Method and system for video stream personalization

• US 20080254740A1
• Filed: 04/11/2007
• Published: 10/16/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hushyar, Kaveh, Tofigh, Mostafa
• Granted Patent: US 9,137,497 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/3.01
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/743 a collection of video files or sequences
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/20 Editing of 3D images, e.g. changing shapes or colours, aligning objects or positioning parts
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/4092 Image resolution transcoding, e.g. by using client-server architectures
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2343 involving reformatting operations of video signals for distribution or compliance with end-user requests or end-user device requirements video transcoding H04N19/40; media packet handling at the source H04L65/762
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234309 by transcoding between formats or standards, e.g. from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 or from Quicktime to Realvideo conversion of standards in analog television systems H04N7/01
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234345 the reformatting operation being performed only on part of the stream, e.g. a region of the image or a time segment
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234354 by altering signal-to-noise ratio parameters, e.g. requantization
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234363 by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for clients with a lower screen resolution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2353 specifically adapted to content descriptors, e.g. coding, compressing or processing of metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4318 by altering the content in the rendering process, e.g. blanking, blurring or masking an image region image enhancement or restoration in general G06T5/00
• 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 21/44008 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 21/440218 by transcoding between formats or standards, e.g. from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 conversion of standards in analogue television systems H04N7/01
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440263 by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for displaying on a connected PDA
• 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 21/462 Content or additional data management, e.g. creating a master electronic program guide from data received from the Internet and a Head-end, controlling the complexity of a video stream by scaling the resolution or bit-rate based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17327 with deferred transmission or handling of upstream communications

Abstract

A method and system for video stream personalization. A personalization policy may be accessed. The personalization policy may include an image identification and an image alteration to a video image identified by the image identification. At least one instance of the video image may be identified in a video stream. An output stream may be produced from the video stream in response to the personalization policy. The output stream may include the image alteration to the video image.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

accessing a personalization policy, the personalization policy including an image identification and an image alteration to a video image identified by the image identification;

identifying at least one instance of the video image in a video stream; and

producing an output stream from the video stream in response to the personalization policy, the output stream including the image alteration to the video image.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying at least one instance of the video image in a video stream comprises:

accessing the image identification from a video image database; and

matching at least one instance of the video image in the video stream with the image identification.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying at least one instance of the image in a video stream comprises:

matching an image name in metadata of the video stream with a name of the image identification.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein producing an output stream from the video stream in response to the personalization policy comprises:

generating a three-dimensional image of the video image; and

producing the output stream from the video stream for the user in response to the personalization policy, the output stream including the three-dimensional image of the video image as the image alteration.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein producing an output stream from the video stream in response to the personalization policy comprises:

tagging at least one instance of the video image in the video stream; and

transcoding an output stream from the tagged video stream for a user in response to the personalization policy and the one or more tagged instances, the output stream including metadata, the metadata including the image alteration to the video image at the one or more tagged instances in the output stream.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the output stream to a requestor via a unicast protocol.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the image alteration includes at least one of:

a zoom in view of the video image in the output stream,

an enhanced resolution of the video image,

a replacement image for the video image,

a selection of an image in the output stream as a new video image, or

a deselection of the video image in the output stream.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the image alteration overlays the video image within the output stream.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the image alteration is located within a selected location of a frame of the output stream.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the personalization policy is a security policy, the security policy defining a viewer authorization for a user to view the video stream.

11. A method comprising:

selecting an image identification for a video image in a video stream;

associating an image alteration with the video image; and

writing a personalization policy for the video image, the personalization policy having the image identification, and an image alteration to the video image represented by the image identification.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein selecting an image identification for a video image in a video stream comprises:

receiving the image identification for a video image in the video stream from a user.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein receiving the image identification for a video image in the video stream from a user further comprises:

storing the video image identification in a video image database.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein receiving the image identification for a video image in the video stream from a user comprises receiving the image identification for a video image and an image name for the image identification in the, and wherein storing the video image identification in the video image database comprises storing the video image identification and the image name in the video image database.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein associating an image alteration for the video image further comprises:

receiving a defined image alteration from a user; and

associating the defined image alteration with the video image.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein associating further includes:

storing an association of the defined image alteration with the video image identification in a video image database.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein associating an image alteration for the video image further comprises:

dynamically associating an image alteration with the video image from an association stored in a video image database.

18. A method comprising:

receiving a first request to alter an appearance of a video image within an output stream;

providing a second request including an image identification of the video image and an alternation to the video image to a network resource; and

receiving a modified output stream according to a modified personalization policy.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein receiving further includes identifying that the first request includes the image identification of the video image and a selection of an image alteration to the video image.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the image alteration includes at least one of:

a zoom in view of the video image in the output stream,

an enhanced resolution of the video image,

a replacement image for the video image,

a selection of an image in the output stream as a new video image, or

a deselection of the video image in the output stream.

21. An apparatus comprising:

a request receiver module receives a first request to alter appearance of a video image within an output stream;

a request provider module provides a second request, the second request including an image identification of the video image and an image alternation to the video image to a network resource; and

a stream output module to receive a modified output stream in response to a modified personalization policy.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising:

storage to store the modified personalization policy.

23. A machine-readable medium comprising instructions, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

access a personalization policy, the personalization policy including an image identification and an image alteration to a video image identified by the image identification;

identify at least one instance of the video image in a video stream; and

produce an output stream from the video stream in response to the personalization policy, the output stream including the image alteration to the video image.

24. The machine-readable medium of claim 23, wherein to produce further includes instructions to:

tag at least one instance of the video image in the video stream; and

transcode an output stream from the tagged video stream for a user in response to the personalization policy and the one or more tagged instances, the output stream including metadata, the metadata including the image alteration to the video image at the one or more tagged instances in the output stream.