Handling of program ratings for digital television

• US 7,712,115 B2
• Filed: 08/04/2004
• Issued: 05/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Inventors: Van Horck, Hendrikus G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Salce; Jason P
• Application Number:
  US10/567,393
• Publication Number:
  US 20060218574A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,099 Days
• Field of Search: 725 25- 31, 725 44- 46, 386/94
• US Class Current: 725/28
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/80 characterised in that motion picture association of America [MPAA] ratings are used
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/48 for recognising items expressed in broadcast information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/51 of receiving stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• 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 21/4524 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• 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 21/4542 Blocking scenes or portions of the received content, e.g. censoring scenes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4755 for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306
• 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 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

When a digital data transmission such as a digital television transmission is received by a receiver (100), the receiver attempts to locate parental rating data for a program in the transmission for a home country or jurisdiction (105, 220) in which the receiver is located. If the home jurisdiction rating data is available, it is used to control blocking of the program (270). If the home jurisdiction rating data is not available, rating data is obtained from the transmission for a foreign jurisdiction to control blocking of the program (270). If ratings for multiple foreign jurisdictions are available, the highest, most strict rating (240), may be used to control blocking of the program.

Claims

1. A method for obtaining rating data, comprising:

receiving a digital data transmission carrying at least one program;

identifying a home jurisdiction of a receiver that receives the digital data transmission;

determining whether rating data is provided in the digital data transmission for the at least one program for the home jurisdiction;

using the rating data for the at least one program for the home jurisdiction, if available, to determine whether to block display of the at least one program; and

if the rating data for the at least one program for the home jurisdiction is not available, using rating data that is provided in the digital data transmission for the at least one program for a foreign jurisdiction to determine whether to block display of the at least one program.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the using the rating data for the at least one program for the home jurisdiction comprises comparing the rating data for the at least one program for the home jurisdiction to a user-defined system rating.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the using the rating data for the at least one program for the foreign jurisdiction comprises comparing the rating data for the at least one program for the foreign jurisdiction to a user-defined system rating.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the home jurisdiction and the foreign jurisdiction are different countries.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the identifying the home jurisdiction comprises receiving a user setting.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the digital data transmission is provided according to a Digital Video Broadcasting standard.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the digital data transmission comprises at least one of audio and video data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the digital data transmission is received by at least one of a television and a set-top box.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the digital data transmission is provided in at least one of respective broadcasts, multicasts and streaming content.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the rating data for the at least one program for the home jurisdiction and the foreign jurisdiction comprises an age-based rating.

4. A method for obtaining rating data, comprising:

receiving a digital data transmission carrying at least one program;

identifying a home jurisdiction of a receiver that receives the digital data transmission;

determining whether rating data is provided in the digital data transmission for the at least one program for the home jurisdiction;

using the rating data for the at least one program for the home jurisdiction, if available, to determine whether to block display of the at least one program; and

if the rating data for the at least one program for the home jurisdiction is not available, using rating data that is provided in the digital data transmission for the at least one program for a foreign jurisdiction to determine whether to block display of the at least one program, wherein;

rating data for the at least one program for a plurality of foreign jurisdictions is available in the digital data transmission; and

the using the rating data for the at least one program for the foreign jurisdiction comprises using the highest of the rating data for the at least one program among the plurality of foreign jurisdictions.

15. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the using the rating data for the at least one program for the home jurisdiction comprises comparing the rating data for the at least one program for the home jurisdiction to a user-defined system rating.

16. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the using the rating data for the at least one program for the foreign jurisdiction comprises comparing the rating data for the at least one program for the foreign jurisdiction to a user-defined system rating.

17. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the home jurisdiction and the foreign jurisdiction are different countries.

18. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the identifying the home jurisdiction comprises receiving a user setting.

19. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the digital data transmission is provided according to a Digital Video Broadcasting standard.

20. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the digital data transmission comprises at least one of audio and video data.

12. A program storage device tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by a machine to perform a method for obtaining rating data, the method comprising:

receiving a digital data transmission carrying at least one program;

identifying a home jurisdiction of a receiver that receives the digital data transmission;

determining whether rating data is provided in the digital data transmission for the at least one program for the home jurisdiction;

using the rating data for the at least one program for the home jurisdiction, if available, to determine whether to block display of the at least one program; and

if the rating data for the at least one program for the home jurisdiction is not available, using rating data that is provided in the digital data transmission for the at least one program for a foreign jurisdiction to determine whether to block display of the at least one program.

13. A receiver, comprising:

means for receiving a digital data transmission carrying at least one program;

means for identifying a home jurisdiction;

means for determining whether rating data is provided in the digital data transmission for the at least one program for the home jurisdiction;

means for using the rating data for the at least one program for the home jurisdiction, if available, to determine whether to block display of the at least one program; and

means for using rating data that is provided in the digital data transmission for the at least one program for a foreign jurisdiction to determine whether to block display of the at least one program, if the rating data for the at least one program for the home jurisdiction is not available.

14. A receiver, comprising:

a tuner for receiving a digital data transmission carrying at least one program; and

a control associated with the tuner and configured to;

(a) identify a home jurisdiction, (b) determine whether rating data is provided in the digital data transmission for the at least one program for the home jurisdiction, (c) use the rating data for the at least one program for the home jurisdiction, if available, to determine whether to block display of the at least one program, and (d) use rating data that is provided in the digital data transmission for the at least one program for a foreign jurisdiction to determine whether to block display of the at least one program, if the rating data for the at least one program for the home jurisdiction is not available.