Key-Event Trick-Play Using Selectable Scene Previews
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems require manual user interaction to select playback positions in content items, lacking comprehensive previews of key scenes, leading to inefficient navigation.
Innovation Solution
Generate selectable icons representing key events within content items, providing interactive thumbnails with descriptive information to facilitate seamless navigation without manual selection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If a progress bar is used to indicate playback position, then playback progress can be monitored, but users must manually scan and select positions along the progress bar to identify a preferred progress point
Solution Approach 1:
The progress bar is segmented into multiple interactive regions, each corresponding to a key scene or segment in the content item. Instead of a continuous progress bar, the interface divides the playback timeline into discrete clickable segments that represent meaningful portions of the content, allowing users to directly jump to key scenes without manual scanning.
Solution Approach 2:
Interactive thumbnails are introduced as an intermediary element between the progress bar and the content playback. These thumbnails provide visual previews of key scenes and serve as mediators that users can select to directly navigate to specific playback positions, eliminating the need for manual scanning along the progress bar.
2Loss of information
If scene previews via thumbnails are incorporated along the progress bar, then users can view individual frame previews, but users must still manually scan and decide based on individual thumbnails whether the position is where they would like to resume playback
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by automatically generating and displaying interactive thumbnails of key scenes along the progress bar before the user needs to navigate. These thumbnails are pre-computed and positioned to represent important segments of the content, so when users need to resume playback, the relevant scene previews are already available and prominently displayed, eliminating the need for manual scanning and real-time thumbnail generation.
3Ease of operation
If thumbnails are generated for individual frames along the progress bar, then some visual indication of playback position is provided, but users do not get a complete preview of where in the content item they are resuming playback
Solution Approach 1:
Different regions of the interface provide different types of visual information tailored to their specific function. The progress bar provides temporal position information, while the interactive thumbnails provide contextual scene previews. Each element has optimized visual qualities for its purpose - the thumbnails show enlarged, higher-quality previews of key scenes compared to individual frame thumbnails, giving users complete preview information where needed.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods are presented herein for generating at least one preview of a portion of a content item, wherein the at least one preview is selectable and, when selected, enables a user to change to a playback position of the at least one preview. An input corresponding to a request to generate at least one preview of a portion of a content item is received. At least two key events corresponding to the portion of the content item is identified. In response to identifying the at least two key events, at least one interactive thumbnail corresponding to the at least two key events is generated, wherein the icon corresponds to a preview of the portion of the content item.