System and Method of Analyzing Internet Protocol Television Content for Closed-Captioning Information

• US 20110067079A1
• Filed: 09/14/2009
• Published: 03/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2009
• 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: Cansler, James L., White, Scott
• Granted Patent: US 8,910,232 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/110
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4394 involving operations for analysing the audio stream, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in audio streams arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of audio in broadcast systems H04H60/58
• 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 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4826 using recommendation lists, e.g. of programs or channels sorted out according to their score
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4884 for displaying subtitles
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording

Abstract

An Internet Protocol television (IPTV) system includes a selector module that selects a content item and sends a stream of the content item to a set-top box. The set-top box analyzes content information associated with the content item using a speech interpretation algorithm or a text interpretation algorithm to create an index of the content information and determines to record the content item based upon the index of the content information. A method includes sending a content item from an IPTV network to a set-top box, directing the set-top box to analyze content information associated with the content item using a speech interpretation algorithm or a text interpretation algorithm, and directing the set-top box to record the content item based upon the analysis of the content information.

Claims

1. An Internet Protocol television (IPTV) system comprising a selector module adapted to:

select a content item; and

send a stream of the content item to a set-top box to;

analyze content information associated with the content item using a speech interpretation algorithm or a text interpretation algorithm to create an index of the content information; and

in response to analyzing the content information, determine to record the content item based upon the index of the content information.

2. The IPTV system of claim 1, wherein the text interpretation algorithm is adapted to analyze a closed captioning track of the content item.

3. The IPTV system of claim 2, wherein the text interpretation algorithm is further adapted to analyze the closed captioning track using a screen-to-text algorithm.

4. The IPTV system of claim 3, wherein, in determining to record the content item, the text interpretation algorithm is adapted to determine that a search term is included in the closed captioning track.

5. The IPTV system of claim 1, wherein the speech interpretation algorithm is adapted to analyze an audio track of the content item.

6. The IPTV system of claim 5, wherein the speech interpretation algorithm is further adapted to analyze the audio track using a speech-to-text algorithm.

7. The IPTV system of claim 6, wherein, in determining to record the content item, the speech interpretation algorithm is adapted to determine that a search term is included in the audio track.

8. A set-top box comprising:

a network interface adapted to receive a content item from an Internet Protocol television (IPTV) network;

a recording device adapted to record the content item; and

an analyzer module adapted to;

receive the content item from the IPTV system;

in response to receiving the content item, analyze content information associated with the content item using a speech interpretation algorithm or a text interpretation algorithm to create an index of the content information; and

in response to analyzing the content information, determine to record the content item based upon the index of the content information.

9. The set-top box of claim 8, wherein the text interpretation algorithm is adapted to analyze a closed captioning track of the content item.

10. The set-top box of claim 9, wherein the text interpretation algorithm is further adapted to analyze the closed captioning track using a screen-to-text algorithm.

11. The set-top box of claim 10, wherein, in determining to record the content item, the text interpretation algorithm is adapted to determine that a search term is included in the closed captioning track.

12. The set-top box of claim 8, wherein the speech interpretation algorithm is adapted to analyze an audio track of the content item.

13. The set-top box of claim 12, wherein the speech interpretation algorithm is further adapted to analyze the audio track using a speech-to-text algorithm.

14. The set-top box of claim 13, wherein, in determining to record the content item, the speech interpretation algorithm is adapted to determine that a search term is included in the audio track.

15. A method comprising:

sending a content item from an Internet Protocol television (IPTV) network to a set-top box;

directing the set-top box to analyze content information associated with the content item using a speech interpretation algorithm or a text interpretation algorithm; and

in response to analyzing the content information, directing the set-top box to record the content item based upon the analysis of the content information.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein, in analyzing the content information, the speech interpretation algorithm analyzes a closed captioning track of the content item.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein in analyzing the content information, the speech interpretation algorithm further analyzes the closed captioning track using a screen-to-text algorithm.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein, in determining to record the content item, the speech interpretation algorithm further determines that a search term is included in the closed captioning track.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein, in analyzing the content information, the speech interpretation algorithm analyzes an audio track of the content item.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein in analyzing the content information, the speech interpretation algorithm further analyzes the audio track using a speech-to-text algorithm.