Method for content-based non-linear control of multimedia playback

A method comprising:

• receiving, by a mobile control device, user request to display a list of a plurality of video devices;
• selecting, from the mobile control device, at least one of the plurality of video devices from the list for display of video data to yield an identified video device, the mobile control device operable to communicate over a communications network with a plurality of external devices, wherein the plurality of external devices comprising a video server, a multimedia server, and the plurality of video devices;
• responsive to receiving a selection of at least one of the plurality of video devices from the list, displaying, at a top of a graphic display of the mobile control device, a plurality of command icons for controlling the identified video device;
• searching multimedia data stored at the multimedia server operating in the communications network based on a query to determine a first set of multimedia content data comprising a condensed representation of the video data, offline transcriptions, and closed captions associated with the video data, wherein:
• the video data is stored on a video server operating in the communications network;
• and
• the multimedia content data is generated by a media analysis/metadata extraction device, and wherein the media analysis/metadata extraction device performs:
• (1) analyzing the video data and identifying video shot boundaries in the video data without user intervention;
• (2) extracting the multimedia content data from the video data and the closed captions, the multimedia content data including at least one text extract from the closed captions and a frame from the video data comprising a multimedia image scene corresponding to the at least one text extract;
• (3) extracting small segments of at least one of organized multimedia content based on the video shot boundaries and topic and story boundaries according to topics within a plurality of programs, each small segment being smaller than a respective program containing the small segments, the video data comprising a plurality of versions of video data of the plurality of programs, each version compressed according to a respective digital video compression format;
• (4) extracting the offline transcriptions;
• and
• (5) indexing video data based on keywords referenced in the video data;
• displaying at least a portion of the first set of multimedia content data at the mobile control device, the portion comprising at least one image scene, the first set representing a set of small visually non-linear segments within a program and selected based at least in part on at least one of the closed captions and the offline transcriptions;
• receiving a selection from the mobile control device of a small segment from the first set of small visually non-linear segments of the first set for video playback to yield a selected small segment;
• and
• delivering to the identified video device the selected small segment from the program in the video at a point corresponding to the small segment in the program,
• wherein the plurality of command icons remains at the top of the graphic display of the mobile control device after the identified video device has been selected for control regardless of where a user is in a navigation session.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions, which, when executed by a processor, perform a method comprising:

• receiving, by a mobile control device, user request to display a list of a plurality of video devices;
• selecting, from the mobile control device, at least one of the plurality of video devices from the list for display of video data to yield an identified video device, the mobile control device operable to communicate over a communications network with a plurality of external devices, wherein the plurality of external devices comprising a video server, a multimedia server, and the plurality of video devices;
• responsive to receiving a selection of at least one of the plurality of video devices from the list, displaying, at a top of a graphic display of the mobile control device, a plurality of command icons for controlling the identified video device;
• searching multimedia data stored at the multimedia server operating in the communications network based on a query to determine a first set of multimedia content data comprising a condensed representation of the video data, offline transcriptions, and closed captions associated with the video data, wherein:
• the video data is stored on a video server operating in the communications network;
• and
• the multimedia content data is generated by a media analysis/metadata extraction device, and wherein the media analysis/metadata extraction device performs:
• (1) analyzing the video data and identifying video shot boundaries in the video data without user intervention;
• (2) extracting the multimedia content data from the video data and the closed captions, the multimedia content data including at least one text extract from the closed captions and a frame from the video data comprising a multimedia image scene corresponding to the at least one text extract;
• (3) extracting small segments of at least one of organized multimedia content based on the video shot boundaries and topic and story boundaries according to topics within a plurality of programs, each small segment being smaller than a respective program containing the small segments, the video data comprising a plurality of versions of video data of the plurality of programs, each version compressed according to a respective digital video compression format;
• (4) extracting the offline transcriptions;
• and
• (5) indexing video data based on keywords referenced in the video data;
• displaying at least a portion of the first set of multimedia content data at the mobile control device, the portion comprising at least one image scene, the first set representing a set of small visually non-linear segments within a program and selected based at least in part on at least one of the closed captions and the offline transcriptions;
• receiving a selection from the mobile control device of a small segment from the first set of small visually non-linear segments of the first set for video playback to yield a selected small segment;
• and
• delivering to the identified video device the selected small segment from the program in the video at a point corresponding to the small segment in the program,
• wherein the plurality of command icons remains at the top of the graphic display of the mobile control device after the identified video device has been selected for control regardless of where a user is in a navigation session.