METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SELECTION OF CONTENT FROM A STREAM OF DATA

• US 20150304597A1
• Filed: 07/01/2015
• Published: 10/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Roku, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Gracenote, Inc. (RR Donnelley & Sons Company)
• Inventors: Nesvadba, Jan Alexis Daniel, Aarts, Ronaldus Maria, Nagorski, Igor Alexandrovich
• Granted Patent: US 9,414,008 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/467 characterised by the embedded information being invisible, e.g. watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234363 by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for clients with a lower screen resolution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234381 by altering the temporal resolution, e.g. decreasing the frame rate by frame skipping
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2368 Multiplexing of audio and video streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2389 Multiplex stream processing, e.g. multiplex stream encrypting
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23892 involving embedding information at multiplex stream level, e.g. embedding a watermark at packet level
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2541 Rights Management protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10; security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4135 external recorder interface circuits between an apparatus for recording television signals and a television receiver H04N5/775
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4341 Demultiplexing of audio and video streams
• 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 21/4383 Accessing a communication channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4385 Multiplex stream processing, e.g. multiplex stream decrypting
• 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 21/44016 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8133 specifically related to the content, e.g. biography of the actors in a movie, detailed information about an article seen in a video program
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8549 : Creating video summaries, e.g. movie trailer retrieval in video databases by using presentations in form of a video summary G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/50 : Tuning indicators; Automatic tuning control

Abstract

A main stream contains successive content elements of video and/or audio information that encode video and/or audio information at a first data rate. A computation circuit (144) computes main fingerprints from the successive content elements. A reference stream is received having a second data rate lower than the first data rate. The reference stream defines a sequence of the reference fingerprints. A comparator unit (144) compares the main fingerprints with the reference fingerprints. The main stream is monitored for the presence of inserted content elements between original content elements, where the original content elements have main fingerprints that match successive reference fingerprints and the inserted content elements have main fingerprints that do not match reference fingerprints. Rendering of inserted content elements to be skipped. In an embodiment when more than one content element matches only one is rendered. In another embodiment matching is used to control zapping to or from the main stream. In another embodiment matching is used to control linking of separately received mark-up information such as subtitles to points in the main stream.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a processor configured by a comparator unit to;

receive a main datastream and a reference datastream, the main datastream including a plurality of main content elements, the reference datastream including an item of mark-up information associated with a reference fingerprint;

compute main fingerprints from at least some of the main content elements included in the main datastream; and

link a part of the main datastream to the item of mark-up information based on a comparison between the reference fingerprint and one or more of the main fingerprints.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the main datastream does not contain mark-up information.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the mark-up information indicates one or more of subtitles, alternative language audio information, chapter markers, menus, and premium content.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the apparatus further comprises a storage device; and

the linking of the part of the main datastream to the item of mark-up information comprises storing the item of mark-up information in the storage device.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus receives the main datastream by broadcast.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the reference datastream has a lower data rate than the main datastream.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the reference datastream contains the reference fingerprint.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the reference datastream comprises a low resolution of at least a portion of the main datastream; and

the processor computes the reference fingerprint from content of the reference datastream.

9. A method comprising:

receiving a main datastream and a reference datastream, the main datastream including a plurality of main content elements, the reference datastream including an item of mark-up information associated with a reference fingerprint;

computing main fingerprints from at least some of the main content elements included in the main datastream; and

linking a part of the main datastream to the item of mark-up information based on a comparison between the reference fingerprint and one or more of the main fingerprints.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the main datastream does not contain mark-up information.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the mark-up information indicates one or more of subtitles, alternative language audio information, chapter markers, menus, and premium content.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein:

the linking of the part of the main datastream to the item of mark-up information comprises storing the item of mark-up information in a storage device.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the receiving of the main datastream comprises receiving the main datastream by broadcast.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the reference datastream has a lower data rate than the main datastream.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the reference datastream contains the reference fingerprint.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein:

the reference datastream comprises a low resolution of at least a portion of the main datastream; and

the method further comprises;

computing the reference fingerprint from content of the reference datastream.

17. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions embodied thereon, which, when executed by one or more processors of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving a main datastream and a reference datastream, the main datastream including a plurality of main content elements, the reference datastream including an item of mark-up information associated with a reference fingerprint;

computing main fingerprints from at least some of the main content elements included in the main datastream; and

linking a part of the main datastream to the item of mark-up information based on a comparison between the reference fingerprint and one or more of the main fingerprints.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the main datastream does not contain mark-up information.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the mark-up information indicates one or more of subtitles, alternative language audio information, chapter markers, menus, and premium content.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein:

the linking of the part of the main datastream to the item of mark-up information comprises storing the item of mark-up information in a storage device.