Interactive content acquisition using embedded codes

#The subject matter of this patent document relates to management of multimedia content and more specifically using watermarks to facilitate recognition and utilization of multimedia content.

#The use and presentation of multimedia content on a variety of mobile and fixed platforms have rapidly proliferated. By taking advantage of storage paradigms, such as cloud-based storage infrastructures, reduced form factor of media players, and high-speed wireless network capabilities, users can readily access and consume multimedia content regardless of the physical location of the users or the multimedia content. A multimedia content, such as an audiovisual content, often consists of a series of related images, which, when shown in succession, can impart an impression of motion, together with accompanying sounds, if any. Such a content can be accessed from various sources including local storage such as hard drives or optical disks, remote storage such as Internet sites or cable/satellite distribution servers, over-the-air broadcast channels, etc.

#In some scenarios, such a multimedia content, or portions thereof, may contain only one type of content, including, but not limited to, a still image, a video sequence and an audio clip, while in other scenarios, the multimedia content, or portions thereof, may contain two or more types of content such as audiovisual content and a wide range of metadata. The metadata can, for example include one or more of the following: channel identification, program identification, content and content segment identification, content size, the date at which the content was produced or edited, the owner and producer identification of the content, timecode identification, copyright information, closed captions, and locations such as URLs where advertising content, software applications, interactive services content, and signaling that enables various services, and other relevant data that can be accessed. In general, metadata is the information about the content essence (e.g., audio and/or video content) and associated services (e.g., interactive services, targeted advertising insertion).

#FIG. 1 illustrates a system for providing automatic content recognition and acquisition of interactive content in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.

#FIG. 2 illustrates a diagram of how a Registrar, Domain Managers, Domain Member Embedder Managers and Embedders can be connected in a hierarchical structure in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.

#FIG. 3 illustrates the relationship between the timeline of a broadcast content and the embedded watermarks in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.

#The disclosed technology facilitates automatic recognition of a content, and enable acquisition of metadata associated with the content.

#One aspect of the disclosed technology relates to a method for obtaining associated information for a multimedia content. The method includes receiving a content at a receiver device equipped with a watermark detector and performing watermark detection on the received content to extract a payload of one or more embedded watermarks. The payload includes a first field that includes a server identifier and a second field that includes an interval identifier associated with the server identifier. The first field provides a mapping to an Internet address accessible to retrieve metadata associated with content segments identified by the watermark payload. The method further includes, based on the detected watermark payload, forming a query and transmitting the query to a server identified by the Internet address, and receiving a response to the query from the server, the response including metadata associated with the content.

#In one exemplary embodiment, the value of the first field is assigned by a central authority to domain registrants, and each domain registrant controls an assignment and usage of the second field. In another exemplary embodiment, a correspondence between the first field and the Internet addresses is pre-established at least in-part by a registrar server. In yet another exemplary embodiment, the mapping is stored in the receiver device in a memory. In another exemplary embodiment, the receiver device receives the mapping or the Internet address in response to a lookup request including the first field to a lookup server. In one exemplary embodiment, the query is a standardized query that is used to obtain the metadata corresponding to a particular value of the interval identifier. In still another exemplary embodiment, the payload includes a third field that is indicative of availability of the metadata associated with a content interval that is identified by the interval identifier. In yet another exemplary embodiment, the query is formed and transmitted to the server upon detection of a change in a value of the third field.