Processing program content material

• US 20070186247A1
• Filed: 02/08/2006
• Published: 08/09/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Littlemore Technologies LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Sbc Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
• Inventors: White, Scott, Cansler, James
• Granted Patent: US 7,734,579 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/58
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/472 End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8455 involving pointers to the content, e.g. pointers to the I-frames of the video stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/783 Adaptations for reproducing at a rate different from the recording rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17309 Transmission or handling of upstream communications

Abstract

A method and system to process program content material are described herein. A received data stream includes program content data associated with a particular program and includes index data corresponding to the program content data of the particular program. The index data includes one of a plurality of program format codes. A database determines a program format type of the particular program. The database includes the plurality of program format codes and includes a corresponding plurality of program format types, wherein each program format type is associated with a specific division of program content material. Chapter points of the particular program are determined based on the associated specific division of program content material of the program format type corresponding to the one of the plurality of program format codes of the index data.

Claims

1. A system to process program content material of a program, the system comprising:

a device associated with a digital video recorder;

a data stream associated with a particular program and provided to the device, the data stream including program content data associated with the particular program and including index data corresponding to the program content data of the particular program, wherein the index data includes one of a plurality of program format codes; and

a database accessible by the device and including a look up table of the plurality of program format codes with a corresponding plurality of program format types, each program format type associated with a specific division of program content material, wherein the one of the plurality of program format codes is associated with a corresponding program format type of the plurality of program format types of the index data.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the specific division of program content material includes chapter points segmenting the program content material of the particular program.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the chapter points are inserted at a beginning of the particular program and at an end of the particular program, wherein the chapter points are inserted at a beginning of a commercial group and at an end of the commercial group.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein the chapter points are inserted at a beginning of a segment of the particular program and at an end of the segment.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein there are more than two segments for the particular program.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the particular program is selected from a television programming group of a drama, a movie, a situation comedy, a news program, a feature presentation, a special event, a sports program, and a variety show, wherein there is a program format type of the plurality of program format types associated with each member of the television programming group and with each time length of the particular program.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the database periodically updates to newer versions of the plurality of program format codes.

8. A system to segment program content material of a program for a digital video recorder, the system comprising:

means for receiving a data stream, the data stream including program content data associated with a particular program and including index data corresponding to the program content data of the particular program, wherein the index data includes one of a plurality of program format codes;

means for accessing a look up table, the look up table including the plurality of program format codes and including a corresponding plurality of program format types, wherein each program format type is associated with a specific division of program content material; and

means for determining chapter points of the particular program based on the associated specific division of program content material of the program format type corresponding to the one of the plurality of program format codes of the index data.

9. The system of claim 8 further comprising means for determining the program format type corresponding to the one of the plurality of program format codes.

10. The system of claim 8 further comprising using a blackframe technique to determine the chapter points.

11. A method to process program content material, the method comprising:

receiving a data stream from a content provider, the data stream including program content data associated with a particular program and including index data corresponding to the program content data of the particular program, wherein the index data includes one of a plurality of program format codes;

accessing a database to determine a program format type of the particular program, the database including the plurality of program format codes and including a corresponding plurality of program format types, wherein each program format type is associated with a specific division of program content material; and

determining chapter points of the particular program in response to the associated specific division of program content material of a program format type corresponding to the one of the plurality of program format codes.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising determining the program format type corresponding to the one of the plurality of program format codes.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising using a blackframe method to determine the chapter points.

14. The method of claim 11 further comprising inserting the chapter points at a beginning of the particular program, at an end of the particular program, at a beginning of a commercial group, and at an end of the commercial group.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the chapter points are inserted at a beginning of a segment of the particular program and at an end of the segment.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein there are more than two segments for the particular program.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein the particular program is selected from a television programming group of a drama, a movie, a situation comedy, a news program, a feature presentation, a special event, a sports program, and a variety show, wherein there is a program format type of the plurality of program format types associated with each member of the television programming group and with each time length of the particular program.

18. The method of claim 11 wherein the database is periodically updated with the plurality of program format codes and the corresponding plurality of program format types.

19. A tangible machine readable medium storing a set of instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

receive a data stream, the data stream including program content data associated with a particular program and including index data corresponding to the program content data of the particular program, wherein the index data includes one of a plurality of program format codes;

access a database to determine a program format type of the particular program, the database including the plurality of program format codes and including a corresponding plurality of program format types, wherein each program format type is associated with a specific division of program content material; and

determine chapter points of the particular program based on the associated specific division of program content material of the program format type corresponding to the one of the plurality of program format codes of the index data.

20. A method to segment program content material of a program, the method comprising:

sending a data stream, the data stream including program content data associated with a particular program and including index data corresponding to the program content data of the particular program,

wherein the index data includes one of a plurality of program format codes, wherein the plurality of program format codes corresponds to a plurality of program format types, wherein each program format type of the plurality of program format types is associated with a specific division of program content material, wherein the specific division of program content material is associated with program chapter points,

wherein the one of the plurality of program format codes of the particular program determines a program format type of the plurality of program format types, which determines the associated specific division of program content material and the chapter points of the particular program.

21. A system to segment program content material of a program, the system comprising:

a client-facing tier to send a data stream, the data stream including program content data associated with a particular program and including index data corresponding to the program content data of the particular program, wherein the index data includes one of a plurality of program format codes,

wherein the plurality of program format codes corresponds to a plurality of program format types, wherein each program format type of the plurality of program format types is associated with a specific division of program content material, wherein the specific division of program content material is associated with program chapter points,

wherein the one of the plurality of program format codes of the particular program determines a program format type of the plurality of program format types, which determines the associated specific division of program content material and the chapter points of the particular program.