Application triggering

• US 9,485,547 B2
• Filed: 11/26/2014
• Issued: 11/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Sargent, Darren
• Primary Examiner(s): CHEN, CAI Y
• Application Number:
  US14/554,258
• Publication Number:
  US 20150156564A1
• Time in Patent Office: 706 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/583 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/783 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23418 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics television picture signal circuitry for scene change detection H04N5/147; filtering for image enhancement G06T5/00; methods or arrangements for recognising scenes G06V20/00; arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23614 Multiplexing of additional data and video streams arrangements for simultaneous broadcast of plural pieces of information H04H20/28
• 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 21/442 Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk arrangements for monitoring broadcast services or broadcast-related services H04H60/29; arrangements for identifying or recognising characteristics with a direct linkage to broadcast information H04H60/35; monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; monitoring in wireless networks H04W24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/478 Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/488 Data services, e.g. news ticker systems specially adapted for using meteorological information in broadcast systems H04H60/71
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8126 involving additional data, e.g. news, sports, stocks, weather forecasts
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8166 involving executable data, e.g. software arrangements for executing specific programs G06F9/44; broadcasting computer programmes in broadcast systems H04H20/91; involving the movement of software or configuration parameters H04L67/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8545 for generating interactive applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/858 Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot

Abstract

An apparatus, method, system and computer-readable medium are disclosed for, in one aspect, determining when a trigger, such as an application trigger, should be generated. In some embodiments, the application trigger may be generated when a frame included in a feed (e.g., a content feed) matches a specified or indicated frame. In some embodiments, a comparison between the feed and the specified or indicated frame may be based on one or more tolerances or thresholds. In some embodiments, the feed may be split and content (e.g., video) obtained via the split may be combined (e.g., multiplexed) with a trigger. The combined content and trigger may be transmitted to one or more devices, such as one or more user devices.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, by a computing device, that a match exists between at least one content frame in a piece of content and at least one reference frame associated with a trigger for an application, the trigger comprising a specification of an offset; and

inserting the trigger for the application into a stream in response to determining that the match exists between the at least one content frame and the at least one reference frame,

wherein the determining that the match exists is based on a pixel comparison of the at least one reference frame and the at least one content frame.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining that the match exists is based on the pixel comparison of the at least one reference frame and the at least one content frame matching within a predetermined tolerance.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one content frame is part of a sequence of content frames and the at least one reference frame is part of a sequence of reference frames, and wherein the determining that the match exists is based on the sequence of content frames matching the sequence of reference frames.

4. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, a content feed;

receiving an application comprising a trigger that causes the application to perform an action; and

multiplexing the content feed with the trigger to generate an output, wherein timing of the trigger within the output is based on determining that a frame of the content feed matches a reference frame.

5. The method of claim 4, comprising:

receiving enhanced video comprising the application and the trigger; and

combining the content feed and the enhanced video,

wherein the output comprises the content feed and the enhanced video comprising the application and the trigger.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the output corresponds to an enhanced moving picture experts group (MPEG video stream.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the application comprises an electronic programming guide.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the action is an action of the application, and the method comprises:

using a rules engine to determine the action of the application to be triggered by the trigger.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the application is associated with a particular channel, and the method comprises:

transmitting the output via an in-band communication that ensures that the application cannot be accessed from a channel different than the particular channel.

10. The method of claim 4, comprising:

transmitting the output via an out-of-band communication, which allows the application to be accessed regardless of what channel is being accessed by a user device accessing the application.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein the output comprises timing information for synchronizing the trigger with the output.

12. The method of claim 4, comprising:

transmitting a hash of a reference frame to a user device; and

activating, by the user device, the trigger in response to determining a match between the hash of the reference frame and a different hash of the frame of the content feed.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the determining the match between the hash of the reference frame and the different hash of the frame of the content feed comprises determining that the hash of the reference frame and the different hash of the frame of the content feed are similar within a threshold.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the determining the match between the hash of the reference frame and the different hash of the frame of the content feed comprises determining the match between the hash of the reference frame and the different hash of the frame of the content feed using one or more eigenvectors.

15. The method of claim 4, wherein the frame of the content feed is associated with an expiration time after which monitoring for the reference frame is stopped.

16. The method of claim 4, comprising:

discarding at least one of blue-screen and dummy video included in the content feed; and

using the at least one of the blue-screen and the dummy video in a troubleshooting process.

17. The method of claim 4, comprising:

generating video frame information associated with application information about the application,

wherein the output includes the video frame information.

18. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, an input comprising one or more frames, wherein the input identifies an action to be taken by one or more applications;

receiving one or more feeds, the one or more feeds comprising one or more of audio content, visual content, and audiovisual content;

comparing a frame of the one or more feeds with a frame of the one or more frames, wherein the comparing comprises determining a similarity between the frame of the one or more feeds and the frame of the one or more frames within a threshold;

in response to determining the similarity within the threshold, associating a trigger with the frame of the one or more feeds, wherein the trigger triggers the action to be taken by the one or more applications;

generating an enhanced video comprising the trigger; and

transmitting the enhanced video.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the enhanced video comprises the application.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the determining the similarity between the frame of the one or more feeds and the frame of the one or more frames comprises performing a pixel comparison between the frame of the one or more feeds and the frame of the one or more frames.