Methods and apparatus for presenting substitute content in an audio/video stream using text data

• US 8,726,309 B2
• Filed: 02/29/2012
• Issued: 05/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Echostar Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Casagrande, Steven M., Kummer, David A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Hai V
• Application Number:
  US13/407,955
• Publication Number:
  US 20120159537A1
• Time in Patent Office: 804 Days
• Field of Search: 725 34- 35, 725/68, 725/85, 725/92, 725/100, 725/102, 725/131, 725/134, 725/135, 725/137, 348/468, 348/715, 348/718
• US Class Current: 725/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4325 by playing back content from the storage medium reproduction of recorded television signals H04N5/76; reproduction of recorded television signals H04N9/79
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44016 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• 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

Abstract

Various embodiments of apparatus and/or methods are described for skipping, filtering and/or replacing content from an audio/video stream using text data associated with the audio/video stream. The text data is processed using location information that references a segment of the text data of the first audio/video stream to identify a location within the first audio/video stream. The location within the first audio/video stream is utilized to identify portions of the audio/video stream that are to be skipped during presentation. The portions of the audio/video stream that are to be skipped are filtered from the audio/video stream, and some of the skipped portions of the audio/video stream are replaced with substitute content. The filtered video stream, including the substitute content, is outputted for presentation to a user.

Claims

1. A method for processing a first audio/video stream having at least one segment of a show, at least one interstitial of the show, and closed captioning data associated with the show, the method comprising:

receiving autonomous location information separately from the first audio/video stream, the autonomous location information comprising a first unique text string, a second unique text string, a first forward offset associated with the first unique text string, a first backward offset associated with the first unique text string, a second forward offset associated with the second unique text string, and a second backward offset associated with the second unique text string;

processing the closed captioning data to identify the first unique text string;

determining that the first unique text string is not located within the closed captioning data;

in response to determining that the first unique text string is not located within the closed captioning data, processing the closed captioning data again to identify the second unique text string;

determining that the second unique text string is located within the closed captioning data; and

in response to determining that the second unique text string is located within the closed captioning data, utilizing the second forward offset and the second backward offset to specify a beginning boundary of a segment of the show and an ending boundary of the segment of the show.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a first video location within the first audio/video stream, the first video location corresponding to the beginning boundary; and

identifying a second video location within the first audio/video stream, the second video location corresponding to the ending boundary.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying substitute content to present in association with the segment of the show; and

outputting a second audio/video stream for presentation on a display device, the second audio/video stream including the segment of the show and the substitute content.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein outputting the second audio/video stream comprises replacing the at least one interstitial of the show with the substitute content.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first forward offset and the first backward offset are each specified relative to a beginning of the first unique text string; and

the second forward offset and the second backward offset are each specified relative to a beginning of the second unique text string.

6. A receiving device 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 associated with the first audio/video stream;

a storage unit that stores the first audio/video stream and the closed captioning data;

control logic that;

receives autonomous location information separately from the first audio/video stream, the autonomous location information comprising a first unique text string, a second unique text string, a first forward offset associated with the first unique text string, a first backward offset associated with the first unique text string, a second forward offset associated with the second unique text string, and a second backward offset associated with the second unique text string;

reviews the closed captioning data to locate the first unique text string;

determines that the first unique text string is not located within the closed captioning data;

in response to determining that the first unique text string is not located within the closed captioning data, reviews the closed captioning data again to locate the second unique text string;

determines that the second unique text string is located within the closed captioning data; and

in response to determining that the second unique text string is located within the closed captioning data, utilizes the second forward offset and the second backward offset to specify a beginning boundary of a segment of the show and an ending boundary of the segment of the show;

identifies substitute content to present in association with the segment of the show; and

an audio/video interface that outputs a second audio/video stream for presentation on a display device, the second audio/video stream including the segment of the show and the substitute content.

7. The receiving device of claim 6, wherein the control logic sorts the closed captioning data according to a presentation order of the closed captioning data and stores the sorted closed captioning data in a data file separate from the first audio/video stream.

8. The receiving device of claim 6, wherein the audio/video interface replaces the at least one interstitial with the substitute content when outputting the second audio/video stream.

9. The receiving device of claim 6, wherein the audio/video interface outputs the substitute content before the segment of the show in the second audio/video stream.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the first forward offset and the first backward offset are each specified relative to a beginning of the first unique text string; and

the second forward offset and the second backward offset are each specified relative to a beginning of the second unique text string.