MULTIMEDIA CONTENT NAVIGATION AND PLAYBACK

• US 20070186236A1
• Filed: 04/17/2007
• Published: 08/09/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Clearplay Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Clearplay Incorporated
• Inventors: Jarman, Matthew
• Granted Patent: US 10,313,744 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/28
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42646 for reading from or writing on a non-volatile solid state storage medium, e.g. DVD, CD-ROM
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4325 by playing back content from the storage medium reproduction of recorded television signals H04N5/76; reproduction of recorded television signals H04N9/79
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/433 Content storage operation, e.g. storage operation in response to a pause request, caching operations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4396 by muting the audio signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4402 involving reformatting operations of video signals for household redistribution, storage or real-time display details of conversion of video standards at pixel level H04N7/01; video transcoding H04N19/40; adapting incoming signals to the display format of the display terminal G09G5/005; media handling at the source in data packet switching networks H04L65/764
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440281 by altering the temporal resolution, e.g. by frame skipping television signal recording using magnetic recording on tape for reproducing at a rate different from the recording rate H04N5/783
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; 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 21/4542 Blocking scenes or portions of the received content, e.g. censoring scenes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/45455 applied to a region of the image
• 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 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/85 on discs or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/16 Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

In accordance with the present invention, a filtering process is based on the output side of a multimedia decoder. A navigator monitors the current play position of the multimedia content and compares that position with navigation objects. Each navigation object defines a start position, a stop position, and an filtering action to perform on the portion of the multimedia content that begins at the start position and ends at the stop position. When the current play position falls within the portion of multimedia content defined by a particular navigation object, the navigator activates the filtering action that was assigned to the navigation object. Filtering actions include skipping, muting, reframing, etc., the portion of multimedia content defined by a navigation object. A variety of systems may be used to implement the present invention, such as computer systems (consumer and server), television systems, and audio systems.

Claims

1. A method of suppressing multimedia content comprising:

one or more tangible computer executable instructions comprising;

obtaining at least one navigation object associated with a particular multimedia content presentation, the navigation object including a start indicator associated with a first position of the multimedia content presentation, at least one associated filtering action and at least one content identifier;

determining whether the at least one navigation object is activated, the activation being a function of the at least one content identifier;

comparing the start indicator of the navigation object with a position of the multimedia content presentation during presentation of the multimedia content;

suppressing the multimedia content in conformance with the filtering action when the first position of the multimedia content matches the start indicator and the navigation object is activated.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the navigation object further includes an end indicator associated with a second position of the multimedia content presentation.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the filtering action is a skip, and wherein the suppressing operation comprises skipping the multimedia content between the first position and the second position.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the skipping action involves directing read back from a physical location of a memory location corresponding with the end indicator.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the filtering action is a mute, and wherein the suppressing operation comprises muting an audio portion of the multimedia content presentation between the first position and the second position.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the operation of receiving a selection to activate the navigation object based on the content identifier.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising the operation of receiving a selection to deactivate the navigation object based on the content identifier.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the multimedia content presentation is an MPEG encoded movie.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the position of the multimedia content presentation during presentation of the multimedia content includes a time code.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the navigation object is separate from the multimedia content presentation.

11. The method of claim 16 wherein the navigation object and the multimedia content presentation are provided on the same removable memory media.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the operation of obtaining at least one navigation object comprises obtaining a plurality of navigation objects associated with a particular multimedia content presentation, each navigation object including a start indicator associated with a first position of the multimedia content presentation, at least one associated filtering action and at least one content identifier.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein at least two of the plurality of navigation objects has a common content identifier.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising the operation of receiving a selection to activate the at least two navigation objects based on the common content identifier.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the start indicator corresponds with a physical position of a removable memory media including the multimedia content presentation.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the removable memory media is a DVD.

17. A computer readable media including the one or more tangible computer executable instructions conforming to the method of claim 1.

18. The method of claim 1 further comprising the operation of obtaining the particular multimedia content presentation from at least one of a DVD, a CD, a random access memory, a hard drive, a removable disk storage medium, a tape storage medium, a wired communications link, and a wireless communications link.

22. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

determining whether the at least one navigation object is activated; and

suppressing the multimedia content in conformance with the filtering action when the first position of the multimedia content matches the start indicator and the navigation object is activated.

19. A method of suppressing multimedia content comprising:

one or more tangible computer executable instructions comprising;

obtaining at least one navigation object associated with a particular multimedia content presentation, the navigation object including a start indicator associated with a first position of the multimedia content presentation, at least one associated filtering action and a multimedia content presentation identifier;

identifying a multimedia content presentation and comparing the multimedia content presentation identifier with the identified multimedia content presentation;

comparing the start indicator of the navigation object with a position of the multimedia content presentation during presentation of the multimedia content; and

suppressing the multimedia content in conformance with the filtering action when the first position of the multimedia content matches the start indicator.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the multimedia content identifier is a DVD movie title.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising:

identifying a match between the DVD movie title and the multimedia content presentation; and

performing the operations of comparing the start indicator and suppressing based on the match.

23. The method of claim 19 wherein the navigation object further includes an end indicator associated with a second position of the multimedia content presentation.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the filtering action is a skip, and wherein the suppressing operation comprises skipping the multimedia content between the first position and the second position.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the filtering action involves directing read back from a physical location of a memory location corresponding with the end indicator.

26. The method of claim 23 wherein the filtering action is a mute, and wherein the suppressing operation comprises muting an audio portion of the multimedia content presentation between the first position and the second position.

27. The method of claim 19 wherein the navigation object includes at least one content identifier and further comprising the operation of receiving a selection to activate the navigation object based on the content identifier.

28. The method of claim 19 wherein the navigation object includes at least one content identifier and further comprising the operation of receiving a selection to deactivate the navigation object based on the content identifier.

29. The method of claim 19 wherein the multimedia content presentation is an MPEG encoded movie.

30. The method of claim 19 wherein the position of the multimedia content presentation during presentation of the multimedia content includes a time code.

31. The method of claim 19 wherein the navigation object is separate from the multimedia content presentation.

32. The method of claim 19 wherein the navigation object and the multimedia content presentation are provided on the same removable memory media.

33. The method of claim 19 wherein the operation of obtaining at least one navigation comprises obtaining a plurality of navigation objects associated with a particular multimedia content presentation, each navigation object including a start indicator associated with a first position of the multimedia content presentation, at least one associated filtering action and at least one content identifier.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein at least two of the plurality of navigation objects has a common content identifier.

35. The method of claim 34 further comprising the operation of receiving a selection to activate the at least two navigation objects based on the common content identifier.

36. The method of claim 19 wherein the start indicator corresponds with a physical position of a removable memory media including the multimedia content presentation.

37. The method of claim 36 wherein the removable memory media is a DVD.

38. The method of claim 19 further comprising the operation of obtaining the particular multimedia content presentation from at least one of a DVD, a CD, a random access memory, a hard drive, a removable disk storage medium, a tape storage medium, a wired communications link, and a wireless communications link.

39. A computer readable media including the one or more tangible computer executable instructions conforming to the method of claim 19.