Abstract:
Methods and systems for generating a video collection are provided. The method includes presenting a competitive channel for submitting video content via a computing device; creating a challenge to solicit video content from a plurality of users, where the challenge is defined by a plurality of challenge attributes stored at a memory device; accepting one or more videos from at least some of the plurality of users; accepting votes from at least some of the plurality of users to select a subset of the posted videos; and archiving at least some of the posted videos to a video collection accessible via the computing device.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    Cross-reference to Related Application: This application claims priority under 35 §USC 119 (e) to the U.S. Provisional Patent Application, Ser. No. 61/934,084 filed on Jan. 31, 2014, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
         [0002]    1. Technical Field 
         [0003]    The various aspects disclosed herein are generally related to network communications and more particularly to generating a video collection. 
         [0004]    2. Related Art 
         [0005]    Electronically archived video collections can be found on a variety of different Internet websites such as YouTube® and others (without derogation of any trademark rights). On such platforms, visitors may be able to post a video to which they may or may not hold the copyrights. Furthermore, collecting videos that have a common genre and storing only those videos that have artistic or other useful merit can be a difficult task to manage. Also, soliciting the submission of videos having significant artistic merit or production quality and which may have relevance to a particular target audience has also proven difficult. Continuous efforts are being made for better managing videos. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0006]    In one aspect, a machine implemented method is provided. The method includes includes presenting a competitive channel for submitting video content via a computing device; creating a challenge to solicit video content from a plurality of users, where the challenge is defined by a plurality of challenge attributes stored at a memory device; accepting one or more videos from at least some of the plurality of users; accepting votes from at least some of the plurality of users to select a subset of the posted videos; and archiving at least some of the posted videos to a video collection accessible via the computing device. 
         [0007]    In another aspect, a non-transitory, machine readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions for performing a method is provided. The machine executable code which when executed by at least one machine, causes the machine to: present a competitive channel for submitting video content via a computing device; create a challenge to solicit video content from a plurality of users, where the challenge is defined by a plurality of challenge attributes stored at a memory device; accept one or more videos from at least some of the plurality of users; accept votes from at least some of the plurality of users to select a subset of the posted videos; and archive at least some of the posted videos to a video collection accessible via the computing device. 
         [0008]    In yet another aspect, a memory containing machine readable medium comprising machine executable code having stored thereon instructions is provided. A processor module coupled to the memory is configured to execute the machine executable code to: present a competitive channel for submitting video content via a computing device; create a challenge to solicit video content from a plurality of users, where the challenge is defined by a plurality of challenge attributes stored at a memory device; accept one or more videos from at least some of the plurality of users; accept votes from at least some of the plurality of users to select a subset of the posted videos; and archive at least some of the posted videos to a video collection accessible via the computing device. 
         [0009]    This brief summary has been provided so that the nature of this disclosure may be understood quickly. A more complete understanding of the disclosure can be obtained by reference to the following detailed description of the various aspects thereof in connection with the attached drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]    The various aspects of the present disclosure now will be discussed in detail with an emphasis on highlighting the advantageous features. These aspects depict the novel and non-obvious systems and methods for packet grouping in networks shown in the accompanying drawings, which are for illustrative purposes only. These drawings include the following figures, in which like numerals indicate like parts: 
           [0011]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a computing environment in which the present aspects may be used; 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  shows a block diagram of a video collection system operating in a networked computing environment, according to one aspect of the present disclosure; and 
           [0013]      FIGS. 3 and 4  show various process flow diagrams according to the various aspects of the present disclosure. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0014]    The following detailed description describes the present aspects with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, reference numbers label elements of the present aspects. These reference numbers are reproduced below in connection with the discussion of the corresponding drawing features. 
         [0015]    As a preliminary note, any of the aspects described with reference to the figures may be implemented using software, firmware, hardware (e.g., fixed logic circuitry), or a combination of these implementations. The terms “logic,” “module,” “component,” “system” and “functionality,” as used herein, generally represent software, firmware, hardware, or a combination of these elements. For instance, in the case of a software implementation, the terms “logic,” “module,” “component,” “system,” and “functionality” represent program code that performs specified tasks when executed on a processing device or devices (e.g., CPU or CPUs). The program code can be stored in one or more computer readable memory devices. 
         [0016]    More generally, the illustrated separation of logic, modules, components, systems, and functionality into distinct units may reflect an actual physical grouping and allocation of software, firmware, and/or hardware, or can correspond to a conceptual allocation of different tasks performed by a single software program, firmware program, and/or hardware unit. The illustrated logic, modules, components, systems, and functionality may be located at a single site (e.g., as implemented by a processing device), or may be distributed over a plurality of locations. 
         [0017]    The term “machine-readable media” and the like refers to any kind of non-transitory medium for retaining information in any form, including various kinds of storage devices (magnetic, optical, static, etc.). The aspects disclosed herein, may be implemented as a computer process (method), a computing system, or as an article of manufacture, such as a computer program product or a non-transitory, computer-readable media. The computer program product may be non-transitory, computer storage media, readable by a computer device, and encoding a computer program of instructions for executing a computer process. 
         [0018]    The systems and processes described below are applicable and useful in the upcoming cloud computing environment. Cloud computing pertains to computing capability that provides an abstraction between the computing resource and its underlying technical architecture (e.g., servers, storage, networks), enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. The term “cloud” is intended to refer to the Internet and cloud computing allows shared resources, for example, software and information, to be available, on-demand, like a public utility. 
         [0019]    Typical cloud computing providers deliver common applications online, which are accessed from another web service or software like a web browser, while the software and data are stored remotely on servers. The cloud computing architecture uses a layered approach for providing application services. A first layer is an application layer that is executed at client computers. In this example, the application allows a client to access storage via a cloud. After the application layer is a cloud platform and cloud infrastructure, followed by a “server” layer that includes hardware and computer software designed for cloud-specific services. 
         [0020]    System  100 :  FIG. 1  shows an example of a system  100  that may be used in connection with the present aspects. System  100  may include a computing system  102 , which may be referred to as a host system. A typical host system  102  includes several functional components, including a central processing unit (CPU) (also referred to as a processor, processors or processing module)  104 , a host memory (or main/system memory)  106 , a storage device  108 , a display  110 , input/output (“I/O”) device(s)  112 , and other components (or devices). The host memory  106  is coupled to the processor  104  via a system bus or a local memory bus  114 . 
         [0021]    The processor  104  may be, or may include, one or more programmable general-purpose or special-purpose microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), programmable controllers, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), or the like, or a combination of such hardware-based devices. 
         [0022]    The host memory  106  provides the processor  104  access to data and program information that is stored in the host memory  106  at execution time. Typically, the host memory  106  includes random access memory (RAM) circuits, read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, or the like, or a combination of such devices. 
         [0023]    The storage device  108  may comprise one or more internal and/or external mass storage devices, which may be or may include any conventional medium for storing data in a non-volatile manner. For example, the storage device  108  may include conventional magnetic disks, optical disks such as CD-ROM or DVD-based storage, magneto-optical (MO) storage, flash-based storage devices, or any other type of non-volatile storage devices suitable for storing structured or unstructured data. 
         [0024]    The host system  102  may also include a display device  110  capable of displaying output, such as an LCD or LED screen and others, and one or more input/output (I/O) devices  112 , for example, a keyboard, mouse, etc. The host system  102  may also include other devices/interfaces for performing various functions, details of which are not germane to the inventive aspects described herein. 
         [0025]    The host system  102  also includes a network interface  116  for communicating with other computing systems  122 , storage devices  126  and devices  124  via a network  120 . Network interface  116  may include a processor, memory and a plurality of ports (not shown). The ports are used to receive and send information, while the processor (not shown) executes firmware instructions out of the memory (not shown). 
         [0026]    Network  120  may be a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) or the Internet. The aspects disclosed herein are not limited to any network type. Computing devices  124  may include laptops, smart phones, tablets or other mobile devices. Computing systems  122  and devices  124  may be used by users to upload videos and votes, as described below in detail. 
         [0027]    In one aspect, the processor  104  of the host system  102  may execute various applications, for example, a video content and collection module (or system)  202  (may also be referred to as module  202  or system  202 ) ( FIG. 2 ), an e-mail server application, databases, and other application types. System  202  is described below in detail with respect to  FIG. 2 . 
         [0028]    System  202 :  FIG. 2  illustrates a functional block diagram of system  202  executed by the processor  104  out of memory  106  of host system  102 . Components of the system  202  include a video collection module  214  coupled to a processing module  204 , a voting module  212 , a challenge attributes module  210 , a graphics user interface (GUI) module  208  and a communications interface  206 . The GUI module  208  provides a web-based user interface to users for submitting videos via a computing device as well as for voting. Communication interface  206  may be used to send and receive data via network interface  116 . 
         [0029]    It is noteworthy that certain modules of system  202  may be implemented in hardware, software or a combination thereof. Furthermore, the various modules may be implemented in a distributed environment, where one module is implemented at host system  102  and another module is implemented at another computing system. 
         [0030]    System  202  may be used for issuing a “challenge” to solicit videos from contestants, i.e. users of the system  202  via network  120 . The users may be either the public at large who have created a user account within the system  202  or a selected group of contestants/users, which have created user accounts. The aspects described herein may be implemented without user accounts. 
         [0031]    The system  202  may initiate a challenge having a plurality of challenge attributes  210  that are stored in a data structure at a memory location (for example,  106 ). The challenge attributes  210  may include any number of parameters for initiating a contest, such as a title of the challenge or contest, an image that illustrates the challenge, a written description that describes the challenge, a video introduction to the subject matter of the contest, potential prizes for a winner or winners of the challenge, a minimum or maximum video length in terms of time and/or megabytes, identification of any judges for the videos as well as any notes or rules on how the contest will be judged, a preview date, dates on which video submissions may start and/or end, and dates on which voting to select the best videos may start and/or end. Compliance with the challenge attributes  210  encourages video submissions with higher production quality and relevance to a particular audience, demographic, advertising or other purpose. 
         [0032]    In order for a contestant to enter or upload a video for the competition, the contestant may create or have a user account. This can be accomplished by accessing system  202  via a GUI. At which time the contestant may be asked to create an account having a user name and a password to prevent other unauthorized visitors from accessing the account and posting and/or deleting videos without the account holder&#39;s knowledge and/or permission. The user account may also include a profile that may include such information as mailing address, phone number and email address of the contestant/user. Before submitting a video for a particular contest, the contestant may have to agree to the rules of the challenge, by for example checking an agreement box at the completion of a recitation of the challenge rules. Upon such agreement, the contestant may submit or post a video for the contest that complies with the rules of the challenge. 
         [0033]    The challenge attributes  210  may also include a validation token. The validation token provides a mechanism for the contestant to certify that the content of any video submitted is a work of the account holder&#39;s own authorship and does not violate copyright(s) of others. An administrator of the system  202  and/or the judges shall have the authority to determine whether the above conditions have been satisfied and whether a submitted video conforms to the rules. 
         [0034]    The voting module  212  oversees voting regarding video submissions, according to one aspect. A voting period during which public users (i.e. unregistered visitors to the website/system), registered users and/or judges (as the challenge rules may dictate) may download or view videos and then vote to select, rate, rank and/or share the submitted videos for a given contest. Sharing may include dissemination of one or more submitted videos and/or a link or links to download or view such submitted videos by email, instant messaging, text message, social networks (such as Facebook® or Twitter® (without derogation of any third party trademark rights) or other means. Multiple methods of voting may be allowed in the same challenge/contest. The voting module  212  may operate under several different schemes, depending on a particular challenge as programmed into the system  202 . 
         [0035]    The following are possible voting criteria: (i) each voter may get one and only one vote per challenge/contest; (ii) each voter may get one vote per video per challenge; (iii) each voter may get one vote for a particular time period per challenge, e.g. for a challenge lasting three days, a voter may get one vote per day or three votes in total; (iv) each voter may get one vote per video per time period for the challenge; or (v) each voter may get an unlimited number of votes per challenge/contest. 
         [0036]    Once the voting period has concluded, the voting module  212  may tabulate the votes and provide data to the processing module  204 . To the extent that multiple methods of voting are allowed in a challenge/contest, certain methods of voting may have more or less weight than other methods in the tabulation of the final vote count or score. Other factors, such as the number of views or downloads that a video received during the challenge/contest may be included in the tabulation of the final vote count or score. Additionally, votes by certain classes of users (such as unregistered visitors to the website/system, registered users or judges) may have more or less weight than votes by other classes of users in the tabulation of the final vote count or score. The results may be provided to the voting public that could include (i) rank of the videos in order of most votes cast or highest score, e.g. first place, second place, etc.; (ii) rank of the videos according to the votes cast by only the judges; (iii) identification of featured videos, e.g. particularly unusual, unique or high-quality videos; or (iv) videos that were the most viewed, but did not necessarily garner the most votes. 
         [0037]    Upon completion of the challenge, the videos may be stored by the video collection  214  at a storage device ( 108 ). The collection  214  may be cataloged and indexed in any number of ways by the processing module  204 . For example, the collection may be cataloged by title, by content, by date of the contest, or any other number of criteria. 
         [0038]    System  202  may be used as a stand-alone application, e.g. a dedicated website, or may be integrated into another application having functions in addition to those of submitting, voting, and collecting videos. The content associated with the video collection  214  may be redistributed through other mediums such as, for example, television, DVD, and digital libraries/stores such as iTunes®. 
         [0039]    Process Flow:  FIG. 3  illustrates a process  300  for using system  202 , according to one aspect. The process begins in B 302 , when host system  102  is operational and system  202  is initialized. A competitive channel is presented on a computing device (for example,  122 ,  FIG. 1 ) via a user interface in B 304 . As an example, the competitive channel for a particular challenge could be a dedicated page on a website, a link and/or icon, or an option on a website drop down pick list. The competitive channel may be of any type, for example, cooking, sports or any other activity. 
         [0040]    In B 306 , a challenge is created including the identification of the challenge attributes for a particular contest. The challenge is assigned to the channel created in the previous step. Optionally, in B 308 , the challenge may be assigned to a series of similar challenges based on subject matter. For example, if the subject matter pertains to videos relating to cooking, there may be one or more series related to various ethnic cooking contests, e.g. Italian, French, Mexican, etc. or one or more series related to courses in a meal, e.g. soup, salad, entrée, desert, etc. The challenge may be for example, a best pasta recipe. 
         [0041]    The challenge may be represented graphically by a title, image or both. The challenge may be defined by a title, image, description, video introduction, director notes, prizes, minimum video length, maximum video length, guest judges, preview data, submission start date, submission end date, voting end date and challenge rules. The challenge rules may include that the video should include a specific word, phrase or a graphical/visual representation of a specific word, phrase, symbol or object as a validation token. The validation token may be used to validate a video to ensure that intellectual property rights of others is not infringed. The challenge rules are stored as part of the challenge attributes  210  described above. 
         [0042]      FIG. 4  illustrates another process flow diagram  400  for using system  202 , according to one aspect of the present disclosure. The process begins in B 402 , when system  202  is operational. In B 404 , a user/contestant creates an account as previously described above. The system  202  confirms that the account was properly created, by for example, sending a confirmation email to the user&#39;s email address on file. Alternatively, a user can sign into an account that they have already created in a previous session, for example. 
         [0043]    In B 406 , the user/contestant submits a video for a challenge/contest that was created previously, as for example, in B 306 . The system  202  ascertains that the submitted video conforms and complies with all challenge attributes  210  relevant to the contest. As mentioned above, the challenge attributes  210  may be stored at a storage device. The attributes of the submitted video are compared to the stored attributes to determine compliance or non-compliance. If the submitted video is compliant, the system  202  sends the contestant an acknowledgement (as a validation token). If the submitted video is not compliant, the system  202  sends the contestant an error message. After the period for contestants to post videos expires, the system  202  activates the voting module  212 . The rules for voting are posted, on the system&#39;s website for example. 
         [0044]    In B 408 , voting may begin by those authorized to vote. The voting may be once per voter per challenge, once per voter per video per challenge, once per voter per time period per challenge, once per voter per video per time period per challenge or any other way. Upon completion of the voting, in B 410 , the voting module  212  tabulates the votes according to preset criteria, posts the results of the voting on the website or other location and assigns awards to one or more submitted videos as the contest rules may dictate. For example, the award may be based on a voting rank, judges pick, featured video, and most reviewed rank or other criteria. Then, in B 412 , all or some of the submitted videos for a particular contest are archived and converted into the video collection  214 . Thus the video collection  214  may include videos of high performance, quality and/or relevance to a particular audience or purpose defined by the challenge. 
         [0045]    In one aspect, a contest format is used to create a video collection that is useful to users. In another aspect, a validation scheme is used to ensure that the submitted does not violate any third party rights. 
         [0046]    The above description presents the best mode contemplated for carrying out the various aspects of the present disclosure, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the adaptive techniques described herein. This aspects described herein are, however, susceptible to modifications and alternate constructions from that discussed above that are fully equivalent. Consequently, this various inventive aspects described herein are not limited to the foregoing disclosure. On the contrary, this disclosure covers all modifications and alternate constructions coming within the spirit and scope of the inventive aspects as generally expressed by the following claims, which particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter of the inventive aspects.