Microsoft News Tracker

Press release at the Houston Chronicle:

Feb. 15, 2006–Today MONKEYmedia, Inc. (http://www.monkey.com) is announcing that they have entered into a licensing agreement with Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) for patents related to interactive video technologies.

The “Seamless Expansion” family of patents pertains to methods for media telescoping, such as the cinematic insertion of ancillary or advertising content into IP video streams. The “Relativity Controller” family of patents, which dates back to 1992, pertains to methods for navigating video and other media by de-emphasizing the display of non-salient content.
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Austin-based MONKEYmedia is a privately held user interface design shop turned intellectual property licensing boutique, founded in 1994 by Janna Buckmaster Bear and Eric Gould Bear, a Microsoft alumnus.

If you navigate the all Flash interface of the MONKEYmedia web site to the portfolio section there are Adobe Acrobat files of the patents.