Patent ID: 6449766
Filing Date: 2002-09-10
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
In a multimedia system that is capable of receiving multimedia programs each having a particular rating system of a plurality of rating systems, wherein each of the plurality of rating systems includes a plurality of ratings, a method of recognizing each of the plurality of ratings in each of the plurality of rating systems notwithstanding that there are multimedia programs of a variety of different rating systems that may be received at the multimedia system, the method comprising the acts of:prior to receiving a multimedia program at the multimedia system, storing in a memory of the multimedia system a data structure that includes rating system directories, each rating system directory representing one of the plurality of rating systems and including one or more fields containing information relating to the plurality of ratings of the corresponding rating system; receiving, at the multimedia system, said multimedia program, wherein said multimedia program has a rating that is included in a particular rating system; upon receiving the multimedia program at the multimedia system, extracting rating information associated with the multimedia program; searching the data structure using the rating information to identify the rating system directory representing the particular rating system and to identify the rating of the multimedia program; and performing a function based on the identified rating of the multimedia program.