Abstract:
Disclosed are methods and apparatus for composing and communicating Digital Composition Coded Multisensory Messages (DCC MSMs). The present invention also relates to the design, composition, creation, and communication of the multisensory messages. Multisensory messages, while rich in content and meaning, are to be composable from a great variety of platforms, from cell phones to mainframes.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application relates to and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §109(e) from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/653,022, filed Feb. 15, 2005, entitled “a method and apparatus for the composition and communication of digital composition coded multisensory messages (DCC MSMS)”, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to systems, code, apparatus, and methods for the composition and communication of rich media and multisensory messages. The invention also relates to the design, composition, creation, and communication of such rich messages. Such messages, while rich in content and meaning, are to be composable from a great variety of platforms, from cell phones to mainframes. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Email messaging has been an active field for nearly twenty years, leading to today&#39;s leading messaging tools and services including:
         1. AOL Messenger,   2. Yahoo! Messenger,   3. MSN Messenger,   4. Skype.       

     All of the existing messaging systems deal with one or both of the two standard live sensor feeds (microphone, webcam). In addition, they have very limited computer graphics associated with them: simple avatars, smiley faces. There are no stored sensor data used in today&#39;s applications. There is no composition of multiple, multidimensional, or mixed signals (live, stored, etc.). There is definitely no Digital Composition Codebook, as per our development below. From our perspectives, these early applications are just scratching the surface of what is to come, but can&#39;t predict or even suggest the future of rich media multisensory communications. Nevertheless, rich communications can be enabled with technology we have today, by dramatically altering the way in which messages are constructed and delivered, our main advances. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates the current generation messaging tools: Skype (for voice only), and Yahoo! Messenger for voice, video, and text (as displayed). The limit of computer graphics presented in these tools is the tiny presence of the smiley faces near the bottom of the Instant Message screen. There are no stored videos of sound clips, and there definitely are no tools for the composition of a multimedia message (much less a multisensory message). 
       FIG. 2  illustrates the current generation of smilies, avatars, and icons. These are generally a composite of several images (often just two), stored in the “gif” format, which permute (“animated gifs”) to give an impression of action. These are the first inklings of a future use of stored graphics in rich media messaging, as we envision it. Today, these are limited by bandwidth and computational resources at either end of the communication—bottlenecks we overcome. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates a more sophisticated structure, called 3D icons/avatars, being wireframe models that can be manipulated, are currently available as desktop add-ons (for example in screensavers), and sometimes for chat rooms, but are not generally part of messages—they require significant additional tools that are not commonly available. The creation of tools for the efficient representation and manipulation of multi-signal objects, and a method for their widespread availability for enhanced communications, are also part of this invention. 
     The existing messaging systems such as AOL, Yahoo!, MSN, and Skype, permit the creation and transmission of messages based on the use of microphones, webcams, and text, as well as file inclusions—all of which we will refer to as direct entry data (DED). The sensory data today is limited to sight and sound, and only that which is live-fed. In addition, there is only a hint of additional use of computer-generated effects (simple avatars, smiley faces, etc). In fact, the main purpose of these additional computer-generated effects has been to represent a person in case the video signal can&#39;t be transmitted, a situation that is common since it is quite difficult to transmit video in today&#39;s limited bandwidth environment. 
     In experiments we have conducted as of the date of this filing, we generated video at less than one frame per second—i.e., these were only still images! At worst, the images froze altogether. This bandwidth paralysis, complicated by the need for high computing resources for the management of compression/decompression and channel negotiation, which are still not being met by the latest generation Intel Pentium processors, may be hampering the vision of developers currently in this field. As we look ahead, we see an era when bandwidths, resources (especially at central server farms), and the opportunity to communicate richly will be ever present and in high demand. There is a need, however, for methods of performing such functions on common communications devices which will be functionally limited for the foreseeable future (e.g., cell phones). 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a method for composing and communicating Digital Composition Coded Multisensory Messages (DCC MSMs), comprising the following steps:
         a. Utilizing any combination of live sensor-based, real-time generated, or pre-established databases of stored, Multisensory Objects (MSOs), stored locally or at remote servers,   b. Said Multisensory Objects (MSOs) being composed of any digital signals that are amenable, upon conversion, to human or machine interpretation, including organic sensory signals corresponding to sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste, and further including as examples any combination of live sensor feeds, such as from microphones, imaging and video sensors, and tactile, olfactory, and taste sensors, as well as video clips, sounds, plain text, text objects, animations, images, cartoons, animated figures, avatars, wireframe models, 3D graphics, speech, music, geometric patterns, animated text, colors, patterned backgrounds, and computer or machine-generated graphics, as well any combination of stored tastes, smells, and tactile impressions that are digitally represented,   c. Composition of structured, Multisensory Message (MSMs) using any combination of at least one of these Multisensory Objects, specifically including live-fed or stored sensor data such as sounds, images or video clips, and specifically using an intuitive authoring tool in the form of an Authoring Appliance (AA), in either software or hardware, and residing either at the user terminal in whole, or (partly) at a remote Rich Message Server,   d. Said Authoring Appliance (AA; henceforth we use the term “Appliance” to mean either a software application or a hardware device, or a combination thereof), presented as an intuitive authoring tool, allowing for the unique and rich combination, integration, superposition, multiplexing of various source data, and compression, incorporating any variety of fades, transitions, juxtapositions, etc., of the various MSOs, according to specific and specialized instructions, as part of a specialized Digital Composition Codebook (DCC),   e. Said specialized instructions being drawn from a Digital Composition Codebook (DCC), a detailed, articulated, yet intuitive MSM construction regimen of codes for message composition, such instructions being formulated in either real-time or by the partial or full use of prerecorded instructions, by either the MSM author or multiplicity of authors, or provided by the AA, and being comprised of
           i. a variety of shorthand codes,   ii. each shorthand code being either a composite or elementary code,   iii. each composite code being comprised of elementary codes   iv. and each elementary code comprised of actions which are registered with the AA either by human or machine, using machine equivalents,   
           f. Said actions being comprised of
           i. key strokes,   ii. pressing or maneuvering of buttons, handles, steering wheels, or foot pedals,   iii. voice commands or voiced sounds,   iv. hand movements or gestures,   v. eye moments or blinks,   vi. body movements or gestures,   vii. handwritings or drawings,   viii. finger movements or figures,   ix. facial movements or gestures,   x. any prerecorded combination of such instructions, collected and represented as a database of instructions (e.g., coded instructions for more complicated instructions),   xi. any machine equivalent of such actions,   
           g. Said multi sensory object (MSO) databases being located either within a software or hardware application platform, either locally at the user&#39;s terminal, or remotely at a Rich Message Server, with the service provided in a client-server architecture, said remote server being connected via a network to the end user terminals,   h. Said Rich Message Server being a network connected computing resource warehousing databases of signals, as well as the receiving, compositing, storing and forwarding station for the rich messages, as commanded and intentioned by the user using live feeds and codes,   i. Transmitting such a Multisensory Message via a digital encoding of the message using an Encoding Engine (EE), and conveying it over any of a variety of transmission channels,   j. Said digital encoding using a specialized Encoding Engine (EE) comprising the conversion to a compact, digital representation, in a form acceptable at the receiving end, as a combination of signal codes and actual compressed signal, via encoding instructions, whether in hardware or software, for the collection, conversion to digital, multiplexing, overlay, superposition, preprocessing, compression, signal coding, encryption, channel coding, and packetization, of the various components of the MSM, for the efficient transmission and rendering of the MSM signal,   k. Said transmission channels being comprised of (j1) any of Internet-protocol (IP) based channels, such as local-area networks, wide-area networks, Internet, extranets, virtual-private networks, satellite communications networks, wireless networks IP including ad-hoc wireless networks; (j2) Plain Old Telephone System (POTS); (j3) other wireline non-IP networks such as cable networks, (j4) over-the-air broadcast, (j5) non-IP based satellite, air-to-air, air-to-ground, ground-to-ground, or underwater communications channels, or (j6) physical medium, such as a digital media disk (e.g., CD, DVD), computer hard drive, memory stick;   l. Receiving of such a MSM on a receiver platform, via a combination of software or hardware mechanisms, in a Receiver Appliance (RA), and decoding the received signal using a Decoding Engine (DE), to provide a Rich Sensory Experience (RSE) to the receiving party, whether human or machine,   m. Said Decoding Engine comprising instructions, whether in hardware or software, for the depacketization, decoding, decryption, demultiplexing, decompression, signal decoding, refragmentation, reconversion to analog, and reconstitution and rendering of a Rich Sensory Experience (RSE),   n. Said Rich Sensor Experience (RSE) comprising the rendering of none, some, or all of the multisensory object components, wherein some components may be altered or edited according to conditions of the signal and its transmission, lost data, and/or by preinstructed or real-time rules developed by the receiving party and prescribed at the Receiving Appliance (RA),   o. Said pre-instructed or real-time rules for editing or alterations being in the nature of modifications or deletions of any aspect of the MSOs, whether for purposes of error masking, language, content, taste, color, sound or music preferences, sensory taste, smell or tactile preferences, or specializations appropriately scalable to the limitations or conditions of the Receiving Appliance.       

    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an example of existing messaging tools. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates exemplary emotion icons used by the existing messaging tools. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a more sophisticated 3D icons/avatars structure. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates the architecture and example usage of the Rich Message Server and Digital Composition Codebook framework of the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Before the present invention is described, it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the particular devices, methodology and components described as these may vary. It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention which will be limited only by the appended claims. 
     Special Terms Used:
     MSM—Multisensory Message   MSO—Multisensory Object   RMS—Rich Message Server   DCC—Digital Composition Codebook   AA—Authoring Appliance   RA—Receiving Appliance   EE—Encoding Engine   DE—Decoding Engine   RSE—Rich Sensory Experience   

     To achieve rich communication, our key departures from prior art are fourfold. The central use of stored multimedia and computer graphic data, in addition to the DED data, as well as specifically the direct and convenient manipulation of the multimedia data to be presented at the receiver, as a massive communication-enabler, far enhancing the experience possible with just the two live feeds in use today (microphone, webcam). The fundamental use of client/server based architectures for remote message composition and delivery, where multimedia data is collected, warehoused, manipulated, and messages are constructed, and finally saved for suitable transmission and forwarding. The only things to be sent to the server are the live sensor feeds, plus coded instructions for composing the message from the live feeds and the stored graphics files. Note that while server-enabled communication exists in prior art, the server was used merely as a relay station of an existing message, not as a central composition station of an intended message, as shown in  FIG. 4 . The tailored, scalable delivery of rich messages is designed to suit client capabilities. The explicit construction of an extended framework to include truly multisensory input, whether from multiple and varied imaging or audio sensors, or sensors relating to the other senses completely unrepresented in today&#39;s dialog: touch, smell, and taste. In the future, as new technologies for the representation and conversion of sensory data for these additional senses inevitably become available, their inclusion into our communications medium will be groundbreaking additions to our currently sight/sound-limited world, permitting fully multisensory messages (MSMs). 
       FIG. 4  illustrates the architecture and example usage of the Rich Message Server and Digital Composition Codebook framework of the invention. Video, voice and composition codes are fed from a user cell phone to a server, which then composes a rich message to forward. A registered rich media client interprets the message. Delivery is in a format tailored to client capabilities. 
     In a sense, we are enabling the author of a message, be it from a cell phone/PDA, a TV, or a computer terminal for example, to have the equivalent capabilities of a Hollywood film director (and much more so in the multisensory context). Such a film director not only acquires raw film and sound footage, but then engages in considerable mixing and editing of the raw footage (plus text, animations, etc.) to composite a highly crafted communications medium—a motion picture. The art of movie editing, graphics compositing and final drafting is an advanced and fine art, populated with skilled artisans in the field, requiring considerable training, apparatus, expense, and manpower. 
     Today, such multimedia editing is done using sophisticated and powerful computer equipment, in which the various data sources are mapped to a timeline, typically in a hardware-assisted software tool; for example, the company Avid (www.avid.com) makes a living providing such editing solutions to the film and television industry. Consumer-level versions of such editing tools are provided by companies such as Adobe (www.adobe.com, e.g., Adobe Premiere) and Pinnacle (www.pinnaclesystems.com), and entry-level tools are even provided as part of Microsoft Windows XP (e.g., MovieMaker). But all of these tools still require considerable familiarity with the mechanics of video and audio formats, compression technologies, container formats, etc.; i.e., they are far too cumbersome for use by the typical message author—e.g., a cell phone user. This invention deals with how to make rich messaging possible even for them. 
     First, in our parlance, a message is any conveyance of information, prepared for man or machine interpretation. This could include anything ranging from an email or voice message, up to a motion picture, and beyond. For purposes of further precise discussion though, we focus on the realm of personal messages, which are reincarnations of past language-based communications. Our claims, however, apply to the full spectrum of messages in general, but specifically limited in the architecture of how these messages are constructed and transmitted. 
     While the author of a personal message cannot engage in the fine art of film editing in its considerable complexity, the central advance of this invention is to provide a rudimentary but powerful capability for video, audio, graphics and other multisensory data editing to the message author, made available in the simplest possible user-friendly form, which can dramatically empower the sender to quickly produce an engaging message. The central nerve of our method and invention is use of remotely warehoused multimedia data, and the creation and use of a digital composition codebook (DCC), providing advanced but elegantly simple authoring of a rich message using a combination of live and stored multisensory data. 
     Elementary Examples of DCC Codes (e.g., for a computer terminal):
         1. (v12,a9,t10)\/(v23) could mean multiplex stored video-clip12 with audioclip9, use the first 10 seconds, fade these in and out with videoclip23.   2. (lm,t3)|(a21/,t2) could mean use live media (camera, mike) for 3 seconds, cut, and use audioclip21, ramping up the sound from zero to full in 2 seconds, and stop.   3. (lm/a8) could mean simply live media overlay with audioclip8. This can be real-time.       

     These same codes can be tailored (by symbol substitutions) for cells/pdas. Note that with the stored data of example 1, the message to send is very compact (just that text, compressed, needs to be sent), taking up only 100 bytes of data. In example 2, there are also live feeds, from video and audio, as well as use of stored sensor data; in this case, the live feeds have to be compressed, multiplexed, and transmitted, received, demultiplexed, decompressed, and rendered, along with the stored audio clip. This particular message may require on the order of 1 MB of data for transmission, which may be transmitted over an IP network such as the Internet. 
     In these examples, the stored video and audio clips, whose labeling may be adjusted to the user&#39;s preferences, could be part of the applications at either end—for example, part of software applications, residing on computers at either end. Or, more conveniently, they could be warehoused at an external server database, which both sender and receiver have access to via a network, and which they access via a client-server architecture. This allows a far larger, more diverse, database of stored graphics, as well as richer composition capability. In addition, the server can forward a message scalable to the receiver capabilities. 
     Furthermore, note the context-dependency of these elementary codes sent: in example 1, the ‘\/’ meant fading the video from one to the other (including the audio tracks); in example 2, with only one audio track in the second segment, the interpretation of ‘/’ is to ramp up the audio. In 3, with mixed signals, it is an overlay. As a dictionary of such elementary codes are developed and mastered by user, user-specific layers of codes can be developed (codes of codes), permitting considerable shorthand and translation in the composition of such a multisensory message. 
     These digital composition codebooks (DCCs) can be initially supplied by the developers, but a significant point of this invention is also to allow the users the flexibility to develop their own shorthand codes (and codes of codes) as they are most comfortable with. This allows each user to achieve the convenience and simplicity that he/she needs and wishes, without in any way burdening the user of this technology. Note that while users may not achieve the full breadth of capabilities this way, they can easily achieve their intended vocabulary of compositions. 
     Examples of New Rich Messages, Previously Unavailable:
         1. An excited girl exclaims “yikes!” and finishes with a quick clip of a crushing boulder falling, or an atomic explosion, with a “boom” sound. In the received video, the boulder (or the bomb) falls on the head of an intended victim whose stored clip is available at the server.   2. A teenage boy closes a message with: “take this”, with a live feed of him swinging a fist, ending in a clip of a favorite boxer delivering a winning punch. In the message, the live feed is blended into the boxer&#39;s punch, heightening the experience.   3. A romantic message with a live feed of a blown kiss is mixed into a clip (or clips, in quick succession) of a famous kiss(es) from a movie(s), set to favorite music (not just as in the movie(s)). Moreover, at the receiver, a stored clip of the receiving party can be blended into the scene, delivering a “private” kiss in a public (movie) setting. Scrolling text message overlay, converted from speech (or reverse, from text to speech overlay): “See you soon.”       

     All of these types of message compositions can be accomplished at the Rich Message Server, using state-of-the-art techniques for multimedia representation, manipulation and advanced processing, if the intended actions are suitably conveyed. Their use in rich messaging is entirely new, and enabled by coded intention, server-based composition, and scalable delivery. It is the subscribed establishment and encoded conveyance of these intended actions that we now mainly focus, using Digital Composition Codebooks.