System and method for providing user control over repeating objects embedded in a stream
First Claim
1. A system for controlling repeating media objects a media stream, comprising using a computing device to:
- provide a buffered playback of a media stream;
examine the buffered media stream to identify at least one instance when one or more unique media objects repeats in the buffered media stream;
align a portion of the buffered media stream centered around one or more repeating instances of one or more unique media object with portions of the buffered media stream centered around one or more other repeating instances of those unique media objects;
compare the aligned portions of the buffered media stream to determine pairs of temporal endpoints for delimiting one or more repeating instance of one or more unique media object in the media stream; and
automatically perform at least one user specified action associated with one or more repeating instances of particular media objects during the buffered playback of the media stream.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Many media streams contain “objects” that repeat. Repeating objects in a media stream are defined as any section of non-negligible duration, i.e., a song, video, advertisement, jingle, etc., which would be considered to be a logical unit by a human listener or viewer. An “object controller” identifies such repeating objects as they occur, and provides an interactive user interface for allowing users to specify how individual repeating objects are to be handled either in real time, or upon subsequent occurrences of particular repeating objects. In general, the object controller includes a mechanism for identifying repeating objects, a mechanism for identifying temporal endpoints of those objects, a user interface for specifying actions to be taken when a particular object repeats within a media stream, and, in one embodiment, a buffer having sufficient length to allow for real-time deletion of objects from the media stream without obvious interruption in the str.
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Citations
37 Claims
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1. A system for controlling repeating media objects a media stream, comprising using a computing device to:
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provide a buffered playback of a media stream; examine the buffered media stream to identify at least one instance when one or more unique media objects repeats in the buffered media stream; align a portion of the buffered media stream centered around one or more repeating instances of one or more unique media object with portions of the buffered media stream centered around one or more other repeating instances of those unique media objects; compare the aligned portions of the buffered media stream to determine pairs of temporal endpoints for delimiting one or more repeating instance of one or more unique media object in the media stream; and automatically perform at least one user specified action associated with one or more repeating instances of particular media objects during the buffered playback of the media stream. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A physical computer storage media having computer executable instructions stored therein for controlling repeating media objects within a media stream, comprising steps for:
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buffering an incoming media stream for a predetermined period of time; providing a buffered playback of the buffered media stream; extracting a segment of the media stream; comparing the extracted segment of the buffered media stream to the remainder of the currently buffered media stream to identify repeating content in the media stream where at least a part of the extracted segment matches one or more other parts of the media stream; for at least one instance of repeating content within the currently buffered media stream, aligning a portion of the media stream centered on that instance of repeating content with a portion of the media stream centered on at least one other instance of repeating content; comparing each of the aligned portions of the media stream to identify a pair of temporal endpoints for defining temporal boundaries of each repeating media object; and specifying at least one command to be associated with at least one repeating media object, said command to be executed upon each instance of the repeating media object identified within the currently buffered media stream. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A computer-implemented process for controlling repeating media objects within a media stream, comprising using a computing device to perform process actions for:
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buffering a media stream; providing a playback of the buffered media stream; on an ongoing basis during playback of the buffered media stream, selecting a portion of the media stream; sequentially comparing each selected portion of the media stream to subsequent portions of the media stream to identify at least one instance within the buffered media stream wherein a part of the selected portion at least partially matches a part of any of the subsequent portions; extracting a segment of the buffered media stream centered on the matching part of at least one of the compared portions; simultaneously aligning two or more of the extracted segments with each other; determining locations within the media stream of repeating media objects by determining forward and backward points where the simultaneously aligned segments of the media stream diverge; and automatically performing any command associated with at least one identified repeat instance of particular media objects during playback of the buffered media stream relative to the locations within the media stream of the identified repeating media objects. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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Specification