Method and apparatus for monitoring audio-visual materials presented to a subscriber
First Claim
1. A home station for presenting audio-visual material to a subscriber, having a plurality of audio visual material streams as input, at least one audio-visual material stream having audio-visual identifier information encoded in said audio-visual material stream, said home station comprising:
- a remote that permits the subscriber to select for presentation an audio-visual material stream for presentation from a plurality of audio-visual streams;
an audio-visual identifier decoder for extracting the audio-visual identifier information from the audio-visual material stream selected by the subscriber;
a monitor coupled to the audio-visual identifier decoder for processing and storing the extracted audio-visual identifier information in a behavior collection table; and
a surfing detector for determining channel surfing periods and accumulating each channel surfing period into one behavior collection table entry.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for content coding of Audio-Visual materials is presented. The content coding can then be decoded by a home station where the content coding is collected and processed. The content codes are utilized by the subscribers home station to collect information on the subscribers selection of AVM streams and record information on which AVMs have been presented to the subscriber. An audio-video material distribution system is described for supplying AVM streams to home station via a local distribution network. The home stations decode the content coding from the AVM streams and collect the encoded content codes. The collected content codes are then sent to collection centers for processing. The encoded information may also utilized to provide management of an upstream channel between the home stations and the video distribution node.
1186 Citations
99 Claims
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1. A home station for presenting audio-visual material to a subscriber, having a plurality of audio visual material streams as input, at least one audio-visual material stream having audio-visual identifier information encoded in said audio-visual material stream, said home station comprising:
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a remote that permits the subscriber to select for presentation an audio-visual material stream for presentation from a plurality of audio-visual streams; an audio-visual identifier decoder for extracting the audio-visual identifier information from the audio-visual material stream selected by the subscriber; a monitor coupled to the audio-visual identifier decoder for processing and storing the extracted audio-visual identifier information in a behavior collection table; and a surfing detector for determining channel surfing periods and accumulating each channel surfing period into one behavior collection table entry. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A home station for presenting audio-visual material to a subscriber, having a plurality of audio visual material streams as input, at least one audio-visual material stream having audio-visual identifier information encoded in said audio-visual material stream, said home station comprising:
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a remote that permits the subscriber to select for presentation an audio-visual material stream for presentation from a plurality of audio-visual streams; an audio-visual identifier decoder for extracting the audio-visual identifier information from the audio-visual material stream selected by the subscriber; a monitor coupled to the audio-visual identifier decoder for processing and storing the extracted audio-visual identifier information in a behavior collection table, the behavior collection table containing an audio-visual identifier identification field, a start index field and a stop index field. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A home station for presenting audio-visual material to a subscriber, having a plurality of audio visual material streams as input, at least one audio-visual material stream having audio-visual identifier information encoded in said audio-visual material stream, said home station comprising:
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a remote that permits the subscriber to select for presentation an audio-visual material stream for presentation from a plurality of audio-visual streams; an audio-visual identifier decoder for extracting the audio-visual identifier information from the audio-visual material stream selected by the subscriber; a monitor coupled to the audio-visual identifier decoder for collecting and processing the extracted audio-visual identifier information, the collected audio-visual identifier information is stored in a behavior collection table by the monitor;
wherein the monitor further comprises a no audio-visual identifier detector for determining when no audio-visual identifier information is available in the selected audio-visual material stream and the no audio-visual identifier detector uses an audio-visual identifier timer wherein if the time of presentation of the selected audio-visual material stream is less than the audio-visual identifier timer threshold then a determination of audio-visual identifier available is made and if the time of presentation of the selected audio-visual material stream is greater than the audio-visual identifier timer threshold and no audio-visual identifier information has been decoded then a determination of audio-visual identifier not available is made. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. In a home station having a plurality of audio-visual material streams as input with at least one audio-visual material stream having audio-visual identifier information encoded in the audio-visual material stream, a method comprising the following steps:
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selecting an audio-visual material stream by a subscriber; decoding said audio-visual identifier information encoded in the selected audio-visual material stream; monitoring said decoded audio-visual identifier information and updating a behavior collection table in response to changes in the audio-visual identifier information; and
,determining channel surfing periods and accumulating each channel surfing period into one behavior collection table entry. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. In a home station having a plurality of audio-visual material streams as input with at least one audio-visual material stream having audio-visual identifier information encoded in the audio-visual material stream, a method comprising the following steps:
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selecting an audio-visual material stream by a subscriber; decoding said audio-visual identifier information encoded in the selected audio-visual material stream; monitoring said decoded audio-visual identifier information and updating a behavior collection table in response to changes in the audio-visual identifier information; and
,determining when no audio-visual identifier information is available in the selected audio-visual material stream using an audio-visual identifier timer wherein if the time of presentation of the selected audio-visual material stream is less than the audio-visual identifier timer threshold then a determination of audio-visual identifier available is made and if the time of presentation of the selected audio-visual material stream is greater than the audio-visual identifier timer threshold and no audio-visual identifier information has been decoded then a determination of audio-visual identifier not available is made. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51)
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52. In a home station having a plurality of audio-visual material streams as input with at least one audio-visual material stream having audio-visual identifier information encoded in the audio-visual material stream, a method comprising the following steps:
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selecting an audio-visual material stream by a subscriber; decoding said audio-visual identifier information encoded in the selected audio-visual material stream; monitoring said decoded audio-visual identifier information and updating a behavior collection table in response to changes in the audio-visual identifier information wherein each entry in the behavior collection table contains an audio-visual identifier identification field, a start index field and a stop index field. - View Dependent Claims (53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60)
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61. An article of manufacture comprising a computer useable medium having a computer readable program embodied in said medium, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a home station causes the home station to:
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receive an audio-visual material stream from a selected channel; decode said audio-visual identifier information encoded in the received audio-visual material stream; monitor said decoded audio-visual identifier information and update a behavior collection table in response to changes in the audio-visual identifier information; and
,determine channel surfing periods and accumulate each channel surfing period into one behavior collection table entry. - View Dependent Claims (62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71)
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72. The article of manufacture of 61 further including causing the home station to:
present the behavior collection table in response to a subscriber request.
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73. An article of manufacture comprising a computer useable medium having a computer readable program embodied in said medium, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a home station causes the home station to:
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receive an audio-visual material stream from a selected channel; decode said audio-visual identifier information encoded in the received audio-visual material stream; monitor said decoded audio-visual identifier information and update a behavior collection table in response to changes in the audio-visual identifier information; and
,determine when no audio-visual identifier information is available in the received audio-visual material stream using an audio-visual identifier timer wherein if the time of presentation of the received audio-visual material stream is less than the audio-visual identifier timer threshold then a determination of audio-visual identifier available is made and if the time of presentation of the received audio-visual material stream is greater than the audio-visual identifier timer threshold and no audio-visual identifier information has been decoded then a determination-of audio-visual identifier not available is made. - View Dependent Claims (74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81)
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82. An article of manufacture comprising a computer useable medium having a computer readable program embodied in said medium, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a home station causes the home station to:
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receive an audio-visual material stream from a selected channel; decode said audio-visual identifier information encoded in the received audio-visual material stream; monitor said decoded audio-visual identifier information and update a behavior collection table in response to changes in the audio-visual identifier information wherein each entry in the behavior collection table contains an audio-visual identifier identification field, a start index field and a stop index field. - View Dependent Claims (83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90)
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91. An audio-video material distribution system comprising:
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a video distribution node for outputting a plurality of audio visual material streams with at least one audio-visual material stream having encoded audio-visual identifier information; a local distribution network coupled to said video distribution node capable of providing said plurality of output audio-visual material streams to one or more home stations connected to the local distribution network, said local distribution network having a reverse channel whereby the home stations can send information to said video distribution node; wherein at least one home station decodes the audio-visual identifier information, monitors and stores the decoded audio-visual identifier information in a behavior collection table using a surfing detector for determining channel surfing periods and accumulating each channel surfing period into one behavior collection table entry, and returns said behavior collection table to the video distribution node via said reverse channel of the local distribution network. - View Dependent Claims (92, 93)
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94. An audio-video material distribution system comprising:
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a video distribution node for outputting a plurality of audio visual material streams with at least one audio-visual material stream having encoded audio-visual identifier information; a local distribution network coupled to said video distribution node capable of providing said plurality of output audio-visual material streams to one or more home stations connected to the local distribution network, said local distribution network having a reverse channel whereby the home stations can send information to said video distribution node; wherein at least one home station decodes the audio-visual identifier information, monitors and stores the decoded audio-visual identifier information in a behavior collection table, the behavior collection table including an audio-visual identifier identification field, a start index field and a stop index field, and returns said behavior collection table to the video distribution node via said reverse channel of the local distribution network. - View Dependent Claims (95, 96)
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97. An audio-video material distribution system comprising:
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a video distribution node for outputting a plurality of audio visual material streams with at least one audio-visual material stream having encoded audio-visual identifier information; a local distribution network coupled to said video distribution node capable of providing said plurality of output audio-visual material streams to one or more home stations connected to the local distribution network, said local distribution network having a reverse channel whereby the home stations can send information to said video distribution node; wherein at least one home station decodes the audio-visual identifier information, monitors and stores the decoded audio-visual identifier information in a behavior collection table, wherein a no audio-visual identifier detector is used for determining when no audio-visual identifier information is available in the selected audio-visual material stream and the no audio-visual identifier detector uses an audio-visual identifier timer wherein if the time of presentation of the selected audio-visual material stream is less than the audio-visual identifier timer threshold then a determination of audio-visual identifier available is made and if the time of presentation of the selected audio-visual material stream is greater than the audio-visual identifier timer threshold and no audio-visual identifier information has been decoded then a determination of audio-visual identifier not available is made, and returns said behavior collection table to the video distribution node via said reverse channel of the local distribution network. - View Dependent Claims (98, 99)
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Specification