APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING A SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM

• US 20110122246A1
• Filed: 11/24/2009
• Published: 05/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2009
• 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: BEATTIE, JAMES GORDON, Griesmer, Stephen J., Mallya, Arvind Ramdas
• Granted Patent: US 9,357,177 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/143
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/004 for digital television systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4383 Accessing a communication channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44209 Monitoring of downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. bandwidth variations of a wireless network arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6543 for forcing some client operations, e.g. recording remote booting in general G06F9/4416
• 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 7/17309 Transmission or handling of upstream communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/188 Capturing isolated or intermittent images triggered by the occurrence of a predetermined event, e.g. an object reaching a predetermined position signal generation from motion picture films H04N5/253

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a media processor having a controller to receive media content from a content provider operating in an interactive television (iTV) network, wherein the media content is associated with a plurality of channels, wherein the media content comprises audio and video content, change each channel of the plurality of channels based on a time interval provided by a monitoring system, analyze audio content of the media content for each channel for detecting an undesired condition associated with the video content, wherein the audio content is encoded by an iTV audio encoder, and transmit the media content to the monitoring system if the undesired condition is detected, the media content being transmitted for analysis by the monitoring system and for creation of a trouble ticket if a qualitative threshold for the media content is determined to not be satisfied. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A media processor, comprising a controller to:

receive media content from a content provider operating in an interactive television (iTV) network, wherein the media content is associated with a plurality of channels, wherein the media content comprises audio and video content;

change each channel of the plurality of channels based on a time interval provided by a monitoring system;

analyze audio content of the media content for each channel for detecting an undesired condition associated with the video content, wherein the audio content is encoded by an iTV audio encoder; and

transmit the media content to the monitoring system if the undesired condition is detected, the media content being transmitted for analysis by the monitoring system and for creation of a trouble ticket if a qualitative threshold for the media content is determined to not be satisfied.

2. The media processor of claim 1, wherein the iTV network comprises at least one of internet protocol television, interactive cable television, and interactive satellite television.

3. The media processor of claim 1, wherein the media processor comprises one of a set-top-box, a mobile device, a personal computer, a personal digital assistant, a tablet computing device, and a digital video recorder.

4. The media processor of claim 1, wherein the controller is adapted to determine an undesired condition associated with at least one of text, still image, and the audio content of the media content based on analyzing the audio content.

5. The media processor of claim 1, wherein the trouble ticket is transmitted to a processor for performing at least one of generating and transmitting to the media processor substitute media content which satisfies the qualitative threshold and altering the media content to satisfy the qualitative threshold.

6. The media processor of claim 1, wherein the qualitative threshold is based on at least one of an absence of a signal associated with the media content and a number of lost packets associated with the media content.

7. The media processor of claim 1, wherein at least one of the controller and the monitoring system is adapted to monitor the media content by level checking across a spectrum, a phase, and a harmonic distortion.

8. The media processor of claim 1, wherein at least one of the controller and the monitoring system is adapted to generate an alarm if synchronization of a speech recognition engine is determined to be lost intermittently or for an extended period of time.

9. A method, comprising:

transmitting an instruction signal to a media processor for changing a plurality of channels at a time interval and detecting an undesired condition associated with media content for each channel of the plurality of channels, wherein the media processor operates in an interactive television (iTV) network;

receiving the media content from the media processor via a backhaul circuit if the undesired condition associated with the media content is detected, wherein the undesired condition is detected by analyzing audio content of the media content;

analyzing the media content to determine if a qualitative threshold for the media content is satisfied; and

generating a trouble ticket if the qualitative threshold for the media content is determined to not be satisfied.

10. The method of claim 9, comprising analyzing the backhaul circuit by utilizing a reference channel.

11. The method of claim 9, comprising transmitting the trouble ticket to a processor for performing at least one of generating and transmitting to the media processor substitute media content which satisfies the qualitative threshold and adjusting the media content to satisfy the qualitative threshold.

12. The method of claim 9, comprising updating the trouble ticket if at least one of the undesired condition is not detected and the qualitative threshold is satisfied.

13. The method of claim 9, comprising determining undesired conditions associated with at least one of a physical and logical topology associated with the media content.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the qualitative threshold is based on at least one of an absence of a signal associated with the media content and a number of lost packets associated with the media content.

15. The method of claim 9, comprising generating an alarm signal if the qualitative threshold is not satisfied.

16. A computer-readable storage medium, comprising computer instructions to:

receive media content from a media content source, wherein the media content is associated with a plurality of channels;

receive an instruction signal from a monitoring system for changing the plurality of channels based on a time interval;

change each channel of the plurality of channels based on the time interval;

analyze audio content of the media content for each channel for detecting an undesired condition associated with the media content; and

transmit the media content to the monitoring system if the undesired condition is detected, the media content being transmitted to the monitoring system for determining if a qualitative threshold for the media content is satisfied.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, comprising computer instructions to feed the audio content into an audio encoder for encoding after detecting the undesired condition, wherein the encoded audio content is decoded by the monitoring system.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, comprising computer instructions to determine an undesired condition of at least one of video, still image, and text content of the media content based on analyzing the audio content.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, comprising computer instructions to receive substitute media content if at least one of the undesired condition is detected and the qualitative threshold is not satisfied.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, comprising computer instructions to determine undesired conditions associated with at least one of a physical and logical topology associated with the media content