Captioning system

• US 20050227614A1
• Filed: 12/23/2002
• Published: 10/13/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intrasonics SARL
• Original Assignee: Intrasonics SARL
• Inventors: Jones, Aled Wynne, Emmens, Michael David, Reynolds, Michael Raymond, Kelly, Peter John, Hosking, Ian Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,248,528 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/3.60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309

Abstract

A captioning system is provided for providing captions for audio and/or video presentations. The captioning system can be used to provide text captions or audio descriptions of a video presentation. A user device is provided for the captioning system having a receiver operable to receive the captions together with synchronisation information and a caption output circuit which is operable to output the captions at the appropriate timings defined by the synchronisation information. The user device is preferably a portable hand-held device such as a mobile telephone, PDA or the like.

Claims

1. A captioning system for providing captions for a presentation to a user, the captioning system comprising:

a caption store operable to store one or more sets of captions each set being associated with one or more presentations and each set comprising a plurality of captions for playout at different timings during the associated presentation; and

a user device having;

i) a memory operable to receive and store at least one set of captions for a presentation to be made to an associated user, from said caption store;

ii) a receiver operable to receive synchronisation information defining the timing during the presentation at which each caption in the received set of captions is to be output to the user;

iii) a caption output circuit operable to output to the associated user, the captions in the received set of captions; and

iv) a timing controller responsive to said received synchronisation information and operable to control said caption output circuit so that said captions are output to said user at the timings defined by said synchronisation information.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein said captions include text.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein said captions include text for any dialogue in the presentation.

4. The system according to claim 2, wherein said caption output circuit is operable to output said captions to a display device associated with the user device for display to the user.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein said captions include formatting information for controlling the format of the text displayed on said display.

6. The system according to claim 4, wherein each caption includes duration information defining the duration that the caption should be displayed to the user.

7. The system according to claim 4, wherein said caption includes timing information defining the time at which the caption should be displayed to the user during the presentation.

8. The system according to claim 1 wherein said captions include audio data and wherein said caption output circuit is operable to output said audio data to an electro-acoustic device for converting the audio data into corresponding acoustic signals.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein said presentation includes audio.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein said presentation includes video.

11. The system according to claim 1, wherein said presentation is a film.

12. The system according to claim 1, wherein said caption store is formed in a memory card which is insertable into said user device and wherein said user device includes a reader for reading captions from said memory card when inserted therein.

13. The system according to claim 1, wherein said caption store is provided in a computer system and wherein said user device includes means for communicating with said computer system.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein said computer system is remote from said user device and wherein said user device has an associated communication module for communicating with said remote computer system.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein said user device includes a housing and wherein said communication module is provided within said housing.

16. The system according to claim 14, wherein said communication module is operable to communicate with said remote computer system using a wireless communication link.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein said user device comprises a mobile telephone.

18. The system according to claim 1, wherein said user device comprises a portable computing device such as a personal digital assistant.

19. The system according to claim 1, wherein said synchronisation information defines expected time points for one or more predetermined portions of the presentation.

20. The system according to claim 19, wherein said user device comprises a monitoring circuit operable to monitor said presentation to identify the actual time points of said one or more predetermined portions and wherein said timing controller is responsive to the difference between the actual timings and the expected timings to control the outputting of the captions by said caption output circuit.

21. The system according to claim 20, wherein said predetermined portions of said presentation correspond to portions of audio of the presentation and wherein said monitoring circuit includes a microphone for sensing the audio of the presentation and a comparator for comparing the received audio with the expected portions of the audio defined by said synchronisation information.

22. The system according to claim 20, wherein said user device has an acquisition mode of operation in which an output of said monitoring circuit is compared with said predetermined points defined by said synchronisation information to identify a current position within said presentation and a tracking mode of operation in which the output of said monitoring circuit is compared with a current predetermined portion defined by said synchronisation information.

23. The system according to claim 22, wherein during said tracking mode of operation, said monitoring circuit is operable to monitor said presentation during a predetermined time window around the expected time point defined by said synchronisation information for the current predetermined portion.

24. The system according to claim 1, wherein said receiver in said user device is operable to receive said synchronisation information from said caption store.

25. The system according to claim 1, wherein said synchronisation information is embedded within said presentation and wherein said user device includes a monitoring circuit operable to monitor the presentation and to extract said synchronisation information therefrom.

26. The system according to claim 25, wherein said synchronisation information is embedded within the audio of said presentation.

27. The system according to claim 25, wherein said synchronisation information comprises synchronisation codes occurring at different timings during the presentation.

28. The system according to claim 27, wherein each synchronisation code is unique to uniquely define the position in the presentation.

29. The system according to claim 1, wherein said caption store includes a plurality of sets of captions for a plurality of different presentations.

30. The system according to claim 29, wherein said user device is operable to capture a portion of said presentation and is operable to transmit the captured portion to said caption store and when said caption store is operable to use said captured portion of the presentation to identify the presentation being made and to transmit the associated set of captions for the identified presentation to said user device.

31. The system according to claim 30, wherein said user device is operable to process the captured portion of the presentation to extract data characteristic of the captured portion and is operable to transmit said characteristic data to said caption store, and wherein said caption store is operable to use said characteristic data to identify the presentation being made and to transmit the associated set of captions for the identified presentation to the user device.

32. The system according to claim 1, wherein said presentation is given at a venue, wherein said venue is operable to provide an activation code, wherein said user device is operable to receive said activation code and further comprises an inhibitor for inhibiting the operation of said caption output circuit unless said user device has received said activation code.

36. The computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions for causing a general purpose computing device to operate as the user device of claim 1.

33. A user device for use in a captioning system, the user device comprising:

i) a memory operable to receive and store at least one set of captions for a presentation to be made to an associated user, from said caption store;

ii) a receiver operable to receive synchronisation information defining the timing during the presentation at which each caption in the received set of captions is to be output to the user;

iii) a caption output circuit operable to output to the associated user, the captions in the received set of captions; and

iv) a timing controller responsive to said received synchronisation information and operable to control said caption output circuit so that said captions are output to said user at the timings defined by said synchronisation information.

34. A computer system for use in a captioning system, the computer system comprising a caption store operable to store one or more sets of captions each set being associated with one or more presentations and each set comprising a plurality of captions which playout at different timings during the associated presentation and each caption having associated synchronisation information defining the timing during the presentation in which each caption in the received set of captions is to be output to the user;

a receiver operable to receive a request for a set of captions from a user device; and

an output circuit operable to output the requested set of captions and the synchronisation information to the user device.

35. A method of manufacturing a computer readable medium storing caption data and synchronisation data for use in a captioning system, the method comprising:

providing a computer readable medium;

providing a set of captions that is associated with a presentation which comprises a plurality of captions for playout at different timings during the associated presentation;

providing synchronisation information defining the timing during the presentation at which each caption in the set of captions is to be output to a user;

receiving a computer readable medium;

recording computer readable data defining said set of captions and said synchronisation information on said computer readable medium; and

outputting the computer readable medium having the recorded caption and synchronisation data thereon.

37. A method of providing captions for presentation to a user, the method comprising:

storing, at a caption store, one or more sets of captions each being associated with one or more presentations and each comprising a plurality of captions for playout at different timings during the associated presentation; and

at a user device;

receiving and storing at least one set of captions for a presentation to be made to an associated user from said caption store;

receiving synchronisation information defining the timing during the presentation at which each caption in the received set of captions is to be output to the user;

outputting the captions in the received set of captions to the associated user; and

in response to the received synchronisation information controlling the outputting step so that said captions are output to the user at the timings defined by the synchronisation information.

38. A captioning system for providing captions for a presentation to a user, the captioning system comprising:

a caption store operable to store one or more sets of captions each set being associated with one or more presentations and each set comprising one or more captions for playout during the associated presentation; and

a user device having;

i) a memory operable to receive and store at least one set of captions for a presentation to be made to an associated user, from said caption store;

ii) a receiver operable to receive synchronisation information defining the timing during the presentation at which the or each caption in the received set of captions is to be output to the user; and

iii) a caption output circuit operable to output to the associated user, the or each caption in the received set of captions; and

iv) a timing controller responsive to said received synchronisation information and operable to control said caption output circuit so that the or each caption is output to said user at the timing defined by said synchronisation information.

39. A captioning system for providing captions for a presentation to a user, the captioning system comprising:

a caption store operable to store one or more sets of captions each set being associated with one or more presentations and each set comprising a plurality of captions for playout at different timings during the associated presentation; and

a user device having;

i) a memory operable to receive and store at least one set of captions for a presentation to be made to an associated user, from said caption store;

ii) a receiver operable to receive synchronisation information defining the timing during the presentation at which each caption in the received set of captions is to be output to the user; and

iii) a caption output circuit operable to output to the associated user, the captions in the received set of captions at the timings defined by said synchronisation information.

40. A captioning system for providing captions for a presentation to a user, the captioning system comprising:

means for storing one or more sets of captions each set being associated with one or more presentations and each set comprising a plurality of captions for playout at different timings during the associated presentation; and

a user device having;

i) means for receiving captions from said captions store;

ii) means for receiving synchronisation information defining the timing during the presentation at which each caption is to be output to the user;

iii) means for outputting the captions to a user associated with the user device; and

iv) means responsive to the synchronisation information for controlling said output means, so that said captions are output to said user at the timings defined by said synchronisation information.

41. A computer readable medium storing caption data and synchronisation data for a presentation, the caption data defining a set of captions for the presentation and comprising a plurality of captions for playout at different timings during the presentation;

and synchronisation data defining the timing during the presentation at which each caption in the received set of captions is to be output to a user.