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EP0720369A2 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Real-time edit control for video program material

Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
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Filing: 1995-12-06
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2015-12-06
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Abstract

Abstract A system and method for editing program material provide viewers with real-time editing control. Digital program material are divided into relatively short segments and each of these segments are rated to indicate a level of potentially objectionable material contained therein. Each segment is tagged to indicate this rating. Prior to viewing the program material, or during playback of the program material, the viewer determines the rating level at which he or she wishes to view the program material. This rating level is entered into the playback system. Upon playback, the system examines the tag of each segment to determine whether that segment should be played. If a segment is tagged to indicate a rating with a higher level than that requested by the viewer, the tag is edited and not displayed. Thus, the program material is edited in real time as it is displayed to the viewer.

Inventors

  • 👤 Hal H. Ottesen
  • 👤 Gordon J. Smith

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction EP
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-04 19:23
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N7/00; H04N7/16; H04N7/173; H04N21/00; H04N21/80; H04N21/81; H04N21/812; G; G11; G11B; G11B27/00; G11B27/10; G11B27/102; G11B27/105; H04N21/40; H04N21/45; H04N21/454; H04N21/4542; H04N21/458; H04N21/47; H04N21/475; H04N21/4756; H04N21/83; H04N21/845; H04N21/8456; H04N21/85; H04N21/854; H04N21/8549; H04N5/00; H04N5/76; H04N5/91; H04N7/17309; H04N7/17318; H04N9/00; H04N9/79; H04N9/80; H04N9/82; H04N9/8205

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 13
Claim 1
Independent Claim 62 words
A method of providing a viewer with edit control of video program material, comprising the steps of: receiving the video program material, wherein said video program material is divided into a plurality of segments and each segment is tagged to indicate a rating for that segment; and determining whether each segment is to be presented to the viewer based on said rating.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 44 words
The method of claim 1, wherein said step of determining comprises the steps of: examining said tag of each segment to determine said rating for that segment; determining a selected rating level; and comparing said rating of that segment to said selected rating level.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 37 words
The method of claim 1 or 2, further comprising the steps of: determining whether each segment contains objectionable material based on said rating; and discarding one of said plurality of segments if that segment contains objectionable material.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 41 words
The method of any one of claim 1 to 3, further comprising a step of assigning a tag to said segment, wherein said tag indicates a rating of said segment. and wherein each said segment is a frame of compressed data.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 22 words
The method of claim 4, further comprising a step of decoding said compressed data prior to presenting said segments to the viewer.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 38 words
The method of any one of claim 1 to 4, further comprising steps of : modulating said segments to be presented to the viewer; displaying said modulated segments on a television, and buffering program material prior to modulation.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 61 words
The method of claim 2, wherein said step of determining a selected rating level comprises the step of allowing a user to select a rating level at which to view the program material, and wherein said step of allowing a user to select a rating level comprises a step of allowing a viewer to enter a passcode authorizing a rating level.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 29 words
The method of claim 7, further comprising a step of providing the viewer with information regarding the amount of material at a particular rating level in the program material.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 40 words
The method of claim 17, wherein said step of determining a selected rating level comprises a step of allowing a viewer to enter a desired skill level to select said rating determining a viewer rating based on past viewer input.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 34 words
The system of claim 2, further comprising a step of discarding only the audio portion of a segment containing objectionable audio material while still providing the video portion of said segment to the viewer.
Claim 11
Independent Claim 27 words
A system for providing a viewer with edit control of video program material comprising means for implementing the method of any one of claims 1 to 10.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim 52 words
A video-on-demand system for providing a viewer with edit control of video program material ordered from a video-on-demand service, comprising: means for providing video program material to a viewer, as recited in claim 11; and means for receiving at the viewer location the video program material provided by the video-on-demand service, and
Claim 13
Dependent Claim 42 words
A video playback system for providing a viewer with edit control of video program material being played, comprising: means for retrieving the video program material from a storage medium, to be used in connexion with the system as recited in claim 11.

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