Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and distribution media

• US 6,449,021 B1
• Filed: 11/23/1999
• Issued: 09/10/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Saturn Licensing LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Ohta, Masashi, Suito, Taro, Miyata, Katsunari
• Primary Examiner(s): Kelley, Chris
• Assistant Examiner(s): VO, TUNG T
• Application Number:
  US09/448,837
• Time in Patent Office: 1,022 Days
• Field of Search: H04/N.514, H04/N.516, H04/N.576, 348/699, 348/700, 348/533, 348/554, 348/571, 348/907, 386/46, 386/1, 386/45, 386/125, 386/83, 360/69, 360/71, 358/908
• US Class Current: 348/700
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/20 Disc-shaped record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2525 Magneto-optical [MO] discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/61 wherein solid state memory is used for storing A/V content
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/90 Tape-like record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/032 on tapes G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/22 Means responsive to presence or absence of recorded information signals
• 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: H04H 20/106 Receiver-side switching
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/58 of audio determination or detection of speech characteristics in general G10L25/00; speech recognition in general G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/59 of video recognising characters or patterns in general G06F18/00, G06V20/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/478 Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/147 Scene change detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/60 for the sound signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/782 on tape

Abstract

An information processing apparatus capable of accurately detecting one or more commercials included in a television broadcast. A commercial candidate segment detector detects a commercial candidate segment on the basis of silent segments and scene change points. A commercial block detector detects a commercial block, which is composed of a plurality of commercial segments and is interposed between one program portion and another, in conformity with numbers of frames of the individual commercial candidate segments detected by the commercial candidate segment detector, and then outputs to a switch a control signal based on the result of such commercial block detection.

Claims

1. An apparatus for processing a television signal, comprising:

means for receiving the television signal;

means for detecting scene changes from said television signal;

means for detecting a commercial candidate segment from a plurality of contiguous scenes of said television signal, and

means for detecting a commercial message according to a frequency of the scene changes, including;

1) means for counting a number of scene changes within a commercial candidate segment; and

2) means for comparing said number of scene changes to a threshold frequency defined by 5 scene changes within 15 seconds of the commercial candidate segment.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said means for detecting a commercial candidate segment comprises:

means for receiving information indicative of a sound multiplex mode; and

means for detecting the commercial candidate segment according to said sound multiplex mode.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said means for detecting a commercial candidate segment comprises:

means for detecting an individual scene or a plurality of consecutive scenes having a substantially predetermined length; and

means for detecting the commercial candidate segment according to said detected individual scene or said plurality of consecutive scenes.

4. An apparatus for processing a television signal, comprising:

means for receiving the television signal;

means for detecting scene changes from said television signal;

means for detecting a commercial candidate segment from a plurality of contiguous scenes of said television signal; and

means for detecting a commercial message according to a periodicity of a sound signal, including;

1) means for determining a duration during which extremes of sound signal magnitude occur at substantially regular periods within the commercial candidate segment; and

2) means for judging the commercial candidate segment to be at least more likely part of the commercial message when the determined duration exceeds plural seconds.

5. An apparatus for processing a television signal, comprising:

means for receiving the television signal;

means for detecting scene changes from said television signal;

means for detecting a commercial candidate segment from a plurality of contiguous scenes of said television signal; and

means for detecting a commercial message according to a continuity of at least one of a sound signal and image signal, including;

1) means for determining a duration during which extremes of sound signal magnitude occur at substantially regular periods;

2) means for determining a color that is dominant across frames of the commercial candidate segment; and

3) means for judging the commercial candidate segment to be at least more likely part of the commercial message when (a) the determined duration exceeds a predetermined threshold percentage of the commercial candidate segment, or when (b) the dominant color is continuously present through a substantial portion of the commercial candidate segment.

6. An apparatus for processing a television signal, comprising:

means for receiving the television signal;

means for detecting scene changes from said television signal;

means for detecting a commercial candidate segment from a plurality of contiguous scenes of said television signal; and

means for determining the commercial candidate segment to be at least more likely part of a commercial message according to a repetition of an image signal within the commercial candidate segment, each repetition of the image signal enduring continuously for about two to three seconds.

7. An apparatus for processing a television signal including a commercial message, the apparatus comprising:

means for receiving the television signal; and

means for detecting said commercial message according to a silence ratio of a sound signal, the silence ratio calculated as a number of silent frames in a commercial candidate segment divided by a number of all frames in the commercial candidate segment.

8. An apparatus for processing a television signal, comprising:

a tuner for receiving the television signal;

a scene change detector configured to detect scene changes from said television signal;

a commercial candidate segment detector configured to detect a commercial candidate segment from a plurality of contiguous scenes of said television signal;

a commercial message detector configured to detect a commercial message according to a frequency of scene changes, including;

1) a counter configured to count a number of scene changes within the commercial candidate segment; and

2) a comparator configured to compare said number of scene changes with a threshold frequency defined by 5 scene changes within 15 seconds of the commercial candidate segment.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8 wherein said commercial candidate segment detector comprises:

a receiver configured to receive information indicative of a sound multiplex mode according to which the commercial candidate segment is detected.

10. The apparatus according to claim 8 wherein said commercial candidate segment detector comprises:

a scene length detector configured to detect an individual scene or a plurality of consecutive scenes having a substantially predetermined length according to which the commercial candidate segment is detected.

29. A computer program comprising program code adapted to perform the steps of any of claims 5-27 when said program is run on a computer.

30. A computer program according to claim 29 wherein the computer program is embodied on a computer readable medium.

11. An apparatus for processing a television signal, comprising:

a tuner configured to receive the television signal;

a scene change detector configured to detect scene changes from said television signal;

a commercial candidate segment detector configured to detect a commercial candidate segment from a plurality of contiguous scenes of said television signal; and

a commercial message detector configured to detect a commercial message according to a periodicity of a sound signal, the commercial message detector including;

1) a duration detector configured to determine a duration during which extremes of sound signal magnitude occur at substantially regular periods within the commercial candidate segment; and

2) a judging element configured to judge the commercial candidate segment to be at least more likely part of the commercial message when the determined duration exceeds plural seconds.

12. An apparatus for processing a television signal, comprising:

a tuner configured to receive the television signal;

a scene change detector configured to detect scene changes from said television signal;

a commercial candidate segment detector configured to detect a commercial candidate segment from a plurality of contiguous scenes of said television signal; and

a commercial message detector configured to detect a commercial message according to a continuity of at least one of a sound signal and image signal, the commercial message detector including;

1) a duration detector configured to determine a duration during which extremes of sound signal magnitude occur at substantially regular periods;

2) a color continuity detector configured to determine a color that is dominant across frames of the commercial candidate segment; and

3) a judging element configured to judge the commercial candidate segment to be at least more likely part of a commercial message when (a) the determined duration exceeds a predetermined threshold percentage of the commercial candidate segment, or when (b) the dominant color is continuously present through a substantial portion of the commercial candidate segment.

13. An apparatus for processing a television signal, comprising:

a tuner configured to receive the television signal;

a scene change detector configured to detect scene changes from said television signal;

a commercial candidate segment detector configured to detect a commercial candidate segment from a plurality of contiguous scenes of said television signal; and

a commercial message determiner configured to determine the commercial candidate segment to be at least more likely part of a commercial message according to a repetition of an image signal within the commercial candidate segment, each repetition of the image signal enduring continuously for about two to three seconds.

14. An apparatus for processing a television signal including a commercial message, the apparatus comprising:

a tuner configured to receive the television signal; and

a commercial message detector configured to detect said commercial message according to a silence ratio of a sound signal, the silence ratio calculated as a number of silent frames in a commercial candidate segment divided by a number of all frames in the commercial candidate segment.

15. A method for processing a television signal, comprising:

receiving the television signal;

detecting scene changes from said television signal;

detecting a commercial candidate segment from a plurality of contiguous scenes of said television signal, and

detecting a commercial message according to a frequency of the scene changes, the commercial candidate message detecting step including;

1) counting a number of scene changes within a commercial candidate segment; and

2) comparing said number of scene changes to a threshold frequency defined by 5 scene changes within 15 seconds of the commercial candidate segment.

16. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform the method of claim 15.

17. The program storage device according to claim 16 wherein said step of detecting a commercial candidate segment comprises the steps of:

receiving information indicative of a sound multiplex mode; and

detecting the commercial candidate segment according to said sound multiplex mode.

18. The program storage device according to claim 16 wherein said step of determining a commercial candidate segment comprises the steps of:

detecting an individual scene or a plurality of consecutive scenes having a substantially predetermined length; and

determining the commercial candidate segment according to said detected scene or scenes.

19. The method according to claim 15 wherein said step of detecting a commercial candidate segment comprises the steps of:

receiving information indicative of a sound multiplex mode; and

detecting the commercial candidate segment according to said sound multiplex mode.

20. The method according to claim 15 wherein said step of determining a commercial candidate segment comprises the steps of:

detecting an individual scene or a plurality of consecutive scenes having a substantially predetermined length; and

detecting the commercial candidate segment according to said detected scene or scenes.

21. A method for processing a television signal, comprising:

receiving the television signal;

detecting scene changes from said television signal;

detecting a commercial candidate segment from a plurality of contiguous scenes of said television signal; and

detecting a commercial message according to a periodicity of a sound signal, the commercial message detecting step including;

1) determining a duration during which extremes of sound signal magnitude occur at substantially regular periods within the commercial candidate segment; and

2) judging the commercial candidate segment to be at least more likely part of the commercial message when the determined duration exceeds plural seconds.

22. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform the method of claim 21.

24. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform the method of claim 22.

23. A method for processing a television signal, comprising:

receiving the television signal;

detecting scene changes from said television signal;

detecting a commercial candidate segment from a plurality of contiguous scenes of said television signal; and

detecting a commercial message according to a continuity of at least one of a sound signal and image signal, the commercial message detecting step including;

1) determining a duration during which extremes of sound signal magnitude occur at substantially regular periods;

2) determining a color that is dominant across frames of the commercial candidate segment; and

3) judging the commercial candidate segment to be at least more likely part of the commercial message when (a) the determined duration exceeds a predetermined threshold percentage of the commercial candidate segment, or when (b) the dominant color is continuously present through a substantial portion of the commercial candidate segment.

25. A method for processing a television signal, comprising:

receiving the television signal;

detecting scene changes from said television signal;

detecting a commercial candidate segment from a plurality of contiguous scenes of said television signal; and

determining the commercial candidate segment to be at least more likely part of a commercial message according to a repetition of an image signal within the commercial candidate segment, each repetition of the image signal enduring continuously for about two to three seconds.

26. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform the method of claim 25.

27. A method for processing a television signal including a commercial message, the method comprising:

receiving the television signal; and

detecting said commercial message according to a silence ratio of a sound signal, the silence ratio calculated as a number of silent frames in a commercial candidate segment divided by a number of all frames in the commercial candidate segment.

28. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform the method of claim 27.

31. An apparatus for processing a television signal having an image signal and a sound signal, comprising:

means for determining a threshold indicating a silence in said sound signal;

means for detecting a silent segment in the sound signal in a plurality of contiguous scenes based upon said threshold;

means for detecting scene changes in said image signal;

means for detecting commercial candidate segments based upon the detected silent segment, a frequency of the detected scene changes and a sound signal multiplex mode signal; and

means for detecting which of the commercial candidate segments is a commercial based upon a silence ratio of the sound signal and a repetition of the image signal, the silence ratio calculated as a number of silent frames in a commercial candidate segment divided by a number of all frames in the commercial candidate segment, and each repetition of the image signal enduring continuously for about two to three seconds.

32. An apparatus for processing a television signal having an image signal and a sound signal, comprising:

a determiner for determining a threshold indicating a silence in said sound signal;

a first detector detecting a silent segment in the sound signal in a plurality of contiguous scenes based upon said threshold;

a second detector for detecting scene changes in said image signal;

a third detector for detecting commercial candidate segments based upon the detected silent segment, a frequency of the detected scene changes and a sound signal multiplex mode signal; and

a fourth detector for detecting which of the commercial candidate segments is a commercial based upon a silence ratio of the sound signal and a repetition of the image signal, the silence ratio calculated as a number of silent frames in a commercial candidate segment divided by a number of all frames in the commercial candidate segment, and each repetition of the image signal enduring continuously for about two to three seconds.

33. A method for processing a television signal having an image signal and a sound signal, comprising the steps of:

determining a threshold indicating a silence in said sound signal;

detecting a silent segment in the sound signal in a plurality of continuous scenes based upon said threshold;

detecting scene changes in said image signal;

detecting commercial candidate segments based upon the detected silent segment, a frequency of the detected scene changes and a sound signal multiplex mode signal; and

detecting which of the commercial candidate segments is a commercial based upon a silence ratio of the sound signal and a repetition of the image signal, the silence ratio calculated as a number of silent frames in a commercial candidate segment divided by a number of all frames in the commercial candidate segment, and each repetition of the image signal enduring continuously for about two to three seconds.

34. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for processing a television signal, the method steps comprising:

determining a threshold indicating a silence in said sound signal;

detecting a silent segment in the sound signal in a plurality of continuous scenes based upon said threshold;

detecting scene changes in said image signal;

detecting commercial candidate segments based upon the detected silent segment, a frequency of the detected scene changes and a sound signal multiplex mode signal; and

detecting which of the commercial candidate segments is a commercial based upon a silence ratio of the sound signal and a repetition of the image signal, the silence ratio calculated as a number of silent frames in a commercial candidate segment divided by a number of all frames in the commercial candidate segment, and each repetition of the image signal enduring continuously for about two to three seconds.

35. An apparatus for processing a television signal, comprising:

a circuit configured for receiving the television signal;

a circuit configured for detecting scene changes from said television signal; and

a circuit configured for detecting a commercial candidate segment from a plurality of contiguous scenes of said television signal;

a circuit configured for detecting a commercial message according to a frequency of scene changes, including;

1) a circuit configured for counting a number of scene changes within the commercial candidate segment; and

2) a circuit configured for comparing said number of scene changes with a threshold frequency defined by 5 scene changes within 15 seconds of the commercial candidate segment.

36. The apparatus according to claim 35 wherein said circuit configured for detecting a commercial candidate segment comprises:

a circuit configured for receiving information indicative of a sound multiplex mode; and

a circuit configured for detecting the commercial candidate segment according to said sound multiplex mode.

37. The apparatus according to claim 35 wherein said circuit configured for detecting a commercial candidate segment comprises:

a circuit configured for detecting an individual scene or a plurality of consecutive scenes having a substantially predetermined length; and

a circuit configured for detecting the commercial candidate segment according to said detected individual scene or said plurality of consecutive scenes.

38. An apparatus for processing a television signal, comprising:

a circuit configured for receiving the television signal;

a circuit configured for detecting scene changes from said television signal; and

a circuit configured for detecting a commercial candidate segment from a plurality of contiguous scenes of said television signal;

a circuit configured for detecting a commercial message according to a periodicity of a sound signal, including;

1) a circuit configured for determining a duration during which extremes of sound signal magnitude occur at substantially regular periods within the commercial candidate segment; and

2) a circuit configured for judging the commercial candidate segment to be at least more likely part of the commercial message when the determined duration exceeds plural seconds.

39. An apparatus for processing a television signal, comprising:

a circuit configured for receiving the television signal;

a circuit configured for detecting scene changes from said television signal; and

a circuit configured for detecting a commercial candidate segment from a plurality of contiguous scenes of said television signal;

a circuit configured for detecting a commercial message according to a continuity of at least one of a sound signal and image signal, including;

1) a circuit configured for determining a duration during which extremes of sound signal magnitude occur at substantially regular periods;

2) a circuit configured for determining a color that is dominant across frames of the commercial candidate segment; and

3) a circuit configured for judging the commercial candidate segment to be at least more likely part of a commercial message when (a) the determined duration exceeds a predetermined threshold percentage of the commercial candidate segment, or when (b) the dominant color is continuously present through a substantial portion of the commercial candidate segment.

40. An apparatus for processing a television signal, comprising:

a circuit configured for receiving the television signal;

a circuit configured for detecting scene changes from said television signal; and

a circuit configured for detecting a commercial candidate segment from a plurality of contiguous scenes of said television signal;

a circuit configured for determining the commercial candidate segment to be at least more likely part of a commercial message according to a repetition of an image signal within the commercial candidate segment, each repetition of the image signal enduring continuously for about two to three seconds.

41. An apparatus for processing a television signal, comprising:

a circuit configured for receiving the television signal; and

a circuit configured for detecting said commercial message according to a silence ratio of a sound signal, the silence ratio calculated as a number of silent frames in a commercial candidate segment divided by a number of all frames in the commercial candidate segment.