Tivo Corporation

Motion Picture Laboratories, Inc.

Electronics for Imaging Gmbh

Tvworks, LLC

Rovi Solutions Corporation

Macrovision Corporation

Craig Howard Seidel

David E Bruce

James K Schwarz, Jr

Lambert Chun-Bob Lum

Coleman Dale Sisson, Jr

James M Barton

James Helman

Zhengo (Mark) Guan

Andrew Pierson

Zhengo Guan

Raymond G Drewry

A comprehensive mechanism is provided for broadcasting and accessing multiple audio sources in connection with the viewing of a television program. Audio is collected through the use of standard audio capture techniques. Next, the audio is distributed by either of in-band via broadcast or out-of-band techniques. In-band audio is preferably provided via an MPEG stream associated with the current television program. Out-of-band (OOB) audio can be broadcast as well, although it is preferable to select which channel is distributed upstream first, rather than broadcast all channels downstream and consume bandwidth for unselected audio. The viewer operates a set top box to select the appropriate audio channel(s) for reproduction.

Multi-channel audio enhancement for television

A method and apparatus for programming a remote control is provided. Control data that identifies one or more mode codes is stored in a computing device that is operationally connected to a detector. A user presses a button on a source remote control to cause an input signal to be transmitted from the source remote control to be received by the detector. The detector decodes the input signal, and consults the control data to determine a particular IR code that is associated with the source remote control. The computing device may then display information identifying a particular mode code on a display to allow the user to manually program a target remote control with the particular mode code. Alternately, the computing device may transmit the particular mode code to the target remote control to allow the target remote control to automatically configure itself with the particular mode code.

Remote control programming system

A system for modifying commercials for multi-speed playback detects when a commercial break begins in a broadcast program content stream. If the viewer selects fast-forward playback mode during the commercial break, then the system selects the appropriate alternate content to be played to the viewer. The alternate content can include images, video, and/or audio content. The system is provided configuration information by the service provider or broadcaster to identify what alternate content will be played, when it will be played and any additional processing tasks required. A service provider can charge an advertiser or content provider a fee based on viewership of the alternate content. When the system detects that the commercial break has ended, it returns the viewer back to the program material.

Modifying commercials for multi-speed playback

A method and a computer-readable storage medium configured with instructions that when executed to carry out the method, and a computer system configured to carry out the method. The method includes storing a set of rules in computer-interpretable form in a processing system. The rules allow the expression of a range of possibilities for determination of recognition of items of content and a wide range of actions to take when such determination is made. Using the rules, a processing system can recognize content and possibly act on the recognition results, the recognition and acting according to the stored set of rules.

Processing and acting on rules for content recognition systems

A method and system for interconnecting a number of peer to peer networks is disclosed. According to one embodiment, a peer to peer, gateway communicates with one or more peer to peer networks. The gateway communicates with these networks through the Internet, to which it is connected. The gateway may be configured to perform a number of functions on each of the connected networks, including but not limited to: data storage, searching, data transfer, and data translation.

Peer to peer gateway

A comprehensive mechanism is provided for broadcasting and accessing multiple audio sources in connection with the viewing of a television program. In the preferred embodiment, the first step in providing audio is collecting the audio through the use of standard audio capture techniques. Next, the audio is distributed by either of in-band via broadcast or out-of-band techniques. In-band audio is preferably provided via an MPEG stream associated with the current television program. Out-of-band (OOB) audio can be broadcast as well, although it is preferable to select which channel is distributed upstream first, rather than broadcast all channels downstream and consume bandwidth for unselected audio. Thus, it is preferred that only the desired audio channel(s) are sent over the OOB channel. The audio is preferably tagged with metadata, such that information describing the audio accompanies each audio channel. This allows, for example, a description of the audio to be provided to the viewer as part of a selection mechanism (see below), and/or provides control information that is used by the system, for example to configure the system for a particular type of audio processing, e.g. DTS; display accompanying graphic information; such as an ad; or engage a viewer authentication/billing mechanism, for example to provide upstream information concerning the viewer's selections. With either system, the viewer operates a set top box to select the appropriate audio channel(s) and route the television audio to a television or to a separate amplifier and speakers for reproduction.

Particular embodiments include cooperative monitoring of peer-to-peer activity on a network including maintaining communication between a local monitoring process and a network monitoring process such that a process can use both network monitoring and local monitoring. The cooperative monitoring includes monitoring a local peer using local monitoring of a point in the network by monitoring packets passing through the point, monitoring the network using network monitoring by a monitoring system or agent coupled to the network, and analyzing the result of network monitoring and local monitoring to determine at least one file transfer association with the local peer.

Cooperative monitoring of peer-to-peer network activity

A method and software to implement a method comprising receiving digital content such as multimedia content, and either ascertaining whether at least a part of the digital content has previously been associated with one or more matched referenced works or searching a store of fingerprint data of referenced works for a match. The searching includes determining a fingerprint of at least part of the digital content, e.g., multimedia content; and searching the store of fingerprint data of referenced works for a match. In the case that is has been ascertained that the work has previously been associated, or the searching has produced a match to one or more matched referenced works, associating association data to the one or more matched referenced works. Ownership data to the matched referenced works is included in the association such that use of the digital content can take into account such ownership rights. The associating of the association data is carried out in a secure manner.

Associating rights to multimedia content

A method and system for interconnecting a number of peer to peer networks is disclosed. According to one embodiment, a peer to peer gateway communicates with one or more peer to peer networks. The gateway communicates with these networks through the Internet, to which it is connected. The gateway may be configured to perform a number of functions on each of the connected networks, including but not limited to: data storage, searching, data transfer, and data translation.

A method and system for establishing trust in a peer-to-peer network is disclosed. According to one embodiment, a computer implemented method comprises receiving a certificate associated with content from a peer in a peer-to-peer network. A file certificate associated with the content is received wherein the file certificate includes a hash. The validity of the content is determined with the file certificate. The authenticity of the content is determined with the file certificate.

Method and system for establishing trust in a peer-to-peer network

A display interface system that uses a server-client approach. The server contains all of the necessary information regarding display information, while the client deals with the specific display type that it is connected to. The server contains generic descriptions of user interface screens which allow the server to be independent of specific display types. This allows one version of software to support many types of displays, rather than several software revisions for each display type, saving the software developer time, maintenance, and labor costs. A request-response communication system is used whereupon the client requests previous or next user display screens, system parameter requests, or updates from the server. The client requests screen information through a series of key-tag sequences, while the server controls the sequencing of the user display screens. The client is shielded from any knowledge of the contents of the screen and is only concerned with the fact that something is being displayed. Communication between the server and client is through a unified protocol, allowing the client to be located either locally, in the same machine or remote, across a network.

Growing community of inventors

Palo Alto, CA, United States of America

Craig Howard Seidel