Abstract:
A system includes a database to store user personal digital content and timelines, a communication mechanism to couple to third party sources of other digital content and to the database associated with the timelines, and a user interface mechanism to provide a timeline based view of the personal and other digital content, wherein the digital content is arranged in stories having a time represented by at least one of the digital content in each story and dispersed along and positionally correlated to a user adjustable time scale of the view.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/137,295 (entitled Interactive Content Timeline Platform, filed Mar. 24, 2015) which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Photos are currently managed by users in an ad hoc manner. Some users simply store photos on their phones and may back them up to one or more directories on a computer. Others may use cloud based photo storage services. It can be difficult to manage and find photos regardless of the methods currently used to store them. The experience of purchasing photos is also accomplished in an ad hoc manner, often in a manual process outside of the system or applications where a user stores and views their photos. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0003]    A system includes a database to store user personal digital content and timelines, a communication mechanism to couple to third party sources of other digital content and to the database associated with the timelines, and a user interface mechanism to provide a timeline based view of the personal and other digital content, wherein the digital content is arranged in stories having a time represented by at least one of the digital content in each story and dispersed along and positionally correlated to a user adjustable time scale of the view. 
         [0004]    A method includes displaying a plurality of temporally identified stories comprising digital content on a display device, wherein the stories are spatially separated commensurate with a visible time scale, receiving input from a user to manipulate the time scale, and modifying the position and visibility of stories as represented by at least one image of the digital content of each story. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0005]      FIG. 1  is a flow diagram illustrating a method for consumers and professionals to utilize an interactive content timeline platform according to an example embodiment. 
           [0006]      FIG. 2A  is a block diagram of a system for the interactive content timeline platform, according to an example embodiment. 
           [0007]      FIG. 2B  is a block diagram of a system for the interactive content timeline platform, according to an example embodiment. 
           [0008]      FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 4A, 4B, 5, 6A, 6B, 7A, 7B, 7C, 8A, 8B, 9A, and 9B  are screen shots of user interfaces illustrating various features of an interactive content timeline platform according to example embodiments. 
           [0009]      FIG. 10  is a block schematic diagram of a computer architecture for various devices and system to implement example embodiments. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0010]    In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments which may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural, logical and electrical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following description of example embodiments is, therefore, not to be taken in a limited sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims. 
         [0011]    The functions or algorithms described herein may be implemented in software or a combination of software and human implemented procedures in one embodiment. The software may consist of computer executable instructions stored on computer readable media or computer readable storage device such as one or more memory or other type of hardware based storage devices, either local or networked. Further, such functions correspond to modules, which are software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. Multiple functions may be performed in one or more modules as desired, and the embodiments described are merely examples. The software may be executed on a digital signal processor, ASIC, microprocessor, or other type of processor operating on a computer system, such as a personal computer, server or other computer system. 
         [0012]    An interactive content timeline platform provides a way for an individual to upload personal content, such as photos and videos, to the cloud and purchase content published by content professionals, all integrated and organized into a personal interactive content timeline. The individual can browse and shop professional private or public content timelines that may have content of interest. Professional content can be purchased from any mobile or computer device and be immediately incorporated into the individual&#39;s personal timeline. The timeline provides a visualization that incorporates the elements of space between content collections based on dates; color categories for identifying specific types of content; and, the ability to pan forward and backward in time or zoom in and out of timescale. 
         [0013]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an interconnected system  100 . An interactive content timeline platform  113  has a workflow indicated by various arrows that includes, but is not limited to a consumer ecosystem  101  that includes consumers  102  and a digital content vendor ecosystem  107  that includes vendors  108 . Consumers  102  correspond to devices that people use to interact with the interactive content timeline platform  113  to upload, store, organize and browse their personal digital content  106 . Consumers  102  interact with personal software and services  104  and devices  105  in consumer ecosystem  101  that relate to their personal digital content  106 . Software and services  104  may comprise applications or services that are installed on a consumer&#39;s device or peripheral  105  or accessible through a network. Software and services  104  can include, but are not limited to: Google, Facebook, Apple, Dropbox, Crashplan, Carbonite, iPhoto, Photoshop, Shutterfly, or any combination thereof. Devices  105  can include, but are not limited to: computers, smart phones, cameras, tablets, recorders, storage devices, or any combination thereof. A consumer  102  can have personal digital content  106  that can be stored on devices  105  and managed with software and services  104 . Personal digital content  106  can include image files, video files, and document files. These personal digital content  106  files can be referred to with file type terms that are commonly used by those of ordinary skill in the relevant arts, such as JPEG, RAW, PNG, MOV, WMV, MP4, and other terms. It will be understood by those of ordinary skill that those terms used herein are interchangeable, and any file type may be used. 
         [0014]    The interactive content timeline platform  113  ecosystem also comprises digital content vendors  108 . Digital content vendors  108  are devices used by people, working for themselves, a company, or an organization, that produce digital content that is viewed and/or purchased by one or more consumers  102 . Digital content vendors  108  have similar content sources  109  to those used by consumers  102 . Digital content vendors  108  interact with personal software and services  110  and devices  111  that relate to their premium digital content  112 . Software and services  110  may comprise applications or services that are installed on a digital content vendor&#39;s  107  devices  111  or accessible through a network. Software and services  110  can include, but are not limited to: Google, Facebook, Apple, Dropbox, Crashplan, Carbonite, iPhoto, Aperture, Photoshop, Shutterfly, or any combination thereof. Devices  111  can include, but are not limited to: computers, smart phones, cameras, tablets, recorders, storage devices, or any combination thereof. A digital content vendor  108  can have premium digital content  112  that can be stored on devices  111  and managed with software and services  110 . Premium digital content  112  can include, but is not limited to: image files, video files, and document files. These premium digital content  112  files can be referred to with file type terms that are commonly used by those of ordinary skill in the relevant arts, such as JPEG, RAW, PNG, MOV, WMV, MP4, and other terms. It will be understood by those of ordinary skill that those terms used herein are interchangeable, and any file type may be used. 
         [0015]    The interactive content timeline platform  113  comprises personal digital content  106  from a consumer  102  and premium digital content  112  from a digital content vendor  108  that is managed through a user interface  114 . Premium digital content  112  includes digital content that will have value to consumers  102  because the content was professionally produced by a digital content vendor  108 . For example, a professional photographer may take family portraits that have value to a consumer  102  because the photographer has special training, professional equipment, and a studio that allows for the creation of different scenes for the photo based on backdrops and props. In another example, a premium content vendor  108  can have access to people they are photographing or videoing that a consumer  102  finds valuable because they don&#39;t have the ability or access to take the same photo or video. For example, sports played at large venues where photographers have access to the field and players while the fans are seated at a distance from anyone on the field or rink. In these cases, the digital content vendor  108  has the ability to capture pictures that consumers  102  can&#39;t. This creates premium digital content  112  that may be of value to certain consumers  102 . 
         [0016]    The interactive content timeline platform  113  also includes a digital content uploader  117  that is installed on consumer&#39;s  102  devices  105 . The digital content uploader  117  has a user interface  114  that allows consumers  102  and digital content vendors  108  to select personal digital content  106  and premium digital content  112  that resides on their devices  105  and  111  and in their software and services  104  and  110  to the interactive content timeline platform  113 . 
         [0017]    The interactive content timeline platform includes timelines  118 . The user interface, functional attributes, and capabilities of timelines  118  are detailed more specifically in  FIGS. 5, 6, and 7 , described later. Timelines  118  comprises three types of timelines in one embodiment: private timelines  119 , group timelines  120 , and public timelines  121 . Timelines  118  may render personal digital content  106  and premium digital content  112  using a user interface  114  displayed using dimensions of relative space between content based on time, size of a content container based on relevance to the consumer  102 , and color related to the category of content. Private timelines  119  are specific to each consumer  102  and can only be accessed and viewed using the consumer&#39;s  102  specific account. For example, a consumer has a private timeline  119  where they create and/or curate and view their own content. In some embodiments, each timeline may be represented by a list of content with associated metadata, and an identification of an owner of the timeline, such as a user for a private timeline, or a group of people authorized to access the timeline. Authorization may also be made public, giving all users the ability to access the content associated with the timeline. Each story in the timeline may also be represented by a list of content, with one of the items of content being selected for representing the story in a view of the story in the timeline view. In further embodiments, a story may be identified via a query against available content, such as by date, time, location, or other fields of the metadata. 
         [0018]    Group timelines  120  are limited to consumers  102  and/or digital content vendors  108  that were provided access or invited, typically using email or text message, to the group timeline  120  by another consumer  102  or digital content vendor  108 . For example, a youth sports photographer that is a digital content vendor  8  may make a group timeline  120  available to the parents of a specific sports team. 
         [0019]    Public timelines  121  are timelines that have been made available to the general public by a consumer  102  or digital content vendor  108 . For example, a county government may make a series of records available to the public for viewing on a public timeline  121 . 
         [0020]    The interactive content timeline platform  113  includes a commerce platform  122 . The commerce platform  122  allows digital content vendors  108  to publicize and sell premium digital content  112  to consumers  102  on timelines  118 . The commerce platform  122  includes payment processing  123 , which allows consumers  103  to purchase premium digital content  112  from digital content vendors  108 . Payment processing capabilities include, but are not limited to: accepting and processing credit card transactions from consumers  102  and dispersing proceeds from the sale to the digital content vendor. The commerce platform  122  also includes a promotions manager  124  that allows digital content vendors  108  to develop and publicize promotions to consumers  102 . Promotions that digital content vendors  108  create using the promotions manager  124  include, but are not limited to: coupons, special offers, direct discounts, free trials, ads, and other incentives publicized by the digital content vendor  108  to consumers  102 . Promotions created with the promotions manager  124  are displayed in timelines  118  and viewable by consumers  102 . Promotions can include “calls to action” that allow the users to click on the promotion in order to get more details on the promotion or take advantage of the incentives the promotion offers. The commerce platform  122  includes a premium digital content pricing manager  125  that allows digital content vendors  108  to set and manage prices for premium digital content  122  that they sell to consumers  102 . The digital content pricing manager  125  includes, but is not limited to: the ability for digital content vendors to build multiple premium digital content  112  price lists, establish specific lists of premium digital content  112  associated with price lists, and assign prices to premium digital content in the price list. Using the digital content pricing manager  125 , digital content vendors  108  can make specific premium content  112  with associated prices available to consumers  102  through timelines  118 . Consumers  102  can then purchase premium digital content  112  for the prices and applied promotions associated with the digital premium content  112 . 
         [0021]      FIG. 2A  is a block diagram of a system  200 , which can include, but is not limited to: a client  201  and a 3rd party service  204  and connected devices  205  communicating with a server  209  over a network  202  utilizing a interactive content timeline platform  203 . The network  202  may comprise of an Internet and/or intranet. The client  201  and server  209  may comprise a computer or mobile device. A computer may be any programmable machine capable of performing arithmetic and/or logical operations. In some embodiments, computers may comprise processors, memories, data storage devices, and/or other commonly known or novel components. These components may be connected physically or through network, bluetooth or wireless connections. Computers may be referred to with terms that are commonly used by those of ordinary skill in the relevant arts, such as servers, laptops, desktops, PCs, mobile devices, and other terms. It will be understood by those of ordinary skill that those terms used herein are interchangeable, and any computer capable of performing the described functions may be used. For example, though the term “server” may appear in the following specifications, the disclosed embodiments are not limited to servers. The 3rd party services  104  can include, but are not limited to: Google, Facebook, Apple, Dropbox, Crashplan, Carbonite, iPhoto, Photoshop, Shutterfly, or any combination thereof. Those of ordinary skill in the art will see that any service or application can be utilized as a 3rd party service. Connected devices  205  can include, but are not limited to, devices that connect to the client directly or through a network, such as smart phones, cameras, tablets, recorders, storage devices, or any combination thereof. 
         [0022]      FIG. 2B  sets forth system architecture details of the interactive content timeline platform  203 , according to an embodiment. Services  220  may include, but is not limited to: digital image processing  221 ; personal timeline management  222 ; public timeline management  223 ; digital image sharing  224 ; notifications  225 ; facial recognition  226 ; promotions management  227 ; content price management  228 ; online shopping management;  229 ; and, payment processing and fulfillment  230 . Services  220  are managed using APIs that translate requests between the user interface  208  and the database  209 . The database  209  includes, but is not limited to: user accounts  210 ; timelines  211 ; images  212 ; image collections  213 ; notifications  214 ; comments  215 ; vendors  216 ; prices  217 ; orders  218 ; and, promotions  219 . 3rd party services  204  can integrate with the interactive content timeline platform  203  using the APIs to communicate with the services  220  and database  209 . 
         [0023]      FIGS. 3A and 3B  at  301  illustrates the user interface  114  previously described in  FIG. 1  for the digital content uploader  117 . The consumer  102  and digital content vendor  108  are guided through a process for selecting the content sources  103 ,  109  that they will connect to upload their personal digital content  106  and premium digital content  112  to the interactive content timeline platform  113 . Interface  301  includes, but is not limited to, some of the options the user will be provided for connecting sources  103 ,  109  to the interactive content timeline platform. For example, if a consumer  102  is interesting in uploading the entire digital photo collection to the interactive digital content timeline platform  113  and their images are scattered across sources, like Facebook, Shutterfly, an external storage drive, Dropbox, and folders on their computer, they can select and connect to all of those sources and the digital content uploader  117  will copy the image files from all of those services and locations into the interactive content timeline platform  113  leveraging the APIs  207  to call the digital image processing  221  service, which creates the appropriate size images to store in the database  209 . 
         [0024]      FIG. 3C  illustrates what the consumer  102  and digital content vendor  108  will see in the user interface  114  when the digital content uploader  117  is processing the content being uploaded to the interactive content timeline platform  113 . A status indication  301  indicates that the uploader  117  is scanning content and preparing to upload content. Progress bars  302  are located in an operating system level indicating the overall status of the upload and for each piece of content in an illustrated timeline. Related content is represented by one of the pieces of content that is related. 
         [0025]      FIGS. 4A and 4B  illustrate views of a main timeline  401  user interface for the interactive content timeline platform  113  with some of the associated elements. The timeline  401  view is what a user would see when using the interactive content timeline platform  113  from within an Internet browser. The timeline  401 , includes, but is not limited to: stories  402 ; premium stories  403 ; time bar  404 ; timescale  405 ; time slider  406 ; story markers  407 ; and, zoom control  408 . 
         [0026]    The story  402  illustrates how content, such as digital images or videos, can be visually organized into stacks called stories based on the dates associated with the file&#39;s metadata. For example, if someone uploaded 10 pictures and 2 videos that were taken on the same date, they might appear together on the timeline  401 . The size of the stack is calculated based on an algorithm that quantifies the consumer&#39;s  102  interest in that particular content. For example, the consumer might give more weight to content associated with vacations, holidays, or ones that include special people in their life. For such cases, the image representing the story  402  may be larger for content that is more meaningful to the user. A user in one embodiment may resize the image representing the story, which modifies the weight associated with the story. The stories  402  also dynamically render in size and space relative to the total amount of stories in the timeline. 
         [0027]    Premium stories  403  illustrates an example of how premium digital content  112  and personal digital content  106  can exist within a consumer&#39;s  102  timeline  401 . Premium stories  403  may include a special watermark indicating that there are one or more pieces of content in that story that have been published to the consumer&#39;s timeline  401  by a digital content vendor  108 . 
         [0028]    The timeline  401  includes a time bar  404  that comprises the navigational elements of the timeline. The timescale  405  indicates the ranges of dates/time for the timeline  402 . The timescale  405  dynamically changes depending on the zoom control  408  level. The user can zoom out so that the timeline  401  shows a larger timeframe. For example, if the current timeline  401  view shows a two month time span, the user can zoom out with the zoom control  408  so that they can now see a one year time span in the active timeline  401  view. 
         [0029]    Content (stories  402 ) also dynamically shift and render in the active view with any zoom level timeframe changes. The story markers  407  related to each of the stories  402  that are being displayed in the active timeline  401  view. Each story has a corresponding marker that is color coded based on story categories that can be set by the consumer. For example, stories that are categorized as “vacations” may have a different color than stories that have a category of “holidays”. Also note that the story marker&#39;s  407  vertical and horizontal location and spacing is directly relative to the way the corresponding stories are displayed on the timeline  401 . 
         [0030]    The time slider  406  frames the story markers  407  currently being rendered in the active timeline  401  view. The user can click and drag the time slider  406  from right to left to move the timeline  401  view forward and backward in time. As the time slider  406  moves forward and backward in time, the stories dynamically render based on which ones are reflected in the time slider  406  as it moves across time. The user can also drag the left and right edges of the time slider to expand the number of story markers  407  and related stories  402  are being displayed in the timeline  401 . 
         [0031]      FIG. 4B  illustrates a timeline  412  in a state where the zoom control  408  has been zoomed out to show a broader timespan. When a user zooms out to increase the amount of time displayed on the timeline  401 , stories  402  will consolidate based on their proximity in time, as shown in  409 . For example, if a timeline  401  was zoomed into the point where you could see a story  402  for each day of a specific week, when you zoom out to increase the amount of time reflected in the timeline  401 , those seven stories previously grouped by day could be consolidated into a single consolidated story  409  now grouped by week. The consolidated story  409  also illustrates thumbnails of the stories contained in that consolidated story  409  whereby the size of the thumbnails is based on the relevance of the content for that specific user. The story marker popup  410  demonstrates that when a user hovers their cursor over a consolidated story  409  marker, a popup showing the other stories in that consolidated view may be displayed. The consolidated story marker  411  displays the number of stories contained in a consolidated story  409 . 
         [0032]      FIG. 5  illustrates a view of the timeline  501  as it might appear on a mobile device, including, but not limited to smart phones and tablets. The timeline  501  includes, but is not limited to: stories  502 ; a timebar  503 ; time slider  504 ; and, story markers  505 . The mobile timeline  501  view includes the dynamic rendering and interactions patterns described in  FIGS. 4 and 4B  in the previous section. 
         [0033]      FIGS. 6A and 6B  illustrate the creation of a story  601  that can be rendered on the timeline  501  and  401 . Stories  601  and  402  can be created for events, such as family gatherings, vacations, birthdays, etc. There are no limits placed on users for what defines a story  601 ,  402 . A story  601  includes, but is not limited to: contributors  602 ; timeframe  603 ; location  604 , and, content  605 . 
         [0034]    When a user creates a story  601 , they can invite other people (contributors  602 ) to privately join the story. When the contributors  602  option is selected, a list of contacts the user has stored on their device will be displayed. The user can choose to invite someone from the contact list or they can invite people by entering their email address or phone number. When the story  601  is created, the invited contributors are sent an email or text message invitation to the story  601 . If they interact with the invitation and accept, they are now a contributor  602  on the story. This allows them to privately share content, such as, but not limited to, photos, videos, and files in the story  601  with other contributors  602 . 
         [0035]    The timeframe  603  option allows the story creator to set a timeframe for the story. For example, if a story  601  is created for a birthday party, the timeframe would be set to match the starting and ending date/time for the party. When a timeframe is set, if there is content  605  that matches the timeframe  603  for the story  601 , the user will be prompted to share the content  605  in the story. For example, if a story  601  is set up for a birthday party and the user takes pictures and video (content  605 ) within the timeframe  603  set for the story  601 , the user will be prompted to share those specific pictures and videos with other contributors  602  in that story  601 . When content is shared in a story  601 , all the contributors will see the content. Each contributor  603  can then determine which content they want to keep in their specific version of the story  601 . For example, if five people at a party are contributors on a story that was created for that party, they may not want to keep all of the content  605  shared by those 5 people in their version of the story. They can select which pieces of content  605  they want to remove from the story  601 . 
         [0036]    A location  604  can be set for the story. When the location  604  option is selected, a map is displayed using the mapping capabilities of the device the user is using. The location defaults to the user&#39;s current location, however they can enter and search for another location. When a location  604  is set, there is a default circular radius set for the location  604 . The default radius may be set to five miles, or any value desired compatible with the resolution of location identifying functions of a user device. The user can change that default radius to broaden or narrow the radius surrounding the location  604 . 
         [0037]    When a location  604  is set, if there is content  605  that has metadata with location coordinates that match the location for the story  601 , the user will be prompted to share the content  605  in the story. For example, if a story  601  is setup for a family outing at a theme park and a location is set for the story matching the radius of the grounds of the theme park, and the user takes pictures and video (content  605 ) within the location  604  set for the story  601 , the user will be prompted to share those specific pictures and videos with other contributors  602  in that story  601 . In this scenario, if there are contributors  602  for the story that have content with metadata that matches the timeframe  603  set for the story  601  but the content  605  has metadata that does not match the location  603  for the story  601 , the content will not be shared in the story. 
         [0038]    For example, a mother creates a story  106  on her mobile phone and sets the timeframe  603  so it matches the timeframe when they will be at a theme park. She also sets a location that matches the coordinates and radius of the grounds for the theme park. She invites 3 contributors  602  to the theme park story she created. Two of the contributors will be at the theme park with her that day. The other contributor is her husband, who could not make the outing and is in another state on a business trip. In this case, if the father takes pictures or videos during the timeframe of the theme park story, his content will not be shared because it will have metadata that falls outside of the location set for the story. 
         [0039]      FIG. 7A  illustrates a timeline  401  that includes premium digital content  112 . Stories  402  that include one or more pieces of premium digital content  112  are considered premium stories  701  and have premium story watermarks  702  that inform users of the content. Timelines  118  can have a combination of personal digital content  106  and premium digital content  112 . 
         [0040]      FIGS. 7B and 7C  illustrate a premium content story  701  that is opened by the user into the story viewer  703  on different devices, such as a tablet computer and mobile phone respectively. The story viewer  703  includes, but is not limited to, digital content thumbnails  706 , which can be a combination of personal digital content  106  and premium digital content  112 . If the story viewer  703  is displaying premium digital content  112 , then a premium content story viewer watermark  704  is displayed over the content displayed in the story viewer  703 . Premium digital content  112  can also include a purchase button  704  that allows the consumer  102  to purchase the premium content. The price associated with the premium digital content  112  is established by the digital content vendor  108  using the premium digital content pricing manager  125 . When the purchase button  704  is clicked, the consumer  102  is presented with payment processing  123  options and the price of the premium digital content  112  they wish to purchase so that they can complete the credit card transaction. 
         [0041]    For example, a person has a private timeline  119  that includes personal photos and videos, referred to as personal digital content  106 , they uploaded from their computer. The person takes their family to a portrait studio such as digital content vendor,  108  to get professional pictures such as premium digital content  112 , taken of their family. The portrait studio uploads the photos taken at the session to the person&#39;s private timeline  119 . The portrait studio photos appear in a premium story  701  because it includes premium digital content. The user can browse through the photos using the story viewer  703  and purchase any photos they want using the purchase button  705 . When premium digital content is purchased, the premium digital content watermark  704  is removed, indicating they are now free to enjoy, download, and print that content. The mobile user interface  907  of the interactive content timeline platform  113  includes, but is not limited to, all of the premium digital content  112  and purchasing capabilities described above. 
         [0042]      FIGS. 8A and 8B  illustrate how promotions  801  can be published to a consumer&#39;s  102  timeline  118 . Promotions  801  are created by the digital content vendor  108  using the promotions manager  124 . Promotions can include “calls to action” that allow the users to click on the promotion in order to get more details on the promotion or take advantage of the incentives the promotion offers. Item  802  illustrates how consumers  102  can be notified on devices  105  when promotions are available. 
         [0043]      FIGS. 9A and 9B  illustrate a public timeline  901  and  120  or group timeline  901 ,  121 . Public and group timelines  901  typically include, but are not limited to, premium digital content  112  that is presented to a specific group of people or content that is open to the general public. 
         [0044]    For example, a yearbook company (digital content vendor,  108  may want to create a group or public timeline  901  that includes pictures or videos of students taken by a high school yearbook staff throughout the school year and make the timeline available to the high school children&#39;s parents. Parents can then subscribe to the group or public timeline  801  from within their own personal timeline  902 . 
         [0045]    Item  903  of illustrates how users can see a list of group or public timelines for which they have been invited. Public or group timelines  901  can be accessed in different ways, including, but not limited to, invitations from the creator of the group or public timeline or through a list of public timelines that has been made available to the general public. Consumers  102  can browse public or group timelines and can either purchase (if the content is premium) to mark content to download to their personal timeline. 
         [0046]    Users can also subscribe to a story line of a public or group timeline. A story line is a subset of stories on the group or public timeline that is categorized. For example, the parent of a high school student might subscribe to a storyline called “Soccer Team” so that they get notified when new content is added to that story line on the high school yearbook timeline. 
         [0047]    One or more benefits of the interactive content timeline platform for consumers  102  may include:
       1. Consumers have on platform where they can store and enjoy all of their digital content, including content they&#39;ve purchased from professional digital content vendors.   2. A dynamic and new way for consumers to experience their digital content over time.   3. The ability for consumers to view their digital content by zooming in and out of time.   4. The ability for consumers to easily purchase digital content from digital content vendors from any device and have the purchased content be automatically added to their timeline.   5. Ability to be notified and take advantage of promotional opportunities from digital content vendors right from any device.   6. Ability to easily capture digital content, such as photos, from people at a private event. People using the platform will get pictures taken by others, which they would not have received otherwise.   7. Ability to easily and privately share digital content or an entire private timeline with family and friends.       
 
         [0055]    Potential benefits for digital content vendors  108  may include one or more of:
       1. A platform for traditional digital content vendors, such as photography companies, to transition from an exclusive printed delivery model to digital, which is what consumers are expecting.   2. Ability for vendors to use the interactive content timeline platform to publicize promotions to existing and potential customers to drive more business.   3. Method for content vendors to deliver a timeline of historical premium content to customers using the timeline.   4. Ability for vendors to drive digital subscription sales from consumers that want to upload and store all of their digital content in the interactive content timeline platform.       
 
         [0060]    Ability to sell premium digital content to a group of consumers at a private event using the mobile application. 
         [0061]      FIG. 10  is a block schematic diagram of a computer system  1000  to implement the various systems and devices that implement methods according to example embodiments. All components need not be used in various embodiments. One example computing device in the form of a computer  1000 , may include a processing unit  1002 , memory  1003 , removable storage  1010 , and non-removable storage  1012 . Although the example computing device is illustrated and described as computer  1000 , the computing device may be in different forms in different embodiments. For example, the computing device may instead be a smartphone, a tablet, smartwatch, or other computing device including the same or similar elements as illustrated and described with regard to  FIG. 10 . Devices such as smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches are generally collectively referred to as mobile devices. Further, although the various data storage elements are illustrated as part of the computer  1000 , the storage may also or alternatively include cloud-based storage accessible via a network, such as the Internet. 
         [0062]    Memory  1003  may include volatile memory  1014  and non-volatile memory  1008 . Computer  1000  may include—or have access to a computing environment that includes—a variety of computer-readable media, such as volatile memory  1014  and non-volatile memory  1008 , removable storage  1010  and non-removable storage  1012 . Computer storage includes random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) &amp; electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technologies, compact disc read-only memory (CD ROM), Digital Versatile Disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium capable of storing computer-readable instructions. 
         [0063]    Computer  1000  may include or have access to a computing environment that includes input  1006 , output  1004 , and a communication connection  1016 . Output  1004  may include a display device, such as a touchscreen, that also may serve as an input device. The input  1006  may include one or more of a touchscreen, touchpad, mouse, keyboard, camera, one or more device-specific buttons, one or more sensors integrated within or coupled via wired or wireless data connections to the computer  1000 , and other input devices. The computer may operate in a networked environment using a communication connection to connect to one or more remote computers, such as database servers. The remote computer may include a personal computer (PC), server, router, network PC, a peer device or other common network node, or the like. The communication connection may include a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), cellular, WiFi, Bluetooth, or other networks. 
         [0064]    Computer-readable instructions stored on a computer-readable medium are executable by the processing unit  1002  of the computer  1000 . A hard drive, CD-ROM, and RAM are some examples of articles including a non-transitory computer-readable medium such as a storage device. The terms computer-readable medium and storage device do not include carrier waves. For example, a computer program  1018  capable of providing a generic technique to perform access control check for data access and/or for doing an operation on one of the servers in a component object model (COM) based system may be included on a CD-ROM and loaded from the CD-ROM to a hard drive. The computer-readable instructions allow computer  1000  to provide generic access controls in a COM based computer network system having multiple users and servers. 
         [0065]    Although a few embodiments have been described in detail above, other modifications are possible. For example, the logic flows depicted in the figures do not require the particular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirable results. Other steps may be provided, or steps may be eliminated, from the described flows, and other components may be added to, or removed from, the described systems. Other embodiments may be within the scope of the following claims.