Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing – Local trick play processing – With randomly accessible medium
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-07
2002-02-26
Garber, Wendy R. (Department: 2615)
Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing
Local trick play processing
With randomly accessible medium
C386S349000, C725S028000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06351596
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to the tagging of audiovisual content, such as analog or digital motion pictures that are broadcast or transmitted over cable, and streaming video transmitted over the Internet, and the seamless though selectively filtered replay of such content at some later time including near real-time.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Some people object to certain types of content in broadcast video and other programming materials. These programs are sometimes tagged with indicia that classify them as containing violence, sex, etc. in order that such programs may be filtered out. Typically, Web content is filtered by a service provider or browser. There are also systems for filtering out objectionable scenes in motion picture programming.
In its simplest form, content censoring provides only two choices—viewing or not of the overall programming material. Typically, a parent may not allow a child to view an R-rated motion picture in its entirety. Alternatively, instead of tagging a motion picture in its entirety, individual scenes might be tagged as objectionable or not, and a set-top box or PC could control selective viewing of the material based on the binary code used as a tag for each individual scene. Slightly more sophisticated systems could not only control viewing on a scene-by-scene basis, but they could give the user more control over the censoring. U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,013 and others in the name of the same inventor, Max Abecassis, disclose the tagging of individual scenes with many different codes representing many different possible types of objectionable content. The user selects the content types to be filtered out, and thus the individual scenes to be cut. By choosing different combinations of content types to be filtered out, different users will ‘produce’ what in effect are different versions of the same programming material.
Since Abecassis type systems are applicable to motion pictures on DVDs, if a scene is to be cut, the viewer would be very unhappy if his screen were to go blank while the objectionable scene is processed. Therefore, what should occur is a jump immediately from the end of one scene to the beginning of the next unobjectionable scene. Toward this end, Abecassis provides a ‘content map’ that for each combination of codes allows the ‘approved’ scenes to be played seamlessly one after the other—the locations of all scenes on the DVD, and the sequence in which they are to be played, are determined before play begins. The DVD player simply jumps from predetermined scene to predetermined scene.
In an Abecassis type scheme, not only is the entire motion picture available before play begins, so is the content map that characterizes each scene (violence, objectionable language, religious irreverence, etc.) and also provides its start and end points on the DVD or other recording of the motion picture.
Some people would also like to control the filtering out of objectionable material from live broadcasts. The tagging of scenes is not difficult. There are already systems employing trained professionals who monitor, ‘referee’ and filter Web content and chat room conversations. There would be little difficulty in arranging for such trained professionals to monitor, classify and tag television broadcast scenes by inserting appropriate tags in the vertical blanking intervals, or in the viewing area along the lines disclosed in Broughton et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,031, or in coded MPEG video streams, or in a variety of other formats.
A short delay of perhaps a few seconds would have to be introduced at the supply side in order to give a coder adequate time to monitor, classify and insert tags, but the coding process would be transparent to a viewer. As soon as content in a particular category is viewed by a coder, he would insert an appropriate tag in the scene simply by pressing one of perhaps a few buttons or speaking voice activation commands to a console made available to him. The appearance of a tag different from the preceding tag would mark the beginning of a new scene for filtering purposes.
However, the scheme fails in the broadcast environment because there is no way to seamlessly jump to the next unobjectionable scene since it has not yet been broadcast—the viewer must wait until the objectionable scene or scenes have been broadcast while his screen remains blank. The same problem exists with pre-recorded broadcasts, and even pre-recorded broadcasts that are pre-tagged. If a scene is to be skipped over, for seamless play there must be another scene ready to be processed, and there isn't in the broadcast scenario.
OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A general object of this invention is to provide for the tagging of broadcast motion pictures and streaming video materials (hereinafter “programming materials”) with content type codes and the processing thereof so that selectively filtered but seamless play can be achieved.
In accordance with the principles of this invention, the viewer's set-top box is equipped with a personal video recorder such as those sold under the trademarks TiVo and ReplayTV. These devices provide for the recording of video programs and playback of them at any future time under control of a disk operating system. (The playback can be almost immediately after the recording so that the devices can simulate the ‘pause’ function of a video tape recorder. A viewer receiving a telephone call might continue to record a program he is watching, though as soon as the call comes in, the viewer could pause playback while the machine continues to record. At the end of the call, the viewer simply resumes play where he left off by reverting back from ‘pause’ to ‘play.’ Recording and playback take place simultaneously, with the playback lagging behind the recording. If the call takes two minutes, the effect is that of a two-minute pause.)
The live or pre-recorded broadcast or streamed video includes content tags that are inserted as discussed above. The tags are recorded along with the programming material itself, and the tags are used to control the skipping over of objectionable scenes. Seamless play is achieved by delaying the start of play after the start of recording by a time interval equal to or greater than the expected sum of the durations of the scenes to be deleted. In this way, whenever a scene is to be skipped over, the next scene will be available on the personal video recorder ready for play.
For example, if the objectionable scenes in a motion picture have a total duration of ten minutes, simply delaying play of the recorded video for at least ten minutes after the start of its broadcast will allow for seamless play even with filtered out scenes. If the tagging result is binary, i.e., a scene is either on or off the play list, then scenes are allowed or disallowed and the viewer has no control over the content other than to accept or reject the coder's judgment. If the tagging is done before the broadcast so that the sum total of the material to be deleted is known in advance, then an announcement may be made prior to the broadcast of the minimum required delay to allow for seamless play. If more sophisticated user controls are allowed, so that different viewers will ‘produce’ different versions of the same motion picture or streaming video, then estimates of minimum and maximum delays may be provided. In automatic systems, such as might be used with a browser, fixed delays would be in order, varying with the type and expected length of the material being broadcast, which in turn might be specified as part of a header preceding the material itself. (The tagging result need not be binary, i.e., the tagging result for a scene might not simply put a scene on or off the play list but might replace a scene judged to be offensive with a scene judged to be inoffensive if ‘substitute’ scenes were to be transmitted or streamed with the original program for ‘swapping’ with scenes that might be judged to be offensive. This would require editorial cooperation from th
Garber Wendy R.
Gottlieb Rackman & Reisman P.C.
Onnaku Christopher
Time Warner Entertainment Co LP
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