System and Method to Create a Media Content Summary Based on Viewer Annotations

• US 20100251295A1
• Filed: 03/31/2009
• Published: 09/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Stead, Larry, Nathan, Mukesh, Amento, Brian
• Granted Patent: US 8,769,589 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/38
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/322 used signal is digitally coded
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25866 Management of end-user data customer care in data networks H04L41/5077
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/442 Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk arrangements for monitoring broadcast services or broadcast-related services H04H60/29; arrangements for identifying or recognising characteristics with a direct linkage to broadcast information H04H60/35; monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; monitoring in wireless networks H04W24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44204 Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47217 for controlling playback functions for recorded or on-demand content, e.g. using progress bars, mode or play-point indicators or bookmarks specific graphical features in visual interfaces H04N21/4312
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/475 End-user interface for inputting end-user data, e.g. personal identification number [PIN], preference data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/485 End-user interface for client configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6587 Control parameters, e.g. trick play commands, viewpoint selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8549 Creating video summaries, e.g. movie trailer retrieval in video databases by using presentations in form of a video summary G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17336 Handling of requests in head-ends

Abstract

A computer implemented method includes receiving, at a media server, a request from a first viewer to create a media content server including select segments of media content for display at a display device. The computer implemented method includes accessing a media content analyzer generated based on viewer annotation data associated with media content. The viewer annotation data is received from viewers other than the first viewer. The computer implemented method includes identifying segments of the media content using the media content analyzer. The computer implemented method includes selecting at least one segment of the identified segments of the media content for inclusion in a media content summary. The computer implemented method includes sending the media content summary including the at least one selected segment of the media content to the display device.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method, comprising:

receiving, at a media server, a request from a user to create a media content summary comprising select segments of media content;

accessing a media content analyzer generated based on viewer annotation data associated with media content, wherein the viewer annotation data is received from viewers other than the user;

identifying segments of the media content using the media content analyzer;

selecting at least one segment of the identified segments of the media content for inclusion in the media content summary; and

sending the media content summary to a device associated with the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the media content analyzer comprises:

determining numerical weights to apply to the viewer annotation data; and

applying the numerical weights to the viewer annotation data.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the numerical weights are determined using a linear approximation.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one segment of the identified segments of the media content is selected for inclusion in the media content summary based on user specified criteria.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving input indicating a skip function after sending at least a portion of the media content summary to the device; and

sending a next selected segment of the media content summary to the device in response to the skip function.

6. A tangible computer-readable storage medium comprising operational instructions, that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

receive from a user a user request to create a media content summary comprising select segments of media content, wherein the user request includes user specified criteria;

identify segments of the media content using a media content analyzer, the media content analyzer generated based on viewer annotation data received from viewers other than the user;

select at least one segment of the identified segments of the media content for inclusion in the media content summary based on the user specified criteria; and

send the media content summary for presentation at a display device.

7. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, further comprising operational instructions, that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to determine a size of each of the identified segments of the media content by identifying a starting position and an ending position of each of the identified segments.

8. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein identifying the starting position and the ending position of each of the identified segments comprises detecting scene transitions of the media content.

9. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the starting position and the ending position of each of the identified segments are identified based on a type of each viewer annotation of the viewer annotation data and a number of the viewer annotations associated with each of the identified segments.

10. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the user specified criteria includes a time period and wherein the starting position and the ending position of each of the identified segments are identified such that the identified segments are viewable within the time period.

11. A system, comprising:

an input interface to receive a request from a user to generate a media content analyzer to identify segments of media content and to generate a media content summary based on the identified segments of media content;

a generator module to generate the media content analyzer based on viewer annotation data that is received from viewers different than the user;

a selection module to select at least one segment of the identified segments for inclusion in the media content summary based on user specified criteria; and

an output interface to send the media content summary including the at least one selected segment to a display device.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising an input interface to receive a user request to analyze the media content using the media content analyzer, the user request including the user specified criteria.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the viewer annotation data is collected from the viewers viewing the media content during different time periods.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the viewer annotation data is collected from the viewers viewing the media content concurrently.

15. A computer implemented method, comprising:

receiving, at a media server, a request from a user to generate a media content analyzer;

analyzing a first set of viewer annotations associated with media content to determine at least one viewer response metric associated with the media content, the first set of viewer annotations generated by viewers other than the user;

accessing media content analysis information associated with the media content;

generating the media content analyzer adapted to approximate the media content analysis information based on the at least one viewer response metric; and

storing the media content analyzer in a memory.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first set of viewer annotations comprise at least one of a facial expression, a hand gesture, a text input, and an emoticon selection.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising storing the viewer annotations as metadata associated with the media content.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising storing, at a database, the viewer annotations and a timestamp associated with each viewer annotation, the timestamp identifying when the associated viewer annotation was created with reference to the media content.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

identifying segments of the media content using the media content analyzer; and

generating genre-specific response values associated with each of the segments.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein identifying the segments of the media content using the media content analyzer comprises:

identifying portions of the media content having viewer annotations associated with the portions; and

changing a size of each portion until the size satisfies a user specified criteria.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

generating a numerical value associated with each identified segment based on the first set of viewer annotations associated with each identified segment;

applying a weight to each numerical value to generate a second numerical value associated with each identified segment; and

selecting at least one of the identified segments based on the second numerical value.

22. The method of claim 15, further comprising generating the media content analysis information based on a second set of viewer annotations associated with the media content.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the second set of viewer annotations comprises viewer annotations received from viewers with a particular expertise associated with a genre of the media content.

24. The method of claim 15, further comprising selecting the first set of viewer annotations based on at least one characteristic common to the viewers that generated the first set of viewer annotations and the user that sent the request to generate the media content analyzer.