Abstract: A moving object identification method (10) for identifying and tracing an object (20) within a video image (14) such that the object (20) can act as a hot spot (30) as for an interactive computer/user interface (70). A plurality of tags (28) define the edges (26) of the object (20) and a plurality of hot spot borders (32) define the hot spot (30) such that the hot spot (30) and the object (20) generally coincide. A physical tag (28b) is optionally used to position the tags (28). Sensitivity to disappearance of the edges (26) is adjustable according to the relative size of a subtag (68) to the corresponding tag (28).

Abstract: An interactive video creation method (34) for constructing an interactive video interface (34) having a primary video layer (12a), a library layer (12b) and a resource data base layer (12c). The primary video layer (12a) is a conventional video presentation where a plurality of sequences (16) are identified and one or more key frames (18) designated within each of the sequences (16). An establish edit decision list operation (36a) is applied to identify the sequences (16), and an establish key frame data base operation (36b) is applied to identify the key flames (18). A designate hot spots operation (36c) is then applied to make available the user an information in the resource data base layer (12c) which is keyed to hot spots (52) in that key frame (18) through the library layer (12b).