Shawn G Hopwood

US Patent:

20100150520, Jun 17, 2010

Filed:

Dec 3, 2009

Appl. No.:

12/630287

Inventors:

Shawn Hopwood - San Francisco CA, US
Pierre Lemieux - San Mateo CA, US

Assignee:

DOLBY LABORATORIES LICENSING CORPORATION - San Francisco CA

International Classification:

H04N 5/93
G09G 5/00
G06F 3/048

US Classification:

386 52, 345660, 715838

Abstract:

In a class of embodiments, a method for controlling playback of a video program by a media player including by providing visual feedback (referred to as a thumbnail) indicative of content of the program at a target location, a media player configured to perform any embodiment of the method, and a computer readable medium which stores code for implementing any embodiment of the method. Preferably at least one thumbnail is displayed and updated in real-time during playback of the program. Typically each thumbnail is a compressed or reduced-scale version of a frame of the program at, or a representative image of a segment of the program including, the target location. Typically, the thumbnail is an element of a displayed timeline control also including a timeline and an icon, position of the icon along the timeline indicates the target location, and the icon is movable along the timeline in response to user selection of different target locations (typically by asserting commands to the media player using a mouse or other input device). Preferably, data determining each thumbnail are computed prior to playback of the program, and the data and the program are stored prior to playback of the program.