U.S. patent application number 15/929298 was filed with the patent office on 2020-08-06 for generation, curation, and presentation of media collections.
The applicant listed for this patent is Snap Inc.. Invention is credited to Nicholas Richard Allen, Sheldon Chang, Maria Pavlovskaia, Amer Shahanawaz, Jianchao Yang.
Application Number | 20200250870 15/929298 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 1000004777691 |
Filed Date | 2020-08-06 |
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United States Patent
Application |
20200250870 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Allen; Nicholas Richard ; et
al. |
August 6, 2020 |
GENERATION, CURATION, AND PRESENTATION OF MEDIA COLLECTIONS
Abstract
Systems and methods are provided for receiving, at a server
computer, a plurality of content messages from a plurality of
content sources, each content message comprising media content, for
each of the plurality of content messages received, associating the
media content with a predetermined media collection, and storing
the content message in a database. The system and methods further
providing for causing the plurality of content messages to be
displayed on an operator device with other content messages
associated with the media collection, determining that a
predetermined trigger related to the media collection has been
activated, updating an identifier of the media collection from a
first indicator to a second indicator indicating an action needs to
be taken on the media collection, and causing the updated
identifier with the second indicator to be displayed on an operator
device.
Inventors: |
Allen; Nicholas Richard;
(Venice, CA) ; Chang; Sheldon; (Venice, CA)
; Pavlovskaia; Maria; (San Francisco, CA) ;
Shahanawaz; Amer; (New York, NY) ; Yang;
Jianchao; (Los Angeles, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Snap Inc. |
Santa Monica |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
1000004777691 |
Appl. No.: |
15/929298 |
Filed: |
April 23, 2020 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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15054776 |
Feb 26, 2016 |
10679389 |
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15929298 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06T 11/60 20130101;
G06Q 50/00 20130101 |
International
Class: |
G06T 11/60 20060101
G06T011/60; G06Q 50/00 20060101 G06Q050/00 |
Claims
1. A method comprising: determining, by a server computer, that a
predetermined amount of time has passed since any content messages
received from a plurality of content sources and associated with a
predetermined media collection have been pushed live to be viewed
by one or more users; updating, by the server computer, an
identifier of the predetermined media collection from a first
indicator to a second indicator indicating an action to be taken on
the predetermined media collection to curate the media collection
before presentation to one or more users; providing, by the server
computer, a media collection list assigned to a first curator to be
displayed on a curator device, the media collection list comprising
a plurality of media collections that includes the predetermined
media collection, the media collection further comprising, for each
media collection in the media collection list, a corresponding
curator list indicating one or more curators assigned to each media
collection; and causing a timeline to be displayed on the curator
device showing a curation progress of each of a plurality of
curators that are curating the content messages in the
predetermined media collection before presentation to one or more
users, the curation progress indicating an assigned portion of
content messages that are assigned to each curator, how many
content messages of the assigned portion have been viewed by each
curator, how many content messages of the assigned portion of
content messages have not been viewed by each curator, and an
indication, corresponding to each curator, of published content
messages in the predetermined media col lection that have been
pushed live to be viewed by one or more users.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined media
collection is associated with a geolocation, event, topic, or
common user interest.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined media
collection comprises media content from a plurality of individual
users.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier of the first media
collection includes at least one of a group comprising: a subject
for the media collection, a number of content messages pending
review for the media collection, a time the media collection was
last viewed by a curator, a color associated with the first
indication, and a color associated with the second indication.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from the
curator device, a selection of a subset of the content messages for
the predetermined media collection to be included in the
predetermined media collection that will he available to he viewed
by one or more users; and including the selection of the subset of
the content messages in the predetermined media collection, wherein
the content messages not in the selection of the subset of the
content messages are not available to be viewed by one or more
users; and updating the identifier of the predetermined media
collection from the second indicator to the first indicator
indicating that the predetermined media collection does not require
immediate attention, based on the selection of the subset of the
content messages for the predetermined media collection received
from the curator device.
6. The method of claim 5, further comprising: receiving a request
from a client device for the predetermined media collection; and
providing the predetermined media collection in response to the
request, wherein the predetermined media collection is displayed on
the client device.
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining that a
predetermined number of content messages that have not been viewed
on the operator device and a predetermined amount of time that has
passed since the content messages associated with the media
collection have been viewed on the curator device; and updating the
identifier of the predetermined media collection from a first
indicator to a second indicator indicating an action to be taken on
the predetermined media collection to curate the media collection
before presentation to one or more users.
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining that new
content messages received from a plurality of content sources are
associated with the predetermined media collection based on media
content of each of the new content messages using at least one of
text recognition, object recognition, and an audio footprint.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined media
collection is a first predetermined media collection, and further
comprising: receiving a selection of an identifier of a second
predetermined media collection to be curated before presentation to
one or more users; causing display on a graphical user interface of
media content associated with the second predetermined media
collection to allow curation of the second media collection before
presentation to the one or more users.
10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a
selection to turn off the predetermined media collection; and
turning off the predetermined media collection causing the
predetermined media collection to not be available to be viewed by
the one or more users.
11. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a
selection of an ad to add to the predetermined media collection;
and adding the ad to the first predetermined media collection.
12. A server computer comprising: a processor; and a computer
readable medium coupled with the processor, the computer readable
medium comprising instructions stored thereon that are executable
by the processor to cause a computing device to perform operations
comprising: determining that a predetermined amount of time has
passed since any content messages received from a plurality of
content sources and associated with a predetermined media
collection have been pushed live to be viewed by one or more users;
updating an identifier of the predetermined media collection from a
first indicator to a second indicator indicating an action to be
taken on the predetermined media collection to curate the media
collection before presentation to one or more users; providing a
media collection list assigned to a first curator to be displayed
on a curator device, the media collection list comprising a
plurality of media collections that includes the predetermined
media collection, the media collection further comprising, for each
media collection in the media collection list, a corresponding
curator list indicating one or more curators assigned to each media
collection; and causing a timeline to be displayed on the curator
device showing a curation progress of each of a plurality of
curators that are curating the content messages in the
predetermined media collection before presentation to one or more
users, the curation progress indicating an assigned portion of
content messages that are assigned to each curator, how many
content messages of the assigned portion have been viewed by each
curator, how many content messages of the assigned portion of
content messages have not been viewed by each curator, and an
indication, corresponding to each curator, of published content
messages in the predetermined media collection that have been
pushed live to be viewed by one or more users.
13. The server computer of claim 12, wherein the predetermined
media collection is associated with a geolocation, event, topic, or
common user interest.
14. The server computer of claim 12, wherein the predetermined
media collection comprises media content from a plurality of
individual users.
15. The server computer of claim 12, wherein the identifier of the
first media collection includes at least one of a group comprising:
a subject for the media collection, a number of content messages
pending review for the media collection, a time the media
collection was last viewed by a curator, a color associated with
the first indication, and a color associated with the second
indication.
16. The server computer of claim 12, the operations further
comprising: receiving, from the curator device, a selection of a
subset of the content messages for the predetermined media
collection to be included in the predetermined media collection
that will be available to be viewed by one or more users; and
including the selection of the subset of the content messages in
the predetermined media collection, wherein the content messages
not in the selection of the subset of the content messages are not
available to be viewed by one or more users; and updating the
identifier of the predetermined media collection from the second
indicator to the first indicator indicating that the predetermined
media collection does not require immediate attention, based on the
selection of the subset of the content messages for the
predetermined media collection received from the curator
device.
17. The server computer of claim 16, the operations further
comprising: receiving a request from a client device for the
predetermined media collection; and providing the predetermined
media collection in response to the request, wherein the
predetermined media collection is displayed on the client
device.
18. The server computer of claim 12, the operations further
comprising: determining that a predetermined number of content
messages that have not been viewed on the operator device and a
predetermined amount of time that has passed since the content
messages associated with the media collection have been viewed on
the curator device; and updating the identifier of the
predetermined media collection from a first indicator to a second
indicator indicating an action to be taken on the predetermined
media collection to curate the media collection before presentation
to one or more users.
19. The server computer of claim 12, the operations further
comprising: determining that new content messages received from a
plurality of content sources are associated with the predetermined
media collection based on media content of each of the new content
messages using at least one of text recognition, object
recognition, and an audio footprint.
20. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising
instructions stored thereon that are executable by at least one
processor to cause a computing device to perform operations
comprising: determining that a predetermined amount of time has
passed since any content messages received from a plurality of
content sources and associated with a predetermined media
collection have been pushed live to be viewed by one or more users;
updating an identifier of the predetermined media collection from a
first indicator to a second indicator indicating an action to be
taken on the predetermined media collection to curate the media
collection before presentation to one or more users; providing a
media collection list assigned to a first curator to be displayed
on a curator device, the media collection list comprising a
plurality of media collections that includes the predetermined
media collection, the media collection further comprising, for each
media collection in the media collection list, a corresponding
curator list indicating one or more curators assigned to each media
collection; and causing a timeline to be displayed on the curator
device showing a curation progress of each of a plurality of
curators that are curating the content messages in the
predetermined media collection before presentation to one or more
users, the curation progress indicating an assigned portion of
content messages that are assigned to each curator, how many
content messages of the assigned portion have been viewed by each
curator, how many content messages of the assigned portion of
content messages have not been viewed by each curator, and an
indication, corresponding to each curator, of published content
messages in the predetermined media collection that have been
pushed live to be viewed by one or more users.
Description
CLAIM OF PRIORITY
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 15/054,776, filed on Feb. 26, 2016, which is
incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUND
[0002] In the modern Internet era, many news sources have
fragmented, but core aspects of news gathering and presentation
often remain associated with professional journalists gathering and
sharing information in a way that is tied to an individual
identity. While such practices have been able to support some news
structures with valuable analysis, the process for generating
stories where select professionals filter information and generate
stories is time consuming and introduces significant delay between
an event occurring and presentation of information to a news
consumer.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0003] Various ones of the appended drawings merely illustrate
example embodiments of the present disclosure and should not be
considered as limiting its scope.
[0004] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a networked system,
according to some example embodiments.
[0005] FIG. 2A is an example user interface for viewing a list of
media collections, according to some example embodiments.
[0006] FIG. 2B is an example user interface for viewing a calendar
view of media collections, according to some example
embodiments.
[0007] FIG. 2C-2D are example user interfaces for creating a media
collection, according to some example embodiments.
[0008] FIG. 2E is an example user interface for viewing a list of
media collections, according to some example embodiments.
[0009] FIG. 2F-2H are example user interfaces to view operators
working on media collections, according to some example
embodiments.
[0010] FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating aspects of a method,
according to some example embodiments.
[0011] FIG. 4A-4E are example user interfaces to review and curate
content for media collections.
[0012] FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating aspects of a method,
according to some example embodiments.
[0013] FIG. 6 is an example user interface for filtering content,
according to some example embodiments.
[0014] FIG. 7A is an example interface for account settings,
according to some example embodiments.
[0015] FIG. 7B is an example interface for managing an account,
according to some example embodiments.
[0016] FIG. 7C-7H are example interfaces for creating a new media
collection, according to some example embodiments.
[0017] FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating aspects of a method,
according to some example embodiments.
[0018] FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a
software architecture that may be installed on a machine, according
to some example embodiments.
[0019] FIG. 10 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a
machine in the form of a computer system within which a set of
instructions may be executed for causing the machine to perform any
one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, according to an
example embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0020] Systems and methods described herein relate to computer
assisted story generation, curation, and presentation from received
content. Curators or operators may gather together content, such
as, photos, video, audio, text, metadata, and other media content
from content messages to put together one or more media collections
or stories. These media collections may be based on a certain
geolocation, event, topic, common user interest, product, etc. The
content messages may be sent by users (e.g., users in a particular
geolocation, users attending a particular event, users sharing a
particular interest, etc.) using client devices. A server system
may receive tens of thousands of content messages (if not more) for
each media collection that need to be reviewed by the system or a
curator to choose what content to include in one or more media
collections. These media collections may be referred to as
"stories." Moreover, many media collections may be time sensitive
or "live" stories (e.g., only available for a certain window of
time such as a 24 hour period, during a particular event, etc.).
Accordingly, methods and systems are described that provide tools
to assist a system and curator to be able to quickly curate such a
high volume of content messages into media collections for
immediate, ongoing, or periodic posting.
[0021] In one example embodiment, systems and methods are provided
for receiving, at a server computer, content messages from various
content sources (e.g. smartphone users), each content message
comprising media content and associated with a predetermined media
collection. For each of the content messages received, the media
content is associated with the predetermined media collection, and
the content message is stored in a database. in some embodiments,
the plurality of content messages are displayed on an operator
device with other content messages associated with the media
collection. In some embodiments, a predetermined trigger related to
the media collection may be activated, and in response, an
identifier of the media collection is updated from a first
indicator to a second indicator. This update notifies a user of the
change (e.g. with a display alert or update) and indicates that an
action needs to be taken on the media collection.
[0022] For example, one media collection may be directed to recent
basketball games, and may include content related to a basketball
game that is in progress. When particular events of interest occur
during the basketball game, a server may receive content messages
that include new information not currently in the media collection.
This may include content for particularly interesting play, or an
ending play with a final score. These content messages are stored
in a database, and a trigger (e.g. a spike in content messages or a
time since the last review of related content messages) may create
an alert indicating that the media collection should be reviewed
for an update based on the content messages received. Such an alert
may be placed on the display of a curator that is associated with
the media collection.
[0023] Some embodiments use automated media filtering to limit the
media content reviewed by a curator. For example, in some
embodiments, blurry, dark, or otherwise low quality images and
video clips may be sent to a system for inclusion in a media
collection. A system may automatically filter out these low quality
images, and present only the higher quality images to a curator. In
some such embodiments, systems and methods include receiving, at a
server computer, content messages from various content sources,
each content message comprising media content and associated with a
predetermined media collection. For each of the plurality of
content messages or individual pieces of media content (e.g. a
single image or video clip) received, a system may determine a
quality score and store the content messages in a database along
with the quality score. Various systems and methods also include
receiving, from an operator device, a threshold percentage for the
media collection. This threshold is used to filter out lower
quality pieces of content to reduce the amount of content to be
reviewed by a curator. The server computer uses the threshold in
determining a subset of the plurality of content messages
associated with the media collection to be made available to the
operator device based on the threshold percentage received from the
operator device and the quality score for each of the plurality of
content messages. The subset of the plurality of content messages
associated with media collection are then be displayed on the
operator device for the media collection.
[0024] Some embodiments include computer implemented tools for
activating new stories (e.g. media collection), selecting media
content for the new stories, and making these stories available to
the public as part of a communication system. In some such
embodiments, systems and methods include receiving, at a device, a
request from a user to activate a new media collection. The
computer then sends the request to a server computer for activation
of the new media collection. When the new media collection is
activated, the device receives a confirmation message. The device
may then receive content messages associated with the new media
collection. A user operating the device can then select some of the
content messages to be included in the new media collection, and
communicate this curated selection to the server computer. The
server computer causes the selection of content messages to be
included in the new media collection. When the media collection is
requested by other devices in the communication system, the curated
selection is sent to the devices.
[0025] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a networked system
100, according to some example embodiments. System 100 includes one
or more client devices 110. System 100 further includes one or more
operator devices 130, a server system 120, and a network 104 that
is used to convey communications between client devices 110,
operator device(s) 130, and the server system 120. For example, the
networked system 100 may be a messaging system where clients may
communicate and exchange data within the networked system 100.
[0026] The client device(s) 110 may comprise, but is not limited
to, a mobile phone, desktop computer, laptop computer, portable
digital assistants (PDAs), smart phones, tablet, phablet
ultra-books, network-enabled camera, netbooks, multi-processor
systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics,
game consoles, set-top boxes, computers in vehicles, or any other
communication device that a user may utilize to access the
networked system 100.
[0027] The client device 110 may include a camera device for
capturing content, or may be coupled to a separate camera device
that is used to capture the content (e.g., video, photographs,
audio, etc.) prior to sending to server system 120 or other client
devices 110. Some embodiments may include wearable devices such as
a pendant with an integrated camera that is coupled to a client
device 110. Other embodiments may include other associated devices
with an integrated camera that may be wearable, such as a watch,
eyeglasses, clothing, such as a hat or jacket with integrated
electronics, a clip-on electronic device, or any other such devices
that may communicate or be integrated with a client device 110.
[0028] The client device 110 may access the various data and
applications provided by other entities in the system 100 via web
client 112 (e.g., a browser, such as the Internet Explorer.RTM.
browser developed by Microsoft.RTM. Corporation of Redmond,
Washington State) or one or more client applications 114. The
client device 110 may include one or more applications 114 (also
referred to as "apps") such as, but not limited to, a web browser,
messaging application, electronic mail (email) application, an
e-commerce site application, a mapping or location application, a
news or media application, and the like. In some embodiments, one
or more applications 114 may be included in a given one of the
client device 110, and configured to locally provide the user
interface and at least some of the functionalities with the
application 114 configured to communicate with other entities in
the system 100 (e.g., operator device(s) 130, server system 120,
etc.). on an as needed basis, for data and/or processing
capabilities not locally available (e.g., access to various
information, to authenticate a user 106, to verify a method of
payment, to retrieve/synchronize footprints, etc.). Conversely, one
or more applications 114 may not be included in the client device
110, and then the client device 110 may use its web browser to
access the one or more applications hosted on other entities in the
system 100 (e.g., operator device(s) 130, server system 120,
etc.).
[0029] One or more users 106 may be a person, a machine, or other
means of interacting with the client device 110. In example
embodiments, the user 106 may not be part of the system 100, but
may interact with the system 100 via the client device 110 or other
means. For instance, the user 106 may provide input (e.g., touch
screen input or alphanumeric input) to the client device 110 and
the input may be communicated to other entities in the system 100
(e.g., operator device(s) 130, server system 120, other client
device(s) 110, etc.) via the network 104. In this instance, the
other entities in the system 100, in response to receiving the
input from the user 106, may communicate information to the client
device 110 via the network 104 to be presented to the user 106. In
this way, the user 106 may interact with the various entities in
the system 100 using the client device 110.
[0030] An operator device(s) 130 may include, but is not limited
to, a mobile phone, desktop computer, laptop computer, portable
digital assistants (PDAs s phones, tablet, phablet ultra-books,
network-enabled camera, netbooks, multi-processor systems,
microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, game
consoles, set-top boxes, computers in vehicles, or any other
communication device that a user or operator 108 may utilize to
access the networked system 100.
[0031] The operator device(s) 130 may access the various data and
applications provided by other entities in the system 100 via a web
client 132 (e.g., a browser, such as the Internet Explorer.RTM.
browser developed by Microsoft.RTM. Corporation of Redmond,
Washington State) or one or more operator applications 134. The
operator device(s) 130 may include one or more operator
application(s) 134 (also referred to as "apps") such as, but not
limited to, a web browser, messaging application, media curation
tool, electronic mail (email) application, an e-commerce site
application, a mapping or location application, a news or media
application, and the like, In some embodiments, one or more
applications 134 may be included in a given one of the operator
device(s) 130, and configured to locally provide the user interface
and at least some of the functionalities with the application 134
configured to communicate with other entities in the system 100
(e.g., client devices 110, server system 120, etc.), on an as
needed basis, for data and/or processing capabilities not locally
available (e.g., access to various information, to authenticate a
user 106 or operator 108, to verify a method of payment, to
retrieve/synchronize footprints, etc.). Conversely, one or more
applications 134 may not be included in the operator device(s) 130,
and then the operator device 134 may use its web browser to access
the one or more applications hosted on other entities in the system
100 (e.g., server system 120, etc.
[0032] One or more operators 108 may be a person, a machine, or
other means of interacting with the operator device 130 (e.g., a
user such as a curator or operator). In example embodiments, the
operator 108 may not be part of the system 100, but may interact
with the system 100 via the operator device 130 or other means. For
instance, the operator 108 may provide input (e.g., touch screen
input or alphanumeric input) to the operator device 130 and the
input may be communicated to other entities in the system 100
(e.g., client device(s) 110, server system 120, etc.) via the
network 104. In this instance, the other entities in the system
100, in response to receiving the input from the operator 108, may
communicate information to the operator device 130 via the network
104 to be presented to the operator 108. In this way, the operator
108 may interact with the various entities in the system 100 using
the operator device 130.
[0033] The client device(s) 110 and the operator device(s) 130 are
connected to the server system 120 via a network 104. The network
104 may include any combination of wired and wireless connections.
This may include cellular access networks, access point interfaces
to the internet, or any other such networks 104 or network
elements. For example, a client device 110 may interface with
network 104 using a Long Term Evolution (LTE) cellular network to
communicate with server system 120. Or a client device 110 may use
a Wi-Fi access point to interface with network 104 and communicate
with server system 120.
[0034] Server system 120 may be one or more computing devices as
part of a service or network computing system. In certain
embodiments, particularly embodiments with large numbers of client
devices 110 interfacing with a server system 120 from widely
different locations all over the globe, server system 120 may be a
distributed network of server computers that are similarly widely
distributed, and which communicate with each other via network 104.
The server system 120 may include a web server 122, and a content
processing server 124, that may be communicatively coupled with one
or more databases 126. Databases 126 may be storage devices that
store information such as data related to content messages, media
collections, etc.
[0035] The content processing server 124 may provide functionality
to perform various computer assisted media collection generation,
curation, and presentation from received content (as examples). The
content processing server 124 may access one or more databases 126
to retrieve stored data to use in computer assisted media
collection generation, curation, and presentation from received
content.
[0036] In some embodiments, client devices 110, operator device(s)
130, and any elements of server system 120 and network 104, may be
implemented using elements of software architecture 902 or machine
1000 described in FIGS. 9 and 10.
[0037] Networked system 100 may be used in communication of content
messages from client devices 110 to a server system 120, and
communication of media collections from the server system 120 to
the client devices 110. A client device 110 may communicate content
messages to server system 120, and a client device 110 may receive
media collections from server system 120. In addition to this
functionality of the embodiments described herein, client device
110 may additionally receive private pieces of content and
communications from other users 106, and may convey a personal
story or media collection to server system 120, with the personal
story or media collection including images and or video from
content messages generated by client device 110, another device
coupled to client device 110, or other users 106. Similarly, client
device 110 sends content messages and receives stories or media
collections, and may additionally perform other actions.
[0038] In one example embodiment, an operator application 134 may
include a media curation tool. The media curation tool may allow an
operator 108 to create new media collections, view a list of media
collections, view a plurality of content items or content messages
associated with a predetermined media collection, curate content
into media collections for immediate, ongoing, or periodic posting,
etc. The plurality of media content may be received by server
system 120 in a plurality of content messages from a plurality of
users 106 (e.g., via client devices 110).
[0039] Using the curation tool, an operator 108 may be able to view
a list of all of the media collections that are active, planned, or
archived. For example, using the curation tool, the operator 108
may provide an indication to view a list of media collections
(e.g., press a button, select an option, click on an icon, etc.).
An example user interface 200 is shown in FIG. 2A. The example user
interface 200 may display a list of media collections (e.g.,
stories list 202). The user interface 200 may allow an operator 108
to search for a particular media collection, by providing an area
204 for an operator 108 to enter search criteria. For example, the
operator 108 may enter a media collection identifier, a media
collection name, keywords, etc. The user interface 200 also
provides a mechanism 206 to filter the results/list of media
collections by various criteria. For example, an operator 108 may
filter the media collections by location, campus, event, time zone,
live event, etc.
[0040] The list of media collections may include a list of all
active media collections 212 and a list of upcoming media
collections 214. Each list may include an indication of what
operators or curators 216 are assigned to each media collection.
There may be one or more operators 108 assigned to each media
collection. The user interface 200 also allows the operator 108 to
add or remove operators 108 for each media collection. Each media
collection may have a title 201, a number of content items or
content messages 203 that are in the queue for that media
collection, a number of content items that have been cleared 205
(viewed, reviewed, etc.), and the last time the media collection
was updated 207. Upcoming media collections 214 may also include
information about when they are scheduled to go "live."
[0041] The media collections may also indicate a status by an
indicator such as color or other method, For example, media
collections that do not need immediate attention may have a first
indicator (e.g., a green color), media collections that need
attention may have a second indicator (e.g., a red color), and
media collections that are incomplete (e.g., do not have a
geofence, need approval, do not have a thumbnail, etc.) may have a
third indicator (e.g., a yellow color). The server system 120 may
set or update a status indicator based on a predetermined trigger,
as explained below. An operator 108 may select any of the media
collections to go to a detailed view for a particular media
collection.
[0042] The user interface 200 may also provide a mechanism 210 for
the operator 108 to view metrics associated with one or more media
collections, one or more operators 108, etc. And the user interface
200 may also provide a mechanism 211 for accessing a calendar view
of the media collections. A calendar view of the media collections
is shown in FIG. 2B. In the calendar view 220, an operator 108 may
see live media collections laid out in a monthly view.
[0043] An operator 108 may also view a list of just the media
collections assigned to the operator 108, as shown displayed in
example interface 250 in FIG. 2E. The interface 250 may display the
name 251 of the operator 108, a logout button 152, a picture 253 of
the operator 108, a list of the media collections 254 that the
operator 108 is currently working on, a list 255 of other operators
108 that are currently online (e.g., working on media collections),
what operators 108 are working on each media collection 256, and
other media collections 257.
[0044] Each media collection list item (e.g., media collection list
item 258) may include information about the media collection. For
example, the media collection list item may include a name of the
media collection (e.g., Stanford, Purdue, etc.), a number of
content items or content messages in the queue for that media
collection (e.g., 1253, 253, 104, etc.), a time since the last
update was pushed live or content items or content messages were
added to the queue (e.g., 00:05:53), the amount of content items or
content messages cleared or reviewed/curated (e.g., an amount for
the operator 108 (e.g., 255, 245, 2135 etc.), and a total amount
(e.g., 12.5k, 172.5k, etc.), and a last updated time stamp and by
whom it was updated (e.g., Jan. 12, 2016 (D. Boone)). The operator
108 may also be able to add an operator 108 to a media collection,
for example, using a drop down box 259 as shown in example
interface 250.
[0045] The operator 108 may be further provided with a mechanism to
view all operators 108 currently working on media collections, as
shown in interface 265 of FIG. 2F. The interface 265 may provide a
photograph of the operator 108, a location of the operator 108
(e.g., west coast, east coast, etc.), a number of media collections
the operator 108 is working on, the number of content items or
content messages cleared or reviewed/curated for the day, media
collections worked on for the day, etc. The operator 108 may view
further details for each operator 108 as shown in interface 275 in
FIG. 2G. For example, interface 275 may include various metrics for
the operator 108, such as, average time it takes to clear 100
content items or content messages, average number of flagged (e.g.,
selected) content items or content messages per 100 content items
or content messages, ratio of flagged to approved content items or
content messages, average time a flagged content item or content
message has been in the queue before it is flagged, average time an
approved content item or content message has been in the queue
before it is activated, average time it takes for an approved
content item or content message to go from flagged to approved,
average time between flagging two separate content items or content
messages, average length of each updated number of content items or
content messages per update, number of media collection seconds per
update, etc. The operator 108 may also be able to view metrics
specific to a media collection (with similar metrics as described
above), as shown in interface 285 of FIG. 2H.
[0046] The operator 108 may further be provided with a mechanism to
create a new media collection (e.g., via a selectable "create
story" icon 208 as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B). A user interface 230
such as the one shown in FIG. 2C may be provided to the operator
108 to create a new media collection. The user interface 230 may
allow the operator 108 to input various information related to the
new story or media collection. For example, the operator 108 may
input a media collection identifier (ID) 231, username 233,
location or venue 235 (e.g., city, state/country, various
locations, etc.), friendlink display text 237 (e.g., "Fashion Week
in NYC"), media collection display text 239 (e.g., "Our Fashion
Week Story"), a start time and end time 232 (e.g., when the
collection fence will open and close). The operator 108 may also be
able to input a type of media collection (not shown). Some examples
of types of media collections may be worldwide (e.g., appears to
every user 106), public local (e.g., appears to local users 106 and
other outputs), private local (e.g., only appears to local users
106), employee whitelist (e.g., only appears to employees such as
an operator 108 or curator for a particular media collection).
[0047] The operator 108 may also be able to upload a thumbnail 234
that may be associated with the media collection and displayed in
various media output displays (e.g., apps, websites, etc.). The
operator 108 may be able to choose from a selection of
predetermined thumbnails or create a new thumbnail. The operator
108 may also select or add filters 236 and/or intro animations to
be associated with the media collection. The operator 108 may also
include whitelisted users 238 and search for keywords 241 to be
associated with the media collection. There may be additional
information 242 that may be selected by the operator 108. For
example, if the operator 108 has selected public local or private
local for the media collection type, a check box may appear that
can be selected to indicate that a collection fence is different
from a broadcast fence. If the operator 108 selects this option
(e.g., checks this box) then the operator 108 may be prompted to
draw more than one geofence. Other additional information 242 may
include an option to show the media collection on a website, show
the media collection in a search or media forum (e.g., Google Now,
Google search, etc.), and show media collections in a browser. If
the operator 108 selects to show the media collection in one of
these options, the operator 108 may be prompted to input additional
information such as a description of the media collection (e.g.,
text box to input a description of the media collection), color for
the media collection, etc.
[0048] The operator 108 may also be able to draw a geofence (e.g.,
a virtual fence over a geographic area) on a map to associate a
particular location with the media collection. For example, the
operator 108 may select a geofence drawing button 244 and then
create a polygon 245 to indicate the location to associate with the
media collection, as shown in FIG. 2D. After drawing the polygon
245, the operator 108 may be able to name and prioritize the
geofence and then finalize it. An indication of the geofence 246
may be displayed to the operator 108. Additional geofences may be
created by the operator 108, if desired. A media collection may
have more than one geofence associated with the media collection. A
geofence may be deleted by selecting the geofence and indicated it
should be deleted (e.g., pressing a particular button). The
operator 108 may also move the geofence around on the map to
another location, or copy and paste the geofence to another
location. A geofence may be used, for example, to determine
eligibility of a user 106 to submit a content item or content
message for a particular media collection. For example, if a user
106 is determined to be within the geofence for the media
collection, the user 106 may be eligible to submit content items or
content messages for that media collection.
[0049] After the operator 108 finishes entering information to
create the new media collection, the operator 108 may submit the
information. For example, the operator 108 may select a submit
option 243 and the operator device 130 may send a request to create
a new media collection with the information to server system 120.
Server system 120 may receive and evaluate the request and
information and create a new media collection and store the
associated information in one or more databases 126. The server
system 120 may generate a message indicating a new media collection
has been created and send it to one or more operator devices
130.
[0050] FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating aspects of a method 300,
according to some example embodiments. For illustrative purposes,
method 300 is described with respect to networked system 100 of
FIG. 1. It is to be understood that method 300 may be practiced
with other system configurations in other embodiments.
[0051] At operation 302, a server system 120 (e.g., at content
processing server 124) may receive a plurality of content messages
from a plurality of content sources. The content messages may
comprise media content (e.g., photos, video, audio, text, etc.) and
may be associated with one or more media collections.
[0052] For example, a plurality of users 106 may send a plurality
of content messages related to a particular event (e.g., music
concert, sports event, street fair, expo, etc.), a geolocation
(e.g., concert venue, sports arena, city, neighborhood, state,
etc.), a subject or topic (e.g., popular song, product, weather,
etc.), a common user interest (e.g., shared interest in sports,
music, clothing, celebrities, products, activities, etc.), etc. The
content messages may be created and sent by a plurality of client
devices 110. For example, a user 106 may take a picture, record a
video, incorporate text or a media overlay (e.g., filter) with a
picture, video, etc., and send the content message to another user
106 or to server system 120 to be associated with one or more
predetermined media collections (or to create a new media
collection). Content messages may include additional information
such as a timestamp indicating the time the content was created or
sent, a username, etc. The timestamp may be used to sort the
content chronologically or determine any expiration day/time of a
content message. The username may be used to identify the users
106, identify users 106 contributing good content to be flagged as
a good contributor, identify users 106 who may be spammers so they
can be muted, etc.
[0053] For each of the plurality of content messages received by
the server system 120 (e.g., by content processing server 124), the
content processing server 124 may associate the content in the
content message with one or more predetermined media collections,
as shown in operation 304. For example, an indication of one or
more media collections may be included in the content message, and
the content processing server 124 may utilize the indication to
associate the content with the one or more media collections. In
another example, the content processing server 124 may determine an
associated media collection based on the content in the content
message (e.g., via text recognition, object recognition, audio foot
print, etc.). The content processing server 124 may store the
content message associated with the one or more media collections,
as shown in operation 306.
[0054] In operation 308, the server system 120 may cause the
content or content messages to be displayed on an operator device
130. For example, an operator 108 may use an interface in a web
browser or in an application 134, such as the user interface 400
shown in FIG. 4A, to review and curate content for one or more
media collections. In the example interface 400, the operator 108
is viewing/curating ten different media collections, as shown in
the tool bar 402. The media collections in example interface 400
are associated with college campuses (e.g., Stanford, Purdue, Duke,
Yale, Michigan, Vanderbilt, Berkeley, Oregon, Tufts). At any time,
an operator 108 may be viewing or curating one or more media
collections. Media collections may be ongoing stories (e.g.,
ongoing stories associated with a college campus, celebrity, music
band, product, activity, etc.) or may be live stories associated
with a live event (e.g., concert in progress, game in progress,
black Friday, social event, etc.).
[0055] Each media collection may have an identifier associated with
the media collection. The identifier (e.g., identifier 404) may
include the name of the media collection, a number of content items
or content messages in the queue (e.g., to be reviewed/curated), a
local time of the specific story, a time which may indicate a time
since the media collection was last updated by an operator 108 or a
time of the most recent approved content item or content message,
and a status indicator. Media collections may be removed or added
to the interface 400 by the operator 108 or server system 120.
[0056] A status indicator in the identifier of the media collection
may include a color, a flashing tab, etc. For example, the
identifier of the media collection (e.g., tab 404) may appear green
(e.g., a first indicator) when the media collection does not
require immediate attention, red (e.g., a second indicator) when
the media collection does require immediate attention, or yellow
(e.g., a third indicator) when a media collection is
incomplete.
[0057] The server system 120 may set or update an identifier of a
media collection based on a trigger. For example, returning to FIG.
3, the server system 120 (e.g., content processing server 124) may
determine a predetermined trigger has been activated, as shown in
operation 310. The predetermined trigger may be a. predetermined
amount of time (e.g., 30 seconds, 1 minute, 15 minutes, 1 hour, 1
day, etc.) that has passed since the content items or content
messages associated with the media collection have been viewed on
the operator device 130, a predetermined number of content items or
content messages that have not been viewed on the operator device
130, a predetermined amount of time that has passed since any
content associated with the media collection has been pushed live
to be viewed by users 106, etc. If the content processing server
124 determines that a predetermine trigger has been activated, it
will then update an identifier of the media collection from a first
indicator to a second indicator, as shown in operation 312.
[0058] For example, the content processing server 124 may determine
that a predetermined amount of time (e.g., 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 1
hour, 1 day) has passed since the content items or content messages
associated with the media collection have been viewed on the
operator device 130. The content processing server 124 may change
the indicator from green (e.g., a first indicator) to red (e.g., a
second indicator) to alert the operator 108 to the fact that the
media collection needs immediate attention. This may be
particularly important when an operator 108 is curating multiple
media collections and for live media collections (e.g., events in
progress) where timeliness may be important. For example, a concert
may be only two hours long and so an operator 108 may not want to
let more than a few minutes pass before updating content in a media
collection related to the concert.
[0059] The operator 108 may select the identifier to view content
to be reviewed and curated for a particular media collection. For
example, the currently selected media collection in example
interface 400 is "Purdue" 404, Once a media collection is selected,
information specific to the selected media collection may be
displayed. For example, for the selected "Purdue" media collection,
information displayed may include the name of the media collection
408, the current length 410 of the media collection (e.g., the
number of content messages or content items in the live or
published version of the media collection), the location within the
media collection (e.g., a particular geofence within the media
collection, or all locations within the media collection), etc.
There may be other mechanisms for performing additional
functionality, such as a button 401 to turn the media collection on
or off (e.g., turning a media collection on may push the selected
media collection or story live). Other functionality may include a
button 403 to open or close a geofence, a button 405 to preview the
media collection in a video player, a button 407 to send the
current media collection to a user 106 or list of users, and
advanced settings 409 with additional options.
[0060] Example advanced settings may include filters to filter out
content items or content messages of certain types by selecting
various filters. For example, types that can be filtered out may
include videos, photos, approved content items or content messages,
flagged content items or content messages, whitelisted content
items or content messages, unselected content items or content
messages (e.g., not approved, flagged, or whitelisted), etc.
Filtering may only effect the current queue.
[0061] The operator 108 may also filter a media col lection by
location, if there is more than one location within the media
collection, default content item or content message length, how
many content items or content messages that will be displayed on a
page, how often the number of content items or content messages in
the queue are updated, how may content items or content messages
the operator 108 can go back when selecting an undo button, all
submissions, current media collection only, current plus flagged,
unselected, unselected plus whitelisted, etc.
[0062] The interface 400 may further include a mechanism for
loading the next content items or content messages in the queue.
For example, there may be a button 411 that may be selected by the
operator 108 to get the next 100 content items or content messages.
FIG. 4B shows a collapsed view 412 of the information provided for
the selected media collection.
[0063] The operator 108 may be able to view a timeline, such as the
example timeline 416 shown in FIG. 4E. The timeline 416 may show
the progress of operator 108, relative to the rest of the media
collection. For example, content items or content messages that
have been viewed by the operator 108 may be shown in a first color
(e.g., blue) 417 or other indication, and content items or content
messages that have not yet been viewed may be represented by a
second color (e.g., grey) 418 or other indication. Published
content items or content messages (or chapters) may also be
represented (e.g., by a bar 419A or 419B).
[0064] An operator 108 may also have the option of adding an
advertisement to the media collection. For example, an operator 108
may be able to select to add an ad via a button 415 as shown in
FIG. 4D). A list of ads may be displayed to the operator 108 (e.g.,
in a separate window) and the operator 108 may select and drag and
drop one or more ads to be included in the media collection. Ads
may also appear automatically after chapters are published, when
appropriate (e.g., based on an amount of time that has passed in
the media collection or since the last ad was displayed in the
media collection).
[0065] While viewing the content items or content messages for a
media collection, the operator 108 may select individual content
items or content messages to show that the individual content items
or content messages have been approved for pushing live (e.g.,
"published" to be viewed by users 106 as part of the media
collection), as shown in FIG. 4C. A visual indication may be
displayed when the individual content item or content message is
selected or approved (e.g., it may be highlighted, flash on and
off, greyed out, etc.). Once the operator 108 selects the content
items or content messages to be approved, the operator 108 may
indicate that the selected content items or content messages should
be applied, for example, by selecting a "apply" button 414. There
may be a number (not shown) that appears next to the apply button
414 that indicates how many approved content items or content
messages will be applied. Selecting the apply button 414 will cause
the current chapter (e.g., the approved content items or content
messages) to be pushed live. For example, the selection of content
items or content messages is sent to the server system 120 and it
may be received by server system 120 (e.g., content processing
server 124) and included in the selection of content in the media
collection and made available to users 106 to view as part of the
media collection. Once the approved content items or content
messages are applied, the visual indication may change to indicate
they have gone live (e.g., the color may change, etc.).
[0066] An operator 108 may view and edit individual content items
or content messages. For example, a tool may be provided to
stabilize shaky video, strip a media overlay or filter off of a
content item or content message (e.g., a media overlay that has
inappropriate content, covers a key feature or object in the
content item or message, etc.), block a particular user 106, report
a content item or content message, trip a photograph or video
length, etc.
[0067] As mentioned above, server system 120 may receive tens of
thousands (or more) of content messages from a plurality of client
devices 110 containing media content from a plurality of users 106.
It may be very difficult, if not impossible, for an operator 108 to
review and curate so many messages for one or more media
collections. Moreover, may media collections may relate to a live
event where reviewing, curating, and pushing content items or
content messages live for a media collection may need to be done in
a very timely manner. Accordingly, the curation tool described
above provides a number of mechanisms and filters to allow an
operator 108 to quickly and easily view and curate content items or
content messages related to one or more media collections.
[0068] The curation tool may further provide a mechanism for an
operator 108 to filter out a certain percentage of content items or
content messages to automate sonic of the review and curation
process so that an operator 108 may be able to efficiently review
and curate content items or content messages in a timely manner.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating aspects of a method 500,
according to some example embodiments. For illustrative purposes,
method 500 is described with respect to networked system 100 of
FIG. 1. It is to be understood that method 500 may be practiced
with other system configurations in other embodiments.
[0069] At operation 502, the server system 120 (e.g., at content
processing server 124) may receive a plurality of content messages
from a plurality of content sources. The content messages may
comprise media content (e.g., photos, video, audio, text, etc.) and
may be associated with one or more media collections.
[0070] For example, a plurality of users 106 may send a plurality
of content messages related to a particular event (e.g., music
concert, sports event, street fair, expo, etc.), a geolocation
(e.g., concert venue, sports arena, city, neighborhood, state,
etc.), a subject or topic (e.g., popular song, product, weather,
etc.), a common user interest (e.g., shared interest in sports,
music, clothing, celebrities, products, activities, etc.), etc. The
content messages may be created and sent by a plurality of client
devices 110. For example, a user 106 may take a picture, record a
video, incorporate text or a media overlay (e.g., filter) with a
picture, video, etc., and send the content message to another user
106 or to server system 120 to be associated with one or more
predetermined media collections (or to create a new media
collection). Content messages may include additional information
such as a timestamp indicating the time the content was created or
sent, a username, etc. The timestamp may be used to sort the
content chronologically or determine any expiration day/time of a
content message. The username may be used to identify the users
106, identify users 106 contributing good content to be flagged as
a good contributor, identify users 106 who may be spammers so they
can be muted, etc.
[0071] For each of the plurality of content messages received by
the server system 120 (e.g., by content processing server 124), the
content processing server 124 may analyze each of the plurality of
content messages to determine a quality score for each of the
plurality of content messages, as shown in operation 504. The
quality score may be determined based on a number of different
factors. For example, the content processing server 124 can analyze
the media content in the content message to determine the quality
of the audio, photographs, videos, text, or other content. If the
quality of the media content is low (e.g., lower resolution, shaky
video, blurry text, unclear audio, etc.), the content message is
given a lower score than for media content with a higher
quality.
[0072] Some example factors that may be used to determine a quality
score include an explicit content likelihood (e.g., probability
that images or videos contain explicit content such as nudity, drug
use, profanity, etc.), underexposure (e.g., very dark or completely
black images or videos), overexposure (e.g., too bright images or
videos), noise level (e.g., images or videos that look to grainy as
a result of being taken in low light conditions with a low-end
camera), shaky camera (e.g., when camera is too shaky when taking a
video), blurry media content (e.g., images and video that look too
blurry), low quality compression (e.g., removes content messages
with excessive compression artifacts), audio quality, areas within
an event (e.g., if too many content messages showing a particular
area in an sports arena or a particular play in a game, may be
scored lower), content messages that are all black and white,
etc.
[0073] A combination of different factors may result into a single
quality score. For example, quality score may range from 0 to 1,
with 0 being the lowest quality and 1 being the highest quality. A
content message of lower quality may be scored with a 0 or 0.1. A
content message of higher quality may be scored a 0.9 or 1. The
factors may be combined into a single quality score using
heuristics and/or using machine language based on operator 108
behavior. The content processing server 124 may optionally sort all
of the content messages for a media collection by quality
score.
[0074] A quality score, in some embodiments, is based on a detailed
exposure analysis of an image or a sample of frames in a video
clip. For example, a histogram of luminance may be calculated, and
a quality may be assigned to the image or video based on a
correlation of the histogram with a quality score. Such a
correlation may be based on a table or function associating certain
histogram patterns with selected quality scores, or may be
generated in any other such manner. For video where multiple sample
frames are analyzed, an average of scores for each frame may be
used to select a score, a worst score for an individual frame of
all the analyzed frames may be used, or any such combination or
function of multiple scores or selections of scores may be
used.
[0075] In some embodiments, a motion-blur estimation of an image or
of selected video clips is used as a part of the quality score.
Such motion blur estimation may, for example, be based on a
calculation of energy gradients on detected edges, or other such
motion estimations. For video clips, identifying video frames with
motion blur above a threshold amount may trigger analysis of
additional sample frames to determine how much of the video is
impacted by motion blur, or to identify when a shakiness of a
camera sensor impacts an entire video. In certain embodiments, a
system may use a threshold for video motion or "shakiness" to
filter out videos with camera motion or shake above the threshold.
In other embodiments, a shakiness or motion score may simply modify
an overall quality score. In other embodiments, both a hard
threshold as well as an input to an overall quality score may be
used.
[0076] In some embodiments, images or sample video frames may be
analyzed for compression artifacts or other image processing
artifacts that indicate a lower image quality or errors introduced
into an image due to various compression or communication problems.
Such artifacts may include image ringing, image contouring,
staircase noise along curving edges, posterizing artifacts, or
block boundary artifacts. Videos may be analyzed for additional
video based compression artifacts such as block boundary artifacts
associated with motion compensation or mosquito noise that may be
identified by analysis of selected frames of a video. The presence
of such compression artifacts and the intensity of any identified
compression artifacts may be used to modify or select a quality
score for an image or video clip. In addition to such information
loss associated with compression or lossy transmission, images and
video frames may also be analyzed for other types of noise. For
example, variance in smooth or uniform regions of an image may be
analyzed for noise artifacts, such as noise associated with a low
quality or malfunctioning camera sensor, low quality or dirty
optics of a camera, or any other such source of noise that may
lower, corrupt, or modify the data in the image.
[0077] Audio data is also used for quality scoring of video clips
in some embodiments. In such embodiments, various audio metrics
such as dynamic range, noise levels, language clarity or language
recognition data, or any other such audio based information may be
used to select an audio quality score or to impact an overall
quality score. Different audio data metrics, in some embodiments,
are used based on a determined audio environment. For example, a
video clip with speech may be assessed differently than a clip with
music, or video clips with different types of music may be assessed
differently. Additionally, audio spotting to identify objectionable
audio content (e.g. taboo spoken language or explicit music lyrics)
can be used for a quality score or a quality threshold flag in some
embodiments.
[0078] In addition to quality scores based on image quality, some
scores may be based on image content. For example, as mentioned
above, image processing may be used to identify objectionable
content such as nudity or taboo language within an image or video
clip. In some embodiments, a preferred orientation (e.g. landscape
or portrait) may be used for quality scoring. Some systems may
additionally use image recognition to identify desirable content.
For example, in some systems, images of animals or images of
objects associated with a party environment are identified as
desirable. The presence of such images within video frames or
pictures may be used to increase an overall quality score, or to
generate a content score.
[0079] Feedback or machine learning is used in certain embodiments
to select or set a quality score. Such systems may use neural
networks to extract features identified as preferred or interesting
to system users. For example, in some embodiments, images selected
by system users for inclusion in one or more stories may be
selected for a learning set. Some or all images and video frames
from the learning set may have features extracted and analyzed
using a feed-forward artificial neural network such as a
convolutional neural network to identify desirable elements of the
images, and to automatically assign an interestingness score to
future images received based on the neural network generated with
the learning set. Feature maps used within such neural networks may
be based on any analysis metric described herein, including image
quality features and image content features. In some embodiments,
learnable filters may be selected and automatically updated based
in a database of images from image processing services used for
content analysis of images or video frames. In other embodiments,
any other such sources may be used for learnable filters. Such
analysis may be applied to both image elements of content as well
as to audio elements of videos.
[0080] Other feedback mechanisms may be used in various
embodiments. For example, in some embodiments, a content source,
user, or account associated with generating an image or video clip
may have associated history data. In some embodiments, association
of a content source with a history of content selected by system
users or associated with high quality ratings may be used as an
input to a quality score, or may be used as a quality flag. Various
content source metrics such as the quality history, number of
images sent, number of system followers or interconnections, or
other such metrics may be used.
[0081] In some embodiments, multiple different quality scores may
be associated with each individual piece of media content, so that
an image may have an exposure quality score, a noise quality score,
a motion quality score, a compression quality score, a resolution
quality scores, an audio quality score, a content score, or any
other such separate quality scores. In such embodiments, an overall
quality score based on any combination of such individual quality
scores may also be provided. Further, as mentioned above, some or
all of such quality scores may individually be used to reject
certain pieces of media content automatically, with only the images
or videos that exceed all thresholds being presented to a system
user. Such a system may have any number of thresholds based on
separate quality scores or multiple different combinations of
different quality scores. In some embodiments, such thresholds may
be variable to present a target number of images and/or videos to a
system user. Similarly, different types of images or video clips
may be assessed differently, such that weights may be applied to
different images differently based on content, location, time,
proximity in location or time to a holiday or news event, overall
environment, or other such information. The metrics and weights for
any of the above, in some embodiments, are applied differently to a
selfie taken inside than to concert footage taken outdoors at
night.
[0082] In operation 506, the content processing server 124 may
store the plurality of content messages, along with the quality
score for each of the plurality of content messages, in one or more
databases 126. The quality score may be stored as metadata
associated with the content message. The content processing server
124 may optionally sort all of the content messages by quality
score.
[0083] In operation 508, the content processing server 124 may
receive, from an operator device 130, a threshold percentage for a
media collection. For example, the operator 108 may be provided
with an interface, such as the interface 600 shown in FIG. 6, to
provide a threshold percentage 605 by which to filter the content
in the media collection. For example, the operator 108 may only
want to receive the top quality content messages (e.g., due to a
large volume of content messages in the queue/media collection).
The operator 108 may enter a percent (e.g., 50%) and submit the
threshold percentage to the content processing server 124 (e.g.,
via the "APPLY" button 607).
[0084] In operation 510, the content processing server 124 may
determine a subset of the plurality of content messages associated
with the media collection to be made available to the operator 108
(e.g., via an operator device 130) based on the threshold percent
received by the operator device 130 and the quality score for each
of the plurality of messages. For example, the content processing
server 124 may determine the top 50% of the content messages in the
media collection based on the quality score for each of the
plurality of messages (e.g., the top 50% of highest scoring content
messages).
[0085] In operation 512, the content processing server 124 may
cause only the subset of the plurality of content messages
associated with the media collection to be displayed on the
operator device 130 for the media collection. For example, if the
content processing system 124 has received 10,000 content messages,
and the threshold was set to 30%, the content processing system 124
may only cause 3000 content messages to be displayed on the
operator device 130.
[0086] Since the content processing server 124 may be continuously
receiving a plurality of content messages, the content processing
server 124 may re-compute the subset of plurality of content
messages for a media collection periodically. For example, after
causing the initial subset of content messages to be displayed on
the operator device 130, the content processing server 124 may
determine a subset of newly received content processing messages
(e.g., since the last subset was determined) after a predetermined
number of content messages have been received (e.g., 100, 1000,
etc.) or after a predetermined amount of time (e.g., 30 seconds, 10
minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, etc.). Moreover, the operator 108 may
change the threshold value from first value (e.g., 50%) to a second
value (e.g., 30%). The content processing server 124 may receive
the new threshold value and use the new threshold value to
determine the subset of the plurality of content messages received
going forward. In addition, or in the alternative, the content
processing server 124 may also adjust the value of a subset that
was already made available to the operator device 130 (e.g., may
cause more content messages to be displayed on the operator device
130 if the operator 108 increased the threshold percentage
value).
[0087] Input from an operator 108 may be used to improve the
quality score algorithm. For example, an operator 108 may be able
to mark or otherwise indicate when a content message is
low-quality. The server system 120 may also track each time an
operator 108 flags or accepts a content message, or indicates a
content message is related to a particular breaking news story,
etc. For example, the content processing server 124 may analyze
content messages that were accepted by operators 108 and content
messages that were not accepted by operators 108, and use this data
to create a model to determine a probability that an operator 108
would accept a particular content message. This factor (e.g.,
probability of operator acceptance) may be used as a factor in
computing the quality score for the content message.
[0088] In another example embodiment, a client application 114 may
be provided that includes a media collection creation and creation
tool for an end user 106. The tool may allow the user 106 to create
new media collections, view a list of media collections, view a
plurality of content items or content messages associated with a
predetermined media collection, select and/or curate content into
media collections for immediate, ongoing, or periodic posting, etc.
The plurality of media content may have been received by server
system 120 in a plurality of content messages from a plurality of
users 106 (e.g., via client devices 110). For example, a user 106
may wish to create a new media collection associated with a
personal event, such as a wedding reception, child's birthday
party, family vacation, etc. The user 106 may use a client device
110 to establish an account, create new media collections (e.g.,
one for his wedding reception, one for his niece's birthday party,
one for an upcoming family vacation, etc.), view existing media
collections, to view content messages (e.g., from friends and
family) associated with media collections, and to select and/or
curate content messages to be included in one or more media
collections.
[0089] A user 106 may first provide identifying information to
establish an account to create new media collections, view existing
media collections, to view content messages associated with media
collections, and to select and/or curate content messages to be
included in one or more media collections. For example, the client
device 110 may cause an interface to be displayed on the client
device 110, such as the interface 700 shown in in FIG. 7A. Some
examples of identifying information 702 may include the user 106's
name, a username, a mobile phone number, email. Other identifying
information 702 may include a home address, a work address, an
alternate email address, an alternate phone number, etc. In some
example embodiments, the interface 700 may also allow the user 106
to set notification sounds on or off 704, manage additional
services 706, specify who can send the user 106 content messages
708, view his own one or more media collections 710, and get help
or support 712.
[0090] The user 106 may then submit the identifying information 702
(and any other information) to establish his account. The client
device 110 may receive the identifying information 702 from the
user 106 and send the identifying information 702 to server system
120 to establish an account. The server system 120 may receive the
identifying information 702 and authenticate the identifying
information 702 (e.g., confirm that there are no existing accounts
with the same information, make sure the information is legitimate,
etc.). Once the server system 120 has confirmed that the account
may be established, the server system 120 may create a new account
and store the identifying information 702 associated with the
account in one or more databases 126. The server system 120 may
send a notification to the client device 110 that the account has
been established. The client device 110 may display a message to
the user 106 that the account was established.
[0091] The application 114 on the client device 110 may provide a
mechanism for the user 106 to manage various aspects of his
account. For example, the client device 110 may display an
interface 715 as shown in FIG. 7B. The user 106 may he able to
manage filters 717 (e.g., media overlays), manage camera settings
for capturing images such as front-facing flash 719, and other
features, such as, replay 721, special text 723, power save mode
725, number of best friends 729, etc.
[0092] The interface 715 may further allow the user 106 to create a
new personal media collection 727. The user 106 may select an
option to create a new personal media collection (e.g., press or
swipe menu item 727). The client device 110 may detect that the
user 106 has selected to create a new personal media collection and
request or allow a user 106 to enter various parameters associated
with the media collection.
[0093] One parameter may be a name for the personal media
collection. For example, the client device 110 may display an
interface such as interface 730 as shown in FIG. 7C, to request a
name for the media collection 732.
[0094] The user 106 may be able to enter additional parameters for
the media collection, as shown in FIG. 7D. For example, the client
device 110 may display an interface such as interface 740 to
request additional parameters from the user 106 and allow the user
106 to enter the additional information associated with the example
media collection 742 titled "Anchor Splash 2K15." An additional
parameter may include choosing a thumbnail 744 to associate with
the media collection (e.g., a custom thumbnail created by the user
106, or a default composite of images in the media collection,
etc.).
[0095] Another parameter may include setting a boundary or geofence
to indicate the area in which users must be located to submit
content messages for a media collection or where users must be
located to view a media collection. The application 114 may include
a predetermined maximum geofence or boundary size. If the user 106
would like to increase the maximum boundary size, the user 106 may
need to pay an additional fee to do so, as shown in interface 750
in FIG. 7E. In one example embodiment, the user 106 may set the
geofence and expand or decrease the size of the geofence radius via
an interface such as the one shown in the interface 760 in FIGS.
7F, 7G, and 7H. For example, the user 106 may resize the area 762
from smaller (e.g., 7F) to larger (e.g., 7G, 7H) and vice
versa.
[0096] Returning to FIG. 7D, another parameter may be the length of
the life of the media collection (e.g., the duration of the event,
6 hours, 24 hours, 1 day, 1 week, etc.). There may be an option
presented to the user 106 to increase the length 748 of the life of
the media collection from a predetermined amount of time (e.g., 6
hours, duration of the event, etc.). In one example embodiment, the
user 106 may need to pay an additional fee if he wishes to increase
the length of the story to a length longer than the predetermined
amount of time.
[0097] The user 106 may also be able to specify one or more
audience members for the media collection. An audience member may
be a user 106 who has permission to view the media collection. The
user 106 may also be able to specify a max audience size 749 for
which to share the media collection. In one example embodiment,
there may be a predetermined maximum size, and the user 106 may
need to pay an additional fee to increase the audience size to
greater than the predetermined maximum size. The audience may be
either a user 106 located in a geofence associated with the media
collection, or a user 106 in the public who follows the media
collection. For example, the user 106 may specify whether the media
collection is public or private, If the user 106 specifies that the
media collection is public, then anyone may view the media
collection. If the user 106 specified that the media collection is
private, then the audience is limited to a group or to users 106
within a specific geofence.
[0098] The user 106 may also be able to specify one or more
contributors. A contributor may be a user 106 who has permission to
post or submit content items or content messages to be included in
the media collection. In one example embodiment, a contributor may
need to be within the geofence associate with the media collection
to post or submit content items or content messages to be included
in the media collection. For example, a user 106 may only be given
an option to send content messages to be included in the media
collection if the user 106 is within the geofence for the media
collection.
[0099] Once the user 106 enters the parameters of the media
collection, he may submit the information to activate the media
collection (e.g., via "Activate Media Collection" button 741) or
may save the information (e.g., via "Save" button 743).
[0100] FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating aspects of a method 800,
according to some example embodiments. For illustrative purposes,
method 800 is described with respect to networked system 100 of
FIG. 1. It is to be understood that method 800 may be practiced
with other system configurations in other embodiments.
[0101] In operation 802 the client device 110 (e.g., a first
computing device) may receive a request from a user 106 to activate
a new media collection. The request may include one or more
parameters, as described above. For example, the request may
include a name for the media collection, a geofence associated with
the media collection, one or more contributors, one or more
audience members, a max audience size, a thumbnail, a length of the
life of the media collection, etc.
[0102] In operation 804 the client device 110 may send the request
to a server computer (e.g., at server system 120) for activation of
the new media collection. The server computer may receive and
evaluate the request and information and create a new media
collection and store the associated information in one or more
databases 126. The server computer may generate a message (e.g.,
confirmation) indicating that a new media collection has been
created and send it to the client device 110. The client device 110
may receive, from the server computer, the confirmation that the
new media collection was activated, as shown in operation 806.
[0103] The server computer may receive a plurality of content
messages from a plurality of content sources (e.g., users 106 via
client devices 110). The content messages may comprise media
content (e.g., images, video, audio, etc.) and may be associated
with one or more media collections, as explained above. For each of
the plurality of content messages received by the server system 120
(e.g., by content processing server 124), the content processing
server 124 may associate the content in the content message with
one or more predetermined media collections, as also explained
above. The content processing server 124 may store the content
message associated with the one or more media collections, and/or
may forward the content message associated to the appropriate
client device 110.
[0104] The client device 110 may receive a plurality of content
messages associated with the new media collection, as shown in
operation 808. The plurality of content messages may be received
from a plurality of users 106, as explained above. The client
device 110 may display the plurality of content messages to the
user 106 and the user 106 may be able to select one or more of the
content messages to be included in the media collection. For
example, the user 106 may select a subset or all of the content
messages. In operation 810, the client device 110 may receive, from
the user 106, a selection of the plurality of content messages to
be included in the new media collection.
[0105] In operation 812, the client device 110 may send, to the
server computer, and indication of the selection of the content
messages to be included in the new media collection. The server
computer may store the selection for the media collection and cause
the selection of content messages to be included in the new media
collection and displayed in response to a request from at least a
second client device 110 (e.g., a second computing device) to view
the media collection. For example, an audience member (e.g., the
user 106 or another user 106) may view the media collection (e.g.,
the selection of plurality of content messages) on his client
device 110. For example, the audience member may be within the
geofence for the media collection or may enter a unique identifier
(e.g., a username) or scan a code (e.g., QR code, barcode, etc.) to
follow/view the media collection. In another example, the server
computer may cause the new media collection to be displayed in
response to the request from at least a second computing device
after the server determines that a second user associated with the
second computing device is part of a predefined audience.
[0106] FIG. 9 is a block diagram 900 illustrating architecture of
software 902, which can be installed on any one or more of the
devices described above. For example, in various embodiments,
client device(s) 110, operator device(s) 130, server system 120,
and web server 122, and content processing server 124, may be
implemented using some or all of the elements of software
architecture 902. FIG. 9 is merely a non-limiting example of a
software architecture, and it will be appreciated that many other
architectures can be implemented to facilitate the functionality
described herein. In various embodiments, the software architecture
902 is implemented by hardware such as machine 1000 of FIG. 10 that
includes processors 1010, memory 1030, and I/O components 1050. In
this example architecture, the software architecture 902 can be
conceptualized as a stack of layers where each layer may provide a
particular functionality. For example, the software architecture
902 includes layers such as an operating system 904, libraries 906,
frameworks 908, and applications 910. Operationally, the
applications 910 invoke application programming interface (API)
calls 912 through the software stack and receive messages 914 in
response to the API calls 912, consistent with some
embodiments.
[0107] In various implementations, the operating system 904 manages
hardware resources and provides common services. The operating
system 904 includes, for example, a kernel 920, services 922, and
drivers 924. The kernel 920 acts as an abstraction layer between
the hardware and the other software layers, consistent with some
embodiments. For example, the kernel 920 provides memory
management, processor management (e.g., scheduling), component
management, networking, and security settings, among other
functionality. The services 922 can provide other common services
for the other software layers. The drivers 924 are responsible for
controlling or interfacing with the underlying hardware, according
to some embodiments. For instance, the drivers 924 can include
display drivers, camera drivers, BLUETOOTH.RTM. or BLUETOOTH.RTM.
Low Energy drivers, flash memory drivers, serial communication
drivers (e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB) drivers), WI-FI.RTM.
drivers, audio drivers, power management drivers, and so forth.
[0108] In some embodiments, the libraries 906 provide a low-level
common infrastructure utilized by the applications 910. The
libraries 906 can include system libraries 930 (e.g., C standard
library) that can provide functions such as memory allocation
functions, string manipulation functions, mathematic functions, and
the like. In addition, the libraries 906 can include API libraries
932 such as media libraries (e.g., libraries to support
presentation and manipulation of various media formats such as
Moving Picture Experts Group-4 (MPEG4), Advanced Video Coding
(H.264 or AVC), Moving Picture Experts Group Layer-3 (MP3),
Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR) audio codec,
Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG or JPG), or Portable Network
Graphics (PNG)), graphics libraries (e.g., an OpenGL framework used
to render in two dimensions (2D) and three dimensions (3D) in a
graphic content on a display), database libraries (e.g., SQLite to
provide various relational database functions), web libraries
(e.g., WebKit to provide web browsing functionality), and the like.
The libraries 906 can also include a wide variety of other
libraries 934 to provide many other APIs to the applications
910.
[0109] The frameworks 908 provide a high-level common
infrastructure that can be utilized by the applications 910,
according to some embodiments. For example, the frameworks 908
provide various graphic user interface (GUI) functions, high-level
resource management, high-level location services, and so forth.
The frameworks 908 can provide a broad spectrum of other APIs that
can be utilized by the applications 910, some of which may be
specific to a particular operating system 904 or platform.
[0110] In an example embodiment, the applications 910 include a
home application 950, a contacts application 952, a browser
application 954, a book reader application 956, a location
application 958, a media application 960, a messaging application
962, a game application 964, and a broad assortment of other
applications such as a third party application 966. According to
some embodiments, the applications 910 are programs that execute
functions defined in the programs. Various programming languages
can be employed to create one or more of the applications 910,
structured in a variety of manners, such as object-oriented
programming languages (e.g., Objective-C, Java, or C++) or
procedural programming languages (e.g., C or assembly language). In
a specific example, the third party application 966 (e.g., an
application 910 developed using the ANDROID.TM. or IOS.TM. software
development kit (SDK) by an entity other than the vendor of the
particular platform) may be mobile software running on a mobile
operating system such as IOS.TM., ANDROID.TM., WINDOWS.RTM. Phone,
or another mobile operating system. In this example, the third
party application 966 can invoke the API calls 912 provided by the
operating system 904 to facilitate functionality described
herein.
[0111] Some embodiments may particularly include a curation
application 967. In certain embodiments, this may be a stand-alone
application that operates to manage communications with a server
system such as server system 120. In other embodiments, this
functionality may he integrated with another application such as a
media application 960 or another such application. Curation
application 967 may manage collection of content using a camera
device of machine 1000, communication with a server system via I/O
components 1050, and receipt and storage of received media
collections in memory 1030. Presentation of content and user inputs
associated with content may be managed by curation application 967
using different frameworks 908, library 906 elements, or operating
system 904 elements operating on a machine 1000.
[0112] FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating components of a
machine 1000, according to some embodiments, able to read
instructions from a machine-readable medium (e.g., a
machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the
methodologies discussed herein, Specifically, FIG. 10 shows a
diagrammatic representation of the machine 1000 in the example form
of a computer system, within which instructions 1016 (e.g.,
software, a program, an application 910, an applet, an app, or
other executable code) for causing the machine 1000 to perform any
one or more of the methodologies discussed herein can be executed.
In alternative embodiments, the machine 1000 operates as a
standalone device or can be coupled (e.g., networked) to other
machines. In a networked deployment, the machine 1000 may operate
in the capacity of a server machine 122, 124 or a client 110, 130
in a server-client network environment, or as a peer machine in a
peer-to-peer or distributed) network environment. The machine 1000
can comprise, but not be limited to, a server computer, a client
computer, a personal computer (PC), a tablet computer, a laptop
computer, a netbook, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital
assistant (PDA), an entertainment media system, a cellular
telephone, a smart phone, a mobile device, a wearable device (e.g.,
a smart watch), a smart home device (e.g., a smart appliance),
other smart devices, a web appliance, a network router, a network
switch, a network bridge, or any machine capable of executing the
instructions 1016, sequentially or otherwise, that specify actions
to be taken by the machine 1000. Further, while only a single
machine 1000 is illustrated, the term "machine" shall also be taken
to include a collection of machines 1000 that individually or
jointly execute the instructions 1016 to perform any one or more of
the methodologies discussed herein.
[0113] In various embodiments, the machine 1000 comprises
processors 1010, memory 1030, and I/O components 1050, which can be
configured to communicate with each other via a bus 1002. In an
example embodiment, the processors 1010 (e.g., a central processing
unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a
complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics
processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), an
application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a radio-frequency
integrated circuit (MC), another processor, or any suitable
combination thereof) include, for example, a processor 1012 and a
processor 1014 that may execute the instructions 1016. The term
"processor" is intended to include multi-core processors 1010 that
may comprise two or more independent processors 1012, 1014 (also
referred to as "cores") that can execute instructions 1016
contemporaneously. Although FIG. 10 shows multiple processors 1010,
the machine 1000 may include a single processor 1010 with a single
core, a single processor 1010 with multiple cores (e.g., a
multi-core processor 1010), multiple processors 1012, 1014 with a
single core, multiple processors 1010, 1012 with multiples cores,
or any combination thereof.
[0114] The memory 1030 comprises a main memory 1032, a static
memory 1034, and a storage unit 1036 accessible to the processors
1010 via the bus 1002, according to some embodiments. The storage
unit 1036 can include a machine-readable medium 1038 on which are
stored the instructions 1016 embodying any one or more of the
methodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 1016
can also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main
memory 1032, within the static memory 1034. within at least one of
the processors 1010 (e.g., within the processor's cache memory), or
any suitable combination thereof, during execution thereof by the
machine 1000. Accordingly, in various embodiments, the main memory
1032, the static memory 1034, and the processors 1010 are
considered machine-readable media 1038.
[0115] As used herein, the term "memory" refers to a
machine-readable medium 1038 able to store data temporarily or
permanently and may be taken to include, but not be limited to,
random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), buffer memory,
flash memory, and cache memory. While the machine-readable medium
1038 is shown, in an example embodiment, to be a single medium, the
term "machine-readable medium" should be taken to include a single
medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed
database, or associated caches and servers) able to store the
instructions 1016. The term "machine-readable medium" shall also be
taken to include any medium, or combination of multiple media, that
is capable of storing instructions (e.g., instructions 1016) for
execution by a machine (e.g., machine 1000), such that the
instructions 1016, when executed by one or more processors of the
machine 1000 (e.g., processors 1010), cause the machine 1000 to
perform any one or more of the methodologies described herein.
Accordingly, a "machine-readable medium" refers to a single storage
apparatus or device, as well as "cloud-based" storage systems or
storage networks that include multiple storage apparatus or
devices. The term "machine-readable medium" shall accordingly be
taken to include, but not be limited to, one or more data
repositories in the form of a solid-state memory (e.g., flash
memory), an optical medium, a magnetic medium, other non-volatile
memory (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM)), or
any suitable combination thereof. The term "machine-readable
medium" specifically excludes non-statutory signals per se.
[0116] The I/O components 1050 include a wide variety of components
to receive input, provide output, produce output, transmit
information, exchange information, capture measurements, and so on.
In general, it will be appreciated that the I/O components 1050 can
include many other components that are not shown in FIG. 10. The
I/O components 1050 are grouped according to functionality merely
for simplifying the following discussion, and the grouping is in no
way limiting. In various example embodiments, the I/O components
1050 include output components 1052 and input components 1054. The
output components 1052 include visual components (e.g., a display
such as a plasma display panel (PDP), a light emitting diode (LED)
display, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a projector, or a cathode
ray tube (CRT)), acoustic components (e.g., speakers), haptic
components (e.g., a vibratory motor), other signal generators, and
so forth. The input components 1054 include alphanumeric input
components (e.g., a keyboard, a touch screen configured to receive
alphanumeric input, a photo-optical keyboard, or other alphanumeric
input components), point-based input components (e.g., a mouse, a
touchpad, a trackball, a joystick, a motion sensor, or other
pointing instruments), tactile input components (e.g., a physical
button, a touch screen that provides location and force of touches
or touch gestures, or other tactile input components), audio input
components (e.g., a microphone), and the like.
[0117] In some further example embodiments, the I/O components 1050
include biometric components 1056, motion components 1058,
environmental components 1060, or position components 1062, among a
wide array of other components. For example, the biometric
components 1056 include components to detect expressions (e.g.,
hand expressions, facial expressions, vocal expressions, body
gestures, or eye tracking), measure biosignals (e.g., blood
pressure, heart rate, body temperature, perspiration, or brain
waves), identify a person (e.g., voice identification, retinal
identification, facial identification, fingerprint identification,
or electroencephalogram based identification), and the like. The
motion components 1058 include acceleration sensor components
(e.g., accelerometer), gravitation sensor components, rotation
sensor components (e.g., gyroscope), and so forth. The
environmental components 1060 include, for example, illumination
sensor components (e.g., photometer), temperature sensor components
(e.g., one or more thermometers that detect ambient temperature),
humidity sensor components, pressure sensor components (e.g.,
barometer), acoustic sensor components (e.g., one or more
microphones that detect background noise), proximity sensor
components infrared sensors that detect nearby objects), gas sensor
components (e.g., machine olfaction detection sensors, gas
detection sensors to detect concentrations of hazardous gases for
safety or to measure pollutants in the atmosphere), or other
components that may provide indications, measurements, or signals
corresponding to a surrounding physical environment. The position
components 1062 include location sensor components (e.g., a Global
Positioning System (GPS) receiver component), altitude sensor
components (e.g., altimeters or barometers that detect air pressure
from which altitude may be derived), orientation sensor components
(e.g., magnetometers), and the like.
[0118] Communication can be implemented using a wide variety of
technologies. The I/O components 1050 may include communication
components 1064 operable to couple the machine 1000 to a network
1080 or devices 1070 via a coupling 1082 and a coupling 1072,
respectively. For example, the communication components 1064
include a network interface component or another suitable device to
interface with the network 1080. In further examples, communication
components 1064 include wired communication components, wireless
communication components, cellular communication components, near
field communication (NFC) components, BLUETOOTH.RTM. components
(e.g., BLUETOOTH.RTM. Energy), WI-FI.RTM. components, and other
communication components to provide communication via other
modalities. The devices 1070 may be another machine 1000 or any of
a wide variety of peripheral devices (e.g., a peripheral device
coupled via a Universal Serial Bus (USB)).
[0119] Moreover, in some embodiments, the communication components
1064 detect identifiers or include components operable to detect
identifiers. For example, the communication components 1064 include
radio frequency identification (RFID) tag reader components, NFC
smart tag detection components, optical reader components (e.g., an
optical sensor to detect a one-dimensional bar codes such as a
Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code, multi-dimensional bar codes
such as a Quick Response (QR) code, Aztec Code, Data Matrix,
Dataglyph, MaxiCode, PDF417, Ultra Code, Uniform Commercial Code
Reduced Space Symbology (UCC RSS)-2D bar codes, and other optical
codes), acoustic detection components (e.g., microphones to
identify tagged audio signals), or any suitable combination
thereof. In addition, a variety of information can be derived via
the communication components 1064, such as location via Internet
Protocol (IP) geo-location, location via WI-FIR signal
triangulation, location via detecting a BLUETOOTH.RTM. or NFC
beacon signal that may indicate a particular location, and so
forth.
[0120] In various example embodiments, one or more portions of the
network 1080 can be an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, a
virtual private network (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a
wireless LAN (WLAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless WAN
(WWAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), the Internet, a portion
of the Internet, a portion of the public switched telephone network
(PSTN), a plain old telephone service (POTS) network, a cellular
telephone network, a wireless network, a WI-FI.RTM. network,
another type of network, or a combination of two or more such
networks. For example, the network 1080 or a portion of the network
1080 may include a wireless or cellular network, and the coupling
1080 may be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) connection, a
Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) connection, or
another type of cellular or wireless coupling. In this example, the
coupling 1082 can implement any of a variety of types of data
transfer technology, such as Single Carrier Radio Transmission
Technology (1xRTT), Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO) technology,
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology, Enhanced Data rates
for GSM Evolution (EDGE) technology, third Generation Partnership
Project (3GPP) including 3G, fourth generation wireless (4G)
networks, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), High
Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Worldwide Interoperability for
Microwave Access (WiMAX), Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard,
others defined by various standard-setting organizations, other
long range protocols, or other data transfer technology.
[0121] In example embodiments, the instructions 1016 are
transmitted or received over the network 1080 using a transmission
medium via a network interface device (e.g., a network interface
component included in the communication components 1064) and
utilizing any one of a number of well-known transfer protocols
(e.g., Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)). Similarly, in other
example embodiments, the instructions 1016 are transmitted or
received using a transmission medium via the coupling 1072 (e.g., a
peer-to-peer coupling) to the devices 1070. The term "transmission
medium" shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is
capable of storing, encoding, or carrying the instructions 1016 for
execution by the machine 1000, and includes digital or analog
communications signals or other intangible media to facilitate
communication of such software.
[0122] Furthermore, the machine-readable medium 1038 is
non-transitory (in other words, not having any transitory signals)
in that it does not embody a propagating signal. However, labeling
the machine-readable medium 1038 "non-transitory" should not be
construed to mean that the medium is incapable of movement; the
medium 1038 should be considered as being transportable from one
physical location to another. Additionally, since the
machine-readable medium 1038 is tangible, the medium 1038 may be
considered to be a machine-readable device.
[0123] Throughout this specification, plural instances may
implement components, operations, or structures described as a
single instance. Although individual operations of one or more
methods are illustrated and described as separate operations, one
or more of the individual operations may be performed concurrently,
and nothing requires that the operations be performed in the order
illustrated. Structures and functionality presented as separate
components in example configurations may be implemented as a
combined structure or component. Similarly, structures and
functionality presented as a single component may be implemented as
separate components. These and other variations, modifications,
additions, and improvements fall within the scope of the subject
matter herein.
[0124] Although an overview of the inventive subject matter has
been described with reference to specific example embodiments,
various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments
without departing from the broader scope of embodiments of the
present disclosure. Such embodiments of the inventive subject
matter may be referred to herein, individually or collectively, by
the term "invention" merely for convenience and without intending
to voluntarily limit the scope of this application to any single
disclosure or inventive concept if more than one is, in fact,
disclosed.
[0125] The embodiments illustrated herein are described in
sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice
the teachings disclosed. Other embodiments may be used and derived
therefrom, such that structural and logical substitutions and
changes may be made without departing from the scope of this
disclosure. The Detailed Description, therefore, is not to be taken
in a limiting sense, and the scope of various embodiments is
defined only by the appended claims, along with the full range of
equivalents to which such claims are entitled.
[0126] As used herein, the term "or" may be construed in either an
inclusive or exclusive sense. Moreover, plural instances may be
provided for resources, operations, or structures described herein
as a single instance. Additionally, boundaries between various
resources, operations, modules, engines, and data stores are
somewhat arbitrary, and particular operations are illustrated in a
context of specific illustrative configurations. Other allocations
of functionality are envisioned and may fall within a scope of
various embodiments of the present disclosure. In general,
structures and functionality presented as separate resources in the
example configurations may be implemented as a combined structure
or resource. Similarly, structures and functionality presented as a
single resource may be implemented as separate resources. These and
other variations, modifications, additions, and improvements fall
within a scope of embodiments of the present disclosure as
represented by the appended claims. The specification and drawings
are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a
restrictive sense.
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