CA2351766A1 - A method to improve the desirability of media files - Google Patents
A method to improve the desirability of media files Download PDFInfo
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- CA2351766A1 CA2351766A1 CA002351766A CA2351766A CA2351766A1 CA 2351766 A1 CA2351766 A1 CA 2351766A1 CA 002351766 A CA002351766 A CA 002351766A CA 2351766 A CA2351766 A CA 2351766A CA 2351766 A1 CA2351766 A1 CA 2351766A1
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- Prior art keywords
- media file
- content
- desirability
- file
- user
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- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
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Classifications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
- H04N21/23—Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
- H04N21/233—Processing of audio elementary streams
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
- H04N21/23—Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
- H04N21/234—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing of video streams, manipulating MPEG-4 scene graphs
- H04N21/23418—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing of video streams, manipulating MPEG-4 scene graphs involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
- H04N21/23—Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
- H04N21/234—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing of video streams, manipulating MPEG-4 scene graphs
- H04N21/2343—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing of video streams, manipulating MPEG-4 scene graphs involving reformatting operations of video signals for distribution or compliance with end-user requests or end-user device requirements
- H04N21/234381—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing of video streams, manipulating MPEG-4 scene graphs involving reformatting operations of video signals for distribution or compliance with end-user requests or end-user device requirements by altering the temporal resolution, e.g. decreasing the frame rate by frame skipping
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
- H04N21/25—Management operations performed by the server for facilitating the content distribution or administrating data related to end-users or client devices, e.g. end-user or client device authentication, learning user preferences for recommending movies
- H04N21/258—Client or end-user data management, e.g. managing client capabilities, user preferences or demographics, processing of multiple end-users preferences to derive collaborative data
- H04N21/25866—Management of end-user data
- H04N21/25891—Management of end-user data being end-user preferences
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/60—Network structure or processes for video distribution between server and client or between remote clients; Control signalling between clients, server and network components; Transmission of management data between server and client, e.g. sending from server to client commands for recording incoming content stream; Communication details between server and clientÂ
- H04N21/61—Network physical structure; Signal processing
- H04N21/6106—Network physical structure; Signal processing specially adapted to the downstream path of the transmission network
- H04N21/6125—Network physical structure; Signal processing specially adapted to the downstream path of the transmission network involving transmission via Internet
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/80—Generation or processing of content or additional data by content creator independently of the distribution process; Content per se
- H04N21/85—Assembly of content; Generation of multimedia applications
- H04N21/854—Content authoring
- H04N21/8549—Creating video summaries, e.g. movie trailer
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N7/00—Television systems
- H04N7/16—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems
- H04N7/173—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal
- H04N7/17309—Transmission or handling of upstream communications
- H04N7/17336—Handling of requests in head-ends
Abstract
The invention relates to the creation of a novel method to allow customers to automatically alter media files. The method is suitably generic to allow compression of any media file. However, it is optimized for sporting events including but not limited to professional hockey, baseball, football and soccer. The invention is reliant on existing technology to 'stream' data over the Internet and is independent on the choice of media format chosen.
Description
Description TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to interactive entertainment systems, such as, but not limited to interactive television. Furthermore, this invention provides users with the opportunity to specify the amount of time they wish to elapse while the media file is viewed in its entirety. As a specific example, a user could watch a hockey game, but specify that they only have ~/~ hour to watch the game and that they really like fights and goals. The invention can then compress the hockey game by removing and/or fast forwarding through the less interesting parts and attempting to keep and the fights and/or goals.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Video content programs, such as T'V shows and pay-per-view movies, are delivered to a viewer as a continuous data stream. Today, programs are most commonly distributed using a wireless broadcast system, or a cable system. In the first instance, the programs are broadcast over a wireless network and received at individual homes through an antenna or satellite dish. In the latter case, the programs are transmitted over cable to set-top boxes resident in the viewers' homes.
In broadcast distribution systems, there is no opportunity for interactive control of the content by the viewer. The viewer simply has an option to watch the program, change to a different program, or turn off the television. However, as consumers have learned from playing video games on their televisions, non-interactive viewing is not nearly as fun or sensory rich as interactive entertainment.
To enhance the traditional way of viewing television, there has been some effort toward the production of interactive programming content. As presently contemplated, additional interactive content is created to enhance the existing traditional program.
This supplemental content is played along with the continuous video stream to enable viewers to interact with the program in a more involved tnantter than simply watching it. The supplemental content might, for example, ask the viewer questions about the episode, or play games with the viewer that relate to the show, or describe behind-the-scenes aspects of making the program. However, there remains a significant hurdle concerning how to create and distribute interactive programs.
Interactive content is also available from online services over a public network. Most notably, the Internet is emerging as a means for supplying video, sound, pictures, text, and other multimedia rich resources to a user's computer. Through the Internet, users can access a wide variety of resources that are maintained on computers located around the world.
Despite the development of interactive entertainment in the computer sector, there has been little activity spilling over into the traditional television world. The T'V environment poses a problem in that the programs are typically delivered as a broadcast of a continuous data stream, which inherently does not support interactive control.
Interlacing interactive content presents a difficult design issue.
(see US patent #6,240,091) The invention described in this patent allows the user to customize the generic signal sent to all viewers. This interactive entertainment can be accomplished via the transmission of one signal.
This solution is independent on the method used to obtain interactive TV via the Internet.
Its strength lies in its ability to maximize the entertainment value of the content that users have access to over the Internet. With the advent of a virtual "data smog" of information, the information itself loses value at the expense of a tool that can be used to sift through the data.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention concerns an entertainment system for allowing users to inaease the desirability of the content they view/hear. The content is supplied from a program provider, such as a cable headend or a broadcast station, over a distribution network to a viewer computing unit. The programs are continuous, non-interactive data streams, such as television shows, movies, or other content.
The viewer-computing unit is implemented as a television, a television/set-top box unit, a personal computer, or the like. The invention uses an weighted average to create a function f(t) that is related to the relative entertainment value of the media that the user wishes to view. This invention also uses an additional function g(t) which specifies the speed at which to play the file. For values of f(t) less then some user defined constant K, there is an inverse relationship between g(t) and f(t). If the length of the highlights file is specified by the user, the relationship between g(t) and f(t) can be uniquely solved such that the games) are compressed into the user specified time.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig#1, provides a general description of the apparatus used in the invention Fig#2 provides a description of the computer system used by the user. This computer system is a standard computer running client software. This client software must be able to display the media file output from the system to the user.
Fig#3 provides a description of the server used to compress the media file and send it to the user. This computer is a standard server with the ability to compress a media file in accordance to the specifications as laid out in this document.
Fig#4 provides a description of the Media file Provide. This competent of the invention is a standard web server. The web server is running Apache and the media file its set S3 are separate files stored in the same directory. The directory consists of only these two files.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
A preferred embodiment of the present invention is disclosed in the block diagram of FIG. #1. An InterneUonline subscriber may wish to view a file on the server.
The user may connect to the server and use any Internet protocol (HTTP is recommended).
The editing of the media file may occur by either the server or client computer.
The invention consists of a way to alter media files. The method is dependent upon a function f~'t). This function is related to a subjective entertainment value or desirability of a specific media file as a function of time. Once this value is defined, the invention will alter the file in order to decrease or increase the amount of time required to view and/or listen to the file.
To determine file content desirability, we build a list of regular expressions associated with events as well as the events themselves that lead to added entertainment value.
Examples of such regular expressions are "goal", "great hit", "this is a close game", and "foul" which originate from the broadcast closed captioned signal, by speech recognition, or by other means. Examples of such events are the actual "goal", "great hit", "close game", or "foul" which are represented by the media file. Also, a human could directly record the time that these events occur in relation to the beginning of the media file.
The invention defines the following:
~ h(t) is a function of the audio component of the signal and is a function of time.
~ S, _ {word"...word } where S, is the set of regular expressions and events associated with increased entertainment value, ~ S2 =f K,,...K" } where K, ... IC" are the entertainment values associated with each regular expression or event in S,. In both sets users can add, delete or modify items in the set in order to customize the set of parameters used by the invention to edit the media file(s).
~ t; = time of each occurrence of regular expression, t = ak where a is the sampling period.
~ f~'t) is the entertainment value of the media file as a function of time.
~ S3 is the set events E S, that are represented by the media file as well as the time offset into the file that these events are represented.
It is convenient to represent,/~'k) as a sequence that is determined from a media file. If the media file is video, the sampling interval (time between samples) ink) is the time between the frames in the video file are displayed. The sequence j~'k) can be obtained thusly:
1 set each element in the series f(k) = 0 2 FOREACH (element of S5) DO:
This invention relates to interactive entertainment systems, such as, but not limited to interactive television. Furthermore, this invention provides users with the opportunity to specify the amount of time they wish to elapse while the media file is viewed in its entirety. As a specific example, a user could watch a hockey game, but specify that they only have ~/~ hour to watch the game and that they really like fights and goals. The invention can then compress the hockey game by removing and/or fast forwarding through the less interesting parts and attempting to keep and the fights and/or goals.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Video content programs, such as T'V shows and pay-per-view movies, are delivered to a viewer as a continuous data stream. Today, programs are most commonly distributed using a wireless broadcast system, or a cable system. In the first instance, the programs are broadcast over a wireless network and received at individual homes through an antenna or satellite dish. In the latter case, the programs are transmitted over cable to set-top boxes resident in the viewers' homes.
In broadcast distribution systems, there is no opportunity for interactive control of the content by the viewer. The viewer simply has an option to watch the program, change to a different program, or turn off the television. However, as consumers have learned from playing video games on their televisions, non-interactive viewing is not nearly as fun or sensory rich as interactive entertainment.
To enhance the traditional way of viewing television, there has been some effort toward the production of interactive programming content. As presently contemplated, additional interactive content is created to enhance the existing traditional program.
This supplemental content is played along with the continuous video stream to enable viewers to interact with the program in a more involved tnantter than simply watching it. The supplemental content might, for example, ask the viewer questions about the episode, or play games with the viewer that relate to the show, or describe behind-the-scenes aspects of making the program. However, there remains a significant hurdle concerning how to create and distribute interactive programs.
Interactive content is also available from online services over a public network. Most notably, the Internet is emerging as a means for supplying video, sound, pictures, text, and other multimedia rich resources to a user's computer. Through the Internet, users can access a wide variety of resources that are maintained on computers located around the world.
Despite the development of interactive entertainment in the computer sector, there has been little activity spilling over into the traditional television world. The T'V environment poses a problem in that the programs are typically delivered as a broadcast of a continuous data stream, which inherently does not support interactive control.
Interlacing interactive content presents a difficult design issue.
(see US patent #6,240,091) The invention described in this patent allows the user to customize the generic signal sent to all viewers. This interactive entertainment can be accomplished via the transmission of one signal.
This solution is independent on the method used to obtain interactive TV via the Internet.
Its strength lies in its ability to maximize the entertainment value of the content that users have access to over the Internet. With the advent of a virtual "data smog" of information, the information itself loses value at the expense of a tool that can be used to sift through the data.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention concerns an entertainment system for allowing users to inaease the desirability of the content they view/hear. The content is supplied from a program provider, such as a cable headend or a broadcast station, over a distribution network to a viewer computing unit. The programs are continuous, non-interactive data streams, such as television shows, movies, or other content.
The viewer-computing unit is implemented as a television, a television/set-top box unit, a personal computer, or the like. The invention uses an weighted average to create a function f(t) that is related to the relative entertainment value of the media that the user wishes to view. This invention also uses an additional function g(t) which specifies the speed at which to play the file. For values of f(t) less then some user defined constant K, there is an inverse relationship between g(t) and f(t). If the length of the highlights file is specified by the user, the relationship between g(t) and f(t) can be uniquely solved such that the games) are compressed into the user specified time.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig#1, provides a general description of the apparatus used in the invention Fig#2 provides a description of the computer system used by the user. This computer system is a standard computer running client software. This client software must be able to display the media file output from the system to the user.
Fig#3 provides a description of the server used to compress the media file and send it to the user. This computer is a standard server with the ability to compress a media file in accordance to the specifications as laid out in this document.
Fig#4 provides a description of the Media file Provide. This competent of the invention is a standard web server. The web server is running Apache and the media file its set S3 are separate files stored in the same directory. The directory consists of only these two files.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
A preferred embodiment of the present invention is disclosed in the block diagram of FIG. #1. An InterneUonline subscriber may wish to view a file on the server.
The user may connect to the server and use any Internet protocol (HTTP is recommended).
The editing of the media file may occur by either the server or client computer.
The invention consists of a way to alter media files. The method is dependent upon a function f~'t). This function is related to a subjective entertainment value or desirability of a specific media file as a function of time. Once this value is defined, the invention will alter the file in order to decrease or increase the amount of time required to view and/or listen to the file.
To determine file content desirability, we build a list of regular expressions associated with events as well as the events themselves that lead to added entertainment value.
Examples of such regular expressions are "goal", "great hit", "this is a close game", and "foul" which originate from the broadcast closed captioned signal, by speech recognition, or by other means. Examples of such events are the actual "goal", "great hit", "close game", or "foul" which are represented by the media file. Also, a human could directly record the time that these events occur in relation to the beginning of the media file.
The invention defines the following:
~ h(t) is a function of the audio component of the signal and is a function of time.
~ S, _ {word"...word } where S, is the set of regular expressions and events associated with increased entertainment value, ~ S2 =f K,,...K" } where K, ... IC" are the entertainment values associated with each regular expression or event in S,. In both sets users can add, delete or modify items in the set in order to customize the set of parameters used by the invention to edit the media file(s).
~ t; = time of each occurrence of regular expression, t = ak where a is the sampling period.
~ f~'t) is the entertainment value of the media file as a function of time.
~ S3 is the set events E S, that are represented by the media file as well as the time offset into the file that these events are represented.
It is convenient to represent,/~'k) as a sequence that is determined from a media file. If the media file is video, the sampling interval (time between samples) ink) is the time between the frames in the video file are displayed. The sequence j~'k) can be obtained thusly:
1 set each element in the series f(k) = 0 2 FOREACH (element of S5) DO:
3 f(k) = f(k) + k~e1'-'~ .
f(k) = f(k) + h(k) Line #3 is the crux of the above method. In this tine, we determine the desirability of the media file and thus entertainment value from occurrences of the elements in S, in the media file. We evaluate k~e~'~"t at regular intervals and add this new series to j~'k where k~ is the element in SZ associated with the event or regular expression in S, that is represented in the media file. Because S3 is the list of elements of S~ that are represented in the media file, we sum over each element in S3, s Furthermore, before we add this new sequence to f(k), it is possible to shift it in time. A
specific example of why this time shifting is useful because the exciting part of the media file may occur before the eventlword exists in closed-captioned signal. For example, when a goal is scored, we do not necessarily want to center the area of the media file that the invention slows down at the time the goal is scored. We may want to slow down x seconds of the file before the goal is scored and then resume the prior (probably fast-forwarded) speed the as soon as possible after the goal is scored.
A number of methods may be user in order to determine the existence of events that are represented by the media file as well as the time that these events occur. The easiest methodology of solving this problem is to employ one or more humans to observe the file. A computer program is created by which the user can enter in the corresponding information in order to build a database of occurrences of instances of elements in S,.
If a closed caption signal approach is desired, the computer program must be modified to search for regular expressions in the closed captioned signal. Once a regular expression that is a member of the set S, occurs, the program determines the time offset into the file that this event occurred at, and adds it to the database of events.
If speech recognition is used, the algorithm is the same as with the closed captioned signal approach, but speech recognition is first used to build a closed captioned signal.
As with J(k), it is convenient to represent h(t) as a finite, discrete sequence. As a starting point, we define h(k) as related to the amplitude of the noise from the crowd that exists in the sound signal in the media file. If we assume that the noise from the crowd is relatively constant, we can use the following method to determine h(k).
I . Using the sound signal H(t) from the media file and frequency (w) we can express H(t) as a function of w by breaking up H(t) into many short lived functions H,{t) all of length a and taking the Discrete Fourier Transform (DF n of each individual function.
2. In order to calculate each instance of the series h(k) we first select the functions H;(t) centered at time near ak where a is the sampling period. Next, we define S4 to contain the power of each function we have selected. h(k) is made equal to the minimum element this set S4.
We can further refine h(t) to include voice stress analysis.
The pattern on the left is an example of a person answering a question and displaying no stress. The pattern on the right is displaying tremendous stress when the person answered the second question (http://www.umr.edu/-police/cvsa/example.htm). In the case of sporting events, the voice stress analysis is best preformed on the announcers. The announcers can be isolated from the rest of the audio signal by subtracting out the sound of the crowd (using the above method for determining the crowd signal) as well as subtracting all frequencies outside of that commonly spoken. Voice stress analysis is a separate area of interest and will not be patented in this document. Any existing method of voice stress analysis can be used. The resultant function (voice stress vs.
time) can be added to h(k).
Finally, the invention defines L, as the desired length of the highlights package .The invention furthermore sets, jt'k) = 0 for all values of f(k) < K where K is a user defined constant. Next, the invention equates g(k) to J(k). The series g(k) refers to the amount of time the program playing the file should wait before the next frame/sample is played. The total time (T~ required to play the media file is T=~g(k).
If we divide every element in g(k) by some constant a, we can adjust the length of the file until it becomes L,.
As shown in Fig#1, the user requesting the media file from the server initiates the process of supplying a version of the media file with altered entertainment value to the user. The completion of this process relies on the existence of the desired media file on the system.
If this constraint is not satisfied, the system must obtain the media file from the Media File Provider via the Internet or otherwise. The media file is originally stored along with the set S3. The Media File Provider obtains the set S3 for every file it stores using the method described above.
Once the system has the media file, the following chain of events occur:
Based on the users desired value of L, set Sz (the system supplies user modifiable defaults for Sz) the system will determine the constant a that it must divide every element in g(k) by in order for the media file length to be L, as specified above. The system will then divide each element in the sequence g(k) by this constant a.
The system will now alter the media file. Using a frame based file format, the following method will be invoked.
g(k)>_ 0 and specifies the number of times the frame in the input file will occur in the output file. As an example, if g(k) _ [1,2,3,0,0,1,0,2,3], we would produce a modified file described by h(k) _ [1,2,2,3,3,3,6,8,8,9,9,9]. The first frame of the input file is played once, the second frame is played twice, the third frame three times, the fourth and fifth frame are skipped, the 6~' frame is played once, the seventh frame is skipped, the g~' frame is played twice and the 9'~ frame is played three times. Thus, in this specific file the Process will increase the time required to play the file. If we apply the above method with 8(k) _ [ 1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0, I ], we would only play every second frame and the modified file would take ~/~ as much time to view as the original.
Once this process is completed, the server creates and then sends the altered media file to the user. It should also be noted that the server that completes the file alteration may exist on the users computer. Finally, if g(k )is not an integer for some value of k, the frame is played at least lg(k)~times. The probability of the frame appearing once more in the output is g(k) - lg(k) J where lg(k) J means the greatest integer less than g(k).
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highlights Appl No: 727837 (URL's associated with words in CC signal from program) Appl No: 737404 (An Internet Portal, comprising: an Internet-connected server;
and a portal software executing on the server, including a summary software agent;
wherein the Portal maintains a list of Internet destinations specific for a subscriber, and the summary software agent accesses the Internet destinations, retrieves information according to pre-programmed criteria, and summarizes the retrieved information for delivery to the subscriber.) In another aspect of the present invention, a software agent, termed a gatherer by the inventors, is adapted to gather and return summary information about URL's according to user request or enterprise discretion.
Sports Appl No: 210497: A method for content-based television program selection, comprising:
receiving an input signal from a viewer indicating a desired program content category;
determining whether any channels are currently showing a program of the desired content category at the time of receiving the input signal; and if a channel is determined to be currently showing a program of the desired content category, automatically tuning to the determined channel Appl No: 742450 pop up video for sports TV AND Internet Appl No: 727837 A method comprising: transmitting video data; transmitting ancillary information associated with said video data; and transmitting information that may be used to identify the content included in said ancillary information. This provides the user, in one embodiment of the present invention, with a visual indication of the type of information that accompanies television content. This helps the user to decide whether the user wishes to view the ancillary infom~ation and provides the opportunity to select that enhancement for viewing Sports AND Highlights Patent 6,215,484 a subscriber television reception system for receiving interactive television programming, the interactive television programming comprising one or more interactive television program signals placed at one or more communication frequencies, each interactive television program signal comprising a data stream containing a plurality of digitally compressed video signals, the reception system comprising:
6,151,571A method and system for monitoring a conversation between a pair of speakers for detecting an emotion of at least one of the speakers is provided. First, a voice signal is received after which a particular feature is extracted from the voice signal.
Next, an emotion associated with the voice signal is determined based on the extracted feature.
The emotion is screened and feedback is provided only if the emotion is determined to be a negative emotion selected from the group of negative emotions consisting of anger, sadness, and fear. Such determined negative emotion is then outputted to a third party during the conversation.
specific example of why this time shifting is useful because the exciting part of the media file may occur before the eventlword exists in closed-captioned signal. For example, when a goal is scored, we do not necessarily want to center the area of the media file that the invention slows down at the time the goal is scored. We may want to slow down x seconds of the file before the goal is scored and then resume the prior (probably fast-forwarded) speed the as soon as possible after the goal is scored.
A number of methods may be user in order to determine the existence of events that are represented by the media file as well as the time that these events occur. The easiest methodology of solving this problem is to employ one or more humans to observe the file. A computer program is created by which the user can enter in the corresponding information in order to build a database of occurrences of instances of elements in S,.
If a closed caption signal approach is desired, the computer program must be modified to search for regular expressions in the closed captioned signal. Once a regular expression that is a member of the set S, occurs, the program determines the time offset into the file that this event occurred at, and adds it to the database of events.
If speech recognition is used, the algorithm is the same as with the closed captioned signal approach, but speech recognition is first used to build a closed captioned signal.
As with J(k), it is convenient to represent h(t) as a finite, discrete sequence. As a starting point, we define h(k) as related to the amplitude of the noise from the crowd that exists in the sound signal in the media file. If we assume that the noise from the crowd is relatively constant, we can use the following method to determine h(k).
I . Using the sound signal H(t) from the media file and frequency (w) we can express H(t) as a function of w by breaking up H(t) into many short lived functions H,{t) all of length a and taking the Discrete Fourier Transform (DF n of each individual function.
2. In order to calculate each instance of the series h(k) we first select the functions H;(t) centered at time near ak where a is the sampling period. Next, we define S4 to contain the power of each function we have selected. h(k) is made equal to the minimum element this set S4.
We can further refine h(t) to include voice stress analysis.
The pattern on the left is an example of a person answering a question and displaying no stress. The pattern on the right is displaying tremendous stress when the person answered the second question (http://www.umr.edu/-police/cvsa/example.htm). In the case of sporting events, the voice stress analysis is best preformed on the announcers. The announcers can be isolated from the rest of the audio signal by subtracting out the sound of the crowd (using the above method for determining the crowd signal) as well as subtracting all frequencies outside of that commonly spoken. Voice stress analysis is a separate area of interest and will not be patented in this document. Any existing method of voice stress analysis can be used. The resultant function (voice stress vs.
time) can be added to h(k).
Finally, the invention defines L, as the desired length of the highlights package .The invention furthermore sets, jt'k) = 0 for all values of f(k) < K where K is a user defined constant. Next, the invention equates g(k) to J(k). The series g(k) refers to the amount of time the program playing the file should wait before the next frame/sample is played. The total time (T~ required to play the media file is T=~g(k).
If we divide every element in g(k) by some constant a, we can adjust the length of the file until it becomes L,.
As shown in Fig#1, the user requesting the media file from the server initiates the process of supplying a version of the media file with altered entertainment value to the user. The completion of this process relies on the existence of the desired media file on the system.
If this constraint is not satisfied, the system must obtain the media file from the Media File Provider via the Internet or otherwise. The media file is originally stored along with the set S3. The Media File Provider obtains the set S3 for every file it stores using the method described above.
Once the system has the media file, the following chain of events occur:
Based on the users desired value of L, set Sz (the system supplies user modifiable defaults for Sz) the system will determine the constant a that it must divide every element in g(k) by in order for the media file length to be L, as specified above. The system will then divide each element in the sequence g(k) by this constant a.
The system will now alter the media file. Using a frame based file format, the following method will be invoked.
g(k)>_ 0 and specifies the number of times the frame in the input file will occur in the output file. As an example, if g(k) _ [1,2,3,0,0,1,0,2,3], we would produce a modified file described by h(k) _ [1,2,2,3,3,3,6,8,8,9,9,9]. The first frame of the input file is played once, the second frame is played twice, the third frame three times, the fourth and fifth frame are skipped, the 6~' frame is played once, the seventh frame is skipped, the g~' frame is played twice and the 9'~ frame is played three times. Thus, in this specific file the Process will increase the time required to play the file. If we apply the above method with 8(k) _ [ 1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0, I ], we would only play every second frame and the modified file would take ~/~ as much time to view as the original.
Once this process is completed, the server creates and then sends the altered media file to the user. It should also be noted that the server that completes the file alteration may exist on the users computer. Finally, if g(k )is not an integer for some value of k, the frame is played at least lg(k)~times. The probability of the frame appearing once more in the output is g(k) - lg(k) J where lg(k) J means the greatest integer less than g(k).
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highlights Appl No: 727837 (URL's associated with words in CC signal from program) Appl No: 737404 (An Internet Portal, comprising: an Internet-connected server;
and a portal software executing on the server, including a summary software agent;
wherein the Portal maintains a list of Internet destinations specific for a subscriber, and the summary software agent accesses the Internet destinations, retrieves information according to pre-programmed criteria, and summarizes the retrieved information for delivery to the subscriber.) In another aspect of the present invention, a software agent, termed a gatherer by the inventors, is adapted to gather and return summary information about URL's according to user request or enterprise discretion.
Sports Appl No: 210497: A method for content-based television program selection, comprising:
receiving an input signal from a viewer indicating a desired program content category;
determining whether any channels are currently showing a program of the desired content category at the time of receiving the input signal; and if a channel is determined to be currently showing a program of the desired content category, automatically tuning to the determined channel Appl No: 742450 pop up video for sports TV AND Internet Appl No: 727837 A method comprising: transmitting video data; transmitting ancillary information associated with said video data; and transmitting information that may be used to identify the content included in said ancillary information. This provides the user, in one embodiment of the present invention, with a visual indication of the type of information that accompanies television content. This helps the user to decide whether the user wishes to view the ancillary infom~ation and provides the opportunity to select that enhancement for viewing Sports AND Highlights Patent 6,215,484 a subscriber television reception system for receiving interactive television programming, the interactive television programming comprising one or more interactive television program signals placed at one or more communication frequencies, each interactive television program signal comprising a data stream containing a plurality of digitally compressed video signals, the reception system comprising:
6,151,571A method and system for monitoring a conversation between a pair of speakers for detecting an emotion of at least one of the speakers is provided. First, a voice signal is received after which a particular feature is extracted from the voice signal.
Next, an emotion associated with the voice signal is determined based on the extracted feature.
The emotion is screened and feedback is provided only if the emotion is determined to be a negative emotion selected from the group of negative emotions consisting of anger, sadness, and fear. Such determined negative emotion is then outputted to a third party during the conversation.
Claims (15)
1. A method to increase the entertainment value of a media file comprising:
(a) measuring aspects inherent in the content to measure the desirability of the content.
(b) using this information to create an altered media file with altered entertainment value.
(a) measuring aspects inherent in the content to measure the desirability of the content.
(b) using this information to create an altered media file with altered entertainment value.
2. A method as in claim #1 wherein the media file is video media.
3. A method as in claim #1 wherein the media file is audio media.
4. A method as in claim #1 wherein the entertainment value of the media file may be altered by selectively compressing various parts of the media file.
5. A method as in claim #1 wherein the entertainment value of the media file may be altered by selectively slowing down the playing of various pare of the media file.
6. A method as in claim #1 further comprising of the desirability of the content being derived in whole or in part from the existence of various regular expressions in the closed captioned signal and possibly being a function of time where we use the same general definition for "regular expression" as does the programming language Perl.
7. A method as in claim #1 further comprising of the desirability of the content being derived in whole or in part from the existence of various patterns in audio component of the media file.
8. A method as in claim #1 further comprising of the desirability of the content being derived in whole or in pan from a component of the audio component of the media file.
9. A method as in claim #1 further comprising of the desirability of the content being derived in whole or in part from a events that are portrayed by the media file.
10. A method as in claim #9 further comprising of a human entering into a computer the time that these events are portrayed by the media file.
11. A method as in claim #1 further comprising of a human entering into a computer a subjective rating of the current entertainment value of the media file during various time intervals.
11. A method as in claim #1 further comprising of a human entering into a computer a subjective rating of the current entertainment value of the media file during various time intervals.
11. A method as in claim #1 further comprising of the ability of the user to add regular expressions to the list of items associated with the desirability of the content.
12. A method as in claim #1 further comprising of the ability of the user to add events to the list of items associated with the desirability of the content.
13. A method as in claim #1 further comprising of the ability of the user to change the degree that the occurrence of a regular expression is associated with the desirability of the content.
13. A method as in claim #1 further comprising of the ability of the user to change the degree that the occurrence of a regular expression is associated with the desirability of the content.
13. A method as in claim #1 further comprising of the ability of the user to change the degree that the occurrence of an event is associated with the desirability of the content.
14. A method as in claim #1 further comprising of the invention using speech recognition to generate data analogous to a closed captioned signal.
15. A method as in claim #1 further where voice stress analysis of the audio component of the file is used to measure the desirability of the content.
16. A method as in claim #1 further comprising of the ability of the user to over ride the system and speed up and/or slow down the rate at which the media file is displayed.
17. A method as in claim #1 further comprising of supplying interactive content interactive content via a generic data stream by allowing users to customize which parts of the generic stream they hear and/or see.
18. An apparatus comprising a computer with the means to store data and modify that data.
19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the information is edited as specified using any of claims 1 to 17.
20. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the unedited file is sent to the user via the Internet or other means and further where the user then edits the file as specified using any of claims 1 to 17.
15. A method as in claim #1 further where voice stress analysis of the audio component of the file is used to measure the desirability of the content.
16. A method as in claim #1 further comprising of the ability of the user to over ride the system and speed up and/or slow down the rate at which the media file is displayed.
17. A method as in claim #1 further comprising of supplying interactive content interactive content via a generic data stream by allowing users to customize which parts of the generic stream they hear and/or see.
18. An apparatus comprising a computer with the means to store data and modify that data.
19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the information is edited as specified using any of claims 1 to 17.
20. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the unedited file is sent to the user via the Internet or other means and further where the user then edits the file as specified using any of claims 1 to 17.
15. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the data is edited as specified using any of claims 1 to 17 and the information is later sent to a user who then may experience the file.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002351766A CA2351766A1 (en) | 2001-06-22 | 2001-06-22 | A method to improve the desirability of media files |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002351766A CA2351766A1 (en) | 2001-06-22 | 2001-06-22 | A method to improve the desirability of media files |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2351766A1 true CA2351766A1 (en) | 2002-12-22 |
Family
ID=4169357
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002351766A Abandoned CA2351766A1 (en) | 2001-06-22 | 2001-06-22 | A method to improve the desirability of media files |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA2351766A1 (en) |
-
2001
- 2001-06-22 CA CA002351766A patent/CA2351766A1/en not_active Abandoned
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| FZDE | Discontinued | ||
| FZDE | Discontinued |
Effective date: 20040119 |