HotVideo Multimedia Interface

  

Information at the touch of a button. That’s what the Internet gives you. Going from Web site to home page to in depth information has been possible due to the use of hypertext, which indicates links to related screens. With the onslaught of videos and graphics on the Internet, hypervideo was the natural next step. Now, IBM Research has a new technology that takes the connection even further.

Hot Video is an innovative implementation of hypervideo. It extends the concept of hyper links from text and images to any dynamic object within a video. With HotVideo, sections of a digital video can be linked to various locations, such as home pages, other video clips, audio clips, images, text or executables. HotVideo transforms the two dimensional space of ordinary videos into true multimedia information space.

The video source for HotVideo can reside in disks, DVD`s, server files or from a web server over the Internet. When a video is played, HotVideo synchronises data that resides in different files. Since the information is stored separately, the video itself never changes. What appears is an indicator that highlights a hot link location. A green indicator means there is no link. When the indicator turns red, it means there is a hot link. Hot Video is not intrusive, the user can either connect to another location, or continue to view the video.

HotVideo includes a highly flexible authoring tool that enables users to customise the look of their hot links and even the way the interface works. For example, a colour or highlighting change can be set up so that it is revealed on demand by the user by clicking on the right mouse button. Another way to customise may even require that the user find the hot link, a feature which could be used in applications such as games.

With various options and the ability to use the authoring tool to customise, HotVideo may be used for virtually any application that contains a video. It can be easily adapted to other programs, which opens up endless possibilities. It is considered a platform for interactive videos. Naturally, it could enhance the depth and effectiveness of Web pages as well as presentation videos, DVD`s or digital videos. TV networks could use HotVideo to explore new forms of programming, giving them the ability to learn about customer preferences or sell subsidiary services. For example, a travel program might sell HotVideo links to the sites of travel agencies, airlines, shops or other businesses that were featured in that program. HotVideo may have its roots in the Internet, but its possible uses go far beyond the world wide web.

Hardware | Software | The Internet