System and method for consolidating television rating systems

• US 6,449,766 B1
• Filed: 12/23/1999
• Issued: 09/10/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: WebTV Networks Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Fleming, Michael K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Faile, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): VU, NGOC K
• Application Number:
  US09/471,750
• Time in Patent Office: 992 Days
• Field of Search: 725/28, 725/51, 725/59, 725/25, 725/26, 725/27, 725/29-31
• US Class Current: 725/28
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4542 Blocking scenes or portions of the received content, e.g. censoring scenes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• 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 21/8586 by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/16 Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems

Abstract

A multimedia system is described that is capable of recognizing and performing functions based on an) number of rating systems such as the MPAA rating system or the U.S. television rating system. Specifically, the multimedia system stores a data structure representing information regarding each of the ratings in each of the rating systems. Once the rating of a multimedia program is determined, the multimedia system can use this information to perform functions such as providing to the user the information for education purposes, or such as blocking the program.

Claims

1. In a multimedia system that is capable of receiving multimedia programs each having a particular rating system of a plurality of rating systems, wherein each of the plurality of rating systems includes a plurality of ratings, a method of recognizing each of the plurality of ratings in each of the plurality of rating systems notwithstanding that there are multimedia programs of a variety of different rating systems that may be received at the multimedia system, the method comprising the acts of:

prior to receiving a multimedia program at the multimedia system, storing in a memory of the multimedia system a data structure that includes rating system directories, each rating system directory representing one of the plurality of rating systems and including one or more fields containing information relating to the plurality of ratings of the corresponding rating system;

receiving, at the multimedia system, said multimedia program, wherein said multimedia program has a rating that is included in a particular rating system;

upon receiving the multimedia program at the multimedia system, extracting rating information associated with the multimedia program;

searching the data structure using the rating information to identify the rating system directory representing the particular rating system and to identify the rating of the multimedia program; and

performing a function based on the identified rating of the multimedia program.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the act of storing comprises the acts of:

defining an identifier corresponding to each rating system in the data structure; and

mapping the identifier to each corresponding rating system in the data structure.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the act of storing comprises the act of the multimedia system storing ratings of the MPAA television rating system in the memory.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the act of storing comprises the act of the multimedia system storing ratings of a U.S. television rating system.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the act of storing the data structure comprises the act of storing, for each of the plurality of rating systems, information relating to the rating system in a rating system directory named with a unique identifier.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the act of storing information relating to the rating system in a rating system directory named with a unique identifier comprises the acts of:

for each of the plurality of rating systems, including a short name of the rating system as part of the information relating to the rating system; and

for each of the plurality of rating systems, including a long name of the rating system as part of the information relating to the rating system.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein the act of storing information relating to the rating system in a rating system directory named with a unique identifier comprises the act of, for each of the plurality of rating systems, including an icon graphic representing the rating system as part of the information relating to the rating system.

8. The method according to claim 5, wherein the act of storing information relating to the rating system in a rating system directory named with a unique identifier comprises the act of, for each of the plurality of rating systems, including a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that identifies a location where more information can be found regarding the rating system.

9. The method according to claim 5, wherein the act of storing information relating to the rating system in a rating system directory named with a unique identifier comprises the act of storing information describing each of a plurality of dimensions in the rating system.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the act of storing information relating to the rating system in a rating system directory named with a unique identifier comprises the act of storing a separator character used in the rating system to separate a dimension from a previous dimension.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the act of removing unused rating systems from the plurality of rating systems represented by the rating system directories included in the data structure.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the act of removing unused rating systems from the plurality of rating systems comprises the act of the multimedia system deleting an unused rating system if the multimedia system has not encountered the unused rating system for a predetermined time period.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the act of adding new rating systems to the data structure.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the act of performing a function includes the act of blocking the multimedia program.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the act of performing a function includes the act of the multimedia system providing to a user more information regarding the rating.

16. A computer program product for implementing, in a multimedia system that is capable of receiving multimedia programs of a plurality of rating systems, wherein each of the plurality of rating systems includes a plurality of ratings, a method of recognizing each of the plurality of ratings in each of the plurality of rating systems notwithstanding that there are multimedia programs of a variety of different rating systems that may be received at the multimedia system, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium carrying computer-executable instructions for implementing the method, including the acts of;

prior to receiving a multimedia program at the multimedia system, storing in a memory of the multimedia system a data structure that includes rating system directories, each rating system directory representing one of the plurality of rating systems and including one or more fields containing information relating to the plurality of ratings of the corresponding rating system;

receiving, at the multimedia system, said multimedia program, wherein said multimedia program has a rating that is included in a particular rating system;

upon receiving the multimedia program at the multimedia system, extracting rating information associated with the multimedia program;

searching the data structure using the rating information to identify the rating system directory representing the particular rating system and to identify the rating of the multimedia program; and

performing a function based on the identified rating of the multimedia program.

17. In a multimedia system that is capable of receiving multimedia programs each having a particular rating system of a plurality of rating systems, wherein each of the plurality of rating systems includes a plurality of ratings, a method of recognizing each of the plurality of ratings in each of the plurality of rating systems notwithstanding that there are multimedia programs of a variety of different rating systems that may be received at the multimedia system, the method comprising the acts of:

prior to receiving a multimedia program at the multimedia system, storing a data structure in a memory of the multimedia system, the data structure representing each of the plurality of ratings of each of the plurality of rating systems;

receiving a multimedia program at the multimedia system, wherein the multimedia program has a rating that is included in a particular rating system;

extracting rating information associated with the multimedia program;

searching the data structure using the extracted rating information to identify the rating of the received multimedia program; and

based on the identified rating of the multimedia program, determining whether to block the multimedia program from being displayed.

18. A computer program product for implementing, in a multimedia system that is capable of receiving multimedia programs of a plurality of rating systems, wherein each of the plurality of rating systems includes a plurality of ratings, a method of recognizing each of the plurality of ratings in each of the plurality of rating systems notwithstanding that there are multimedia programs of a variety of different rating systems that may be received at the multimedia system, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium carrying computer-executable instructions for implementing the method, including the acts of;

prior to receiving a multimedia program at the multimedia system, storing a data structure in a memory of the multimedia system, the data structure representing each of the plurality of ratings of each of the plurality of rating systems;

receiving a multimedia program at the multimedia system, wherein the multimedia program has a rating that is included in a particular rating system;

extracting rating information associated with the multimedia program;

searching the data structure using the extracted rating information to identify the rating of the received multimedia program; and

based on the identified rating of the multimedia program, determining whether to block the multimedia program from being displayed.