Methods and apparatus for identifying portions of a video stream based on characteristics of the video stream

• US 8,326,127 B2
• Filed: 01/30/2009
• Issued: 12/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Echostar Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Casagrande, Steven M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Thai
• Assistant Examiner(s): Park, Sunghyoun
• Application Number:
  US12/362,806
• Publication Number:
  US 20100195972A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,404 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 386/278
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/036 Insert-editing
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/147 Scene change detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording

Abstract

The various embodiments described herein generally provide for the identification of locations in a presentation stream based on metadata associated with the presentation stream. Locations within an audio/video stream are identified by processing associated text data using autonomous location information referencing the text data. The identified locations within a presentation stream may be utilized to identify boundaries of segments within the presentation stream, such as segments of a show and interstitials of the show. Processing is then performed to determine whether the identified boundaries possess specific characteristics. If the identified boundaries do not possess the identified characteristics, then additional processing is performed to identify other locations, temporally near the identified boundaries, which correspond with boundaries of the portion of the audio/video stream identified by the autonomous location information.

Claims

1. A method for processing an audio/video stream, the method comprising:

providing a first audio/video stream including at least one segment of a show, at least one interstitial of the show and closed captioning data that is shifted in time relative to the at least one segment of the show;

receiving autonomous location information referencing the closed captioning data to identify a first identified audio/video location within the first audio/video stream, wherein the first identified audio/video location is shifted in time relative to a corresponding referenced audio/video location within the first audio/video stream;

receiving a first off-set and a second off-set;

applying the first off-set to the first identified audio/video location to identify a second identified audio/video location as a possible segment boundary of the first audio/video stream;

determining whether the second identified audio/video location corresponds with a first boundary of a segment of the show based on characteristics of a video frame at the second identified audio/video location;

identifying a third identified audio/video location that corresponds with the first boundary of the segment responsive to determining that the second identified audio/video location does not correspond with the first boundary;

determining a shift offset of the closed captioning data, the shift offset corresponding to a difference between the second identified audio/video location and the third identified audio/video location;

identifying a second boundary of the segment of the show, using the first identified audio/video location, the second off-set, and the shift offset of the closed captioning data;

filtering the interstitial from the first audio/video stream based on the first boundary of the segment of the show and the second boundary of the segment of the show to generate a second audio/video stream including the segment of the show; and

outputting the second audio/video stream for presentation by a display device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the autonomous location information, the first off-set, and the second off-set further comprise:

receiving the autonomous location information, in association with the first off-set and the second off-set, separately from the first audio/video stream.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the autonomous location information includes at least one text string that is unique within the closed captioning data and wherein the first off-set and the second off-set are specified relative to a beginning of the text string.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the second identified audio/video location corresponds with the first boundary of the segment further comprises:

determining whether the second identified audio/video location comprises a substantially black screen.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the second identified audio/video location corresponds with the first boundary of the segment further comprises:

determining whether the second identified audio/video location is associated with muted audio.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the third identified audio/video location further comprises:

selecting the third identified audio/video location a specified temporal offset away from the second identified audio/video location; and

determining whether the third identified audio/video location corresponds with the first boundary of the segment based on characteristics of a video frame at the third identified audio/video location.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the third identified audio/video location is positioned the specified temporal off-set away from the second identified audio/video location in a forward temporal direction.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the third identified audio/video location is positioned the specified temporal off-set away from the second identified audio/video location in a backward temporal direction.

9. A digital video recorder comprising:

a communication interface that receives a first audio/video stream including at least one segment of a show, at least one interstitial of the show and closed captioning data that is shifted in time relative to the at least one segment of the show;

a storage medium;

control logic communicatively coupled to the communication interface and the storage medium that;

stores the first audio/video stream on the storage medium for subsequent presentation to a user;

receives autonomous location information referencing the closed captioning data to identify a first identified audio/video location within the first audio/video stream, wherein the first identified audio/video location is shifted in time relative to a corresponding referenced audio/video location within the first audio/video stream;

receives a first off-set and a second off-set;

applies the first off-set to the first identified audio/video location to identify a second identified audio/video location as a possible segment boundary of the first audio/video stream;

determines whether the second identified audio/video location corresponds with a first boundary of a segment of the show based on characteristics of a video frame at the second identified audio/video location;

identifies a third identified audio/video location that corresponds with the first boundary of the segment responsive to determining that the second identified audio/video location does not correspond with the first boundary;

determines a shift offset of the closed captioning data, the shift offset corresponding to a difference between the second identified audio/video location and the third identified audio/video location;

identifies a second boundary of the segment of the show, using the first identified audio/video location, the second off-set, and the shift offset of the closed captioning data;

filters the interstitial from the first audio/video stream based on the first boundary of the segment of the show and the second boundary of the segment of the show to generate a second audio/video stream including the segment of the show; and

outputs the second audio/video stream for presentation by a display device.

10. The digital video recorder of claim 9, wherein the control logic receives the autonomous location information, in association with the first off-set and the second off-set, subsequent to storing the first audio/video stream.

11. The digital video recorder of claim 9, wherein the autonomous location information includes at least one text string that is unique within the closed captioning data.

12. The digital video recorder of claim 9, wherein the control logic is configured to determine whether the second identified audio/video location comprises a substantially black screen.

13. The digital video recorder of claim 9, wherein the control logic is configured to determine whether the second identified audio/video location is associated with muted audio.

14. The digital video recorder of claim 9, wherein the control logic is configured to select the third identified audio/video location a specified temporal off-set away from the second identified audio/video location and determine whether the third identified audio/video location corresponds with the first boundary of the segment based on characteristics of a video frame at the third identified audio/video location.

15. The digital video recorder of claim 14, wherein the third identified audio/video location is positioned the specified temporal off-set away from the second identified audio/video location in a forward temporal direction.

16. The digital video recorder of claim 14, wherein the third identified audio/video location is positioned the specified temporal off-set away from the second identified audio/video location in a backward temporal direction.

17. The digital video recorder of claim 9, wherein the control logic is further configured to identify substitute content and output the substitute content as part of the second audio/video stream adjacent to the segment.

18. The digital video recorder of claim 17, wherein the control logic identifies the substitute content based on the autonomous location information.

19. A method for processing an audio/video stream, the method comprising:

recording a first audio/video stream including a plurality of segments of a show, interstitials interspersed between the plurality of segments, and closed captioning data that is shifted in time relative to the plurality of segments;

receiving autonomous location information referencing the closed captioning data, the autonomous location information comprising a plurality of text strings associated with the closed captioning data for one or more video frames of the first audio/video stream, wherein each of the plurality of text strings uniquely identifies a respective audio/video location within the first audio/video stream corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of segments;

receiving a first offset and a second offset for each respective audio/video location uniquely identified by the plurality of text strings;

for a first segment of the plurality of segments;

reviewing the closed captioning data to locate one of the plurality of text strings in the closed captioning data and to identify a first identified audio/video location within the first audio/video stream, wherein the first identified audio/video location is shifted in time relative to a corresponding referenced audio/video location within the first audio/video stream;

applying the first offset of the first segment to the first identified audio/video location to identify a second identified audio/video location as a possible segment boundary of the first audio/video stream;

determining whether the second identified audio/video location corresponds with a first boundary of the first segment based on characteristics of a video frame at the second identified audio/video location; and

identifying a third identified audio/video location that corresponds with the first boundary of the first segment in response to determining that the second identified audio/video location does not correspond with the first boundary of the first segment;

determining a shift offset of the closed captioning data, the shift offset corresponding to a difference between the second identified audio/video location and the third identified audio/video location;

using the shift offset of the closed captioning data to identify boundaries of other segments of the show;

filtering the interstitials from the first audio/video stream based on the identified boundaries to generate a second audio/video stream including the segments of the show; and

outputting the second audio/video stream for presentation by a display device.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein, for each of the other segments of the show, using the shift offset comprises:

reviewing the closed captioning data to locate another one of the plurality of text strings in the closed captioning data and to identify a respective identified audio/video location within the first audio/video stream;

applying the shift offset to the respective identified audio/video location to identify a respective referenced audio/video location; and

applying the first offset and the second offset received for the respective other segment of the show to the respective referenced audio/video location to identify the boundaries of the respective other segment of the show.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein receiving the autonomous location information, the first offset, and the second offset further comprise:

receiving the autonomous location information, in association with the first offset and the second offset, separately from the first audio/video stream.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein determining whether the second identified audio/video location corresponds with a first boundary of the first segment further comprises:

determining whether the second identified audio/video location comprises a substantially black screen.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein determining whether the second identified audio/video location corresponds with a first boundary of the first segment further comprises:

determining whether the second identified audio/video location is associated with muted audio.