AU2002327981A1

AU2002327981A1 - Film transmission

Info

Publication number: AU2002327981A1
Application number: AU2002327981A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Richard Bednall
Original assignee: HONEY (GB) PLC
Current assignee: HONEY (GB) PLC
Priority date: 2001-10-02
Filing date: 2002-09-27
Publication date: 2003-04-14

Description

FILM TRANSMISSION

This invention concerns the transmission of digitally recorded films

over an electronic mail network, particularly but not necessarily exclusively

the multicast transmission of films to selected recipients on the Internet. The term "film" is used herein to refer to a recording on any medium

from which a moving image, with or without sound, may by any means be

produced.

Insofar as the invention makes use of proprietary computer systems

and applications, it is hereby acknowledged that the following terms used

herein are or may be trade marks, registered or unregistered: AY Mail,

Dreamweaver, Frontpage, Java, Macromedia, Microsoft, Windows and

Windows Media.

Advertising on the Internet is very extensive, but most of it is

broadcast - that is to say, it is transmitted generally rather than being

channelled to those who are interested in the subject of the advertisement.

The shortcomings in this kind of advertising are well known: notably it is ,

inefficient because the vast majority of people who see any given

advertisement are not at all interested in the product advertised; and it is

largely ineffective because the advertisement is inevitably framed for mass

consumption rather than highlighting features which matter most to

interested viewers.

Multicast advertising has been proposed to tackle these weaknesses of

broadcast advertising. (In fact, multicasting is sometimes known as narrowcasting, to emphasise the difference). Multicast advertising is directed

specifically to people who are known (or, at least, believed) to be interested

in the product advertised, with evident improvements in efficiency and

effectiveness. The Internet, and intranet and other systems organised on similar

principles, allow advertising to be very closely targeted, right down to a

single individual, which is ideal for multicasting. Nevertheless Internet advertising remains very primitive, being almost entirely confined to banner

advertisements with minimal movement and no sound. Such advertisements

lack impact, and it is hardly surprising that television continues to attract far

more advertising revenue. But this is changing.

It is well known that television-style films may be transmitted over the

Internet. Microsoft Corporation developed Audio Video Interleave (AVI) for

playback of audio and video from hard disks and CD-ROMs on personal

computers, and more recently defined Advanced Streaming Format (ASF)

which among other things includes synchronising time stamps to facilitate

real time or streaming audio and video playback over the Internet.

From the foregoing discussion it will be understood that the Internet

supports both multicasting (through electronic mail) and film (through AVI).

There is, further, provision for these two things to be combined, through

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME), which allows AVI files and

other multimedia data types to be attached to an electronic mail message. Hence a film in AVI format may be sent to one or more selected recipients as

an attachment to an electronic mail message.

For advertising purposes, the drawback in this is that the

advertisement is an attachment, and it will not be seen unless and until the

recipient opens the attachment. It is an object of the present invention to

enable a film (for advertising or any other purpose) to be associated with an

electronic mail message in such a way that it runs as soon as the message is

viewed.

Thus according to the invention there is provided a method of

transmitting a digitally recorded film by means of an electronic mail network

wherein the film is embedded in the body of an electronic mail message for the network so that the film runs as soon as the message is viewed.

The message may include means, such as instructions coded in Hyper

Text Markup Language (html), to send a reply automatically whenever the

message is opened or forwarded, whereby transmission of the message may

be tracked.

The invention is particularly applicable to the transmission of advertising or other films over the Internet or a part thereof (such as the

World Wide Web or an intranet) and to this end the method may include the

steps of -

(a) encoding the film as a streaming file;

(b) creating a Web page and inserting therein templates and said file; (c) adapting the Web page for viewing as an electronic mail message;

and

(d) preparing the message for transmission to a selected recipient on

the network.

The film may be in AVI and the streaming file in ASF. To facilitate

transmission among different systems connected to the network, the

streaming file may be encoded using a specific encoder with a specific setting.

The Web page is preferably created using a frame-based approach so

that the position of the message may be controlled. The Web page may be

adapted by means of electronic mail sending software arranged, possibly by

modification of its instructions, to embed the message rather than carry it as

an attachment.

The message may of course be sent to a plurality of selected recipients and is preferably, prepared for transmission by inserting the

electronic mail address of the or each recipient and adding in corresponding routing and sending information..

The invention will now be described with reference to specific

examples of the steps in the method which make use of proprietary systems and applications.

A film for transmission by the method is typically a 30 second

advertising film containing both audio and video, recorded (and edited etc) in

AVI format. Those skilled in the science will appreciate that AVI allows an Internet user to download an audio-video file from a remote site for playback

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well suited to real-time or streaming playback over the Internet or other

packet-switched networks because it lacks means to synchronise (and

resynchronise) the audio and video streams to be downloaded from and then

encoded as an ASF streaming file. However an AVI file may be converted to

ASF, which does support audio-video streaming over the Internet. Thus the

first step in transmitting the film by means of the invention is to convert it

from AVI to ASF.

(a Encoding

The conversion process makes use of Windows Media (Version 4.1.0),

which is a suite of digital multimedia applications marketed by Microsoft.

1 Open the Encoder.

2 Choose Custom Settings. Select AVI. Select the filename of the

AVI file to be encoded.

3 Use single bit rate video.

4 Choose the bit rate 80-100 kbps

5 Choose codecs as follows -

Audio: MPEG layer 3 16 kbps 11,025 khz Mono

Video: Microsoft MPEG-4 Video codec VI

6 Click Advanced tab. Choose required size and set slider to 50.

7 Set Delay Buffer to 1.

8 Choose location for the ASF file and name it. 9 Click Finish.

Next, a Web page is created. This is done using a frame based

approach so as to control the positioning of the message to be transmitted in

the window. The process provides three button options (with rollover

options) namely Visit the Website, E-mail Us and Call You Back. The web

page is coded in HTML and specially coded Java and at this stage a tracking

code is inserted. (b) Creating a Web page

The Web page is created by means of Dreamweaver 1, which is a

WYSIWYG web site building application marketed by Macromedia.

1 Create a folder for the message to be transmitted and insert

the ASF file and a selected graphic template (default size 450x320).

2 Open Dreamweaver 1.

3 Save the file as vismail.htm.

4 Insert the graphic template (using Insert-image).

5 Select the Draw Layer tool from the Objects toolbar.

6 Draw a layer where the message is required to appear on the template.

7 In the coding, ensure that the code for the layer is after the

code for the template (moving one or both if necessary).

8 Add in buttons for weblinks (Visit the Website), emaillinks (E- mail Us) and callback (Call You Back).

9 Add a tracking code. 10 Add a source lock code.

11 Save the HTM document and Close.

Once the template is complete, the ASF video file can be added in to

the appropriate frame. Two separate programs are used in the process. The

second one inserts coding which enables the video to begin automatically on

accessing the email.

(c) Adapting the Web page

The Web page is adapted for viewing by means of Frontpage 2000,

which is a Web authoring application marketed by Microsoft.

1 Open Frontpage 2000.

2 Open the HTM document.

3 Click on the Layer area.

4 Click on the Insert and then the Picture tab.

5 Select the Video option.

6 Choose the ASF file, which causes an Object to appear in the

■ top left corner of the Layer. Click and drag this Object until it fills the

Layer area.

7 Adjust the Object by clicking the HTM tab and amending the

values for height and width to those of the ASF file (default 320x160).

8 Click the Preview tab to check that the movie runs satisfactorily

and that it is properly aligned. Adjust HTML settings as appropriate.

9 Save the HTM document.

10 Click on the HTM tab. Select all the HTML code. Press CTRL C. 11 Close Frontpage 2000.

The HTM page is now transferred to specific email sending software.

Here it is adapted so that the graphics and video files are not carried as

attachments but embedded within the email itself. This is achieved by adding in a ci d : prefix within the application code.

The message is prepared for transmission to the selected recipients by

inserting their group of electronic mail addresses and adding in

corresponding routing and sending information. At this stage the embedded

files are programmed into the software for onwards transmission.

fd) Preparing for transmission

The message is prepared for transmission by means of an electronic mail sending application known as AY Mail.

1 , Open AY Mail V1.7.

2 Click on the Message tab.

3, Press CTRL V to reveal the application code.

4 For every graphic (templates/buttons, gifs etc) change the

code as follows -

Change ...src="Backgroundl. jpg"... to ...src=cid: Backgroundl.jpg...

Change ...dynsrc="vi smail . asf"... to ...dynsrc=cid :vismail . asf...

5 Click on the Recipients tag and insert electronic mail addresses for the or each intended recipient of the message. (This may be done

by cut and paste from any text file).

6 Click on the Header and then - In the To field put Reci pi ents

In the From field put the sender's electronic mail address

In the Subject field put vi smai 1.

7 Click Attachments. Attach all the graphics files and the ASF file

that comprise the message, but excluding the HTM document.

8 Click on the Options tab and put in the sender's Simple Mail

Transfer Protocol (SMTP) address.

The message is now ready to be sent. Because the film is embedded

therein it will be seen as soon as the message is viewed by a recipient. Whilst the invention has been described with reference to the use of

particular proprietary computer systems and applications, it will be

understood that the invention may be implemented in other ways, and other

modifications and adaptations will be apparent to those skilled in the science.

Claims

1 A method of transmitting a digitally recorded film by means of

an electronic mail network wherein the film is embedded in the body of an

electronic mail message for the network so that the film runs as soon as the

message is viewed.

2 A method of transmitting a film as claimed in Claim 1 wherein

the message may include means to send a reply automatically whenever the message is opened or forwarded, whereby transmission of the message may

be tracked.

3 A method of transmitting a film as claimed in Claim 2 wherein

the means to send a reply comprises instructions coded in HTML.

4 A method of transmitting a film as claimed in any preceding

claim wherein the network is the Internet or a part thereof and the method

includes the steps of - (a) encoding the film as a streaming file;

(b) creating a Web page and inserting therein templates and said file;

(c) adapting the Web page for viewing as an electronic mail message;

and

(d) preparing the message for transmission to a selected recipient on

the network.

5 A method of transmitting a film as claimed in Claim 4 wherein the film is in AVI and the streaming file is in ASF. 6 A method of transmitting a film as claimed in Claim 4 or Claim

5 wherein the streaming file is encoded by means of an encoder chosen and

arranged to facilitate transmission among different systems connected to the

network. 7 A method of transmitting a film as claimed in any of Claims 4 to

6 wherein the Web page is created using a frame-based approach so that

the position of the message may be controlled.

8 A method of transmitting a film as claimed in any of Claims 4 to

7 wherein the Web page is adapted by means of electronic mail sending

software arranged, to embed the film in the message rather than carry it as

an attachment thereto.

9 A method of transmitting a film as claimed in Claim 8 wherein

instructions of the electronic mail sending application are modified so as to embed the film in the message.

10 A method of transmitting a film as claimed in any of Claims 4 to

9 wherein the message is prepared for transmission by inserting the

electronic mail address of the or each recipient and adding in corresponding routing and sending information.

11 A method of transmitting a film over an electronic mail network

substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the examples.