Patent Application
20070276862
Embodiments of the invention relate to organizing and sharing digital content.
Today, increasingly there is a trend towards packing more features into the digital cameras of camera-enabled mobile phones and toward increasing the resolution and quality of such cameras. The result is that the people are taking more pictures with such cameras. The pictures taken with such cameras are typically stored on the mobile phone only temporarily as they are often moved from the camera to a remote storage location either on a user device such as a personal computer or on a server. Conveniently, the images may also be organized or categorized into collections as is described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/302,566, which is hereby incorporated by reference. For example an image may be categorized into one or more named collections such for example a “2006 European Vacation” collection, a “My Children's Photos” collection, etc. to facilitate easy retrieval.
Co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/817,599, which is hereby incorporated by reference discloses techniques to conveniently move the images from the mobile phone to their final storage location.
Besides images, other forms of digital content may be generated on a devices such as mobile phones, Pocket PCs, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), etc. Such content may include voice data, text documents, slides, etc. These other forms of digital content can also be categorized and moved to their final storage location using the techniques disclosed in U.S. patent applications Ser. No. 11/302,566 and U.S. Ser. No. 10/817,599.
Apart from personal use of digital content, increasingly the digital content is shared, for example, with friends, family, co-workers etc.
In one aspect, the invention provides a method for organizing and sharing an image. For organizing the image, upon capturing the image with the built-in camera of a mobile phone, the image is sent to a collection on a remote storage location for storage thereon. For sharing the image, a link to the image is generated and sent to an invitee in the form of an invitation. Advantageously, the invitations are sent using the Short Message Service (SMS) protocol and include an encrypted link to the image.
Other aspects of the invention will be apparent from the detailed description below.
In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the invention can be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the invention.
Reference in this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the invention. The appearance of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments. Moreover, various features are described which may be exhibited by some embodiments and not by others. Similarly, various requirements are described which may be requirements for some embodiments but not other embodiments.
Broadly, embodiments of the present invention disclose a method and system for organizing and sharing digital content. For the organization aspect, in one embodiment, content generated or captured by a data acquisition device (DAD) is sent or uploaded to a Content Management Service (CMS) or to a user storage device (USD). The Content Management Service (CMS) may be an online Content Management Service (CMS) and the USD may be any device that forms the final storage location for the content. As an example, the user storage device may be a personal computer (PC). The Content Management Service (CMS) stores the digital content and associates a category with the digital content. The category may define a virtual collection of like or similar digital content. For the sharing aspect, at the time of uploading the digital content to the Content Management Service (CMS), in one embodiment, a user is given the option of indicating whether the digital content is to be shared. For digital content that is to be shared, the Content Management Service (CMS) generates an encrypted link to the content. The encrypted link is embedded in an SMS message which is then sent to selected invitees who may then use the link to view the content. The invitees may be selected based on membership within a group which may be an ad hoc group created on the DAD for the purpose of sharing the newly generated digital content. Alternatively, the group may be a predefined group. Embodiments of the invention also cover a Content Management Service (CMS) that stores the digital content, associates the category with the digital content, generate the encrypted link, and sends the encrypted link via an SMS message to the selected invitees.
The wireless network 14 connects to a wired network 18, such as for example the Internet, via a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) gateway 20. The gateway 20 serves to convert communications as they pass between the wireless network 14 and the wired network 18. One or more content management servers 22 (only one server 22 is shown in
Also connected to the wired network 18 is a Short Message Service (SMS) server 24. The SMS server 22 includes functions to send SMS messages to mobile devices 26 that are coupled to the wireless network 14. The mobile devices represent any device capable of supporting wireless communications in accordance with the WAP protocol. Thus, for example, the mobile devices may include mobile phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), two way pagers, etc. Reference numeral 25 indicates a USD such as, for example, a PC that is couple to the wired network 18. As will be seen, the USD includes a processor and a memory couple to the processor. The memory may serve as the final storage location for content generated by the DAD 12.
Referring now to
At block 56, the content is uploaded to the final storage location via the WAP gateway 20. Thus, if the final storage location is the USD 25, then the content is sent to the USD 25. This may be achieved via a peer-to-peer connection with the USD 25. If the final storage location is the server 22 then the content is sent to the server 22. At block 58, the content management module 32C causes the final storage location to associate one or more categories with the content. The block 58 includes sending categories to be associated with the content to the final storage location. In one embodiment, in order to obtain the categories, upon the capture or generation of the content, the content management module 32A prompts the user to input the categories. To facilitate rapid categorization, in one embodiment the content management module 32A may default to the last category that the user selected. The user is then given the option of accepting or changing the category. The categories may be sent together with the image at block 56.
At block 60 the content management module 32A causes the Content Management Service (CMS) to generate a link to the content and to send the link to the selected invitees. Causing the generation of the link, may be achieved in one embodiment by sending the share indication to the Content Management Service (CMS). For the embodiment where the final storage location is the USD 12, then the causing the generation of the link may include sending the share indication to the USD 12. The USD 12 then sends the content and the share indication to the CMS. In one embodiment the share indication is sent when the content is uploaded to the Content Management Service (CMS) at block 56. The share indication may be implied upon sending the user's selection or input of the contacts with whom the content is to be shared to the server 22, either directly or indirectly via the USD 12, as described. The user's selection or input of contacts may be sent to the final storage location together with the content at block 56.
Turning now to
The foregoing described a technique whereby content acquired by a DAD 12 can be moved to its final storage location and then shared with selected invitees be having the server 22 generate and send SMS messages with a link to the content to the selected invitees. In one case the server 22 was the final storage location and thus the DAD 12 communicated directly with the server 22, as described. In another case, the USD 25 was the final storage location and in this case the DAD 12 communicated directly with the USD 25. For content to be shared, the USD 25 then communicated the content to the server 22 which in turn stored or replicated the content. The server 22 also generated and sent the SMS messages with the link to the content, as described. From the perspective of the USD 25, the USD 25 receives content from the DAD 12. The USD 25 also receives category information for the content from the DAD 12. In response to the receiving, the USD 25 stores the content and associates the content with one or more categories based on the category information. If a share indication was received from the DAD 12, then the USD 25 uploads the content to the server 22 along with the category information and the share indication. The server 22 stores the content, associates the one or more categories with the content, and generates and sends the SMS messages, as described.
In one embodiment of the invention, based on user input the DAD 12 may establish a communications session with the USD 25 for the purpose of browsing stored content on the USD 25. The user can then select content stored on the USD 25 to be shared with selected invitees. In response to the selection, the USD 25 uploads the selected content to the server 22 together with category information for the content and a share indication. The server 22 stores the content, associates one or more categories with the content, and generates and sends the above-described SMS messages to the selected invitees.
The hardware 100 also typically receives a number of inputs and outputs for communicating information externally. For interface with a user or operator, the hardware 100 may include one or more user input devices 106 (e.g., a keyboard, a mouse, etc.) and a display 108 (e.g., a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) panel). For additional storage, the hardware 100 may also include one or more mass storage devices 110, e.g., a floppy or other removable disk drive, a hard disk drive, a Direct Access Storage Device (DASD), an optical drive (e.g. a Compact Disk (CD) drive, a Digital Versatile Disk (DVD) drive, etc.) and/or a tape drive, among others. Furthermore, the hardware 100 may include an interface with one or more networks 112 (e.g., a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless network, and/or the Internet among others) to permit the communication of information with other computers coupled to the networks. It should be appreciated that the hardware 100 typically includes suitable analog and/or digital interfaces between the processor 102 and each of the components 104, 106, 108 and 112 as is well known in the art.
The hardware 100 operates under the control of an operating system 104, and executes various computer software applications, components, programs, objects, modules, etc. that define the Content Management Service (CMC) described above. Moreover, various applications, components, programs, objects, etc. may also execute on one or more processors in another computer coupled to the hardware 100 via a network 112, e.g. in a distributed computing environment, whereby the processing required to implement the functions of a computer program may be allocated to multiple computers over a network. In general, the routines executed to implement the embodiments of the invention may be implemented as part of an operating system or a specific application, component, program, object, module or sequence of instructions referred to as “computer programs.” The computer programs typically comprise one or more instructions set at various times in various memory and storage devices in a computer, and that, when read and executed by one or more processors in a computer, cause the computer to perform operations necessary to execute elements involving the various aspects of the invention. Moreover, while the invention has been described in the context of fully functioning computers and computer systems, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various embodiments of the invention are capable of being distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that the invention applies equally regardless of the particular type of computer-readable media used to actually effect the distribution. Examples of computer-readable media include but are not limited to recordable type media such as volatile and non-volatile memory devices, floppy and other removable disks, hard disk drives, optical disks (e.g., Compact Disk Read-Only Memory (CD ROMS), Digital Versatile Disks, (DVDs), etc.), among others, and transmission type media such as digital and analog communication links.
While certain exemplary embodiments have been described and shown in the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that such embodiments are merely illustrative and not restrictive of the broad invention and that this invention is not limited to the specific constructions and arrangements shown and described, since various other modifications may occur to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon studying this disclosure. In an area of technology such as this, where growth is fast and further advancements are not easily foreseen, the disclosed embodiments may be readily modifiable in arrangement and detail as facilitated by enabling technological advancements without departing from the principals of the present disclosure or the scope of the accompanying claims.
