Method and apparatus for presenting media content

• US 8,918,808 B2
• Filed: 02/07/2008
• Issued: 12/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: White, Scott, Cansler, James, Scott, Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): CHEN, CAI Y
• Application Number:
  US12/027,580
• Publication Number:
  US 20090204989A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,511 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 725/37
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25808 Management of client data terminal profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/303
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2662 Controlling the complexity of the video stream, e.g. by scaling the resolution or bitrate of the video stream based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4402 involving reformatting operations of video signals for household redistribution, storage or real-time display details of conversion of video standards at pixel level H04N7/01; video transcoding H04N19/40; adapting incoming signals to the display format of the display terminal G09G5/005; media handling at the source in data packet switching networks H04L65/764
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440263 by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for displaying on a connected PDA
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4516 involving client characteristics, e.g. Set-Top-Box type, software version or amount of memory available
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/454 Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a set top box having a controller to obtain display parameters associated with a display device, adjust a format of media content at the set top box based at least in part on the display parameters where the adjustment is of one or more portions of a display of the media content, and transmit the media content from the set top box to the display device. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage device having computer instructions embedded therein, wherein the computer instructions, responsive to being executed by a processor of a set-top box, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

obtaining display parameters associated with a display device having a display area;

monitoring media content being presented by the set-top box to the display device to determine media content characteristics;

determining if the display device is optimized based on the display parameters and the media content characteristics; and

responsive to determining that the display device is not optimized;

determining a format for a first portion of the display area, wherein the first portion comprises a sub-portion of the display area, and wherein the first portion contains a focal point related to a detected action taking place in the media content;

adjusting a format of media content of the first portion, wherein the media content comprises video content that is presented according to the display parameters and the media content characteristics, wherein the adjusting of the format of the first portion of the display area results in adjusted media content, wherein the format of the media content in relation to a remaining portion of the display area is not adjusted resulting in non-adjusted media content; and

generating and providing control signals that cause the display device to simultaneously present the non-adjusted media content and the adjusted media content without an overlap of the first portion and the remaining portion of the display area and without changing a size of any object displayed in the first portion of the display area.

2. The computer-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the adjusting of the format of the media content includes adjusting one of a color depth, an aspect ratio, a background image complexity, or a combination thereof.

3. The computer-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the detected action of the first portion is based on scene information associated with the video content, and wherein the adjusting of the format of media content of the first portion comprises transcoding of the media content.

4. The computer-readable storage device of claim 3, comprising computer instructions which, responsive to being executed by the processor at the set-top box, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

obtaining device identification information associated with the display device from one of the display device or a user; and

performing a query based on the device identification information.

5. The computer-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the first portion of the display area comprises a first sub-portion and a second sub-portion, and further comprising computer instructions for performing a first adjustment to a first sub-portion of media content presented therein and a second adjustment to a second sub-portion of the media content presented therein, wherein the first adjustment and the second adjustment change different media content characteristics of the first sub-portion of media content and the second sub-portion of media content.

6. The computer-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the first portion of the display area comprises an area in proximity to an actor presented in the media content, and wherein the adjustment is to a color depth in the area of the display in proximity to the actor.

7. The computer-readable storage device of claim 1, comprising computer instructions which, responsive to being executed by the processor at the set top box, cause the processor to perform operations comprising performing the adjusting of the format of the media content of the first portion based on a user preference.

8. A set top box device, comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory, wherein responsive to executing the instructions, the processor performs operations rising;

receiving display parameters associated with a display device having a display area;

monitoring media content presented to the display device to determine media content characteristics, wherein the media content comprises video content displaying an object;

determining a quality threshold for presentation of the media content at the display device;

determining if the display device satisfies the quality threshold based on the display parameters and the media content characteristics; and

responsive to determining that the display device does not satisfy the quality threshold;

determining a format for a first portion of the display area that satisfies the quality threshold, wherein the first portion comprises a sub-portion of the display area, and wherein the first portion of the display area is selected based on a location of the object in the video content;

adjusting a format of media content of the first portion based on the display parameters and the media content characteristic, wherein the adjusting of the format of the media content is performed on the first portion of the display area that is less than an entirety of the display area resulting in adjusted media content, wherein the format of the media content in a remaining portion of the display area is not adjusted resulting in non-adjusted media content; and

simultaneously presenting the non-adjusted media content and the adjusted media content via the display device without an overlap of the first portion and the remaining portion of the display area and without enlarging a size of the object in the first portion.

9. The set top box device of claim 8, wherein the first portion includes a plurality of portions, and wherein the operations further comprise adjusting a format of at least two of the plurality of portions based on changes to different media content characteristics.

10. The set top box device of claim 9, wherein one of the media content characteristics is a color depth.

11. The set top box device of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise querying a remote server to obtain at least a portion of the display parameters, and wherein the simultaneously presenting of the non-adjusted media content and the adjusted media content comprises the remaining portion of the display area surrounding the first portion of the display area so that an inner boundary of the remaining portion of the display area is adjacent to an outer boundary of the first portion of the display area.

12. The set top box device of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

obtaining device identification information associated with the display device from one of the display device or a user; and

performing a query based on the device identification information.

13. The set top box device of claim 8, wherein the adjusting of the format of the media content includes adjusting one of a color depth, an aspect ratio, a text size, a background image complexity, a level of animation, or a combination thereof.

14. The set top box device of claim 9, wherein one of the media content characteristics is a resolution.

15. The set top box device of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise adjusting the format of the media content for the first portion of the display by increasing a color depth in proximity to the object.

16. A display device, comprising:

a memory having computer instructions; and

a controller coupled to the memory, wherein executing the computer instructions causes the controller to perform operations comprising;

obtaining display parameters of the display device;

monitoring media content received by the display device to determine media content characteristics;

determining a quality threshold for presentation of the media content at the display device;

determining if the display device satisfies the quality threshold; and

responsive to determining that the display device does not satisfy the quality threshold;

determining a format for a first portion of the display area that satisfies the quality threshold based on the display parameters and the media content characteristics, wherein the first portion comprises a sub-portion of the display device, and wherein the first portion of the display device is selected based on a location of an object in the media content;

adjusting a format of the media content of the first portion, wherein the media content comprises video content that is presented according to the display parameters and the media content characteristics resulting in adjusted media content, wherein a format of the media content in a remaining portion of the display is non-adjusted resulting in non-adjusted media content, and wherein the first portion is adjusted without changing a size of the object; and

simultaneously presenting the non-adjusted media content and the adjusted media content without an overlap of the first portion and the remaining portion of the display.

17. The display device of claim 16, wherein the first portion includes a plurality of portions, and wherein the adjustment to the format is of at least two of the plurality of portions based on changes to different media content characteristics.

18. The display device of claim 17, wherein one of the media content characteristics is one of a color depth, an aspect ratio, a text size, a background image complexity, a level of animation, or a combination thereof.

19. The display device of claim 16, wherein the adjusting of the format is based on scene information in the first portion of the display.

20. A method, comprising:

obtaining, by a system comprising a processor, display parameters at a set-top box from a remote source, the display parameters being associated with a display device coupled to the set-top box;

monitoring, by the system, media content being presented by the set-top box to determine media content characteristics, wherein the media content comprises video content displaying an object;

determining a quality threshold for presentation of the media content at the display device;

determining, by the system, if the display device satisfies the quality threshold based on the display parameters and the media content characteristics; and

responsive to determining that the display device does not satisfy the quality threshold;

determining, by the system, a format for a first portion of a display area of the display device, wherein the first portion comprises a sub-portion of the display area, and wherein the first portion of the display area is selected based on a focal point of a viewer with respect to the video content;

generating, by the system, an adjusted media content by adjusting a format of media content at the set-top box based on the display parameters and the media content characteristics, the adjusting of the format of the first portion resulting in adjusted media content, and wherein the format of the media content in a remaining portion of the display is not adjusted resulting in non-adjusted media content; and

transmitting, by the set-top box, the non-adjusted media content, the adjusted media content, and control signals to the display device causing the display device to simultaneously present the non-adjusted media content and the adjusted media content without overlap of the first portion and the remaining portion of the display and without increasing a size of the object appearing in the first portion of the display.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the adjusting of the format of the first portion of the display includes adjusting one of a color depth, an aspect ratio, a background image complexity, or a combination thereof, of the first portion of the display.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the first portion includes a plurality of portions of the display of the media content, and wherein the adjusting of the format is of at least two of the plurality of portions based on changes to different media content characteristics.