System and method for temporally adaptive media playback

• US 9,392,345 B2
• Filed: 03/24/2015
• Issued: 07/12/2016
• 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): Lewis, Jonathan V
• Application Number:
  US14/666,511
• Publication Number:
  US 20150195627A1
• Time in Patent Office: 476 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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;

identifying preferred portions of media content based on a preference of a user, to yield preferred media content;

selecting specific portions of the preferred media content to fill the amount of time between the first event and the second event based on the preference of the user for each specific portion of the preferred media content and on the amount of time between the first event and the second event;

playing the specific portions of the preferred media content, wherein two portions of the specific portions of the preferred media content are played contemporaneously; and

upon detecting a change of the second event;

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

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

generating a notification of the updated end time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the preference of the user is stored in a database, the database comprising a list of disliked content.

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

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising adding additional content to the specific portions of the preferred media content.

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

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

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the specific portions of the preferred media content comprise one of entertainment content, news content, and advertising content.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting of the specific portions of the preferred 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 portions of the preferred 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.

9. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, result in the processor performing operations comprising;

estimating an amount of time between a first event and a second event;

identifying preferred portions of media content based on a preference of a user, to yield preferred media content;

selecting specific portions of the preferred media content to fill the amount of time between the first event and the second event based on the preference of the user for each specific portion of the preferred media content and on the amount of time between the first event and the second event;

playing the specific portions of the preferred media content, wherein two portions of the specific portions of the preferred media content are played contemporaneously; and

upon detecting a change of the second event;

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

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

generating a notification of the updated end time.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the preference of the user is stored in a database, the database comprising a list of disliked content.

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

12. The system of claim 9, the computer-readable storage medium having additional instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, result in operations comprising adding additional content to the specific portions of the preferred media content.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the altering further comprises playing the specific portions of the preferred media content at a different rate to fit the updated end time.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the selecting of the specific portions of the preferred media content is further based on one of a user profile and a group profile.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the specific portions of the preferred media content comprises one of entertainment content, news content, and advertising content.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the selecting of the specific portions of the preferred 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 portions of the preferred 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.

17. A device having instructions stored which, when executed by a computing device, result in the computing device performing operations comprising:

estimating an amount of time between a first event and a second event;

identifying preferred portions of media content based on a preference of a user, to yield preferred media content;

selecting specific portions of the preferred media content to fill the amount of time between the first event and the second event based on the preference of the user for each specific portion of the preferred media content and on the amount of time between the first event and the second event;

playing the specific portions of the preferred media content for the user, where two portions of the specific portions of the preferred media content are played contemporaneously; and

upon detecting a change of the second event;

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

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

generating a notification of the updated end time.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the preference of the user is stored in a database, the database comprising a list of disliked content.

19. The device of claim 17, wherein the first event and second event are one of destination-based and temporal-based.

20. The device of claim 17, having additional instructions stored which, when executed by the computing device, result in operations comprising adding additional content to the specific portions of the media preferred content.