Content signal analysis

• US 7,826,674 B1
• Filed: 09/08/2005
• Issued: 11/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Advocado, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Koplar Interactive Systems International, LLC
• Inventors: Chupp, Christopher E., Reynolds, Michael C., Chounard, Jesse J. II
• Primary Examiner(s): Alavi; Amir
• Application Number:
  US11/221,428
• Time in Patent Office: 1,881 Days
• Field of Search: 382/173, 382/232, 382/233, 382/235, 382/239, 375/240.01, 375/240.08, 375/240.25, 375/240.26, 348/143, 348/207.1, 348/460, 348/463, 348/465, 348/473, 348/486, 348/700, 348/701, 348/E5.024, 348/E7.091
• US Class Current: 382/239
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/12 Arrangements for observation, testing or troubleshooting
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/00 Diagnosis, testing or measuring for television systems or their details
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/08 Systems for the simultaneous or sequential transmission of more than one television signal, e.g. additional information signals, the signals occupying wholly or partially the same frequency band , e.g. by time division H04N7/007 takes precedence

Abstract

A method for modulating a content signal (18) to contain an auxiliary signal, the content signal (18) having content segments, the method comprising logging detections of a test content signal (20) to create one or more log files (44); parsing the one or more log files (44) to create a profile file (46); scheduling the profile file (46) to create an encode file (48); and encoding the content signal (18) with the auxiliary signal according to the encode file (48) and a modulation method.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

marking a first plurality of configuration readings of a test content signal on a first processor based on a first detection configuration, the test content signal being a content signal with a plurality of modulated content frames, a particular first configuration reading of the first plurality of configuration readings being of a particular modulated content frame of the plurality of modulated content frames, the particular modulated content frame having test data;

marking a second plurality of configuration readings of the test content signal on the first processor based on the first detection configuration, the second plurality of configuration readings corresponding to the first plurality of configuration readings, a particular second configuration reading of the second plurality of configuration readings being of the particular modulated content frame;

marking a first plurality of additional configuration readings of the test content signal on the first processor based on a second detection configuration, the second detection configuration being a variance of the first detection configuration, a particular first additional configuration reading of the first plurality of additional configuration readings being of the particular modulated content frame;

marking a second plurality of additional configuration readings of the test content signal on the first processor based on the second detection configuration, a particular second additional configuration reading of the second plurality of additional configuration readings being of the particular modulated content frame;

storing profile data based on the marking of the first plurality of configuration readings, the second plurality of configuration readings, the first plurality of additional configuration readings, and the second plurality of additional configuration readings, the profile data including a plurality of profile entries, a particular profile entry of the plurality of profile entries corresponding to the particular modulated content frame, the particular profile entry being marked to indicate a successful first configuration reading for the first detection configuration when the first particular configuration reading and the second particular configuration reading match the test data, the particular profile entry being marked to indicate a successful second configuration reading for the second detection configuration when the first particular additional configuration reading and the second particular additional configuration reading match the test data, and the particular profile entry being marked to indicate the successful first configuration reading and the second successful additional configuration reading when the first particular configuration reading, the second particular configuration reading, the first particular additional configuration reading, and the second particular additional configuration reading match the test data;

accessing event data for a plurality of events, the event data for a particular event including identification of a particular action, a particular event priority defining importance of the action relative to a remaining portion of a plurality of actions, a desired time of occurrence for performance of the particular action, and a particular acceptance range defining how long before the desired time the particular event can be encoded;

determining placement for at least a portion of the plurality of events in the content signal based on the event data and the profile data; and

modulating the plurality of frames of the content signal in accordance with determination of placement and a modulation technique.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the content signal from a signal source;

receiving an operator instruction to modulate the content signal with the test data; and

modulating the content sign with the test data based on receipt of the operator instruction.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the modulation technique includes a video modulation technique.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the modulation technique includes a luminance modulation technique.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the modulation technique includes an audio modulation technique.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the content signal is a standard definition (SD) video signal.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the content signal is a high definition (HD) video signal.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the content signal is NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) video signal, PAL (Phase Alternation Line) video signal, SECAM (Systeme Electronique Couleur Avec Memoire) video signal, or sequence of bitmaps signal.

9. A method of claim 1, wherein determining the placement comprises:

determining the placement for a first event of the plurality of events based on the profile data;

selecting the particular event for placement based on relative priority, the first event of the plurality of events having a higher priority than the particular event; and

determining placement for the particular event based on the profile data.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the placement for the particular event comprises:

identifying a first frame of the content signal as a first candidate frame for modulation of the particular event based on the profile data and the desired time of occurrence for performance of the particular action;

determining that the first frame is unavailable for modulation;

selecting a prior frame of the content signal as a second candidate frame for modulation of the particular event based on the profile data, the desired time of occurrence for performance of the particular action, and a determination that the first frame is unavailable for modulation, the prior frame being in accordance with the particular acceptance range; and

determining that the prior frame is available for modulation;

wherein modulation of the plurality of frames of the content signal includes modulation of the prior frame in accordance with determination of that the prior frame is available for modulation and the modulation technique.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

recording successful placement indicia in a success log based on recording the placement.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the placement further comprises:

recording the placement in an encode file,

wherein modulating the plurality of frames of the content signal is in accordance with the encode file and the modulation technique.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first detection configuration is based on a detector associated with the first processor being at a first distance and the second detection configuration is based on the detector associated with the first processor being at a second distance, the second distance being at a different distance than the first distance.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the first detection configuration is based on a first detector associated with the first processor and the second detection configuration is based on the detector associated with a second detector associated with the first processor, the second detector being a different detector than the first detector.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the signal absence represents a data bit of zero and the signal presence represents a data bit of one.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the signal absence represents complementary data bits “

zero one” and

the signal presence represents complementary data bits “

one zero”

.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a first modulation technique associated with the test content signal, a second modulation technique associated with the test content signal, or both as the modulation technique based on the profile data,

wherein the first detection configuration is based on the first modulation technique and the second detection configuration is based on the second modulation technique associated with the test content signal, the second modulation technique being a different technique than the first modulation technique, and

wherein modulating the plurality of frames of the content signal is in accordance with determination of placement and selection of the modulation technique.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein a particular frame of the plurality of frames is modulated with a signal absence or a signal presence.

19. A nontransitory machine readable medium comprising instructions, which when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the following operations:

mark a first plurality of configuration readings of a test content signal on a first processor based on a first detection configuration, the test content signal being a content signal with a plurality of modulated content frames, a particular first configuration reading of the first plurality of configuration readings being of a particular modulated content frame of the plurality of modulated content frames, the particular modulated content frame having test data;

mark a second plurality of configuration readings of the test content signal on the first processor based on the first detection configuration, the second plurality of configuration readings corresponding to the first plurality of configuration readings, a particular second configuration reading of the second plurality of configuration readings being of the particular modulated content frame;

mark a first plurality of additional configuration readings of the test content signal on the first processor based on a second detection configuration, the second detection configuration being a variance of the first detection configuration, a particular first additional configuration reading of the first plurality of additional configuration readings being of the particular modulated content frame;

mark a second plurality of additional configuration readings of the test content signal on the first processor based on the second detection configuration, a particular second additional configuration reading of the second plurality of additional configuration readings being of the particular modulated content frame;

storing profile data based on the marking of the first plurality of configuration readings, the second plurality of configuration readings, the first plurality of additional configuration readings, and the second plurality of additional configuration readings, the profile data including a plurality of profile entries, a particular profile entry of the plurality of profile entries corresponding to the particular modulated content frame, the particular profile entry being marked to indicate a successful first configuration reading for the first detection configuration when the first particular configuration reading and the second particular configuration reading match the test data, the particular profile entry being marked to indicate a successful second configuration reading for the second detection configuration when the first particular additional configuration reading and the second particular additional configuration reading match the test data, and the particular profile entry being marked to indicate the successful first configuration reading and the second successful additional configuration reading when the first particular configuration reading, the second particular configuration reading, the first particular additional configuration reading, and the second particular additional configuration reading match the test data;

access event data for a plurality of events, the event data for a particular event including identification of a particular action, a particular event priority defining importance of the action relative to a remaining portion of a plurality of actions, a desired time of occurrence for performance of the particular action, and a particular acceptance range defining how long before the desired time the particular event can be encoded;

determine placement for at least a portion of the plurality of events in the content signal based on the event data and the profile data; and

modulate the plurality of frames of the content signal in accordance with determination of placement and a modulation technique.