Metadata from image recognition

• US 20080098432A1
• Filed: 04/16/2007
• Published: 04/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Saturn Licensing LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Candelore, Brant L., Hardacker, Robert L.
• Granted Patent: US 8,296,808 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4355 involving reformatting operations of additional data, e.g. HTML pages on a television screen optimising the visualization of content for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/9577; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/066; media handling at the source in data packet switching networks H04L65/764
• 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 21/440236 by media transcoding, e.g. video is transformed into a slideshow of still pictures, audio is converted into text
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/478 Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8146 involving graphical data, e.g. 3D object, 2D graphics
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8358 involving watermark protecting executable software by watermarking G06F21/16; image watermarking in general G06T1/0021; watermarks inserted in still images for transmission purposes H04N1/32144; inserting watermarks during video coding H04N19/467
• 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 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A method of acquiring data associated with a television program consistent with certain embodiments involves acquiring information that identifies a currently playing television program; receiving a command from a user interface that selects an image forming a portion of a frame of video displayed on the television, wherein said frame of video is a portion of the television program; accessing a specified web site that contains a database of metadata associated with television programs via the Internet; querying the specified web site for metadata associated with the image by providing the image along with the information that identifies the currently playing television program; receiving a response from the specified web site that provides metadata associated with the image; and displaying at least a portion of the metadata. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.

Claims

1. A method of acquiring data associated with a television program, comprising:

acquiring information that identifies a currently playing television program;

receiving a command from a user interface that selects an image forming a portion of a frame of video displayed on the television, wherein said frame of video is a portion of the television program;

accessing a specified web site that contains a database of metadata associated with television programs via the Internet;

querying the specified web site for metadata associated with the image by providing the image along with the information that identifies the currently playing television program;

receiving a response from the specified web site that provides metadata associated with the image; and

displaying at least a portion of the metadata.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising storing the metadata to a memory.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the displaying is carried out by display of the metadata in one of a Picture in Picture (PIP) image, Picture Outside Picture (POP) display, full screen display, and a display of a display enabled remote control.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the acquiring comprises identifying the currently playing content by reference to an electronic program guide.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the acquiring comprises identifying the currently playing content by reference to an electronic program guide (EPG), and wherein the program guide is obtained by optical character reader processing of EPG data provided from an access device.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the acquiring comprises identifying the currently playing content by a combination of the current time, an approximate physical location, a selected channel and a service provider.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the query response is provided by use of an image recognition process to recognize the image.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the image is an image of a face and wherein the query response is provided by use of a facial recognition process to recognize the face.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the query response includes a link to a web site containing additional content.

10. A method of acquiring data associated with a television program, comprising:

acquiring information that identifies a currently playing television program, wherein the acquiring comprises identifying the currently playing content by reference to an electronic program guide;

receiving a command from a user interface that selects an image forming a portion of a frame of video displayed on the television, wherein said frame of video is a portion of the television program;

accessing a specified web site that contains a database of metadata associated with television programs via the Internet;

querying the specified web site for metadata associated with the image by providing the image along with the information that identifies the currently playing television program;

receiving a response from the specified web site that provides metadata associated with the image;

storing the metadata to a memory; and

displaying at least a portion of the metadata.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the displaying is carried out by display of the metadata in one of a Picture in Picture (PIP) image, Picture Outside Picture (POP) display, full screen display, and a display of a display enabled remote control.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the electronic program guide is obtained by optical character reader processing of EPG data provided from an access device.

13. The method according to claim 10, wherein the acquiring comprises identifying the currently playing content by a combination of the current time, an approximate physical location, a selected channel and a service provider.

14. The method according to claim 10, wherein the query response is provided by use of an image recognition process to recognize the image.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the image is an image of a face and wherein the query response is provided by use of a facial recognition process to recognize the face.

16. The method according to claim 14, wherein the query response includes a link to a web site containing additional content.

17. A digital television receiver device that provides access to content associated with a television program, comprising:

means for acquiring information that identifies a currently playing television program;

a user interface that receives a command that selects an image forming a portion of a frame of video displayed on the television, wherein said frame of video is a portion of the television program;

an programmed processor that controls an Internet connection that accesses a specified web site that contains a database of metadata associated with television programs via the Internet in order to query the specified web site for metadata associated with the image by providing the image along with the information that identifies the currently playing television program;

means for receiving a response from the specified web site that provides metadata associated with the image; and

a display that displays at least a portion of the metadata.

18. The digital television device according to claim 17, further comprising a storage device for storing the metadata.

19. The digital television device according to claim 17, wherein the display comprises one of a Picture in Picture (PIP) image, Picture Outside Picture (POP) display, full screen display, and a display of a display enabled remote control.

20. The digital television device according to claim 17, wherein the means for acquiring identifies the currently playing content by reference to an electronic program guide.

21. The digital television device according to claim 17, wherein the means for acquiring identifies the currently playing content by reference to an electronic program guide (EPG), and wherein the program guide is obtained by optical character reader processing of EPG data provided from an access device.

22. The digital television device according to claim 17, wherein the means for acquiring identifies the currently playing content by a combination of the current time, an approximate physical location, a selected channel and a service provider.

23. The digital television device according to claim 17, wherein the query response is provided by use of an image recognition process to recognize the image.

24. The digital television device according to claim 23, wherein the image is an image of a face and wherein the query response is provided by use of a facial recognition process to recognize the face.

25. The digital television device according to claim 17, wherein the query response includes a link to a web site containing additional content.

26. The digital television device according to claim 17, further comprising a browser for navigating to the web site containing additional content.

27. A method of sourcing data associated with a television program, comprising:

receiving a search query that includes information that identifies a television program and an image appearing in a frame of the television program;

applying the search query to a database of metadata associated with television programs using the image along with the information that identifies the currently playing television program as search criteria;

receiving a response from the database, the response including metadata associated with the image; and

sending the metadata as a reply to the search query.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein the identifying information includes at least one of the play time of the content, an approximate physical location, a selected channel and a service provider.

29. The method according to claim 27, wherein the query response is provided by use of an image recognition process to recognize the image.

30. The method according to claim 29, wherein the image is an image of a face and wherein the query response is provided by use of a facial recognition process to recognize the face.

31. The method according to claim 27, wherein the query response includes a link to a web site containing additional content.