Abstract:
The invention provides a method of quickly previewing user selected portions of a DVD or other stored work having a questionable rating without having to view the entire work. By utilizing the rating information contained in the scene, a scene can be called up for review and a decision can be made quickly whether or not to accept or reject that particular scene for playback during the playback of the entire work. Discrete scenes of the work may be approved or disapproved for viewing individually or collectively, and in some cases, alternative, less offensive scenes may be substituted in place of rejected scenes. These accepted scenes may be combined with other scenes, that have a rating less than that originally chosen by user, for later seamless viewing of the work.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to the field of controlled playback of audiovisual works based on program content and viewer preference. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Movies and videos currently have a content “rating” which is used to control access to the work by minors. The movie ratings system in the United States has been determined by producers (distributors, dealers) voluntarily. According to the document “THE MOVIE BUSINESS BOOK, pp 396-406, ‘THE VOLUNTARY MOVIE RATING SYSTEM’”, the ratings are broken down into five categories of: 
     “G”, General Audiences—All ages admitted; 
     “PG”, Parental Guidance Suggested—Some material may not be suitable for children; 
     “PG-13”, Parents strongly cautioned—Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13; 
     “R”, Restricted, under 17—Requires accompanying parent or adult guardian; and 
     “NC-17”—No children under 17 admitted. 
     Therefore, in accordance with these assignments, entrance to a movie theater is restricted and selling or renting of a video tape, may likewise be restricted. Currently, one rating level is assigned to an entire movie, and this rating level is utilized for comparison with the ages of patrons of a movie theater or buyers/renters at a video shop. However, only small portions of the work may be the cause of a particular rating (e.g., scenes which contain violence, objectionable language, adult situations, nudity, etc.). Additionally, a rating assigned by a standards body may not conform to a standard that an individual viewing or previewing the work for a younger family member would assign. Accordingly, a parent may desire to preview a work to determine what rating is appropriate for younger family members. However, completely previewing a work takes a fairly long time. Therefore, it is an unpleasant task, and in some instances, is forgone completely in favor of the pre-assigned ratings. 
     Currently, newer technologies such as digital video disk (DVD) allow for sanitized versions of a work to reside on the same disc as the original work. By setting a given “Parental Level,” corresponding to a desired permissible ratings level, the software of the DVD player will allow a reviewer to pick and play the set level for the work. Parental levels restrict either the playback of an entire work or of certain scenes (comprised of video frames) of the work. Parental level codes are placed on the disc in each scene so that the user can automatically select the proper path from scene to scene. This allows multiple rating versions of a movie to be put on a single disc. For this to work, the video must be carefully broken down into scenes. Objectionable scenes must be coded so that they can be skipped over, or alternate versions of the scenes must be provided and appropriately coded. This does not really solve the problem, however, because a viewer is still relying on the judgment of the standard setter to define the ratings levels. If a parent wants to check the pre-assigned ratings level for a work as a whole, or for scenes of the work, a full length preview of the work is still required. Other parental ratings control systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,905,845, 5,757,417, 5,691,972, 5,737,479, and 5,598,276. 
     What is needed is a way of previewing only scenes of a work which may be objectionable. By only viewing those scenes causing a negative rating, time of review can be shortened, and reviewing individuals, e.g. a parent, can more quickly and easily check the conformity of the rating by the standards body with their own priorities and values. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In one aspect of the invention, a method for controlling reproduction of a displayable work stored on a recording medium the work having at least one assigned ratings level associated with at least one scene is provided. The method further provides receiving a ratings level input, selecting all scenes of the work which have a rating level equal to a received ratings level input, displaying the selected scenes and receiving a first input command accepting or rejecting selected and displayed scenes for later viewing. 
     In another aspect of the invention, an apparatus for controlling reproduction of a displayable work stored on a recording medium the work having at least one assigned ratings level associated with at least one scene is provided. The apparatus further provides a reproduction device for selectively reproducing scenes from a recording medium, a display device coupled to the reproduction device for displaying the selectively reproduced scenes and a controller responsive to entry of a first ratings level for controlling the reproduction device to cause the selective reproduction and display of scenes from a recording medium having the entered ratings level and for recording an entered accept or reject command associated with the displayed scenes. 
    
    
     These and other features and advantages of the invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description of the invention which is provided in connection with the accompanying drawings. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus for reviewing a work constructed in accordance with the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of the method of a first embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of the method of a second embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of the method of a third embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of the method of a fourth embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     In the following description, for purposes of explanation, specific numbers, materials and configurations are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention need not be practiced exactly as described, and that many modifications, substitutions and other changes can be made without departing from the specific scope of the invention. Moreover, in the following description well known features are omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the present invention. Furthermore, for ease of understanding, certain operations are described in a particular order, however, these operations are not to be construed as necessarily order dependent in their actual performance. 
     Referring now to the drawings, where like reference numerals designate like elements, FIG. 1 illustrates in block diagram form the components of one exemplary review apparatus  100  constructed according to the present invention. Review apparatus  100  includes a controller  102 , display device  104 , digital video disk or digital versatile disk (DVD) player  106 , memory device  108  and speaker system  114 , all coupled to input/output (I/O) bus  112 . At the core of the review apparatus is controller  102 , which may be a programmable logic device such as a microprocessor, digital signal processor, programmable logic array or other programmable device. Controller  102  is configured to control a wide variety of features associated with each of the illustrated components. As depicted, controller  102  is communicatively coupled to each of the components, as necessary, through I/O bus  112 . 
     Controller  102  is programmed to receive an input command via wireless I/O device  110  operated by a user for selecting a particular level for appropriate content and rating. Controller  102  communicates this input command via I/O bus  112  to DVD player  106  and DVD player  106  then plays scenes that have a rating level equal to that selected by user through display device  104  for review by the user. 
     Controller  102  is further programmed to receive an input command via wireless I/O device  110  by a user either accepting or rejecting particular scenes under review. Those scenes that are accepted are stored in memory  108  in the form of pointers to the particular video frames which make up the scene or scenes. Controller  102  communicates via I/O bus  112  with memory  108  to create a database of pointers for the video frames, make up the accepted scene(s). After all the scenes are viewed for acceptance or rejection, controller  102  then communicates with memory  108  to compile the pointers to each of the video frames that has been accepted by user (note, the database of pointers that are compiled can be comprised of pointers to rejected scenes as well, which are not selected, for later viewing). During playback of a DVD movie, DVD player  106  directly accesses memory  108  and plays those scenes that have been accepted by user through the display device  104  and speaker system  114 . This database of pointers can be stored in memory  108  for later viewing as well. Further, controller  102  is programmed to select for viewing all scenes with a rating less than the rating or level chosen by user and discard for viewing all scenes with a rating or level higher than that chosen by user. For example, if a user selects a PG-13 ratings level, the work will be all the G, PG and accepted PG-13 scenes. Hence, all the scenes with a rating less than that chosen by user as well as the scenes that are chosen by user as acceptable with a rating equal to that selected by user are later played by DVD player  106 , in a seamless fashion, through display device  104  and speaker system  114  by utilizing the rating associated with each of the video frames and the pointers as described above. 
     In one embodiment, controller  102  and memory  108  may be part of a computer system suitably programmed to carryout the invention. The system controller  102  may be one of a broad category of computer systems known in the art. An example of such a computer system is a desktop computer system equipped with a high performance microprocessor(s), such as the Pentium processor, Pentium Pro processor or Pentium II processor manufactured by and commonly available from Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif. or the Alpha processor manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation of Manard, Mass. The DVD player  106 , display device  104  and speaker system  114  may be separate from the computer system or be part of the computer system. 
     It is to be appreciated that the use of the common I/O bus  112  is for ease of explanation in the diagram only and that a number of alternative means of routing input and output signals may be beneficially employed. For example, audio output signals to the speakers could be routed through amplifiers and with an appropriate number of independent audio “patch” cables, video signals may be routed with an independent coaxial cable, and control signals may be routed along a two-wire serial line or through infrared (IR) communication signals or radio frequency (RF) communication signals. 
     The wireless I/O control device  110  may be a remote control unit which communicates with controller  102  of review apparatus  100  through IR signals. Alternatively, wireless I/O control device  110  may be a wireless keyboard and cursor positioning device that communicates with the components of review apparatus  100  through IR signals or RF signals. In another alternative, wireless I/O control device  110  may be an I/R remote control device similar in appearance to a typical remote control with the added feature of a track-ball, which allows a user to position a cursor on a display device  104  of review apparatus  100 . The display device  104 , in one embodiment, can be either a television or a monitor. Memory  108  can be any conventional memory device known in the art. 
     It is also to be appreciated that the several apparatus components depicted in FIG. 1 can be beneficially combined. By way of example, controller  102  could be integrated into display device  104  or DVD player  106  to accomplish the present invention. Alternatively, controller  102  and memory  108  may reside internally in the housing for the DVD player  106  and indeed, may form part of the internal controller which controls operation of DVD player  106 . Controller  102  may be also be configured to be a “set-top” box controller. 
     FIG. 2 illustrates in flowchart form the processing sequence which occurs in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention. In block  202 , the user inserts a work, e.g. DVD disc, to be played into a media player, such as a DVD player  106  which also initiates controller  102 , via I/O bus  112 . The controller  102  automatically communicates with display device  104  to display a menu screen containing various options including an option to “preview a movie”. The user will select “preview a movie” at block  204  through the use of, for example, wireless I/O device  110  which communicates with controller  102  which then communicates with display device  104  to display a series of levels for personal viewing. Using the ratings system described above, the levels would be G, PG, PG-13, Rand NC-17. Next, the user, in block  206 , selects a particular “level,” which equates to a particular rating, with the use of wireless I/O device  110 . This information is then received by the controller  102  is and communicated to DVD player  106  for further processing. DVD player  106  searches the work for any scenes that have a rating level equal to that selected by the user in block  206 . If a scene is found in block  208  that has a rating level equal to that chosen in block  206 , the scene is displayed for the user in block  212  for user acceptance or rejection in block  214 . The acceptance or rejection of a particular scene is input by a user utilizing wireless I/O device  110  and received by controller  102 . In block  216 , controller  102  will assign pointers or identifiers to each of the video frames, which make up a scene, which the user has accepted and create a database of pointers in memory  108 . At this point, the process segments of blocks  208 ,  212 ,  214  and  216  are repeated for all additional scenes which meet the selected rating entered at Step  206 . Until, at block  208 , there are no more scenes available with a rating level equal to that selected at block  206 . The database of pointers that was stored in block  216  is now compiled into an executable order by controller  102  which instructs the DVD player to play only those accepted scenes along with all other scenes that have a rating level less than that chosen in block  206 . Playback of the work by the DVD player may now occur. 
     If the user rejects a scene at  214 , controller  102  will communicate with DVD player  106  and direct it to search for a lower level version of the rejected scene at block  218 . If there are no lower versions of the rejected scene available, then controller  102  communicates via I/O bus  112  to display device  104  to display “Error-No Lower Level Version Available” as in block  220 . The user will then be prompted by a display message in block  221 , to either accept or reject again the last scene that was rejected in block  214  (rejected scene). If accepted, the pointers to the accepted scenes are stored in the memory  108  in block  216  for later viewing. However, if the accepted previously rejected scene is again rejected, then controller  102  will default back to block  208 . 
     If however, a lower version of the scene (alternative scene) is available at block  218 , then DVD player  106  plays the scene through display device  104  and is viewed by user at block  222 . The user is then again prompted to accept or reject the lower version of the scene. If the user accepts the lower version of the scene (block  224 ) by use of the wireless I/O device  110 , then controller  102  will assign pointers to the video frames which make up the scene and stores it in memory  108  to create a database of pointers for compilation by controller  102  in block  210  for later viewing. If the user does not accept the alternative scene at block  224 , then the controller  102  will repeat the process segments of  218 ,  222  and  224  until there are no more available versions of a selected scene and then default back to block  208  if the last rejected scene in block  214  is not accepted for viewing in block  221 . 
     FIG. 3 illustrates in flowchart form the processing flow segments of the second embodiment of the present invention. In block  302 , the user inserts a work, e.g. DVD disc, to be played into a media player, such as a DVD player  106  and initiates controller  102  via I/O bus  112 . The controller  102  automatically communicates with display device  104  to display a menu screen containing various options including an option to “preview a movie”. The user will select “preview a movie” at block  304  through the use of, for example, wireless I/O device  110  which communicates with controller  102  which then communicates with display device  104  to display a series of rating levels for personal viewing. Next, the user, in block  306 , selects a particular “level,” which equates to a particular rating, e.g. PG-13, with the use of wireless I/O device  110 . This information is then received by the controller  102  and communicated to DVD player  106 . DVD player  106  then plays the video frames, comprising a scene or scenes, which have a rating equal to the level chosen by the user in block  306 . The DVD player  106  plays only those scenes. The user will review the scenes (block  308 ) and the controller  102  will receive the input through wireless I/O device  110  from user as to accept or reject all the scenes together. Here, all the scenes are selected for final viewing collectively by the user in block  310 . Hence, this embodiment does not allow particular scenes to be accepted or rejected individually. The user must decide whether to accept or reject all the scenes together. In the event that the user accepts all the scenes, in block  310 , the controller  102  directs the DVD player to combine all the scenes that have a rating less than that chosen by user in block  306  and all the scenes equal to the rating or level chosen by user at block  306  for seamless later viewing in block  312 . But, if the user does not accept all the scenes for final viewing in block  310 , then the controller  102  will exit the preview mode in block  314 . 
     FIG. 4 illustrates in flowchart form the processing sequence of a third embodiment of the present invention. Here, the user will perform all the process segments, namely, blocks  202 - 224  entirely as performed for the process segments of the first embodiment of the present invention in FIG.  2 . However, in this embodiment, the user may view a video summary of the entirety of the work in block  205  prior to selecting a “level” in block  206 . The summary of the work would be included on the work. This embodiment allows a user, previewing the work, to be able to understand the context of the scenes to be selectively previewed. 
     FIG. 5 illustrates in flowchart form the processing sequence of a fourth embodiment of the present invention. Here, the user will perform all the process segments, namely, blocks  302 - 314  entirely as performed for the process segments of the second embodiment of the present invention in FIG.  3 . However, in this embodiment, the user may view a video summary of the entirety of the work in block  305  prior to selecting a “level” in block  306 . The summary of the work would be included with the media as it is inserted to be played in block  302 . This embodiment allows a user, previewing the work, to be able to understand the context of the scenes to be selectively previewed. 
     While exemplary embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated above, the invention is not limited to these specific embodiments as numerous modifications, changes and substitutions of equivalent elements can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention is not to be considered as limited by the specifics of the particular structures which have been described and illustrated, but is only limited by the scope of the appended claims.