AU657182B2 - Automatic censorship of broadcast programmes - Google Patents

Description

657182

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMLET SPECIFICATION FOR A PATENT OF ADDITION

ORIGINAL

Name of applicant: Peter Actual inventor~: Peter Address for service: Lock

NSW

Invention Title: AUT(

BRO)

Details of parent application: Samuel Vogel Samuel Vogel ed Bag 1, Springwood 2777 DMAT1C CENSORSHIP OF DCAST PROGRAMMES 35709/89 a.

a a. a a.

a. a @0 a.

a a a -1- AUTOMATIC CENSORSHIP OF BROADCAST PROGRAMMES TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to methods of, and apparatus for, automatic censorship of broadcast programmes. The term broadcast programme used hereinafter refers to broadcast television programmes, radio programmes, cable television, and other forms of mass distribution of audio and/or video programmes.

•BACKGROUND ART The need for censorship of video material is generally S ccepted by most societies, for the purposes of preventing the viewing of material by persons other than the target altdience.

Usually, such censorship takes the form of limiting access of a certain group of people, for example children, to a certain class of material, for example pornographic or violent movies. Other uses of censorship include voluntary self-censorship in cases where a recipient of a programme does not wish to be exposed to certain types of programme, for example scenes of great violence or advertisements which may be considered offensive by some people.

Being the most widely distributed form of broadcasting, television is the medium in which censorship is most likely to be considered a problem. Traditionally, censorship of television takes the form of either preventing possibly offensive material from being broadcast in the first place, or voluntary self, censorship, that is, switching off the receiver when material which the viewer does not wish to experience is being broadcast.

While such self-censorship offers the benefit that programmes remain available to those who do not find them objectionable, it -2suffers from the inconvenience of having to anticipate the nature of broadcasts and operate the receiver appropriately. This process is tedious and error-prone, especially where the viewer wishes to suppress progriainme material which changes rapidly in nature, for example when the viewer desires to suppress commercial messages within an otherwise unobjectionable programme. Manual censorship is therefore not an entirely satisfactory solution.

Another factor which renders manual censorship ineffective is the increasingly common use of videotape recorders for recording programmes for later replay. If an operator is present at the time of recording, unwanted programme can be suppressed by "pausing" the video recorder when appropriate, but in many cases such recording takes place unattended and at these times such manual censorship is not possible.

It is therefore desirable to provide means whereby display or recording of preselected classes of programme material can be automatically suppressed.

Arrangements for automatic censorship have been 20 previously published, but suffer from a number of serious shortcomings. The main difficulty is that automatic means for recognising different programme classifications, for example detection of television commercials, have been complex and unreliable. One technique has been to detect television commercials by the sho period of black picture and silence separating them from other programme material. A typical commercial-deleter of this type is disclosed in United States patent number 4,319,286. This system and others like it suffer from the problem that erroneous operation occurs if there is a 3 0 brief period of black and silence in a broadcast at a time other th i t the beginning of a commercial break, or if there is no sc ;ation between commercials and other programme material.

Furthermore, such systems are unable to distinguish between resumption of desired programme and further commercials at the conclusion of a commercial. Resumption of viewing or recording must therefore be controlled by some form of timing device, based on assumptions regarding the length of commercial -3breaks. If these assumptions are not correct, the system will fail in its function.

A much improved censorship means is disclosed by Von Kohor, in United States Patent number 4,520,404. This system relies on a human operator to classify broadcasts, based on observation at a monitoring station. A suitably coded message is distributed from the monitoring station to the viewer's home, at which point a suitably-equipped decoder controls the television receiver or video recorder in accordance with the classification data generated by the human operator at the mojtoring station.

Although this invention significantly improves upon the reliability of previous methods, it nevertheless suffers from a number of significant limitations.

The main limitation of the prior art arises from the means of distribution of classification data to the viewer's home. In the Von Kohorn patent cited above, the system relies on a special- S. purpose radio broadcast, a special-purpose cable connection or 2. specially-encoded control signals accompanying the broadcast to be censored as the means of distribution of classification data.

20 The provision of special purpose radio broadcasts presents the problems of cost and complexity of establishing suitable transmitters, which must be capable of delivering suitable .!signals to all users of the service, as well as the difficulty and expense of obtaining such licence as may be required by communications authorities. Distribution by cable suffers from "°.the high cost of establishing of suitable cabling, or difficulty of securing a suitable channel within a cable network already in place. Distribution by means of encoded signals accompanying the subject broadcasts is difficult to achieve as it requires the cooperation of the broadcasters.

An improved system which overcomes many of the limitations of the prior art is disclosed in patent application 35709/89 of Vogel. According to that system, the classification data is interleaved with data messages of other types for which transmission means has previously been provided. The present invention is an improvemelit of that system in which an -4improved method of interleaving the classification signals with other data message signals is provided.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic censorship method capable of automatically censoring broadcast programmes which does not require the establishment of a special broadcasting means or the cooperation of the broadcaster from whom the programmes originate, comprising the steps of monitoring broadcasts originating from at least one source, classifying programmes according to their content, generating a message describing the classification of the current programme, conveying said message to a data message transmitting station, temporarily suspending data messages (if any) being transmitted, transmitting said classification message, receiving said classification message at a plurality of receiving stations at which the classified programmes are being viewed or recorded, decoding said message and, 20 according to functions selected by the operator at the receiving station, controlling the reception, display, audition or recording of the classified programmes. The term "data message" as used herein refers to signals conveying information of a non-timccritical nature, that is, signals which convey information and can be interrupted for short periods, say one second, without significantly detracting from the quality or effectiveness of the transmission. Examples of such data messages include transmissions to pocket-paging receivers, teletext data or financial information being continuously transmitted to a group of subscriber stations.suspension of data messages is timed so that the potential for corruption of the message by the insertion of a classification message is minimised. According to the present invention, data messages and classification messages are buffered and sent only at appropriate times where the integrity of messages will not be compromised.

According to a second aspect of this inventive concept, apparatus for automatically censoring broadcast programmes is also provided, and comprises means for monitoring broadcasts originating from at least one source, means for generating a message describing the classification of the current programme according to classifications determined by an operator performing the monitoring, means for conveying said message to a data message transmitting station, a controller equipped to temporarily suspend messages (if any) being transmitted, radio transmitter means for transmitting said classification message, receivers which receive said classification message at a plurality of receiving stations at which the classified programmes are being viewed or recorded, means to decode said message and, according to functions selected by the operator at the receiving station, for controlling the reception, display, audition or recording of the classified programmes.suspension of data messages is timed so that the potential for corruption of the message by the insertion of a classification message is minimised.

.i According to the present invention, the controller is arranged so that data messages and classifihation messages are buffered and :"sent only at appropriate times where the integrity of messages 20 will not be compromised.

The invention also consists in transmission means as defined in the previous paragraph.

An important application is to a system in which monitoring of broadcasts from a plurality of sources occurs. Embodiments of the invention can readily provide such a feature.

5595 o* S, -6- BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS An embodiment t cto present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a suitable arrangement of the data transmitter of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a schematic block diagram of an alternative monitoring arrangement suitable for use with the invention.

MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION S::As seen in Fig. 1, programme source 101 is a videotape recorder, television camera, television studio or other source of 20 video programme. Classification encoder 102 is an encoder comprising a keyboard by means of which a censorship classification can be entered by the operator and encoding means which translates the entered classification into a unique digital word. Classification encoder 102 can also comprise means for inputting information defining to which channel of broadcast the entered classification data relates. In these embodiments, the data message transmitter of the invention is a paging system transmitter (referred to hereinafter as data transmitter 114), as commonly used in pocket-paging services, whereby on S 30 transmission of suitable address codes, portable receivers are activated to beep or display messages, alerting the user carrying the receiver. The output of classification encoder 102 is fed to d.ta tiansmitter 114. Said transmitter is also equipped to receive data from paging terminal 113, which is a conventional paging terminal into which messages to be transmitted to remotelylocated paging receivers are entered by an operator. Operation of the paging system is carried out according to any of the methods -7well known to the art, except that data from classification encoder 102 is interleaved with data from paging terminal 113.

Interleaving of paging and classification data is performed according to a scheme which ensures that classification data does not interfere with the operation of the paging system and that paging data does not interfere with operation of the classification and censorship system. One suitable embodiment of data transmitter 114 is shown in the schematic drawing Fig. 2, described in detail below. The programme from programme source 101 is transmitted to the point of viewing or recording via programme transmission means 103. The censorship classification signal interleaved with paging signals is transmitted to the same destination via data transmission means 112. Radio receiver 115 receives both paging and classification signals and feeds the demodulated data to classification detector 106 which is equipped to ignore paging signals but to extract and G: process classification signals. Censorship controller 107 receives extracted classification word, and compares it with a range of classifications previously entered by the operator using user 20 interface 108. If the current classification matches one of those selected to be censored by the operator, censor output 109 activates control input 110 of the video tape recorder and/or control input 111 of the television receiver, causing certain automatic censorship actions to happen. In this embodiment, the desired actions are selected by the operator and can include the following examples: a) Inhibit reception of both sound and picture Example: television only receives programmes suitable for li children b) Mute sound but continue displaying picture Example: remove sound during advertisements c) Blank picture but continue sound Example' Remove visual content from news programmes d) Switch to alternative programme Example: Replace advertisements with soothing images of tropical fish, news and information items from Teletext or -8other source, or alternative advertisements from another source e) Pause recording of programme onto videotape Example: Remove advertisements from recorded movies f) Enable record of programme onto videotape Example: Record all advertisements for motor vehicles.

In other simpler embodiments of the invention, the censorship action can be predetermined by the arrangement of the apparatus.

Where more than one channel of broadcast is available, it is desirable to permit selective operation of censorship based on which channel is being viewed or recorded. To facilitate this, classification encoder 102 can be equipped to produce channelspecific classification data at its output, and censorship controller 107 can be equipped to activate censor output 109 only if the corresponding channel is being viewed or recorded. Information .3 defining the currently active channel can be derived manually, via user interface 108, or automatically by connection to the broadcast reception means or by other techniques which may not require direct electrical connection.

Referring now to Fig. 2, detail of data transmitter 114 of Fig.

1 can be seen. Paging data arriving at paging data input 201 is fed to the input of FIFO buffer (first in, first out buffer) 209, before being passed to controller 210. Classification data arriving at classification data input 202 is fed to the input of FIFO buffer 211, before being passed to controller 210. An output of controller 210 feeds a digital message signal to modulation input 203 of transmitter 204. Transmitter 204 transmits a carrier, modulated accordingly, via antenna output 30 205. The controller continually monitors any paging messages in progress and in the absence of classification messages transfers the paging message to the transmitter. When a classification message arrives, the controller generates a control signal 213 which causes FIFO buffer 211 to buffer the classification message until a suitable point in the data message is reached, at which point the controller instructs FIFO buffer 209 to buffer further paging data received and generates a -9control signal 213 which causes FIFO buffer 211 to read out the buffered classification data, which is then sent to the transmitter.

When the end of a classification message is reached classification message FIFO buffer 211 is again placed into buffer mode and the paging data is recalled from FIFO buffer 209.

The result of this arrangement is that classification data, which is required to be transmitted urgently, will be transmitted with precedence over paging data. The small delay in completing the paging message does not materially affect the operation of the paging system.

The optimum point at which paging data messages are suspended depends on the protocol being used for the data messages. In the case of the POCSAG (Post Office Standardisation Advisory Group) protocol used by most paging systems, the controller can, for example, be arranged to follow the following rules: S: 1. If a classification message arrives during the POCSAG Goes preamble or address word, stop transmission immediately, transmit the classification signal, then repeat the POCSAG frame from the beginning.

2. If a classification message arrives during the POCSAG batch but not within a message, the sync and idle code words can be aborted while a classification message is transmitted. The paging message is resumed by re-transmitting the complete frame.

4* 4 3. If a classification message arrives during a POCSAG message, wait until the end of the message codeword, transmit the classification message, then resume the POCSAG message from the point at which it was suspended. To ensure that classification messages are not received by pagers, and that pager messages are not misinterpreted by classification signal receivers, the codes used for classification messages are chosen from those not used by the paging network.

The data interleaving function described above can conveniently be implemented by a microprocessor equipped with suitable software, or by an appropriate arrangement of electronic hardware.

10 Where the invention is being used to control censorship of a plurality of channels, it becomes difficult for one monitoring person to classify the programmes accurately. In this case this embodiment of the invention can be adapted to use the arrangement of Fig. 3, whereby a plurality of monitoring persons are used to perform the classification function. As seen in Fig. 3, each monitoring person 301-30n, views a group of television monitors 311-31n, each monitor displaying the broadcast of a different television channel. Each person enters the appropriate classification for each channel, or a sub-set of channels, at their own control panel 321-32n. The outputs of the control panels feed comparator 330, which generates at its output a signal 340 corresponding to the majority of inputs from the control panels.

This output feeds the classification data input 202 of Fig. 2. An alternative arrangement is possible, whereby each monitoring person monitors only one channel, however the arrangement described above is preferable because an error made by one person will not necessarily result in incorrect censorship action at viewers' homes, since the classification transmitted reflects 20 the classification decision of the majority of the monitoring persons.

In any embodiment of the invention, a security arrangement may be provided to enable authorised persons to enable and disable the censorship of programmes. In Fig. 1 this feature may be implemented by equipping censorship controller 107 with storage means within which a "personal idenlification number" (PIN) is stored. By means of user interface 108, an authorised person, to whom the PIN is known, Can enter the PIN, thereby enabling access to latches or other memory means 30 within censorship controller 107, the state of which defines the classes of programmes which will be censored. In this way a responsib!e adult, for example, could upon entering the correct PIN, disable the censorship function so that material unsuitable for children could be viewed. Resumption of the usual censorship function can be effected by again entering the PIN, after a preset time delay, or upon conclusion of the programme.

11 The foregoing describes only some embodiments of the present invention and modifications, obvious to those skilled in the art, can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, whereas the embodiment of the invention described above and the associated drawings refer to the use of a paging system as the classification message conveyance means of the invention, this is by way of example only, and any transmitter of non-time-critical data messages can be used.

Whereas the embodiment of the invention described above refers to the classification signal input to the data transmitter as originating from control panels operated by monitoring persons, it is envisaged that automated means can be applied instead of the monitoring persons without departing from the scope of the invention.

While the classification detector and censorship controller are described in these embodiments as being distinct from the a television receptior or recording equipment, this apparatus can be incorporated within other equipment such as a television 20 receiver, monitor, or video tape recorder.

For the purpose of implementing the present invention without needing to modify the videotape recorder and/or television receiver, control inputs 110 and 111 of Fig. 1 can be Of..

the remote control interface of the videotape recorder and/or television receiver in cases where these are equipped with a remote control. That is, the censorship controller 107 is equipped with interface means compatible with the remote control communication standard, for example an infra-red transmitter, 'r*o so that pausing, muting, blanking, channel-changing, or other S 30 censorship actions can be effected using unmodified recording/receiving equipment.

In cases where great flexibility of user interface is required, a video display device call be used to display the range of available censorship categories in the form of a menu, and the operator can make selections from that menu using a small number of switches, according to techniques well known to the computer art.

12 Whereas the embodiments described herein refer to use of the invention for deletion of unwanted material from recording or viewing, the invention can also be adapted to provide other useful control functions. For example, the invention can be arranged to cause only nominated types of material to be recorded. This capability can be used for compiling a recording of all the advertisements broadcast on a given day, or all the episodes of a particular programme broadcast over several nights. The invention can also be used to control recording of pre-determined programmes by starting and stopping the VCR at the actual times of commencement and termination f the desired programme, rather than relying on the clock means commonly incorporated into VCRs for this purpose. The method of control using this invention is superior in that the correct programme segment will be recorded in spite of differences between the scheduled times of programmes and their actual S* starting and finishing times.

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Claims (10)

1. A method of automatically censoring broadcast programmes, comprising the steps of: utilising at least one human operator to monitor broadcasts originating from at least one source; classifying programmes according to their content as perceived by said operators; generating a classification message describing the current classification; conveying said classification message to a data message transmitting station; on receipt of said classification message, if a data message is being transmitted, waiting until such time as interruption of the data message will not affect the integrity of the data message, temporarily suspending transmission of the data message and transmitting said classification message; 20 receiving said classification message at a plurality of broadcast programme receiving stations; and according to functions selected by an operator at one of the said broadcast programme receiving stations and responsive to said received classification messages, automatically controlling the reception, display, audition or recording of the broadcast programmes.

2. An automatic censorship method according to claim 1 30 wherein said data message transmitting station is a paging service transmission station.

3. An automatic censorship method according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the transmission follows the following rules: 1) If a classification message arrives in a non- information carrying part of said data message, stop 14 transmission immediately, transmit the classification message, then repeat the data message entirely 2) If a classification message arrives during an information-carrying part of said data message, wait c urt of until the end of.ithe message, transmit the classification message, then resume the message from the point at which it was suspended.

4. An automatic censorship method according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein a classification message is constructed so as to riot interfere with correct reception of data messages. An automatic censorship method according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein a classification message is constructed so that data messages do not interfere with correct reception of classification messages. oo 'b

6. An automatic censorship method according to any of 20 claim 1 to claim 4 wherein the step of classifying programmes according to their content is performed by a plurality of persons, each of whom enters a perceived classification into a comparator adapted to generate a classification output according to the classification entered by a majority of said persons.

7. Automatic broadcast programme censorship means comprising: see% "monitoring means adapted to enable at least one 30 human operator to monitor broadcasts originating from at least one source; means for generating a classification signal describing the classification of a programme currently being broadcast; receiving means for receiving non-time-critical data message signals; 15 a data transmitter comprising radio frequency carrier transmission means and means for modulating said transmitted radio frequency carrier; a controller adapted to supply the output of said receiving means as input to said modulating means in the absence of a classification signal and on detection of a classification signal to wait until such time as interruption of any data message being transmitted will not affect the integrity of the data message, temporarily suspend any output of said receiving means and to supply the classification signal as input to said modulating means; a classification signal receiver which receives classification signals from said data transmitter; and means for controlling the reception, display, audition or recording of the broadcast programmes in response to said received classification signals and according to *0 functions selected by an operator. ooo 20 8. Automatic broadcast programme censorship means according to claim 7 wherein said data transmitter is a paging service transmission station.

9. Automatic censorship means according to claim 7 or claim 8 wherein the controller is further adapted so that 'transmission follows the following rules: 1) If a classification message arrives in a non- information carrying part of said data message, stop transmission immediately, transmit the classification V 30 message, then repeat the data message entirely 2) If a classification message arrives during an information-carrying part of said data message, wait until the end of 4 the message, transmit the classification message, then resume the message from the point at which it was suspended. -s i .4 16 An automatic censorship method according to claim 7 or claim 8 wherein a classification message is constructed so as to not interfere with correct reception of data messages.

11. An automatic censorship method according to claim 7 or claim 8 wherein a classification message is constructed so that data messages do not interfere with correct reception of classification messages.

12. Automatic broadcast programme censorship means according to claim 7 wherein said means for generating a classification signal describing the classification of a programme currently being broadcast comprises: a plurality of persons, each of whom enters a perceived classification into selection means; and a comparator adapted to receive input from said "D selection means and to generate a classification signal output according to the classification entered by a 20 majority of said persons.

13. Automatic broadcast programme censorship means substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. a 0 S3 0 Applicant Date 17 ABSTRACT A system for controlling reception or recording of television broadcasts according to censorship classifications. One or more persons monitoring broadcasts nominate a classification and cause an appropriate signal to be generated and transmitted to viewers' homes by means of a radio transmission network also used for transmission of other data signals, such as a pocket- paging system. Means are provided to ensure that classification signals are transmitted with priority over paging signals or other non-time-critical data. *o* 4 a. a. fat too a ft f 6f