Capture of television metadata via OCR
First Claim
1. A method of obtaining metadata associated with television programming, wherein the method is carried out in a control device that does not have direct access to the metadata, comprising:
- instructing an access device to generate and communicate a signal to the control device suitable for driving a display, wherein the signal contains a visual representation of a video frame of the metadata when displayed on a display;
receiving the signal and storing a representation of the video frame;
processing the video frame using optical character recognition (OCR) to extract the metadata from the video frame;
storing the extracted metadata in a metadata database; and
systematically repeating the instructing, receiving, processing and storing to sequence through a plurality of fields of video containing the metadata to access and store at least a subset of the metadata to the metadata database.
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Abstract
A method of obtaining metadata associated with television programming consistent with certain embodiments, wherein the method is carried out in a control device that does not have direct access to the metadata involves instructing an access device to generate and communicate a signal to the control device suitable for driving a display, wherein the signal contains a visual representation of a video frame of the metadata when displayed on a display; receiving the signal and storing a representation of the video frame; processing the video frame using optical character recognition (OCR) to extract the metadata from the video frame; storing the extracted metadata in a metadata database; and systematically repeating the instructing, receiving, processing and storing to sequence through a plurality of fields of video containing the metadata to access and store at least a subset of the metadata to the metadata database. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.
96 Citations
41 Claims
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1. A method of obtaining metadata associated with television programming, wherein the method is carried out in a control device that does not have direct access to the metadata, comprising:
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instructing an access device to generate and communicate a signal to the control device suitable for driving a display, wherein the signal contains a visual representation of a video frame of the metadata when displayed on a display; receiving the signal and storing a representation of the video frame; processing the video frame using optical character recognition (OCR) to extract the metadata from the video frame; storing the extracted metadata in a metadata database; and systematically repeating the instructing, receiving, processing and storing to sequence through a plurality of fields of video containing the metadata to access and store at least a subset of the metadata to the metadata database. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20)
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21. A method of obtaining metadata associated with television programming, wherein the method is carried out in a control device that does not have direct access to the metadata, comprising:
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instructing an access device to generate and communicate a signal to the control device suitable for driving a display, wherein the signal contains a visual representation of a video frame of the metadata when displayed on a display, wherein the representation of the video frame comprises one of a compressed representation and a bitmapped representation; wherein the instructing comprises sending a one of a guide display command and an information display command to the access device; receiving the signal and storing a representation of the video frame; processing a selected segment of the video frame using optical character recognition (OCR) to extract the metadata, special symbols and logos from the video frame; storing the extracted metadata in a metadata database; and systematically repeating the instructing, receiving, processing and storing to sequence through a plurality of fields of video containing the metadata to access and store at least a subset of the metadata to the metadata database. - View Dependent Claims (18, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A control device that obtains metadata associated with television programming, wherein the control device does not have direct access to the metadata, comprising:
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an instruction transmitter that transmits instructions to an access device to cause the access device to generate and communicate a signal to the control device suitable for driving a display, wherein the signal contains a visual representation of a video frame of the metadata when displayed on a display; a receiver that receives the signal; a frame store that stores a representation of the video frame; an optical character recognition (OCR) processing means that extracts the metadata from the video frame using character and symbol recognition; a storage device that stores the extracted metadata in a metadata database; and a control processor that systematically causes the control device to repeat the transmitting of instructions, receive and store the video frame, OCR process and store to the metadata database to sequence through a plurality of fields of video containing the metadata to access and store at least a subset of the metadata to the metadata database. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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Specification