Determining the location of a point of interest in a media stream that includes caption data

A computing device, comprising:

• a communication interface that receives a media stream, and a sequence of caption data strings associated with the media stream;
• a memory device resident in the computing device;
• and
• a processor disposed in communication with the communication interface and the memory device, the processor configured to:
• receive an order of duplication for the media stream, the order of duplication relating to the sequence of caption data strings associated with the media stream;
• compute a hash value for a selected string in the sequence, the hash value representing the selected string, and a number of strings in the sequence that immediately precede the selected string, where the order of duplication determines the number of strings;
• receive a media stream time for the selected string based on the hash value;
• and
• determine a time at a point of interest in the media stream relative to the media stream time for the selected string.

A method, comprising:

• a server determining an order of duplication for a media stream, the order of duplication relating to a sequence of caption data strings associated with the media stream;
• the server sending the order of duplication for the media stream;
• receiving a hash value for a selected string in the sequence, the hash value representing the selected string, and a number of strings in the sequence that immediately precede the selected string, where the order of duplication determines the number of strings;
• the server determining a media stream time for the selected string based on the hash value;
• and
• the server sending the media stream time for the selected string.

A computing device, comprising:

• a communication interface that receives a media stream, and a sequence of caption data strings associated with the media stream;
• a memory device resident in the computing device;
• and
• a processor disposed in communication with the communication interface and the memory device, the processor configured to:
• determine an order of duplication for the media stream, the order of duplication relating to the sequence of caption data strings associated with the media stream;
• send the order of duplication for the media stream;
• receive a hash value for a selected string in the sequence, the hash value representing the selected string, and a number of strings in the sequence that immediately precede the selected string, where the order of duplication determines the number of strings;
• determine a media stream time for the selected string based on the hash value;
• and
• send the media stream time for the selected string.