Determining a position in media content based on a name information

• US 9,036,979 B2
• Filed: 04/09/2013
• Issued: 05/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TiVo Solutions Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Splunk Inc.
• Inventors: Barton, James, Gharaat, Amir H, Patel, Mukesh K
• Primary Examiner(s): HARVEY, DAVID E
• Application Number:
  US13/859,620
• Publication Number:
  US 20130223816A1
• Time in Patent Office: 770 Days
• Field of Search: 386249-251
• US Class Current: 386/249
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/41 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1454 involving copying of the display data of a local workstation or window to a remote workstation or window so that an actual copy of the data is displayed simultaneously on two or more displays, e.g. teledisplay
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0244 Optimization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/322 used signal is digitally coded
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4938 comprising a voice browser which renders and interprets, e.g. VoiceXML
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/422 Input-only peripherals , i.e. input devices connected to specially adapted client devices, e.g. global positioning system [GPS] input devices also receiving signals from specially adapted client devices H04N21/4104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42201 biosensors, e.g. heat sensor for presence detection, EEG sensors or any limb activity sensors worn by the user input arrangements for interaction with the human body based on nervous system activity detection G06F3/015
• 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 21/4415 using biometric characteristics of the user, e.g. by voice recognition or fingerprint scanning cryptography using biological data H04L9/3231; authentication in networks using biometric H04L63/0861
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/442 Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk arrangements for monitoring broadcast services or broadcast-related services H04H60/29; arrangements for identifying or recognising characteristics with a direct linkage to broadcast information H04H60/35; monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; monitoring in wireless networks H04W24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8358 involving watermark protecting executable software by watermarking G06F21/16; image watermarking in general G06T1/0021; watermarks inserted in still images for transmission purposes H04N1/32144; inserting watermarks during video coding H04N19/467
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/782 on tape
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/79 Processing of colour television signals in connection with recording

Abstract

In an embodiment, the playing of an advertisement may be detected by identifying the persons associated with the faces in the advertisement portion of the media content and determining that the identified persons are not actors listed for the media content. In an embodiment, the advertisement may be enhanced with additional content pertaining to the product or service being advertised. In an embodiment, the advertisement may be automatically fast-forwarded, muted, or replaced with an alternate advertisement. In an embodiment, only a non-advertisement portion of the media content may be recorded by skipping over the detected advertisement portion of the media content.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

playing media content comprising an advertisement portion and a non-advertisement portion;

detecting one or more faces in a particular portion of the media content;

obtaining name information associated with the one or more faces;

determining that the name information does not match actor information associated with the non-advertisement portion of the media content;

in response to determining that the name information does not match actor information associated with the non-advertisement portion of the media content, determining that the particular portion of the media content is part of the advertisement portion of the media content;

wherein the method is performed by a device comprising a processor.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising automatically fast forwarding through the advertisement portion.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising automatically muting the audio portion of the advertisement portion.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising replacing the advertisement portion with one or more alternate advertisements.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising recording only the non-advertisement portion of the media content.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising displaying additional content associated with the advertisement portion.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the additional content comprises information associated with actions taken by users on a social networking website.

8. The method as recited in claim 6, further comprising displaying additional content personalized for a user of the device playing the media content.

9. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a set of instructions, which when executed by a processor, cause performance of steps comprising:

playing media content comprising an advertisement portion and a non-advertisement portion;

detecting one or more faces in a particular portion of the media content;

obtaining name information associated with the one or more faces;

determining that the name information does not match actor information associated with the non-advertisement portion of the media content;

in response to determining that the name information does not match actor information associated with the non-advertisement portion of the media content, determining that the particular portion of the media content is part of the advertisement portion of the media content.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 9, the steps further comprising automatically fast forwarding through the advertisement portion.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 9, the steps further comprising automatically muting the audio portion of the advertisement portion.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 9, the steps further comprising replacing the advertisement portion with one or more alternate advertisements.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 9, the steps further comprising recording only the non-advertisement portion of the media content.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 9, the steps further comprising displaying additional content associated with the advertisement portion.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 14, wherein the additional content comprises information associated with actions taken by users on a social networking website.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 14, the steps further comprising displaying additional content personalized for a user of the device playing the media content.

17. An apparatus comprising:

a subsystem, implemented at least partially in hardware, that plays media content comprising an advertisement portion and a non-advertisement portion;

a subsystem, implemented at least partially in hardware, that detects one or more faces in a particular portion of the media content;

a subsystem, implemented at least partially in hardware, that obtains name information associated with the one or more faces;

a subsystem, implemented at least partially in hardware, that determines that the name information does not match actor information associated with the non-advertisement portion of the media content;

a subsystem, implemented at least partially in hardware, that, in response to determining that the name information does not match actor information associated with the non-advertisement portion of the media content, determines that the particular portion of the media content is part of the advertisement portion of the media content.

18. The apparatus as recited in claim 17, further comprising a subsystem, implemented at least partially in hardware, that causes automatically fast forwarding through the advertisement portion.

19. The apparatus as recited in claim 17, further comprising a subsystem, implemented at least partially in hardware, that causes automatically muting the audio portion of the advertisement portion.

20. The apparatus as recited in claim 17, further comprising a subsystem, implemented at least partially in hardware, that replaces the advertisement portion with one or more alternate advertisements.

21. The apparatus as recited in claim 17, further comprising a subsystem, implemented at least partially in hardware, that records only the non-advertisement portion of the media content.

22. The apparatus as recited in claim 17, further comprising a subsystem, implemented at least partially in hardware, that displays additional content associated with the advertisement portion.

23. The apparatus as recited in claim 22, wherein the additional content comprises information associated with actions taken by users on a social networking website.

24. The apparatus as recited in claim 22, further comprising a subsystem, implemented at least partially in hardware, that displays additional content personalized for a user of the device playing the media content.