Audiovisual system which uses metadata to allow user-initiated jumps from point to point within multiple audiovisual streams

• US 7,319,806 B1
• Filed: 06/08/2001
• Issued: 01/15/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Keen Personal Media, Inc. (Western Digital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Keen Personal Media, Inc. (Western Digital Corporation)
• Inventors: Willner, Leopold B., Price, William P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Miller, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fletcher, James A.
• Application Number:
  US09/877,632
• Time in Patent Office: 2,412 Days
• Field of Search: 386/35, 386/46, 386/68, 725/41, 725/61, 725/151
• US Class Current: 386/248
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/322 used signal is digitally coded
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42646 for reading from or writing on a non-volatile solid state storage medium, e.g. DVD, CD-ROM
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42661 for reading from or writing on a magnetic storage medium, e.g. hard disk drive
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4314 for fitting data in a restricted space on the screen, e.g. EPG data in a rectangular grid
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4325 by playing back content from the storage medium reproduction of recorded television signals H04N5/76; reproduction of recorded television signals H04N9/79
• 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 21/440263 by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for displaying on a connected PDA
• 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 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4668 for recommending content, e.g. movies
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• 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 21/4821 using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time
• 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 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8042 involving data reduction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8205 involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the colour video signal

Abstract

An audiovisual system receives audiovisual data and includes a system controller and a storage device to store at least a portion of the audiovisual data for later playback. The audiovisual system further includes a marking module to create metadata in response to a control input for marking the program segments. The metadata includes the information regarding the program segments of the stored portion of the audiovisual data. The audiovisual system further includes a display generator to generate a mosaic representation of the program segments. The audiovisual system further includes a program selector to select a program segment in response to a user input. The selected program segment is selected based on the information of the metadata, whereby the audiovisual system selectively plays back selected program segments of the stored portion of the audiovisual data starting from selected program locations, thereby enabling a user to jump to and play back selected program segments.

Claims

1. An audiovisual system which receives audiovisual data and which stores for later playback at least a portion of the audiovisual data, the stored portion of the audiovisual data comprising a plurality of stored programs, each stored program comprising a plurality of program locations, each program location representing a starting point of a program segment of one of the plurality of stored programs, the audiovisual system connectable to a user display, the audiovisual system comprising:

a system controller;

a storage device to store the portion of the audiovisual data and to play back the stored portion of the audiovisual data;

a marking module coupled to the system controller to create metadata in response to a control input for marking the program segments, the metadata comprising information regarding the program segments of the stored portion of the audiovisual data;

a display generator coupled to the system controller to generate a mosaic representation of the program segments of the stored portion of the audiovisual data, wherein the mosaic representation comprises a plurality of cells representing a first plurality of respective stored program segments of a first stored program and a second plurality of respective stored program segments of a second stored program, the plurality of cells comprising images extracted from the respective stored program segments; and

a program selector coupled to the system controller to select a program segment of the stored portion of the audiovisual data in response to a user input, the selected program segment selected based on the information of the metadata, whereby the audiovisual system selectively plays back selected program segments of the stored portion of the audiovisual data, thereby enabling a user to jump to and play back selected program segments of the plurality of programs.

2. The audiovisual system of claim 1, wherein the audiovisual system comprises a personal video recorder.

3. The audiovisual system of claim 1, wherein the storage device comprises a read/write, random-access, non-volatile storage media.

4. The audiovisual system of claim 1, wherein the metadata comprises user-generated modifications to pre-existing metadata.

5. The audiovisual system of claim 4, wherein the pre-existing metadata is received by the audiovisual system with the audiovisual data.

6. The audiovisual system of claim 1, wherein the metadata is created subsequently to the storing of the stored portion of the audiovisual data by the audiovisual system.

7. The audiovisual system of claim 1, further comprising a preference determination module, and wherein the control input comprises signals from the preference determination module.

8. The audiovisual system of claim 1, wherein the metadata comprises information indicating a level of interest by a user in the program segment starting from the corresponding program location.

9. The audiovisual system of claim 1, wherein the metadata comprises information indicating a category of the program segment starting from the corresponding program location.

10. The audiovisual system of claim 9, wherein the category comprises the genre of the program segment starting from the corresponding program location.

11. The audiovisual system of claim 1, wherein the metadata comprises information indicating an identity of a user.

12. The audiovisual system of claim 1, wherein at least one cell of the plurality of cells comprises a fixed image.

13. The audiovisual system of claim 1, wherein at least one cell of the plurality of cells comprises a video image.

14. An audiovisual system which receives audiovisual data and which stores for later playback at least a portion of the audiovisual data, the stored portion of the audiovisual data comprising a plurality of stored programs, each stored program comprising a plurality of program locations, each program location representing a starting point of a program segment of one of the plurality of stored programs, the audiovisual system connectable to a user display which provides to a user information regarding the program segments of the stored portion of the audiovisual data, the audiovisual system comprising:

a storage device to store the portion of the audiovisual data and to play back the stored portion of the audiovisual data;

a grid generator to configure for the user display the information regarding the program segments of the stored portion of the audiovisual data, the information derived from metadata corresponding to the program segments of the stored portion of the audiovisual data, the information provided to the user via the user display in grid format with a plurality of grid elements arranged as a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, the plurality of grid elements representing a first plurality of respective program segments of a first stored program and a second plurality of respective program segments of a second stored program, each grid element independently selectable in response to a user input; and

a program selector to select a grid element that represents a selected program segment of the stored portion of the audiovisual data in response to the user input, the selected program segment selected based on the information derived from the metadata, whereby the audiovisual system selectively plays back selected program segments of the stored portion of the audiovisual data, thereby enabling a user to jump to and play back selected program segments of the plurality of programs.

15. The audiovisual system of claim 14, wherein at least one grid element comprises an image extracted from the program segment represented by the grid element.

16. The audiovisual system of claim 14, wherein at least one grid element comprises an icon which is representative of the program segment represented by the grid element.

17. The audiovisual system of claim 14, wherein at least one grid element comprises text which is representative of the program segment represented by the grid element.

18. The audiovisual system of claim 14, wherein the plurality of grid elements comprises grid elements chosen for display based on the metadata of the corresponding program segments of the stored portion of the audiovisual data.

19. The audiovisual system of claim 14, wherein the plurality of grid elements comprises grid elements chosen for display based on a second user input.

20. The audiovisual system of claim 14, wherein the plurality of grid elements are organized within the grid format in response to the metadata.

21. The audiovisual system of claim 14, wherein the plurality of grid elements are organized within the grid format in response to a third user input.

22. The audiovisual system of claim 14, wherein the plurality of grid elements are organized within the grid format based on the program from which each program segment is derived.

23. A method of playing back selected portions of stored audiovisual data stored on a storage device, the method comprising:

providing stored audiovisual data corresponding to a plurality of programs, each program comprising a plurality of program locations, each program location representing a starting point of a program segment of one of the plurality of programs;

creating metadata in response to a control input for marking the program segments, the metadata comprising information regarding the program segments of the stored audiovisual data;

displaying to a user the information regarding the program segments of the stored audiovisual data in a mosaic representation, wherein the mosaic representation comprises a plurality of cells representing a first plurality of respective stored program segments of a first stored program and a second plurality of respective stored program segments of a second stored program, the plurality of cells comprising images extracted from the respective stored program segments;

receiving a user input indicating a selected program segment of one of the plurality of programs, the selected program segment selected based on the information of the metadata; and

playing back the selected program segment of the stored audiovisual data, thereby jumping to and playing back selected program segments of the plurality of programs based on the metadata.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein creating metadata in response to the control input comprises providing pre-existing metadata and modifying the pre-existing metadata.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein creating metadata in response to the control input comprises creating metadata in response to signals from a preference determination module.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein at least one cell of the plurality of cells comprises a fixed image.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein at least one cell of the plurality of cells comprises a video image.