Capture of configuration and service provider data via OCR

• US 7,814,524 B2
• Filed: 02/14/2007
• Issued: 10/12/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Candelore, Brant L.
• Primary Examiner(s): HUYNH, AN SON PHI
• Application Number:
  US11/706,529
• Publication Number:
  US 20080196075A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,336 Days
• Field of Search: 725 39- 61, 715/716
• US Class Current: 725/113
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method of obtaining information associated with a television access device used in a television reception system, wherein the method is carried out in a control device that does not have direct access to the configuration information of the access device involves directing the access device to generate and communicate a signal to the control device suitable for driving a display, wherein the signal contains a visual representation of one or more successive video frames containing at least one or more of the following: a service provider logo, a VOD channel accessible by the access device, a broadcast channel accessible by the access device, a program content stored on the access device, an access device model identifier, a MAC address, a software version and a system time on a display; receiving the signal and storing a representation of the video frame; processing the video frame using optical character recognition (OCR) and pattern matching to extract information from the video frame; and storing the extracted information to a configuration database in the control device. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.

Claims

1. A method of obtaining configuration information associated with a television access device used in a television reception system, wherein the method is carried out in a control device that does not have direct access to the configuration information of the access device, comprising:

directing the access device to generate and communicate a signal to the control device suitable for driving a display, wherein the signal contains a visual representation of one or more successive video frames containing the configuration information of the access device;

receiving the signal and storing the visual representation of the one or more successive video frames;

processing the one or more successive video frames using optical character recognition (OCR) and pattern matching to extract the configuration information of the access device from the one or more successive video frames;

identifying, based upon the extracted configuration information, a service provider for which the access device is configured;

identifying, based upon the identified service provider, at least one selective OCR template associated with the identified service provider for selective OCR extraction of data displayed in selected areas of display screens used by the access device; and

storing the extracted configuration information, the identified service provider, and the identified at least one selective OCR template to a configuration database in the control device.

2. The method of claim 1, where the configuration information comprises at least one of the following:

a channel and logical channel number, a service provider logo, a VOD channel accessible by the access device, a broadcast channel accessible by the access device, a program content stored on the access device, an access device model identifier, an access device serial number, a display output configuration, a storage configuration, a MAC address, a software version and a system time on the display.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein identifying, based upon the extracted configuration information, the service provider for which the access device is configured comprises determining the service provider for which the access device is configured from at least one of the service provider logo, the VOD channel, the broadcast channel, the program content identified as stored on the access device, the access device model identifier, the access device serial number, and the system time.

4. The method according to claim 1, where identifying, based upon the identified service provider, the at least one selective OCR template associated with the identified service provider comprises templating the at least one selective OCR template for selective OCR extraction of the data displayed in the selected areas of the display screens used by the access device based upon the configuration information and extracting by selective OCR processing data displayed in selected areas of the at least one selective OCR template;

instructing the access device to generate and communicate the signal to the control device suitable for driving the display, wherein the signal contains a visual representation of a video frame of metadata when displayed on the display;

receiving the signal and storing the visual representation of the video frame;

selectively processing the video frame using selective OCR to extract a portion of the metadata from the video frame, where the portion of the metadata is located in a selected area of the video frame defined by the at least one selective OCR template; and

storing the extracted portion of the metadata in the configuration database.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising using the configuration information from the configuration database to control the access device.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the visual representation of the video frame comprises one of a compressed representation and a bitmapped representation.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the directing comprises automatically sending, via the control device, one or more of the following to the access device:

a menu display command, a guide display command, a system setup display command, a preferences display command, an installation display command, a diagnostics display command, an HDTV set-up command, and a factory defaults display command.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the directing comprises automatically transmitting a menu command to the access device.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the directing comprises automatically positioning a cursor and automatically sending a “

Select”

command over an icon displayed on a screen representing one or more of the following functions;

menu, display, system setup, preferences, installation, diagnostics, HDTV set-up, and factory defaults.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein processing a video frame of the one or more successive video frames comprises processing a selected segment of the video frame using optical character recognition to extract the configuration information from the selected segment of the video frame.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the OCR process is enabled to detect special symbols in the video frames.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the special symbols include at least one of a right arrow symbol, a left arrow symbol, a up arrow symbol, a down arrow symbol, a locked symbol, a unlocked symbol, a star symbol, a half star symbol and a pay symbol.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the OCR process is augmented by pattern matching to detect special symbols in the video frames.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the special symbols include at least one of a right arrow symbol, a left arrow symbol, a up arrow symbol, a down arrow symbol, a locked symbol, a unlocked symbol, a star symbol, a half star symbol and a pay symbol.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the OCR and pattern matching process is enabled to identify colors indicative of a plurality of service providers.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the directing comprises issuing the following sequence of commands automatically via the control device:

GUIDE to identify a system time and the service provider, and a MENU SYSTEM SETUP to identify a model number of the access device and a software version number.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the commands are preceded by an automated plurality of CANCEL commands issued by the control device to assure exit from any menu hierarchy and establish a known state.

18. The method according to claim 16, wherein one or more of the commands are made by producing an automated sequence of navigation commands followed by a SELECT command issued by the control device.

19. The method according to claim 1, wherein the directing is carried out by an automated trial and error process of commands known by the control device to invoke display of a program guide frame.

20. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining at least one of a tier of service and a location within a country for which the access device is configured based upon the extracted configuration information.

21. A computer readable non-transitory storage medium storing instructions which, when executed on a programmed processor, carry out a process according to claim 1.

22. A method of obtaining configuration information associated with a television access device used in a television reception system, wherein the method is carried out in a control device that does not have direct access to the configuration information of the access device, comprising:

directing the access device to generate and communicate a signal to the control device suitable for driving a display, wherein the signal contains a visual representation of one or more successive video frames containing the configuration information of the access device;

receiving the signal and storing the visual representation of the one or more successive video frames, wherein the visual representation of the one or more successive video frames comprises one of a compressed representation and a bitmapped representation;

processing the one or more successive video frames using optical character recognition (OCR) and pattern matching to extract the configuration information of the access device from the one or more successive video frames;

identifying, based upon the extracted configuration information, a service provider for which the access device is configured;

identifying, based upon the identified service provider, at least one selective OCR template associated with the identified service provider for selective OCR extraction of data displayed in selected areas of display screens used by the access device; and

storing the extracted configuration information, the identified service provider, and the identified at least one selective OCR template to a configuration database in the control device.

23. The method according to claim 22, where identifying, based upon the identified service provider, the at least one selective OCR template associated with the identified service provider comprises templating the at least one selective OCR template for selective OCR extraction of the data displayed in the selected areas of the display screens used by the access device based upon the configuration information and extracting by selective OCR processing data displayed in selected areas of the at least one selective OCR template;

instructing the access device to generate and communicate the signal to the control device suitable for driving the display, wherein the signal contains a visual representation of a video frame of metadata when displayed on the display;

receiving the signal and storing the visual representation of the video frame;

selectively processing the video frame using selective OCR to extract a portion of the metadata from the video frame, where the portion of the metadata is located in a selected area of the video frame defined by the at least one selective OCR template; and

storing the extracted portion of the metadata in the configuration database.

24. The method according to claim 22, wherein the directing comprises automatically sending, via the control device, one or more of the following to the access device:

a menu display command, a guide display command, a system setup display command, a preferences display command, an installation display command, a diagnostics display command, an HDTV set-up command, and a factory defaults display command.

25. The method according to claim 22, wherein the directing comprises automatically positioning a cursor and automatically sending a “

Select”

command over an icon displayed on a screen representing one or more of the following functions;

menu, display, system setup, preferences, installation, diagnostics, HDTV set-up, and factory defaults.

26. The method according to claim 22, wherein the OCR process is enabled to detect special symbols in the video frames.

27. The method according to claim 22, wherein the OCR and pattern matching process is enabled to identify colors indicative of a plurality of service providers.

28. The method according to claim 22, wherein the directing comprises issuing the following sequence of commands automatically via the control device:

GUIDE to identify a system time and the service provider, and a MENU SYSTEM SETUP to identify a model number of the access device and a software version number.

29. The method according to claim 28, wherein the commands are preceded by an automated plurality of CANCEL commands issued by the control device to assure exit from any menu hierarchy and establish a known state.

30. The method according to claim 28, wherein one or more of the commands are made by producing an automated sequence of navigation commands followed by a SELECT command issued by the control device.

31. The method according to claim 22, wherein the directing is carried out by an automated trial and error process of commands known by the control device to invoke display of a program guide frame.

32. The method according to claim 22, further comprising identifying at least one of a tier of service and a location within a country for which the access device is configured based upon the extracted configuration information.

33. The method of claim 22, where the configuration information comprises at least one of the following:

a channel and logical channel number, a service provider logo, a VOD channel accessible by the access device, a broadcast channel accessible by the access device, a program content stored on the access device, an access device model identifier, an access device serial number, a display output configuration, a storage configuration, a MAC address, a software version and a system time on a display.

34. A control device for obtaining configuration information associated with a television access device used in a television reception system, wherein the control device does not have direct access to the configuration information of the access device, comprising:

a command transmitter that automatically sends commands directing the access device to generate and communicate a signal to the control device suitable for driving a display, wherein the signal contains a visual representation of one or more successive video frames containing the configuration information of the access device;

a receiver that receives the signal;

a frame memory that stores the visual representation of the one or more successive video frames;

a processor performs;

processing the one or more successive video frames using optical character recognition (OCR) and pattern matching to extract the configuration information of the access device from the one or more successive video frames;

identifying, based upon the extracted configuration information, a service provider for which the access device is configured;

identifying, based upon the identified service provider, at least one selective OCR template associated with the identified service provider for selective OCR extraction of data displayed in selected areas of display screens used by the access device; and

storing the extracted configuration information, the identified service provider, and the identified at least one selective OCR template to a configuration database in the control device.

35. The control device of claim 34, where the configuration information comprises at least one of the following:

a channel and logical channel number, a service provider logo, a VOD channel accessible by the access device, a broadcast channel accessible by the access device, a program content stored on the access device, an access device model identifier, an access device serial number, a display output configuration, a storage configuration, a MAC address, a software version and a system time on the display.

36. The control device according to claim 35, wherein the identifying, based upon the extracted configuration information, the service provider for which the access device is configured comprises means for determining the service provider for which the access device is configured from at least one of the service provider logo, the VOD channel, the broadcast channel, the program content identified as stored on the access device hard disk drive, the access device model identifier, and the system time.

37. The control device according to claim 34, wherein the transmitter further uses the configuration information from the configuration database to control the access device.

38. The control device according to claim 34, wherein the transmitter automatically sends one or more of the following to the access device:

a menu display command, a guide display command, a system setup display command, a preferences display command, an installation display command, a diagnostics display command, an HDTV set-up command, and a factory defaults display command.

39. The control device according to claim 34, wherein the transmitter automatically transmits a menu command to the access device.

40. The control device according to claim 34, wherein the OCR and pattern matching process is enabled to identify colors indicative of a plurality of service providers.

41. The control device according to claim 34, wherein the directing comprises the command transmitter automatically issuing the following sequence of commands:

GUIDE to identify a system time and the service provider, and a MENU SYSTEM SETUP to identify a model number of the access device and a software version number.

42. The control device according to claim 41, wherein the commands are preceded by an automated plurality of CANCEL commands issued by the command transmitter to assure exit from any menu hierarchy and establish a known state.

43. The control device according to claim 41, wherein one or more of the commands are made by producing an automated sequence of navigation commands followed by a select command issued by the command transmitter.

44. The control device according to claim 41, wherein the directing is carried out by an automated trial and error process by the command transmitter of commands known to invoke display of a program guide frame.

45. The control device according to claim 34 wherein the directing comprises, via the command transmitter, automatically positioning a cursor and automatically sending a “

Select”

command over an icon displayed on a screen representing one or more of the following functions;

menu, display, system setup, preferences, installation, diagnostics, HDTV set-up, and factory defaults.

46. The control device according to claim 34, further comprising means for determining at least one of a tier of service and a location within a country for which the access device is configured based upon the extracted configuration information.

47. A method, comprising:

instructing an access device, via a control device that does not have direct access to configuration information of the access device, to generate and communicate a signal to the control device suitable for driving a display, wherein the signal contains a visual representation of the configuration information of the access device;

receiving the signal and storing a representation of the visual representation of the configuration information of the access device;

processing the visual representation of the configuration information of the access device using optical character recognition (OCR) and pattern matching;

extracting the configuration information of the access device from the visual representation of the configuration information of the access device based upon the OCR and pattern matching processing of at least one video frame;

determining at least one of a tier of service, a service provider, and a location within a country for which the access device is configured based upon the extracted configuration information;

identifying, based upon the determined at least one of the tier of service, the service provider, and the location within the country for which the access device is configured, at least one selective OCR template associated with the identified service provider for selective OCR extraction of data displayed in selected areas of display screens used by the access device;

controlling the access device in a slave-device capacity based upon the determined at least one of the tier of service, the service provider, and the location within a country for which the access device is configured; and

selectively processing additional video frames comprising metadata using selective OCR to extract a portion of the metadata from the additional video frames, where the portion of the metadata is located in selected areas of the additional video frames defined by the at least one selective OCR template.