System and corresponding method for facilitating application of a digital video-effect to a temporal portion of a video segment

• US 10,455,257 B1
• Filed: 09/24/2015
• Issued: 10/22/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tribune Broadcasting Company Incorporated (Nexstar Media Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Tribune Broadcasting Company Incorporated (Nexstar Media Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Propst, Scott Allan, Lasher, Dana A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chae, Kyu
• Application Number:
  US14/864,117
• Time in Patent Office: 1,489 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/226 Characteristics of the server or Internal components of the server
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/233 Processing of audio elementary streams monitoring, identification or recognition of audio in broadcast systems H04H60/58
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23418 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics television picture signal circuitry for scene change detection H04N5/147; filtering for image enhancement G06T5/00; methods or arrangements for recognising scenes G06V20/00; arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23424 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for inserting or substituting an advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234345 the reformatting operation being performed only on part of the stream, e.g. a region of the image or a time segment
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26233 involving content or additional data duration or size, e.g. length of a movie, size of an executable file
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26241 involving the time of distribution, e.g. the best time of the day for inserting an advertisement or airing a children program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8126 involving additional data, e.g. news, sports, stocks, weather forecasts
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/854 Content authoring

Abstract

In one aspect, an example method for use in a video-broadcast system having a DVE system includes: (i) receiving an instruction to apply a particular DVE of a double-box DVE type to a temporal portion of a video segment based, at least in part, on the temporal portion of the video segment being suitable for having a DVE of the double-box DVE type applied thereto; (ii) making a determination that a particular temporal portion of the video segment has been identified as being suitable for having a DVE of the double-box DVE type applied thereto; and (iii) based, at least in part, on the received instruction and the determination, transmitting to the DVE system an instruction that causes the DVE system to apply the particular DVE to at least part of the particular temporal portion of the video segment.

Claims

1. A method for use in a video-broadcast system having a digital video-effect (DVE) system, the method comprising:

receiving an instruction to apply a particular DVE of a double-box DVE type to a non-particular temporal portion of a video segment based, at least in part, on the temporal portion of the video segment being suitable for having a DVE of the double-box DVE type applied thereto, wherein the non-particular temporal portion of the video segment is less than the entire video segment, wherein receiving the instruction comprises (i) receiving a portion of a traffic schedule generated by a traffic system, wherein the traffic schedule is a schedule of broadcast-related events for a particular channel or station, and (ii) extracting the instruction from the received portion of the traffic schedule;

making a determination that a particular temporal portion of the video segment has been identified as being suitable for having a DVE of the double-box DVE type applied thereto; and

based, at least in part, on the received instruction and the determination, transmitting to the DVE system an instruction that causes the DVE system to apply the particular DVE to at least part of the particular temporal portion of the video segment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the instruction comprises receiving an instruction to apply the particular DVE of the double-box DVE type to a temporal portion of a video segment based, at least in a part, on (i) the temporal portion of the video segment being suitable for having a DVE of the double-box DVE type applied thereto and (ii) the temporal portion of the video segment having at least a threshold duration, the method further comprising:

determining a duration of the particular temporal portion, wherein based, at least in part, on the received instruction and the determination, transmitting to the DVE system the instruction comprises, based, at least in part, on the received instruction, the determination, and the determined duration, transmitting to the DVE system the instruction.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the determination is a first determination, wherein receiving the instruction comprises receiving an instruction to apply the particular DVE to a temporal portion of a video segment based, at least in a part, on (i) the temporal portion of the video segment being suitable for having a DVE of the double-box DVE type applied thereto, (ii) the temporal portion of the video segment having at least a threshold duration, and (iii) the temporal portion of the video segment being, according to the traffic schedule, a next scheduled video segment that (a) is suitable for having a DVE of the double-box DVE type applied thereto and (b) has at least the threshold duration, the method further comprising:

making a second determination that the particular temporal portion of the video segment is, according to a particular traffic schedule, a next scheduled video segment that (i) has been identified as being suitable for having a DVE of the double-box DVE type applied thereto and (ii) has at least the threshold duration, wherein based, at least in part, on the received instruction, the first determination, and the determined duration, transmitting to the DVE system the instruction comprises, based, at least in part, on the received instruction, the first determination, the determined duration, and the second determination, transmitting to the DVE system the instruction.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein making the determination comprises making the determination based on input received via a user interface.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the particular temporal portion of the video segment as being suitable for having a DVE of the double-box DVE type applied thereto, wherein identifying the particular temporal portion of the video segment as being suitable for having a DVE of the double-box DVE type applied thereto comprises (i) detecting that video content of the particular temporal portion of the video segment includes attribution credits and (ii) detecting that audio content corresponding to the video content has a particular property.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein detecting that audio content corresponding to the video content has the particular property comprise detecting that the audio content does not include spoken dialog.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein detecting that audio content corresponding to the video content has the particular property comprise detecting that the audio content includes music.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting to the DVE system the instruction comprises transmitting to the DVE system an instruction that causes the DVE system to, proximate a starting time of the particular temporal portion of the video segment, apply the particular DVE to the particular temporal portion of the video segment.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the DVE system comprises a stunt switcher.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon program instructions that when executed cause performance of a set of acts comprising:

receiving an instruction to apply a particular DVE of a double-box DVE type to a non-particular temporal portion of a video segment based, at least in part, on the temporal portion of the video segment being suitable for having a DVE of the double-box DVE type applied thereto, wherein the non-particular temporal portion of the video segment is less than the entire video segment, wherein receiving the instruction comprises (i) receiving a portion of a traffic schedule generated by a traffic system, wherein the traffic schedule is a schedule of broadcast-related events for a particular channel or station, and (ii) extracting the instruction from the received portion of the traffic schedule;

making a determination that a particular temporal portion of the video segment has been identified as being suitable for having a DVE of the double-box DVE type applied thereto; and

based, at least in part, on the received instruction and the determination, transmitting to a DVE system an instruction that causes the DVE system to apply the particular DVE to at least part of the particular temporal portion of the video segment.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein receiving the instruction comprises receiving an instruction to apply the particular DVE of a particular double-box DVE type to a temporal portion of a video segment based, at least in a part, on (i) the temporal portion of the video segment being suitable for having a DVE of the double-box DVE type applied thereto and (ii) the temporal portion of the video segment having at least a threshold duration, the set of acts further comprising:

determining a duration of the particular temporal portion, wherein based, at least in part, on the received instruction and the determination, transmitting to the DVE system the instruction comprises, based, at least in part, on the received instruction, the determination, and the determined duration, transmitting to the DVE system the instruction.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the determination is a first determination, wherein receiving the instruction comprises receiving an instruction to apply the particular DVE to a temporal portion of a video segment based, at least in a part, on (i) the temporal portion of the video segment being suitable for having a DVE of the double-box DVE type applied thereto, (ii) the temporal portion of the video segment having at least a threshold duration, and (iii) the temporal portion of the video segment being, according to the traffic schedule, a next scheduled video segment that (a) is suitable for having a DVE of the double-box DVE type applied thereto and (b) has at least the threshold duration, the set of acts further comprising:

making a second determination that the particular temporal portion of the video segment is, according to a particular traffic schedule, a next scheduled video segment that (i) has been identified as being suitable for having a DVE of the double-box DVE type applied thereto and (ii) has at least the threshold duration, wherein based, at least in part, on the received instruction, the first determination, and the determined duration, transmitting to the DVE system the instruction comprises, based, at least in part, on the received instruction, the first determination, the determined duration, and the second determination, transmitting to the DVE system the instruction.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein making the determination comprises making the determination based on input received via a user interface.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, the set of acts further comprising:

identifying the particular temporal portion of the video segment as being suitable for having a DVE of the double-box DVE type applied thereto, wherein identifying the particular temporal portion of the video segment as being suitable for having a DVE of the double-box DVE type applied thereto comprises (i) detecting that video content of the particular temporal portion of the video segment includes attribution credits and (ii) detecting that audio content corresponding to the video content has a particular property.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein detecting that audio content corresponding to the video content has the particular property comprise detecting that the audio content does not include spoken dialog.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein detecting that audio content corresponding to the video content has the particular property comprise detecting that the audio content includes music.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein transmitting to the DVE system the instruction comprises transmitting to the DVE system an instruction that causes the DVE system to, proximate a starting time of the particular temporal portion of the video segment, apply the particular DVE to the particular temporal portion of the video segment.

18. A video-broadcast system comprising:

an automation system;

a communication network; and

a digital video-effect (DVE) system connected to the automation system via the communication network, wherein the automation system is configured for performing a set of acts comprising;

receiving an instruction to apply a particular DVE of a double-box DVE type to a non-particular temporal portion of a video segment based, at least in part, on the temporal portion of the video segment being suitable for having a DVE of the double-box DVE type applied thereto, wherein the non-particular temporal portion of the video segment is less than the entire video segment, wherein receiving the instruction comprises (i) receiving a portion of a traffic schedule generated by a traffic system, wherein the traffic schedule is a schedule of broadcast-related events for a particular channel or station, and (ii) extracting the instruction from the received portion of the traffic schedule;

making a determination that a particular temporal portion of the video segment has been identified as being suitable for having a DVE of the double-box DVE type applied thereto; and

based, at least in part, on the received instruction and the determination, transmitting to the DVE system an instruction that causes the DVE system to apply the particular DVE to at least part of the particular temporal portion of the video segment.