Enhanced media content tagging systems and methods

• US 8,930,849 B2
• Filed: 03/31/2010
• Issued: 01/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Roberts, Brian F., Relyea, Donald H., Johns, Greg A., Lyons, Shannon M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Matt
• Assistant Examiner(s): TRAPANESE, WILLIAM C
• Application Number:
  US12/751,828
• Publication Number:
  US 20110246937A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,742 Days
• Field of Search: 715/230, 715/810
• US Class Current: 715/810
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/28 by using information signals recorded by the same method as the main recording G11B27/22 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/322 used signal is digitally coded
• 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

Abstract

Exemplary enhanced media content tagging systems and methods are described herein. An exemplary method includes a media content tagging system recording a live transmission of media content in response to a user request that the media content be recorded, receiving, from a media content access device, tag data representative of a user-defined tag specifying a segment of the media content, optimizing the user-defined tag, and distributing the optimized user-defined tag to another media content access device for use by the another media content access device to identify and present the segment of the media content. In certain embodiments, the optimization of the user-defined tag may be based on an analysis of aggregated user-defined tags, an analysis of the media content, or a combination thereof. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a media content tagging system from a first media content access device, tag data representative of a first user-defined tag specifying a segment of media content recorded by the first media content access device to a local storage facility included in the first media content access device in response to a first user request that the media content be recorded;

optimizing, by the media content tagging system, the first user-defined tag, the optimizing of the first user-defined tag comprising;

aggregating the first user-defined tag with one or more other user-defined tags based on at least one attribute common to the first user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags;

analyzing the aggregation of the first user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags to determine at least one of a preferred start time and a preferred end time of the segment of media content; and

selecting, from the aggregation of the first user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags and based on the analyzing of the aggregation of the first user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags, the first user-defined tag for distribution as an optimized first user-defined tag;

receiving, by the media content tagging system from a second media content access device that recorded the media content to a local storage facility included in the second media content access device in response to a second user request that the media content be recorded, a request for a media content tag; and

transmitting, by the media content tagging system in response to the request for the media content tag, data representative of the optimized first user-defined tag to the second media content access device for use by the second media content access device to identify and present, from the media content recorded by the second media content access device to the local storage facility included in the second media content access device, a segment of the media content specified by the optimized first user-defined tag.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the optimizing further comprises modifying the tag data representative of the first user-defined tag to merge at least a portion of another segment of the media content specified by one of the other user-defined tags with the segment of the media content specified by the first user-defined tag.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the optimizing further comprises modifying the tag data representative of the first user-defined tag to adjust at least one of a start point and an end point of the segment based on the analyzing of the aggregation of the first user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags to at least one of a different point in the media content corresponding to the preferred start time of the segment of media content and a different point in the media content corresponding to the preferred end time of the segment of media content.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one attribute common to the first user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags comprises at least one of a matching tag label and matching timestamp data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the optimizing further comprises:

analyzing data representative of the media content recorded by the first media content access device; and

modifying the tag data representative of the first user-defined tag to adjust at least one of a start point and an end point of the segment based on the analyzing of the data representative of the media content recorded by the first media content access device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the modifying adjusts at least one of the start point and the end point to a different point in the media content recorded by the first media content access device, the different point associated with at least one of a scene change, a hard cut, a fade-in, a fade-out, an audio gap, and a video gap in the media content recorded by the first media content access device.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the analyzing of the data representative of the media content recorded by the first media content access device comprises analyzing data included in a media content stream representative of the media content recorded by the first media content access device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the media content tagging system, user feedback data from the second media content access device, the user feedback data including at least one of a custom user comment associated with the first user-defined tag, a selected predefined comment associated with the first user-defined tag, and a user rating of the first user-defined tag.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising associating, by the media content tagging system, a user profile with the first user-defined tag.

10. The method of claim 1, embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one tangible computer-readable medium.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the analyzing of the aggregation of the first user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags further includes determining that the first user-defined tag specifies at least one of a start time and an end time that coincides with the at least one of the preferred start time and the preferred end time; and

the selecting, from the aggregation of the user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags, the first user-defined tag for distribution as the optimized first user-defined tag is based on the determination that the first user-defined tag specifies the at least one of the start time and the end time that coincides with the at least one of the preferred start time and the preferred end time.

12. A computing system comprising:

a first media content access device that records media content to a local storage facility included in the first media content access device in response to a request by a user of the first media content access device that the media content be recorded;

a second media content access device that records the media content to a local storage facility included in the second media content access device in response to a request by a user of the second media content access device that the media content be recorded;

a media content tagging subsystem comprising at least one computing device having a processor and communicatively coupled to the first media content access device and the second media content access device, the media content tagging subsystem configured to

receive, from the first media content access device, tag data representative of a first user-defined tag specifying a segment of the media content;

optimize the first user-defined tag by

aggregating the first user-defined tag with one or more other user-defined tags based on at least one attribute common to the first user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags;

analyzing the aggregation of the first user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags to determine at least one of a preferred start time and a preferred end time of the segment of media content; and

selecting, from the aggregation of the first user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags and based on the analyzing of the aggregation of the first user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags, the first user-defined tag for distribution as an optimized first user-defined tag,

receive, from the second media content access device, a request for a media content tag, and

transmit, in response to the request for the media content tag, data representative of the optimized first user-defined tag to the second media content access device for use by the second media content access device to identify and present, from the media content recorded by the second media content access device to the local storage facility included in the second media content access device, a segment of the media content specified by the optimized first user-defined tag.

13. The computing system of claim 12, wherein the media content tagging subsystem is further configured to optimize the first user-defined tag by modifying the tag data representative of the first user-defined tag to merge at least a portion of another segment of the media content specified by one of the other user-defined tags with the segment of the media content specified by the first user-defined tag.

14. The computing system of claim 12, wherein the media content tagging subsystem is further configured to optimize the first user-defined tag by modifying the tag data representative of the first user-defined tag to adjust at least one of a start point and an end point of the segment based on the analyzing of the aggregation of the first user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags.

15. The computing system of claim 12, wherein the at least one attribute common to the first user-defined tag and the one or more other user-defined tags comprises at least one of a matching tag label and matching timestamp data.

16. The computing system of claim 12, wherein the media content tagging subsystem is further configured to optimize the first user-defined tag by:

analyzing data representative of the media content; and

modifying the tag data representative of the first user-defined tag to adjust at least one of a start point and an end point of the segment based on the analyzing of the data representative of the media content.

17. The computing system of claim 16, wherein the modifying adjusts at least one of the start point and the end point to a different point in the media content, the different point associated with at least one of a scene change, a hard cut, a fade-in, a fade-out, an audio gap, and a video gap in the media content.

18. The computing system of claim 16, wherein the analyzing of the data representative of the media content comprises analyzing data included in a media content stream representative of the media content.

19. The computing system of claim 12, wherein the media content tagging subsystem is further configured to receive user feedback data from the second media content access device, the user feedback data including at least one of a custom user comment associated with the first user-defined tag, a selected predefined comment associated with the first user-defined tag, and a user rating of the first user-defined tag.