System and method for aggregating commercial navigation information

• US 8,752,115 B2
• Filed: 03/24/2003
• Issued: 06/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: The DIRECTV Group, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: The DIRECTV Group, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dow, Christopher, Pignon, Philippe
• Primary Examiner(s): Lin, Jason K
• Application Number:
  US10/396,230
• Publication Number:
  US 20040190853A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,096 Days
• Field of Search: 725/132
• US Class Current: 725/132
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/781 on disks or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/782 on tape
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8042 involving data reduction

Abstract

The present invention provides for gathering and aggregating data related to the functionality of digital video recorders (DVRs) and transmitting updated instructions to the DVRs. During its operation, a DVR gathers data that is relevant to the detection of commercials such as luminance values, commercial patterns, and user input and stores this information in its internal storage. A central server receives updated instructions from administrators and generates new instructions in response to data aggregated from individual DVRs. The central server transmits the updated instructions to remote DVRs.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

transmitting, from a particular digital video recorder, information for identifying the particular digital video recorder and for indicating a characteristic of broadcast content received by the particular digital video recorder, wherein the information includes;

gathered information comprising average blackfield luminance value of a plurality of blackfield luminance values; and

information indicating a geographical location within a particular geographical area, a broadcast provider associated with the particular digital video recorder, and channel characteristics of the particular digital video recorder;

receiving, at the particular digital video recorder, one or more instructions selected based on matching the geographical area, broadcast provider, and channel characteristics of the particular digital video recorder, the one or more instructions configured to update a commercial detection function of the particular digital video recorder, wherein the one or more instructions configured to update the commercial detection function comprise one or more instructions for detecting commercials in broadcast content received by the particular digital video recorder and comprise instructions for using an average blackfield luminance value as a threshold blackfield luminance value for detecting commercials, and wherein the average blackfield luminance value is determined from a subset of a plurality of blackfield luminance values obtained from digital video recorders located in the same geographical area having the same broadcast provider associated with the particular digital video recorder;

after receiving the one or more instructions, updating the commercial detection function of the particular digital video recorder based on the one or more instructions

providing a user interface for mapping a plurality of control inputs to a plurality of navigation functions, wherein the plurality of control inputs comprise a commercial-skipping control input, and wherein the plurality of navigation functions comprise a commercial-skipping navigation function;

receiving the commercial-skipping control input that is mapped to activate the commercial-skipping navigation function, wherein the commercial-skipping navigation function is configured to utilize the commercial detection function;

detecting a commercial in the broadcast content received by the particular digital video recorder using the commercial detection function; and

after detecting the commercial in the broadcast content and determining that the commercial-skipping function is activated, the particular digital video recorder;

skipping the commercial during playback of the broadcast content received by the particular digital video recorder; and

presenting an indicator that the commercial has been skipped.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the commercial detection function of the particular digital video recorder comprises a commercial skipping function, and wherein skipping the commercial comprises skipping the commercial using the commercial skipping function.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more instructions comprise a base luminance value.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more instructions comprise commercial pattern information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the gathered information comprises user input to the particular digital video recorder.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the gathered information comprises a pattern of commercials detected in the broadcast content received by the particular digital video recorder.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the indicator comprises an icon indicating that one or more commercials have been skipped.

7. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a server, gathered information comprising a plurality of blackfield luminance values from a plurality of geographical areas;

determining, at the server, an average blackfield luminance value for each subset of the plurality of blackfield luminance values using the server, wherein each subset of the plurality of blackfield luminance values are blackfield luminance values received from digital video recorders located in the same geographical area having the same broadcast provider;

receiving at a server, information for identifying a particular digital video recorder and for indicating a characteristic of broadcast content received by the particular digital video recorder, the information including geographical location within a particular geographical area, a broadcast provider associated with the particular digital video recorder, and channel characteristics of the particular digital video recorder;

in response to receiving the information for identifying, the server selecting one or more instructions according to matching the geographical area, broadcast provider, and channel characteristics of the identified particular digital video recorder, the one or more instructions configured to update a commercial detection function of the particular digital video recorder, wherein the one or more instructions are customized for updating a commercial detection function for detecting commercials in broadcast content received by the identified particular digital video recorder and comprise instructions for using an average blackfield luminance value within the matching geographical area as a threshold blackfield luminance value for detecting commercials; and

transmitting the one or more instructions from the server to the identified particular digital video recorder.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the commercial detection function of the identified digital video recorder comprises a commercial skipping function.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the one or more instructions comprise commercial pattern information.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the gathered information comprises user input to the particular digital video recorder.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the gathered information comprises a pattern of commercials detected in the broadcast content received by the identified digital video recorder.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the information for identifying further indicates a broadcast carrier, which provides broadcast content to the digital video recorder.

13. A particular digital video recorder at a particular location comprising:

a processor;

an instruction set, the instruction set controlling a function of the particular digital video recorder;

a non-transitory computer readable medium containing software therein, where the software, when executed by the processor, is configured to instruct the particular digital video recorder to perform functions comprising;

transmit information for identifying the particular digital video recorder and for indicating a characteristic of broadcast content received by the particular digital video recorder, wherein the information includes;

gathered information comprising average blackfield luminance value of a plurality of blackfield luminance values; and

information indicating a geographical location within a particular geographical area, a broadcast provider associated with the particular digital video recorder, and channel characteristics of the particular digital video recorder;

receive, at the particular digital video recorder, one or more instructions selected based on matching the geographical area, broadcast provider associated with the particular digital video recorder, and channel characteristics of the particular digital video recorder, wherein the one or more instructions configured to update the commercial detection function comprise one or more instructions for detecting commercials in broadcast content received by the particular digital video recorder and comprise instructions for using an average blackfield luminance value as a threshold blackfield luminance value for detecting commercials, wherein the average blackfield luminance value is determined from a plurality of blackfield luminance values, and wherein the average blackfield luminance value is determined from a subset of a plurality of blackfield luminance values obtained from digital video recorders located in the same geographical area having the same broadcast provider associated with the particular digital video recorder;

after receiving the one or more instructions, updating the commercial detection function of the particular digital video recorder based on the one or more instructions;

receive a control input to activate a commercial-skipping navigation function, where the commercial-skipping navigation function is configured to utilize the commercial detection function;

detect a commercial in the broadcast content received by the particular digital video recorder using the commercial detection function; and

after detecting the commercial in the broadcast content;

skipping the commercial during playback of the broadcast content received by the particular digital video recorder; and

presenting an indicator that the commercial has been skipped.

14. The digital video recorder of claim 13, wherein the commercial detection function of the digital video recorder comprises a commercial skipping function.

15. The digital video recorder of claim 14, wherein the one or more instructions comprise a base luminance value.

16. The digital video recorder of claim 14, wherein the one or more instructions comprise commercial pattern information.

17. The digital video recorder of claim 13, wherein the gathered information comprises user input to the digital video recorder.

18. A system for improving the performance of a particular digital video recorder comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having software stored thereon that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform functions comprising;

a data aggregation function for receiving information for identifying the particular digital video recorder at a geographical location within a particular geographical area, a broadcast provider associated with the particular digital video recorder, and channel characteristics of the particular digital video recorder from a plurality of digital video recorders and store the information in data files and gathered information comprising a plurality of black field luminance values;

an instruction generation function for analyzing the data files, generating one or more instructions for the particular digital video recorder, and determining an average blackfield luminance value for each subset of the plurality of blackfield luminance values, wherein each subset of the plurality of blackfield luminance values are blackfield luminance values received from digital video recorders located in the same geographical area having the same broadcast provider associated with the particular digital video recorder, the generated instructions customized for updating a commercial detection function for detecting commercials in broadcast content received by the particular digital video, the generated instructions comprising instructions for using an average blackfield luminance value as a threshold blackfield luminance value within the particular geographical area for detecting commercials; and

a selection function selecting one or more instructions according to matching the geographical area, broadcast provider, and channel characteristics of the identified particular digital video recorder and for transmitting the one or more instructions to the particular digital video recorder.