METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR FILTERING CONTENT FROM A PRESENTATION STREAM USING SIGNATURE DATA

• US 20100162291A1
• Filed: 05/04/2009
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Echostar Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Kummer, David A., Casagrande, Steven Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,510,771 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/25
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/147 Scene change detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording

Abstract

Described herein are methods and apparatus for the identification of locations in a presentation stream based on metadata associated with the presentation stream. Locations within a presentation stream are identified using signature data associated with the presentation stream. The identified locations within a presentation stream may be utilized to identify boundaries of segments within the presentation stream, such as segments of a show and interstitials (e.g., commercials) of the show. The identified portions of a presentation stream may then be utilized for filtering segments of content during presentation.

Claims

1. A method for processing an audio/video stream, the method comprising:

providing a first audio/video stream including at least one segment of a show, at least one interstitial of the show and closed captioning data;

receiving location information referencing the closed captioning data to identify a video location within the first audio/video stream;

receiving a signature of a portion of the first audio/video stream associated with the video location;

receiving at least one first off-set specified relative to the video location;

processing the first audio/video stream to identify boundaries of the at least one segment of the show based on the signature, the location information and the first off-set;

filtering the interstitial from the first audio/video stream to generate a second audio/video stream including the segment of the show; and

outputting the second audio/video stream for presentation by a display device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the location information, the signature and the at least one first off-set further comprise:

receiving the location information, in association with the signature and the first off-set, separately from the first audio/video stream.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the first audio/video stream further comprises:

processing the closed captioning data to identify search boundaries within the first audio/video stream based on the location information; and

processing a portion of the first audio/video stream within the search boundaries to identity the video location based on the signature.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the signature comprises a search portion of audio data of the first audio/video stream, and wherein processing a portion of the first audio/video stream within the search boundaries further comprises:

processing the audio data of the first audio/video stream within the search boundaries to identify the video location corresponding with the portion of the audio data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the location information includes at least one text string contained in the closed captioning data that is associated with the video location, beginning and ending offsets, associated with the text string, that are specified relative to the video location, the beginning and ending offsets identifying beginning and ending locations of the at least one segment, and wherein processing the first audio/video stream further comprises:

processing the closed captioning data to identify an intermediate location within the first audio/video stream corresponding with presentation of the text string;

processing the first audio/video stream to identify the video location based on the signature;

determining an adjustment offset between the intermediate location and the video location;

adjusting the beginning and ending offsets based on the adjustment offset; and

identifying the beginning location and the ending location of the at least one segment in the first audio/video stream based the adjusted beginning and ending offsets.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the signature comprises a window of signature audio data, and wherein determining the adjustment offset further comprises:

performing a first operation to subtract the window of the signature audio data from a first portion of audio data of the presentation stream, the first portion of the audio data corresponding with the intermediate location;

determining whether the first operation results in a value within a specified tolerance;

performing a second operation to subtract the window of the signature audio data from a second portion of the audio data responsive to determining that the first operation results in the value being larger than the specified tolerance, the second portion of the audio data corresponding with the video location; and

determining the adjustment offset based on a presentation time difference of the first portion and the second portion of the audio data.

7. A method for processing a stream of data, the method comprising:

recording a first presentation stream including at least one segment of a show and at least one interstitial of the show;

receiving location information referencing a location within the first presentation stream;

receiving a signature of a portion of the first presentation stream corresponding with the location, the signature identifying a transition in the video data from a first luminance value to a second luminance value;

receiving at least one off-set specified relative to the location;

computing average luminance values for a plurality of frames of the video data of the first presentation stream;

processing the average luminance values to identify the transition from the first luminance value to the second luminance value based on the signature, the transition corresponding with the location within the first presentation stream;

processing the first presentation stream to identify boundaries of the segment of the show based on the identified location and the off-set;

filtering the interstitial from the first presentation stream to generate a second presentation stream including the segment of the show; and

outputting the second presentation stream for presentation by a presentation device.

8. A method for generating metadata utilized to filter content from a presentation stream, the method comprising:

reviewing a presentation stream to identify at least one portion of the presentation stream to skip during presentation;

analyzing the presentation stream to identify a signature corresponding with a portion of the presentation stream that identifies at least one boundary of the portion of the presentation stream;

determining a location of the signature in the presentation stream;

determining an offset of the boundary relative to the location of the signature;

transmitting the offset to the presentation device; and

transmitting the signature to a presentation device, wherein the presentation device utilizes the signature and the offset to skip the portion of the presentation stream specified by the boundary during presentation.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the signature corresponds with a transition between a first luminance value of a first frame of the video data of the presentation stream and a second luminance value of a second frame of the video data.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the signature corresponds with a sequence of audio levels of a first frame of the presentation stream.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the signature is unique within the portion of the presentation stream.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the signature is unique within the presentation stream.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the presentation stream comprises an audio/video stream, and wherein the method further comprises:

parsing text data associated with the audio/video stream to identify a text string in the text data that identifies the boundary; and

providing the text string to the presentation device, wherein the presentation device utilizes the text string in association with the signature to identify the portion of the audio/video stream to skip during presentation.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the text string is unique within the text data.

15. A digital video recorder comprising:

a communication interface that receives a first audio/video stream including at least one segment of a show, at least one interstitial of the show and closed captioning data;

a storage medium;

control logic communicatively coupled to the communication interface and the storage medium that;

coordinates storage of the first audio/video stream onto the storage medium;

receives location information referencing the closed captioning data to identify a video location within the first audio/video stream, a signature of a portion of the first audio/video stream associated with the video location and at least one first off-set specified relative to the video location;

processes the recorded first audio/video stream to identify boundaries of the at least one segment of the show based on the signature, the location information and the first off-set;

filters the interstitial from the first audio/video stream to generate a second audio/video stream including the segment of the show; and

an audio/video interface communicatively coupled to the control logic that outputs the second audio/video stream for presentation by a display device.

16. The digital video recorder of claim 15, wherein the control logic receives the location information in association with the signature and the first off-set separately from the first audio/video stream.

17. The digital video recorder of claim 15, wherein the control logic processes the closed captioning data to identify search boundaries within the first audio/video stream based on the location information and processes a portion of the first audio/video stream within the search boundaries to identify the video location based on the signature.

18. The digital video recorder of claim 17, wherein the signature comprises a search portion of audio data of the first audio/video stream, and wherein the control logic processes the audio data of the first audio/video stream within the search boundaries to identify the video location corresponding with the portion of the audio data.

19. The digital video recorder of claim 17, wherein the signature comprises a search portion of video data of the first audio/video stream, and wherein the control logic processes the video data of the second audio/video stream within the search boundaries to identify the video location corresponding with the portion of the audio data.

20. The digital video recorder of claim 15, wherein the location information includes at least one text string contained in the closed captioning data that is associated with the video location, beginning and ending offsets, associated with the text string, that are specified relative to the video location, the beginning and ending offsets identifying beginning and ending locations of the at least one segment, and wherein the control logic is configured to:

process the closed captioning data to identify an intermediate location within the first audio/video stream corresponding with presentation of the text string;

process the first audio/video stream to identify the video location based on the signature;

determine an adjustment offset between the intermediate location and the video location;

adjust the beginning and ending offsets based on the adjustment offset; and

identify the beginning location and the ending location of the at least one segment in the first audio/video stream based on the adjusted beginning and ending offsets.

21. The digital video recorder of claim 20, wherein the signature comprises a window of signature audio data, and wherein the control logic is configured to:

perform a first operation to subtract the window of the signature audio data from a first portion of audio data of the presentation stream, the first portion of the audio data corresponding with the intermediate location;

determine whether the first operation results in a value within a specified tolerance;

perform a second operation to subtract the window of the signature audio data from a second portion of the audio data responsive to determining that the first operation results in the value being larger than the specified tolerance, the second portion of the audio data corresponding with the video location; and

determine the adjustment offset based on a presentation time difference of the first portion and the second portion of the audio data.

22. An apparatus comprising:

a communication interface that receives a first presentation stream including at least one segment of a show and at least one interstitial of the show, and that further receives location information referencing a location within the first presentation stream, a signature of a portion of the first presentation stream corresponding with the location and at least one off-set specified relative to the location, the signature identifying a transition in the video data from a first luminance value to a second luminance value;

control logic communicatively coupled to the communication interface that;

computes average luminance values for a plurality of frames of the video data of the first presentation stream;

processes the average luminance values to identify the transition from the first luminance value to the second luminance value based on the signature, the transition corresponding with the location within the first presentation stream;

processes the first presentation stream to identify boundaries of the segment of the show based on the identified location and the off-set;

filters the interstitial from the first presentation stream to generate a second presentation stream including the segment of the show; and

an audio/video interface communicatively coupled to the control logic that outputs the second presentation stream for presentation on a presentation device.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the communication interface receives the location information in association with the signature and the off-set separately from the first presentation stream.