EP0777385A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
A method and apparatus for screening audio-visual materials presented to a subscriber
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
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Filing: 1996-11-27
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2016-11-27
Abstract
Abstract A method and apparatus for the automatic access control to multimedia presentations at the receiver in accordance with a viewer selected access mode and access classification data encoded into the multimedia presentation. Screening classification codes (SCCs) are embedded in the Audio Visual Material (AVM) delivered to a subscribers home station. The screening classification codes identify the type of content that follows in the AVM stream. For instance, violent content (video and/or audio) provided to a home station may contain a SCC that indicates violent scenes or violent action is forth coming in the AVM stream. The home station takes the SCC that are encoded and/or embedded in the AVM stream and applies a subscriber selected screening criteria. The screening criteria or suppression criteria are AVM manipulation commands. These AVM manipulation commands can blank the audio and/or video, cause the display of the last acceptable frame, perform obscuration transforms on the AVM stream or otherwise manipulate the audio and/or video portions of the AVM stream. The subscriber associates an AVM manipulation command with each of the available SCCs. The home station applies the subscriber desired manipulation commands to the AVM stream. Information on the subscriber selections are provided to an upstream node for subscriber behavior collection analysis.
Inventors
- 👤 Caglan M. Aras
- 👤 Luther B. Griffin
- 👤 Fuyung Lai
- 👤 Arthur James Stagg
- 👤 Kian-Bon Kho Sy
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-25 01:01
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N21/00; H04N21/20; H04N21/25; H04N21/258; H04N21/25866; H04N21/25891; H04N21/40; H04N21/43; H04N21/442; H04N21/44213; H04N21/44222; H04N21/45; H04N21/4508; H04N21/4532; H04N21/454; H04N21/462; H04N21/4622; H04N21/47; H04N21/478; H04N21/4782; H04N7/00; H04N7/16; H04N7/173; H04N7/17309; H04N7/17318; H04N7/17345; H04N7/17354; H04N7/17363
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 11
Claim 1
Independent Claim
205 words
A home station having a plurality of channels, each channel receiving an associated audio-visual material stream at least one channel having audio-visual identifier information containing screening classification codes, said home station comprising: a remote for permitting the subscriber to select a channel for presentation on said home station of an audio-visual material stream and to input subscriber screening information; a channel classification table (303,421) for associating channel identifiers with an overall channel classification code; a screening classification table (305,423) for associating screening classification codes with audio-visual material manipulation commands; a decoder (159) for obtaining audio visual identifier information including screening classification codes from the audio-visual materials in a channel selected by the subscriber using the remote; a screener controller (301,407) for obtaining an audio-visual material manipulation command from said screening classification table (305,423) if said screening classification codes are available from said audio-visual material stream in the selected channel, and if said screening classification codes are not available from said selected channel then using an overall classification code obtained from said channel classification table (303,421) for said selected channel and using said overall classification code to obtain an audio-visual material manipulation command and applying said obtained audio-visual material manipulation command to the audio-visual material stream.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
31 words
The home station according to claim 1, wherein said channel classification table (303,421) is obtained by the home station tuning to a predetermined channel and populating the channel classification table (303,421).
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
29 words
A home station according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the audio-visual material comprises an audio portion and a visual portion, each portion having its own screening classification codes.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
29 words
A home station according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the classification audio-visual material stream is encoded using MPEG and the screening codes are embedded in a transport layer.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
34 words
A home station according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the screener controller (301,407) collects the decoded audio-visual identifier Information and the audio-visual material manipulation command in a behavior collection table (307,411).
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
34 words
A home station according to claim 5, further comprising a communication manager (417) for sending the collected audio-visual identifier information and audio-visual material manipulation commands onto an upstream channel via a communications adapter (408).
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
34 words
A home station according to claim 6, wherein the communication manager (417) sends the collected audio-visual identifier information and audio-visual material manipulation commands in response to a transmit command embedded in audio-visual identifier information.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
178 words
In a home station having a plurality of channels, each channel receiving an associated audio-visual material stream, with at least one channel having audio-visual identifier information containing screening classification codes, said screening classification codes classifying the content of the audio-visual material to be sent in the stream in accordance with a plurality rating classifications, the method of screening audio-visual material comprising the steps of: receiving an audio-visual material stream from a selected channel; decoding said audio-visual identifier information including said screening classification codes, if any, from said received audio-visual material stream; obtaining an audio-visual material manipulation command from a screening classification table (305,423) if said screening classification codes are available from said audio-visual material stream in the selected channel, and if said screening classification codes are not available from said selected channel then using an overall classification code obtained from a channel classification table (303,421) for said selected channel and using said overall classification code to obtain an audio-visual material manipulation command; and modifying said received audio-visual material stream in accordance with the obtained audio-visual material modification command.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
44 words
A method according to claim 8, further comprising the steps of collecting the decoded audio-visual identifier information and the audio-visual material modification command, and transmitting the collected audio-visual identifier information and audio-visual material modification commands over an upstream channel coupled to the home station.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
190 words
In a home station having a plurality of channels, each channel receiving an associated audio-visual material stream, with at least one channel having audio-visual identifier containing screening classification codes, said screening classification codes classifying the content of the audio-visual material to be sent in the stream in accordance with a plurality rating classifications, the method of screening audio-visual material comprising the steps of: selecting a first channel having a first audio-visual material stream containing audio-visual identifier information including screening classification codes; obtaining a first audio-visual material manipulation command from a channel classification table (303,421) using a first channel identifier associated with the first channel; manipulating said first audio-visual material stream in accordance with the first audio-visual material manipulation command; presenting the manipulated first audio-visual material stream to the subscriber; decoding said audio-visual identifier information including said screening classification codes from said first audio-visual material stream; obtaining a second audio-visual material manipulation command from a screening classification table (305,423) using the decoded screening classification codes; manipulating said first audio-visual material stream in accordance with the second audio-visual material manipulation command; and presenting the manipulated first audio-visual material stream to the subscriber.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
223 words
An article of manufacture comprising a computer useable medium having a computer readable program embodied in said medium, wherein the computer readable is suitable for execution on a home station having a plurality of channels, each channel receiving an associated audio-visual material stream, with at least one channel having audio-visual identifier information containing screening classification codes, said screening classification codes classifying the content of audio-visual material to be sent in the stream in accordance with a plurality of rating classifications, when executed the program causing the home station to: receive an audio-visual material stream from a selected channel; decode the audio-visual identifier information including said screening classification codes, if any, from said received audio-visual material stream; obtain an audio-visual material manipulation command from a screening classification table if said screening classification codes are available from said audio-visual material stream in the selected channel, and if said screening classification codes are not available from said selected channel then obtain an overall classification code from a channel classification table for said selected channel and using said overall classification code to obtain and audio-visual material manipulation command; collect the decoded audio-visual identifier information and the obtained audio-visual material manipulation commands in a behavior collection table; modifying said received audio-visual material stream in accordance with the obtained audio-visual material modification command; and transmit the behavior collection table
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