Method and apparatus for controlling reproduction of an audiovisual work

• US 20070174303A1
• Filed: 10/11/2005
• Published: 07/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Round Rock Research LLC
• Original Assignee: Round Rock Research LLC
• Inventors: Revis, Paul, Fleming, Hoyt
• Application Number:
  US11/248,376
• Publication Number:
  US 20070174303A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2562 DVDs [digital versatile discs]; Digital video discs; MMCDs; HDCDs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/11 by using information not detectable on the record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

Disclosed is a method and apparatus for building a database of content objectionable scenes of an audiovisual work, and a method and apparatus which uses the database to control reproduction of the work. The database may be stored on a server and made available to clients which control an audiovisual reproduction apparatus through a direct dial-up or Internet connection.

Claims

1. A method of creating a playback database for an audiovisual work, the method comprising:

assigning a respective content ratings level to at least a portion of a scene of the work;

creating a database containing information identifying the at least a portion of the scene and the content ratings level; and

storing the database on a storage medium different from the medium that stores the audiovisual work.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the assigning act is performed in response to ratings level inputs from a reviewer.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the act of creating includes creating the database containing identifying information which identifies those scenes having content ratings levels which are less than or equal to a predetermined content ratings level.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the act of creating includes creating the database containing identifying information that identifies those scenes having content ratings levels that are greater than a predetermined content ratings level.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said the act of creating includes creating a database containing information identifying content ratings levels for all scenes of a work.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the act of creating includes creating a database that contains data indicating which scenes of the work are to be reproduced.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the act of creating includes creating a database that contains data indicating which scenes of the work are not to be reproduced.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the act of creating includes creating a database containing information identifying the at least a portion of the scene by a frame number.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the act of creating includes creating a database containing information identifying the at least a portion of the scene by a time stamp.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the act of storing the database includes storing the database on a server computer which allows the database to be accessible to client computers.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the act of storing the database includes storing the database on a portable storage medium.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the act of storing the database includes storing the database on a removable computer readable disk.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the act of storing the database includes storing the database on a storage medium accessible to an audiovisual work reproduction unit.

51. The method of claim 1 wherein the act of storing the database includes storing the database on an Internet server which allows access to the database over the Internet.

14. A method of creating a playback database for an audiovisual work, the method comprising:

assigning a respective content ratings level to at least a portion of a scene of the work;

creating a database containing information identifying the at least a portion of the scene and the content ratings level; and

uploading the database to an Internet server independently of the work.

15. A method of controlling reproduction of an audiovisual work, the method comprising

accessing a database stored on a storage medium different from the medium that stores the audiovisual work, the database containing information identifying at least a portion of a scene of the work having an assigned content ratings level which bears a predetermined relationship to a predetermined content ratings level;

and

reproducing scenes of the work in accordance with the at least a portion of a scene which are identified in the database.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising reading an audiovisual work from a first storage medium.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the act of accessing includes reading the database from a second storage medium.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the act of accessing comprises establishing a connection to a server containing the database and downloading the database into a controller which controls reproduction of the work, the controller using the information in the database to control reproduction of the work.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the act of accessing includes establishing a connection to an Internet server, whereby the connection is an Internet connection.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the act of accessing includes establishing a dial-up connection.

21. The method of claim 15 wherein the act of accessing includes accessing a database containing information identifying those scenes having a content ratings level which is less than or equal to the predetermined content ratings level.

22. The method of claim 15 wherein the act of accessing includes accessing a database containing information indicating those scenes having a content ratings level which is greater than the predetermined content ratings level.

23. The method of claim 15 wherein the act of accessing includes accessing a database containing data indicating which scenes of the work are to be reproduced.

24. The method of claim 15 wherein the act of accessing includes accessing a database containing data indicating which scenes of the work are not to be reproduced.

25. An apparatus for creating a playback database for an audiovisual works, the apparatus comprising:

a reproduction unit for reproducing scenes of the work;

an input device for assigning a ratings level corresponding to a degree of objectionable content to at least a portion of a scene of the work;

a device for creating a database containing an identification of the at least a portion of the scene having an assigned content ratings level; and

a storage medium different from the medium that stores the audiovisual work for storing the database.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, further comprising a server, the database being stored on a storage medium of the server.

27. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the storage medium is a portable storage medium.

28. The apparatus of claim 27 wherein the storage medium is a removable computer readable disk.

29. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the device assigns an input content ratings level to each scene of the work.

30. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the input device receives inputs from a movie reviewer and the database is stored on a storage medium accessible to a work reproduction unit in a household.

31. The apparatus of claim 30 wherein the database contains ratings level information for all scenes of the work.

32. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the database contains data indicating which scenes of the work are to be reproduced.

33. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the database contains data indicating which scenes of the work are not to be reproduced.

34. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the identifying information identifies those scenes having a content ratings level which is less than or equal to the predetermined content ratings level.

35. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the identifying information identifies those scenes having a content ratings level which is greater than the predetermined content ratings level.

36. An apparatus for controlling playback of an audiovisual work, the apparatus comprising:

a device for accessing a database stored at a first location, the database containing an identification of those scenes of the work having a content ratings level which bears a predetermined relationship to a predetermined content ratings level; and

a reproduction unit for reproducing scenes of the work from a second location in accordance with scenes which are identified in the database.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, further comprising a device for accessing the database by way of an Internet connection.

38. The apparatus of claim 36, further comprising a device for accessing the database by way of a dial-up connection.

39. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein the access device includes a controller for controlling the reproduction unit, the controller using the information contained in the database to control reproduction of the work by the reproduction unit.

40. The apparatus of claim 39 wherein the controller is a computer.

41. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein the identifying information identifies those scenes having a content ratings level which is less than or equal to the predetermined content ratings level.

42. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein the identifying information identifies those scenes having content ratings level which is greater than the predetermined content ratings level.

43. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein the database contains data indicating which scenes of the work are to be reproduced.

44. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein the data contains data indicating which scenes of the work are not to be reproduced.

45. An audiovisual playback apparatus, comprising:

an audiovisual reproduction unit adapted to read an audiovisual work from an audiovisual medium;

a recording medium separate from the audiovisual medium; and

a database stored on the recording medium, the database containing information identifying scenes of the audiovisual work which have a content ratings level which bears a predetermined relationship to a predetermined content ratings level, the identifying information being usable to control the audiovisual reproduction unit to reproduce selected scenes of the audiovisual work.

46. The apparatus of claim 45 wherein the identifying information identifies those scenes having a content ratings level which is less than or equal to the predetermined objectionable content ratings level.

47. The apparatus of claim 45 wherein the identifying information identifies those scenes having a content ratings level which is greater than the predetermined content ratings level.

48. The apparatus of claim 45 wherein the database contains data indicating which scenes of the work are to be reproduced.

49. The apparatus of claim 45 wherein the database contains data indicating which scenes of the work are not to be reproduced.

50. The apparatus of claim 45 wherein the audiovisual playback apparatus does not include the audiovisual medium.