Automatic selection, recording and meaningful labeling of clipped tracks from broadcast media without an advance schedule

• US 7,457,517 B2
• Filed: 09/20/2004
• Issued: 11/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Eric Godtland Management, Inc. (d/b/a EGM, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dustin Sorenson, Eric Godtland
• Inventors: Godtland, Eric, Sorenson, Dustin
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Thai
• Assistant Examiner(s): DUNN, MISHAWN N
• Application Number:
  US10/946,330
• Publication Number:
  US 20050232578A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,527 Days
• Field of Search: 386/46, 386/52, 386/69, 386/83, 386/95, 386/111, 386/112, 386124-126, 455/132, 455/230, 725/38, 725/39, 725/46, 725/47, 725/55, 725/58, 725/61, 725/153
• US Class Current: 386/278
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/28 by using information signals recorded by the same method as the main recording G11B27/22 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/9201 involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the video signal

Abstract

Automatic selection, recording and meaningful labeling of tracks from broadcast media streams is provided. Content information which relates to tracks currently being played and/or to previously played tracks is used to guide selection of tracks to be recorded and to provide meaningful labels for recorded tracks. This content information does not provide an advance schedule of tracks to be played in the future. A segment is temporarily recorded from a selected media stream. The content information relating to tracks in the segment is compared with previous user input (i.e., track preferences) to select tracks within the segment to be recorded. For each selected track, clipping is performed to identify track start and end times. Clipped tracks are recorded onto a suitable long-term recording medium, and labeled with a meaningful label derived from the content information.

Claims

1. A method for automatically selecting, recording and labeling media tracks from a broadcast media stream, the method comprising:

a) providing user track preferences;

b) receiving content information relating to said broadcast media stream;

c) intermediate recording a segment of said broadcast media stream;

d) automatically selecting zero or more tracks within said segment in accordance with said content information and said track preferences;

e) automatically clipping each of said selected tracks in said segment by determining track start and end times;

f) automatically final recording each of said clipped tracks to a recording medium; and

g) automatically labeling each of said final recorded tracks with a meaningful label derived from said content information;

wherein said content information does not provide a schedule of tracks to be played in the future;

wherein said clipping comprises clipping at a first time which is a start time margin before said start time, and clipping at a second time which is an end time margin after said end time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said segment is recorded to a magnetic disk drive medium or is temporarily stored in a processor buffer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said segment has a duration greater than about 15 minutes.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said segment has a duration greater than an estimated maximum track length plus a margin of about 20 seconds.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said segment has an adjustable duration.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said duration increases as information is intermediate recorded from said broadcast media stream.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein said duration is decreased by removal of information from said segment.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said selected tracks are clipped such that they do not overlap within said segment.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein at least two of said selected tracks are clipped such that they overlap within said segment.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said final recording comprises recording to a media file format having user-modifiable start and end time information.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said content information comprises a video display of text, and wherein optical character recognition is applied to said video display to recognize said text.

12. A processor programmed to implement a method for automatically selecting, recording and labeling media tracks from a broadcast media stream, the method comprising:

a) providing user track preferences;

b) receiving content information relating to said broadcast media stream;

c) intermediate recording a segment of said broadcast media stream;

d) automatically selecting zero or more tracks within said segment in accordance with said content information and said track preferences;

e) automatically clipping each of said selected tracks in said segment by determining track start and end times;

f) automatically final recording each of said clipped first tracks to a recording medium; and

g) automatically labeling each of said final recorded tracks with a meaningful label derived from said content information;

wherein said content information does not provide a schedule of tracks to be played in the future;

wherein said clipping comprises clipping at a first time which is a start time margin before said start time, and clipping at a second time which is an end time margin after said end time.

13. The processor of claim 12, wherein said segment has an adjustable duration.

14. The processor of claim 12, wherein said selected tracks are clipped such that they do not overlap within said segment.

15. The processor of claim 12, wherein at least two of said selected tracks are clipped such that they overlap within said segment.

16. The processor of claim 12, wherein said final recording comprises recording to a media file format having user-modifiable start and end time information.

17. The processor of claim 12, wherein said content information comprises a video display of text, and wherein optical character recognition is applied to said video display to recognize said text.

18. A set of computer instructions recorded on a computer-readable medium for implementing a method for automatically selecting, recording and labeling media tracks from a broadcast media stream, the method comprising:

a) providing user track preferences;

b) receiving content information relating to said broadcast media stream;

c) intermediate recording a segment of said broadcast media stream;

d) automatically selecting zero or more first tracks within said segment in accordance with said content information and said track preferences;

e) automatically clipping each of said selected tracks in said segment by determining track start and end times;

f) automatically final recording each of said clipped first tracks to a recording medium; and

g) automatically labeling each of said final recorded tracks with a meaningful label derived from said content information;

wherein said content information does not provide a schedule of tracks to be played in the future;

wherein said clipping comprises clipping at a first time which is a start time margin before said start time, and clipping at a second time which is an end time mar g in after said end time.

19. The set of computer readable instructions of claim 18, wherein said segment has an adjustable duration.

20. The set of computer readable instructions of claim 18, wherein said selected tracks are clipped such that they do not overlap within said segment.

21. The set of computer readable instructions of claim 18, wherein at least two of said selected tracks are clipped such that they overlap within said segment.

22. The set of computer readable instructions of claim 18, wherein said final recording comprises recording to a media file format having user-modifiable start and end time information.

23. The set of computer readable instructions of claim 18, wherein said content information comprises a video display of text, and wherein optical character recognition is applied to said video display to recognize said text.