# US 9,438,949 B2 · Media processing methods and arrangements

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- Number: US 9,438,949 B2
- Document ID: US9438949B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 13/191,190
- Filed: 2011-07-26
- Published: 2011-11-17
- Granted: 2016-09-06
- Earliest claimed: 2009-02-12
- Assignees: Digimarc Corporation
- Applicants: Bruce L. Davis; Tony F. Rodriguez
- Inventors: Bruce L. Davis; Tony F. Rodriguez
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9438949B2

## CPC

- H04N 21/4394: {involving operations for analysing the audio stream, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in audio streams (arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of audio in broadcast systems H04H60/58)}
- G10L 19/167: {Audio streaming, i.e. formatting and decoding of an encoded audio signal representation into a data stream for transmission or storage purposes}
- H04H 60/58: of audio {(determination or detection of speech characteristics in general G10L25/00; speech recognition in general G10L15/00)}
- H04M 1/72412: using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
- H04M 1/72415: for remote control of appliances
- H04N 21/21: Server components or server architectures
- H04N 21/23: Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
- H04N 21/233: Processing of audio elementary streams {(monitoring, identification or recognition of audio in broadcast systems H04H60/58)}
- H04N 21/23418: {involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics (television picture signal circuitry for scene change detection H04N5/147; filtering for image enhancement G06T5/00; methods or arrangements for recognising scenes G06V20/00; arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59)}
- H04N 21/25883: {being end-user demographical data, e.g. age, family status or address (arrangements for identifying locations of users in broadcast systems H04H60/52)}
- H04N 21/2665: Gathering content from different sources, e.g. Internet and satellite
- H04N 21/4122: {additional display device, e.g. video projector (digital output for controlling a plurality of local displays G06F3/1423)}
- H04N 21/41265: {having a remote control device for bidirectional communication between the remote control device and client device (unidirectional remote control device H04N21/42204)}
- H04N 21/41415: {involving a public display, viewable by several users in a public space outside their home, e.g. movie theatre, information kiosk}
- H04N 21/42203: {sound input device, e.g. microphone}
- H04N 21/42204: {User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor (constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205)}
- H04N 21/42208: {Display device provided on the remote control}
- H04N 21/4316: {for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window}
- H04N 21/4334: {Recording operations (recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27)}
- H04N 21/43637: {involving a wireless protocol, e.g. Bluetooth®, RF or wireless LAN [IEEE 802.11] (arrangements for wireless networking or broadcasting of information in indoor or near-field type systems H04B10/114)}
- H04N 21/4367: Establishing a secure communication between the client and a peripheral device or smart card
- H04N 21/44204: {Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched (monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31)}
- H04N 21/4532: {involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences (monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18)}
- H04N 21/458: Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules {; time-related management operations (arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10)}
- H04N 21/4622: {Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet (web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859)}
- H04N 21/4667: {Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections}
- H04N 21/47: End-user applications
- H04N 21/472: End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content {(end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612)}
- H04N 21/47214: {for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market (stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224)}
- H04N 21/4722: for requesting additional data associated with the content
- H04N 21/4753: {for user identification, e.g. by entering a PIN or password (cryptographic authentication protocols H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08)}
- H04N 21/478: Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
- H04N 21/4782: Web browsing {, e.g. WebTV}
- H04N 21/4788: communicating with other users, e.g. chatting {(arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104)}
- H04N 21/482: End-user interface for programme selection
- H04N 21/8126: {involving additional data, e.g. news, sports, stocks, weather forecasts}
- H04N 21/83: Generation or processing of protective or descriptive data associated with content; Content structuring
- H04N 21/8358: involving watermark {(protecting executable software by watermarking G06F21/16; image watermarking in general G06T1/0021; watermarks inserted in still images for transmission purposes H04N1/32144; inserting watermarks during video coding H04N19/467)}
- H04N 21/84: Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors {(systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73)}
- H04M 2250/64: file transfer between terminals
- H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- G10L: SPEECH ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES OR SPEECH SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING
- H04H: BROADCAST COMMUNICATION (multiplex communication H04J; pictorial communication aspects of broadcast systems H04N)
- H04M: TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION (circuits for controlling other apparatus via a telephone cable and not involving telephone switching apparatus G08)

## Abstract

The present technology concerns cell phones and other portable devices, and more particularly concerns use of such devices in connection with media content (electronic and physical) and with other systems (e.g., televisions, digital video recorders, and electronic program directories). Some aspects of the technology allow users to easily transfer displayed content from cell phone screens onto a television screens for easier viewing, or vice versa for content portability. Others enable users to participate interactively in entertainment content, such as by submitting plot directions, audio input, character names, etc., yielding more engaging, immersive, user experiences. Still other aspects of the technology involve a program directory database, compiled automatically from information reported by network nodes that watch and identify content traffic passing into (and/or out of) networked computers. By identifying content resident at a number of different repositories (e.g., web sites, TV networks, P2P systems, etc.), such a directory allows cell phone users to identify the diversity of sources from which desired content can be obtained—some available on a scheduled basis, others available on demand. Depending on the application, the directory information may be transparent to the user—serving to identify sources for desired content, from which application software can pick for content downloading, based, e.g., on context and stored profile data. A great number of other features and arrangements are also detailed.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method comprising:
rendering entertainment content from a viewing screen;
probabilistically inferring an identity of a user that is viewing the entertainment content on the viewing screen using one or more heuristics, the inferred identity of the user being uncertain;
once an identity inference has been made, obtaining additional information to confirm or refute the identity inference, the additional information comprising a sampling of ambient audio or imagery associated with the user's environment;
selecting auxiliary content, from among plural auxiliary content options, based in part on the entertainment content and based in part on the additional information, said selecting being performed by a hardware system configured to perform such act; and then
causing the selected auxiliary content to be identified to the user on a portable device, so that the user may view at least some of the selected auxiliary content on a screen of the portable device;
wherein said probabilistic inferring of the identity of the user depends, at least in part, on an identity of the entertainment content.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more heuristics are independent of information from the user and from the portable device, provided during the viewing.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1 in which the selected auxiliary content comprises plural items of content, different of which are probabilistically selected based on different possible probabilistic identifications of the user.

### Claim 4

One or more non-transitory computer readable storage media containing software instructions that are operable to configure one or more devices programmed thereby to perform acts including:
probabilistically inferring an identity of a user that is viewing entertainment content on a viewing screen using one or more heuristics, the inferred identity of the user being uncertain;
once an identity inference has been made, obtaining additional information to confirm or refute the identity inference, the additional information comprising a sampling of ambient audio or imagery associated with the user's environment;
selecting auxiliary content, from among plural auxiliary content options, based in part on the entertainment content and based in part on the additional information; and then
causing the selected auxiliary content to be identified to the user on a portable device, so that the user may view at least some of the selected auxiliary content on a screen of the portable device;
wherein said probabilistic inferring of the identity of the user depends, at least in part, on an identity of the entertainment content.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media of claim 4 in which the one or more heuristics are independent of information from the user and from the portable device, provided during the viewing.

### Claim 6 (depends on 4)

The one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media of claim 4 in which the selected auxiliary content comprises plural items of content, different of which are probabilistically selected based on different possible probabilistic identifications of the user.

### Claim 7

A system comprising:
a viewing screen for rendering entertainment content;
a sensor for sampling ambient audio or imagery associated with a user's environment;
one or more processors configured for:
probabilistically inferring an identity of a user that is viewing the entertainment content on said viewing screen using one or more heuristics, the inferred identity of the user being uncertain;
once an identity inference has been made, obtaining additional information to confirm or refute the identity inference, the additional information comprising a sampling of ambient audio or imagery obtained by said sensor; and
selecting auxiliary content, from among plural auxiliary content options, based in part on the entertainment content and based in part on the additional information, wherein the probabilistic inferring of the identity of the user depends, at least in part, on an identity of the entertainment content; and
a portable device comprising a screen, the portable device for identifying the selected auxiliary content to the user, so that the user may view at least some of the selected auxiliary content on the screen of said portable device.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The system of claim 7 in which the sensor comprises a microphone.

### Claim 9 (depends on 7)

The system of claim 7 in which the sensor comprises a camera.

### Claim 10 (depends on 7)

The system of claim 7 in which said portable device comprises said sensor.

### Claim 11 (depends on 7)

The system of claim 7 wherein the one or more heuristics are independent of information from the user and from the portable device, provided during viewing.

### Claim 12 (depends on 7)

The system of claim 7 in which the selected auxiliary content comprises plural items of content, different of which are probabilistically selected based on different possible probabilistic identifications of the user.