Google Inc.

Geoff Stearns

Jasson Schrock

Simon Ratner

Julian Frumar

Ryan Junee

A method for presenting content comprises receiving a content item; receiving a plurality of thumbnails from the content item, each thumbnail associated with a point in the content item; playing the content item starting at a first point; receiving in a user interface a selection at a second point in the content item; presenting, in the user interface, first content of the content item at the second point; and presenting, in the user interface, a subset of the plurality of thumbnails, the subset arranged based on a predetermined order and including a thumbnail associated with the second point.

Video player with assisted seek

A method for navigating video content comprising the steps of receiving a video content item; receiving a plurality of thumbnails from the video content item, each thumbnail associated with a time point in the video content item; playing the video content item starting at a first time point; receiving in the user interface a gesture having a magnitude and a direction, the magnitude associated with a speed of playing of the video content item, the direction associated with a direction of playing of the video content item, and the gesture received at a second time point in the video content item; displaying a first subset of the plurality of thumbnails; receiving a selection of a third time point in the video content item; and playing the video content item at the third time point.

A computer-implemented method provides a user interface for users to navigate through a video content item with various navigation options including the ability to navigate through portions of the video content item not buffered at the user's viewer. The navigation method receives gestures from users that result in navigation.

Video thumbnails are presented on the web page of a video hosting site, or an embedded player, or a client device. Uploaded videos are examined by a thumbnail generator, which generates thumbnails from each. A presentation engine displays the generated thumbnails, which allows interaction by the user of the client. Thumbnails are displayed at rest, in horizontal or vertical alignment. Arrows or other selectors are displayed in one embodiment, and when selected cause the displayed thumbnails to appear to move in the appropriate direction, with new video thumbnails appearing on one end to replace those that travel off-screen. In one embodiment, video thumbnails appear to roll on to and off of the display using a perspective view. In one embodiment, moving a selecting device over one of the video thumbnails causes it to be accentuated, for example by appearing to move toward the viewer and appearing to increase in size.

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San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Geoff Stearns