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Abstract: A method and apparatus for information presentation and management in an online trading environment are provided. According to one aspect of the present invention, person-to-person commerce over the Internet is facilitated by providing prospective buyers the ability to quickly preview items for sale. Images are harvested (455) from a plurality of sites based upon user-supplied information. The user-supplied information (420) includes descriptions of items for sale and locations from which images that are to be associated with the items can be retrieved. Thumbnail images are created (430) corresponding to the harvested images and are aggregated onto web page for presentation at a remote site (470). According to another aspect of the present invention, a user may submit a query to preview items for sale. After receiving the query, thumbnail images corresponding to items that satisfy the user query are displayed, each of the thumbnail images previously having been created based upon a user-specified image.

Abstract: Streaming compressed digital hypervideo received upon a digital communications network is decoded (decompressed) and played in a client-computer-based "video on web VCR" software system. Scene changes, if not previously marked upstream, are automatically detected, and typically twenty-one past scenes are displayed as thumbnail images. Hyperlinks within the main video scene, and/or any thumbnail image, show as hotspots, with text annotations typically appearing upon a cursor "mouse over". All hyperlinks--as are provided and inserted by, inter alia, the upstream network service provider (the "ISP")--may be, and preferably are, full-custom dynamically-resolved to each subscriber/user/viewer ("SUV") upon volitional "click throughs" by the SUV, including retrospectively on past hypervideo scenes as appear within the thumbnail images. Hyperlinking permits (i) retrieving information and commercials, including streaming video/hypervideo, from any of local storage, a network (or Internet) service provider ("ISP"), a network content provider, and/or an advertiser network site, (ii) entering a contest of skill or a lottery of chance, (iii) gambling, (iv) buying (and less often, selling), (v) responding to a survey, and expressing an opinion, and/or (vi) sounding an alert.

Abstract: Techniques for poster-thumbnail and/or animated thumbnail development and/or usage to effectively navigate for potential selection between a plurality of images or programs/video files or video segments. The poster and animated thumbnail images are presented in a GUI on adapted apparatus to provide an efficient system for navigating, browsing and/or selecting images or programs or video segments to be viewed by a user. The poster and animated thumbnails may be automatically produced without human-necessary editing and may also have one or more various associated data (such as text overlay, image overlay, cropping, text or image deletion or replacement, and/or associated audio).

Abstract: A tool that enables a user to easily and automatically create a photo gallery of thumbnail images on a Web page. A user selects a group of original images, and the tool automatically produces a corresponding group of thumbnail images on the Web page, with hyperlinks to the corresponding original images. Four predefined templates are included, each defining a different format for the thumbnail images including a vertically oriented gallery, a horizontally oriented gallery, a slide show gallery, and a montage gallery. Captions and descriptive text can also be entered and displayed for the thumbnail images in most of the style galleries. An edit function enables a user to add or delete images to existing galleries and to automatically modify the appearance of a photo gallery by selecting and applying a different template.