Methods and systems for displaying videos with overlays and tags

Abstract

In a system and method for displaying a video and an overlay or tag, an application that runs through a browser on a client is used to send a request from the client to a server over a computer network. In response to the request, at least the following is sent from the server to the client: a first uniform resource locator (URL) corresponding to a location on the network where the video is stored, a second URL corresponding to a location on the network where the overlay or tag is stored, and playlist data. The first and second URLs are associated with different servers on the computer network. The first and second URLs and the playlist data are used at the client to retrieve the video and the overlay or tag, and build a playlist. The client merges the video and the overlay into an integrated media sequence that is played to a user via the browser in accordance with the playlist, and displays the tag. The user is automatically linked to content associated with the overlay or tag when the user clicks on a representation of the overlay or tag displayed on the browser.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for adding an overlay to a video, comprising:
 (a) viewing the video in a software application;   (b) selecting an icon displayed by the application, operating in a client's browser, to add the overlay to the video;   (c) clicking the icon in the application at a point in time in the video that the overlay will be seen, and determining its duration;   (d) entering a title for the overlay so the overlay may be easily identified and searched by a user;   (e) creating the overlay content to add to the video, or identifying the location of the overlay content for retrieval by the application; and   (f) storing the created overlay for subsequent retrieval by the application.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the overlay comprises a video overlay, an audio overlay, an image overlay, or a text overlay. 
     
     
         3 . A method for adding a tag to a video, comprising:
 (a) viewing the video in a software application;   (b) selecting an icon displayed by the application, operating in a client's browser, to add the tag to the video;   (c) clicking the icon in the application at a point in time in the video that the tag will be seen along the time-bar, and determining its duration;   (d) entering a title for the tag so the tag may be easily identified and searched by a user;   (e) creating the tag content to add to the video, or identifying the location of the tag content for retrieval by the application; and   (f) storing the created tag for subsequent retrieval by the application.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the tag comprises a video tag, an audio tag, an image tag, or a text tag. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the overlays comprise an advertisement. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the tags comprise an advertisement.