METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR IDENTIFYING SEGMENTS OF CONTENT IN A PRESENTATION STREAM USING SIGNATURE DATA

• US 20100162344A1
• Filed: 05/04/2009
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Dish Network Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Echostar Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Kummer, David A., Casagrande, Steven Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,407,735 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/137
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/10 Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/28 by using information signals recorded by the same method as the main recording G11B27/22 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8133 specifically related to the content, e.g. biography of the actors in a movie, detailed information about an article seen in a video program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/91 Television signal processing therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8063 using time division multiplex of the PCM audio and PCM video signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8205 involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the colour video signal

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 logical chapters, scenes or other sections of the content. The identified segments of the presentation stream may then be selectably viewed by a user.

Claims

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

receiving location information identifying at least one video location within an audio/video stream, the location information referencing closed captioning data associated with the audio/video stream, the location information being received separately from the audio/video stream;

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

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

processing the audio/video stream to identify boundaries of multiple segments of the audio/video stream based on the signature, the location information and the first off-set;

receiving user input requesting presentation of at least one of the segments of the audio/video stream; and

outputting the at least one of the segments for presentation by a display device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving user input further comprises:

generating a selection menu of the segments of the audio/video stream;

outputting the selection menu for presentation by the display device; and

receiving a user selection of the at least one of the segments responsive to outputting the selection menu.

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

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

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

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the signature comprises a search portion of audio data of the audio/video stream, and wherein processing a portion of the audio/video stream within the search boundaries further comprises:

processing the audio data of the 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 4, wherein the signature comprises a portion of video data of the audio/video stream, and wherein processing a portion of the audio/video stream within the search boundaries further comprises:

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

6. The method of claim 4, 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 audio/video stream further comprises:

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

processing the 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 audio/video stream based the adjusted beginning and ending offsets.

7. The method of claim 6, 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 data from a first portion of audio data of the audio/video 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 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.

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

receiving location information identifying at least one location within an audio/video stream;

receiving a signature of a portion of the audio/video stream corresponding with the location, the signature identifying a transition in the video data from a first luminance value to a second luminance value, and wherein identifying the location of the audio/video stream further comprises;

computing average luminance values for a plurality of frames of the video data of the audio/video 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 audio/video stream;

identifying boundaries of multiple segments of the audio/video stream based on the location;

receiving user input requesting presentation of at least one of the segments of the audio/video stream; and

outputting the at least one of the segments for presentation by a display device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving the location information and the signature further comprise:

receiving the location information in association with the signature separately from the audio/video stream.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein identifying the boundaries of multiple segments of the audio/video stream further comprises:

receiving an offset, specified relative to the location, the offset specifying a boundary between a first segment and a second segment of the audio/video stream.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving user input further comprises:

generating a selection menu of the segments of the audio/video stream;

outputting the selection menu for presentation by the display device; and

receiving a user selection of the at least one of the segments of the audio/video stream from the selection menu.

12. A digital video recorder comprising:

a communication interface that receives an audio/video stream including a plurality of segments and that further receives location information identifying at least one location within the audio/video stream, a signature of a portion of the audio/video stream corresponding with the location and at least one offset, specified relative to the location, the offset specifying a boundary between a first segment and a second segment of the audio/video stream, the location information, the signature and the off-set being received separately from the audio/video stream, the signature identifying a transition in the video data from a first luminance value to a second luminance value;

a storage medium;

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

compute average luminance values for a plurality of frames of the video data of the audio/video stream; and

process 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 audio/video stream.

identify the boundaries of the first and second segments of the audio/video stream based on the location and the at least one off-set;

receive user input requesting presentation of at least one of the first and second segments of the audio/video stream; and

output the at least one of the segments for presentation by a display device.

13. The digital video recorder of claim 12, wherein the control logic is configured to:

generate a selection menu of the segments of the audio/video stream;

output the selection menu for presentation by the display device; and

receive a user selection of the at least one of the segments of the audio/video stream from the selection menu.

14. A digital video recorder comprising:

a communication interface that receives an audio/video stream including a plurality of segments and associated closed captioning data, the communication interface further receiving location information referencing closed captioning data to identify at least one video location within the audio/video stream, a signature of a portion of the audio/video stream associated with the video location and at least one first off-set specified relative to the video location;

a storage medium;

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

process the audio/video stream to identify boundaries of multiple segments of the audio/video stream based on the signature, the location information and the first off-set;

receive user input requesting presentation of at least one of the segments of the audio/video stream; and

an audio/video output interface that outputs the at least one of the segments for presentation by a display device.

15. The digital video recorder of claim 14, wherein the control logic is configured to:

generate a selection menu of the segments of the audio/video stream;

output the selection menu for presentation by the display device; and

receive a user selection of the at least one of the segments responsive to outputting the selection menu.

16. The digital video recorder of claim 14, wherein the control logic is configured to:

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

process a portion of the audio/video stream within the search boundaries to identify the video location based on the signature.

17. The digital video recorder of claim 16, wherein the signature comprises a search portion of audio data of the audio/video stream, and wherein the control logic processes the audio data of the audio/video stream within the search boundaries to identify the video location corresponding with the portion of the audio data.

18. The digital video recorder of claim 16, wherein the signature comprises a portion of video data of the audio/video stream, and the control logic processes the video data of the audio/video stream within the search boundaries to identify the video location corresponding with the portion of the video data.

19. The digital video recorder of claim 16, 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 audio/video stream corresponding with presentation of the text string;

process the 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 audio/video strewn based the adjusted beginning and ending offsets.

20. The digital video recorder of claim 19, 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 data from a first portion of audio data of the audio/video 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 data from a second portion of the audio data responsive to determining that the first operation results in the value 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.