http://www.peertopatent.org/patent/20070220583/activity In a method of enhancing a viewer's experience of a video program, a plurality of selectable alternative video program scenes are provided for a video program being viewed on a display. The selectable alternative program versions are pre-rendered video scenes. A user is prompted to select at least one of the selectable alternative video program scenes for viewing. en-us Methods of enhancing media content narrative There are a variety of patents and applications pending related to viewing different versions of a video program. They aren't focussed on the editing/assembling part as much as the viewing part. There seems to be some strong art on the assembling pieces. As for the viewing, take a look at www.clearplay.com (and search on MovieMask, which is no longer active but did something similar) where you can watch a standed DVD with a "profile" to see an edited version (without objectional content for example). The patents and apps I mentioned are US6813438, US6889383, and US20060101487A1. The second patent discusses "reframing" content, so is not just skipping parts (it is one of ClearPlay's patents). Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:42:49 -0800 http://www.peertopatent.org/patent/20070220583/discussion Methods of enhancing media content narrative Regarding [[claim 00002]] This idea reminds me a lot of those "Choose your own adventure" books. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choose_Your_Own_Adventure Where you get to a point in the story line and you get to decide what the character does. Based on your decision the outcome of the story changes. So if you decide for the character to take door #1 then they have a different adventure than they would've under door #2. Applying this idea to movies playing different clips based on user selection seems novel and very interesting. Could change the way the movie going experience is currently today. The audience could vote as a whole on which option to select. Sun, 06 Jan 2008 10:27:35 -0800 http://www.peertopatent.org/patent/20070220583/discussion Methods of enhancing media content narrative Along the lines of above. Image if you're watching a movie with your kids and there is a scene that is rated R. Perhaps the menu would show two options: 1. the PG version 2. the R version. Which would allow families to skip the bad content but still enjoy the movie together. Sun, 06 Jan 2008 10:30:48 -0800 http://www.peertopatent.org/patent/20070220583/discussion Methods of enhancing media content narrative The only difference I see between the present invention and the known prior art is the fact that the user can select between different "cuts" of the movie and that feature does not appear to be "technical" (because it has to do only with the video stream content); I think therefore, that from the technical point of view, the invention is not new and/or inventive. Fri, 28 Dec 2007 05:59:21 -0800 http://www.peertopatent.org/patent/20070220583/discussion Methods of enhancing media content narrative This idea under review is about putting a menu in a movie that allows the viewer to select alternative scenes. Its features are intended to be interactive, including hyperlinks to the world wide web. This will allow for greater depth of information on whatever media is being used. From the technical aspects we understood it seems very similar to current technology. Until further benefits are shown for other types of media (not movies) we feel that the current idea under discussion is too similar to what is already out there to warrant a patent. Certain aspects of this new technology open up doors that may not be wanted by the end user (i.e. advertisements). If a patent were to be issued it seems it would be useful to education rather than the everyday movie viewer. We think there could also be a small market for those who are interested in directing movies. It would allow them to get a feel for what it is like to decide on the final cut of a movie. Overall, the idea is too similar to what is already out there and the few differences it does present only cater to a small market of users. Wed, 28 Nov 2007 18:31:25 -0800 http://www.peertopatent.org/patent/20070220583/discussion