AU2004205099A1 - Media content information system - Google Patents

Description

S&F Ref: 683908

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT Name and Address of Applicant Actual Inventor(s): Address for Service: Invention Title: Australian Video Systems Pty Ltd, an Australian company, ACN 074 207 0587, of Unit 1E, 28 Buffalo Road, Gladesville, New South Wales, 2111, Australia Stuart Grant Shepherd Spruson Ferguson St Martins Tower Level 31 Market Street Sydney NSW 2000 (CCN 3710000177) Media content information system The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us:- 5845c -1- MEDIA CONTENT INFORMATION SYSTEM Field of the Invention The present invention relates generally to video and audio recorder systems and, in particular, to a system for providing improved time shift viewing of programs.

Background The video cassette recorders (VCR), and more recently digital video recorders (DVR) are commonly used in most households for the playing back of content recorded using a video camera, the playing back of pre-recorded content, and the recording and playing back of content received from free-to-air broadcasts and subscription channels.

The recording and later viewing of television programs is often referred to as time shift viewing. The typical steps followed for recording a television program in advance of viewing it include obtaining channel, date, time and duration information from a television program guide, and programming the information into the video recorder, typically using a remote hand-held controller to interact with a menu displayed on the 13 screen of the television connected to the video recorder. Some DVRs are able to receive an electronic program guide either through a television channel, or through connection to the Internet. The user then selects the programs to be recorded from a list, which automatically sets the channel, date, time and duration information for the recording.

The above arrangements suffer from a number of disadvantages including errors in transcription of the channel, date, time and duration information from the program guide to the video recorder, and imprecision of the information contained in the program guide, causing content before or after the desired program to be included in the recording, or worse, causing part of the desired program not to be recorded.

J:\ELEC\683908.doc -2- Free-to-air broadcasts are also littered with advertisements and other unwanted broadcast segments which interrupt the program being viewed or recorded. When viewers view a recorded program, it is common for the viewers to pass over the advertisements by fast-scanning the recording. This method is imprecise, still causes an interruption, and often require a search of the end of the advertisements and the start of the next segment of the program being viewed.

Summary It is an object of the present invention to substantially overcome, or at least ameliorate, one or more disadvantages of existing arrangements.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method comprising the steps of: recording media content onto a storage device; receiving data related to transition points in the recorded media content; receiving a selection of at least one program within said recorded media content; using said data to identify segments of said program(s); and deleting from said storage device recorded media content not included in the identified segments.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method comprising the steps of: receiving broadcast media content; determining transition points in broadcasted media content; storing transition point data; and downloading said transition point data to a remote client.

I:\ELEC\683908.doc -3- According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for implementing any one of the aforementioned methods.

Other aspects of the invention are also disclosed.

Brief Description of the Drawings One or more embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings, in which: Fig. 1 shows a media content information system; Fig. 2 illustrates exemplary content received on a typical television channel; Fig. 3 shows a schematic block diagram of one of the home clients shown in Fig.

1; Fig. 4 is a flow diagram of a method performed by each of the home clients; and Figs. 5A and 5B show tables containing a description of each of the components of preferred formats used for requesting and downloading schedules.

Detailed Description Fig. 1 shows a media content information system 100 including a number of home clients 130-1 to 130-N connectable through a network 120, such as the Internet, to a media content information server 110.

The media content information server 110 monitors content broadcasted on a number of radio and television channels 150-1 to 150-M and compiles a schedule of program content contained on each of the channels 150-1 to 150-M. The radio and television channels 150-1 to 150-M may include channels broadcasted as "free-to-air" channels, or channels broadcast subject to subscription, which are commonly channels received via cable or satellite.

I:\ELEC\683908.doc -4- Fig. 2 illustrates exemplary content 200 received on one of the television channels 150-1 to 150-M. The illustrated part of the content 200 includes segments 201 through 216, which includes program content segments 203, 207 and 212. Segments 201 and 216 are associated with program content broadcast before and after respectively to the program content in program content segments 203, 207 and 212. Segments 202, 204, 205, 206, 208 to 211 and 213 to 215 contain advertisement and other unscheduled programming, such as station breaks, news bulletins, public service announcements etc.

The schedule associated with the program content of segments 203, 207 and 212 includes at least information on the channel the content 200 was broadcasted on, the date of broadcast, the start time of each segment 203, 207 and 212, and the duration of each segment 203, 207 and 212. A person skilled in the art would understand that there are a number of different ways to encode that information. For example, instead of duration infonnation the end time may be included.

In one implementation an operator monitors one or more channels and provide the media content information server 110 with the schedule of the monitored channels. In order to provide the time accuracy required, the operator would typically record a short sliding window of content 200. By recording the sliding window of content, and in response to observing a transition from one segment to another, the operator slow-scans backwards to determine the exact time of the transition, and records the time into the schedule.

In an alternative implementation the media content information server 110 receives broadcast media content, monitors the channels and uses periods of one or more black frames combined with low audio to identify transitions between segments. The media content information server 110 further ignores segments shorter than a preselected duration, as such segments are associated with advertisement and other unscheduled programming.

J:\ELEC\683908.doc The steps of receiving broadcast media content, monitoring the media content to determine transition points therein in order to form the schedule are effected by software executing within a processor of the media content information server 110.

Fig. 3 shows a schematic block diagram of the home client 130-n. The home client 130-n includes a tuner 301 for receiving an input broadcast signal from an antenna 306, or from any other appropriate input source, such as a coaxial cable input (not separately shown). The tuner 301 provides a demodulated signal to an encoder 303. The signal from the tuner 301 may be an analogue television signal, for example in the NTSC, PAL or SECAM television formats, a digital television signal such as an HDTV signal, or an analogue or digital audio signal. The encoder 303 converts the signal from the tuner 301 to encoded data, typically in a compressed digital format.

In a preferred implementation the home client 130-n includes multiple tuners (not separately illustrated), each associated with an encoder. This allows the home client 130-n to receive and encode content from multiple channels simultaneously for storage as described below.

The encoded data from the encoder 303 is provided to a processing board 305, which includes one or more processors, random access memory (RAM) and read only memory (ROM). The processing board 305 interfaces with a storage device 307, such as a hard disk drive, onto which the encoded data may be stored by the processing board 305. In a preferred implementation the tuner 301 and encoder 303 are combined on a single board, with the tuner 301 digitally programmable via the processor board 305.

In the preferred implementation the storage device 307 consists of four hard disk drives, each of 250 Gigabyte capacity. The hard disk drives are configured as Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID), in particular RAID level 5, and are controlled by a RAID controller. The array of drives appears to the processing board 305 as a single logical storage unit or device. By configuring the hard disk drives as RAID, relatively 1:\ELEC\683908.doc -6small, inexpensive disk drives are combined into an array of disk drives, which yields performance exceeding that of a single large (expensive) disk drive.

The processing board 305 also provides encoded data to a decoder 309, typically after retrieving the encoded data from the storage device 307. The decoder 309 decodes the encoded data and provides a video output suitable for display by a monitor 320, or a television (not illustrated), and an audio output for output through loudspeakers. The output from the decoder 309 may also be an audio only signal. The encoder 303 and decoder 309 are complementary, and typically comply with the MPEG2 encoding standard. The processing board 305 further includes a modulator-demodulator (Modem) transceiver device for communicating with the media content information server 110 (Fig.

1) through the network 120.

As is described in more detail below, the home client 130-n uses time information of segments of program content to edit recorded content. This requires synchronisation between the clocks of the server 110 and the home-client 130-n.

Preferably the clocks use temperature stabilised crystals. The server 110 derives time from a global positioning system (GPS) receiver (not illustrated). The clock of the client 130-n is synchronised with that of the server 110 using the Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP) while the client 130-n is connected to the server 110, and in particular, using port 123, which has an accuracy of 1 millisecond. Frame switching option is on an extracted frame synchronisation pulse. Timecode information is also added as Metadata to the encoded data by the encoder 303.

A user controls the home client 130-n using control buttons provided on a remote hand-held controller (not illustrated), typically while receiving feedback information, such as menus, on the monitor 320. In an alternative implementation where the home client 130-n takes the form of a personal computer with the tuner 301, encoder 303 and decoder 309 added thereto, the user controls the home client 130-n using a keyboard or I:\ELEC\683908.do -7pointing device of the personal computer. In yet another implementation the home client 130-n has voice recognition, and is controlled by the user using voice commands.

Fig. 4 is a flow diagram of a method 400 performed by each of the home clients 130-1 to N. The method 400 is implemented within the processing board 305 as instructions in software and executed by the processor(s). The software may be stored in the storage device 307, or on the ROM of the processing board 305. In the case where the home client 130-n is implemented on a personal computer, the software may be provided to the personal computer in the form of an application program.

Also referring to Fig. 3, the method 400 starts in step 401 where the home client 130-n records onto the storage device 307 an encoded form of the broadcast signal(s) received by the tuner(s) 301 and for one or more channels preselected by the user of the home client 130-n. In one implementation the home client 130-n records the content 200 broadcasted over the preselected channel(s) continuously, that is for the whole day, every day. Other implementations are also possible. For example only content 200 broadcast during evenings may be recorded.

Method 400 then continues to step 403 where the home client 130-n connects to the media content information server 110, and downloads the schedules of program content broadcasted on the selected channel(s). This may be done automatically, or in response to user input where the user selects program content for which schedules are to be downloaded. In the case where the schedules of program content broadcasted on the selected channels are downloaded automatically, in step 405 the user selects program content to be viewed from the available program content.

In step 407 the home client 130-n then uses the schedules of the selected program content to retain the associated segments only. Referring also to Fig. 2, if the program content associated with segments 203, 207 and 212 was selected by the user, then segments 201, 202, 204, 205, 206, 208 to 211 and 213 to 216 are deleted from the I:\ELEC\683908.doc -8storage device 307. This is possible because the schedule contains the exact start and duration information of each of the segments 203, 207 and 212. Together the segments 203, 207 and 212 form an edited program.

Finally in step 409 and in response to user selection, one of the edited programs stored on the storage device 307 is decoded by the decoder 309 and output to the monitor 320 and loudspeakers 322.

The speed at which each home client 130-n may be served by the server is inversely proportional to the number of bytes sent and received by the server 110.

Accordingly, it is desirable to minimize the number of bytes sent and received by the server 110 to provide a fast and efficient service. Two standard data formats are provided, the first being for requesting from the server 110 program content schedule(s), and the second for transmitting the requested schedule(s) from the server 110 to the home client 130-n. Preferably communication between the server 110 and each of the home clients 130-1 to 130-N uses ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) characters.

The first data format for requesting from the server 110 program content schedule(s) has the following components: ACCT, PSSWD, INSTRS1, INSTRS2, xEMF, C, FX, CNT, CNTD, DATE, TIME Fig. 5A shows a table containing a description of each of the components of the first data format, together with the size of each of the components. Component ACCT is an account number associated with the particular home client 130-n. Component PSSWD is a password used by the server 110 to authenticate the home client 130-n.

Components INSTRS1 and INSTRS2 contain first and second sets of instructions respectively from the home server 130-n to the server 110. The first set of instructions INSTRS1 includes up to 256 "house keeping" requests/instructions, such as I:\ELEC\683908.doc -9to synchronise the time of the home client 130-n with that of the server 110, change password PSSWD, alarm states, hard disk failure and update instruction set INSTRS2.

The second set of instructions INSTRS2 includes up to 65536 instructions, which relate to data contained in the components: xEMF, C, FX, CNT, CNTD, DATE, TIME.

The second set of instructions INSTRS2 includes the instructions "SEARCH" and "LOG BY CONTENT DESCRIPTION". The use of the second set INSTRS2 is described below by way of example.

Component 'xEMF' indicates whether the content was received as a digital or analogue signal, as well as the source of that signal, which may be television, radio amplitude modulation, radio frequency modulation or cable television.

Component indicates the channel number, whereas component 'FX' indicates the frequency of the channel. Both the channel number and frequency are included as television broadcasts are usually selected by channel, whereas radio broadcasts are selected by frequency. Also, television broadcasts of a single channel utilize multiple repeaters, each broadcasting the channel on a different frequency.

Component 'CNT' provides a short description of the program content, and uses a standardised classification for classifying the program content into one of 65536 types of programs, with 11 types shown in Fig. 5A. Component 'CNTD' provides a detailed description of the program content, which typically includes the program title, as well as data typically provided in program guides about the program. Finally, components 'DATE' and 'TIME' provides detail about the date and time of the program content.

The home client 130-n uses inputs from the user to construct the first data format before sending the request to the server 110. For example, if schedules of all program content broadcasted on a specific day, say 25 December 2003, and including a particular actor, say "JOE BLOCKS", are sought by the user, the client 130-n will construct a data I:\ELEC\683908.doc string where the second set of instructions INSTRS2 includes the instruction "SEARCH" followed by: JOE BLOCKS, 251203,", with empty (unspecified) components meaning "don't care".

The first data format may be used by the home client 130-n to request from the server schedules of programs already shown, or may be used to register with the server an ongoing selection. For example, the ongoing selection may include the following components following the second set of instructions INSTRS2: Music, BACH, which will cause the server 110 to automatically download to the home client 130-n the schedules of any program content, whether on television or radio, on any channel, containing music by the composer Bach.

The second data format for transmitting requested schedules from the server 110 to the home client 130-n is now described, and has the following components: ACCT, xEMF, C, FX, CNT, CNTD, DATE, CNTTCSV Fig. 5B shows a table containing a description of each of the components of the second data format, together with the size of each of the components. Components ACCT, xEMF, C, FX, CNT, CNTD, and DATE have meanings equivalent to those described for the first data format with reference to Fig. Component CNTTCSV is a string of comma separated time variables, with each pair of variables denoting the start and end times of the segments making up the requested program content. For example, the pair of variables: "1800154, 1805421" indicates to the home client 130-n that a particular segment of the requested program content started 15.4 seconds after 6 pm, and finished 5 min and 42.1 seconds after 6 pm.

I:\ELEC\683908.doc -11- Referring again to method 400 (Fig. and in particular step 407, the home client 130-n then uses the start and end times specified in the component CNTTCSV to retain the associated segments only.

The foregoing describes only some embodiments of the present invention, and modifications and/or changes can be made thereto without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention, the embodiments being illustrative and not restrictive.

In the context of this specification, the word "comprising" means "including principally but not necessarily solely" or "having" or "including", and not "consisting only of'. Variations of the word "comprising", such as "comprise" and "comprises" have correspondingly varied meanings.

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Claims (9)

1. A home client comprising: storage device for recording media content; means for connecting to a server and download from said server data related to transition points in the recorded media content; input means for receiving a selection of at least one program within said recorded media content; processor for using said data to identify segments of said program(s), and for deleting from said storage device recorded media content not included in the identified segments.

2. A system comprising: a server for storing data related to transition points in broadcasted media content; and at least one home client connectable to said server, each home client being configured to record media content, to download from said server data related to the recorded media content, to receive a selection of at least one program within said recorded media content, to use said data to identify segments of said program(s), and to delete recorded media content not included in the identified segments.

3. The system according to claim 2 wherein said server is configured to analyse said broadcasted media content for determining said transition points.

4. A server comprising: I:\ELEC\683908.doc -13- means for determining transition points in broadcasted media content; storage means for storing transition point data; and means for downloading said transition point data to a remote client.

5. A method comprising the steps of: recording media content onto a storage device; receiving data related to transition points in the recorded media content; receiving a selection of at least one program within said recorded media content; using said data to identify segments of said program(s); and deleting from said storage device recorded media content not included in the identified segments.

6. A method comprising the steps of: determining transition points in broadcasted media content; storing transition point data; and downloading said transition point data to a remote client.

7. A computer program comprising: code for recording media content onto a storage device; code for receiving data related to transition points in the recorded media content; code for receiving a selection of at least one program within said recorded media content; code for using said data to identify segments of said program(s); and code for deleting from said storage I:\ELEC\683908.doc -14-

8. A system substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.

9. A method substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED this Tenth Day of August 2004 AUSTRALIAN VIDEO SYSTEMS PTY LTD Patent Attorneys for the Applicant SPRUSON&FERGUSON I:\ELEC\683908.doc