Information processing apparatus, sameness determination system, sameness determination method, and computer program

• US 8,913,874 B2
• Filed: 06/08/2011
• Issued: 12/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Manabe, Yoshihiro, Abe, Yuichi, Noma, Hideki, Enami, Tsugutomo, Kashiwagi, Akifumi, Kawakami, Itaru
• Primary Examiner(s): Vaughn, Jr., William C
• Assistant Examiner(s): ADAMS, EILEEN M
• Application Number:
  US13/155,596
• Publication Number:
  US 20110305432A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,287 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 386/248
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4884 for displaying subtitles
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8133 specifically related to the content, e.g. biography of the actors in a movie, detailed information about an article seen in a video program

Abstract

There is provided an information processing apparatus which includes a subtitle processing unit for extracting a subtitle feature quantity representing a feature of a content from subtitle information included in the content, a subtitle feature quantity accumulation unit for associating and storing identification information capable of identifying the content and the subtitle feature quantity extracted from the content by the subtitle processing unit, a subtitle feature quantity collation unit for collating the subtitle feature quantity stored in the subtitle feature quantity accumulation unit and a subtitle feature quantity to be determined, thereby determining sameness between the content corresponding to the subtitle feature quantity stored in the subtitle feature quantity accumulation unit and a content corresponding to the subtitle feature quantity to be determined, and a collation result output unit for outputting a collation result of the subtitle feature quantity collation unit.

Claims

1. An information providing server comprising:

one or more processors and/or circuits in the information providing server, wherein the one or more processors and/or circuits are operable to;

extract a first subtitle feature quantity representing a feature of first content from subtitle information included in the first content;

associate and store identification information capable of identifying the first content and the first subtitle feature quantity extracted from the first content;

receive comment information, from an information processing apparatus different from the information providing server, providing a user'"'"'s comment on second content, wherein the information processing apparatus generates the comment information by attaching a second subtitle feature quantity corresponding to the second content to the user'"'"'s comment;

collate the stored first subtitle feature quantity and the second subtitle feature quantity included in the comment information received from the information processing apparatus;

determine sameness between the first content corresponding to the stored first subtitle feature quantity and the second content corresponding to the second subtitle feature quantity based on the collation; and

output a result based on the determined sameness.

2. The information providing server according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processors and/or circuits are further operable to:

separate the subtitle information included in the first content; and

extract at least an array including a time interval between subtitles as the first subtitle feature quantity on the basis of the separated subtitle information.

3. The information providing server according to claim 2, wherein the one or more processors and/or circuits are further operable to arrange subtitle data representing a plurality of subtitle contents included in the first content in a time sequence on the basis of display times of the subtitle data, and calculate, as an array of time intervals between the subtitle data, a numerical string including a difference of the display times of the subtitle data adjacent to each other in the time sequence.

4. The information providing server according to claim 2, wherein the one or more processors and/or circuits are further operable to extract, as the first subtitle feature quantity, subtitle data representing a plurality of subtitle contents from the subtitle information.

5. The information providing server according to claim 1, wherein when the extracted first subtitle feature quantity matches, at least partially, the second subtitle feature quantity, the one or more processors and/or circuits are operable to determine that the first content and the second content are same.

6. The information providing server according to claim 5, wherein when the first subtitle feature quantity partially matches the second subtitle feature quantity, the one or more processors and/or circuits are operable to calculate a degree of match between the first subtitle feature quantity and the second subtitle feature quantity.

7. The information providing server according to claim 6, wherein when the one or more processors and/or circuits are operable to determine that the degree of match is equal to or more than a predetermined rate for a plurality of contents, and output identification information of the plurality of contents as the collation result.

8. The information providing server according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processors and/or circuits are operable to store the first subtitle feature quantity using an N-gram method.

9. The information providing server according to claim 1, wherein when the first content is terrestrial digital broadcasting content that is broadcasted in terrestrial digital broadcasting, the one or more processors and/or circuits are operable to extract the first subtitle feature quantity on the basis of the subtitle information of a one-segment broadcasting content that is broadcasted in one-segment broadcasting simultaneously with the terrestrial digital broadcasting content when the terrestrial digital broadcasting content does not include any subtitle information.

10. An information processing apparatus comprising:

one or more processors and/or circuits in the information processing apparatus, wherein the one or more processors and/or circuits are operable to;

separate first subtitle information included in first content from the first content;

extract a first subtitle feature quantity representing a feature of the first content on the basis of the separated first subtitle information; and

transmit comment information to an information providing server different from the information processing apparatus providing a user'"'"'s comment associated with the first content on a network, wherein the comment information is generated by attaching the extracted first subtitle feature quantity to the user'"'"'s comment, wherein the information providing server collates the first subtitle feature quantity received from the information processing apparatus and a second subtitle feature quantity associated with a second content.

11. A sameness determination system for determining a sameness of a content, the sameness determination system comprising:

an information processing apparatus for inputting a user'"'"'s comment on first content; and

an information providing server different from the information processing apparatus for providing, on a network, the user'"'"'s comment received from the information processing apparatus,

wherein the information processing apparatus comprises a first set of one or more processors and/or circuits operable to;

separate first subtitle information included in the first content from the first content;

extract a first subtitle feature quantity representing a feature of the first content on the basis of the separated first subtitle information;

input the user'"'"'s comment made on the first content; and

transmit comment information to the information providing server providing the user'"'"'s comment on the network, wherein the comment information is generated by attaching the extracted first subtitle feature quantity to the user'"'"'s comment made on the first content, and

the information providing server comprises a second set of one or more processors and/or circuits operable to;

extract a second subtitle feature quantity representing a feature of second content from second subtitle information included in the second content;

associate and store identification information to identify the second content and the second subtitle feature quantity extracted from the second content;

collate the second subtitle feature quantity and the first subtitle feature quantity included in the comment information received from the information processing apparatus;

determine sameness between the second subtitle feature quantity and the first subtitle feature quantity in the comment information based on the collation; and

output a result based on the determined sameness.

12. A sameness determination method comprising:

inputting a user'"'"'s comment made on first content to separate first subtitle information included in the first content from the first content received by an information processing apparatus;

extracting a first subtitle feature quantity representing a feature of the first content on the basis of the first subtitle information; and

transmitting comment information to an information providing server different from the information processing apparatus providing the user'"'"'s comment on a network, wherein the comment information is made by attaching the first subtitle feature quantity to the user'"'"'s comment made on the first content, wherein the information providing server;

extracts a second subtitle feature quantity representing a feature of second content from second subtitle information included in the second content;

associates and stores identification information to identify the second content and the second subtitle feature quantity extracted from the second content;

collates the second subtitle feature quantity and the first subtitle feature quantity included in the comment information received from the information processing apparatus;

determines sameness between the second subtitle feature quantity and the first subtitle feature quantity in the comment information based on the collation; and

outputs a collation result based on the determined sameness.

13. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon, a computer program having at least one code section executable by a computer, thereby causing the computer to perform the steps comprising:

in an information providing server;

extracting a first subtitle feature quantity representing a feature of first content from first subtitle information included in the first content;

associating and storing identification information to identify the first content and the first subtitle feature quantity extracted from the first content;

receiving comment information, from an information processing apparatus different from the information providing server, providing a user'"'"'s comment on second content, wherein the information processing apparatus generates the comment information by attaching a second subtitle feature quantity corresponding to the second content to the user'"'"'s comment;

collating the stored first subtitle feature quantity and the second subtitle feature quantity included in the comment information received from the information processing apparatus;

determining sameness between the first content corresponding to the stored first subtitle feature quantity and the second content corresponding to the second subtitle feature quantity based on the collation; and

outputting a result based on the determined sameness.