Abstract: Techniques for poster-thumbnail and/or animated thumbnail development and/or usage to effectively navigate for potential selection between a plurality of images or programs/video files or video segments. The poster and animated thumbnail images are presented in a GUI on adapted apparatus to provide an efficient system for navigating, browsing and/or selecting images or programs or video segments to be viewed by a user. The poster and animated thumbnails may be automatically produced without human-necessary editing and may also have one or more various associated data (such as text overlay, image overlay, cropping, text or image deletion or replacement, and/or associated audio).

Abstract: A multimedia bookmark (VMark) bulletin board service (BBS) system comprises: a web host comprising storage for messages, a web server, and a VMark BBS server; a media host comprising storage for audiovisual (AV) files, and a streaming server; a client comprising storage for VMark, a web browser, a media player and a VMark client; and a VMark server located at the media host or at the client; a communication network connecting the web host, the media host and the client. A method of performing a multimedia bookmark bulletin board service (BBS) comprises: creating a message including a multimedia bookmark for an AV file; and posting the message into the multimedia bookmark BBS. A method of sending multimedia bookmark (VMark) between clients comprises: at a first client, making a VMark indicative of a bookmarked position in an AV program; sending the VMark from the first client to a second client; and playing the program at the second client from the bookmarked position.

Abstract: Techniques are provided enabling users to search for, select and/or watch an infomercial of interest including commercials, advertisements, and the like from a recorded stream. The user's history can be analyzed in the DVR, and replacing an original advertisement in a live/recorded program by one or more other advertisement(s) belonging to a genre type from the user history stored in the DVR. A GUI is provided for an infomercial guide; and when a user selects the infomercial guide, displaying the infomercial guide so that the user can select infomercials of interest. The user may select the infomercial guide by pressing a dedicated key on a remote control. In a first window of the GUI, upper categories of infomercials that are recorded or downloaded in the DVR may be displayed. The user may select one of the upper categories of interest by moving a highlight cursor.

Abstract: Fast metadata indexing and delivery for broadcast audio-visual (AV) programs by using template, segment-mark and bookmark on the visual spatio-temporal pattern of an AV program during indexing. The broadcasting time carried on a broadcast transport stream is used as a locator allowing direct access to a specific temporal position of a recorded AV program.

Abstract: Techniques for providing graphical representations of a semantic structure of XML Schema documents which can explicitly represent not only composition/aggregation relationships between related datatypes and their child elements but also inheritance relationships between supertypes and subtypes in a single GUI screen of graphical schema browsers. Compact graphical schema diagrams for representing complex relationships between datatypes and elements inherent in XML schema documents can be generated, and can easily and quickly be browsed. The techniques disclosed herein are useful for any graphical XML Schema editor that can edit XML Schema document with the GUI screen views.

Abstract: Techniques (method, apparatus, system) are provided for efficiently delivering segmentation information of broadcast or other delivered programs to DVRs and the like associated with a conventional type program guide (for example, ATSC-PSIP or DVB-SI EPGs) for efficient random accessing to segments of a program which may be recorded in DVRs using the delivered segmentation information. The segmentation information may include segment titles, temporal start positions and durations of the segments of broadcast programs. Additionally, an interactive graphical user interface (GUI) is generated for browsing based on received segmentation information using thumbnail images from specific positions of a video file which can be generated either by hardware (H/W) or software (S/W) or firmware (F/W), or a combination thereof.