Methods and apparatus for displaying information regarding interstitials of a video stream

• US 8,165,451 B2
• Filed: 11/20/2007
• Issued: 04/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Dish Network Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Echostar Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Casagrande, Steven Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): POWERS, WILLIAM S
• Application Number:
  US11/942,901
• Publication Number:
  US 20090129747A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,617 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 386/241
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4312 involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4314 for fitting data in a restricted space on the screen, e.g. EPG data in a rectangular grid
• 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 21/44008 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 21/472 End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording

Abstract

Various embodiments of apparatus and/or methods are described for presenting information regarding interstitials of a video stream. A recording of a television show may include segments of the show interspersed with interstitials (e.g., commercials). The location of the interstitials within the recording is identified, and the locations of the interstitials are presented in progress bar during presentation of the video stream. The location of the interstitials may also be utilized to determine durations of the interstitials, and provide a user with information regarding the lengths of the interstitials of a recording, and/or the length of the other content of a recording (e.g., segments of a television show).

Claims

1. A method for providing a user with locations of interstitials in a video stream of a show, the method comprising:

providing a recording of the video stream including at least one segment of the show and at least one interstitial of the show and closed captioning data associated with the video stream;

receiving metadata referencing the closed captioning data to identify at least one of a first anchor frame and a second anchor frame within the video stream, the metadata comprising first and second displayable text strings included within the closed captioning data as originally transmitted by a content provider;

parsing the closed captioning data associated with the video stream as recorded to locate a first anchor frame corresponding with the presentation of the first displayable text string located in the closed captioning data recorded;

determining that the first displayable text string is not located within the closed captioning data recorded;

processing the closed captioning data recorded to locate a second anchor frame corresponding with the presentation of the second displayable text string in the closed captioning data recorded;

identifying at least one boundary of the at least one interstitial based on the second anchor frame and the metadata;

identifying a location of the at least one interstitial within the recording based on the boundary; and

presenting a progress bar during presentation of the video stream that indicates the location of the at least one interstitial within the recording and a duration of the at least one interstitial.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the progress bar further comprises:

presenting the location of the at least one interstitial using a first indicator; and

presenting a location of the at least one segment using a second indicator.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second displayable text strings are unique within the closed captioning data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying at least one boundary of the at least one interstitial based on the second anchor frame and the metadata further comprises:

receiving a first offset, relative to the second anchor frame in the video stream, that identifies a beginning of the at least one segment of the video stream;

receiving a second offset, relative to the second anchor frame location in the video stream, that identifies an ending of the at least one segment of the video stream; and

identifying the at least one boundary based on at least one of the beginning and the ending of the segment.

5. A method for providing a user with a progress bar during presentation of a video stream, the method comprising:

recording the video stream including first and second segments of a show, at least one interstitial of the show, and closed captioning data associated with the video stream;

receiving metadata referencing the closed captioning data to identify a first anchor frame within the first segment of the video stream and a second anchor frame within the second segment of the video stream, the metadata comprising first and second displayable text strings included within the closed captioning data as originally transmitted by a content provider;

parsing the closed captioning data associated with the video stream as recorded to locate the first anchor frame corresponding with the presentation of the first displayable text string located in the closed captioning data recorded;

identifying a first transition within the recording between the first segment of the show and the at least one interstitial of the show based on the first anchor frame and the metadata;

parsing the closed captioning data associated with the video stream as recorded to locate the second anchor frame corresponding with the presentation of the second displayable text string located in the closed captioning data recorded;

identifying a second transition within the recording between the second segment of the show and the at least one interstitial of the show based on the second anchor frame and the metadata;

determining a duration of the interstitial based on the first transition and the second transition; and

presenting a progress bar during presentation of the video stream that indicates the first transition within the recording between the first segment of the show and the at least one interstitial of the show and the second transition within the recording between the second segment and the at least one interstitial, and that indicates the duration of the at least one interstitial.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

indexing the text data according to a presentation order.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein presenting the progress bar further comprises:

presenting a location of the at least one interstitial using a first indicator; and

presenting a location of the at least one segment using a second indicator.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving a first offset, associated with the first displayable text string, that is relative to the first anchor frame, the first offset identifying the first transition; and

receiving a second offset, associated with the second displayable text string, that is relative to the second anchor frame, the second offset identifying the second transition.

9. A digital video recorder comprising:

a receiver that receives a video stream;

a recording module that stores the video stream on a storage medium for subsequent presentation to a user, the video stream including at least one segment of a show, at least one interstitial of the show, and closed captioning data associated with the at least one segment of the show;

a processing module that;

receives metadata referencing the closed captioning data to identify first and second anchor frames within the video stream, the metadata comprising first and second displayable text strings included within the closed captioning data as originally transmitted by a content provider;

parses the closed captioning data associated with the video stream, to locate a first anchor frame corresponding with the presentation of the first displayable text strings located in the closed captioning data recorded;

determine that the first displayable text string is not located within the closed captioning data recorded;

process the closed captioning data recorded to locate a second anchor frame corresponding with the presentation of the second displayable text string in the closed captioning data recorded; and

identify at least one boundary of the at least one interstitial based on the second anchor frame and the metadata; and

output a progress bar during output of the video stream that indicates the transition within the recording between the at least one segment of the show and the at least one interstitial of the show.

10. The digital video recorder of claim 9, wherein the processing module indexes the text data according to a presentation order.

11. The digital video recorder of claim 9, wherein the processing module presents the location of the at least one interstitial using a first indicator, and presents a location of the at least one segment using a second indicator.

12. A digital video recorder comprising:

a receiver that receives a video stream;

a recording module that stores the video stream on a storage medium for subsequent presentation to a user, the video stream including first and second segments of a show, at least one interstitial of the show, and closed captioning data associated with the video stream;

a processing module configured to;

receive metadata referencing the closed captioning data to identify a first anchor frame within the first segment of the video stream and a second anchor frame within the second segment of the video stream, the metadata comprising first and second displayable text strings included within the closed captioning data as originally transmitted by a content provider;

parse the closed captioning data associated with the video stream as recorded to locate the first anchor frame corresponding with the presentation of the first displayable text string located in the closed captioning data recorded;

identify a first transition within the recording between the first segment of the show and the at least one interstitial of the show based on the first anchor frame and the metadata;

parse the closed captioning data associated with the video stream as recorded to locate the second anchor frame corresponding with the presentation of the second displayable text string located in the closed captioning data recorded;

identify a second transition within the recording between the second segment of the show and the at least one interstitial of the show based on the second anchor frame and the metadata;

determine a duration of the interstitial based on the first transition and the second transition; and

output a progress bar during output of the video stream that indicates the first transition within the recording between the first segment of the show and the at least one interstitial of the show and the second transition within the recording between the second segment and the at least one interstitial, and that indicates the duration of the at least one interstitial.

13. The digital video recorder of claim 12, wherein the processing module indexes the text data according to a presentation order.

14. The digital video recorder of claim 12, wherein the processing module receives an offset, relative to the second anchor frame in the video stream, that correlates to the first transition and identifies the first transition based on the second anchor frame and the offset.

15. The digital video recorder of claim 12, wherein the processing module outputs a location of the at least one interstitial using a first indicator and outputs a location of the at least one segment using a second indicator.

16. The digital video recorder of claim 12, wherein the processing module determines a duration of the at least one interstitial and presents the duration of the at least one interstitial in association with the presentation of the video stream.

17. The digital video recorder of claim 12, wherein at least one of the first and second displayable text strings are unique within the closed captioning data.

18. The digital video recorder of claim 17, wherein both the first and second displayable text strings are unique within the closed captioning data.