System and Method for Organizing Recorded Events Using Character Tags
A computer system organizes text narratives and images about events using character tags, which are tags that are defined by users with respect to those persons that are depicted in the text narratives and images. Each character tag is associated with either a user profile or a pseudo-profile. A pseudo-profile for a person is created by a user when the user does not know if the person has a user profile in the computer system. An invitation e-mail that is sent to a prospective user may include content stored in the computer system, or a hyperlink to such content, that has been tagged with the character tag of the prospective user.
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This application is a continuation of and claims the benefit of, under 35 U.S.C. §120, and priority to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/383,123, filed on May 12, 2006, entitled “System and Method for Organizing Recorded Events Using Character Tags”, which claims the benefit of, under 35 U.S.C. §119(e), and priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/745,231, entitled “Collaborative System and Method for Generating Biographical Accounts,” filed Apr. 20, 2006, both of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
FIELDThe present invention relates generally to systems and methods for recording text narratives and images about events and, more particularly, to systems and methods for organizing the recorded text narratives and images using tags that are defined with respect to characters depicted in the text narratives and images.
BACKGROUNDTags have become a popular tool for organizing content. A tag is a keyword that is defined by the user for classifying the content. A user may define multiple tags for an object. Tags are often associated with web pages or images.
One major feature of tags is that it is user-defined. As a result, objects that cannot be parsed by a computer and automatically indexed, like images, can be indexed in accordance with user-defined tags. In addition, unlike hierarchical categorization schemes or computer generated indexing schemes, classification by tags can be highly personalized.
One example application of tags for organizing images is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. 2006/0064639. In this example, images are organized by tagging them with informative keywords defined by the user and grouping images together into conceptual photo albums. A selected group of images is then published into a photo book that is made available over the Internet or published as individual image prints.
A tag may be defined as public or private. A public tag is shared with other users and is linked with other users who have used the same tag, so that all objects that are associated this tag may be accessed through this tag. The sharing of public tags has been a major reason behind the expansive use of tags. Some of the popular web services that provide for public sharing of user-defined tags include Technorati™, del.icio.us, and Flickr™. A private tag, on the other hand, is not shared with other users. Only the user who created the private tag may use it to access the objects associated with private tag. Private tags are useful in allowing a user to organize information in accordance with his or her personalized classification scheme.
One limitation of tags is that different users will use different tags to describe the same item, because no rules exist to standardize the tags people will use. In essence, tagging creates an inherently ambiguous system. For example, objects associated with the tag “apple” may include web pages and images relating to fruits or web pages and images relating to the computer company. Similarly, objects associated with the tag “windows” may include web pages and images relating to openings provided in structures or web pages and images relating to a computer operating system.
SUMMARYEmbodiments of the present invention employ tags to organize text narratives and images about events that are being maintained in a computer system, and also provide a computer system and method for using tagged information in novel ways. According to one aspect, tagged information is used in the process of inviting prospective users to the computer system. According to another aspect, tagged information is used in the process of helping users recollect and reconstruct their life stories.
In accordance with the embodiments of the present invention, text narratives and images about events are organized using various tags including character tags. Character tags are tags that are defined with respect to those persons that are depicted in the text narratives and images. Each character tag is associated with either a user profile that is created when a user registers with the computer system or a pseudo-profile. A pseudo-profile typically includes a person's name, and may also include the person's e-mail address and phone number. A pseudo-profile for a person is created by a user when the user does not know if the person has a user profile in the computer system.
When a user invites a prospective user to register with the computer system, the computer system examines if a pseudo-profile has been created by the user for the prospective user. If so, the character tag associated with this pseudo-profile is used to retrieve text narratives and images that have been indexed with this character tag. When the invitation e-mail is sent out to the prospective user, the retrieved stories and images are made available to the prospective user for viewing.
According to further embodiments of the present invention, text narratives and images that have been indexed with various tags including character tags may enable collaborative storytelling by helping users recollect and reconstruct their life stories. As a user makes inputs relating to an event in his or her life, the computer system searches the content database for potential matching events that have been depicted by other users. If a potential match is found, the computer system transmits the relevant content to the user. The potential match may be determined based on matches of location and date of the events and characters depicted in the events.
So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present invention can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments.
The server computer 110 is programmed to operate as a network server that communicates with the client computers 120. In the embodiments of the present invention described herein, the server computer 110 is programmed as a web server that communicates with the client computers 120 using the TCP/IP protocol, and hosts a web site that can be accessed by the client computers 120. The client computers 120 are programmed to execute web browser programs and access the web pages managed by the server computer 110 by specifying a uniform resource locator (URL) for the server computer 110 into the browser.
The server computer 110 manages the contents stored in the mass storage unit 113 using a relational database software. The contents include profile data of the registered users of the web site. The profile data specify: user ID, password, name, e-mail, address including zip code, gender, marital status, date of birth, occupation, a pointer to an image file, various permission settings, and other similar data. The contents further include interview questions, multimedia files such as image files, video files, audio files and flash animation files, life stories posted by the users, commentaries made to the posted life stories, user-defined private circle data, and such other data needed by the server computer 110 to process data received from the users and render web pages requested by the users.
In the embodiments of the present invention described below, users are respectively operating the client computers 120 that are connected to the server computer 110 over the Internet. Also, web pages that are displayed to a user are transmitted from the server computer 110 to that user's client computer 120 and processed by the web browser program stored in that user's client computer 120 for display through the monitor of that user's client computer 120.
The web site permits a single registered user to keep multiple profiles and maintain life stories for each person, group, and sometimes fictional characters, represented in the profiles. This feature may be used in situations where it is preferred to write the life stories from a third person point of view, or for a group of people (e.g., the Smith family or the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team) or a fictional character, or where the subject of the life stories is not computer savvy. The Switch Profile hyperlink is provided to users who are maintaining multiple profiles to allow such users to switch to another profile and view and manage the life stories of the person, group, or fictional character represented in the other profile.
The web page further provides various other graphical user interface (GUI) elements. They include a navigation section 210, a question section 220, an image gallery 230, an inbox 240, and a collaboration section 250.
The navigation section 210 includes hyperlinks to web pages that are used to view, modify or add to the user's life stories (My Story), interview questions (Q&A), and relationships (People).
The question section 220 displays the most recent question that has been posed to the user and various other information associated with the question, including the name and image of the person asking the question, any image attached to the question by the person, and a text input field in which the user can answer the question. The question section 220 also provides question navigation hyperlinks “Previous” and “Next” using which the user can turn to the previous question or the next question that is in the queue of questions that have been posed to this user. The input of the answer followed by a click on the Preview button causes the display of a preview web page similar to the one shown in
The image gallery 230 provides the user with a pictorial snapshot of the more recent activities by persons who are connected to the user or by those who belong to a special group defined by the user, e.g., the user's immediate family or the user's closest friends. The activities that are tracked by the image gallery 230 include recent posts of life stories by the connected users or members of the special group and recent comments made by them to the user's life stories. The image gallery 230 may also include recent instructional, informational, and inspirational posts submitted by other users and system generated content that are posted to encourage users to post their life stories. A click on any image hyperlinks the user to the thread corresponding to that image. A “thread” consists of a post and any comments made concerning the post.
The inbox 240 displays messages generated by the web site in response to actions taken by the other users of the web site. The messages include notices of actions taken by other users (e.g., “You have been added to group Johnson Family”) and summaries of tasks that the user has been asked to complete (e.g., “Approval required on new post from Father” and “Connection Request from David Johnson”). An icon is displayed alongside each message to help the user quickly identify the content of the message.
The collaboration section 250 provides hyperlinks to a web page used to post a life story on behalf of another user and a web page used to ask questions to another user. The identity of the other user is displayed in this section along with that person's image. Only those users who have given the user sufficient access rights will appear in this section. In the example given here, Jane Johnson has the right to post stories on behalf of Stephen Myers, and Jane Johnson has the right to ask Louis Chang questions.
A post may also be tagged with the location depicted in the post and keywords defined by the user. The web page for inputting this data is shown schematically in
The table below shows conceptually how the server computer 110 keeps track of the different tags that are associated with different posts or objects. The starred names under the column, “Character Tags,” represent the persons for whom pseudo-profiles have been created.
When the user selects the Add button or the Cancel button from the media, people, and organization web pages, shown schematically in
The users shown in the Connections window of the web page in
When a mouse pointer hovers over a user name or image displayed inside the Connections window, three selectable hyperlinks (View, Edit and Use) appear at the bottom of the user's name. The View hyperlink accesses the My Story web page of this user. The Edit hyperlink allows this user's displayed name or image to be changed. The Use hyperlink accesses the GUI of
The users shown in the Characters window of the web page in
The search conducted in
Step 710 of the process illustrated in
While particular embodiments according to the invention have been illustrated and described above, those skilled in the art understand that the invention can take a variety of forms and embodiments within the scope of the appended claims.
Claims
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
- providing for a first user a life story along a first timeline, where the life story includes information associated with a second user;
- receiving a selection of the information associated with the second user;
- providing access to a second timeline associated with a life story of the second user, the life story of the second user including an image of the second user;
- receiving a selection of the image of the second user; and
- providing a field for receiving a tag identifying the second user in the image of the second user.
2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the life story of the first user includes events that occur during a life of the first user.
3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first timeline is displayed along a plurality of images that are associated with a plurality of posts and a plurality of comments, the plurality of posts and comments describing the life story of the first user.
4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the social network web site is hosted by a web server for access to the life story of the first user by one or more client computers.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the information associated with the second user comprises a hyperlink that facilitates the first user to post to the life story of the second user.
6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the information associated with the second user is presented besides a user name assigned to the second user, the user name of the second user displayed on the social network web site.
7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein providing access to the second timeline comprises providing a web page that displays the life story of the second user in response to receiving the selection of the information associated with the second user.
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the field for receiving the tag identifying the second user in the image is displayed within the life story of the second user.
9. A system comprising:
- a storage unit for storing a life story of a first user; and
- a server coupled to the storage unit for: providing the life story along a first timeline, the life story accessed on a social network web site, the social network website accessed via a user name and password assigned to the first user, the life story including information associated with a second user; receiving a selection of the information associated with the second user; providing access to a second timeline associated with a life story of the second user in response to receiving the selection of the information associated with the second user, the life story of the second user including an image of the second user; receiving a selection of the image of the second user; and providing a field for receiving a tag identifying the second user in response to receiving the selection of the image of the second user, the tag identifying the second user in the image of the second user.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein the life story of the first user includes events that occur during a life of the first user.
11. The system of claim 9, wherein the first timeline is displayed along a plurality of images that are attached to a plurality of posts and a plurality of comments, the plurality of posts and comments associated with the life story of the first user.
12. The system of claim 9, wherein the social network web site is hosted by a web server for access to the life story of the first user by one or more client computers.
13. The system of claim 9, wherein the information associated with the second user comprises a hyperlink that facilitates the first user to post to the life story of the second user.
14. The system of claim 9, wherein the information associated with the second user is presented besides a user name assigned to the second user, the user name displayed on the social network web site.
15. The system of claim 9, wherein providing access to the second timeline associated with the life story of the second user comprises providing a web page that displays the life story of the second user in response to receiving the selection of the information associated with the second user.
16. The system of claim 9, wherein the field for receiving the tag identifying the second user in the image is displayed within the life story of the second user.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 28, 2014
Publication Date: Jul 31, 2014
Applicant: Google Inc. (Mountain View, CA)
Inventors: Andrew Halliday (Soquel, CA), Christopher Lunt (Mountain View, CA), Dean Pfutzenreuter (Sunnyvale, CA)
Application Number: 14/228,717
International Classification: G06F 3/0484 (20060101);