System and method for temporally adaptive media playback

• US 8,990,848 B2
• Filed: 07/22/2008
• Issued: 03/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2008
• 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: Basso, Andrea, Begeja, Lee, Gibbon, David C., Liu, Zhu, Renger, Bernard S., Shahraray, Behzad
• Primary Examiner(s): Pendleton, Brian T
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lewis, Jonathan V
• Application Number:
  US12/177,551
• Publication Number:
  US 20100023964A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,436 Days
• Field of Search: 725/32
• US Class Current: 725/32
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• 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 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• 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 21/440245 the reformatting operation being performed only on part of the stream, e.g. a region of the image or a time segment
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44222 Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programs or purchase activity monitoring of user selections in data processing systems G06F11/34; arrangements for monitoring the user's behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/458 Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/783 Adaptations for reproducing at a rate different from the recording rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer readable-media for temporally adaptive media playback. The method for adaptive media playback includes estimating or determining an amount of time between a first event and a second event, selecting media content to fill the estimated amount of time between the first event and the second event, and playing the selected media content possibly at a reasonably different speed to fit the time interval. One embodiment includes events that are destination-based or temporal-based. Another embodiment includes adding, removing, speeding up, or slowing down selected media content in order to fit the estimated amount of time between the first event and the second event or to modify the selected media content to adjust to an updated estimated amount of time. Another embodiment bases selected media content on a user or group profile.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

estimating, via a processor, an amount of time between a first event, and a second event, to yield an initial end time;

selecting specific pieces of media content to fill the amount of time between the first event and the second event based on the amount of time between the first event and the second event;

playing the specific pieces of the media content for the user, where two pieces of the specific pieces of the media content are played simultaneously; and

upon detecting a change of the second event;

updating the initial end time based on the change of the second event, to yield an updated end time;

altering the specific pieces of the media content based on the updated end time, to yield altered specific pieces of the media content, wherein the altered specific pieces of the media content have altered run-times based on the updated end time;

replacing the specific pieces of the media content being played with the altered specific pieces of the media content; and

generating a notification of the updated end time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first event and second event are one of destination-based and temporal-based.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein altering of the specific pieces of the media content further comprises adding additional content to the specific pieces of the media content.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein altering further comprises playing the specific pieces of the media content at a different rate to fit the updated end time.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the specific pieces of the media content is further based on one of a user profile and a group profile.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the specific pieces of the media content comprises one of entertainment content, news content, and advertising content.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the specific pieces of the media content further comprises:

selecting a plurality of media segments that fit in the amount of time;

assigning each media segment in the plurality of media segments a level of importance based on a profile associated with the user;

ordering the plurality of media segments based on the level of importance of each media segment; and

altering one media segment of the plurality of media segments based on the updated end time, to yield the specific pieces of the media content, where the one media segment of the plurality of media segments is determined based on the level of importance of the one media segment.

8. A system comprising:

a processor;

a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

estimating an amount of time between a first event and a second event, to yield an initial end time;

selecting specific pieces of media content to fill the estimated amount of time between the first event and the second event based on the amount of time between the first even and the second event;

playing the specific pieces of media content for the user, where two pieces of the specific pieces of the media content are played simultaneously; and

upon detecting a change of the second event;

updating the initial end time based on a change of the second event to yield an updated end time;

altering the specific pieces of the media content based on the updated end time, to yield altered specific pieces of the media content, wherein the altered specific pieces of the media content have altered run-times based on the updated end time;

replacing the specific pieces of the media content being played with the altered specific pieces of the media content; and

generating a notification of the updated end time.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the first event and second event are one of destination-based and temporal-based.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the computer-readable storage medium has additional instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, result in operations comprising adding additional content to the specific pieces of the media content.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the computer-readable storage medium has additional instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, result in operations comprising playing the specific pieces of the media content one of faster and slower to fit the updated end time.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein selecting the specific pieces of the media content is further based on one of a user profile and a group profile.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the media content comprises one of entertainment content, news content, and advertising content.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein selecting the specific pieces of the media content comprises:

selecting a plurality of media segments that fit in the amount of time;

assigning a level of importance to each media segment in the plurality of media segments based in part on a profile associated with the user;

ordering the plurality of media segments based on the level of importance of each media segment in the plurality of media segments; and

altering one media segment of the plurality of media segments to fit the amount of time, to yield the specific pieces of the media content, where the one media segment altered is determined based on the level of importance associated with the media segment.

15. A computer-readable storage device having instructions stored which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

estimating an amount of time between a first event and a second event, to yield an initial end time;

selecting specific pieces of a media content to fill the amount of time between the first event and the second event based on the amount of time between the first event and the second event;

playing the specific pieces of the media content for the user, where two pieces of the specific pieces of the media content are played simultaneously; and

upon detecting a change of the second event;

updating the initial end time based on a change of the second event, to yield an updated end time;

altering the specific pieces of the media content based on the updated end time, to yield altered specific pieces of the media content, wherein the altered specific pieces of the media content have altered run-times based on the updated end time;

replacing the specific pieces of the media content being played with the altered specific pieces of the media content; and

generating a notification of the updated end time.

16. The computer-readable device of claim 15, wherein the first event and second event are one of destination-based and temporal-based.

17. The computer-readable device of claim 15, wherein altering of the specific pieces of the media content further comprises adding additional content to the specific pieces of the media content.

18. The computer-readable device of claim 15, wherein altering of the specific pieces of the media content further comprises playing the specific pieces of media content at a different rate to fit the updated end time.

19. The computer-readable device of claim 15, wherein selecting the specific pieces of the media content is further based on one of a user profile and a group profile.

20. The computer-readable device of claim 15, wherein the specific pieces of the media content comprise one of entertainment content, news content, and advertising content.

21. The computer-readable device of claim 15, wherein selecting the specific pieces of the media content further comprises:

selecting a plurality of media segments that fit in the amount of time;

assigning a level of importance to each media segment in the plurality of media segments based on a profile associated with the user;

ordering the plurality of media segments based on the level of importance of each media segment;

altering one media segment of the plurality of media segments to fit the amount of time, to yield the specific pieces of the media content, where the one media segment is determined based on the level of importance of each media segment.