Systems and methods of viewing, modifying, and interacting with “path-enhanced” multimedia

#Our commonly assigned patent application filed concurrently Ser. No. 10/427,614 “Apparatus and Method for Recording “Path-Enhanced” Multimedia” describes a novel multimedia recording appliance that can record multimedia such as audio, still images and/or video individually or in combinations, and that is capable of sampling time and position information whether or not it is recording any such multimedia, thereby providing a record not only of particular sounds, imagery and the like, but also of a path traveled during and between the recording of those sounds and/or imagery. The recorded data that this appliance generates are examples of “path-enhanced” multimedia, and the identified patent application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

#Other commonly assigned patent applications filed concurrently herewith describe various other contemplated applications for “path-enhanced” multimedia technology, and each of the following identified patent applications is also hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety:

#Ser. No. 10/427,582 “Automatic Generation of Presentations from “Path-Enhanced” Multimedia” relates to novel apparatus and methodology for generating a presentation of multimedia data together with an animated overview and/or a path-oriented context connecting those events.

#FIG. 1 illustrates a first example of an embodiment of the present invention in which “path-enhanced” multimedia (PEM) data is displayed according to a first map-based view;

#FIG. 2 illustrates a second example of an embodiment of the present invention in which PEM data is displayed according to a second calendar-based view;

#FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary system for viewing, modifying, and interacting with PEM data;

#In general, the present invention relates to systems and methods of viewing, modifying, and interacting with recorded “path-enhanced” multimedia (herein referred to as PEM).

#FIG. 1 shows an example of PEM data displayed according to a first selected view. For purposes of the present disclosure, the “view” describes abstractly how a collection of PEM data is to be presented on a display device to a user. The view determines the organization of the PEM data presentation. A view can organize the presentation of the PEM data in several ways, including by geography (e.g., a “mapped-based view”), by time (e.g., a “calendar-based view”), by media type (e.g., a “media-list view”), and by combinations thereof. Each “type” of view organization may be further qualified by “style” parameters that control specific presentation appearance options (as will be described herein below). For example, in map-based views, style parameters include the choice of background map (e.g., a road map from a navigational database, or an aerial photograph), the smoothness and thickness of the paths to be rendered, and the style of icons to use for representing multimedia capture locations. A view also enables a subset of the collection of PEM data to be excluded from the display. For instance, a view might restrict display to only some subsections of the full path, and/or to some subset of the multimedia). The view might also restrict display to only the portion of the PEM falling within one or more spatial and/or temporal windows. Note that, at any given moment, the full view of the PEM data may not be visible on the display, so that the user must scroll and/or zoom the display to see other parts of the PEM data. In other words, the abstract “view” is distinct from the physical view output by the display device to the eyes of the user(s).

#In the example shown in FIG. 1, the view produces a map-based presentation that includes iconic representations (3, 4, 5) corresponding to multimedia recorded during a vacationer's trip, overlaid upon a map of San Francisco (Map 1). In particular, the vacationer has followed a path (overlaid Path 2) and used a multimedia recorder to capture various multimedia files (overlaid icons: Video 3, Sound 4, Photo 5) along that path 2, together with the associated path information itself, as explained in more detail in the referenced co-pending application entitled “Apparatus and Method for Recording “Path-Enhanced” Multimedia”. This geographically-based view of the PEM data displayed by a user interface allows for a variety of user interactions (as will be described herein), such as playing back recorded multimedia by clicking on the corresponding overlaid icons, exploring the map by panning and zooming, annotating the trip using audio commentary or text captions, augmenting the trip display using third-party information and additional media, and editing and modifying the path and multimedia data. Such user interactions may serve many different purposes, including re-experiencing a past trip, planning an upcoming trip, sharing comments on a friend's trip, or editing trip data prior to its input into a system for automatic generation of a movie-like presentation, for example, as described in the above referenced co-pending patent application entitled “Automatic Generation of Presentations from “Path-Enhanced” Multimedia”.