, volume, aspect and effect with respect to other scene, therefore facilitating the smooth transition of media content.
The media-board application creates a media-board presentation consisting of scenes; each scene may possess multiple asset(s), each asset is tagged with a unique identifier and has meta-data relating to its position, size, alpha, volume, aspect and effect; an asset may appear on multiple scenes, the unique identifier will remain the same on each scene, however, its meta-data may be different; wherein, said multi-scene rich media content rendering algorithm expects a media-board presentation as input and defines how assets are managed in memory as we transition these tagged asset(s) from one scene to another scene. The multi scene rich media content rendering algorithm specifies that assets that are common from the current scene to the new scene, identified by the unique identifier, are modified according to meta-data such as position, size, depth (or layer depth), alpha, volume, aspect and effect thereby facilitating smooth transition of the asset. Assets that do not appear on the new scene and have no potential for resuming playing later may be removed from memory and those that could have potential to be resumed are simply suspended/paused.
Media content includes but is not limited to the video, audio, graphic, text, pdf, MS office document etc or combination thereof as components prepared on the media-board presentation. For example, any media content such as an audio, video, text, document etc having display properties can be modified or managed from one scene to another to play smoothly without any glitches or interruptions on a media-board presentation.
The present invention provides a method for facilitating smooth transition of media content from one scene to another scene by a multi-scene rich media content rendering algorithm, the method comprising: creating a media-board presentation, modifying and managing attributes or properties with respect to asset(s) of one or more scenes; where each scene possesses multiple different asset(s); pre-checking and tagging each asset with a unique identifier; and further transition of these tagged asset(s) from one scene to another scene and tagged asset(s) common across both scenes are modified and managed according to meta-data relating to the position, size, depth (or layer depth) information, alpha, volume, aspect and effect with respect to other scene, therefore facilitating smooth transition of media content asset(s); wherein, the media content on the media-board presentation is played without any glitches or interruptions.
The following invention will be described with reference to the following drawings of which:
The drawing figures do not limit the present invention to the specific embodiments disclosed and described herein. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the invention.
The present invention will be described with respect to particular embodiments and with reference to certain drawings but the invention is not limited thereto but only by the claims. The drawings described are only schematic and are non-limiting. In the drawings, the size of some of the elements may be exaggerated or distorted and not drawn on scale for illustrative purposes. Where an indefinite or definite article is used when referring to a singular noun e.g. “a” or “an”, “the”, this includes a plural of that noun unless something else is specifically stated.
The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments of the inventions are shown. While the following description details the preferred embodiments of the present invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of the parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
With reference to the figures, numerical designation has been given for each element to facilitate the reader's understanding of the present invention, and particularly with reference to the embodiments of the present invention illustrated in the figures; various preferred embodiments of the present invention are set forth below. The enclosed description and drawings are merely illustrative of preferred embodiments and represent several different ways of configuring the present invention. Although specific components, materials, configurations and uses of the present invention are illustrated and set forth in this disclosure, it should be understood that a number of variations to the components and to the configuration of those components described herein and in the accompanying figures can be made without changing the scope and function of the invention set forth herein.
The term “media-board application” is an authoring tool and it is used to create a media-board presentation.
The term “media-board presentation” is the output of the media-board application or authoring tool and is in XML format. The XML may be stored as a file or passed directly to a program as a parameter or stream.
The term “media-board player” is an implementation of the multi-scene rich media content rendering algorithm for playing/rendering media-board presentations on display devices such as desktop, laptop, tablet, smart phone etc.
The term “media content” includes but is not limited to the video, audio, graphic, text, pdf, MS office document etc or combination thereof. Media content can also reference a media -board presentation. Therefore, a scene media content asset can also reference a media-board presentation so that one or more media-board presentations may be embedded/nested in another media-board presentation. Each media board presentation is rendered in its own stream.
Any media content such as video, audio, graphic, text, pdf, MS office document etc or combination thereof can be managed or rendered from one scene to another to avoid any glitches or interruptions while playing on a media-board player. For example, any media content such as a movie is stored, modified and played with other kinds of media such as text in form of subtitles. Similar technology can also be utilized in case of live streaming video wherein text in form of statistics and/or other information; such as in a boxing match fight history, physical statics, upcoming fight, twitter and other information may be displayed. Further extra features such as commentary, additional footage, trailers and the like may also be added. Although the preferred media content is video it does not in any way restricts the scope of application of the present invention.
A system for facilitating smooth transition of media content from one scene to another scene, the system comprising: media-board application to create a media-board presentation; multi-scene rich media content rendering algorithm, for modifying and managing attributes or properties with respect to media content asset(s); and media-board player, an implementation of the multi -scene rich media content rendering algorithm to play media-board presentations; wherein, said media-board presentation comprises one or more scenes; each scene possesses multiple different asset(s), which are tagged with a unique identifier; and said multi-scene rich media content rendering algorithm pre-checks and transitions these tagged asset(s) from one scene to another by identifying tagged asset(s) across two scenes, therefore tagged asset(s) common across scenes are modified according to meta-data relating to the position, size, depth (or layer depth), alpha, volume, aspect and effect with respect to the another scene, therefore facilitating smooth transition of media content.
An asset may appear on multiple scenes, the unique identifier will remain the same on each scene, however, its meta-data may be different; wherein, said multi-scene rich media content rendering algorithm takes a media-board presentation as input and defines how assets are managed in memory as we transition these tagged asset(s) from one scene to another scene. Assets that do not appear on the new scene and have no potential for resuming playing later may be removed from memory and those that could have potential to be resumed are simply suspended/paused.
A multi-scene rich media content rendering algorithm is for facilitating the smooth transitioning of the media content asset(s), allowing attributes or properties with respect to media content asset(s) to be modified or managed; and playing the media content without any technical glitches such as delays, undesirable interruptions or dropped content without any pixelation or flickering etc.
The Media-board application is used to create media-board presentations. A media-board presentation is played/displayed/rendered using an implementation of the multi-scene rich media content rendering algorithm. A media-board presentation may contain one or more scenes, each scene comprising of zero or more media content asset(s). Scenes may transition from one scene to another scene based on the time-elapsed, user interaction (mouse/touch) or external stimuli (e.g. specific date or time, warning signal of some sort). Each asset in a scene is assigned with a unique identifier such as name, id. The feature of the multi-scene rich media content rendering algorithm is the ability to transition an asset(s) smoothly from one scene to another without undesirable glitches for example, delays, interruptions or dropped content with pixelation or flickering etc. The multi-scene rich media content rendering algorithm utilizes the unique identifier of each asset(s) and the meta-data of each asset(s) to achieve the smooth transition effect. The media-board presentation stores meta-data for each scene and each asset on a scene. In the media-board presentation, asset(s) may occur on one or more scenes; however the unique identifier remains the same while the meta-data may differ (Some meta-data example for each of the aforementioned are presented below in the Table 1), wherein the asset(s) among the scenes can be unloaded or reset or rewound while the media-board presentation is being played.
The system can be configured for different types of hardware devices including but not limited to desktops or laptops, tablets, mobile phones etc. Further, the system may be configured for different types of software(s) including but not limited to Windows, Mac, and Linux etc. Wherein, the said system utilizes different types of technology such as htm15, Flash, Silverlight, C/C++ etc. The system also provides animations and effects for the media content.
The multi-scene rich media content rendering algorithm defines how to perform rendering by pre-checking asset(s) of scene(s) on a media-board presentation to find the same or common asset(s) that may be present on the next scene, where the next scene is not predetermined. The common assets are identifiable by their unique identifier. The algorithm shall not redraw asset(s) for scenes that existed in the previous scene and is/are present in the new scene. The algorithm allows common assets between current and new scene are not to be redrawn, their attributes (meta-data relating to the position, size, depth (or layer depth), alpha, volume, aspect and effect) are modified according to their properties on the new scene. Also, the multi-scene rich media content rendering algorithm can be used for smooth rendering of media contents, where the next scene is predetermined.
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The present invention provides a method for facilitating smooth transition of media content from one scene to another scene by a multi-scene rich media content rendering algorithm, the method comprising: creating a media-board presentation, modifying and managing attributes or properties with respect to asset(s) of one or more scenes; where each scene possesses multiple different asset(s); pre-checking and tagging each asset(s) with unique identifier; and further transition of these tagged asset(s) from one scene to another scene and tagged asset(s) common across both scenes are modified and managed according to meta-data relating to the position, size, depth (or layer depth), alpha, volume, aspect and effect with respect to other scene, therefore facilitating smooth transition of media content asset(s); wherein, the media content on the media-board presentation is played without any glitches or interruptions because the transition of media content asset(s) does not interrupt the media streaming and rendering process.
The multi-scene rich media content rendering algorithm takes a media-board presentation as input; manage assets that do not appear on the new scene (if there is no potential for continual playing later may be removed from memory or those that could have potential to be continued are suspended); manage assets that only appear on the new scene and transition of assets that are common to both the current and new scenes.
In another embodiment of the present invention provide a method for media content rendering, the method comprising: creating a media-board presentation using a media-board application; said media-board presentation comprises of one or more scenes; where each scene possesses multiple different asset(s); each asset on a scene has meta-data, said metadata defines how asset(s) are displayed on the scenes; each asset has a unique identifier; transitioning of these asset(s) from one scene to another scene; allowing the media content asset to be played on the media-board presentation without any glitches or interruptions; and wherein play order of scenes are not predetermined.
One skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments provided above are exemplary and in no way limit the present invention.
Although the invention has been illustrated and described with respect to one or more implementations, equivalent alterations and modifications will occur to others skilled in the art upon the reading and understanding of this specification and the annexed drawings. In addition, while a particular feature of the invention may have been disclosed with respect to only one of several implementations, such feature may be combined with one or more other features of the other implementations as may be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by the present invention.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.
The Abstract of the disclosure will allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the following claims.
