System and method for the creation, synchronization and delivery of alternate content

• US 8,041,190 B2
• Filed: 12/01/2005
• Issued: 10/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2004
• 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., Pedlow, JR., Leo M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Thai
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wendmagegn, Girumsew
• Application Number:
  US11/292,256
• Publication Number:
  US 20060130121A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,147 Days
• Field of Search: 386/52, 725/115, 725/116, 725/145, 725/146
• US Class Current: 386/287
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00159 Parental control systems
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2562 DVDs [digital versatile discs]; Digital video discs; MMCDs; HDCDs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• 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 21/23439 for generating different versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2365 Multiplexing of several video streams
• 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 21/458 Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8106 involving special audio data, e.g. different tracks for different languages
• 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 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8541 involving branching, e.g. to different story endings
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

According to one embodiment, A nonlinear editing system comprises a video encoder, an audio compressor and an engine unit. The engine unit is adapted to synchronize the video with the first alternate video and to synchronize the audio with the first alternate audio so that, where the scene of the program includes objectionable content, either (i) the video is substituted with the first alternate video, (ii) the audio is substituted with the first alternate audio, or (iii) both the video and the audio are substituted with the first alternate video and the first alternate audio.

Claims

1. A nonlinear editing system comprising:

a video encoder to receive a first video stream including video originally intended as video for a scene of a program and a second video stream including a first alternate video for replacing the video, the video encoder inserting video synchronization marks into the video and the first alternate video;

an audio compressor to receive a first audio stream including audio originally intended as audio for the scene of the program and a second audio stream including a first alternate audio for replacing the audio, the audio compressor inserting audio synchronization marks into the audio and the first alternate audio, wherein the video and audio synchronization marks, respectively, include a primary clock reference, decoding time stamp, and presentation time stamp; and

an engine unit to synchronize the video with the first alternate video using the video synchronization marks and to synchronize the audio with the first alternate audio using the audio synchronization marks so that, where the scene of the program includes objectionable content, (i) the video is substituted with the first alternate video, (ii) the audio is substituted with the first alternate audio, or (iii) both the video and the audio are substituted with the first alternate video and the first alternate audio.

2. The nonlinear editing system of claim 1, wherein the video encoder includes a first video encoder to process the first video stream and a second video encoder to process the second video stream.

3. The nonlinear editing system of claim 1, wherein the second video stream includes a blank screen video between the first alternate video and a second alternate video.

4. The nonlinear editing system of claim 3, wherein the second audio stream includes muted audio between the first alternate audio and a second alternate audio.

5. The nonlinear editing system of claim 4, wherein the engine unit trims the blank screen video from the second video stream and the muted audio from the second audio stream.

6. The nonlinear editing system of claim 5, wherein the engine unit insert a reminder of the second video stream after trimming of the blank screen video to be multiplexed into a primary transport stream including the video and the audio.

7. The nonlinear editing system of claim 6, wherein the engine unit insert a reminder of the second audio stream after trimming of the muted audio to be multiplexed into the primary transport stream.

8. A nonlinear editing system comprising:

a video encoder to receive a first video stream including video originally intended as video for a scene of a program and a second video stream including a first alternate video for replacing at least a portion of the video, the video encoder inserting video synchronization marks into the video and the first alternate video;

an audio compressor to receive a first audio stream including audio originally intended as audio for the scene of the program and a second audio stream including a first alternate audio for replacing at least a portion of the audio, the audio compressor inserting audio synchronization marks into the audio and the first alternate audio, wherein the video and audio synchronization marks, respectively, include a primary clock reference, decoding time stamp, and presentation time stamp; and

an engine unit to determine if the scene of the program includes objectionable content and to substitute main content, being at least one of the video and the audio, with replacement content using at least one of the audio and video synchronization marks if the scene of the program includes objectionable content and the replacement does not feature the objectionable content.

9. The nonlinear editing system of claim 8, wherein the replacement content includes the alternate video.

10. The nonlinear editing system of claim 8, wherein the replacement content includes the alternate audio.

11. The nonlinear editing system of claim 8, wherein the replacement content is one of an ad banner and distorted display images.

12. The nonlinear editing system of claim 8, wherein the engine unit determining if the scene of the program features objectionable content by accessing information provided with main content including the video and the audio and comparing the information with prior established parental control limits.

13. The nonlinear editing system of claim 12, wherein the engine unit accessing information provided with the main content and comparing the information with prior established parental control limits by determining whether an Age-based rating assigned to the scene of the program associated with the main content exceeds an Age-based parental control limit being the prior established parental control limit and to substitute the main content with the replacement content if (i) the Age-based rating of the scene associated with the main content exceeds the Age-based parental control limit and (ii) an Age-based rating of the replacement content is less than or equal to the Age-based parental control limit.

14. The nonlinear editing system of claim 12, wherein the engine unit comparing of the information by analyzing tag information provided with the main content for the scene, determining by analysis of the tag information if the main content includes content identified as objectionable, and substituting the main content with the replacement content if the main content includes objectionable content as identified by the tag information and the replacement content does not include the objectionable content.

15. A machine readable non-transitory medium to tangibly store software that, if executed by an engine unit, will cause a non-linear editing system to perform the following operations:

receiving a first video stream including video originally intended for a scene of a program and a second video stream including a first alternate video for replacing the video, the video and the first alternate video including video synchronization marks;

receiving a first audio stream including audio originally intended for the scene of the program and a second audio stream including a first alternate audio for replacing the audio, the audio and the first alternate audio including audio synchronization marks, wherein the video and audio synchronization marks, respectively, include a primary clock reference, decoding time stamp, and presentation time stamp; and

synchronizing the video with the first alternate video using the video synchronization marks and synchronizing the audio with the first alternate audio using the audio synchronization marks so that, where the scene of the program includes objectionable content, (i) the video is substituted with the first alternate video, (ii) the audio is substituted with the first alternate audio, or (iii) both the video and the audio are substituted with the first alternate video and the first alternate audio.

16. The machine readable non-transitory medium of claim 15, wherein the synchronizing performed by the software includes trimming blank screen video from the second video stream and muted audio from the second audio stream.

17. The machine readable non-transitory medium of claim 16, wherein the synchronizing performed by the software further includes inserting a reminder of the second video stream after trimming of the blank screen video to be multiplexed into a primary transport stream including the video and the audio.

18. The machine readable non-transitory medium of claim 17, wherein the synchronizing performed by the software further includes inserting a reminder of the second audio stream after trimming of the muted audio to be multiplexed into the primary transport stream.