Abstract:
A method and apparatus provide dynamic content rating for digital transmissions of media programs. Rather than one rating or a set of ratings be associated with an entire program or broadcast channel, content rating data relates to specific segments of a program. A user of a media receiving device presets rating criteria relating to a level or type of content to be blocked. The preset criteria are then used to selectively block presentation of those segments of content of a media program that fall outside the acceptable rating criteria. A timed length or display area segment of audio, video, text, graphics, or data may be dynamically blocked based on a comparison of the content rating associated with the segment and the user&#39;s preset rating criteria.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
       [0001]     The present invention relates generally to digital transmissions, and more specifically to content rating for digital transmissions of media programs.  
       BACKGROUND  
       [0002]     Technological advances have provided increased access to, reliance on, and diversity of content available in various forms of media for entertainment and educational use. For example, media programs received via radio or television (TV) broadcasts, and media content received via other digital transmission services, e.g. the internet and subscription based radio and TV. The changes in media content and access has heightened concern over the acceptability of content and access, especially in regard to age appropriate content for children. While the rating systems for the motion picture industry have been around for years, only recently have content ratings been applied to TV broadcasts and to other media transmissions.  
         [0003]     One long-standing example of such a content rating system is the voluntary movie rating system established by and monitored by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). The MPAA provides a content rating (G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17) for movies based on theme, violence, language, nudity, sensuality, drug abuse, and other content elements of the media. More recently, the TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board established a similar voluntary system for TV broadcasts. TV parental guidelines provide content ratings (TVY, TVY7, TVG, TVPG, TV14 and TVM) based on level of freight, violence, sexuality, and language.  
         [0004]     To provide parents with some level of control over the media content viewed by their children, TV receivers are now available that have a “V-Chip” for blocking presentation of undesired programs. The V-Chip utilizes the content rating system of the MPAA or the US TV Parental Guidelines in order to block complete programs which exceed a preset acceptable content rating level that is selectable by the user. Specifically, the extended data services (XDS) packets within the vertical blanking interval (VBI) (first 21 scan lines of a video picture frame) in traditional broadcast TV formats, i.e. National Television System Committee (NTSC) may include a data packet providing a single content rating for the entire media program being broadcast.  
         [0005]     Similarly, the newer ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee, www.ATSC.org) standard A/65B developed for hi-definition television (HDTV) provides transmission of a Content Advisory Descriptor data field defining a content rating for a given event. An event is defined by the standard as “the equivalent to the common industry usage of television program”.  
         [0006]     Blocking the presentation of unacceptable or offensive material may also be provided in the form of a multi-tiered subscription program. For example, specific channels that contain potentially unacceptable or offensive material are excluded from certain subscription packages, such as those marketed as family packages. Additionally, some TV receivers include password or PIN access that allow particular broadcast channels to be selected by the user and blocked from viewing.  
         [0007]     Other known media rating standards include a system on rating internet content administered by the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA), and the parental advisory labeling of explicit content for music recordings administered by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     A method and apparatus provide dynamic content rating for digital transmissions of media programs. Rather than one rating or a set of ratings be associated with an entire program or broadcast channel, content rating data relates to specific segments of a program. A user of a media receiving device presets rating criteria relating to a level or type of content to be blocked. The preset criteria are then used to selectively block presentation of those segments of content of a media program that fall outside the acceptable rating criteria. A timed length or display area segment of audio, video, text, graphics, or data may be dynamically blocked based on a comparison of the content rating associated with the segment and the user&#39;s preset rating criteria.  
         [0009]     Existing digital transmissions of media, including media broadcast services, often include data packets or a separate channel that provide informational data relating to aspects of the media content. For example, satellite radio (SDAR) includes program descriptive text (PDT) containing information such as song title, artist, album label, composer, and other data fields. SDAR receivers are often equipped to identify, display, or otherwise utilize the PDT. Advantageously, the present invention may be implemented utilizing the existing capability of digital broadcasts. Specifically, a PDT or other form of informational field may be designated as containing content rating information that is associated with a particular segment of a media program. By associating content ratings with particular segments of a media program, selective blocking of segments of a media program may be provided in order to eliminate objectionable or offensive material without blocking an entire program or an entire broadcast channel.  
         [0010]     A program is defined as a complete scheduled media presentation, for example a half-hour, hour or several hour radio or TV show that is connected by a central theme or host, for example, a movie, a TV serial, a news entertainment show, a series of music videos or songs, an internet website, or other forms of media that can be digitally transmitted. A segment is a portion of a program and may be limited to any portion of a program, for example an individual song, music video, or webpage, or even a brief portion of a song, video, or webpage, such as single words, a phrase, a graphic, or a small number of video frames. Additionally, a segment may be limited to the audio, video, text, graphic or other media type portions, or a limited portion in time or presentation form, for example a particular portion of a video frame, or for audio, a particular track or channel. Thus the content rating is dynamic in that rather than labelling and blocking an entire broadcast channel or an entire program, the present invention provides labelling and blocking of individual segments of a media program. Advantageously, for some existing digital transmission standards, informational data which may include content rating is rebroadcast a few times a minute throughout a program; therefore, each content rating included within the informational data of a media program may be associated with the presentation content immediately following the rating and continuing until another rating is received.  
         [0011]     In one exemplary embodiment a method of blocking presentation of content of segments of a digital transmission of a media program includes specifying preset content rating settings, receiving the digital transmission in the form of sequential segments, continually identifying content rating data associated with the segments of the transmission, comparing the identified content rating data with the preset content rating settings, and blocking presentation of segments of the media program based on the comparing step.  
         [0012]     In another exemplary embodiment of the invention, a method of providing dynamic content rating for the presentation content of a digital transmission of a media program includes providing at least one content rating for each of a plurality of segments of the media program, providing informational data in the digital transmission, and including the content ratings with the informational data.  
         [0013]     In yet another exemplary embodiment, an apparatus for receiving a digital transmission of a media program includes a receiver, a processor coupled to the receiver, memory coupled to the processor, and an output coupled to at least one of the receiver and the processor, the output providing presentation of the media program. The processor includes software enabling a user of the apparatus to specify preset content rating settings, receive the digital transmission, identify rating data in the transmission, the rating data associated with a segment of the program, compare the identified content rating with the preset content rating settings, and block output of segments of the media program content based on the comparison.  
         [0014]     In another exemplary embodiment a media device for processing a digital transmission of a media program includes a processor, a data storage medium, a first data structure stored in the data storage medium, the first data structure including a first field containing data identifying a first data segment as containing at least a first content rating for a first content segment for the media program, and a second field containing data identifying a second data segment as containing data representing presentation content of the first segment of the media program; and a second data structure stored in the data storage medium, the second data structure including a third field containing data identifying a third data segment as containing at least a second content rating for a second content segment of the media program and a fourth field containing data identifying a fourth data segment as containing data representing the presentation content of the second content segment of the media program.  
         [0015]     These and other aspects of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of the illustrative embodiments. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0016]     The present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanied drawings, and which:  
         [0017]      FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary data structure of a digital transmission, including dynamic content rating data according to the present invention;  
         [0018]      FIG. 2  illustrates an exemplary data structure illustrating content data segments associated with content rating data;  
         [0019]      FIG. 3  illustrates a video frame having an area of selectively blocked presentation content;  
         [0020]      FIG. 4  schematically illustrates a transmitting and receiving system for digital broadcast of a media program utilizing dynamic content rating according to the present invention;  
         [0021]      FIG. 5  illustrates the user interface of the receiving device of  FIG. 4 ; and  
         [0022]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart illustrating exemplary software associated with the system of  FIGS. 4 and 5  for implementing identifying and blocking of selected program segments according to the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0023]     For the purpose of promoting an understanding of the principals of the invention, references will now be made to exemplary embodiments shown in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is intended.  
         [0024]     The present invention provides dynamic content rating for digital transmissions of media programs. An exemplary digital transmission  20  is shown in  FIG. 1 . The digital transmission  20  may be used, for example, for a satellite radio or TV broadcast such as those receivable by an automotive multi-media receiver, or other mobile or fixed media receivers. The digital transmission  20  may comprise a series of data frames  22  that divide the data stream into identifiable blocks of data. For example, each of the data frames  22  may include a frame marker  24  that is identified by the receiver by a specific code or sequence of codes included in the frame marker  24 . Each data frame  22  may be further sub-divided into smaller and smaller blocks of data. For example, each data frame  22  may be further divided into data channels  26 . Each data channel  26  may represent, for example, a block of data associated with a specific radio station or TV/video channel.  
         [0025]     Each of the data channels  26  may be further divided into data packets  27 , for example, the first informational data packet  28   a  and the first content data packet  30   a . Each data packet  27  may include a number of data fields. For example, the first informational data packet  28   a  includes a marker  32   a , a header  34   a , and informational data  36   a . The marker  32   a  may include a code or data sequence that identifies the first informational data packet  28   a  as a data packet including informational data relating to the media program, for example, program title and program length. The header  34   a  may include data further describing the type of information included in the informational data  36   a . For example, the header  34   a  may include field labels or parsing data to label and parse specific portions of the informational data  36   a.    
         [0026]     The first content data packet  30   a  may be structured similarly to packet  28   a . Specifically, the marker  38   a  identifies the start of a block of data comprising presentation content for the media program, the header  40   a  may include fields, labels and/or parsing data for the content data block  42   a . First informational data packet  28   a  may relate to the first content data packet  30   a  and subsequent content data packets, or the first informational data packet  28   a  may specify which content data packets, or portions thereof, the informational data is associated with. While packets  28   a  and  30   a  have been described as having markers  32   a  and  38   a , headers  34   a  and  40   a  and data  36   a  and  42   a , other data structures known in the art may be alternatively used.  
         [0027]     According to the present invention, the first informational data packet  28   a  includes a code or sequence of data in the marker  32   a  or the header  34   a  that identifies at least a portion of the first information data block  36   a  as including content rating data. The content rating data may apply to all subsequent content data packets until another informational data packet including content rating information is received. Alternatively, the first informational data packet  28   a  may include data specifying which portion or portions of subsequent content data the rating information applies to.  
         [0028]     The rating data may be in the form of an industry accepted standard, such as the MPAA or US TV parental guidelines discussed above, or any other standard or unique rating system. Rating data contained within the first informational data packet  28   a  may include a single content rating directed to all aspects of the presentation content for the particular segment of the media program, or may include different content ratings directed to various aspects of the content. Aspects may include, for example, education, entertainment, violence, language, dialogue, theme, nudity, sensuality, drug abuse, freight, discrimination and hate. Additionally, the content rating can apply to a particular portion of the media, for example media type, such as video, audio, text, graphics, and data; or alternatively, a particular segment of the media program. A segment may include, for example, a particular timed length of the content, an area of the video display frame, words, phrases, a particular song, dialogue, video segment or a portion of a web page. The media and segment types above are illustrative only and are not intended to form an inclusive list of all the possible types of aspects or segments of a media program which may be associated with a content rating according to the present invention.  
         [0029]     In one exemplary form of digital transmission  20 , the informational data packet  28   a  is on the order of 128 bytes in length. Even if as little as one byte of the packet is dedicated to content rating data, 256 different rating options could be utilized. Alternatively, a complete or more than one informational data packet  28   a  could be dedicated to content rating data.  
         [0030]      FIG. 2  illustrates one exemplary way in which a content rating may be associated with a segment of a media program. Specifically, packets  28   a ,  28   b ,  30   a , and  30   b  represent a portion of the digital transmission  20  of a media program. The second informational data packet  28   b  and the second content data packet  30   b  may be structured similarly to the first informational data packet  28   a  and the first content data packet  30   a , respectively. The first information data packet  28   a , including marker  32   a , header  34   a , and informational data block  36   a , include content rating data associated with the content data segment  44  of the first content data packet  30   a . As is illustrated in  FIG. 2 , the content data segment  44  encompasses the entire content data block  42   a  of the first content data packet  30   a.    
         [0031]     The second informational data packet  28   b , including marker  32   b , header  34   b , and informational data block  36   b , also includes content rating data, in this case relating to the second content data packet  30   b . More specifically, the first informational data packet  28   b  includes at least one rating that is associated with a segment  46  of the content data block  42   b . Thus, in contrast to packets  28   a  and  30   a , the content rating associated with segment  46  is not associated with the remaining data  48  of the content data block  42   b . However, the second informational data block  28   b  may also include other content rating data associated with the remaining data  48 . The segment  46  may relate to any of the above-discussed possible segments of a media program or any other selective portion of a media program, including a segment of content data spanning more than one data packet  27 . For example, as shown in  FIG. 3 , segment  46  of  FIG. 2  may relate to an area  52  of video frame(s)  50  of the presentation of the media program. Therefore, by associating a content rating with a particular segment  46  of a media program, a media receiver may selectively block the segment  46 , for example the video area  52 , while allowing the remaining data  48 , for example the video area  54  outside of the video area  52 , to be presented.  
         [0032]     The content ratings may be intermittently located within content data, as shown in the exemplary data structure of  FIG. 2 , or alternatively, content ratings associated with particular segments of the media program may be transmitted on a separate channel or may be transmitted prior to the entire content data of the media program.  
         [0033]     Referring to  FIG. 4 , a system  60  is shown for providing and receiving the digital transmissions  20  having content ratings according to the present invention. The system  60  may include a media broadcasting device  62 , a relay station  64 , for example a satellite, and a media receiving device  66 , for example a mobile media receiver such as those associated with vehicles. The exemplary media broadcasting device  62  includes a transmitter  68 , a broadcast antenna  70 , a processor  72 , and a data storage medium  74 , for example, digital memory. The media broadcasting device  62  is capable of processing a media program for transmission in a digital format including the content ratings according to the present invention, for example, the data structure of the digital transmission  20 .  
         [0034]     The media receiving device  66  includes a receiving antenna  76 , a receiver  78 , a processor  80 , a data storage medium  82 , for example, digital memory or a removable data storage device, and presentation output device  84 . Presentation output device  84  may be, for example, one or more of an audio speaker, video display, and audio, video, data, or composite output port. The receiver  78  and/or the processor  80  are enabled, for example by software, to extract and utilize the content ratings included within the digital transmission  20  received by device  66 . Specifically, the data storage medium  82  may include preset content rating criteria or settings, for example an acceptable rating range, acceptable rating threshold, unacceptable rating range, or unacceptable rating threshold, which may be used to identify and block segments of a received media program which have associated content ratings not meeting the preset criteria. The digital transmission  20  of the media program may be alternatively received from the data storage medium  82 .  
         [0035]     One exemplary media receiving device  66  is satellite radio (SDAR) receiver, of which the user interface  86  is shown in  FIG. 5 . The user interface  86  of the receiving device  66  includes many features for selectively receiving and managing various digital radio broadcasts; however, such features will not be discussed herein as they are known in the art. The receiving device  66  also utilizes the content rating features according to the present invention. Specifically, device  66  is enabled, for example by software, to allow a user to select and store a preset content rating criteria. For example, the preset criteria may be selected and stored in the form of a maximum acceptable content rating threshold, an acceptable content rating range, an unacceptable rating threshold, or an unacceptable rating range. Multiple content ratings may also be stored, for example, for various users, for types of media programs, for example entertainment or educational, or for aspects of content, for example violence, language, dialogue and the like. Advantageously, the user interface  86 , for example display screen  88  and soft keys and other control switches  90   a  and  90   b , may be used for selecting and storing preset content rating criteria. The receiving device  86  may then selectively block segments of a media program based on a comparison of the preset criteria and the content rating that is received and associated with each segment of the media program received.  
         [0036]     Referring to  FIG. 6 , a flow chart  100  is shown illustrating one exemplary embodiment of a software algorithm for selectively blocking presentation of content segments of a digital transmission of a media program according to the present invention. The algorithm  100  may be used, for example, to enable receiving device  66  described above. The algorithm  100  begins at step  102 , and at step  104 , the processor  80  is operable to receive preset content rating criteria and store the preset criteria in the media storage medium  82 . At step  106 , the processor  80  is operable to receive and parse data packets  27 , for example the first information data packets  28   a  and  28   b  and the first content data packets  30   a  and  30   b  of the digital transmission  20 . At step  108 , the processor  80  identifies and extracts content rating data associated with segments of the media program included within the digital transmission  20 . Specifically, in step  108 , the processor  80  identifies the informational marker  32   a  or  32   b , identifies the informational header  34   a  or  34   b  relating to content rating, and extracts content rating data from the informational data block  36   a  or  36   b.    
         [0037]     Following step  108 , the algorithm execution continues at step  110 , where the processor  80  is operable to compare the extracted content rating data, associated with a segment of a received media program, to the preset content rating criteria. If the received content rating satisfies the preset criteria for blocking presentation of the segment of the media program, algorithm execution advances to step  112 . However, if the received content rating that does not satisfy the preset content rating criteria to block presentation of the segment of the media program, execution advances to step  114 . In step  112 , the processor  80  is operable to block segment of the media program identified in step  110 . In step  114 , the processor  80  is operable to present or otherwise output the unblocked content segments of the media program. Following step  114 , the algorithm execution returns to step  106  for receiving and processing additional data packets  27  of the digital transmission  20  relating to further segments of the media program.  
         [0038]     While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the forgoing drawings and descriptions, the same is considered to be illustratively and not restrictive in character, it being understood that only exemplary embodiments thereof have been shown and described and that all changes and modifications that come with in the sprit of the invention are desired to be protected. Accordingly, the present disclosure should not be construed as restricted to automotive multi-media receivers, or to only wireless broadcast of media programs.