System and method for navigation of indexed video content

• US 7,735,104 B2
• Filed: 03/20/2003
• Issued: 06/08/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DIRECTV, LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: The DIRECTV Group, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chen, Tai-Ming, Briggs, Adam, Garcia, Bruce A., Varshansky, Oleg, Liu, Chuang-Chun, Ellis, Patrick M., Dow, Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): Lonsberry; Hunter B.
• Application Number:
  US10/393,599
• Publication Number:
  US 20040221311A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,637 Days
• Field of Search: 725/32, 725/37, 725/42, 725/323, 725/52, 386/45, 386/69, 386/70, 386125-126
• US Class Current: 725/52
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/745 the internal structure of a single video sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/78 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/783 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/41 Higher-level, semantic clustering, classification or understanding of video scenes, e.g. detection, labelling or Markovian modelling of sport events or news items segmenting video sequences G06V20/49
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/44 Event detection
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/102 Programmed access in sequence to addressed parts of tracks of operating record carriers access by moving the head G11B3/08, G11B5/54, G11B7/085, G11B21/022; by moving the record carrier G11B15/005, G11B17/005, by driving of both record carrier and head G11B15/1816
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/28 by using information signals recorded by the same method as the main recording G11B27/22 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/329 on a disc [VTOC]
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D
• 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 21/440281 by altering the temporal resolution, e.g. by frame skipping television signal recording using magnetic recording on tape for reproducing at a rate different from the recording rate H04N5/783
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8358 involving watermark protecting executable software by watermarking G06F21/16; image watermarking in general G06T1/0021; watermarks inserted in still images for transmission purposes H04N1/32144; inserting watermarks during video coding H04N19/467
• 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 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/781 on disks or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/783 Adaptations for reproducing at a rate different from the recording rate
• 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

Systems and methods for providing enhanced navigation of stored digital video content based upon a content-based index. Includes generation and storage of an index, as well as navigation based on the segments defined by the index. An example system is embodied in a digital video recorder that generates an index for locating commercial groups interleaved with program content in a video presentation recorded from a television broadcast. The commercial groups may be viewed without the intervening program content or otherwise navigated based upon information in the index and one or navigation functions. Example user interfaces and several navigation functions are also provided.

Claims

1. A method of providing user navigation for video content indexed by a digital video recorder, comprising:

receiving a video presentation containing interleaved video program content and commercials without any event or index data from a content provider;

storing the video presentation;

creating an index defining a plurality of content-based segments in the stored video presentation for both the video program content and the commercials;

receiving a control signal for viewing the stored video presentation using a selected navigation function;

reading the index associated with the stored video presentation; and

presenting at least one of the content-based segments based upon the selected navigation function.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the content-based segments is identified as containing a content type and the selected navigation function selects or excludes segments based upon the content type.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the content type comprises commercials and the selected navigation function selects only commercial segments for presentation.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected navigation function selects only a portion of at least one of the content-based segments for presentation.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the content type comprises video program content and the elected navigation function selects only video program content for presentation.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected navigation function defines a presentation order for the content-based segments that is different from the sequential order in which the content-based segments were originally presented.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected navigation function receives user input defining a presentation order for the content-based segments that is different from the sequential order in which the content-based segments were originally presented.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a function indicator, the function indicator notifying a user of an operation of the navigation function.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying an interface identifying the content-based segments.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the control signal includes selection of one of the content-based segments and the navigation function presents the selected content-based segment.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the interface displays at least one video frame from the identified content-based segments.

12. A method of presenting selected portions of a video presentation recorded by a digital video recorder, comprising:

receiving a video presentation from a content provider, the video presentation containing interleaved video program content and commercials without any event or index data;

storing the video presentation;

creating an index defining a plurality of content-based segments in the stored video presentation for both the video program content and the commercials in the video presentation;

reading the index associated with the stored video presentation; and

presenting the video program content without the intervening indexed commercials.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising further presenting the indexed commercials without intervening video program content after presenting the video program content without the intervening indexed commercials.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising providing a user interface for selecting from options including the presentation of the indexed commercials without intervening content and the presentation of the video presentation with interleaved video program content and commercials.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the options further include the presentation of the video program content without the intervening indexed commercials followed immediately by the indexed commercials without intervening program content.

16. A digital video recorder, comprising:

an input module configured to receive a video presentation without any event or index data from a content provider;

a storage device to store the video presentation containing interleaved video program content and commercials;

an index creating module that creates an index defining a plurality of content-based segments in the stored video presentation for both the video program content and the commercials;

an index reading module that reads the index associated with the stored video presentation;

a navigation function that influences the presentation of at least one of the content-based segments; and

a control interface module that defines an interface for actuating the navigation function.

17. The digital video recorder of claim 16, wherein at least one of the content-based segments is identified as containing a content type and the navigation function selects or excludes segments based upon the content type.

18. The digital video recorder of claim 17, wherein the content type comprises commercials and the navigation function selects only commercial segments for presentation.

19. The digital video recorder of claim 16, wherein the navigation function selects only a portion of at least one of the content-based segments for presentation.

20. The digital video recorder of claim 17, wherein the content type comprises video program content and the elected navigation function selects only video program content for presentation.

21. The digital video recorder of claim 16, wherein the navigation function defines a presentation order for the content-based segments that is different from the sequential order in which the content-based segments were originally presented.

22. The digital video recorder of claim 16, wherein the navigation function receives user input defining a presentation order for the content-based segments that is different from the sequential order in which the content-based segments were originally presented.

23. The digital video recorder of claim 16, further comprising a function indicator notifying a user of an operation of the navigation function.

24. The digital video recorder of claim 16, wherein the control interface module includes user interface displaying identifiers for the content-based segments.

25. The digital video recorder of claim 24, wherein the control interface module receives a selection of one of the content-based segments and the navigation function presents the selected content-based segment.

26. The digital video recorder of claim 24, wherein the user interface displays at least one video frame from the identified content-based segments.

27. A digital video recorder, comprising:

means for receiving a video presentation containing interleaved video program content and commercials without any event or index data from a content provider;

means for storing the video presentation;

means for creating an index defining a plurality of content-based segments in the stored video presentation for both the video program content and the commercials;

means for reading the index associated with the stored video presentation;

means for defining the presentation of at least one of the content-based segments; and

means for actuating the presentation of the content-based segments.

28. A computer readable storage medium that stores a set of software instructions, which when executed, effectuate presentation of video content, comprising instructions for:

receiving a video presentation containing interleaved video program content and commercials without any event or index data from a content provider;

storing the video presentation;

creating an index defining a plurality of content-based segments in the stored video presentation for both the video program content and the commercials;

receiving a control signal for viewing the stored video presentation using a selected navigation function;

reading the index associated with the stored video presentation; and

presenting at least one of the content-based segments based upon the selected navigation function.