Patent Application
20050187943
The present invention relates to media file management and, more specifically, to applications, methods and devices for representing media items in a media file management application implemented in digital devices.
The rapid growth of digital communication has made it possible for all kinds of digital media items to be communicated amongst various types of wireless and wire line communication devices. For instance, the cellular or mobile telephone is no longer limited to telephonic voice communication and may include other means of digital communication, such as digital networking (i.e., Internet communication, text messaging, and the like). In addition, an increasing number of cellular telephones and other mobile wireless communication devices, such as portable computers, personal data assistants (PDAs) and the like, are being integrated with other means of capturing or producing digital media, such as digital cameras, digital audio recorders, digital video recorders and the like. Technological advances have made it possible for other digital devices, such as digital cameras, digital video recorders, digital audio devices and the like to be equipped with means for digital communication. As more and more digital devices possess the capability to digitally communicate with one another, the amount of digital media items that will be communicated amongst these devices will increase at an alarming rate.
In addition to the onset of more and more digital devices possessing digital communication capabilities, the digital storage capacity of these devices is constantly increasing. In the near future the majority of mobile digital communication terminals may well be equipped with storage capacity in the gigabyte range or greater, allowing these devices to store an enormous amount of digital data. In this environment it will no longer be prohibitive from a memory capacity standpoint to store a voluminous amount of large file types, such as video, audio or other multimedia files.
In the digital communication environment where more and more digital devices, both wireless and wired, are equipped with a means for digital communication and where the storage capacity of these devices has become seemingly endless, the digital communication device will encounter and store innumerable digital media files. As such, the digital communication device will desire a means to access, store, manage and further communicate these digital files in an efficient and user-friendly environment.
For example, if a digital communication device receives a digital media file the user of the device would benefit greatly from an application that automatically places the file into a readily accessible storage area and where managing and accessing of the file in the future can occur efficiently, without the user having to spend a great deal of time searching for the media file.
Most digital media files can be easily categorized and stored according to a time period, time frame or an event. For example, a wedding video can be categorized according to the date of the wedding and photographs taken at a party can be categorized according to the date of the party. These are examples of categorizing the media file based on the creation date of the media file. In other instances the media file can be associated with the date on which the media file is used or presented or the date on which the recipient receives the file. For example, a multimedia presentation for a business meeting may be categorized according to the date of the presentation and a personal text file from a friend may be categorized according to the date received.
Therefore, the need exists to develop a media file management application for a digital communication device that will display media files and organize media files in a manner that provides exceptional user-experience. Such a management application will heighten the user-experience if it is adaptable to use in conjunction with mobile devices that typically have small displays. In addition, the desired media file management application should provide a user ease in accessing portions of media files or accessing information, such as metadata, that is associated with the media files.
The present invention provides for a media diary application implemented in a digital communication device. The media diary application provides the user with various ways to display media file representations, so that a user can easily locate a media file or view the contents of a media file. By providing for alternative means for displaying media file representations, the media diary application of the present invention is highly adaptable to mobile devices that typically have condensed displays that limit the amount of viewable area.
In one embodiment of the invention, an application for representing media files on a digital device is defined. The application comprises a computer readable storage medium having computer-readable program instructions embodied in the medium. The computer-readable program instructions includes first instructions for generating a media view that provides access to digital media files and associates digital media files with a moment or period of time or an event and second instructions for generating media file representations within the media view such that the media file representations associated with a period of time proximate to a predefined position within the media view are enlarged media file representations. In one embodiment, the second instructions define the predefined position within the media view as a vertical centerline position within the media view. The second instructions may additionally provide for generating media file representations within the media view such that media file representations gradually decrease in size the further that the period of time deviates from the vertical centerline. In addition, the second instructions may provide for generating media file representations within the media view such that the media file representation associated with a time period proximate to the predefined position and proximate to a point within the predefined position is an enlarged representation compared to other representations with the position. In one embodiment, the second instructions define the predefined position within the media view as a vertical centerline position and the point within the position as the center point.
The application may additionally include third instructions for displaying a selected media file representation from the media view in an enlarged size format and the enlarged format may exceed the size of all other media file representations within the media view. In certain embodiments the selected media file representation may be limited to the representations displayed in the period of time proximate to the vertical centerline.
The invention is also defined by an alternate application for representing media files on a digital device. The application comprises a computer readable storage medium having computer-readable program instructions embodied in the medium. The computer-readable program instructions includes first instructions for generating a media view that provides access to digital media files through media file representations and second instructions for generating an attribute icon that is superimposed on the media file representation. The first instructions may additionally provide for associating the media file representations with a period of time. The second instructions may additionally provide for the attribute icons to represent metadata information associated with the media file that is represented. The metadata information represented by the icons may include, but is not limited to, the type of media file, communication status of the media file, content of the media file, timestamp of the media file and access status of the media file.
Additionally, the invention is defined by yet another application for representing media files on a digital device. The application comprises a computer readable storage medium having computer-readable program instructions embodied in the medium. The computer-readable program instructions includes first instructions for generating a media view that provides access to digital media files through media file representations and associates the media file representations with a period of time and second instructions for selecting a media file representation for display of a detailed view of the media file associated with the media file representation. The detailed view provided by the second instructions may be a zoomed-in portion of the media file representation that is zoomed-in from a center point of the representation or zoomed-in from a point chosen by a user. Additionally, the detailed view provided by the second instructions may be a zoomed-out portion of the media file representation that that is zoomed-out from a center point of the representation or zoomed-out from a point chosen by a user.
The invention is additionally embodied in various methods for digital media management in a digital device. One method includes the steps of receiving a digital media file having metadata associated with the digital media file, transmitting the file to a media diary application that associates the digital media file with a period in time based on the metadata, and providing a user access to the digital media file via a media view that displays a media file representation of the digital media file in connection with the period of time, wherein the media file representation is sized according to the proximity of the period of time associated the media file to a predefined position, such as a vertical centerline position, in the media view. The method may additionally include providing for a media file representation that is enlarged if the media file is associated with a period of time that is proximate to the predefined position of the media view and may provide for decreasing the size of the media file representation as the period of time associated with the media file deviates from the predefined position of the media view.
A further method for digital media management in a digital device includes the steps of receiving a digital media file having metadata associated with the digital media file, transmitting the file to a media diary application and providing a user access to the digital media file via a media view that displays a media file representation of the digital media file with an attribute icon superimposed on the media file representation The invention includes a further method for defining media file representation in a media view of a media diary application. The method includes the steps of receiving a digital media file having metadata associated with the digital media file, transmitting the file to a media diary application that associates the digital media file with a period in time based on the metadata, and providing a user access to the digital media file via a media view that displays a media file representation of the digital media file in connection with the period of time, wherein the media file representation is selectable to provide for a display of a detailed view of the media file representation.
A further embodiment of the invention is defined by a digital device having a processing unit that executes computer-readable program instructions for accessing media files. The computer-readable program instructions include first instructions for generating a media view that provides access to digital media files and associates digital media files with a moment or period of time or an event and second instructions for generating media file representations within the media view such that the media file representations associated with a period of time proximate to a predefined position of the media view are the enlarged media file representations. Additionally, the digital device will include a display in communication with the processing unit that presents the user access to media files through the media view. Alternatively the computer-readable program instructions may include first instructions for generating a media view that provides access to digital media files through media file representations and second instructions for generating an attribute icon that is superimposed on the media file representation. Additionally, the computer-readable program instructions may include first instructions for generating a media view that provides access to digital media files through media file representations and associates the media file representations with a period of time and second instructions for selecting a media file representation for display of a detailed view of the media file associated with the media file representation.
Thus, the present invention provides a media file diary application for a digital communication device that will display media files and organize media files in a manner that provides exceptional user-experience. The present invention will heighten the user-experience by providing a media diary application that is highly adaptable to use in conjunction with mobile devices that typically have small displays. In addition, the media diary application of the present invention provides a user with ease in accessing portions of the media files or accessing information, such as metadata, that is associated with the media files.
Having thus described the invention in general terms, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:
The present inventions now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments of the invention are shown. Indeed, these inventions may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.
The present invention provides for various methods for representing media items in a media file management application, such as a media diary application, a media file representation application, a calendar application, an electronic mail application, a messaging application or the like, which is implemented in an electronic device, such as a digital communication device. The media file management application will implement a digital media item organizer that organizes media items by timeframe and/or timeline. The media file management application provides for a media view that is displayed on the display of the associated digital communication device and includes representations of media items in association with a timeframe, a moment of time or an event. For the sake of combining terms under a generic heading the present invention defines the term “period of time” as including a timeframe, a moment of time or an event. As such, the media file management application may provide for a media view of media items associated with a past moment of time, such as year, month, week, day, hour, a specific time, or period of time. Alternatively, the media file management application provides for a media view of media items associated with any portion of the metadata information related to the media items.
In embodiments in which the file management application takes the form of a media diary application, the media diary may combine the benefit of an electronic calendar planner with a digital media item organizer. In embodiments that provide for an electronic calendar planner, the media diary application may provide for a calendar view of calendared events and reminders. Additionally, the media diary application may provide for a timeline view that is typically displayed in conjunction with the media view or a combined media view and calendar view. The timeline view provides for a timeline presentation (herein referred to as a time bar) of media items and, in certain embodiments, calendar events and reminders.
The media file management application of the present invention may be implemented and executed on any electronic device that incorporates a display, such as a desktop or portable computer, cellular telephone, personal data assistant (PDA), digital camera, digital camcorder, e-book device, television, digital audio player or the like. In addition the media file management application may be implemented on electronic devices that are connected to an external display, such as a set-top box (STB), personal video recorder (PVR), digital video recorder (DVR) or the like. While in most implementations the digital device that executes the media file management application will be capable of any type of wireless or wireline network communication, such as wireless telecom, short range radio network, Bluetooth®, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Internet Protocol Data Casting (IPDC), Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), Infrared Data Association (IrDa), Internet or the like, it is not required that the digital device be adapted to communicate via network. Devices that are capable of acquiring digital media files internally or acquire media files through memory devices (e.g., flash storage device, memory sticks, video and audio storage tapes, CD, DVD, removable hard disc device (HDD) and the like) are also applicable.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the media file management application will be embodied by a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program instructions stored in the medium. The storage medium will typically be a memory device, such as flash ROM memory, HDD or the like. The programming instructions may be written in a standard computer programming language, such as C++, Java or the like. Upon execution by a processing unit as described below, the program instructions will implement the various functions of the media file management application as described below.
The media file management application of the present invention will typically be utilized in the following manner. Either the device on which the media file management application is executed will capture media files, such as a cellular telephone equipped with a digital camera or the device on which the media file management application is implemented will receive media files via digital communication. For example:
As such, the digital recording/storing/playing device from which the media file is communicated (i.e., the passing device) may include, and implement, the media file management application or may not include the media file management application. If the passing device includes the media file management application, the media files may be processed for media file management purposes prior to communication to other devices.
The media file will typically have associated metadata, in the form of a timestamp, event name, file name, location information, people in the event or in the media file, objects in the media file, file type, file size, temperature, weather conditions, priority information or any other information. Additionally, the metadata may include information from any sensors installed in a media-capturing device, a media diary device or any external device in communication to the media capturing or the media diary device. The media file metadata may be automatically inputted by the digital recording device at the time of the creation of the media file or may be manually inputted, such as at the time of creation of the media file or receipt or transfer of the media file. In addition, it is possible for the metadata to previously exist in conjunction with a calendar event that is stored in the media file management application or another calendar-type application and to be associated with the digital media file at the moment the file is created, if the device creating the media file executes the media file management application or another calendar-type application.
Once the media file management application receives the media file, the media file metadata may be combined and/or correlated with calendar event metadata information. The calendar event metadata information may come from an internal calendar/planner within the media file management application or it may be imported from an external calendar/planner application. The combined and/or correlated metadata information is associated and stored with the media file in the media diary, such that, when a user accesses the media file via the media file representation in the media view the user will be presented with the combined metadata and calendar event information. Correlation of metadata information may occur if the comparison results in predetermined number of metadata fields in the media file metadata and the calendar event metadata being determined to be similar. Examples of correlated media file metadata and calendar event metadata include, event time in calendar event metadata and capture time of media file metadata and event name in calendar event metadata and event name in media file metadata.
Once the media file is captured or the media file is received by the device implementing the media file management application, the file will either automatically be transferred to the media file management application or the user may manually choose which files it desires to place in the media file management database. Transferring to the media file management application will result in a media file representation being created and displayed in the media view in relation to the associated time period, time frame or event. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, if the media file is a multimedia file, such as an MMS message or an email, that includes both text and media items, the media file management application may be configured to store the file in its entirety or it may be configured to parse the file into separate text and media portions, such that the application would display separate text and media representations in the media view. The ability to parse the media file may also pertain to files that include ring tones, background images, game applications, audio files, advertisements, business cards and the like.
The media view depicted in
The media diary application associates media files according to any metadata information, such as time period, time frame or event. Typically, the time stamp in the media file metadata will serve as the association link. In the
The form and style of the media file representations 120 may be by user's preference or the form style may be automatically determined by the media file management application. In addition, the presentation and categorization of media file representations may be by user's preference or automatically determined by the media file management application.
Additionally, media files forming or related to a specific joint group, e.g. based on a specific event, time period or any other metadata, may be placed in the media view in a joint group 130 under a common title or subject. The media files within the joint group may be bordered, shaded, colored or otherwise graphically indicated to designate the media files as being within the joint group. The title or subject may be manually inputted or may be inherited from metadata related to a calendar event or reminder, or, alternatively, from any metadata information related to the media file. The group may be created automatically by the media file management application or by the request of a user.
In media file management applications that combine a calendar/planner with a media diary or are in communication with an auxiliary calendar/planner application, the media view may also display past calendar events or reminders that do not have associated media files. In such embodiments, the media file management application may be configured to automatically import calendar events and reminders from the calendar portion of the application to the media diary portion of the application. In this regard, calendar events and reminders that are associated with a past period of time are displayed in the media view irrespective of their having associated media files. Alternately, the user of the media file may configure the media file management application to allow for specific calendar events and reminders, as chosen by the user, to be displayed in the media view.
The media file management application will typically incorporate a function that provides for ease in communicating a media file to another network communication device. For example, the application may include a send file function (not shown in
In a typical media view, the width of the date columns 110 in the media view 100 may dynamically and/or automatically vary based upon the number of media file representations in the column, size of the media file representations or thumbnails or the user's preference for formatting the media file representations. For example, if a first date column incorporates three times the number of media file representations as the second date column, then the first date column will likely be three times as wide as the second date column, i.e., the widths of the columns may be allocated in proportion to the number of media file representations within the respective column. Alternatively, the user may dictate or fix the width of a date column or the size of the thumbnail images may dictate the width of the date columns. In addition, the media view may be incorporated with a function that provides for condensing the media view to only those dates that have media files associated therewith.
It should be noted that variance in column width in terms of the number of media files associated with a column (i.e., time period) will typically not apply if the media view incorporates the “cylindrical” or “fish-eye” views of the present invention. In the “cylindrical” or “fish view” the width of the column will typically be dictated by the position of the column within the view, typically the columns position relative to the vertical centerline position. In addition column width will typically not vary in terms of the number of media files associated with the column (time period) if the media file management application is executed on a mobile device with a small-sized display having limited viewing area. In such embodiments the display may be segmented into sub-areas for media file representation display and column width is dictated by the size of the display and/or the sub-areas. A more detailed discussion of “cylindrical” views, “fish-eye” views and display sub-areas is provided for below.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention,
It is noted that while the
The “cylindrical” media view 200 may also provide for a time line 202 that is scrollable horizontally to allow for different time periods to be moved in and out of the display area. Hence, scrolling of the timeline will change the time periods in the display and change the size of the media file representations for the time periods being displayed. Scrolling may be accomplished by any user input, such as mouse cursor, joystick, left or right arrow keys, touch screen or the like. The “cylindrical” media view may also incorporate a time handle (not shown in
In the illustrated embodiment of
It should be noted that the “cylindrical” media view of
In the
As shown in
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention,
For example, in the illustrated embodiment of
It is noted that while the
Typically, the media view of
Similar to the description related to
In the illustrated embodiment of
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, the media file representations of the media view may include content and condition information, typically in the form of attribute icons displayed in conjunction with the media file representation.
In addition to the icons depicted in
Additionally, expansion of the media file representation to a full view may include expansion of the information underlying the icons. For example, in the media file representations in the media view the content and condition information is typically limited to being displayed as icons. However, in a full view the displayed representation may include actual text information that identifies all or any portion of the content and/or condition information.
The invention is also embodied in applications, methods and digital devices for creating detailed views of media files that form the basis for the media file representation. The detailed views are typically zoomed-in or cropped views of the actual media file or an image within the actual media file. Alternatively, the detailed view may be a zoomed-out portion of the actual media file or an image within the actual media file. Additionally, if the media file is a text file, the detailed view will display some portion, typically the beginning portion, of the text file. By providing for media file representations that include the detailed view, the contents of the media file are more identifiable. This is especially true, if the media file management application is executed on a mobile device that, characteristically, has a display screen with limited display capability. In this situation, if the media file representation is formed from the actual media file, i.e., the entire image or text file, also referred to as a thumbnail image, the media file representation would typically not be identifiable to the user, in terms of the content of the media file, especially if the display is broken into a plurality of sub-areas.
The detailed view 740A may be selected, by appropriate mouse and cursor function, joystick and cursor function, keypad activation or the like, to trigger the display of the full-sized or actual media file view 700 of
In addition to image files, a detailed view may be formed from a text file, such as an email message, SMS message, MMS message or the like. In such embodiments, the detailed view will typically include a string of text, typically the string of text at the beginning portion of the message/text file, see for example media file representations 610C, 620D and 630Eof
A further embodiment of the invention is defined by a digital device that implements the media diary, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
The digital device 800 will include a processing unit 810, such as a processor, an application specific integrated circuit, analog and/or digital circuitry, or any other similar device that executes computer-readable program instructions for accessing media files. Wherein the program instructions and the media files are generally stored in memory device 820. The computer-readable program instructions may include first instructions 830 for generating a media view that provides access to digital media files and associates the digital media files with a period of time, and second instructions 840 for generating media file representations within the media view such that the media file representations associated with a period of time proximate to a vertical centerline of the media view are the largest sized media file representations in the display. Alternatively, the first instructions 830 may provide for generating a media view that provides access to at least one digital media file through media file representations, and the second instructions 840 may provide for generating an attribute icon that is superimposed on the media file representation. Additionally, the first instructions 830 may provide generating a media view that provides access to digital media files through media file representations and associates the media file representations with a period of time and the second instructions 840 may provide for selecting a media file representation for display of a detailed view of the media file associated with the media file representation.
In addition, the digital device will include, or may be in external communication with, a display 850 that is in communication with the processing unit and provides a presentation mechanism for the media view.
In this regard,
Accordingly, the foregoing disclosure supports combinations of means for performing the specified functions, combinations of steps for performing the specified functions and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. It will also be understood that the above-described functionality, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based computer systems that perform the specified functions or steps, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.
The described embodiments of the present invention provide for a media file management application for a digital device that will incorporate both a daily planner and storage of media files according to an associated moment or period of time, such as a date. The media file management application may also incorporate a presentation application. The media file management application may also additionally incorporate an email application or any other messaging application. The media file management application is capable of automatically entering received media files into the application and automatically associating the media file with a specific moment or period of time, such as a date or event. The invention provides efficiency to the user, in that, the media view and the timeline view combine to provide an application that is highly searchable for the purpose of making the media files readily accessed by the user. In addition, the media file management application provides the capability to easily further disseminate the media files to other digital communication devices. In addition, the media file management application provides the capability to easily represent the media files to the user.
Many modifications and other embodiments of the inventions set forth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which these inventions pertain having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the inventions are not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.
