Live Media Captioning Subscription Framework for Mobile Devices

• US 20080294434A1
• Filed: 08/13/2008
• Published: 11/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Media Captioning Services, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Media Captioning Services, Inc.
• Inventors: Pettinato, Richard F.
• Granted Patent: US 7,844,684 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/235
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/546 Xcast
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/21815 comprising local storage units
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2187 Live feed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2265 Server identification by a unique number or address, e.g. serial number network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming H04L61/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234336 by media transcoding, e.g. video is transformed into a slideshow of still pictures or audio is converted into text
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/254 Management at additional data server, e.g. shopping server, rights management server arrangements for maintenance or administration in data networks H04L41/00; network services using third party service providers H04L67/53
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25875 involving end-user authentication restricting access to computer systems by authenticating users using a predetermined code G06F21/33; arrangements for secret or secure communication including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; 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 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42202 environmental sensors, e.g. for detecting temperature, luminosity, pressure, earthquakes
• 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 21/4516 involving client characteristics, e.g. Set-Top-Box type, software version or amount of memory available
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4524 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• 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 21/454 Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4884 for displaying subtitles
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6131 involving transmission via a mobile phone network wireless downlink channel access H04W74/006
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8106 involving special audio data, e.g. different tracks for different languages
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8405 : represented by keywords

Abstract

A subscription-based system provides transcribed audio information to one or more mobile devices. Some techniques feature a system for providing subscription services for currently-generated (e.g., not stored) information (e.g., caption information, transcribed audio) for one or more mobile devices for a live/current audio event. There can be a communication network for communicating to the one or more mobile devices, a transcriber configured for transcribing the event to generate information (e.g., caption information, transcribed audio). Caption data includes transcribed data and control code data. The system includes a subscription gateway configured for live/current transfer of the transcribed data to the one or more mobile devices. The subscription gateway is configured to provide access for the transcribed data to the one or more mobile devices. User preferences for subscribers can be set and/or updated by mobile device users and/or GPS-capable mobile devices to receive feeds for the live/current audio event.

Claims

1. A system for providing information for one or more mobile devices, the system comprising:

a server for communicating to the one or more mobile devices for one or more users, wherein the one or more mobile devices comprises Global Positioning System (GPS) capabilities;

a subscription gateway configured to receive a user preference for transcribed audio for an audio event associated with a geographic location specified by the user, the user preference comprising any of an area code, a country code, a zip code, a state name, a country name, a city name, a radio station identifier, or a television station identifier, the subscription gateway comprising a subscriber database to store information associated with the users of the one or more mobile devices, and wherein at least one of the mobile devices comprises a software selection for a user option to utilize the GPS capabilities to update the user preference based on a geographic location of the mobile device with a selected user option;

a stenocaptioning device configured for transcribing audio for the audio event simultaneously with an occurrence of the audio event, the stenocaptioning device further configured to generate caption data that comprises transcribed data and control code data;

the captioning device to receive the caption data; and

a software tool configured to remove the control code data from the caption data to generate American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) text data,

wherein the system is configured for transfer of the text data over the server to the one or more mobile devices and transfer of caption data to the captioning device,

wherein the system is configured for transfers of the text data and caption data that occur coincidentally with the transcribing of audio for the audio event, and

wherein the system is configured for concurrent transfer of the text data to the one or more mobile devices and the caption data to the captioning device.

2. The system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the system is configured to transfer the text data to at least two of the mobile devices simultaneously.

3. The system in accordance with claim 1, further comprising a communication network with Internet functionality, and wherein the subscription gateway is configured to send notices and alerts to users of the one or more mobile devices based on at least one user preference.

4. The system in accordance with claim 1, further comprising a subscription database that is external to the subscription gateway to store information associated with the users of the one or more mobile devices or the user of the captioning device, wherein the user preference further comprises a request for the transcribed audio.

5. The system in accordance with claim 1, wherein at least one of the devices comprises an Internet Protocol, wherein the radio and television station identifiers are associated with at least one audio source.

6. The system in accordance with claim 5, further comprising a decoder to decode the caption data for presentation on the captioning device, wherein the captioning device comprises a device including captioning functionality.

7. The system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the stenocaptioning device comprises a device with a stenographic keyboard, a computing device having software with captioning functionality, or a computing device having voice recognition software and captioning functionality

8. The system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the subscription gateway comprises:

a transcription device interface to interact with the stenocaptioning device;

an encoder interface to interact with an external encoder that encodes the caption data;

a subscriber database interface to interact with an external subscriber database configured to store information associated with the users of the one or more mobile devices or the user of the captioning device, wherein the information associated with the any of the users comprises subscriber preferences for the transcribed audio;

a communication network interface to interact with a communication network; and

a server interface to interact with the server, wherein the one or more mobile devices are configured to interact with the server and the communication network.

9. A method for sending transcribed audio information to one or more mobile devices, the method comprising:

communicating, via a server, to the one or more mobile devices for one or more users, wherein the one or more mobile devices comprises Global Positioning System (GPS) capabilities;

receiving, via a subscription gateway, a user preference for transcribed audio for an audio event associated with a geographic location specified by the user, the user preference comprising any of an area code, a country code, a zip code, a state name, a country name, a city name, a radio station identifier, or a television station identifier, the subscription gateway comprising a subscriber database to store information associated with the users of the one or more mobile devices, and wherein at least one of the mobile devices comprises a software selection for a user option to utilize the GPS capabilities to update the user preference based on a geographic location of the mobile device with a selected user option;

transcribing audio with a stenocaptioning device for the audio event simultaneously with an occurrence of the audio event, the stenocaptioning device being configured to generate caption data that comprises transcribed data and control code data;

receiving the caption data with the captioning device;

removing the control code data from the caption data with a software tool to generate American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) text data;

transferring the text data over the server to the one or more mobile devices; and

transferring the caption data to the captioning device;

wherein the transfers of the text data and caption data occur coincidentally with the transcribing of audio for the audio event, and

wherein there is concurrent transfer of the text data to the one or more mobile devices and the caption data to the captioning device.

10. The method in accordance with claim 9, wherein the user preference for transcribed audio for the audio event comprises a preference for a type of audio event.

11. The method in accordance with claim 9, the method further comprising:

searching the subscriber database to locate one or more users subscribed to receive the text data for the audio event.

12. The method in accordance with claim 11, further comprising:

receiving information associated with zip codes, telephone country codes, telephone number area codes, the city name, the state name, the country name, the radio station identifier, or the television station identifier from the one or more mobile devices;

comparing any of the received information with zip codes, telephone country codes, telephone number area codes, radio station identifiers, television station identifiers, audio sources, video sources, or city, state, or country names in the database; and

providing the text data to the one or more mobile devices when information received from the one or more mobile devices corresponds with similar information in the database.

13. The method in accordance with claim 9, wherein any of the transfers of data utilizes a communication network comprising any one of a satellite channel, a telephony channel, an optical channel, a wireless channel, a cable channel, and an Internet channel, and wherein data related to the audio event is received based on the geographic location associated with any of the following:

zip codes, telephone country codes, telephone number area codes, the city name, the state name, the country name, the radio station identifier, or the television station identifier, wherein the transcribed audio is associated with news, a weather report, a traffic report, a sporting event, a broadcasted event, or emergency information.

14. The method in accordance with claim 9, further comprising presenting one or more data streams of text from one or more audio events to users using the one or more mobile devices based on user preferences.

15. The method in accordance with claim 9, further comprising:

authenticating users of the one or more mobile devices based on user names and passwords in one or more databases; and

transferring the text data to at least two of the mobile devices simultaneously, wherein the transfer to a first one of the at least two mobile devices at least partially overlaps in time with the transfer to a second one of the at least two mobile devices.

16. The method in accordance with claim 9, further comprising encrypting the text data prior to transferring the text data to the one or more mobile devices, wherein the radio and television station identifiers are associated with at least one audio source.

17. The method in accordance with claim 9, further comprising transferring data to the one or more devices for displaying the text data, the user preference, a menu of audio events, or geographic location information.

18. The method in accordance with claim 17, wherein transferring data to the one or more devices comprises transferring data to the one or more devices within an order of a few seconds from the occurrence of the audio event.

19. The method in accordance with claim 17, wherein transferring data to the one or more devices comprises transferring data to the one or more devices within thirty seconds from the occurrence of the audio event.

20. The method in accordance with claim 17, wherein transferring data to the one or more devices comprises transferring data to the one or more devices within twenty seconds from the occurrence of the audio event.

21. The method in accordance with claim 17, wherein transferring data to the one or more devices comprises transferring data to the one or more devices within ten seconds from the occurrence of the audio event.

22. The method in accordance with claim 17, further comprising receiving data at the one or more devices within an order of a few seconds from the occurrence of the audio event.

23. An article comprising a machine-readable medium storing instructions operable to cause a machine to perform operations comprising:

communicating, via a server, to one or more mobile devices for one or more users, wherein the one or more mobile devices comprises Global Positioning System (GPS) capabilities;

receiving, via a subscription gateway, a user preference for transcribed audio for an audio event associated with a geographic location specified by the user, the user preference comprising any of an area code, a country code, a zip code, a state name, a country name, a city name, a radio station identifier, or a television station identifier, the subscription gateway comprising a subscriber database to store information associated with the users of the one or more mobile devices, and wherein at least one of the mobile devices comprises a software selection for a user option to utilize the GPS capabilities to update the user preference based on a geographic location of the mobile device with a selected user option;

transcribing audio with a stenocaptioning device for the audio event simultaneously with an occurrence of the audio event, the stenocaptioning device being configured to generate caption data that comprises transcribed data and control code data;

receiving the caption data with the captioning device;

removing the control code data from the caption data with a software tool to generate American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) text data;

transferring the text data over the server to the one or more mobile devices; and

transferring the caption data to the captioning device;

wherein the transfers of the text data and caption data occur coincidentally with the transcribing of audio for the audio event, and

wherein there is concurrent transfer of the text data to the one or more mobile devices and the caption data to the captioning device.

24. The article in accordance with claim 23, wherein the transcribed data is generated from the stenocaptioning device, a computing device having software with captioning functionality, or a computing device including voice recognition software and captioning functionality.

25. The article in accordance with claim 23, further comprising instructions operable to cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving information from one of the mobile devices for user preferences for media content to be sent to the mobile device;

searching one or more databases for media content, wherein the media content comprises streaming ASCII text data of the transcribed audio; and

sending the text data to the mobile device that sent the information corresponding with the user preference, the user preference further comprising any of a video source identifier, or an audio source identifier.

26. The article in accordance with claim 25, further comprising instructions for selecting the media content based on any of the zip code, the area code, the country code, the radio station identifier, the television station identifier, the audio source identifier, or the video source identifier, wherein the radio and television station identifiers are associated with at least one audio source.

27. The article in accordance with claim 25, further comprising instructions for sending an alert or an indicator to the mobile device that the transcribed audio corresponding to user preferences is available to be sent to the mobile device.

28. The article in accordance with claim 25, wherein the media content comprises any of the following:

a news report, a weather report, a traffic report, a sporting event, a broadcasted event, or emergency information that is associated with any of the zip code, the area code, the country code, the city name, the state name, the country name, the radio station identifier, the television station identifier, the audio source identifier, or the video source identifier.

29. The article in accordance with claim 23, further comprising instructions for displaying the text data on the one or more mobile devices as the text data arrives to the one or more mobile devices.

30. The article in accordance with claim 29, further comprising instructions to cause the text data to be displayed as scrolling text, and further comprising instructions to transfer the text data via the Internet.