Google files YouTube gaming patent

YouTube - a gaming platform?
YouTube - a gaming platform?

Google has filed a patent that could suggest that YouTube will become a hub for interactive gaming as well as the world's most popular video site.

BNET uncovered a patent, filed by YouTube owners Google, for what it calls a 'web-based system for generation of interactive games based on digital videos'.

So far, so generic – but the details of the patent are more illuminating; pointing to a layer of interactivity that would allow users to influence the video being shown. A video game, if you will.

Graphical annotation

"Systems and methods are provided for adding and displaying interactive annotations for existing online hosted videos. A graphical annotation interface allows the creation of annotations and association of the annotations with a video," reads the patent document.

"Annotations may be of different types and have different functionality, such as altering the appearance and/or behavior of an existing video, e.g. by supplementing it with text, allowing linking to other videos or web pages, or pausing playback of the video.

"Authentication of a user desiring to perform annotation of a video may be performed in various manners, such as by checking a uniform resource locator (URL) against an existing list, checking a user identifier against an access list, and the like.

"As a result of authentication, a user is accorded the appropriate annotation abilities, such as full annotation, no annotation, or annotation restricted to a particular temporal or spatial portion of the video."

So, look forward to decapitating the dramatic chipmunk or choosing the moves for the lightsaber kid.

Via Slashdot

Patrick Goss

Patrick Goss is the ex-Editor in Chief of TechRadar. Patrick was a passionate and experienced journalist, and he has been lucky enough to work on some of the finest online properties on the planet, building audiences everywhere and establishing himself at the forefront of digital content.  After a long stint as the boss at TechRadar, Patrick has now moved on to a role with Apple, where he is the Managing Editor for the App Store in the UK.