End-user-navigable set of zoomed-in images derived from a high-resolution master image
View Patent ↗The invention relates generally to improvements in systems used in the development (“authoring”) of interactive visual media. More particularly, the invention relates to (a) the automatic or semi-automatic generation of a set of files representing “zoomed-in” sections of a master high-resolution image file, and (b) the automatic or semi-automatic generation of the logical data required to allow navigation of the generated files by an end-user of an interactive visual medium, including but not limited to such optical disc formats as DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, Video CD, and Super Video CD, as well as media hosted by a server and delivered over a network.
1. A method of creating an interactive visual medium comprising: providing an image at a first resolution;
causing to be produced a first presentation data representing the image at a second resolution, wherein the second resolution is lower than the first resolution;
defining a grid over substantially the entire first presentation data and dividing the first presentation data into a plurality of sectors defined by the grid with each sector having substantially the same size;
causing to be produced a second presentation data of one of the plurality of sectors comprising a representation of a portion of the image at a third resolution higher than the second resolution and one or more pan sequences from a respective initial one of the plurality of respective portions of the image at the third resolution to an intermediate image of a portion of the image and to a respective final one of the plurality of respective portions of the image at the third resolution;
causing to be produced logical data linking the first and second presentation data; and
causing the logical data and the first and second presentation data to be placed on the interactive visual medium.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said providing an image at a first resolution comprises rendering an analog image into digital form.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second presentation data further comprises a zoom sequence from the image at the second resolution to a portion of the image at the third resolution.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the logical data allows a user to select the portion of the image where the zoom sequence comprises a zoom sequence from the image at the second resolution to a zoomed intermediate image and to the portion of the image at the third resolution.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second presentation data further comprises a plurality of zoom sequences from the image at the second resolution to a plurality of respective portions of the image at the third resolution.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the logical data allows a user to select the initial one of the plurality of respective portions of the image at the third resolution to the final one of the plurality of respective portions of the image at the third resolution.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein interactive visual medium comprises a portable storage medium that includes an optical disc format.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the logical data and first and second presentation data are placed on the optical disc the portable storage medium in a format that does not support presentation of an image at multiple resolutions.
9. The method of claim 7 , wherein said optical disc format comprises one of a DVD-Audio format, a Video CD format, and a Super Video CD format.
10. The method of claim 7 , wherein said optical disc format is a DVD-Video format.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein said causing to be produced the first and second presentation data and the logical data and causing the logical data and the first and second presentation data to be placed on the interactive visual medium are performed in a automated process.
12. The method of claim 1 , further comprises:
generating the image at the first resolution from an original image by altering the original image according to a horizontal pixel count, a vertical pixel count and the number of sectors.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein generating the image at the first resolution comprises altering the original image based on a square root of the number sectors multiplied by the number of horizontal pixel count to define a horizontal pixel count of the image, and the square root of the number of sectors multiplied by the number of vertical pixel count to define a vertical pixel count of the image.
14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
causing the image to be placed on the interactive visual medium as one image of a plurality of images stored on the interactive visual medium where the plurality of images are logically associated in a sequence to be played back sequentially.
15. A method of creating content for an interactive visual medium comprising:
receiving an image at a first resolution;
forming a first presentation data representing the image at a second resolution, wherein the second resolution is lower than the first resolution;
defining a grid over substantially the entire first presentation data and dividing the first presentation data into a plurality of sectors defined by the grid with the plurality of sectors having substantially the same size;
forming a second presentation data of one of the plurality of sectors comprising a representation of a portion of the image at a third resolution higher than the second resolution and one or more pan sequences from a respective initial one of the plurality of respective portions of the image at the third resolution to a respective final one of the plurality of respective portions of the image at the third resolution; and
forming logical data linking the first and second presentation data, wherein the logical data and first and second presentation data are encoded in the format of the interactive visual medium.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the second presentation data further comprises a zoom sequence from the image at the second resolution to a portion of the image at the third resolution.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the logical data allows a user to select the portion of the image.
18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the second presentation data further comprises a plurality of zoom sequences from the image at the second resolution to a plurality of respective portions of the image at the third resolution.
19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the logical data allows a user to select the initial one of the plurality of respective portions of the image at the third resolution to the final one of the plurality of respective portions of the image at the third resolution.
20. The method of claim 15 , wherein interactive visual medium is in an optical disc format.
21. The method of claim 20 , wherein said optical disc format comprises at least one of a DVD-Audio format, a DVD-Video format, a Video CD format, and a Super Video CD format.
22. The method of claim 15 , wherein said method of creating content for an interactive visual medium is performed in an automated process.
23. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon an electronic data file readable by a digital apparatus, that when transferred into the digital apparatus causes the apparatus to operate in accordance with the method of claim 15 .
24. The method of claim 15 , wherein the forming the logical data comprises configuring the logical data defining the pan sequence as a distinct video object.
25. The method of claim 15 , wherein the forming the logical data comprises configuring
the logical data defining each of a plurality of the pan sequences as a distinct video object and grouping the plurality of distinct video objects of the plurality of pan sequences in a single program chain.
26. A computer readable storage medium being an interactive visual medium having thereon content comprising:
a first presentation data representing an image at a first resolution;
a second presentation data of one of a plurality of sections of a grid defined over substantially the entire first presentation data where the plurality of sections are substantially the same size, wherein the second presentation data comprises a representation of a portion of the image at a second resolution higher than the first resolution and one or more pan sequences from a respective initial one of the plurality of respective portions of the image at the second resolution to an intermediate image of a portion of the image and to a respective final one of the plurality of respective portions of the image at the second resolution; and
logical data linking the first and second presentation data.
27. The interactive visual medium of claim 26 , wherein the second presentation data further comprises a zoom sequence from the image at the first resolution to a portion of the image at the second resolution.
28. The interactive visual medium of claim 27 , wherein the logical data allows a user to select the portion of the image.
29. The interactive visual medium of claim 26 , wherein the second presentation data further comprises a plurality of zoom sequences from the image at the first resolution to a plurality of respective portions of the image at the second resolution.
30. The interactive visual medium of claim 26 , wherein the logical data allows a user to select the initial one of the plurality of respective portions of the image at the second resolution to the final one of the plurality of respective portions of the image at the second resolution.
31. The interactive visual medium of claim 26 , wherein interactive visual medium is in an optical disc format.
32. The interactive visual medium of claim 31 , wherein the logical data and first and second presentation data are in a format that does not support presentation of an image at multiple resolutions.
33. The interactive visual medium of claim 31 , wherein said optical disc format is a DVD-Audio format.
34. The interactive visual medium of claim 31 , wherein said optical disc format is a DVD-Video format.
35. The interactive visual medium of claim 31 , wherein said optical disc format is a Video CD format.
36. The interactive visual medium of claim 31 , wherein said optical disc format is a Super Video CD format.
37. A computer readable storage medium being an interactive visual medium having thereon content in a format, comprising:
a sequence of a plurality of presentation data representing a plurality of images logically associated in the sequence, comprising first presentation data representing an image at a first resolution native to the format;
data representing a grid defined over substantially the entire first presentation data dividing the first presentation data into a plurality of sections where the sections have substantially the same size; and
second presentation data representing one or more pan sequences from a respective initial one of a plurality of respective portions of the image at the resolution higher than the highest resolution native to the format to a respective final one of the plurality of respective portions of the image at the resolution higher than the highest resolution native to the format.
38. The interactive visual medium of claim 37 , wherein the second presentation data further represents one or more zoom sequences of one or more of the plurality of sections of the image at a resolution higher than the highest resolution native to the format through which a user may navigate.