ENHANCED MEDIA CONTENT TAGGING SYSTEMS AND METHODS

• US 20110246937A1
• Filed: 03/31/2010
• Published: 10/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Lyons, Shannon M., Relyea, Donald H., Roberts, Brian F., Johns, Greg A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,930,849 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/810
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• 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: G11B 27/322 used signal is digitally coded
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D

Abstract

Exemplary enhanced media content tagging systems and methods are described herein. An exemplary method includes a media content tagging system recording a live transmission of media content in response to a user request that the media content be recorded, receiving, from a media content access device, tag data representative of a user-defined tag specifying a segment of the media content, optimizing the user-defined tag, and distributing the optimized user-defined tag to another media content access device for use by the another media content access device to identify and present the segment of the media content. In certain embodiments, the optimization of the user-defined tag may be based on an analysis of aggregated user-defined tags, an analysis of the media content, or a combination thereof. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

recording, by a media content tagging system, a live transmission of media content in response to a user request that the media content be recorded;

receiving, by the media content tagging system from a media content access device, tag data representative of a user-defined tag specifying a segment of the media content;

optimizing, by the media content tagging system, the user-defined tag; and

distributing, by the media content tagging system, the optimized user-defined tag to another media content access device for use by the another media content access device to identify and present the segment of the media content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the optimizing comprises:

aggregating the user-defined tag with one or more other user-defined tags based on at least one attribute common to the user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags;

analyzing the user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags included in the aggregation; and

selecting the user-defined tag, from the aggregation of the user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags and based on the analyzing of the user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags included in the aggregation, for distribution.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the optimizing further comprises modifying the tag data representative of the user-defined tag to merge at least a portion of another segment of the media content specified by one of the other user-defined tags with the segment of the media content specified by the user-defined tag.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the optimizing further comprises modifying the tag data representative of the user-defined tag to adjust at least one of a start point and an end point of the segment based on the analyzing of the user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags included in the aggregation.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one attribute common to the user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags comprises at least one of a matching tag label and matching timestamp data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the optimizing comprises:

analyzing data representative of the media content; and

modifying the tag data representative of the user-defined tag to adjust at least one of a start point and an end point of the segment based on the analyzing of the data representative of the media content.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the modifying adjusts at least one of the start point and the end point to a different point in the media content, the different point associated with at least one of a scene change, a hard cut, a fade-in, a fade-out, an audio gap, and a video gap in the media content.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the analyzing of the data representative of the media content comprises analyzing data included in a media content stream representative of the media content.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the media content tagging system, user feedback data from the another media content access device, the user feedback data including at least one of a custom user comment associated with the user-defined tag, a selected predefined comment associated with the user-defined tag, and a user rating of the user-defined tag.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising associating, by the media content tagging system, a user profile with the user-defined tag.

11. The method of claim 1, embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one tangible computer-readable medium.

12. A method comprising:

recording, by a media content tagging system, one or more live transmissions of one or more media content programs;

tagging, by the media content tagging system, the one or more recorded media content programs with one or more user profile tags;

detecting, by the media content tagging system, a request for a recorded media content menu;

determining, by the media content tagging system, a user profile associated with the request;

filtering, by the media content tagging system, data representative of the one or more recorded media content programs based on a user profile tag included in the one or more user profile tags, the user profile tag specifying the user profile; and

providing, by the media content tagging system, the recorded media content menu for display, the recorded media content menu including data representative of the filtered one or more recorded media content programs having the user profile tag specifying the user profile.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the tagging comprises:

determining one or more associations of one or more user profiles with the recording of the one or more media content programs; and

automatically assigning the one or more user profile tags to the one or more recorded media content programs based on the one or more associations of the one or more user profiles specified by the one or more user profile tags with the recording of the one or more live transmissions of the one or more media content programs.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the tagging comprises:

receiving user input requesting that the one or more user profile tags be assigned to the one or more media content programs; and

assigning the one or more user profile tags to the one or more recorded media content programs based on the user input.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the determining the user profile associated with the request comprises determining the user profile to be active when the request is detected.

16. The method of claim 12, embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one tangible computer-readable medium.

17. A system comprising:

a first media content access subsystem that records media content in response to a request by a user of the first media content access subsystem that the media content be recorded;

a second media content access subsystem that records the media content in response to a request by a user of the second media content access subsystem that the media content be recorded;

a media content tagging subsystem communicatively coupled to the first media content access subsystem and the second media content access subsystem, the media content tagging subsystem configured to

receive, from the first media content access subsystem, tag data representative of a user-defined tag specifying a segment of the media content;

optimize the user-defined tag,

receive a request from the second media content access subsystem, and

distribute, in response to the request, the optimized user-defined tag to the second media content access subsystem for use by the second media content access subsystem to identify and present the segment of the media content recorded by the second media content access subsystem.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the media content tagging subsystem is configured to optimize the user-defined tag by:

aggregating the user-defined tag with one or more other user-defined tags based on at least one attribute common to the user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags;

analyzing the user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags included in the aggregation; and

selecting the user-defined tag, from the aggregation of the user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags and based on the analyzing of the user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags included in the aggregation, for distribution.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the media content tagging subsystem is further configured to optimize the user-defined tag by modifying the tag data representative of the user-defined tag to merge at least a portion of another segment of the media content specified by one of the other user-defined tags with the segment of the media content specified by the user-defined tag.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the media content tagging subsystem is further configured to optimize the user-defined tag by modifying the tag data representative of the user-defined tag to adjust at least one of a start point and an end point of the segment based on the analyzing of the user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags included in the aggregation.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the at least one attribute common to the user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags comprises at least one of a matching tag label and matching timestamp data.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the media content tagging subsystem is configured to optimize the user-defined tag by:

analyzing data representative of the media content; and

modifying the tag data representative of the user-defined tag to adjust at least one of a start point and an end point of the segment based on the analyzing of the data representative of the media content.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the modifying adjusts at least one of the start point and the end point to a different point in the media content, the different point associated with at least one of a scene change, a hard cut, a fade-in, a fade-out, an audio gap, and a video gap in the media content.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the analyzing of the data representative of the media content comprises analyzing data included in a media content stream representative of the media content.

25. The system of claim 17, wherein the media content tagging subsystem is further configured to receive user feedback data from the second media content access subsystem, the user feedback data including at least one of a custom user comment associated with the user-defined tag, a selected predefined comment associated with the user-defined tag, and a user rating of the user-defined tag.