Abstract:
Provided is a multimedia presentation apparatus comprising:
       a playback module operable to playback multimedia content;   a sensor module operable to measure a characteristic of the behavior of at least one individual in an audience indicative of attention paid by the at least one individual to the multimedia content;   a processing module for determining a state of the audience based on the characteristic of the at least one individual, and for selecting multimedia content for playback based on the state of the audience.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]    The invention relates to the field of multimedia presentation. 
       BACKGROUND  
       [0002]    Multimedia content is provided to audiences at a variety of locations. In public spaces such as shopping malls, and airports, there is a large potential audience for providers of multimedia content such as advertisers. In such public spaces, the content is usually provided according to a fixed structure based on idealized projections of audience behavior. 
         [0003]    US2007/0061838 discloses a media presentation system including a base unit with motion sensors that can determine if there is movement in front of the base unit. Movement indicates the presence of viewers. The base unit may be able to count the number of people in front the display at any given point in time. Triggers can be implemented by advertisers to display messages once the count exceeds or is less than a threshold designated by the advertiser. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]    According to an embodiment of the invention there is provided a multimedia presentation apparatus. The multimedia presentation apparatus comprises a playback module operable to playback multimedia content. The multimedia presentation apparatus further comprises a sensor module operable to measure a characteristic of the behavior of at least one individual in an audience indicative of attention paid by the at least one individual to the multimedia content. The multimedia presentation apparatus further comprises a processing module for determining a state of the audience based on the characteristic of the at least one individual, and for selecting multimedia content for playback based on the state of the audience. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
         [0005]    In the following, embodiments of the invention will be described, by way of example only, and with reference to the drawings in which: 
           [0006]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a multimedia presentation apparatus, 
           [0007]      FIG. 2  is a flow diagram illustrating steps involved in selecting multimedia content for playback, 
           [0008]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a multimedia playback apparatus, 
           [0009]      FIG. 4  illustrates the use of trajectories of audience members in the determination of a state of the audience, 
           [0010]      FIG. 5  is a flow diagram showing steps involved in a method of selecting multimedia content based on the trajectories of audience members. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0011]      FIG. 1  illustrates a block diagram of a multimedia presentation apparatus  100 . The multimedia presentation apparatus comprises a playback module  101  for playback of multimedia content. This may include visual presentation of multimedia content through a screen such as a cathode ray tube, an LCD screen, a plasma screen or a projection screen. It may also include audio playback of multimedia content including spoken word, music, or sound effects. The multimedia presentation apparatus  100  also comprises a sensor module  102  for measuring a characteristic of the behavior of members of the audience. The sensor module may include a TV camera, or a motion sensor such as a passive infrared detector or an active ultrasonic or microwave detector. The multimedia presentation apparatus  100  also includes a processing module  103 . The processing module determines a state of the audience based on the output of the sensor module  102 . Based on the state of the audience determined by the processing module, the processing module selects multimedia content for playback by the playback module  101 . The modules may be realized as a single integrated device, or may be implemented at separate locations. The modules may be realized as software, hardware, or a combination of the two. The sensor module  102  is directed to detect people in front of the display from the playback module  101 . 
         [0012]      FIG. 2  shows a method  200  for selecting multimedia content for playback by the playback module  101 . In step  201  a characteristic of the audience is measured. The characteristic of the audience measured in step  201  is indicative of the attention paid by the audience to the multimedia content played by the playback module  101 . The characteristic of the audience may be the motion of the audience, for example of the direction of motion of the audience may determine the attention paid by the audience to the playback module. The characteristic of the audience may also be determined from recognition of the face of members of the audience. When determining the characteristic of the audience in step  201  the amount of time that members of the audience have been in the vicinity of the playback module may also be determined. In step  202  the state of the audience is determined from the characteristic of the audience measured in step  201 . The state of the audience may be that there is no audience present, that the audience consists mostly of new arrivals, that the audience consists mostly of people who have viewed certain items of content, it may also include reaction of the audience to items of content recently displayed on the playback module, it may also include demographic information about the audience. Once the state of the audience is determined in step  202 , multimedia content is selected in step  203  based on the state of the audience. 
         [0013]    The multimedia content may be stored in a repository and selected based on the state of the audience. Content may be grouped into an attract mode, a retain mode, and an inform mode. With the attract mode being designed to attract the attention of passers by to a playback module. Thus, when the sensor module detected that few audience members were present or that few audience members were paying attention to the playback module, multimedia could be played back in the attract mode. Transition may then be made to a retain mode once a certain number of audience members are detected paying attention to the playback module. Once it has been determined that a certain number of viewers have viewed the playback module in the retain mode a further transition to an inform mode could be made. The multimedia presentation apparatus  100  therefore allows dynamically responsive content to be displayed. Providers of multimedia content are therefore to control and adjust the playback of content based on the attention of the audience to the content. 
         [0014]    When there are no audience members present, the processing module  103  may be operable to select a sleep mode in which the playback module is transitioned to a power off mode or a power saving mode. 
         [0015]      FIG. 3  shows a multimedia presentation apparatus  300  for playback of multimedia content based on viewer face monitoring. The playback module  301  includes storage  304  for content to be played back on screen  305 . The storage may be removable or fixed. Removable storage may be optical such as DVD or magnetic such as a video tape. Fixed storage includes hard disk drives and solid state storage. Multimedia content stored in storage  304  may be tagged as to which states or transitions between states of the audience that is most suitable. There may be particular pieces of content for a particular state of the audience or there may be a number of items of content each having tags describing states or transitions between states in the audience to which the content is most suitable. Screen  305  displays content to an audience in perception area  306 . Camera  307  is positioned to capture the faces of audience members in area  306 . Sensor module  302  includes a face detection functionality  308  which detects faces in the output from camera  307 . The face detection functionality  308  may be able to determine the direction faced by audience members in the perception area  306 . Individuals in the audience may be recognized by their faces and the length of time that the individual has viewed screen  305  may be determined. Face detection functionality  308  may be operable to determine the expression of audience members and therefore to determine their reactions to the multimedia content displayed on screen  305 . Face detection functionality  308  may also be able to determine demographic data from faces of members of the audience such as the age bracket in which they fall and the sex of the members of the audience. The state of the audience may then be the demographic of the majority of the audience. The processing module  303  includes storage  309 . Storage  309  may store information relating to the content shown and the number of viewers. This would allow advertisers to be charged based on the number of viewers of their advertising content. The storage  309  may also store audience reactions to the content displayed by screen  305 , for example by storing the state of the audience, and the numbers of audience members paying attention to the multimedia content and the number leaving and not paying attention to the content. Alternatively the facial expressions of the audience may also be used to determine the state of the audience as a reaction to the content. This would allow content providers to gain feedback on the content displayed on screen  305 . Multimedia playback apparatus  300  is connected to interface  310  this may be for example a network connection and would allow the uploading of data such as statistics for billing of advertisers and for feedback of audience reactions to multimedia content. Additionally, new multimedia content could be downloaded through interface  310 . 
         [0016]      FIG. 4  illustrates the use of trajectories for audience members in the presentation of multimedia content. Audience member  401  has trajectory of motion  402 , and audience member  403  has trajectory of motion  404 . Both are in the vicinity of screen  405  which has perception space  406 . Detectors  407  and  408  are able to detect the motion of audience members in the perception space  406 . The attention of audience members  401  and  403  to the multimedia content displayed on screen  405  may be determined from their directions of motion shown by trajectories  402  and  404 . The state of the audience may be determined from the direction of motion of members of the audience, the distance between members of the audience and the display  405 , the number of trajectories towards the display, or the directions faced by members of the audience. It may be advantageous to include the direction faced by members of the audience in addition to their trajectory when determining the attention paid by the audience to the screen  405 . For example audience member  403  has trajectory  404  away from screen  405 , but it may be determined that they are in fact facing the screen  405  and thus could potentially have their behavior modified by gaining their attention by playing targeted multimedia content. 
         [0017]      FIG. 5  shows a method  500  for using the motion trajectory of audience members to control the playback of multimedia content. In step  501  the background is removed. This may be achieved by for example subtracting non-moving parts from a video recording of the audience. Alternatively audience members may be detected using skin recognition and the detection and removal of shadows. Once audience members have been detected their motion trajectories are detected in step  502 . This may for example be by using a technique of image difference. In step  503 , the orientation of audience members is detected. In step  504  the state of the audience is determined from the motion trajectories detected in step  502  and the orientation of members of the audience detected in step  503 . In step  505 , content is selected for playback based on the state determined in step  504 . 
         [0018]    The state of the audience used to determine the multimedia content may include factors such as the time of day, the day of the week, the time of the year, and any upcoming events or holidays. The multimedia content may be selected using an algorithm taking into account factors such as information about a rate at which an advertiser has purchased advertising, a running count of the number of impressions made by a particular piece of content and observed audience reactions to a piece of content. 
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                 List of Reference Numerals 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                   
               
             
          
           
               
                 100 
                 Multimedia presentation apparatus 
               
               
                 101 
                 Playback module 
               
               
                 102 
                 Sensor module 
               
               
                 103 
                 Processing module 
               
               
                 200 
                 Method 
               
               
                 201 
                 Measure characteristic of audience 
               
               
                 202 
                 Determine state 
               
               
                 203 
                 Select multimedia content 
               
               
                 300 
                 Multimedia presentation apparatus 
               
               
                 301 
                 Playback module 
               
               
                 302 
                 Sensor module 
               
               
                 303 
                 Processing module 
               
               
                 304 
                 Storage 
               
               
                 305 
                 Screen 
               
               
                 306 
                 Perception area 
               
               
                 307 
                 Camera 
               
               
                 308 
                 Face detection 
               
               
                 309 
                 Storage 
               
               
                 310 
                 Interface 
               
               
                 400 
                 Use of trajectories 
               
               
                 401 
                 Audience member 
               
               
                 402 
                 Trajectory 
               
               
                 403 
                 Audience member 
               
               
                 404 
                 Trajectory 
               
               
                 405 
                 Screen 
               
               
                 406 
                 Perception space 
               
               
                 407 
                 Detector 
               
               
                 408 
                 Detector 
               
               
                 500 
                 Method 
               
               
                 501 
                 Background removal 
               
               
                 502 
                 Motion trajectory detection 
               
               
                 503 
                 Orientation detection 
               
               
                 504 
                 Determine state 
               
               
                 505 
                 Select content