SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING ATTRIBUTES OF MEDIA ITEMS ACCESSED VIA A PERSONAL MEDIA BROADCASTER

• US 20090177758A1
• Filed: 12/15/2008
• Published: 07/09/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sling Media LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sling Media Incorporated (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Banger, Shashidhar, Iyer, Satish, Jacob, Ruben Thomas, Rao, Padmanabha, Shirali, Amey Mangesh, Venkatesan, Thiygarajan
• Granted Patent: US 8,060,609 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/70 of video data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/7844 using original textual content or text extracted from visual content or transcript of audio data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0253 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23418 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics television picture signal circuitry for scene change detection H04N5/147; filtering for image enhancement G06T5/00; methods or arrangements for recognising scenes G06V20/00; arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26283 for associating distribution time parameters to content, e.g. to generate electronic program guide data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2665 Gathering content from different sources, e.g. Internet and satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8153 comprising still images, e.g. texture, background image
• 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 21/8455 involving pointers to the content, e.g. pointers to the I-frames of the video stream

Abstract

Systems, devices and methods are described for determining attributes identifying media items from other media items. A first video sequence of a first media item is received from a media source, the video sequence including one or more images having first banner information embedded therein. The attributes of the first media item are determined based on at least the first banner information extracted from the first video sequence. The determined attributes of the first media item can then be stored or otherwise processed as desired.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for determining attributes identifying media items from other media items, the method comprising:

receiving a first video sequence of a first media item from a media source, the video sequence including one or more images having first banner information embedded therein;

determining the attributes of the first media item based on at least the first banner information extracted from the first video sequence; and

storing the determined attributes of the first media item.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the attributes of the first media item comprises:

capturing the image having the first banner information embedded therein; and

generating text data from the captured image by using automatic character recognition.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the attributes of the first media item further comprises filtering the text data to extract information for determining the attributes of the first media item.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the attributes of the first media item comprises:

generating first candidate attributes based on the first banner information;

generating second candidate attributes based on information other than the first banner information; and

determining the attributes of the first media item based on the first candidate attributes and the second candidates attributes.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein determining the attributes of the first media item further comprises generating a confidence score based on matching of the first candidate attributes with the second candidate attributes, the confidence score representing likelihood that the determined attributes of the first media item are accurate.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the information other than the first banner information includes data for an electronic program guide, closed caption data, and XDS (extended Data Services) data.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second video sequence of a second media item subsequent to receiving the first video sequence of the first media item;

detecting transition from the first video sequence to the second video sequence; and

determining attributes of the second media item based at least on second banner information embedded in one or more images of the second video sequence.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein detecting the transition from the first video sequence to the second video sequence comprises detecting a user command associated with a channel change in the media source, detecting changes in XDS (extended Data Services) data received from the media source, detecting changes in an image received from the media source, or comparing first text data extracted from the first banner information with second text data extracted from the second banner information.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising learning a structure of the first banner information and a location of the first banner information within the image.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending the first attributes and at least a portion of the first media item via a network to a media management server responsive to a user input selecting the media item.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the attributes of the media item comprises receiving a portion of the image including the first banner information.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a second video sequence converted from the first video sequence via a first channel, the second video sequence having lower resolution compared to the first video sequence; and

receiving the portion of the image including the first banner information via a second channel, the portion of the image having a resolution same as the first video sequence.

13. A personal media broadcaster for sending data of a media item to a client device via a network, comprising:

an input interface coupled to a media source and configured to receive the data of the media item from the media source;

a signal processor module coupled to the input interface and configured to construct a datastream suitable for transmission over the network, the datastream including images in a first resolution;

an attribute extractor coupled to the input interface and configured to extract first attribute data of the media item, the first attribute data representing data for identifying the first media item from other media items; and

a network interface coupled to the signal processor module and the attribute extractor, wherein the network interface is configured to transmit the media stream and the attribute of the media item to the client device over the network.

14. The personal media broadcaster of claim 13, wherein the first attribute data comprises data for an electronic program guide, closed caption data, and XDS (extended Data Services) data.

15. The personal media broadcaster of claim 13, further comprising a banner processor module coupled to the input interface and configured to determine a portion of an image in the data of the media item that includes banner information based on which the first media item can be identified, the portion of the image transmitted via the network interface in a second resolution higher than the first resolution.

16. The personal media broadcaster of claim 15, further comprising a network condition detection module coupled to the network interface and configured to determine a condition of the network between the personal media broadcaster and the client device, the portion of the image including the banner information transmitted by the network interface via a first channel having lower priority than a second channel via which the datastream is transmitted.

17. The personal media broadcaster of claim 13, further comprising a transition detect module coupled to the input interface for detecting transition in the media item received from the media source.

18. The personal media broadcaster of claim 17, further comprising a transition detect module coupled to the input interface and configured to detect a transition in the media item received from the media source.

19. A method of selecting and storing media items received from a personal media broadcaster via a network, comprising:

receiving a first video sequence of a first media item from the personal media broadcaster;

receiving first attribute data associated with the first media item from the personal media broadcaster, the first attribute data representing data for identifying the first media item from other media items;

buffering the first attribute data and at least a portion of the datastream of the first media item on a temporary basis; and

determining attributes of the first media item using the stored first attribute data responsive to receiving user input selecting the first media item.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising sending the attributes of the first media item and a portion of the data stream selected by the user to a media management server via the network for sharing with other users.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the first attribute data comprises banner information embedded in an image in the first video sequence.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising receiving via the network text data generated from the banner information using a character recognition server responsive to sending a portion of the image including the banner to the character recognition server via the network.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the first attribute data is received via a first channel, and the first video sequence is received via a second channel having a higher priority than the first channel.

24. The method of claim 19, further comprising receiving second attribute data associated with the second media item from the personal media broadcaster, the second attribute data representing data for identifying the second media item that is disparate from the first attribute data.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the second attribute data comprises data for an electronic program guide, closed caption data, and XDS (extended Data Services) data.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

receiving a second video sequence of a second media item subsequent to the first video sequence of the first media item;

detecting transition from the first video sequence to the second video sequence; and

buffering first attribute data of the second media item and at least a portion of the second video sequence on a temporary basis.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein detecting the transition from the first media item to the second media item comprises detecting a user command associated with a channel change received at the client device, detecting changes in XDS (extended Data Services) data received from the personal media broadcaster, detecting changes in an image received from the personal media broadcaster, or comparing a first text extracted from the first attribute data of the first media item with a second text extracted from the first attribute data of the second media item.

28. The method of claim 19 further comprising validating the first attribute data against second attribute data.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the second attribute data comprises at least one of electronic program guide data, closed caption data, and XDS (extended Data Services) data.