Patent Publication Number: US-2010125609-A1

Title: Digital Comic and Sequential Art Multimedia File Format

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention generally relates to a digital file format that specifies a standard for storing sequential art, such as a comic book, in a single unified file type. 
     Currently, publishers, artists, and writers do not have a secure, unified file format that protects their sequential art content in a digital format. Consequently, copyright owners rely on formats such as CBR, CBZ, PDF, and CXP in order to encapsulate their content. 
     As can be seen, what is needed is a digital file format that specifies a standard for storing sequential art. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In one aspect of the present invention, a multimedia file embedded on a computer readable storage medium has a file format comprising a file header section including metadata describing the multimedia file; and a file body section including a frame information section for each frame in a sequence of frames in the multimedia file. 
     These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings, description and claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows a block diagram of an exemplary file format in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The following detailed description is of the best currently contemplated modes of carrying out exemplary embodiments of the invention. The description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention, since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims. 
     Various inventive features are described below that can each be used independently of one another or in combination with other features. 
     Broadly, embodiments of the present invention generally provides a Digital Comic and Sequential Art Multimedia File Format that specifies a standard for storing sequential still art such, as a comic book, in a single unified file type, thus providing a user experience of combined sound, animation, and still art in a creative bundle that adds to the traditional comic experience. The file format may support audio, video, animation, and metadata related to the sequential art or multi layered, time indexed, comic formats, and may also allow multiple media formats with individual digital rights to be bundled and presented in a consolidated media experience, enabling intellectual property to be registered in a media file library. 
     The multimedia file storing the sequential art may also conceptually mimic a physical comic book, such as by having one or more “pages” that have one or more “frames” of the sequential data, and by having information such as volume, issue, and year that are commonly found in physical comic books. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates an example of a file format for a digital comic and sequential art multimedia file in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The multimedia file  100  may be divided into two major functions: a file header section  110  and a file body section  210 . The file header section  110  can include metadata  120  that describes the multimedia file  100  and defines the organization of the rest of the associated parts of the multimedia file  100  as well as additional information about the overall contents of the multimedia file  100 . 
     The metadata  120  may include a unique file identifier  122 , a program version  124  of the multimedia file  100 , a file version  126 , a number of frames  150  indicating the number of frames and/or pages contained within the multimedia file  100 , volume  128 , issue  130 , year  132 , suggested age  134 , sound volume  136 , soundtrack loop  140 , soundtrack volume  138 , soundtrack creator data  144 , soundtrack data  142 , publisher data  146 , publisher ID  145 , title data  148 , number of artists  152 , artist data  154  for each artist in the multimedia file  100 , number of authors  156 , author data  158  for each author in the multimedia file  100 , number of categories  160 , and category data  162  for each category in the multimedia file  100 . 
     The file body section  210  may sequentially follow the file header section  110  in the multimedia file  100 , and can contain the sequence of frames that define the content of sequential art contained within the multimedia file  100 . The file body section  210  may also include encryption information for encrypting itself via use of standard encryption algorithms such as 3DES or SHA1, or via use of a proprietary implementation of encryption algorithms. 
     For each frame in the sequence of frames of the sequential art contained within the multimedia file  100 , the file body section  210  can contain a frame information section containing a frame identifier  212  identifying the page the frame is grouped with, a frame page  214 , a frame height  216 , a frame width  218 , frame transcript data  219 , an image data  220 , a sound volume  222 , a sound data  224 , video data  225 , and the number of animations  226 . For each animation in a frame, the frame information section may further include animation information  236  including an animation identifier  238 , an animation data  240 , an animation sound volume  242 , and an animation sound data  244 . 
     The components of the file format may be stored in a sequence within a single file, such as a CCX file. The sequence of data stored within the file may determine the level of security and protection imposed on the file. In an unprotected file, the header and body may be sequentially stored, with the header at the beginning of the file followed by the frames or pages in the body of the file. In a protected file, the bytes of the header and body may be intermingled and encrypted so as to obscure the implementation of the digital media, and to protect the owner&#39;s rights to the media. The file format is a specification of bytes within a file. Portions of the file format are sequential as the nature of the media using the format is sequential. In that sense, the sequence of frames, pages, metadata, audio, video, animation, and security measures may be re-ordered in other subjective ways. The file format may also be versioned in order to permit the growth of the format over time to support newer technologies and needs. 
     A file organized according to the file format described herein may be embodied upon computer readable storage medium and may be read by a “reader” program on a computer that consumes and presents the data contained therein. The reader can use the metadata contained within the file to display a summary of the file in an electronic user interface. The content or data for the sequence of frames stored within the file may be displayed as a visual and aural representation of each frame through whatever mechanisms are available to the reader, such as in a computer program, on a mobile phone, or on a video game console. The reader would be expected to decrypt the frames for presentation. 
     While the above-described embodiments of the present invention may relate to a file format for multimedia files storing sequential art, the above-described file format may also be used to support other digital, sequential media. For example, the format can be used to create medical journals with triggered audio for specific portions of the journal. The file format has been designed with a “frame” or “page” as the lowest common denominator, so that each page or frame can contain its own set of metadata, audio, animations, video, or other such information. 
     It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing relates to exemplary embodiments of the invention and that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.