System and method for recording a presentation for on-demand viewing over a computer network

A method for reproducing on a viewing computer a presentation that was previously presented live, said viewing computer having a display, said presentation including a predefined content portion with a plurality of presentation slides that were displayed in response to slide triggering events during the presentation when it was presented live, and a live portion comprising live audio and/or visual content performed in conjunction with display of said plurality of presentation slides during the presentation when it was presented live, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) producing a recording of the presentation when it was presented live by performing the steps of:
• (i) producing a data stream comprising data corresponding to the live portion of the presentation, wherein the live portion of the presentation is captured as a plurality of video frames comprising a plurality of keyframes and deltaframes;
• (ii) generating slide display commands corresponding to said slide triggering events captured in real time during the presentation when presented live, each slide display command controlling display of an associated presentation slide when the recording is played;
• (iii) automatically including the slide display commands with the data corresponding to the live portion of the presentation in the data stream as the data stream is being produced, said slide display commands being automatically time indexed in regard to the keyframes and deltafranes within the data stream based upon the time when the slide triggering events occurred in the presentation when presented live;
• and
• (iv) saving the data stream to a data stream file that is accessible by the viewing computer;
• (b) saving the predefined content portion to at least one presentation slide file that is accessible by the viewing computer;
• (c) accessing the data stream file with the viewing computer;
• (d) reproducing the live portion of the presentation on the display of the viewing computer by playing the data stream file;
• (e) extracting the slide display commands from the data stream as the slide display commands are encountered while playing the data stream file;
• (f) in response to each slide display command that is extracted in the preceding step, accessing data corresponding to its associated presentation slide with the viewing computer;
• and
• (g) reproducing each of the plurality of presentation slides on the display of the viewing computer as data corresponding to that presentation slide is accessed by the viewing computer in the preceding step, so that when the presentation is reproduced, the associated presentation slide is displayed at substantially an identical time relative to when displayed during the live portion of the presentation when presented live.

A system for recording a live presentation including a predefined content portion having a plurality of presentation slides that are displayed in response to slide triggering events during the live presentation, and a live portion with live audio and/or visual content performed in conjunction with display of said plurality of presentation slides during the live presentation, the system comprising:

• (a) a local computer having a memory in which a plurality of machine instructions are stored, a user interface, and a processor coupled to the memory for executing the machine instructions;
• (b) a presentation application program comprising a portion of the plurality of machine instructions stored in the memory of the local computer, the presentation application program enabling:
• (i) a presenter to change slides during the live presentation in response to slide triggering events entered through the user interface;
• and
• (ii) slide display commands to be generated in response to the slide triggering events;
• (c) an audio capture subsystem that produces a digital audio signal corresponding to the live audio content;
• and
• (d) an encoding application module comprising a portion of the plurality of machine instructions stored in the memory of the local computer, said encoding application module being used for:
• (i) encoding the digital audio signal into a data stream having a streaming data format;
• (ii) automatically including the slide display commands with the digital audio signal in the data stream as the digital audio signal is encoded into the data stream, said data stream being automatically time indexed to enable synchronization of the slide display commands with the digital audio signal;
• and
• (iii) saving the data stream to a data stream file such that when the data stream file is played, said audio content is reproduced, and said plurality of presentation slides are displayed in substantial synchrony with said audio content as it is reproduced, thereby replicating the live presentation and a timing with which the presentation slides were displayed during the live presentation in connection with the live audio content.

A system for recording a live presentation including a predefined content portion having a plurality of presentation slides that are displayed in response to slide triggering events during the live presentation, and a live portion comprising live audio content performed in conjunction with display of said plurality of presentation slides during the live presentation, the system comprising:

• (a) a local computer having a memory in which a plurality of machine instructions are stored, a user interface, and a processor coupled to the memory for executing the machine instructions;
• (b) an audio capture subsystem that produces a digital audio signal corresponding to the live audio content;
• (c) an encoding computer having a memory in which a plurality of machine instructions are stored, and a processor coupled to the memory for executing the machine instructions, the encoding computer being linked in communication with the local computer and the audio capture subsystem;
• (d) a portion of the plurality of machine instructions stored in the memory of the encoding computer comprising an encoding module, execution of the encoding module performing the functions of:
• (i) encoding the digital audio signal into a data stream having a streaming data format, said data stream being automatically time indexed to enable synchronization of the slide display commands with the digital audio signal;
• and
• (ii) saving the data stream to a data stream file;
• and
• (e) a presentation application program comprising a portion of the plurality of machine instructions stored in the memory of the local computer, execution of the presentation application program enabling:
• (i) a presenter to change slides during the live presentation by entering slide triggering events through the user interface;
• (ii) slide display commands to be generated in response to the slide triggering events;
• and
• (iii) communication of the slide display commands to the encoding computer, said slide display commands being automatically included in the data stream with the encoded digital audio signal by the encoding module as the slide display commands are received by the encoding computer and as the digital audio signal is encoded into the data stream, such that when the data stream file is played, so that said audio content is reproduced and said plurality of presentation slides are displayed in substantial synchrony with said audio content as it is reproduced, thereby replicating the live presentation and the timing of the presentation slides being displayed in connection with the audio content.

A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for recording a live presentation having a predefined content portion that includes a plurality of presentation slides displayed on a computer in response to slide triggering events during the live presentation, and a live portion comprising live audio and/or visual content performed in conjunction with display of said plurality of presentation slides during the live presentation, execution of the computer-executable instructions causing a computer to:

• (a) generate slide display commands corresponding to said slide triggering events captured in real time during the presentation when presented live, for controlling display of said plurality of presentation slides during playback of a recorded presentation;
• (b) automatically embed the slide display commands into a data stream as the data stream is produced, the data stream comprising data corresponding to the live portion of the presentation automatically indexed with timing to ensure that the slide display commands are synchronized with the audio and/or visual content as performed in the light presentation;
• and
• (c) save the data stream with embedded slide display commands to a file, such that when the file is played, said live portion is reproduced and such that said plurality of presentation slides are displayed in substantial synchrony with said live portion, thereby replicating the live presentation and display of said plurality of presentation slides.