Streaming video bookmarks

• US 7,143,353 B2
• Filed: 03/30/2001
• Issued: 11/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: McGee, Thomas, Agnihotri, Lalitha, Dimitrova, Nevenka, Jasinschi, Radu
• Primary Examiner(s): BAUTISTA, XIOMARA L
• Application Number:
  US09/822,447
• Publication Number:
  US 20020163532A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,069 Days
• Field of Search: 345/716, 345719-721, 345/723, 345/733, 345/738, 345/764, 345/864, 715/500.1, 715/512, 715/716, 715719-721, 715/723, 715/733, 715/738, 715/764, 715/864, 725/37, 725/41, 725/46
• US Class Current: 715/723
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/745 the internal structure of a single video sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/7864 using domain-transform features, e.g. DCT or wavelet transform coefficients
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2562 DVDs [digital versatile discs]; Digital video discs; MMCDs; HDCDs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/90 Tape-like record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/107 of operating tapes
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/11 by using information not detectable on the record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/326 used signal is a video-frame or a video-field (P.I.P.)
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4335 Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; unloading stored programs G06F9/445; storage management in file systems G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• 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 21/43637 involving a wireless protocol, e.g. Bluetooth, RF or wireless LAN [IEEE 802.11] arrangements for wireless networking or broadcasting of information in indoor or near-field type systems H04B10/114
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4394 involving operations for analysing the audio stream, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in audio streams arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of audio in broadcast systems H04H60/58
• 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 21/4663 involving probabilistic networks, e.g. Bayesian networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47214 for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47217 for controlling playback functions for recorded or on-demand content, e.g. using progress bars, mode or play-point indicators or bookmarks specific graphical features in visual interfaces H04N21/4312
• 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 21/8455 involving pointers to the content, e.g. pointers to the I-frames of the video stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 : by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments

Abstract

A method, apparatus and systems for bookmarking an area of interest of stored video content is provided. As a viewer is watching a video and finds an area of interest, they can bookmark the particular segment of the video and then return to that segment with relative simplicity. This can be accomplished by pressing a button, clicking with a mouse or otherwise sending a signal to a device for marking a particular location of the video that is of interest. Frame identifiers can also be used to select a desired video from an index and to then retrieve the video from a medium containing multiple videos.

Claims

1. A method of making segments of a video, comprising the steps of:

providing video content that includes a series of video frames and reviewing the video;

sending a bookmark signal during review of the video to select a selected frame being displayed when the bookmark signal is sent;

identifying a characteristic feature of the selected frame and recording information corresponding to said selected frame on a storage medium; and

in response to said sending the bookmark signal, processing the video to define a segment of the video containing the selected frame by identifying segment starting point and segment endpoint boundaries, and storing at least a portion of the segment,

wherein the starting point and endpoint of the segment are based on detecting changes of information in the audio, visual or transcript portion of the video with respect to the frame recorded information, in frames prior to and subsequent to the selected frame, respectively.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristic feature of the frame is obtained from a frame signature created using the visual, audio or text properties of the frame.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristic feature of the frame is its frame number.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristic feature of the frame is its time stamp in the video.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the information analyzed to detect changes is selected from the group consisting of DCT coefficients, color, edge, shape, silence, speech, music, close captioning, and audio content of the video, and combinations thereof.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the segment is stored on the same medium as the video.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

storing a predefined length of the video from the segment start point.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the segment start point is determined as a predefined length of the video before the selected frame.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the stored segment contains at least one of EPG data, a frame of the segment, or transcript information from the segment and combinations thereof.

10. A system for identifying segments of a video for later retrieval, comprising:

a bookmarker component constructed to operate in connection with a video player that can display the content of a video that includes a series of video frames;

the bookmarker being responsive to a signal to identify a selected frame of the video being displayed when the bookmark signal is received;

the bookmarker also being constructed to;

identify a characteristic feature of the selected frame and record information corresponding to said selected frame on a storage medium,

process the video to define a segment of the video containing the selected frame by identifying segment starting point and segment endpoint boundaries, and to send at least a portion of the segment containing the selected frame to a storage medium,

wherein the bookmarker includes an analysis engine constructed to detect changes of information in the audio, visual or transcript portion of the video with respect to the frame recorded information, in frames prior to and subsequent to the selected frame, respectively.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the characteristic feature of the selected frame is obtained from a frame signature created using the visual, audio or text properties of the frame.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the characteristic feature of the frame is its frame number and the bookmarker is constructed to determine the frame number.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the characteristic feature of the frame is its time stamp in the video and the bookmarker constructed to determine the time stamp in the video.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the analysis engine analyzes information selected from the group consisting of DCT coefficients, color, edge, shape, silence, speech, music, closed captioning and audio content of the video and combinations thereof.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the bookmarker is constructed to record at least a portion of the segment on the same medium as the video.

16. The system of the claim 10, wherein the bookmarker is constructed to record a predefined length of the video from the segment start point.

17. A method of processing electronically stored content, comprising:

electronically storing and displaying items of content, selected from the group consisting of videos, audio, images, text and combinations thereof and while displaying the content, in response to receipt of a bookmark signal, bookmarking a portion of the content item and storing information associated with the bookmarked content item, processing the content item to define a segment of the content item containing the portion by identifying segment starting point and segment endpoint boundaries and storing a selected segment of the content item having sufficient identifying information to identify the content item, then retaining on a storage device only the segment identifying the item and not the entire item, then at a later time, comparing the information identifying the item to identify that same item,

wherein the starting point and endpoint of the segment are based on detecting changes of information in the audio, visual or transcript portion of the video with respect to the stored information associated with the selected content item, prior to and subsequent to the selected content item, respectively.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the bookmarks are backed up into a remote device.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the bookmarks are accessed by at least one of web pages, mobile communications devices via a wireless connection, PDAs, and computerized watches.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the bookmarks are stored at multiple levels and different individuals have access to the different levels.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the bookmark is created by storing it with a first storage device onto a storage medium and is then transferred to a storage medium associated with another device.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein the item of content is deleted from the medium on which it had been stored after the bookmark is created, while retaining the bookmark.

19. The method of claiming 17, wherein the bookmarks are categorized on the basis of at least one of EPG data, transcript information, captioning information or video feature information.

24. A method of identifying items of content, selected from the group consisting of videos, audio, images, text and combinations thereof, comprising the steps of:

receiving a bookmark signal to bookmark a portion of the content item;

in response to the bookmark signal, storing information associated with the content and processing the content item to define a segment of the content item containing the portion by identifying segment starting point and segment endpoint boundaries wherein the starting point and endpoint of the segment are based on detecting changes of information in the audio, visual or transcript portion with respect to the recorded content information before and after the bookmarked portion of the content item;

creating a bookmark comprising the segment of the content item and retaining the segment identifying the item on a storage medium; and

downloading the bookmarks to a user at a remote location at the request of the user, the user then using the bookmarks to identify the original item of the content from which the bookmark was created.