Systems and methods for placing visual links to digital media on physical media
View Patent ↗Systems and methods provide for determining a location and size of a visual link to digital media on physical media such as a paper document. An authoring tool for creating a link on a paper document, such as an Embedded Media Marker (EMM), identifies and scores other EMMs and related keypoints on the document to determine similarities between a newly-created EMM and other EMMs and keypoints on the paper document. The scores are visualized for a user on a display in order to position and size the newly-created EMM in a location on the paper document that will avoid confusion with other EMMs and related content. The location and size of the newly-created EMM may be automatically adjusted based on the scoring of the keypoints and related EMMs.
1. A method for placing a new visual link to digital media on a document, comprising:
displaying at least one page of a document on a display;
identifying first keypoints which are located in a candidate region and comparing the first keypoints of the candidate region with second keypoints, the second keypoints corresponding to existing visual links, using a computer with a processor and a memory;
scoring each of the first keypoints based on similarities between the first keypoints and the second keypoints based on the comparing, to determine an overall score for the candidate region;
indicating the overall score of the candidate region to the user;
receiving a user input indicating whether or not the user selects the candidate region; and
placing the new visual link on the document according to the received user input.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising modifying the score of each of the first keypoints based on scores of surrounding first keypoints.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating a visual overlay on the document based on the first keypoint scores, wherein the visual overlay provides a visual indication of the suitability of one or more candidate regions of the document for placement of the new visual link.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the visual overlay displays gradients of shading to indicate whether one or more candidate regions are suitable for placement of the new visual link.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adjusting a size and location of the new visual link based on the first keypoint scores.
6. The method of claim 2 , further comprising penalizing first keypoints adjacent to a first keypoint which all match an existing visual link.
7. The method of claim 2 , wherein the modifying of the score of each first keypoint is further modified by a weighted scale corresponding to a distance between the first keypoints.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining the suitability of a candidate region of the document for placement of the new visual link based on a keypoint score density.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising increasing the suitability of a candidate region of the document where a plurality of first keypoints within a set radius match an existing visual link.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the new visual link and the existing visual links are embedded media markers (EMMs).
11. A system for placing a new visual link to digital media on a document, comprising:
a display unit which displays at least one page of a document;
an input unit to receive user input;
a matching unit comprising a processor which identifies first keypoints which are located in a candidate region and compares the first keypoints of the candidate region with second keypoints, the second keypoints corresponding to existing visual links;
a scoring unit which scores each of the first keypoints based on similarities between the first keypoints and the second keypoints based on the comparing, to determine an overall score for the candidate region; and
an indicator which indicates the overall score of the candidate region to the user, wherein
the input unit receives a user input indicating whether or not the user selects the candidate region; and the system further comprises:
a placement unit which places the new visual link on the document according to the received user input.
12. The system of claim 11 , further comprising a score modifying unit which modifies the score of each first keypoint based on scores of surrounding first keypoints.
13. The system of claim 12 , further comprising penalizing first keypoints adjacent to a first keypoint which all match an existing visual link.
14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the modification of the score of each first keypoint is further modified by a weighted scale corresponding to a distance between the first keypoints.
15. The system of claim 11 , further comprising a visualization unit which generates a visual overlay on the document based on the first keypoint scores, wherein the visual overlay provides a visual indication of the suitability of one or more candidate regions of the document for placement of the new visual link.
16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the visual overlay displays gradients of shading to indicate whether one or more candidate regions are suitable for placement of the new visual link.
17. The system of claim 11 , further comprising adjusting a size and location of the new visual link based on the first keypoint scores.
18. The system of claim 11 , further comprising determining the suitability of a candidate region of the document for placement of the new visual link based on a keypoint score density.
19. The system of claim 11 , further comprising increasing the suitability of a candidate region of a document where a plurality of first keypoints within a set radius match an existing visual link.
20. The system of claim 11 , wherein the new visual link and the existing visual links are embedded media markers (EMMs).
21. A non-transitory computer program product for placing a new visual link to digital media on a document, the computer program product embodied on a computer-readable medium and when executed by a computer, performs the method comprising:
displaying at least one page of a document on a display;
identifying first keypoints which are located in a candidate region and comparing the first keypoints of the candidate region with second keypoints corresponding to existing visual links, using a computer with a processor and a memory;
scoring each of the first keypoints based on similarities between the first keypoints and the second keypoints based on the comparing;
modifying the score of each first keypoint based on scores of surrounding first keypoints;
generating a visual overlay on the document based on the modified first keypoint scores, wherein the visual overlay provides a visual indication of the suitability of one or more candidate regions of the document for placement of the new visual link;
receiving a user input indicating whether or not the user selects the candidate region; and
placing the new visual link on the document according to the received user input.