Video detection and insertion

• US 20040189873A1
• Filed: 03/01/2004
• Published: 09/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Technology Patents & Licensing Incorporated
• Inventors: Eldering, Charles A., Lienhart, Christine, Konig, Richard, Lienhart, Rainer W.
• Granted Patent: US 7,694,318 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/607
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/785 using colour or luminescence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/46 Extracting features or characteristics from the video content, e.g. video fingerprints, representative shots or key frames
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/48 Matching video sequences
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/635 Overlay text, e.g. embedded captions in a TV program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2143 located in a single building, e.g. hotel, hospital or museum arrangements specially adapted for plural spots in a confined site in broadcast systems H04H20/63; adaptations for transmission by electric cable for domestic distribution in television systems H04N7/106
• 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 21/2547 Third Party Billing, e.g. billing of advertiser
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41415 involving a public display, viewable by several users in a public space outside their home, e.g. movie theatre, information kiosk
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44016 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/458 Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8352 involving content or source identification data, e.g. Unique Material Identifier [UMID]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8405 represented by keywords
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 : by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/088 : the inserted signal being digital
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/0887 : for the transmission of programme or channel identifying signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/162 : Authorising the user terminal, e.g. by paying; Registering the use of a subscription channel, e.g. billing

Abstract

A television signal substitution system that replaces known video segments such as advertisements with selected replacement advertisements. Fingerprint data of known advertisements can be stored in a fingerprint database. When new fingerprint data is available, the fingerprint data can be automatically or manually transmitted to subscribers. Various techniques can be used to identify advertisements based on the fingerprint data.

Claims

1. A method for video detection and replacement, the method comprising:

receiving an input video signal;

automatically identifying a segment in the input video signal locally using fingerprint data of both the segment and the input video signal; and

generating an output video signal comprising the input video signal with the segment replaced with a replacement portion.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising;

automatically receiving fingerprint data of segments to be identified via a computer communications network; and

storing the fingerprint data.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the fingerprint data is transmitted periodically.

4. A method of distributing fingerprint data, the method comprising:

analyzing video segments and computing fingerprint data;

storing the fingerprint data in a database; and

transmitting the fingerprint data to subscribers on a computer communications network.

23. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein the transmitting further comprises transmitting the fingerprint data along with a time stamp and channel information.

5. A method for replacing a portion of a video stream, the method comprising:

creating a fingerprint of a portion of an incoming video stream;

retrieving at least one stored fingerprint, wherein the stored fingerprint represents a known video segment;

comparing the fingerprint with the at least one stored fingerprint to determine the presence of a known video segment in the incoming video stream; and

replacing the known video segment in the incoming stream with a replacement video segment.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising:

monitoring the incoming video stream during the replacing to determine an

approximate end point of advertising content; and

terminating the replacing at the approximate end point of the advertising content.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, further comprising taking the replacement video segment from a queue.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the queue is locally configured by a local operator.

9. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein said fingerprint comprises statistical information regarding color.

10. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein said fingerprint comprises statistical information regarding spatial variations.

11. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein said fingerprint comprises statistical information regarding temporal variations.

12. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein said portion is at least one frame.

13. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein said portion is at least one partial spatial region of a frame.

14. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein said incoming video stream is a digital video stream.

15. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein said incoming video stream is an analog video stream captured to digital form.

16. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein said known video segment is an advertisement.

17. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein said known video segment is a commercial break outro.

18. The method as recited claim 5, wherein said replacing is performed using a video switch.

19. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein said replacing is performed using digital splicing.

20. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein said replacement video segment comprises a video advertisement.

21. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein said replacement video segment comprises a still picture.

22. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein said replacement video segment comprises a web page.

24. An apparatus for distributing fingerprint data, the apparatus comprising:

an analyzer analyzing video segments and computing fingerprint data;

a fingerprint database storing the fingerprint data; and

a transmitting unit transmitting the fingerprint data to requestors on a computer communications network.

25. The apparatus as recited in claim 24, further comprising a correlation unit generating a time stamp which is transmitted by the transmitting unit along with the fingerprint data.

26. An apparatus for video detection and replacement, the apparatus comprising:

an identifying unit identifying a segment in an input video signal using fingerprint data;

a replacing unit replacing the segment in the input video signal with a replacement portion to generate an output video signal; and

an output unit generating the output video signal.

27. The apparatus as recited in claim 26, further comprising:

a fingerprint receiving unit receiving fingerprint data for a plurality of respective segments via a computer communications network; and

a storage device storing received fingerprint data.