System and method for predictive curation, production infrastructure, and personal content assistant

Abstract

Described herein are systems and methods that utilize data points, calendar entries, trends, behavioral patterns to predict and pre-emptively build digital and printable products with selected collections of images without the user's active participation. Based on analysis of a user's collections and online behaviors, the system may estimate types and volumes of potential media-centric products, and the resources needed for producing and distributing such media-centric products for a projected period of time. Embodiments of the system comprise a user interface that takes the form of a “virtual curator,” which is a graphical or animated persona for augmenting and managing interactions between the user and the system managing the user's stored media assets.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method for providing a customized media-centric product, configured to run a networked computational device comprising a processor and a storage device, the method comprising:
 the processor receiving newly acquired media assets from a user;   the processor initiating an interactive curator for creating a customized media-centric product;   the interactive curator receiving permission from the user to access the user's metadata, wherein the user's metadata comprises the user's contacts and the user's event calendar;   the processor accessing the user's metadata stored on the networked computational device;   the processor converting the user's metadata into cross-referenced metadata, wherein the cross-referenced metadata comprises new metadata created by the interactive curator representing at least one personal trait of the user;   the processor analyzing the cross-referenced metadata against a trigger set, wherein the trigger set comprises trigger events;   the processor identifying a match between the cross-referenced metadata and a trigger event, precipitating the interactive curator to prepare a customized media-centric product, wherein the customized media-centric product is incorporates at least one of the user's media assets or newly acquired multimedia assets; and   presenting, via a graphical user interface on a display, a rendering of the customized media-centric product to the user.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the user interacts with the interactive curator via a networked computational device selected from the group consisting of: a mobile device, a desktop device, a personal computer system, or a retail photo kiosk system. 
     
     
         3 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the trigger set comprises temporal trigger events. 
     
     
         4 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 3 , wherein the temporal trigger events are specific dates identified from network-connected users' calendars, social network accounts, posts, comments. 
     
     
         5 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the trigger set comprises location trigger events. 
     
     
         6 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the trigger set comprises system trigger events. 
     
     
         7 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the trigger events are adapted to accommodate different cultural customs. 
     
     
         8 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising the interactive curator engaging the user to acquire additional information about the media assets to be incorporated in the media-centric product. 
     
     
         9 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 8 , wherein the interactive curator engaging the user further comprises acquiring relevance information regarding the media-centric product and the trigger event. 
     
     
         10 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 8 , wherein the interactive curator engages the user graphically as an avatar via the graphical user interface and audibly via the networked computational device. 
     
     
         11 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 10  further comprising the processor receiving a user selection of at least of (i) a desired level of interaction with the interactive curator and (ii) interaction modality. 
     
     
         12 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , wherein the interaction modality comprises one or more user-selectable interaction modalities selected from the group consisting of: text message, email, voice message, and audio message. 
     
     
         13 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the user's metadata comprises information regarding reoccurring or spontaneous life events. 
     
     
         14 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the user's metadata further comprises one or more of: (i) metadata recorded from contemporaneous activities by a wearable health device, and (ii) pulse rates and blood flow rates extracted from video using Eulerian Video Magnification. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 14 , wherein the match between the cross-referenced metadata and the trigger event is based on the user's metadata recorded from contemporaneous activities by a wearable health device. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the customized media-centric product is prepared by a story generation the process comprising: (i) identifying important media assets, (ii) ranking the important media assets, (iii) grouping the important media assets, and (iv) prioritizing the groups of important media assets based on degrees of similarity between adjacent media assets in the group. 
     
     
         17 . A computer-implemented method for providing a customized media-centric product, configured to run a networked computational device comprising a processor, the method comprising:
 the processor receiving newly acquired media assets from a user;   the processor initiating an interactive curator for creating a customized media-centric product;   the interactive curator receiving permission from the user to access the user's metadata, wherein the user's metadata comprises information derived from the user's social network activities related to each newly acquired media asset;   the processor accessing the user's metadata and analyzing the metadata against a trigger set, wherein the trigger set comprises trigger events;   the processor identifying a match between the metadata and a trigger event, precipitating the interactive curator to engage with the user, wherein engaging with the user comprises proposing a customized media-centric product to the user via a graphical user interface on a display and requesting user feedback, wherein the customized media centric product incorporates at least one of the newly acquired media assets from the user.   
     
     
         18 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 17 , wherein the interactive curator engages with the user graphically as an avatar via the graphical user interface and audibly via the networked computational device. 
     
     
         19 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 17 , wherein engaging with the user further comprises providing an audio narration in association with the proposed customized media-centric product. 
     
     
         20 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 17 , wherein engaging with the user comprises offering to post the proposed customized media-centric product on the user's social networks.