System, method, and computer program product for selective replacement of objectionable program content with less-objectionable content
First Claim
1. An apparatus for selectively replacing objectionable content in a program received as a first signal with less-objectionable content, comprising:
- an extraction device receiving at least a portion of the first signal and configured to extract information therefrom;
a replacement control device;
a processor operatively coupled to said replacement control device and communicatively coupled to said extraction device for receiving at least a portion of said extracted information therefrom;
a memory coupled to said processor and storing a replacement criterion;
said processor programmed to identify replacement information in said extracted information;
a second signal including said less-objectionable content communicatively coupled to said replacement control device;
said processor programmed to cause said replacement control device to replace a portion of the first signal with said second signal in response to identifying replacement information that satisfies said replacement criterion.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system, method, and computer program product is provided for the selective replacement of objectionable content in a program with less-objectionable material. The selective replacement of objectionable content in a program with less-objectionable material is accomplished by applying an encoding process and a decoding process to the audio and/or video signal of the program. The encoding process includes marking potentially objectionable material in the program with replacement information that identifies the type (e.g., audio, violent content, sexual content, etc.) and intensity level (e.g., mild, graphic, extreme, etc.) of the potentially objectionable material using replacement codes. The decoding process includes comparing, during the presentation of the program to the user and prior to outputting the audio or displaying the video, the replacement information to a replacement criterion, which includes user supplied replacement settings, to determine whether replacement of the potentially objectionable content (i.e., audio and/or video) should be performed. If replacement is to be performed, the objectionable content in the program is replaced according to the replacement information which, in the preferred embodiment, identifies the start and duration of the replacement and, for replacement of the video of the program, also identifies the display area of the video to be replaced.
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Citations
44 Claims
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1. An apparatus for selectively replacing objectionable content in a program received as a first signal with less-objectionable content, comprising:
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an extraction device receiving at least a portion of the first signal and configured to extract information therefrom;
a replacement control device;
a processor operatively coupled to said replacement control device and communicatively coupled to said extraction device for receiving at least a portion of said extracted information therefrom;
a memory coupled to said processor and storing a replacement criterion;
said processor programmed to identify replacement information in said extracted information;
a second signal including said less-objectionable content communicatively coupled to said replacement control device;
said processor programmed to cause said replacement control device to replace a portion of the first signal with said second signal in response to identifying replacement information that satisfies said replacement criterion. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method selectively replacing objectionable content in a first signal intended for viewing on a display screen with less-objectionable content, said method comprising the steps of:
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storing a replacement criterion in a memory;
receiving said less-objectionable content as a second signal;
receiving the first signal;
extracting replacement information from the first signal;
determining whether said replacement information satisfies said replacement criterion; and
replacing a portion of the first signal with the second signal in response to determining that said replacement information satisfies said replacement criterion. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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Specification