Method and Apparatus for Sharing Electronic Content

1. A method for sharing content between a plurality of electronic cameras comprising: identifying an event associated with a geographic location; detecting plural user-operated cameras proximate the geographic location that acquire electronic content related to the identified event; obtaining the acquired electronic content from at least two of the user-operated cameras that are proximate the event; comparing preference factors of the acquired electronic content obtained from the at least two user-operated cameras; selecting acquired content from one of the user-operated cameras based on the compared preference factors; and providing the selected electronic content to one or more output devices.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the one or more output devices are located remotely from the plural user-operated cameras.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising: utilizing a positioning system to detect that the plural user-operated cameras are a predetermined geographical distance from the geographic location of the event.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3 , further comprising: identifying a geographic longitude coordinate and a latitude coordinate of each user-operated camera.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising: determining a perspective viewing location of a user-operated camera that is acquiring content.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the electronic content is in a 3D format.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the electronic content is in a high definition format.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the providing step provides selected electronic content to the output devices as a data stream.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8 , further comprising: storing the electronic content.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising: providing advertisement data as part of the electronic content.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10 , further comprising: selecting the advertisement data based on a geographical location of the output device receiving the advertisement data.

12. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising: identifying capabilities of the detected cameras.

13. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising: identifying the geographic location of one or more second user-operated cameras; generating a notification related to the event; and transmitting the notification to at least one of the second user-operated cameras.

14. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the plural user-operated cameras that acquire the electronic content are fixed cameras.

15. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising: associating a user-applied tag to the electronic content.

16. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising: identifying one or more available processing modules, the available processing modules being able to process electronic content; providing electronic content to selected one or more available processing modules; processing the electronic content at the selected one or more available processing modules; and providing the processed electronic content to at least one output device.

17. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising: providing to a user device a listing of user-operated cameras that are acquiring data related to the event; receiving a selection of a listed user-operated camera from the user device; and providing content to the user device from the selected user-operated camera.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17 , wherein the listing of user-operated cameras includes functionality of each listed user-operated camera.

19. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising: restricting electronic content provided by one of the user-operated cameras based on a user of that one user-operated camera refusing to provide electronic content to an output device.

20. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising: providing to a user device a listing of user-operated cameras that are acquiring data related to the event; receiving a selection of a media format from the user device; and providing content to the user device based on the selected media format.

21. The method as claimed in claim 20 , further comprising: providing a plurality of content to the user device in a plurality of formats simultaneously.

22. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the user-operated cameras include audio output devices.

23. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the electronic content is text content.

24. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the electronic content includes at least one of video content, image content and audio content.

25. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the step of identifying an event further comprises: identifying a plurality of events within a predefined geographical region; organizing the plurality of events within the predefined geographical region into one or more clusters; and labeling the one or more clusters.

26. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the step of identifying an event further comprises: identifying a plurality of events within a predefined time period; organizing the plurality of events within the predefined time period into one or more clusters; and labeling the one or more clusters.