Thumbnail generation and presentation for recorded TV programs

• US 9,053,754 B2
• Filed: 07/28/2004
• Issued: 06/09/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zhigu Holdings Limited
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: DeYonker, Aaron, Fong, Jeffrey C, Jule, Todd San, Kong, Zhike, Lin, Bin, Mulye, Nishad, Schrader, Joseph Alton, Taylor, Thomas H., Zou, Xinli
• Primary Examiner(s): Featherstone, Mark D
• Application Number:
  US10/900,923
• Publication Number:
  US 20060107289A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,968 Days
• Field of Search: 725/55
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/10 Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/327 Table of contents
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/329 on a disc [VTOC]
• 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
• 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 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• 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 21/440263 by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for displaying on a connected PDA
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47214 for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47217 for controlling playback functions for recorded or on-demand content, e.g. using progress bars, mode or play-point indicators or bookmarks specific graphical features in visual interfaces H04N21/4312
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4755 for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8153 comprising still images, e.g. texture, background image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73

Abstract

Thumbnail images representative of recorded TV programs are generated and presented to aid a user in browsing the recorded TV programs. In one implementation, a temporary thumbnail image is generated when a TV program first starts recording. The temporary thumbnail is used to populate any user interface (UI) screens that reference the recoded TV program. Once the TV program has reached a threshold amount of recording (e.g., a prescribed duration of recording, or completion of the recording), a permanent thumbnail image is generated and associated with the TV program. The permanent thumbnail is then presented in any subsequent UI screens, replacing the temporary thumbnail. In another implementation, display of the thumbnail images in the UI screens may be further controlled by setting preferences, such as parental controls.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

recording at a client device, at least a portion of a TV program;

deriving from the TV program, during initial recording of the TV program before the recorded portion of the TV program exceeds a threshold portion of the TV program, a temporary thumbnail representative of the TV program, the temporary thumbnail being formed from a particular video frame in the TV program;

when the recorded portion of the TV program exceeds the threshold portion of the TV program, generating from the recorded portion of the TV program, a permanent thumbnail representative of the recorded portion of the TV program, the permanent thumbnail being formed from a video frame in the recorded portion of the TV program, the video frame selected as a representative video frame based on a scene analysis of the recorded portion of the TV program; and

presenting, by the client device, the temporary thumbnail within an electronic program guide (EPG) listing of programs that are at least partially recorded until the permanent thumbnail is generated, and thereafter presenting the permanent thumbnail within the EPG listing of TV programs that are at least partially recorded instead of the temporary thumbnail.

2. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the deriving comprises forming the temporary thumbnail based on a particular video frame from a beginning portion of the TV program.

3. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the particular video frame is a first non-black video frame in the TV program.

4. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the particular video frame and the video frame selected based on the scene analysis are different video frames of the TV program.

5. A method as described in claim 1, further comprising presenting a plurality of thumbnails within the EPG listing of TV programs that are at least partially recorded.

6. A method as described in claim 1, further comprising:

presenting a plurality of thumbnails within the EPG listing of TV programs that are at least partially recorded; and

enabling a user to browse the TV programs that are at least partially recorded by navigating the plurality of thumbnails.

7. A method as described in claim 1, further comprising caching at least one of the temporary thumbnail or the permanent thumbnail.

8. A method as described in claim 1, wherein at least one of the temporary thumbnail or the permanent thumbnail is dynamic.

9. A method as described in claim 1, further comprising:

associating the temporary thumbnail and the permanent thumbnail with a content rating that is subject to a preference setting;

presenting the temporary thumbnail and the permanent thumbnail in an event that the preference setting for the associated content rating permits viewing; and

preventing presentation of the temporary thumbnail and the permanent thumbnail in an event that the preference setting for the associated content rating does not permit viewing.

10. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the scene analysis is performed on a plurality of video frames corresponding to the recorded portion of the TV program to select a frame based at least in part on program metadata.

11. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the scene analysis is performed on a plurality of video frames corresponding to the recorded portion of the TV program to select a frame based at least in part on consideration of head shots.

12. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the scene analysis is performed on a plurality of video frames corresponding to the recorded portion of the TV program to avoid selecting a black frame.

13. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the scene analysis is performed on a plurality of video frames corresponding to the recorded portion of the TV program to avoid selecting a frame from a commercial.

14. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the scene analysis is performed on a plurality of video frames corresponding to the recorded portion of the TV program to avoid selecting a padding frame.

15. A computer storage device comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, direct a device to:

derive, during initial recording of a TV program, a temporary thumbnail from a video frame extracted from an early portion of the TV program;

present the temporary thumbnail in an electronic program guide (EPG) user interface as an identifier of the TV program;

determine, after the initial recording of the TV program, that a recorded portion of the TV program exceeds a threshold;

generate, in response to determining that the recorded portion of the TV program exceeds the threshold, a permanent thumbnail from a video frame selected from the recorded portion of the TV program as a representative video frame based on an analysis of the recorded portion of the TV program; and

upon generating the permanent thumbnail, presenting the permanent thumbnail, instead of the temporary thumbnail, in the EPG user interface as an identifier of the TV program.

16. A computer storage device as recited in claim 15, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, direct the device to:

present a plurality of thumbnails within the EPG user interface; and

enable a user to browse the TV programs by navigating the plurality of thumbnails.

17. A computer storage device as recited in claim 15, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, direct the device to cache at least one of the temporary thumbnail or the permanent thumbnail.

18. A computer storage device as recited in claim 15, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, direct the device to:

associate the temporary thumbnail and the permanent thumbnail with a content rating that is subject to a preference setting; and

prevent presentation of the temporary thumbnail and the permanent thumbnail in an event that the preference setting for the associated content rating does not permit viewing.

19. A computer storage device as recited in claim 15, wherein the analysis of the recorded portion of the TV program includes analysis of program metadata to evaluate associations between a plurality of video frames in the recorded portion of the TV program and the program metadata.

20. A device comprising:

a memory device to store the TV program;

a processor; and

the computer storage device as recited in claim 15, operatively coupled to the processor so that when the processor executes the computer-executable instructions, the device derives the temporary thumbnail and generates the permanent thumbnail from the recorded portion of the TV program stored in the memory device.

21. A device comprising:

a recorder to record a TV program onto a recording medium;

a thumbnail generator to;

form a temporary thumbnail while the TV program is being recorded, and before a threshold portion of the TV program has been recorded, wherein the temporary thumbnail is formed from a first video frame of a recorded portion of the TV program;

select a second video frame from the TV program as the TV program is being recorded, wherein the second video frame is selected after a threshold portion of the TV program has been recorded; and

form a permanent thumbnail from the second video frame, the permanent thumbnail being representative of the TV program; and

an electronic program guide (EPG) user interface to present the temporary thumbnail and the permanent thumbnail temporally in succession as identifiers of the TV program.

22. A device as recited in claim 21, wherein the thumbnail generator forms the temporary thumbnail from a first non-black video frame in the TV program.

23. A device as recited in claim 21, wherein the EPG user interface presents the temporary thumbnail until the permanent thumbnail is formed, and thereafter presents the permanent thumbnail instead of the temporary thumbnail.

24. A device as recited in claim 21, further comprising a cache to store the temporary thumbnail and the permanent thumbnail.

25. A device as recited in claim 21, further comprising a data structure to associate the temporary thumbnail with a content rating, wherein the EPG user interface presents the temporary thumbnail in an event that a preference setting for the content rating permits viewing and the EPG user interface prevents presentation of the temporary thumbnail in an event that the preference setting for the content rating does not permit viewing.

26. A device as described in claim 21, wherein

the second video frame is selected based at least in part on consideration of headshots.

27. A device as described in claim 21, wherein the thumbnail generator selects the second video frame further based on program metadata and a scene analysis of a plurality of video frames corresponding to a recorded portion of the TV program to evaluate associations between the plurality of video frames and the program metadata.

28. A device as described in claim 27, wherein the program metadata includes at least a program genre.

29. A device comprising:

means for deriving, during initial recording of a TV program, a temporary thumbnail representative of the TV program, wherein the deriving comprises forming the temporary thumbnail based on a first video frame;

means for determining that a recorded portion of the TV program exceeds a threshold;

means for subsequently generating, in response to the determining, a permanent thumbnail representative of the TV program, wherein the generating comprises forming the permanent thumbnail based on a second video frame selected based on an analysis of the recorded portion of the TV program and program metadata to evaluate associations between a plurality of video frames in the recorded portion of the TV program and the program metadata; and

means for presenting the temporary thumbnail within an electronic program guide (EPG) listing of programs that are at least partially recorded until the permanent thumbnail is generated, and thereafter presenting the permanent thumbnail within the EPG listing of programs that are at least partially recorded instead of the temporary thumbnail.

30. A device as described in claim 29, wherein the deriving means comprises means for forming the temporary thumbnail based on a first non-black video frame in the TV program.

31. A device as described in claim 29, wherein the first and second video frames are different video frames of the TV program.

32. A device as described in claim 29, further comprising:

means for presenting a plurality of thumbnails within the EPG listing of TV programs that are at least partially recorded; and

means for enabling a user to browse the TV programs that are at least partially recorded by navigating the plurality of thumbnails.