Method and apparatus for detecting radio content
OwnerDavid Hauserinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A central database provides a location for creating and storing samples of known television commercials. The database of commercial samples is downloaded to a set-top box via a communicate link. The set-top box incorporates a processor for comparing a television signal with the database of known commercial messages to detect the presence of commercial messages. The set-top box may be used to control a recording unit to stop recording for the duration of the commercial message or flag the commercial message for muting or manual skipping during playback. Using this system, the user has the ability to positively detect commercial messages and eliminate the commercials from viewing if desired.
Claims20
A method of detecting preferred program content in an incoming radio signal, comprising:
- providing a radio receiver having a tuner, a control unit and a local memory unit;
- compiling a database of preferred program content in the local memory unit;
- receiving a digitally encoded radio signal;
- decoding at least one channel of the incoming radio signal;
- and
- comparing the decoded radio channel with the database of preferred program content to detect the presence of the preferred program content in the incoming radio signal.
A method of detecting content in an incoming encoded radio signal, comprising:
- providing a radio receiver having a tuner and a local memory unit;
- downloading information regarding preferred radio content from a central database to the local memory unit;
- receiving a digitally encoded radio signal;
- decoding multiple channels of the incoming encoded signal;
- comparing radio content in the multiple channels with the local database of information to detect the presence of the preferred radio content;
- and
- alerting the user regarding the presence of the preferred radio content.
A method of recording preferred content in a radio broadcast signal, comprising:
- providing a set-top box having a tuner, a local memory unit and a recording unit;
- entering information regarding preferred radio content into the local memory unit;
- receiving a radio broadcast signal;
- decoding multiple channels of the incoming encoded signal in substantially real-time;
- comparing radio content in the multiple channels with the information in the local memory unit to detect the presence of the preferred radio content;
- and
- causing the recording unit to begin recording after detecting preferred radio content.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.