PLAYBACK OF DAMAGED VIDEO MEDIA USING DOWNLOADED CONTENT

• US 20100202764A1
• Filed: 02/06/2009
• Published: 08/12/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Boss, Gregory J., O'Connell, Brian M., Bhogal, Kulvir S., Hamilton, Rick Allen II
• Granted Patent: US 8,428,421 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 386/334
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/1883 Methods for assignment of alternate areas for defective areas
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42646 for reading from or writing on a non-volatile solid state storage medium, e.g. DVD, CD-ROM
• 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 21/4425 Monitoring of client processing errors or hardware failure
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/775 between a recording apparatus and a television receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/85 on discs or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/91 Television signal processing therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8205 involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the colour video signal

Abstract

A method, system and computer program provide a mechanism for playing damaged digital video media and optionally notifying a service agency of the damage. When a defect is located on media, the DVD player reads the media to determine damaged portions of the video program. Once the damaged portion is identified, the DVD player downloads content from a remote content provider, such as the content producer, a rental agency, or a third party provider. The content may be downloaded during or prior to video playback. Rental agencies or other providers may be notified of damaged media by network message. When a defect is located during playback and content is downloaded, the DVD player transmits user and disc identification data encoded in the DVD player and on the media across the network to the agency. The agency may use the information to flag the media for removal from circulation upon return.

Claims

1. A method of playback of digital video from an optical digital video media, comprising:

within a digital video playback device, detecting a defect in the optical digital video media that renders portions of a video program encoded on the optical digital video media unplayable;

determining an unplayable portion of the video program that is unplayable due to the defect;

responsive to the determining, downloading the portion of the video program from a remote content provider as a replacement portion of the video program; and

playing a playable portion of the digital video program on the digital video playback device and further playing the replacement portion of the video program downloaded by the downloading in place of the unplayable portion of the video program.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising responsive to the detecting, sending a notification to a remote system via a network that the digital video media is defective.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining comprises:

reading the optical digital video media;

receiving error indications resulting from the reading;

predicting a region of the defect in conformity with the received error indications; and

determining the unplayable portion of the video program in conformity with the predicted region of the defect.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining comprises:

receiving a user input indicative of a region on the optical digital video media; and

specifying the unplayable portion in conformity with the received user input.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the downloading is performed simultaneously with the playing of the playable portion of the optical digital video media.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the downloading is performed by:

connecting to the remote content provider prior to the playing of the playable portion of the optical digital video media; and

saving the downloaded replacement portion in a storage within the digital video playback device, and wherein the playing is performed subsequent to completing the downloading.

7. A system, comprising at least one processor for executing program instructions, at least one memory coupled to a corresponding one of the at least one processor for storing the program instructions, and a digital video playback device coupled to the processor for playing an optical digital video media, wherein the system is coupled to a remote content provider via a network, and wherein the program instructions comprise program instructions for:

detecting a defect in the optical digital video media that renders portions of a video program encoded on the optical digital video media unplayable;

determining an unplayable portion of the video program that is unplayable due to the defect;

responsive to the determining, downloading the portion of the video program from a remote content provider as a replacement portion of the video program; and

playing a playable portion of the optical digital video program on the digital video playback device of the system and further playing the replacement portion of the video program downloaded by the downloading in place of the unplayable portion of the video program.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the program instructions further comprise program instructions for sending a notification that the optical digital video media is defective to a remote system via the network, and wherein the program instructions for sending are executed in response to the program instructions for detecting detecting a defect.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the program instructions for determining comprise program instructions for:

reading the optical digital video media;

receiving error indications resulting from the reading;

predicting a region of the defect in conformity with the received error indications; and

determining the unplayable portion of the video program in conformity with the predicted region of the defect.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein program instructions for the determining comprise program instructions for:

receiving a user input indicative of a region on the optical digital video media; and

specifying the unplayable portion in conformity with the received user input.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the program instructions for downloading are executed during playback of the optical digital video media.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the program instructions for downloading comprise program instructions for:

connecting to the remote content provider prior to the playing of the playable portion of the optical digital video media; and

storing the downloaded replacement portion in a storage within the digital playback device, and wherein the playing is performed subsequent to completing the storing.

13. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage media system encoding program instructions for execution by a processor, wherein the program instructions comprise program instructions for playing an optical digital video media, wherein the program instructions comprise program instructions for:

within a digital video playback device, detecting a defect in the optical digital video media that renders portions of a video program encoded on the optical digital video media unplayable;

determining an unplayable portion of the video program that is unplayable due to the defect;

responsive to the determining, downloading the portion of the video program from a remote content provider as a replacement portion of the video program; and

playing a playable portion of the digital video program on the digital video playback device and further playing the replacement portion of the video program downloaded by the downloading in place of the unplayable portion of the video program.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the program instructions further comprise program instructions for sending a notification that the optical digital video media is defective to a remote system via the network, and wherein the program instructions for sending are executed in response to the program instructions for detecting detecting a defect.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the program instructions for determining comprise program instructions for:

reading the optical digital video media;

receiving error indications resulting from the reading;

predicting a region of the defect in conformity with the received error indications; and

determining the unplayable portion of the video program in conformity with the predicted region of the defect.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the program instructions for determining comprise program instructions for:

receiving a user input indicative of a region on the optical digital video media; and

specifying the unplayable portion in conformity with the received user input.

17. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the program instructions for downloading are executed during playback of the optical digital video media.

18. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the program instructions for downloading comprise program instructions for:

connecting to the remote content provider prior to the playing of the playable portion of the optical digital video media; and

storing the downloaded replacement portion in a storage within the digital playback device, and wherein the playing is performed subsequent to completing the storing.

19. A method of notifying a service agency, comprising:

detecting a defect within a particular optical digital video media during playback of the particular media using the digital video playback device; and

automatically transmitting a message from the digital video player to the service agency that provided the optical digital video media, wherein the message includes information uniquely identifying the particular media.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising retrieving user identification information from a memory within the digital video playback device, and wherein the transmitting transmits the user identification information and an indication that identifies a content of the optical digital video media.

21. A system, comprising at least one processor for executing program instructions, at least one memory coupled to a corresponding one of the at least one processor for storing the program instructions, and a digital video playback device coupled to the processor for playing a digital video media, wherein the system is coupled to a remote content provider via a network, and wherein the program instructions comprise program instructions for:

detecting a defect within a particular optical digital video media during playback of the particular media using the digital video playback device; and

automatically transmitting a message from the digital video playback device to the service agency that provided the optical digital video media, wherein the message includes information uniquely identifying the particular media.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the program instructions further comprise program instructions for retrieving user identification information from a memory within the digital video playback device, and wherein the program instructions for transmitting further comprise program instructions for transmitting the user identification information and an indication that identifies a content of the optical digital video media.

23. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage media system encoding program instructions for execution by a processor, wherein the program instructions comprise program instructions for playing a digital video media, wherein the program instructions comprise program instructions for:

within a digital playback device, detecting a defect within a particular optical digital video media during playback of the particular media using the digital video playback device; and

automatically transmitting a message from the digital video playback device to the service agency that provided the optical digital video media, wherein the message includes information uniquely identifying the particular media.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the program instructions further comprise program instructions for retrieving user information from a memory within the digital video playback device, and wherein the program instructions for transmitting further comprise program instructions for transmitting the user identification information and an indication that identifies the optical digital video media.