Bookmarks and Watchpoints for Selection and Presentation of Media Streams

Abstract

Selection and presentation of media streams, in which presentation is not limited by order imposed by the digital content representative of those media streams, in response to bookmarks and watchpoints settable and usable by a user. Bookmarks reference a location within the media stream, not necessarily pre-selected and possibly dynamically selected, in which a presentation can be started or restarted therefrom. Watchpoints reference a location within the media stream, or a presentation state for the media stream, in which an action can be triggered thereby. Bookmarks and watchpoints provide a general technique for presenting selections from media streams in response to metadata.

Description

[0001]This application is submitted in the name of the following inventors:InventorCitizenshipResidence City and StatePaul RECHSTEINERCanadaToronto, Ontario (Canada)Shawn NEELYCanadaSunnyvale, CaliforniaLawrence KESTELOOTUnited StatesSan Francisco, CaliforniaMichael MALCOLMUnited StatesAspen, ColoradoStephen WATSONCanadaToronto, Ontario (Canada)[0002]The assignee is Kaleidescape, a corporation having an address in Mountain View, Calif.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]1. Field of the Invention[0004]The invention relates to selection and presentation of media streams; in aspects thereof, the invention relates to bookmarks and watchpoints, and to event handling, for selection and display of videos from media, such as for example DVD and other related media.[0005]2. Related Art[0006]In systems for presenting information, such as for example information relating to audiovisual media, users are able to present information already recorded on digital media. For example, DVD player systems ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012]In one aspect, the invention provides a method and system capable of creating and referencing a bookmark to a location selected within the media stream, not necessarily pre-selected by the creator or distributor of that media stream, and possibly dynamically selected by a recipient of digital content representing that media stream. In addition to referencing the bookmark, the invention provides a user with the capability of starting or restarting presentation from the selected bookmark.

[0013]In one aspect, the invention provides a method and system capable of creating a watchpoint at a location selected within the media stream, or a presentation state otherwise associated with presentation of the media stream, capable of associating with that watchpoint one or more watchpoint triggers (indicating on what conditions the watchpoint is triggered) and one or more watchpoint actions (indicating what actions are taken in response to triggering the watchpoint). For one example, the user might designate a bookmark at the beginning of a selected film clip, a watchpoint trigger with the end of that same film clip, and a watchpoint action associated with the watchpoint, which watchpoint action directs a presentation device to return to a presentation state it was at before presenting from the bookmark. In this example, the film clip effectively acts as a media element capable of being inserted into another, different, media stream (or more generally, into any other user interface or media presentation, the original user interface or media presentation not necessarily including any original media streams of its own), without involving any other digital content associated with the larger media stream that contains that film clip.

[0015]In one aspect, the invention provides a method and system capable of selecting one of a set of such film skips (watchpoint-bookmark pairs), with the effect that a section of a media stream might be skipped, censored, or otherwise edited out, in response to a user input, a user preference, a playback device configuration, demographic information about the user or the playback device, or other pertinent information.

Problems solved by technology

A first problem with known DVD media playback is that the process of playback involves interaction between the user and a pre-selected sequence of playback capabilities, recorded onto the DVD media by someone other than the user (such as a creator or distributor of that DVD media).

A second problem with known playback techniques is that the user might have a substantial library of media streams from which the user might desire to present.

Both these problems are exacerbated by increases in the number of DVD media providers (whether creators or distributors), and by increases in the number of media streams available to the user.

Moreover, both these problems might inhibit development of a convenient UI (user interface) for selection and presentation of media streams, whether from recorded physical media or downloaded from one or more content servers.

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