Intermittently arranged frames for instantaneously shifting among video segments

• US 6,269,216 B1
• Filed: 05/14/1998
• Issued: 07/31/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/1993
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Nissim Corp.
• Original Assignee: Nissim Corp.
• Inventors: Abecassis, Max
• Primary Examiner(s): Chevalier, Robert
• Application Number:
  US09/078,980
• Time in Patent Office: 1,174 Days
• Field of Search: H04/N.57617, 386/46, 386/125, 386/126, 386/52, 386/55, 386/69, 386/83, 386/45, 386/95, 386/40, 386/4, 386/1, 348/6, 348/7, 348/10, 348/12, 725/86, 725/87, 725/89, 725/88, 725/101, 725/102
• US Class Current: 386/262
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/338 using television networks
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/47 involving branching, e.g. choosing one of several possible scenarios at a given point in time
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/63 by the player, e.g. authoring using a level editor
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/95 Storage media specially adapted for storing game information, e.g. video game cartridges
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/409 Data transfer via television network
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/63 for controlling the execution of the game in time
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/632 by branching, e.g. choosing one of several possible story developments at a given point in time
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/807 Role playing or strategy games
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/735 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/78 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 19/02 Control of operating function, e.g. switching from recording to reproducing
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 19/022 Control panels
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 19/04 Arrangements for preventing, inhibiting, or warning against double recording on the same blank or against other recording or reproducing malfunctions
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 19/12 by sensing distinguishing features of or on records, e.g. diameter end mark
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/20 Disc-shaped record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2587 Laser Discs; Optical disc using analog recording
• 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 27/34 : Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 7/14 : specially adapted to record on, or to reproduce from, more than one track simultaneously
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/37 : for identifying segments of broadcast information, e.g. scenes or extracting programme ID
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/46 : for recognising users' preferences
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/48 : for recognising items expressed in broadcast information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/59 : of video recognising characters or patterns in general G06F18/00, G06V20/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/65 : for using the result on users' side
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234318 : by decomposing into objects, e.g. MPEG-4 objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 : Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 : Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 : being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; 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 21/426 : Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 : Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44222 : Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programs or purchase activity monitoring of user selections in data processing systems G06F11/34; arrangements for monitoring the user's behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• 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 21/454 : Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4542 : Blocking scenes or portions of the received content, e.g. censoring scenes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/458 : Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 : End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/472 : End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4755 : for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/478 : Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6543 : for forcing some client operations, e.g. recording remote booting in general G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 : involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 : Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8405 : represented by keywords
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 : by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/4448 : for frame-grabbing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/85 : on discs or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 : by receiver means only
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 : Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17336 : Handling of requests in head-ends
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17354 : in an intermediate station common to a plurality of user terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8227 : the additional signal being at least another television signal

Abstract

A system capable of, and a method of, transmitting video, the system comprising a storage and communications for, and the method comprising the steps of, storing a plurality of video programs; receiving a video program request from a remote player; and transmitting, responsive to said video program request, a video program to said remote player, the transmitted video program comprising a video including within a set of parallel video segments that provide for at least two versions of a scene, segment information directly defining a plurality of video segments within the video, and a user interface particular to the video program for enabling a user to establish a content preference; said remote player comprising at least one processor utilized to process video, a randomly accessible storage, and a control program for playing, responsive to an application of a user established content preference to said segment information, and by means of a random accessing and a buffering, a seamless version of, and from within, said video; whereby said playing seamlessly skips over at least a portion of at least one parallel video segment included within said video, does not require a user of said video program to create the segment information, and does not require an alternative video source.

Claims

1. A system capable of transmitting video, the system comprising:

storage means for storing a plurality of video programs; and

processing and communicating means for receiving a video program request from a remote player, and for transmitting, responsive to said video program request, a video program to said remote player, the transmitted video program comprising a video including within a set of parallel video segments that provide for at least two versions of a scene, segment information directly defining a plurality of video segments within the video, and a user interface particular to the video program for enabling a user to establish a content preference;

said remote player comprising at least one processor utilized to process video, a randomly accessible storage, and a control program for playing, responsive to an application of a user established content preference to said segment information, and by means of a random accessing and a buffering, a seamless version of, and from within, said video;

whereby said playing seamlessly skips over at least a portion of at least one parallel video segment included within said video, does not require a user of said video program to create the segment information, and does not require an alternative video source.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said transmitting comprises a broadband digital transmission;

wherein said randomly accessible storage comprises a storage selected from the group consisting of a magnetic disk, an electronic memory, and a removable laser read/write disc;

wherein said set of parallel video segments provide for at least two versions of said scene with different levels of explicitness in a video content category; and

wherein said user established content preference is responsive to a motion picture rating system.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said set of parallel video segments provide for at least two versions of said scene with different levels of explicitness in a video content category relating to violence, wherein said video includes within another set of parallel video segments that provide for at least two versions of another scene with different levels of explicitness in a video content category relating to sex;

and wherein said user established content preference is separately established for a level of explicitness with respect to said video content category relating to violence and for a level of explicitness with respect to said video content category relating to sex.

4. A method of transmitting video, the method comprising the steps of:

storing a plurality of video programs;

receiving a video program request from a remote player; and

transmitting, responsive to said video program request, a video program to said remote player, the transmitted video program comprising a video including within a set of parallel video segments that provide for at least two versions of a scene, segment information directly defining a plurality of video segments within the video, and a user interface particular to the video program for enabling a user to establish a content preference;

said remote player comprising at least one processor utilized to process video, a randomly accessible storage, and a control program for playing, responsive to an application of a user established content preference to said segment information, and by means of a random accessing and a buffering, a seamless version of, and from within, said video;

whereby said playing seamlessly skips over at least a portion of at least one parallel video segment included within said video, does not require a user of said video program to create the segment information, and does not require an alternative video source.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said transmitting comprises a broadband digital satellite transmission;

wherein said randomly accessible storage comprises a storage selected from the group consisting of a magnetic disk, an electronic memory, and a removable laser read/write disc; and

wherein said set of parallel video segments provide for at least two versions of said scene with different levels of detail.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein said set of parallel video segments provide for at least two versions of said scene with different levels of explicitness in a video content category relating to violence;

and wherein said user established content preference is responsive to a motion picture rating system.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein said set of parallel video segments provide for at least two versions of said scene with different levels of explicitness in a video content category relating to violence, wherein said video includes within another set of parallel video segments that provide for at least two versions of another scene with different levels of explicitness in a video content category relating to sex;

and wherein said user established content preference is separately established for a level of explicitness with respect to said video content category relating to violence and for a level of explicitness with respect to said video content category relating to sex.

8. A system capable of transmitting video, the system comprising communicating means for transmitting a video program to a plurality of remote players;

said video program comprising a video including within a set of parallel video segments that provide for at least two versions of a scene, segment information directly defining a plurality of video segments within said video, and a user interface particular to said video program for enabling a user to establish a content preference;

each of the remote players comprising at least one processor utilized to process video, a randomly accessible storage, and a control program for playing, responsive to an application of a user established content preference to said segment information, and by means of a random accessing and a buffering, a seamless version of, and from within, said video;

whereby said playing seamlessly skips over at least a portion of at least one parallel video segment included within said video, does not require a user of said video to create the segment information, and does not require an alternative video source.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein said transmitting comprises a broadband digital satellite transmission;

wherein said randomly accessible storage comprises a storage selected from the group consisting of a magnetic disk, an electronic memory, and a removable laser read/write disc; and

wherein said set of parallel video segments provide for at least two versions of said scene with different levels of detail.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein said set of parallel video segments provide for at least two versions of said scene with different levels of explicitness in a video content category relating to violence, wherein said video includes within another set of parallel video segments that provide for at least two versions of another scene with different levels of explicitness in a video content category relating to sex;

and wherein said user established content preference is separately established for a level of explicitness with respect to said video content category relating to violence and for a level of explicitness with respect to said video content category relating to sex.

11. A method of transmitting video, the method comprising the step of transmitting a video program to a remote player;

said video program comprising a video including within a set of parallel video segments that provide for at least two versions of a scene, segment information directly defining a plurality of video segments within said video, and a user interface particular to said video program for enabling a user to establish a content preference;

said remote player comprising at least one processor utilized to process video, a randomly accessible storage, and a control program for playing, responsive to an application of a user established content preference to said segment information, and by means of a random accessing and a buffering, a seamless version of, and from within, said video;

whereby said playing seamlessly skips over at least a portion of at least one parallel video segment included within said video, does not require a user of said video to create the segment information, and does not require an alternative video source.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said set of parallel video segments provide for at least two versions of said scene with different levels of explicitness in at least one video content category;

and wherein said user established content preference is responsive to a motion picture rating system.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein said set of parallel video segments provide for at least two versions of said scene with different levels of explicitness in a video content category relating to violence, wherein said video includes within another set of parallel video segments that provide for at least two versions of another scene with different levels of explicitness in a video content category relating to sex;

and wherein said user established content preference is separately established for a level of explicitness with respect to said video content category relating to violence and for a level of explicitness with respect to said video content category relating to sex.

14. A system capable of transmitting video, the system comprising:

storage means for storing a video program, said video program comprising a video including within a set of parallel video segments that provide for at least two versions of a scene, segment information directly defining a plurality of video segments within said video, and a user interface particular to said video program for enabling a user to establish a content preference; and

processing and communicating means for enabling a user of a remote player to establish a content preference by a use of said user interface, and for transmitting to said remote player, responsive to an application of the user established content preference to said segment information, and by means of a random accessing and a buffering, a seamless version of, and from within, said video;

whereby said transmitting seamlessly skips over at least a portion of at least one parallel video segment included within said video, does not require a user of said video program to create the segment information, and does not require an alternative video source.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein said remote player comprises a randomly accessible storage for storing the transmitted seamless version of said video;

and wherein said set of parallel video segments provide for at least two versions of said scene with different levels of detail.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein said set of parallel video segments provide for at least two versions of said scene with different levels of explicitness in a video content category relating to violence, wherein said video includes within another set of parallel video segments that provide for at least two versions of another scene with different levels of explicitness in a video content category relating to sex;

and wherein said user established content preference is responsive to a motion picture rating system.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein said set of parallel video segments provide for at least two versions of said scene with different levels of explicitness in a video content category relating to violence, wherein said video includes within another set of parallel video segments that provide for at least two versions of another scene with different levels of explicitness in a video content category relating to sex;

and wherein said user established content preference is separately established for a level of explicitness with respect to said video content category relating to violence and for a level of explicitness with respect to said video content category relating to sex.

18. A method of transmitting video, the method comprising the step of:

storing a video program, said video program comprising a video including within a set of parallel video segments that provide for at least two versions of a scene, segment information directly defining a plurality of video segments within said video, and a user interface particular to said video program for enabling a user to establish a content preference;

enabling a user of a remote player to establish a content preference by a use of said user interface; and

transmitting to said remote player, responsive to an application of the user established content preference to said segment information, and by means of a random accessing and a buffering, a seamless version of, and from within, said video;

whereby said transmitting seamlessly skips over at least a portion of at least one parallel video segment included within said video, does not require a user of said video program to create the segment information, and does not require an alternative video source.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said set of parallel video segments provide for at least two versions of said scene with different levels of explicitness in at least one video content category;

and wherein said user established content preference is responsive to a motion picture rating system.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein said set of parallel video segments provide for at least two versions of said scene with different levels of explicitness in a video content category relating to violence, wherein said video includes within another set of parallel video segments that provide for at least two versions of another scene with different levels of explicitness in a video content category relating to sex;

and wherein said user established content preference is separately established for a level of explicitness with respect to said video content category relating to violence and for a level of explicitness with respect to said video content category relating to sex.