Patent ID: 7840898

Claim:
A method implemented at least in part by a computing device executing computer-executable instructions stored in storage media, the method comprising: dividing a video recording into segments; deriving, for each segment, a digital thumbnail image to represent the segment, the digital thumbnail image comprising a photo of a scene of the segment; reshaping the thumbnail images using a pre-trained shape template such that each thumbnail image comprises an outline shape contour surrounding the photo; storing the digital thumbnail images that represent the segments in a database; printing each digital thumbnail image on paper to create a paper collection of thumbnail images; receiving one of the printed thumbnail images as digital image information captured by a camera as a result of a user taking a photograph of the printed thumbnail image and providing the photograph of the printed thumbnail image to the computing device; identifying the outline shape contour of the thumbnail image using an active shape model search; based upon the identification, restoring the thumbnail image to a pre-trained template shape of the digital thumbnail image; matching, by the computing device, the photograph of the printed thumbnail image with one of the corresponding digital thumbnail images stored in the database; and retrieving and playing, by the computing device, the segment represented by the corresponding digital thumbnail image determined to match the received photograph.