CN1981281A - Apparatus, system, and method for filtering objectionable portions of a multimedia presentation - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for filtering portions of a multimedia presentation. A stream of multimedia media data read from a memory media is compared with a filter file associated with the multimedia data. The filter file includes a start position, a stop position, and a filtering action to perform on the portion of the multimedia content that begins at the start position and ends at the stop position. When the multimedia data read from the media corresponds with the filter file, the designated filtering action is performed. Aspects of the invention also pertain to the format for the filter file, format for accessing filter files on a memory media.

Description

Apparatus, system and method for filtering undesirable parts of a multimedia presentation

Cross References to Related Applications

This application is a patent cooperation treaty (PCT) application, and the title required to be filed on April 12, 2004 is entitled "Apparatus, System, and Method for Filtering Objectionable Portions for Filtering Objectionable Portions in Audio and Video Presentations" of an Audio VisualPresentation), which is the priority of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/561,851. This application also claims priority and partial extensions of U.S. Patent Application No. 09/694,873, filed October 23, 2000, entitled "Multimedia Content Navigation and Playback," and also claims that Priority and part of U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 09/695,102, filed October 23, 2000, entitled "Delivery of Navigation Data for Playback of Audio and Video Content" Expansion, the disclosure of each of the priority applications listed above is hereby incorporated by reference.

field of invention

The present disclosure relates to systems, methods, apparatus and file formats related to filtering portions of multimedia presentations.

background

Often, movies and other multimedia presentations contain scenes or language that are not appropriate for audiences of certain age groups. To help users determine whether a movie is suitable for a given age group, the Motion Picture Association of America (“MPAA”) developed the now-familiar NC-17/R/PG-13/PG/G rating system. Other organizations have developed similar rating systems for other types of multimedia content, such as television shows, computer software, video games, and music.

Both the amount and context of potentially objectionable content are important factors in assigning a multimedia presentation rating. However, depending on the type of rating recommended for teens, there may be relatively few adult-focused themes that are adequately stripped of multimedia content. For example, in the context of a movie, a single scene of explicit violence, sexuality, or language might warrant an "R" rating, while additional portions might be a "PG" or "PG13" movie. Thus, despite the public appeal of an "R"-rated movie, individuals seeking to avoid "R"-rated content, and teens who are restricted to an "R" rating, may choose not to watch such a movie, were it not for the inclusion of said explicit scenes , otherwise they are still eager to watch such a movie.

Many users may choose another version of a multimedia presentation, such as one modified to make its content more age-appropriate. In order to provide modified versions of multimedia works, prior art has focused on controlling multimedia sources. Modifications to the details of the multimedia content are largely dependent on the type of media carrier from which the source is accessed. For linear access media, such as videotape or audiotape, clip unwanted content from the tape and splice the remainder into one piece. This process is repeated for each portion of undesirable content contained in the multimedia source. Such editing by a single user is impractical due to the need for specialized tools and expertise. When a third party can do this editing on behalf of the user to modify the content, the process is inefficient due to the physical manipulation and repeated editing required for each individual tape.

Modifying direct access media such as DVDs also focuses on modifying multimedia sources. Unlike linear media, direct access media allows access to any portion of the multimedia content in approximately the same amount of time as any other portion of the multimedia content. Direct access media allows for the generation and distribution of multiple versions of multimedia content, including versions that may be suitable for most age groups, and for storage of these versions on a single medium. The decoding process generates various continuous multimedia streams by identifying, selecting, retrieving and sending content segments from among the many available segments stored on the content source.

To help illustrate the state of the art in generating multiple versions of a multimedia work from a single source, a high-level description of the basic elements present in a system for presenting multimedia content may be beneficial. Typically, such systems include multimedia sources, decoders and output devices. A decoder is a converter between the format used to store or transmit multimedia content and the format used for intermediate processing and final presentation of the multimedia content on an output device. For example, multimedia content can be encrypted to prevent piracy and compressed to save storage space or bandwidth. Before presentation, multimedia content must be decrypted and/or decompressed, usually by a decoder.

The prior art teaches the generation and delivery of multiple versions of a direct-access multimedia work on a single storage medium by breaking the multimedia content into various segments and including alternate segments where appropriate. Each individually accessed section will be rated and labeled according to the content it contains, taking into account factors such as subject matter, context, and clarity. One or more segment indexes are generated for presenting each multi-version of the multimedia content. For example, one index may refer to segments of multimedia content identified as "PG" versions, while another index may refer to segments identified as "R" version content. Additionally, the segments themselves or individual indexes may include ratings compared to user-selected ratings.

There are many benefits in the prior art of indexing interchanged segments to provide multiple versions of a multimedia work on a single storage medium. Storage space usage is optimized since segments shared by multiple versions only need to be stored once. Users may be given the option to set their own level of tolerance for specific subjects, and different multimedia versions may contain alternative segments with varying degrees of clarity. When used in conjunction with a buffer, the inclusion of a segment index on a content source enables seamless playback (ie, without gaps and pauses) of selected segments. Seamless playback is achieved by providing a segment index on the content source, so that the selection and ordering of interchanged segments is managed before the data enters the buffer.

The use of buffers can compensate for the delay experienced when reading different physical regions of the direct access medium. When the reading mechanism is moved from one disk location to another, the requested content is not read from the direct access medium. Usually, this problem is because the playback rate of the multimedia content greatly exceeds the access rate. For example, a common playback rate for multimedia content is 30 frames per second. Therefore, when the reading mechanism moves to another starting point, the random access must be less than one-thirtieth of a second (approximately 33 milliseconds) or the random access will cause a pause during playback. However, the average access rate for a 16x DVD in a personal computer is about 95 milliseconds, almost three times the 33 milliseconds that allow for seamless playback. Also, according to National Television Standards Committee ("NTSC") standards, only 5 to 6 milliseconds are allowed between rendering the last pixel of one frame and rendering the first pixel of the next frame. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the above calculations are an example of the time constraints involved in reading multimedia content from direct access media for output to a PC or television, when the multimedia content is read even without Allocating the time to decode the multimedia content also needs to add this time to the access time to calculate the delay more accurately.

Once accessed, a DVD drive can read multimedia content from a DVD at a rate that exceeds the playback rate. To address access delays, the DVD specification teaches reading multimedia content into a track buffer. The size of the track buffer and the size of the multimedia content that must be read into the track buffer is determined by several factors, including those mentioned above, such as access time, decoding time, playback rate, etc. When stored on DVD, a segment index corresponding to browse commands identifies and orders content segments for reading into the track buffer, as taught in the prior art, allowing multiple versions of multimedia content to seamlessly playback. However, a segment index external to the content source does not fully control the browse command during the initial segment identification/selection/retrieval process, since the external index can affect the position code that is obtained at the end of the decoding process. Therefore, an external segment index may not be able to use DVD track buffers to address access latency as taught in the prior art.

As another buffering scheme, segments from respective versions of the multimedia content are interleaved. This allows the media to be read substantially sequentially by reading, discarding or skipping unwanted segments. However, skipping represents a relatively small movement of the reading mechanism. Typically, small moves are more transient than larger moves and therefore introduce minimal delay.

Furthermore, prior art techniques involving multiple versions of a multimedia work on a single direct-access medium have practical limitations that prevent their widespread use. A major problem is that content generators must voluntarily generate and widely distribute multiple versions of multimedia works, as well as the additional production effort to organize and label these content segments, including interchangeable segments, for compatibility with segment indexes or mapping use together. These indexes, combined with the corresponding segments, identify a work and are stored directly on the source medium when the medium is produced. In short, while the prior art provides a tool for creating multiple versions of a multimedia work, the tool itself is useless to the user.

Another problem in the prior art is that in order to integrate segmented indexing on direct access storage, existing coding techniques must be licensed; in order to generate segmented indexing utilizing multimedia works for seamless playback stored on direct access media For multimedia version decoders, the decoding technique must be licensed. In the case of DVD, the Moving Picture Experts Group ("MPEG") governs the compression techniques used to encode and decode multimedia files. Furthermore, since multimedia content creators generally want to prevent unauthorized copying of their multimedia productions, they also employ copy protection techniques. The most common copy protection technology for DVD media is governed by the DVD Copy Control Association ("DVDCCA"), which governs the licensing of Content Scrambling System technology ("CSS"). Codec developers license the related MPEG and CSS technologies under very strict agreements that dictate how the technology is used. In short, the time and expense associated with licensing existing compression and copy protection techniques or developing proprietary compression and copy protection techniques can be significant, inhibiting widespread use of prior art segmented indexing techniques that use for providing multiple versions of a multimedia work on a single direct access memory.

Furthermore, prior art knowledge does not provide a solution for filtering direct access multimedia content that has been copied and distributed regardless of whether the content presentation is more appropriate for a majority age audience. At the time of filing this patent application, more than 40,000 multimedia subtitles had been released on DVD, which did not take advantage of prior art multi-version technology to allow users to view and listen to alternate versions in a manner more suitable for audiences of most ages content.

The prior art teaches that during the decoding process, by examining the audio stream for closed captioning information and attenuating the volume of segmented streams that contain words that correspond to a predetermined set of words deemed inappropriate for audiences of most ages A vocabulary that can identify and filter the audio portion of multimedia. This technique is limited in application because it cannot identify and filter video segments, and it only works on audio streams that contain closed caption information. Furthermore, filtering of audio content based on closed caption information is inaccurate due to difficult synchronization between closed caption information and its corresponding audio content.

Contents of the invention

The subject of the invention relates to a method for filtering a portion of a presentation of multimedia content, said method comprising accessing at least one filter file defining a filter start indication and a filter operation; reading digital multimedia information from a storage medium, the multimedia information including a position reference; comparing the location reference of the multimedia information with the filter start indication; and performing a filter operation in response to the comparison if the location reference of the multimedia information matches the filter start indication of at least one filterable portion of the multimedia content.

Brief description of the drawings

In order to describe the manner in which the above and other advantages and features of the invention are obtained, a more detailed description of the invention than the brief description above will be provided by reference to specific embodiments which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, and that additional features and details of the invention will be described and illustrated by use of the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 illustrates a typical system that provides a suitable operating environment for the present invention;

Figure 2 is a high-level block diagram representing the basic elements of a system embodying the present invention;

Figures 3A, 3B and 3C are block diagrams of three more detailed systems providing the basic elements shown in Figure 2;

4A, 5A and 7 are flowcharts describing an exemplary method for filtering multimedia content according to the present invention;

4B and 5B illustrate browsing objects associated with mockup location codes for multimedia content;

6 is a flowchart describing a method for customizing multimedia content filtering;

8A and 8B are flowcharts illustrating methods in accordance with the teachings of the present invention;

Fig. 9 is a typical block diagram of a menu arrangement in accordance with the teachings of the present invention;

10A-10C are exemplary block diagrams illustrating the operation of filtering processing in accordance with the teachings of the present invention;

Figure 11 is a typical block diagram of a menu arrangement in accordance with the teachings of the present invention;

Fig. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation content of skip type filtering according to the content of the present invention;

Fig. 13 is a file format diagram of a skip type filtering operation;

Fig. 14 is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation content of silent type filtering according to the content of the present invention;

Figure 15 is a file format diagram of a skip type filter operation; and

16-23 are file formats for indexing and filter tables for identifying data packets in accordance with the teachings of the present invention.

specific embodiment

The present invention provides methods, systems and computer program products for automatically identifying and filtering portions of multimedia content during decoding. Embodiments of the invention may include special purpose or general purpose computers with various computer hardware, television systems, audio systems, and/or combinations thereof. These embodiments are discussed in more detail below. However, the described embodiments should be considered in all cases to be typical examples of the invention, not to limit its scope.

Embodiments within the scope of the present invention also include computer-readable media for carrying or having computer-executable instructions or data structures stored thereon. Such computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, DVD, CD-ROM, or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage, or other magnetic storage devices, or may be used to load or store information in the form of computer-executable Any other medium having the desired program code means of instructions or data structures and which can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. When information is transmitted or provided over a network or other communication link or connection (hardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired and wireless) to the computer, the computer treats the connection exclusively as a computer-readable medium . Thus, any such connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media. Computer-executable instructions include, for example, instructions and data which cause a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or special purpose processing device to perform a certain function or group of functions.

Figure 1 and the ensuing discussion are intended to provide a brief overview of a suitable computing environment in which the invention may be implemented. Although not required, the invention will be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by computers in network environments. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Computer-executable instructions, associated data structures, and program modules represent examples of the program code means for executing steps of the methods disclosed herein. The particular sequence of such executable instructions or associated data structures represent examples of corresponding acts for implementing the functions described in such steps. Furthermore, the program code means executed by the processing unit provide an example of a processor solution.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention may be practiced in a networked computing environment having many types of computer system architectures, including personal computers, handheld devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer Electronic products, network personal computers, pocket computers, mainframe computers, and the like. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by local and remote processing devices that are linked (either by hardwired links, wireless links, or by a combination of hardwired or wireless links) through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

Referring to FIG. 1, a typical system for implementing the present invention includes a general-purpose computing device in the form of a conventional computer 20, which includes a processor 21, system memory 22, and various system elements connected to each other including the system memory 22. System bus 23 to processor 21 . The system bus 23 can be any of these bus structures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any bus architecture. The system memory includes read only memory (ROM) 24 and random access memory (RAM) 25 . A basic input/output system (BIOS) 26, which contains routines that help pass information between elements within the computer 20, such as the boot process, may be stored in ROM 24.

The computer 20 may also include a magnetic hard disk drive 27 for reading from and writing to a magnetic hard disk 39, a magnetic disk drive 28 for reading from or writing to a removable magnetic disk 29, and a Optical disc drive 30 for removable optical disc 31 for other optical media. The magnetic hard disk drive 27, the magnetic disk drive 28, and the optical disk drive 30 are connected to the system bus 23 through the hard disk drive interface 32, the magnetic disk drive interface 33, and the optical disk drive interface 34, respectively. These drives and their associated computer-readable media provide non-volatile storage of computer-executable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for the computer 20 . Although the typical environment described here uses a magnetic hard disk 39, a removable disk 29, and a removable optical disk 31, other types of computer-readable media for storing data can also be used, including magnetic tape, flash memory cards, digital video disks , Bernoulli disks, RAMs, ROMs, and the like.

The program code method comprising one or more program modules can be stored in hard disk 39, magnetic disk 29, optical disc 31, ROM 24 or RAM 25, including operating system 35, one or more application programs 36, other program modules 37, and program data38. A user may enter commands and information into computer 20 through keyboard 40, pointing device 42, or other input devices (not shown), such as a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, or the like. These and other input devices are often connected to the processor 21 through a serial interface 46 connected to the system bus 23 . Alternatively, these input devices may be connected through other interfaces, such as a parallel port, game port, or universal serial bus (USB). A monitor 47 or other display device is also connected to system bus 23 via an interface such as video adapter 48 . In addition to a monitor, personal computers typically include other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as speakers and a printer.

Computer 20 may operate in a network environment utilizing logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as remote computers 49a and 49b. Remote computers 49a and 49b may each be other personal computers, servers, routers, network personal computers, peer-to-peer devices, or other common network nodes, although only memory storage devices 50a and 50b, and their associated applications 36a and 36b is illustrated in FIG. 1 , but generally also includes many or all of the elements described above with respect to computer 20 . The logical connections depicted in Figure 1 include a local area network (LAN) 51 and a wide area network (WAN) 52, provided here for example only and not limitation. Such networking environments are also commonplace in office or enterprise computer networks, intranets and the Internet.

When used in a LAN network environment, the computer 20 is connected to a local network 51 through a network interface or adapter 53 . When used in a WAN network environment, computer 20 may include a modem 54, wireless link, or other means for establishing communications over wide area network 52, such as the Internet. A modem 54 , which may be internal or external, is connected to the system bus 23 through the serial interface 46 . In a network environment, program modules described relative to the computer 20, or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. It should be appreciated that the network connections shown are typical examples and other means of establishing wide area network 52 communications may be used.

Scrolling down to Figure 2, a high-level block diagram identifying the basic elements of a system for filtering multimedia content is shown. These basic elements include content source 230 , decoder 250 , browser 210 , and output device 270 . The content source 230 provides multimedia to the decoder 250 for decoding, and the browser 210 controls the decoder 250 so that the filtered content cannot reach the output device 270, and the output device 270 plays back the received multimedia content. When used in this application, the term "multimedia" should be interpreted broadly to include audio content, video content, or both.

The present invention does not require a special content source 230 . Any data source capable of providing multimedia content, such as DVDs, CDs, memory, hard disks, removable disks, tape disks, and virtually any other type of magnetic or optical media can serve as content source 230 . Those skilled in the art will recognize that the above media include read-only, read/write and write-once types, whether storing in analog or digital format. All necessary hardware and software for accessing these media types are part of content source 230 . Content source 230 as described above provides an example of a multimedia source device.

Multimedia source 230 typically provides encoded content. Encoding represents the difference between those formats that are commonly used to store or transmit multimedia content and those used for intermediate processing of multimedia content. Decoder 250 converts between storage formats and intermediate formats. For example, stored MPEG content is compressed and encrypted. Decoder 250 decrypts and decompresses the stored MPEG content prior to playback at an output device. Decoder 250 may include hardware, software, or some combination of hardware and software. Due to the large amount of data involved in playing multimedia content, the decoder 250 often has some mechanism for sending the data directly to the output device 270 . Decoder 250 is an exemplary embodiment of decoder means.

Output device 270 provides one example of an output device for playing multimedia content and should be considered to include any device capable of playing multimedia content so that the content can be viewed. For a computer system, such as the computer system described with reference to FIG. 1, the output device 270 may include a video card, a video display, a sound card, and speakers. Alternatively, output device 270 may be a television or audio system. Television systems and audio systems include many devices. A simple audio system might include at least one amplifier and several speakers. Likewise, a simple television system might be a conventional television including one or more speakers and a television screen. More advanced televisions and audio systems may include audio and video receivers that perform more sophisticated processing of audio and audio content to improve sound and picture quality.

Output device 270 may include a combination computer, television, and audio system. For example, a home theater is a combination audio and television system. These systems typically include multiple content sources such as elements for videotapes, audiotapes, DVDs, CDs, cable and satellite connections, and the like. Audio and/or television systems may also be integrated with computer systems. Accordingly, output device 270 should be construed to include the aforementioned audio, television and computer systems operating alone or in combination. Also, when used in such applications, computer systems (whether for users or as servers), television systems and audio systems may indicate system performance rather than its primary or ordinary use. These capabilities are not necessarily mutually exclusive. For example, a TV that plays music through its speakers is perfectly considered an audio system because it is capable of acting as an audio system. The usual presence of a television as part of a television system does not preclude its use as an audio system. Therefore, terms like client system, server system, television system and audio system should be given the broadest interpretation to include any system capable of performing the indicated performance.

The browser 210 controls the software and/or hardware of the decoder 250 by determining whether the decoded content needs to be filtered. Browser 210 is an example of a multimedia browsing device. It should be emphasized that content source 230, decoder 250, output device 270 and browser 210 are drawn separately only to aid in their illustration. Some embodiments may combine content source 230, decoder 250 and browser 210 into a single set-top box for use with a television and/or audio system. Similarly, a computer system may combine a portion of decoder 250 with output device 270 and a portion of decoder 250 with content source 230 . Many other embodiments are also possible, so the invention does not require that these four elements must exist independently of each other. In this way, the corresponding multimedia source device, decoder device, output device and multimedia browsing device also do not need to exist independently of each other, and they can be combined together to suit specific embodiments of the present invention. Content source 230, decoder 250, output device 270 and/or browser 210 may also be distributed remotely from each other and connected together by a communication link.

As mentioned above, FIGS. 3A , 3B and 3C are block diagrams of three exemplary systems that provide more detail of the basic elements shown in FIG. 2 . However, the present invention is not limited to any particular physical configuration of the elements shown in FIG. 2 . Those skilled in the art will recognize that these basic elements can be used in many embodiments, including a single physical device or several physical devices. Therefore, FIG. 2 and all other figures should be considered as specific embodiments according to the present invention, and not as limitations on the scope of the present invention.

Similar to FIG. 2, FIG. 3A includes browser 310a, content source 330a, audio video decoder 350a, and output device 370a, all located on user system 380a. Content sources 330a include DVD 332a and DVD drive 334a. The double-headed arrow between content source 330a and audio video decoder 350a indicates that content source 330a provides multimedia content to audio video decoder 350a, while audio video decoder 350a sends commands to content source 330a when performing filtering operations.

The browser 310a monitors the decoder 350a by continuously updating the time code of the decoded multimedia content. (A timecode is an example of a location used to identify a portion of multimedia content. In the case of timecode, positioning is based on the elapsed playback time from the beginning of the content. For other applications, positioning may involve physical quantities, such as in a video or audio tape from a reel to another moving tape length. The present invention does not necessarily require any special type of positioning for marking portions of multimedia content.) In one embodiment, timecode updates occur every tenth of a second, but the present invention No special update interval is required. (The description of FIGS. 4B and 5B provides some insight into factors that should be taken into account in selecting an appropriate update interval.)

Communication between the browser 310a and the audio video decoder 350a is via a vendor-independent interface 352a. Vendor independent interface 352a allows browser 310a to use the same commands that can be used for many different content sources. Microsoft's(R) DirectX(R) is a set of application programming interfaces that provide a vendor-neutral interface to content sources 330a in computer systems running various Microsoft operating systems. Audio video decoder 350a receives commands via vendor independent interface 352a and issues appropriate commands to a particular content source 330a.

Audio video decoder 350a provides audio content and video content to output device 370a. Output devices 370a include graphics adapter 374a, video display 372a, audio adapter 376a, and speakers 378a. Video display 372a may be any device capable of displaying video content, regardless of format, including computer display devices, television screens, and the like.

Typically, graphics adapters and audio adapters provide some decoding techniques to minimize the amount of data moved between content source 330a and output device 370a. Graphics adapters and audio adapters also provide additional processing to convert multimedia content from intermediate processing formats to formats more suitable for display and audio playback. For example, many graphics adapters provide video acceleration technology to enhance display speed by offloading processing tasks from other system components. As far as graphics adapters and audio adapters are concerned, the actual transition between decoder 350a and output device 370a may be somewhat obscure. To the extent that graphics adapter 374a and audio adapter 376a perform decoding, a portion of the adapters may be properly interpreted as being a portion of decoder 350a.

Browser 310a includes browsing software 312a and object store 316a. Double-headed arrow 314a represents data flow between browsing software 312a and object store 316a. Object store 316a includes number of browsing objects 320a. In the object store 316a, browsing objects may be stored as individual files for specific multimedia content, these files may be stored in one or more common databases, or employ some other data management system. The present invention imposes no limitation on how browsing objects are stored in object store 316a.

Each browse object 320a specifies when (start point 321a and end point 323a) a filter operation (325a) for a particular system (329a) should occur, and specifies a description of why the browse object was generated. Both start and end locations (321a and 323a) are stored as timecodes in the format hours:minutes:seconds:frames; actions can be skip or mute (325a); descriptions are text fields (327a); An identifier (329a) useful in determining whether a browsing object 320a is suitable for a particular user system 380b. Values indicate start position 321a as 00:30:10:15; end position 323a as 00:30:15:00; filter operation 325a as skip; description 327a as "bleeding scene"; and configuration 329a as 2.1. Referring to Figures 4B and 5B, more details will be provided regarding browsing objects, such as browsing object 320a.

When the browser 310a monitors whether the audio video decoder 350a is decoding the time code of the multimedia content, it compares the time code with the browsing object in the object store 316a. When the location code falls within the range of start and end locations specified by the browse object, the browser 310a activates the filter operation assigned to the browse object. For browsing object 320a, timecodes in the range of almost 4 seconds from 00:30:10:15 to 00:30:15:00 cause browser 310a to issue a command to audio video decoder 350a to skip to the end of the segment so as not to decode This segment of the multimedia content, and not providing the segment of the multimedia content to the output device 370a. This process of filtering multimedia content will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 4A , 5A, 6 and 7 .

As shown in FIG. 3A, FIG. 3B includes a content source 330b, an audio and video decoder 350b, and an output device 370b. However, in Figure 3B, object store 316b is located on server system 390b, and all other elements are located on user system 380b. The content of browse object 320b remains unchanged, as indicated by start point 321b, end point 323b, action 325b, description 327b, and configuration 329b.

Content source 330b, including DVD drive 334b and DVD 332b, has been combined with audio video decoder 350b, vendor independent interface 352b and browser software 312b to form a single device. There is communication between the browsing software 312b and the object store 316b over the communication link 314b. Communication link 314b is an example of a communication device and should be construed to include any communication link for exchanging computerized system data. The particular communication protocol used to implement communication link 314b also varies between embodiments. In FIG. 3B, at least a portion of communication link 314b may include the Internet.

Output devices 370b include a television 372b having a video input 374b and an audio receiver 377b having an audio input 376b. The audio receiver 377b is connected to a speaker 378b. As noted previously, the sophistication and complexity of output device 370b depends on the implementation of a particular embodiment. As shown, the output device 370b is relatively simple, but many elements may be added, such as video and audio receivers, amplifiers, additional speakers, etc., without departing from the invention. Furthermore, it is not necessary for the output device 370b to include both video and audio components. If the multimedia content contains only audio content, then the video component is unnecessary. Likewise, if the multimedia content contains only video data, the audio component of output device 370b may be eliminated.

Turning to the next Figure 3C, a browser 310c, a content source 330c, an audio video decoder 350c, and an output device 370c are all provided. Similar to Figure 3B, Figure 3C includes a server/remote system 390c and a user system 380c. For the embodiment shown in Figure 3C, browser 310c is located on server/remote system 390c, content source 330c, audio video decoder 350c, and output device 370c are located on user system 380c.

Browser 310c includes server browser software 312c and object storage 316c, and data exchange between them is indicated by double-headed arrow 314c. Origin 321c, End 323c, Action 325c, Description 327c, and Configuration 329c, indicate that the content of browse object 320c remains unchanged compared to browse objects 320b and 320a (FIGS. 3B and 3A). Content sources 330c include DVD drive 334c and DVD 332c, and output devices 370c include graphics adapter 374c, video display 372c, audio adapter 376c, and speakers 378c. Since the content source 330c and the output device 370c are the same as the corresponding elements in FIG. 3A, description thereof will not be repeated here.

Unlike FIG. 3A, client browser software 354c is added to audio video decoder 350c and vendor independent interface 352c. Client browser software 354c enables communication between browser software 312c and vendor independent interface 352c via communication link 356c. In some embodiments, client browser software 354c is not required; while in other embodiments, some communication interface supporting communication link 356c is required. For example, assuming user system 380c is a personal computer, server/remote system 390c is a server computer, and at least a portion of communication link 356c includes the Internet. Client browser software 354c facilitates establishing communication link 356c and passing information between user system 380c and server/remote system 390c.

Now, assume that the content source 330c and the audio video decoder 350c are combined into a conventional DVD player. The server/remote system 390c may be incorporated into a remote control that controls the operation of the DVD player through infrared or other communication channels. For this example, since the server/remote system 390c can communicate directly with the DVD player, and the DVD player is responsible for controlling the audio video decoder 350c, neither the client browser software 354c nor the vendor independent interface 352c is required.

Combined with the physical model location codes and browsing objects provided in FIGS. 4B and 5B, several operating modes of the present invention are described with reference to the flowcharts illustrated in FIGS. 4A, 5A, 6, and 7. FIG. 4A illustrates an example method for filtering multimedia content according to the present invention. Although Figures 4A, 5A, 6, and 7 represent the method as a sequence of events, the invention is not necessarily limited to any particular order. Because these methods may be implemented on both client and server systems, parentheses are used to denote information generally about the server.

From a user system, such as the user system represented in Figure 3A, the object store may be part of a larger data store. For example, separate object stores may exist for multimedia content stored on a single DVD title. Since many object stores are generated, at block 412 the multimedia content title is retrieved from the content source. In other words, a single object store may include browsing objects corresponding to one or more DVD titles. At block 414, using the title identifier, an object store and corresponding browsing object for a particular DVD title is selected. (Block 416, the receiving fee will be described later, refer to the server system). At block 422, the first browse object for the DVD title identifier at 412 is retrieved.

Turning momentarily to FIG. 4B, a browsing object is represented in multimedia content. The content location 480 indicates different locations marked with P41 , P42 , P43 , P44 , P45 , P46 and P47 related to the multimedia content. The browsing target portion 490 of the content starts at the start point 491 (P42) and ends at the end point 493 (P46). Skip 495 is a filtering operation delegated to the browse object, and bleeding scene 497 is a textual description of the multimedia content browse object portion 490 . The configuration 499 indicates the software and hardware configuration of the user system used by the browsing object. For example, configuration 499 includes the manufacturer, model and software version of the user's computer, DVD drive, graphics card, sound card, and may also identify the DVD decoder and motherboard of the user's computer.

The purpose of configuring 499 is that different user systems may cause differences in processing browsing objects. When these differences are identified, browsing objects can be customized for a particular user system without affecting other user systems. Configuration identifiers can be generated according to any scheme for tracking object versions. In Figure 4B, the configuration identifier includes a major and minor revision, separated by a period.

Returning now to FIG. 4A , at block 422 the browse object described above has been retrieved. Decision block 424 determines whether the configuration identifier of the browsing object matches the configuration of the user system. Compliance does not necessarily require strict identity between configuration identifiers and user systems. For example, if major and minor versions are used, a match may only require the major version to be the same. Additionally, a browse object's configuration identifier may match all user configurations. Configuration identifiers may include expressions with wildcards to match one or more characters, mathematical operators to determine matches, and the like. If not, return to block 422 to retrieve the next browse object.

Retrieve a content identifier (412), select the browse object (414), retrieve the browse object (422), and judge whether the configuration identifier conforms to the user system configuration (424). Instances of all operations that may occur in the step of browsing an object's object store.

Using the identified browsing objects, the decoder starts to decode the multimedia content received from the DVD (432). Once the content is decoded, it is transmitted (434) to an output device capable of playing the multimedia content to the user. The location code is continuously updated (436) as the multimedia content is decoded. Operations such as decoding (432), transmitting (434), and continuously updating position codes (436) have been surrounded by dotted lines, indicating that they are steps in which the decoder is used to determine when the multimedia content is within the scope of the browsing object ( 430) included in the operation example.

The step (440) of filtering multimedia content comprises the operation of comparing the location code of updating with the browsing object identified in block 422 to judge whether the location code of updating falls within the scope of browsing object, and activate when appropriate Operation of the filter operation (444). If the updated location code does not fall within the browse object, decoding continues at block 432 . But if the updated location code falls within the scope of the browse object, then the filtering operation is activated (444). After the filtering operation is activated, the next browse object is retrieved at block 422 .

Using the browse object shown in FIG. 4B, the method of FIG. 4A will be described in more detail. The browse object is retrieved in block 422 and passes the configuration match check of block 424 . After the multimedia content is decoded at block 432 and transmitted to an output device at block 434 , the location code is updated at block 436 . P41 corresponds to the updated position code. Since P41 is not within the range of the start and end locations (491 and 493), more multimedia content is decoded (432), sent to the output device (434) and the location code is updated again (436).

The updated location code is now P42. P42 marks the beginning of the multimedia content browse object portion 490 defined by the start and end locations (491 and 493) of the browse object. The video filtering operation is activated in block 444 , skipping 495 . Activating the video filtering operation sends a command to the decoder to stop decoding immediately, and to continue decoding at the termination location 493 . Contents indicated between P42 and P46 are skipped. After skipping, the next browsing object is retrieved at block 422, and the operations described above are repeated.

Abrupt cessation and continuation of decoding may cause noticeable artifacts that detract from the intended effect of the multimedia content. To reduce this potential artifact, the filtering operation can be activated progressively, or a decentralized progressive filtering operation can be used. For example, a fade-in (eg, from normal display to blank display) filter action can precede a skipped filter action, and a fade-in (eg, from blank display to normal display) filter action can follow a skipped filter action . Additionally, fade-in and fade-in can be included as part of the skip filter operation itself by adjusting the start and end positions. The fade-in and fade-in lengths can be set explicitly or use suitably set defaults. The specific amount of change in progressive filtering operation, eg, from normal to blank display, need not be limited; rather, it should be construed to include arbitrarily specified changes over certain intervals, eg, from normal to half strength. Moreover, progressive filtering operations can be used to adjust virtually any characteristic of the multimedia content.

When multimedia content includes visual information presented to an audience, inappropriate material may be confined to a certain physical area of the scene it presents. In these cases, one or more browse objects with refactoring filtering operations are applicable. Entire scenes do not have to be skipped, since the frame being viewed can be positioned to avoid displaying inappropriate material, and the remainder can be enlarged to provide full size display. By continuously adjusting the framing and size of the multimedia content in a scene, inappropriate material is effectively cropped from viewing.

Each reframe browse object is capable of performing a number of reframe/resize operations, including being able to reframe and resize based on consecutive frames. Therefore, the number of reframe browse objects used in clipping a particular scene depends on various factors, including how the scene changes over time. A single browse object may be sufficient for filtering relatively fixed scenes, while more dynamic scenes will likely require multiple browse objects. For example, one browse object may be sufficient to reconstruct a scene that essentially represents a static full body image of a person with a badly injured leg into a scene that includes only the person's head and torso. However, for more dynamic scenes, such as one in which a person with a badly injured leg is involved in a violent fight or is arguing with another person, more browsing objects may be required to get improved results.

Positions P41, P42, P43, P44, P45, P46, and P47 are separated by an update interval. Those skilled in the art will recognize that smaller update intervals will allow for more precise filtering. For example, if the start point 491 is shortly after position P42, then multimedia decoding and output will continue to position P43, representing almost a quarter of the multimedia content that would have been filtered. With an update interval that occurs every tenth of a second, only a very small amount of content that should be filtered out (eg, less than one tenth of a second) is displayed on the output device. As the description of configuration identifier 499 implies, certain variations in user systems are reasonably expected, and the present invention should not be interpreted as requiring extreme precision in the filtering of multimedia content. Although changes in the order of some moments degrade the user-perceived filtering quality because some scenes may have been aborted before being fully displayed, these changes are tolerated and are resolved by expanding the view defined by the view object. part to compensate.

The differences between server operations and user operations enclosed by parentheses are fairly minor, and those skilled in the art will recognize that the user and server can cooperate, each performing a desired portion of the operations. Figure 3B provides an exemplary system for sharing processing between a server system and a user system. However, the following will describe the processing that occurs at a server system similar to that shown in FIG. 3C, but with only output devices located at the user system.

At block 412, the server receives the DVD title identifier so that at block 414 an appropriate browsing object can be selected. At block 416, the server receives a fee from the user system for enabling the user system to access the browse object. This fee may be an appointment for a specific time period, specific access quantity, and so on. At block 422, the first browse object for the DVD title determined at 412 is retrieved, and at block 424 it is checked whether the configuration matches. Because a configuration match is verified at the server, the user system provides its configuration information or identifier. As described above, receiving a content identifier (412), selecting a browsing object (414), receiving a fee (416), retrieving a browsing object (422), and determining whether the configuration identifier matches the configuration of the user system (424) has been performed Enclosed within a dotted line, they are all instances of operations that may occur during the step of providing an object store with browse objects.

Decoding the multimedia content (432) can occur on the user system or the server system. However, sending decoded multimedia from the server system to the user system requires a large amount of communication bandwidth. At block 434, the multimedia content is transmitted to an output device. The server system then queries (436) the client system decoder to update the location code. Additionally, if a decode occurs in the server system, the location code will be updated (436) without asking the user system. Operations such as decoding (432), transmitting (434), and continuously updating or querying location codes (436) have been surrounded by dotted lines, indicating that they are using the decoder to determine when the multimedia content is within the scope of the browsing object Instances of operations included in the server system operation step (430).

The operation that the server system that carries out multimedia content filtering step (440) comprises is, (i) in block 422 compares update location code and identified browse object to judge whether update location code is in the range of browse object, and (ii ) activate or issue filter operations (444) at the appropriate time. Decoding continues at block 432 for an update location code that is not within the browse object. Otherwise, a filter operation is activated or issued (444) for an update location code within the scope of the browse object. Activation occurs when the decoder is on the user system, but if the decoder is on the user system, the filter must be sent to the user system for processing. After activating the filtering operation, the next browse object is retrieved at block 422, continuing the process as described above. Since the server operation is substantially the same as the description of the user system provided above, the analysis of FIG. 4B with respect to the server system will not be repeated.

FIG. 5A illustrates an example method of filtering audio content, which may include video content, in accordance with the present invention. The steps of providing 510, using 530, including the operations represented by processing blocks 512, 514, 516, 522, 524, 532, 534 and 536, are substantially the same as the corresponding steps and operations described with reference to FIG. 4A. Thus, the description of FIG. 5A begins with the step (540) of filtering multimedia content.

Decision block 542 determines whether the updated or queried location code is within the range of the browse object determined in blocks 522 and 524 . If so, then decision block 552 determines whether filtering is active. For portions of the multimedia content that fall within the browse object, decoding can proceed at block 532 when filtering is active or sent (in the example of a server system). However, if the filter operation has been activated and the updated location code has not been within the scope of the browsing object, block 546 activates or sends an end operation and continues by determining the next browsing object at blocks 522 and 524 places.

In general, some filtering can be achieved by one operation, like the video operation of Figure 4B, while other filtering requires ongoing operations, like the audio operation of Figure 5B. The mockup location codes and audio browsing objects shown in FIG. 5B help illustrate the difference between filtering operations for individual multimedia content and continuous or ongoing filtering operations for multimedia content. The content location 580 indicates different locations marked with P51 , P52 , P53 , P54 , P55 , P56 and P57 related to the multimedia content. The browse target portion 590 of the content starts at a start point 591 (P52) and ends at an end point 593|(P56)|. Mute 595 is a filter operation delegated to the browse object, and word "F" 597 is a textual description of browse object portion 590 of the multimedia content. Like configuration 499 in FIG. 4B , configuration 599 indicates the hardware and software configuration of the user system on which the browsing object is applied.

After decoding the multimedia content at block 532 and transmitting the decoded multimedia content to an output device at block 534 , the location code is updated at block 536 . P51 corresponds to an updated location code. Because P51 is not within the range of the start and end locations (591 and 593) and no filter operation is activated or sent (556), more multimedia content is decoded (532), sent to the output device (534), and again Update location code (536).

The updated location code is now P52. P52 marks the beginning of the multimedia content browse object portion 490 defined by the start and end locations (591 and 593) of the browse object, as determined by decision block 542. Because no operation is activated or sent, decision block 552 continues by activating or sending (544) the filter operation delegated to the browse object to mute the audio content, once again content decoded (532), transmitted to the output device (534), and update or query location code (536).

Mute, in its most common form, involves setting the volume of audio content to such an extent that it cannot be heard. Therefore, the mute command can be sent to the output device without using a decoder. Additionally, a mute command sent to the decoder can eliminate or suppress audio content. Those skilled in the art will recognize that audio content may include one or more channels and that muting may be applied to one or more of these channels.

Now, the location code (536) for updating or querying is P53. Decision block 542 determines that the updated or queried location code (536) is within the scope of the browse object, but filtering is activated or sent (552), so block 532 decodes the content and block |534| transmits the content to output device, and block 536 updates or queries the location code. Audio content is continuously decoded and mute operation is continuously activated.

Here, the updated or inquired location code (536) is P54. Decision block 542 now determines that the updated or queried location code (536) is no longer within the scope of the browse object, but decision block 556 indicates that a filter operation is activated or has been sent. Block 546 activates or sends an end operation to end muting of the audio content, and decoding continues at block 532 . For DVD content, the result may be that the video content is played on the output device, while part of the audio content containing obscene language specified by the browsing object is filtered and not played on the output device.

Abrupt changes in multimedia content may result in noticeable artifacts that detract from the intended effect of the multimedia content. To reduce this potential artifact, the filtering operation can be activated progressively, or a decentralized progressive filtering operation can be used. For example, a fade-in (eg, normal to no volume) filter operation may precede a mute filter operation, and a fade-in (eg, no volume to normal volume) filter operation may follow a mute filter operation. Alternatively, fade-in and fade-in can be included as part of the silence filtering operation itself by adjusting the start and end positions accordingly. The fade-in and fade-in lengths can be set explicitly or use suitably set defaults. The specific amount of change in progressive filtering operation, such as from normal to no volume, need not be limited; rather, it should be construed to include arbitrarily specified changes at certain intervals, such as from normal to half volume. Moreover, progressive filtering operations can adjust virtually any characteristic of the multimedia content.

Like the method shown in FIG. 4A, the method shown in FIG. 5A can also be implemented in the client system and the server system. However, since the distinction between the client system and the server system has been sufficiently identified in the description of FIGS. 4A and 4B , the method will not be described in the server system.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a method for customizing multimedia content filtering. At block 610, the received password is authorized to invalidate the browse object. In block 620, a description of the browse object is displayed or sent (for a server system) to the user system. Next, as represented by block 630, receiving a response identifying any browsing object as invalid; and, in block 640, invalidating the identified browsing object.

These browse objects are invalidated by including an indication in the browse objects that they should not be part of the filtering process. The retrieval of these browse objects, as indicated by blocks 422 and 522 in Figures 4A and 5A, may ignore browse objects that have been marked as invalid so they are not retrieved. Additionally, a separate operation can be performed to exclude invalid browse objects being used in multimedia content filtering.

Receiving the password (610), displaying or sending the description of the browsing object (620), receiving the response identifying the browsing object as invalid (630), and invalidating the browsing object (640) have been surrounded by dotted lines, indicating that they is an example of operations involved in the operation step (660) for invalidating browse objects. Like the typical methods described above, invalidation of browsing objects can also be performed on the user system or the server system.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary method for assisting a user system in automatically identifying and filtering portions of multimedia content. The step (710) for providing an object store includes operations such as generating a browsing object (712), generating an object store (714), and placing the browsing object in an object store 716, among other operations. A step (720) for providing browsing objects follows. The step (720) for providing a browse object includes retrieving a content identifier (722), such as a title, and retrieving a request (726) corresponding to the browse object.

In the step for charging for access to the browse object, block 732 designates the operation of determining whether the user has an established account. For example, if the user is a current subscriber, then there is no charge. Alternatively, the fee will be debited from the prepaid account without prompting the user (not shown). At block 734, if there is no account established, the user will be prompted to pay a fee, such as entering a credit card number or some other form of electronic money; and at block 736 the fee is received. The step of providing browsing objects (740) follows immediately, including operations such as retrieving the browsing objects (742) and sending the browsing objects to the user system (744). The downloading of free browsing software that uses the browsing object may be counted as the invocation of access to the paid service of the browsing object.

Further aspects of the present invention relate to systems, devices, and methods for users to play multimedia presentations, such as movies provided by DVD, with filtered out objectionable scenes and language. Other aspects of the invention relate to filter formats that define event filters applicable to any multimedia presentation. Another aspect of the invention involves the sequence of operations for monitoring playback of a multimedia presentation compared to one or more filter files, and filtering the playback as a function of the filter files.

The subject matter of the present invention relates to filtering one or more portions of multimedia content. Filtering may involve muting objectionable language in a multimedia presentation, skipping objectionable parts of a multimedia presentation based on objectionable language or a function of the timing of the video, adjusting the image of a video presentation, for example by cropping, or fading, or otherwise adjusting playback to eliminate, reduce , or adjust inappropriate language, graphics, or other content. Filtering can further extend other content already present in a multimedia presentation, including closed captioned text, data links, program guide information, and more.

Typically, a DVD can hold a full-length movie with up to 133 minutes of high-quality audio and video compressed according to the Moving Picture Experts Group ("MPEG") encoding format. One aspect of the invention relates to the absence of any modification of the multimedia presentation format for filtering. In order to perform the filtering operation, the multimedia content does not need to be pre-formatted and stored on the DVD with specific information about the language or image type delivered at any point in the multimedia presentation. Rather, the filtering operation involves monitoring the multimedia data read from the DVD for the ongoing time code. The filter file includes time codes corresponding to portions of multimedia data that you want to skip or mute. A match between the timecode of the portion of the multimedia presentation read from the DVD and the timecode of the filter file causes filter operations to be performed, such as mute or skip. It is also possible to monitor other marks of the multimedia data read from the DVD, such as marks of the physical location on the storage medium from which the data was read.

The term "decoding" as used herein broadly refers to any processing stage between reading multimedia information from a storage medium and presenting the multimedia information. In some contexts, the term "decoding" especially refers to MPEG decoding. In some embodiments of the invention, the filter file is compared with the multimedia data prior to MPEG decoding. It is also possible to perform the comparison operation after MPEG decoding; however, with current decoding processing platforms, such a comparison setup is inefficient from a timing perspective and may result in some artifacts or jitter in the presentation.

During traditional sequential playback of multimedia presentations, the DVD player reads multimedia information from the DVD until a silence or time seek is performed. Thus, operations related to the play command on the DVD are performed. The play command causes the head to sequentially read portions of the video from the DVD. "Sequential" as used herein means a data sequence equivalent to the order of multimedia content. However, multimedia data may physically reside on the storage medium in an out-of-order manner. The multimedia information read from the DVD is stored in the buffer. At this point in the process, all multimedia information is read from the DVD and stored in the buffer, regardless of whether audio data is muted, or portions of video data are skipped. The MPEG encoded multimedia information from the buffer is decoded before being displayed on a monitor, television or the like.

A typical DVD may have several discrete sections called "titles". One of the titles is a movie, and the other title may be a behind-the-scenes clip, a copyright notice, a logo image, and the like. In one specific embodiment, when an embodiment of the invention is configured to run with all possible titles, a filter file is applied to the time sequence of original movie titles, e.g., the sequence of frames associated with a particular movie, e.g., DVD The "Gladiator" equipped on it. The DVD specification specifies three kinds of titles (not to be confused with movie titles): monolithic titles, meaning titles played directly through (a_sequential_program_chain titles), titles with multiple PGCs (program chains) to differentiate program streams (Multiple_ProgramChain_Title), with automatic selection of titles from multiple PGCs according to the DVD player's parental restriction settings (Parent_Barrier_Title). A sequential program chain title is currently the only type that has complete time data for displaying and searching time codes. Therefore, the multimedia information read from the DVD includes a time code using a_sequence_program_chain_title. For other filter types, it is possible to generate temporal information and associate this temporal information with a particular playback path. Some embodiments of the present invention operate using a_sequence_programchain_title.

In one aspect, the time code of the multimedia information read from the storage medium and stored in the storage buffer is compared with the filter file in the filter table. A filter table is a collection of one or more filter files for a particular multimedia presentation. The filtering file is the identification of some multimedia presentations and the corresponding filtering operations. This part of the multimedia presentation can be determined by the start and end time codes, can be determined by the physical location of the storage medium's start and end, can be determined by time or position and offset (time, distance, physical position, or their combination). User can activate any combination of filters or no filters. Table 1 below provides examples of two filter files for the movie "Gladiator". The filter table for a particular multimedia presentation can be provided as a removable storage medium, as a separate file on a different storage medium, as a multimedia presentation on the same storage medium, or loaded into a multimedia player configured to operate according to the content of the present invention device memory.

filter starting point end point duration filter operation filter code 1 00:04:15:19 00:04:48:26 997 jump over 2: V-D-D, V-D-G 2 00:04:51:26 00:04:58:26 210 jump over 1: V-D-G

Table 1: Filter table with two instances of filter files from the movie Gladiator

Referring to Table 1, the starting time of the first filtering file (1) is 00:04:15:19 (hour:minute:second:frame), and the ending time is 00:04:48:26. The first filter file also has a duration of 997 frames and is a "skip" type filter operation (as opposed to silence). Finally, the first filter file is associated with two filter types. The first filter type is identified as "V-D-D", which is a filter code for the presence of dead (D) or rotting (D) corpses in violent (V) scenes. The second filter type is identified as "V-D-G", which is a filter code for violent scenes associated with disturbing (D) and/or disgusting (G) images and/or dialogue. Embodiments of the present invention include many other filtering types. During the filtered playback of the movie "Gladiator", if "V-D-D", "V-D-G" or both are activated, then the 997 frames were skipped (no display). Additionally, if the V-D-G filter profile is activated, then the 210 frames falling between 00:04:51:26 and 00:04:58:26 are also skipped.

Tables 2 and 3 below provide examples of various possible types of filtering in accordance with the present invention. Other filtering types may be implemented in various embodiments of the invention.

The filter code filter classification filter type S-P-S sex / nudity Erotic dialogue/plot S-P-C sex / nudity Provocative/revealing clothing S-P-I sex / nudity   Stimulus hints S-C-W sex / nudity Crude sexual words/dialogue S-C-A sex / nudity Crude sexual behavior/gestures S-C-I sex / nudity Crude sexual innuendo S-S-SS sex / nudity sex scene S-S-SR sex / nudity Sexual voices/dialogue S-S-A sex / nudity Explicit sexual acts/images S-N-R sex / nudity bare ass S-N-T sex / nudity Topless/Topless Nudity S-N-P sex / nudity   Partial Nudity / Veiled Nudity S-N-A sex / nudity Nude Photos/Art V-S-F Violence/gore Strong Phantasmal/Biological Violence V-S-A Violence/gore Strong act of violence V-S-E Violence/gore Excessive/repetitive violence V-S-C Violence/gore Goofy violence V-G-B Violence/gore brutal violence V-G-G Violence/gore Vivid bloody violence V-G-D Violence/gore disturbing violence V-G-R Violence/gore Predation/rape scene V-G-T Violence/gore torture V-D-D Violence/gore dead body/rotting corpse V-D-V Violence/gore Vivid vomit/urine/saliva/mucus V-D-B Violence/gore Strong bloody imagery V-D-G Violence/gore Annoying/Disgusting Graphics/Dialogue  L-C-W Strong language and bad humor Poor shit words/sounds  L-C-A Strong language and bad humor Poor feces imagery/dialogue L-R-M foul language and bad humor Crude/bad names (limited to children's movies)  L-E-R Strong language and bad humor racial slurs  L-E-S Strong language and bad humor social stigma L-H Strong language and bad humor Hell L-H-d Strong language and bad humor Curse (Damn) L-D Strong language and bad humor Useless when it comes to God or gods L-P- Strong language and bad humor Strong profanity Ba/Bi Strong language and bad humor Bastard/B*tch (B ^* stard/B ^* tch) A/S/Fi/ Strong language and bad humor A ^** /Sh ^** /Fingers L-V-F Strong language and bad humor f ^*** L-V Strong language and bad humor Vivid/vulgar vocabulary D-D Other content Obvious drug use/conversation D-R Other content Involved in drug use

Table 2: Filter types and related content descriptions for each filter type

Table 2 provides a list of examples of filter types provided individually or in combination in embodiments consistent with the present invention. These filter types are grouped into |five| broad categories, including: Sex/Nudity, Violence/Gore, Foul Language and Bad Humor, and Adult Themes. Within each of these four broad categories is a list of specific filter types associated with each broad category. In the filter table for a particular multimedia presentation, different time series of multimedia presentations (between a start time and an end time) are identified as containing topics that fall within one or more filter types. In a particular embodiment, a multimedia time sequence may be skipped or muted when a particular filter file is applied to a multimedia presentation. Alternatively, or additionally, the multimedia time sequence may be skipped or muted depending on the role of the broad category. For example, all multimedia presentations that fall within the filter category of violence/gore will be skipped or muted.

filter code filter classification filter type filter operation V-S-A Violence violent behavior Excessive violence, including fantasy violence V-B-G Violence brutal/bloody violence Remove cruel and graphic violence V-D-I Violence disturbing images Remove obnoxious and other annoying images S-S-C sex / nudity pornographic content Eliminate highly suggestive and provocative scenes and dialogue S-C-S sex / nudity rude sexual content Remove rude sexual language and gestures S-N sex / nudity nude Remove nudity, including partial and artistic nudity S-E-S sex / nudity explicit sex scene Remove overt sexual dialogue, sounds and movements L-V-D foul language useless involving god or gods Useless or irreverent about god L-C-L foul language rude language and humor Remove rude sexual language and gestures L-E-S foul language racial/social stigmatization remove racial or social offense L-C foul language curse Remove abuse of "h ^* ll" and "d ^* mn" L-S-P foul language strong profanity Remove swear words, including strong profanity L-G-V foul language vivid vulgarity Remove graphic expletives, including "f ^*** " O-E-D other overt drug use Remove descriptions of drug abuse scenes

Table 3: Filter types and related descriptions of each filter type content

Table 3 provides a list of examples of filter types provided individually or in combination in embodiments according to the invention. These filter types are grouped into |five| broad categories, including: violence, sex/nudity, foul language, and others. Within each of these four broad categories is a list of specific filter types associated with each broad category. In the filter table for a particular multimedia presentation, different time series of multimedia presentations (between a start time and an end time) are identified as containing topics that fall within one or more filter types. In a particular embodiment, multimedia time sequences may be skipped or muted depending on the effect of a particular filter type, eg, V-S-A. Alternatively, or additionally, the multimedia time sequence may be skipped or muted depending on the role of the broad category. For example, all multimedia presentations that fall within the violent filter category will be skipped or muted

8A and 8B illustrate a flowchart of operations involved in applying filter files to a DVD-based multimedia presentation, such as a movie, played on a DVD player. In one example, filter monitoring begins with the playback of the multimedia presentation (operation 10). Thus, in one example, when the user presses the "play" button of the DVD player or the "play" button on the remote control of the DVD player, playback begins. "Playing" in the context of a movie involves an equivalent video and audio presentation of the movie on a display. As discussed in more detail below, before pressing "Play," the user first activates one or more movie filter types. Also, if a filter table for a movie is not provided in the memory of a multimedia player such as a DVD, the user must first load the filter table into memory, or the multimedia player must first obtain the filter table, for example by some automatic download operation. Way.

As introduced above, during playback, multimedia information is read from the DVD and stored in a buffer (operation 15). Multimedia information stored on a DVD is arranged according to the normal hierarchical manner of the DVD specification. Some embodiments of the present invention operate on a portion of multimedia data known as a Video Object Unit ("VOBU"). A VOBU is the smallest playback unit according to the DVD specification. However, in some embodiments of the present invention, the smallest playback unit is a frame. A VOBU is an integer number of video fields, usually the length of a video field ranges from 0.4 to 1 second, about 12-15 frames. Thus, VOBU playback can be accompanied by 0.4 to 1 second of video, audio, or both. VOBU is a subset of cells. In general, a unit consists of one or more VOBUs, and is generally characterized as a set of picture or audio segments, which is the smallest addressable part of a program chain. Playback can be arranged by selecting cells sequentially.

During playback (after the multimedia is read from the storage medium, but before presentation), some embodiments of the invention monitor the timecode of the next multimedia message to be read from the buffer for decoding and presentation. For DVD-based information, the time stamp (timecode) of the VOBU presentation will be monitored. The time code is embedded in the multimedia data stored in the storage medium. For other multimedia formats, the multimedia information read from the storage medium can be separately monitored and associated with a separately generated time code. Timecode information may be a function of the system clock. A buffer (sometimes referred to as a "track" buffer) is memory configured for first-in-first-out (FIFO) operation. The term buffer can refer to any storage medium, including RAM, flash memory, etc. In this way, multimedia content read into the buffer is read out of the buffer in the same sequence in which it arrived. In a particular embodiment, the filter comparison is performed after the multimedia is read from memory (eg DVD), but before it is decoded. In such an embodiment, the time code of the VOBU to be sent out from the buffer for decoding (the VOBU at the front of the FIFO buffer) is compared with the start time of the filter operation identified in the filter table for the multimedia presentation ( Operation 20). If there is no match (operation 25), then the information in the buffer is decoded and presented sequentially as normal (operation 30).

If there is a match (operation 25), then the filter event type (eg, mute or skip) is determined (operation 35). For mute, video image playback proceeds normally, but some or all audio portions are muted until the end of event timecode (operation 40). Audio muting is interpreted as analog audio output, digital audio output, or both. For |audio|mute, reduces the amplitude of the audio signal to zero for the duration of the silence. For digital silence, convert the digital output to digital 0s during the period of silence.

FIG. 3B is a flow diagram illustrating operations involving skipping. To perform this skip-type filtering operation, playback is interpreted (operation 50). Next, the buffer is reset (operation 55). A buffer reset is characterized by deleting all information in the buffer or "emptying" the buffer. After reset, all new information read into the buffer starts at the first memory address. Resetting the buffer can be implemented in many ways, such as resetting the buffer address pointer (where the next piece of information read from the DVD will be stored) to the first address of the buffer (that is, causing the existing buffered data to be overwritten ).

Next, the DVD reading unit is commanded to start reading frames with respect to the filtering end time code (operation 60). As discussed in further detail below, in addition to timecodes, the start and end points of the filter file may also be assigned other values or combinations of values. Frames on the filter end time code are sent to the first memory location in the buffer, and playback begins with the frame after the end time, which is decoded and displayed with the associated audio (operation 65).

Figure 9 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an on-screen organization for activating one or more filtering operations. Menus, as shown in one figure, may also be provided on different screens in embodiments consistent with the teachings of the present invention. The first menu displays one or more filter categories. The example in Figure 9 corresponds to Table 3, and there are four filtering categories, including: violence, sex and nudity, foul language, and others. In the menu layout of this example, the filter file is not activated because the category is only selected and used to access the set of filtering operations corresponding to the category. Thus, by selecting a category, a second filter menu is displayed with a set of filtering operations corresponding to the selected category. In the example of FIG. 9, by selecting the "violence" category, an on-screen menu with three types of violence filtering operations is displayed. This violent filtering operation may be those filtering operations in Table 2 and Table 3, or any other manner. Fig. 9 illustrates the filtering operation of "violence" in Table 3, including: strong action violence, cruel/bloody violence, and disturbing images. In the example of FIG. 9, the user selects the "Strong Behavior Violence" filter, which activates the "Strong Behavior Violence Filter Action". However, it is also possible to activate a set of filter files based on activating a filter category. For example, by activating the "Violence" filter category, activate the filter files for "Strong Actual Violence", "Brutal/Gory Violence", and "Disturbing Graphics".

Figures 10A-10C are diagrams illustrating the case where the "Severe Act Violence" filter operation is activated, and where three multimedia sections (Sections 5, 6 and 7) are identified as having Strong Act Violence ("SAV") , to play back the block diagrams/flowcharts of the 12 multimedia presentation sections. As noted above, the multimedia presentation does not have to be modified to associate certain portions of it with certain filter types, or to associate certain portions of the multimedia presentation with certain forms of topic identifiers. Instead, filter tables are provided separately according to the multimedia presentation. The filter table has one or more entries, and each filter file is provided with start and end identifiers for parts of the multimedia presentation. Some of the main aspects of the present invention, such as reading multimedia presentation information from multimedia media between filtering processes, deleting all buffer contents to enable skipping, etc., can be performed regardless of whether the multimedia is encoded with a filter identifier or otherwise The subject identifier to modify is done.

Referring first to Figure 10A, the first four parts of the multimedia presentation are read from a storage medium, such as a DVD, and stored in a buffer. The parts are again read from the buffer in the order in which they arrived at the buffer, for example parts 1-4 are read from the buffer in such a way that part 1 starts and part 4 ends. The timecode for each section is compared to the filter table, and if there is a mismatch, the section is read from the buffer, decoded and displayed. Thus, each of parts 1-4 is compared with the filter table, and since the timecode for this part does not match the filter timecode (or other start and end identifiers), these four parts are read from the buffer, Displayed after decoding.

Referring now to Figure 9B, when the multimedia part 5 reaches the front of the buffer, it is compared with the filter table. Sections 5-7 of the multimedia presentation include "Strong Act Violence". Thus, the filter table includes filter entries corresponding to the start time of the multimedia part 5 and the end time of the multimedia part 7 . Sections 5-7 will be skipped (not shown). In order to skip sections 5-7, all information in the buffer will be deleted. In the example of FIG. 9B, both parts 5-7 and parts 8-10 are read into the buffer. Optionally, only the buffer contents related to the skipped multimedia data (eg, sections 5-7) are deleted. In such an embodiment, the buffer section is reset to section 8 . Also, in such instances, control of the DVD read head would be reduced or eliminated. Sections 8-10 do not contain strong behavioral violence. However, parts 8-10 are removed from the buffer. After the buffer is deleted (reset), a time search command to the filter end time will be executed. The time seek command causes the storage medium to start reading information from the medium and into the buffer starting from section 8 .

As shown in Figure 9C, the multimedia portion 8-12 is read from the medium and stored in a buffer. Because the time code of the multimedia part 8-12 has nothing to do with the violent behavior, the multimedia part 8-12 is read from the buffer and displayed after decoding.

In the case of DVD-based implementations, conventional DVD-based multimedia presentations are filtered, eg, the DVD title does not require any special formatting other than as specified by the conventional DVD specification. To identify objectionable content and define filter events, a person plays and watches a video, and objectionable content is determined using start and end identifiers of objectionable content. A multimedia-specific range of DVD titles (delimited by start and end identifiers) can be classified into any one filter file or combination of filter files. Before a DVD player configured according to the teachings of the present invention filters playback, the filter table is loaded into the memory of the DVD player.

Using a network connection to a server that provides the filter file, using a removable storage medium (such as DVD, CD, diskette, memory card, etc.), either separately from the movie title, or on the same storage medium as the movie title, or in a Otherwise, DVD players can be configured to access filter tables. Specific examples of filtering tables or other access based on network access are found in U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/620,902, filed October 20, 2004, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/641,678, filed January 5, 2005 description, which are hereby incorporated by reference.

Figure 11 is a block diagram illustrating a suitable multimedia player on-screen menu organization. Access to the filter menu is provided in the parental controls menu. The parental control menu is a conduit for different parental control functions, including traditional parental control components and parental control functions in accordance with the teachings of the present invention. In the example of FIG. 11 , the multimedia player is configured with conventional "lock" parental control components, conventional "password" parental control components, filtering functionality in accordance with the teachings of the present invention, conventional "level restriction" parental control components, and conventional The "Non-Rated Titles" parental control widget. By selecting, "Locked", "Password", "Rating Restricted" or "Unrated Title", the multimedia player accesses a specific menu or set of menus associated with each selection. Typically, a "lock" feature allows the user to lock the DVD player, which prohibits operation until the correct user ID and password are entered. The password menu provides the user with means to establish or change a password. A "Rating Restriction" feature allows users to avoid viewing titles that exceed a certain rating. Grade-restricted components may be calibrated using MPAA (G/PG/PG-13/R/NC-17). So, for example, watching R-rated titles is prohibited. Since different users use specific rating restrictions, the rating restriction component can be activated according to the user's preference. The level restriction function can be realized by means of V-chip technology. The "Unrated" component allows the user to prohibit or allow the playback of unrated titles. Therefore, some titles are not rated, so the rating restriction feature will not function to prohibit or allow viewing of unrated titles.

Selection of the "Filter Play" button will cause the multimedia player to load the "Filter Play" menu. The user can use the arrow keys on the remote control to navigate the menus on the current screen, and can navigate between menus by selecting "Enter" on the remote control when a particular menu button is highlighted. The Filter Playback menu has a Filter Settings button and an Available Filters button. The filter settings button provides access to a filter selection menu, an example of which is shown in Figure 9. The Available Filter button provides access to the Filter Library menu. The Filter Library menu provides a list of all filters currently in the multimedia player's memory, organized alphabetically by movie title. The Filter Library menu also provides a list of filter operations that can be downloaded and used. Whenever a new filter file is downloaded to the media player, add this file to list all possible movie titles to which the filter file applies. Therefore, the filter files available for this column are only current as of the date the filter operation was downloaded. Using a network connection, the filter list can be updated regularly so that the list is always up to date.

If the multimedia player already includes a filtering table in memory, the user only needs to activate the filtering and then perform filtered playback. If the filter table is not in the memory, the user should upload the filter table to the memory before filter playback. In addition, the user continues to activate a certain filtering type, and then performs filtered playback without first judging whether the filtering of a specific multimedia title is available. In the case of DVD-based movies, the DVD usually has title information accessible by DVD players. Prior to filtered playback, the DVD player compares the title of the movie to a list of filter tables loaded into memory. If not, the user will be prompted to load the filter table for that movie title into memory.

Once the filter table is identified for a particular movie title that is desired to be played back, the user is prompted to activate or deactivate the filter type for that movie. The user will filter the selection menu, such as that shown in Figure 9, unless the filter operation has been activated.

As noted above, in some embodiments of the invention, the movie itself is not altered. Instead, a portion of the movie is identified in the filter table. In one example, a portion of a multimedia presentation is identified as a period of time that falls between the start and end times of a particular filter file. For example, a filter file for a movie will have a start time if the violent act of violence occurs within the time period 1:10:10:1 (hour:minute:second:frame) to 1:10:50:10 of the movie The filter operation is 1:10:10:1 and the end time is 1:10:50:10. This filter file will include identifiers for "Strong Acts of Violence", such as "S-A-V". Therefore, if the user activates this strongly behaving filter file type, the buffer will be deleted when a part of the multimedia presentation including 1:10:10:1 is in the buffer. As a result, all information in the buffer, including portions of multimedia presentations with strong behavioral violence, is deleted. The buffer may also have parts of the multimedia presentation to be displayed. Thus, the reading of the multimedia content in the storage medium starts from the next multimedia part immediately after the filtering end time. The part of the multimedia immediately following the filter end time is read into the buffer, decoded and displayed. Since the DVD read head moves to a new media location at this speed and reads the information into the buffer and decodes it, these operations can be performed without perceiving on-screen artifacts (e.g., skipped operations) apparently seamless).

Figure 12 is a diagrammatic illustration of an example of the format of a skip type filtering operation. Figure 13 is a table identifying an example of a file format for skip type filtering operations. The file format represents a filter file in the filter table. Referring first to the illustration of the skip operation provided in FIG. 12, a skip type filter file includes a start time code and an end time code. The start time code of the skip filter file occurs within VOBU N+1 immediately following VOBU N. The actual frame associated with the start timecode is frame X from the beginning of VOBU N+1. The skipped end time code appears within VOBU N+P immediately following VOBU N+P+1. The actual frame associated with the end time code is frame Y from the beginning of VOBU N+P. The start and end times may be identified by timecodes (hours:minutes:seconds:frames), or by more detailed multi-layer DVD information, discussed in more detail below, or by a combination thereof. In this example, VOBU N and VOBU N+P+1 (including audio and video) are played completely. Play the first X frames of VOBU N+1, while skipping the rest of VOBU N+1. Skip the first Y frame of VOBU N+P, and play the rest of VOBU N+P. All frames associated with any VOBUs falling between VOBU N+1 and VOBU N+P are skipped.

Referring now to FIG. 12, this table illustrates the file format of a skip filter file, according to an example of the present invention. The table is organized such that the left column is the allocation of bytes for the file format, followed by an indication of the number of bytes for each allocation, followed by a description of the byte indication. This file format is an example of a filter file format in accordance with the teachings of the present invention. A file format consistent with the teachings of this invention may include some or all of the identified byte indications, may include different byte arrangements, the number of bytes used for each purpose, and other combinations and permutations. Bytes 0-7 relate to the packet identifier. Byte 8 is the filter operation code, 0x1 refers to the skip operation, and 0x2 refers to the mute operation. Bytes 9-14 are reserved for filter classes and specific filter types, such as the different classes and types discussed here. See byte 8 first, which is a byte length indicating the event operation code (eg, skip or mute). For each possible combination of event categories shown in Table 2, bytes 9-14 are encoded to indicate the event category. When the filtering methods discussed herein are implemented, the filtering type activated by the particular user is compared to the filtering categories identified in bytes 9-14.

Bytes 15-34 are the identifier of the starting position of the filter. The indications in bytes 15-34 may be used alone or in combination to indicate the starting point of the filter operation. Bytes 35-38 are the identifier of the filter end position. The indications in bytes 35-38 may be used alone or in combination to identify the end of the filter operation. Bytes 15-18 designate the start timecode for a particular filter. Bytes 19-34 are also related to the filtered start time, but provide more detailed information about the exact position of the VOBU which may or may not be related/independent to the start time code. Bytes 35-38 indicate the end time code of the filter. Bytes 39-54 are also related to the filtered end time, but provide more detailed information about the precise position of the VOBU relative to the end time code. Bytes 55-63 deal with buffering and padding.

Bytes 15-18 are reserved for the filter start timecode (hour:minute:second:frame), byte 15 has hour information, byte 16 has minute information, byte 17 has second information, and byte 18 has frame information. In some embodiments of the present invention, only the start and end time code information is used for the filtering operation. For comparison, the timecode can be converted to the same format as the VOBU presentation time stamp. A VOBU consists of a sequence of frames, usually 12 to 15 frames. Therefore, hour, minute, and second information can be used to indicate a VOBU, and frame information can be used to indicate a frame in a VOBU. To perform a skip, when a start time code is encountered in multimedia information read from a storage medium, the DVD player is commanded to temporarily stop playback and then resume playback from the frame identified by the end time code.

In some instances, such as when the end timecode is more than 7.5 from the start timecode, performing the skip using only the timecode information can lead to some artifacts. A VOBU includes timecode information, as well as pointers to other VOBUs with varying granularity. Therefore, the artifacts depend on the granularity of the VOBU pointers. Therefore, in order to time search the end time code and replay, the DVD player needs to read some information from the DVD player to judge whether the read VOBU includes the frame related to the end time code. To have no perceptible artifacts, it is possible to read many VOBUs and evaluate the timecode information until a VOBU with an end time frame is identified. However, if the skip is long, many VOBUs need to be read out before the end time frame can be located. In this example, a brief screen freeze is visible due to the lengthy search process.

In order to avoid or greatly reduce artifacts or freezing of the on-screen image, it may be necessary to mark the exact location on memory of the target VOBU (the VOBU has a frame relative to the filter end time). This precise definition allows the DVD player to avoid searching for the target VOBU. Similarly, the skip file format includes bytes 19-34 indicating the starting chapter number, starting program chain number, starting program element number, starting unit number, starting address of VOBU N, starting address of VOBU N+1, frame number, The frame number is relative to the offset X frames from the beginning of VOBU N+1, which is relative to the filter event start time. Bytes 19-34 refer to different layering information specified in different DVD specifications.

VOBU includes time code and logical block number. As discussed above, the time code indicates the desired playback time of the compressed multimedia information within the VOBU. Filter files identify portions of multimedia presentations based on time, by monitoring the timecodes of VOBUs read from DVDs. A Logical Block Number is an identifier for a specific physical storage location on a DVD where VOBU information is stored. The physical location of the DVD can also be used in filter files to mark the start and end of parts of the multimedia presentation. In this example, the physical location identifier of the filtered file is compared with the physical location information of the VOBU. Thus, the identifiers of the filter start and end points may include start address information for VOBU N+1, bytes 30-33 (the VOBU has the frame associated with the start point of the filter operation). Filtering based on physical location, unlike timecode, has the advantage of completely or largely avoiding the conversion of end point timecode information to the DVD's physical location. Additionally, filtering based on physical location is advantageous with regard to filtering multimedia presentations on a memory with multiple multimedia presentations. In this example, the physical location is associated with a particular multimedia presentation, while the time value requires additional processing to ensure it is correctly applied to the appropriate multimedia presentation.

Filtering based only on VOBU information will have a granularity of the number of frames within the VOBU range, typically 12-15 frames as mentioned above. To increase the granularity to the frame level, use the Frame Offset value. The frame offset value indicates a specific frame within the VOBU at the start of filtering, also allowing frame based playback control. Filtering based on VOBU and offset uses VOBU start address (bytes 30-33) and offset value (byte 34). Additionally, the offset value can be taken from the frame field of the timecode.

In the case of skipping start at (VOBU N+1) or other preceding VOBUs, the VOBU (VOBU N) preceding the VOBU in fast forward or other operations helps to identify the target VOBU (when skipping starts). In some fast forwards, not all VOBUs were retrieved from the DVD. When the filter operation is applied in normal playback and in fast forward, there are one or more VOBUs that allow the system to identify the target VOBU, and when the target VOBU is not retrieved, it cannot be used for comparison with the filtered file .

The start cell number filter identifier can be used to identify the DVD-specific cell in which the target VOBU appears. A unit consists of many VOBUs. It is possible to use the cell number and the VOBU in the cell to identify the start of the skip operation.

Referring first to byte 8, it is a byte length indicating the event operation code (for example, skip or mute). For each possible combination of event categories shown in Table 2, bytes 9-14 are encoded to indicate the event category. When the filtering methods discussed herein are implemented, the filtering type activated by the particular user is compared to the filtering categories identified in bytes 9-14. Referring first to byte 8, it is a byte length indicating the event operation code (for example, skip or mute). For each possible combination of event categories shown in Table 2, bytes 9-14 are encoded to indicate the event category. When the filtering methods discussed herein are implemented, the filtering type activated by the particular user is compared to the filtering categories identified in bytes 9-14.

Multimedia information stored on a DVD is arranged in layers. The hierarchy includes chapter information, which is divided into program chains, program chains are divided into program units, and program units are divided into units. A unit consists of many VOBUs. Thus, by designating one or more or a combination of chapters, program chains, program elements, cells, any particular VOBU can be precisely located without the need to consult previous VOBUs. In some embodiments, the VOBU offset with the DVD's layer information is used. Further details on DVD layering information, DVD technology, and other general information on DVD file format specifications can be found in Jim Taylor's book "DVD Demystified, second addition," Copyright 2001, 1998, McGraw-Hill Corporation, which is hereby incorporated by reference Merge it all here.

The endpoint timecode and associated timecode information are indicated in bytes 35-54. Bytes 35-38 are reserved for the end time code of the actual event (hour:minute:second:frame), while bytes 39-54 are reserved for marking the end chapter number, the end program chain number, the end program element number, and the end unit number, the end address of VOBU N+P, the frame number related to the Y frame offset from the beginning of VOBU N+P, the VOBU N+P is related to the end time of the filtering event, and the starting address of VOBU N+P+1. Bytes 55-61 are reserved for buffering so that the descriptor specification for skip event filtering is the same as for audio silence filtering, and bytes 62-63 are used for padding.

DVD player or other device, memory, storage medium or processing structure configured to provide, play, display or act upon a DVD, or other audio/video recording device, incorporating some or all of the features of the skip and mute file format , all fall within the scope of some or all of the content of the present invention.

Artifacts or screen judder and freezing may be further minimized or eliminated by skipping certain frame types in some embodiments. MPEG coding stipulates I frame, B frame and P frame. An I frame includes the necessary information to decode and serve the frame. B-frames and P-frames, on the other hand, rely on information provided in another frame of normal presentation. Likewise, during skipping, it is sometimes better to skip I-frames when possible. However, it is also possible to skip B-frames and P-frames, in some cases it is necessary to decode other frames such as I-frames in order to demonstrate B-frames and P-frames.

Figure 13 is a diagrammatic illustration of an example of the format of a silence type filter operation. Figure |14| is a table identifying examples of file formats for silence-type filtering operations. Referring first to Figure 12 which provides a graphical illustration of the muting operation, muting type filtering, like skipping, includes start timecodes and end timecodes. The start time code of silence indicates that it occurs within VOBUN+1 immediately following VOBU N. The actual frame associated with the start timecode is frame X from the beginning of VOBU N+1. The end time code representation of silence occurs within VOBUN+P immediately following VOBU N+P+1. The actual frame associated with the end time code is frame Y from the beginning of VOBU N+P. The start and end times may be identified by timecodes (hours:minutes:seconds:frames), or by more detailed multi-layer DVD information, discussed in more detail below, or by a combination thereof. In this example, VOBU N and VOBU N+P+1 (including audio and video) are played completely. Play the first X frames of VOBU N+1, and mute the audio for the rest of VOBU N+1, but play the video. Mute the audio of the first Y frames of VOBU N+P (play video), and play the rest of VOBU N+P. All audio of frames associated with any VOBUs falling between VOBU N+1 and VOBU N+P are muted and their video played.

The table of Figure 14 is organized with the left column the allocation of bytes for the file format, followed by an indication of the number of bytes allocated for each, followed by a description of the byte indication. Many silence type filters have the same byte allocation as skip type filters. Only the differences are discussed here. Byte 15 indicates that the channel is muted. In such an embodiment, seven channels are provided, and any combination of channels is to be muted in any filter. Each byte is 8 bits, the number 1 means mute, 0 means no mute. The following is the bitmap between bits and channels: Bit0 = front center channel, Bit1 = front right channel, Bit2 = front left channel, Bit3 = rear right channel, Bit4 = rear left channel, Bit6 = Rear Center Channel, Bit6 = Subwoofer, Bit7 is not used. So, for 10000000, only the front center channel is muted, while all other channels are not. In some multimedia presentations, the center channel has more spoken sounds, while the other channels include background noise, etc.; therefore, muting only the front center channel allows potentially offensive words to be muted, while leaving the other audio. With larger byte allocations, other channels can be specifically muted. Also, some bytes are mapped to multiple channels. For example, in an audio system that includes multiple side channels, such as front right, center right and rear right, a single bit may indicate all three channels.

Bytes 16-38 relate to the start time of the event, bytes 39-61 relate to the end time of the event, and the remaining bytes 62-63 relate to padding. Referring first to byte 8, it is a byte length indicating the event operation code (for example, skip or mute). For each possible combination of event categories shown in Table 2, bytes 9-14 are encoded to indicate the event category. When the filtering methods discussed herein are implemented, the filtering type activated by the particular user is compared to the filtering categories identified in bytes 9-14. Byte 15 is dedicated to channel muting, which allows muting a specific channel in an A/V presentation equipped with multi-channel audio, for example in a 5:1 format only the center channel is muted, in most of the film's talk are provided by that channel, while the other channels are not muted.

The start timecode and related timecode information are indicated in bytes 16-38. Bytes 16-19 are reserved for the actual event's origin timecode (hour:minute:second:frame), byte 16 has the hour information, byte 17 has the minute information, byte 18 has the second information, and Byte 19 has information of the frame. And bytes 20-38 are reserved for marking the starting chapter number, starting program chain number, starting program element number, starting unit number, starting address of VOBU N, and related frames offset by X frames from the beginning of VOBU N+1 number, the VOBU N+1 is related to the start time of the filtering event. Bytes 20-38 refer to different layering information specified in different DVD specifications. Bytes 39-61 relate to the end time code for silence type filtering operations, bytes 39-42 are assigned to the end time code indication (hour:minute:second:frame), and bytes 43-61 are assigned to the minute of the specific VOBU. Layer information that a particular VOBU is associated with a particular frame when the silence is about to be turned off. It is possible to use start and end timecodes, or additionally use layered information for muting.

The subject matter of the invention further relates to an indexing device and method for marking the multimedia presentations available on a particular storage medium comprising several filter tables. A particular storage medium may contain hundreds or thousands of filter tables for easy access to the many possible multimedia presentations.

In one embodiment, a unique identifier is generated for each filtered file, or multimedia presentation with information on whether a filtered file (table) will or will not be formed. The unique identifier is generated according to the file specification of the multimedia presentation. Unique identifiers can also be generated on a per DVD or per side basis per DVD when the DVD has multiple sides.

Each storage medium with several filter tables (ie, the set of filtered files for a particular multimedia presentation) includes a master index with a total list of unique identifiers available on the filter disk. For each unique identifier there is a separate table that provides a pointer to the specific filter table for the identifier (if it exists) within the multimedia context, along with additional information about the filter table, including whether the filter table is actually stored on the storage medium above, whether a filter table will be generated, and the MPAA rating value for that title.

Figure 16 is the file format for a single unique identifier record for a particular filter disc. The filter tray includes a set of filter tables. Byte set A is the packet identifier and error checking bytes. Byte set B includes a unique identifier for a particular table. Byte set C provides pointers to specific filter information for identifiers within the scope of the disc, including the formats of FIGS. 13 and 15 . Byte set D provides specific filtering information. Bit0 indicates whether filtering is on disk (Bit0=1, on disk; Bit0=0, not on disk). Using the format of Figure 13, access to any particular filter file can be accomplished.

As a function of filtering multimedia presentation titles, access to any specific filter table is provided. For example, access to one or more gladiator filter tables is achieved by searching for gladiators. The total number of filtered tables with the feature marked as header. There are also tables for each heading list. Filter lists are stored in alphabetical (A to Z) and ascending numerical (1 to 9) order according to the title of the multimedia presentation associated with the particular filter list. The table includes characters (eg, A-Z), numeric characters (eg, 0-9), and other characters (eg, !, @, #, etc.). Therefore, there is a separate table for each character (A, B...0, 1...!, @, etc.). In addition, each glyph includes an indication of the filter quantity for the character, and a mapping to the first entry of this glyph. From this table, the system generates a character-based list, for example, an alphabetical list of filtering operations available on the disc. Additionally, the list can be accessed by character entry. Thus, for example, a screen is generated that includes an alphabetical list, and by selecting any letter of the alphabet, the user can access a list of all available filters where the multimedia presentation title associated with that filter is selected from the characters start.

Fig. 17 is a file format of a character based on a lookup table. Byte set B includes character identifiers for a particular table. Byte set B provides ASCII information for each character. Thus, a table for the character "A" will have the ASCII value for A provided in byte set B. Byte set C provides an identification of the total number of filter tables associated with a particular character. Finally, byte set D provides pointers to the first filter table on specific characters. For example, with respect to "A", the pointer will point to the first filter table for the first multimedia presentation starting from A, which is alphabetized within the A set of filter tables.

Filter tables on a particular storage medium may further be indexed or marked according to when the filter tables were published. For example, highlight all filter sheets published within 90 days. When a new filter list is released following the release of a new multimedia presentation (for example, a new movie released on DVD), the user can quickly determine whether the filter list for the new DVD release has been updated just by searching for the new release. produce. For each new release, there is a new release record (table). Each new showing list is provided with a pointer to the filter list information for the new showing. Thus, the user can obtain a list of all filter tables only for new releases.

In various possible embodiments consistent with the teachings of the present invention, a particular filter table may be identified by one or more index tables. Figures 18-23 represent index tables, collectively used to provide a mapping to one or a set of filter tables for a particular multimedia presentation. The mapping can flexibly account for different versions of filter tables, different versions of movie titles, format changes of multimedia presentations, filtering modes (eg, time-based filtering and location-based filtering), and other mapping efficiencies.

Referring to Fig. 19 at first, shown a piece of broadcast show list. The presentation table provides one or more bytes (Byte Set B) to identify a specific filter file or set of filter tables for a multimedia title (eg, "Gladiator"). Byte set C includes the release number of the particular filter table. It is possible to have multiple filtered report releases for multimedia presentations. Byte set D provides an identification of the studio number for a particular version of the multimedia title. For example, some movies have an unrated version, a director's cut, an extended run, etc., each of which has a unique catalog number. Byte E provides similar release information, but in the form of an alphanumeric descriptor (eg "Director's Cut"), as opposed to a catalog number. Byte set F provides the release date of the filter table. Byte set G provides a mapping table tailored for multiplex releases (see discussion of FIG. 20 below). Byte set H provides aspect ratio information for a particular multimedia presentation associated with a particular filter file.

Some multimedia titles may be associated with several physical decks. For example, some DVD movies may be available on both sides of a DVD, or on several sides of a DVD. If byte set G in Fig. 19 is 1, then there is no definition about the value of this table, and the movie is on a single disc. If the byte set G in FIG. 19 is 2, then there are 2 or more disk surface tables. Referring to FIG. 20, byte B will be discussed in detail with respect to FIG. 21 as follows. Byte C indicates the DVD title package number with respect to the disc indicated by the table. In most examples, this value will be 1, indicating the main movie title. However, it is possible to make filter lists about other titles on the same disc. For example, a main movie title (eg Gladiator) provided with other DVD titles, eg an interview with the director could also have a filter file. Byte set D indicates the type of filter identifier applied in the filter file. As discussed above, in various embodiments of the present invention, both timecode-based filtering and location-based filtering (due to the VOBU functionality) can be defined within a specific filter. Likewise, byte set D defines one or more filter identifier types. Byte Set D also provides MPAA ratings for specific DVD titles. Usually the MPAA rating is used on a film basis. In this example, the MPAA rating is determined from the DVD title. Byte set F provides filter generation date. The byte set G provides information about the total byte length of all filter-specific maps for a particular filter table. Byte set H provides the screen aspect ratio for a particular DVD side.

The table shown in Figure 21 provides a second unique identifier for a particular side of the DVD. This unique identifier also accounts for any variation in the identifier if a different length version of the multimedia presentation is shown.

When different titles on a particular side of a DVD have a unique filter, a table as shown in Figure 22 is provided. There is a separate table for each filter heading. Byte set B identifies the header. Byte set C identifies the program chain number of the title. Byte set D indicates a unique identifier for a particular title. Using this unique identifier, it is possible to comprehensively search the various possible filters (for example, search for a filter for "Gladiator") or search for a filter for various titles within a DVD disc. Byte set E indicates the number of different language versions for which filtering can be used. For example, bad language may be different depending on the particular language; thus, filtering based on bad language may be different depending on the language used. Byte set E provides a mapping of the number of language tables so that there is a separate table for each supported language.

The table of Figure 23 provides actual pointers to specific filter file information for multimedia presentations. Depending on the particular multimedia presentation, the pointer addresses the filter file as a function of movie title, disc surface, DVD title, language, and other factors mentioned above. Byte set G indicates the number of filtered files in a particular filter table. Byte set H is a pointer to the first filter file for the multimedia presentation.

The table of Figure 23 also provides other information. First, byte set B provides the language identifier for the filtered file. Byte set C provides header information as shown. Byte set D is a pointer to a theme descriptor for the multimedia presentation. The theme descriptor does not provide filtering, but a textual description of the various themes present in a particular multimedia presentation. For example, when suicide occurs in a particular movie, the topic "suicide" will be presented to the user under the influence of the topic descriptor. Likewise, if the user has activated filtering, this or these topic descriptors will be presented to the user on the display before starting playback. With this information, parents can be better informed about this particular film and make a more informed decision about whether or not to let their child watch that film. Subject descriptors provide more detailed information than traditional MPAA grading schemes. Byte set E provides an identification of the particular filtering type available for the multimedia presentation, and byte set F provides an indication of the unavailable filtering type. Byte set G indicates the total number of filter files that can be activated for multimedia presentations.

The teachings of the present invention extend to methods, systems and computer program products for automatically identifying and filtering portions of multimedia content, such as multimedia presentations provided in DVD format. Embodiments of the present invention include DVD players, special purpose or general purpose computers containing various computer hardware, television systems and audio systems, and/or combinations thereof. These embodiments are discussed in detail above. In any case, however, the described embodiments should be considered as illustrative of the invention and not as limiting the scope of the invention.

Embodiments within the scope of the present invention also include computer-readable media for carrying or having computer-executable instructions or data structures stored thereon. Such computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, DVD, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or may be used to load or store computer-executable The desired program code means of instructions or data structures and any other medium that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. Embodiments of the present invention are stored as computer readable instructions on a DVD, along with a multimedia presentation intended to be filtered and played back with muted or skipped various time sequences. When information is transmitted or provided over a network or other communication link or computer connection (hardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired and wireless), the computer fully considers the connection to be a computer-readable medium. Thus, any such connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media. Computer-executable instructions comprise, for example, instructions and data which cause a DVD player, a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, or a special purpose processor to perform an operation or group of operations.

Although not required, the invention can be configured as computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, executed by a DVD player. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Computer-executable instructions, associated data structures, and program modules represent examples of the program code means for executing steps of the methods disclosed herein. The particular sequence of such executable instructions or associated data structures represents examples of corresponding acts for implementing the operations described in such steps. Furthermore, the program code means executed by the processing unit provide an example of a processor solution.

Claims (27)

1. A method for filtering part of multimedia content presentation, said method comprising: accessing at least one filter file defined by a filter origin indication and a filter operation; reading digital multimedia information from a storage medium, the multimedia information including a location reference; comparing the location reference of the multimedia information with the filter start indication; and In response to the comparing operation, a filtering operation is performed if the location reference of the multimedia information matches a filtering start indication of at least one filterable portion of the multimedia content. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the filter origin indication comprises a filter origin time reference. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein said filter start time reference is in the form of hours:minutes:seconds:frames. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the filter origin indication includes a storage location identifier. 5. The method of claim 4, wherein said storage location identifier comprises a storage sector identifier. 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the start time reference comprises a logical block number associated with a video object unit. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one filter file includes a content identifier. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein said at least one content identifier is selected from the group consisting of violence, sex and nudity, language, and others. 9. The method of claim 1, said digital multimedia information comprising encoded video and audio data. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the multimedia content information includes Moving Picture Experts Group MPEG encoded video and audio data. 11. The method of claim 9, further comprising decoding the encoded video and audio data. 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the act of playing the decoded video and audio data. 13. The method of claim 9, further comprising comparing a location reference of said multimedia information with said filter start indication prior to decoding the multimedia information. 14. The method of claim 1, further comprising the operation of storing said digital multimedia information in a buffer memory. 15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the operation of comparing a location reference of multimedia information in said buffer memory with said filter start indication. 16. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage medium comprises an optical storage disk. 17. The method of claim 16, wherein said optical storage disc is a DVD. 18. The method of claim 1, wherein said act of performing a filtering operation includes deleting said multimedia information in said buffer memory. 19. The method of claim 18, wherein said operation of performing a filtering operation comprises deleting said multimedia information in said buffer memory whether or not said buffer contains some multimedia information that does not need to be filtered. 20. The method of claim 1, wherein said filter file further includes a filter endpoint indication. 21. The method of claim 19, wherein said act of performing a filtering operation comprises the act of advancing an operation of reading digital multimedia information from a storage medium to said filtering end point indication. 22. The method of claim 21, wherein said filter endpoint indication includes a filter endpoint time reference. 23. The method of claim 22, wherein said filter endpoint time reference is in the form of hours:minutes:seconds:frames. 24. The method of claim 22, wherein the filter endpoint indication includes a storage location identifier. 25. The method of claim 24, wherein said storage location identifier comprises a storage sector identifier. 26. The method of claim 21, wherein the filter endpoint indication includes a logical block number associated with a video object unit. 27. A multimedia player configured to implement the operations of claim 1.

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