Browser for use in navigating a body of information, with particular application to browsing information represented by audiovisual data

A method for acquiring and reviewing a body of information, wherein the body of information includes a plurality of segments, each segment representing a defined set of information in the body of information, the method comprising the steps of:

• acquiring data representing the body of information;
• storing the acquired data;
• generating a display of a first segment of the body of information from data that is part of the stored data;
• comparing data representing a segment of the body of information to data representing a different segment of the body of information to determine whether, according to one or more predetermined criteria, the compared segments are related;
• and
• generating a display of a portion of, or a representation of, a second segment of the body of information from data that is part of the stored data, wherein the display of the portion or representation of the second segment is generated in response to the display of a first segment to which the second segment is related.

A method for categorizing according to subject matter an uncategorized segment of a body of information that includes a plurality of segments, each segment representing a defined set of information in the body of information, one or more segments of the body of information having previously been categorized by identifying each of the one or more segments with one or more subject matter categories, the method comprising the steps of:

• determining the degree of similarity between the subject matter content of the uncategorized segment and the subject matter content of each of the previously categorized segments;
• identifying one or more of the previously categorized segments as relevant to the uncategorized segment based upon the determined degrees of similarity of subject matter content between the uncategorized segment and the previously categorized segments;
• and
• selecting one or more subject matter categories with which to identify the uncategorized segment based upon the subject matter categories used to identify the relevant previously categorized segments.

A method for determining whether a first set of information represented by a set of data of a first type is relevant to a second set of information represented by a set of data of a second type, the first and second sets of information being different from each other, the method comprising the steps of:

• deriving a set of data of the second type from the set of data of the first type, the derived set of data of the second type also being representative of the first set of information;
• determining the degree of similarity between the set of data of the second type representing the second set of information and the derived set of data of the second type representing the first set of information;
• and
• determining whether the first set of information is relevant to the second set of information based upon the degree of similarity between the set of data of the second type representing the second set of information and the derived set of data of the second type representing the first set of information.

A method for identifying the boundaries of segments in a body of information, each segment comprising a contiguous related set of information in the body of information, wherein the body of information is represented by at least a set of text data and a set of video data, the method comprising the steps of:

• performing a coarse partitioning method, the coarse partitioning method further comprising the steps of:
• identifying time-stamped markers in the set of text data;
• and
• determining approximate segment boundaries within the body of information as the times of occurrence of the time-stamp markers;
• for each approximate segment boundary, specifying a range of time that includes the time of occurrence of the approximate segment boundary;
• extracting subsets of video data from the set of video data that occur during the specified ranges of time;
• performing a fine partitioning method to identify one or more breaks in the set of video data;
• and
• selecting the best break that occurs in each subset of video data, the time of occurrence of the best break in each subset being designated as a boundary of a segment in the body of information.

A method for identifying the boundaries of segments in a body of information, each segment comprising a contiguous related set of information in the body of information, wherein the body of information is represented by a set of text data, a set of video data, and a set of audio data the method comprising the steps of:

• performing a coarse partitioning method, the coarse partitioning method further comprising the steps of:
• identifying time-stamped markers in the set of text data;
• and
• determining approximate segment boundaries within the body of information as the times of occurrence of the time-stamp markers;
• for each approximate segment boundary, specifying a range of time that includes the time of occurrence of the approximate segment boundary;
• extracting subsets of audio data from the set of audio data that occur during the specified ranges of time;
• performing a fine partitioning method to identify one or more breaks in the set of audio data;
• selecting the best break that occurs in each subset of audio data, the time of occurrence of the best break in each subset being designated as a boundary of a segment in the body of information;
• ascertaining a synchronization of the audio data and the video data;
• and
• determining the location of the segment boundaries in the set of video data using the previously determined location of the segment boundaries in the set of audio data and the synchronization of the audio data and video data.

A computer readable medium encoded with one or more computer programs for enabling acquisition and review of a body of information, wherein the body of information includes a plurality of segments, each segment representing a defined set of information in the body of information, comprising:

• instructions for acquiring data representing the body of information;
• instructions for storing the acquired data;
• instructions for generating a display of a first segment of the body of information from data that is part of the stored data;
• instructions for comparing data representing a segment of the body of information to data representing a different segment of the body of information to determine whether, according to one or more predetermined criteria, the compared segments are related;
• and
• instructions for generating a display of a portion of, or a representation of, a second segment of the body of information from data that is part of the stored data, wherein the display of the portion or representation of the second segment is generated in response to the display of a first segment to which the second segment is related.

A computer readable medium encoded with one or more computer programs for enabling categorization according to subject matter of an uncategorized segment of a body of information that includes a plurality of segments, each segment representing a defined set of information in the body of information, one or more segments having previously been categorized by identifying each of the one or more segments with one or more subject matter categories, comprising:

• instructions for determining the degree of similarity between the subject matter content of the uncategorized segment and the subject matter content of each of the previously categorized segments;
• instructions for identifying one or more of the previously categorized segments as relevant to the uncategorized segment based upon the determined degrees of similarity of subject matter content between the uncategorized segment and the previously categorized segments;
• and
• instructions for selecting one or more subject matter categories with which to identify the uncategorized segment based upon the subject matter categories used to identify the relevant previously categorized segments.

A computer readable medium encoded with one or more computer programs for enabling determination of whether a first set of information represented by a set of data of a first type is relevant to a second set of information represented by a set of data of a second type, the first and second sets of information being different from each other, comprising:

• instructions for deriving a set of data of the second type from the set of data of the first type, the derived set of data of the second type also being representative of the first set of information;
• instructions for determining the degree of similarity between the set of data of the second type representing the second set of information and the derived set of data of the second type representing the first set of information;
• and
• instructions for determining whether the first set of information is relevant to the second set of information based upon the degree of similarity between the set of data of the second type representing the second set of information and the derived set of data of the second type representing the first set of information.

A computer readable medium encoded with one or more computer programs for enabling identification of the boundaries of segments in a body of information, each segment comprising a contiguous related set of information in the body of information, wherein the body of information is represented by at least a set of text data and a set of video data, comprising:

• instructions for performing a coarse partitioning method, the coarse partitioning instructions further comprising:
• instructions for identifying time-stamped markers in the set of text data;
• and
• instructions for determining approximate segment boundaries within the body of information as the times of occurrence of the time-stamp markers;
• instructions for specifying, for each approximate segment boundary, a range of time that includes the time of occurrence of the approximate segment boundary;
• instructions for extracting subsets of video data from the set of video data that occur during the specified ranges of time;
• instructions for performing a fine partitioning method to identify one or more breaks in the set of video data;
• and
• instructions for selecting the best break that occurs in each subset of video data, the time of occurrence of the best break in each subset being designated as a boundary of a segment in the body of information.