Patent ID: 12262086

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An exemplary embodiment of a parental controls system has an interface and provides a numeric rating to every media element in its content database for categories including, but not limited to, sex, language, violence, drugs, nudity and other parameters. The system then allows a user to set parental controls on each of these parameters. The system will automatically block all content that includes this content or removes the offensive elements from the content, so the user can experience media without offensive content.

Another embodiment provides a system that allows the user to have a single media player that can search and access digital movies, music, news and video games, blocking inappropriate content or even skipping inappropriate elements within the content.

Another embodiment of the system allows a user to be able to block specific offensive content such as nudity without blocking specific content such as violence. This media system will simultaneously work with movies, music, video games, and other content.

Another embodiment provides a media manager with a search engine and media player, wherein the search engine is improved to include the If-Then parameters of the parental controls system according to the user settings. The media player is modified with the ability to read and act on a timeline-based edit list with all potentially offensive material marked with “in” and “out” points on the timeline. The player is modified to replace the offensive content with transition content or no content that would offer a safe user experience without too much disruption to the consumption media.

FIG.1depicts an exemplary screen shot of a parental controls user interface100that could be accessed via the internet page of a main user interface200. This is the user interface a parent, guardian, or other may use which provides the ability to edit a filter for preferred search results. The parental controls user interface100is provided with a list of the multiple rating categories with a range from low to high, which could correlate to a mature to family-friendly scale. The rating filter can be used by many people including a parent, or for a linked user like a child, in order to establish different allowed results. The interface100includes rating categories102such as sex, language, violence, drugs, nudity, and others. A rating bar104is provided which can correlate to known rating categories106such a NR, R, PG-13, PG, TVG and more.

The user interface100also includes an add web blocking for all internet use tab108, add ClearPlay to skip sex, vulgarity and violence on all of your DVD's tab110, and a submit tab112. The add web blocking tab108activates the system to use the filter on the content that is streaming from the internet. The add ClearPlay tab108permits a user to apply the desired filter on DVD products. Thus, the system10can be used to filter media content from multiple sources. It will be appreciated that the interface100may have other tabs and features.

FIG.2depicts a main user interface200that is accessed via the internet by a user. This allows the system10to be accessed remotely and from anywhere as long as the internet20is available. The main user interface200can be on a network based platform and is the primary interface consumers drive through to access the system10. SeeFIG.11. A server30has a CPU and memory and hosts the program40which drives the system10. The interface200includes categories202(FIG.2) of content such as new releases, drama, family, and others, for the consumer to choose from. Thus, a library204of content can be built within the system10and saved on the server30or accessed via the internet20.

FIG.3illustrates a screen shot for the administrative ratings user interface300. This is one of the screens a manager of the system10can access in order to help build a library of content ratings302. SeeFIG.11. This process could be done automatically by the system10by pulling the information from other sources and propagating the fields308that are seen in the interface300. The library302may collect ratings from an existing provider304and build the library from pre-existing information. A manager of the system10may input other data306such as actor information, directors, movie rating, and more. Once the manager has propagated the fields308, a submit button310is pressed to save the information to the server30.

FIG.4illustrates a media manager module400and the algorithm or flow chart402that drives the decision making for this module. The media manager module400is a routine of the computer program40that operates on the server30. The media manager400is accessed by entering through the main user interface200(FIG.2). To access the media manager400, the user logs into the site410, and as part of the login process, the system10searches to see what kind of a user they are412. If they are a parent or guardian, they are given an icon with an option to edit414the parental control settings for themselves, and for any users they are linked to. The user can then search to show all media416that passes through the filter. All displays of movies consist of a search (either the default search, or some typed in keywords) will only display results which fall within the parameters of the parental control setting. If a user is a parent or guardian, they are allowed to create user profiles for linked users418. If a user is not a parent or guardian, they can't modify the search parental control filters, nor create linked users.

If the person that logs in is not a parent420, then the system10will display a user interface without the option to edit a search or to view the filter422. Under this method, the result of any searches will only show filtered media424.

The media manager module400provides a system of searching and sorting media so that the user will find content throughout the digital universe. If content has a rating, the user will have access to the content, based on parental controls settings. If the content has no rating, the user will only have access if the ability to view non-rated content option is selected by the user.

The media manager module400acts as an optional search engine tool that allows the user to search for video, audio, text, images and interactive software (“Content”) using the Web, media appliance (TV, radio), mobile devices or other digital technology. The media manager and search engine could adopt and add the rating and filtering system to its function. A video editor feature is optional and presents a feature for editing content and delivering cleaned content, on demand. Content can be acquired from distributors with edits (made for TV or airline versions), and content can be edited by third-party content providers.

FIG.5illustrates a logic diagram500of the operation of the parental control user interface100. The parental controls user interface100is depicted inFIG.1and is the feature that allows the user to manually set parameters of what he/she wants to have access to within his/her family or community. The user can set a numeric value to sex, language, violence, drugs, nudity or other potentially offensive content. The interface100becomes the input to a rating system that could be used with other search engines or media managers that already exist if the parental controls are applied with or without a user interface.

The logic diagram500for the parental control user interface includes the exemplary step of providing a parent editing a filter502, displaying a list of topical categories, with a range of ratings in each one504, allowing the user to edit each entries value to filter out media below the setting506, saving to enforce, cancel or ignore the setting508, and if saved is selected, then saving to the system the filter to enforce in future media searches510. It will be appreciated that this algorithm can be modified to enhance performance of the system10.

FIG.6. Illustrates a logic diagram600that is a module within the code40that is stored on the server30, or even in the cloud. This logic forms the filtering system602and sets out the process of filtering content. This is the logic behind the scenes that interfaces with the inputs by a consumer at interface100. Any searching by a user of the media database will use the associated rating filter system600to constrain the results. The setting on a particular category will limit any subsequent search to be lower or equal to the rating that the specified filter. Setting the filter to the highest settings will allow all media entries to be displayed.

The filter system602includes the following process steps. First it starts with the user does a media filtered search604. Then the search looks at all possible media entries606. Next it asks does individual search item match search criteria608. If not, then the routine goes back to step606. If yes, then the process advances to determining does the individual media item have a version which is within the ratings filter610. If no, then the process reverts to step606. If yes, then the process adds media item to displayed results list612.

The filtering system602compares the user settings from the parental controls user interface100with the rating system702for the content. If the numeric value of the content is within the parameters of what the user wants to allow, the content will be accessible to the user. If the numeric value of the content is within the parameters allowed by the user, the content will be accessible to the user in part or in whole, based on the user settings.

The rating system logic diagram700includes the step of a media item gets added704to the master database50. Next decision of are these sources for rating this media item is asked706. If the answer is no, then the media item is added as an unrated item to a list708. If the answer to the question “are these sources for rating this media item” is yes, then the rating system combines multiple rating sources into a rating list710. Thereafter a master list of media is updated712.

The rating system702provides for all media entities loaded into the master database50(seeFIG.11) can have a rating assigned to it. If a media entity doesn't have one, it is unrated, which is treated as the highest possible rating. When a media entry is added to the database, ratings can be assigned to it both programmatically (from external rating sources like MPAA, IMDB, and Dove) and edited and reviewed by a system administrator editor. The ratings are organized into multiple categories (like sex, violence, drugs, etc.) that can range from low to high.

The rating system702is maintained in the database associated with all content presented to the user. The rating system702includes all known public rating systems such as the MPAA, TV and video game ratings as well as a custom database for each of the parameters set in the parental controls user interface. Other database sharing is used from sources such as the Dove Foundation as well as manually entered ratings from users and technology developers as well as artificial intelligence to detect offensive content in order to get complete content ratings.

The rating system702provides the data to the filtering system602so that the parental controls settings can be applied to give access or denial to part of the content or all of the Content. The rating system702is helpful because without a common rating system on each parameter of sex, language, violence, drugs, nudity or other, the system would have no basis of filtering. This rating system is applied to the content as a whole. This rating is also applied to individual chunks of content as well. Without filtering the rating system702will not block content for the user.

FIG.8illustrates a logic diagram800for another module of the system called a mobile content extraction routine802. The function of this module or routine is to take the essence of a web page article900(see sample atFIG.9), and display only the most salient pieces of information with a consistent user interface for better readability and faster article navigation (see950sample atFIG.10). The most salient pieces of information are the article title, its textual content, and one article photo if there is one. The extraction is performed on a given web page url of interest. A headless browser and/or html analysis library is used to be able to programmatically view and analyze the page. The main body of the article is obtained by finding the largest body of visually contiguous text on the page. Standard library routines are used to find and extract textual only contents plus minimal formatting like bold and italics. Text is considered visually contiguous if they are next to each other in the page display without separation by too much space (an experimentally obtained parameter) or any borders. Next, the title is obtained by finding the text element above the article that has the largest font size. Finally the article photo is obtained (if there is one) by grabbing the largest photo anywhere in the html between the title and the end of the article body. The entire page is stored in the database, along with functional extraction references to the previous pieces. The purpose of that being to be a better article viewer of articles, and not store an edited version of the article which have copyright issues.

With continued reference toFIG.8, the logic diagram800starts with a URL of a web page of interest802. Next html is loaded into a library of headless browser for analysis804. Next the system finds the largest body of visually contiguous text806. Then it extracts that content as text only for article content, keeping only minimal formatting808. Next it looks at the text prior to the article, and finds the text with the largest font size810. Then it extracts that content as text only for the article title, keeping only minimal formatting812. Next it looks at all photos between the title and the end of the article, and uses the largest photo as the article photo814. And finally, the system10stores a cache of the entire page, functional references to allow dynamic extraction and display of just the title, article body, and main photo814.

FIG.9illustrates a representative screen shot900of a web site showing content that has not been extracted. The extraction process802as shown inFIG.8is implemented which results in a scrubbed or cleaned web page.FIG.9shows a web site950after it has been scrubbed952. The preferred content is now shown.

All of the above components of the disclosure work individually and together to perform a unique function for an integrated media system with dual-function parental controls (both on the Content and within the Content itself). If the user searches for media content including but not limited to video, music, text, images or interactive software, find all possible matches, but don't make any visible yet to the consumer. If content has no rating and user has parental controls are off, then give the user access to content and make it visible. If the user has parental controls turned on, then filter content, blocking all non-rated content first. If the content has a rating, then filter content according to user settings. If the user has a setting to block content rated 3 or higher for a particular offensive element (such as nudity) and content contains material with a rating of 4 for the same offensive category, then the system blocks the content.

If the Content is segmented into rated content chunks, then only block the chunks of content that are offensive, allowing other content to become accessible and visible. For example, if one scene in a video game presents a nude woman and if the user has settings to block all nudity, only that scene would be removed from the game. However, if the content is not segmented into rated content chunks, block the content in its entirety. If filtering is complete, then the system makes visible and available to the user any content that passes the parental controls filters, and blocks all other content from any access.

The above steps and system10may be modified and yet remain within the spirit of the embodiments shown. The present system is a digital application which is developed to create a search engine which operates on an internet-based platform. It could use, but is not limited to, use of a combination of HTML and Javascript database technology, with web servers and high bandwidth Internet. The search engine is able to proactively crawl the Web and create a database that is responsive to users when they come to search for media they want to consume. However, the exemplary search engine will include a highly filtered and user managed database of media that will be ranked and rated on parameters for parental controls. The system10will allow users and system managers to input ratings on the content database.

For example, a movie such as “Facing the Giants” is rated with 5 stars from the Dove Foundation. The Dove Foundation gave this movie a “0” rating for sex, drugs, nudity and other, but it got a “1” rating for language and violence. The search engine is operable to pick up this rating from the Dove Foundation and store the rating for this movie in a database. Under this scenario, the filter should only show “Facing the Giants” as a search result if the user sets parental controls at a “1” or higher for language and violence. Thus, the system10is flexible in that it lets the user to specifically set parental control ratings for different categories, search the web for content that meets that criteria, and then allow the acceptable content to pass through the filter to a consumer.

The system10also provides a video editor that can customize video according to user preferences. In the case of “Facing the Giants,” the users will be given the option to edit the movie for their personal consumption. They will be given the option to create a mark in and out points for each of the offensive language instances or violent scenes. The edited versions will be resubmitted to a source for rating. After rating with edits, the source will provide back an “edited” version of the ratings. If the “edited” rating for “Facing the Giants” gives it “0s” on all parameters, all users will have access to it. When the user plays this content with parental controls all set at “0,” the edit list from the user who created it will be downloaded with the full movie, and the playback works according to the user edits.

A method of operation will now be described. It will be appreciated that this is but one exemplary embodiment and that other are contemplated. First, a user would access the Media Manager through a media device such as a TV set device, a mobile device, a PC or other digital system. The user would set up the parental controls user interface settings by selecting a numeric value for sex, language, violence, drugs, nudity and other individual settings.

Next, the user would search for media. The media manager will only present media that can be experienced without any of the inappropriate content blocked within the parental controls user interface. The user will play, read, view or otherwise experience the media that has been filtered or edited by the media manager. Seamless to the user, the system will allow the user to experience content without seeing any content defined as offensive by the user. In some cases the content will be blocked in its entirety, but in others the system will edit or present an edited version of the content in such a way to remove offensive material from content that previously had offensive material in its original state.

Additionally, the user will have the option to rate or edit content for the greater community of users. For example, the user will be given the option to upload and submit a rating or apply for a rating from the community or from an approved third-party rating system for content provided by the user.

The user will also be given the opportunity to mark specific chunks of content as inappropriate based on a numeric value on sex, language, violence, drugs, nudity or other parameters to be set by the user. The user will be given the ability to edit the content and share their edits with the community. The edited content will be submitted to be rated as new content for the filtering system. The user will have the ability to share ratings, parental control settings and edited material with social media and within the media manager user community. Additionally, this rating system and parental control technology could be used as an improvement on a search engine or media player of any kind.

The system10could produce a rating database for content. The system10could also produce an edit list or a library of content that has been edited for inappropriate material. The system10could also produce a search engine technology that is superior to others in getting personalized results. The system10could produce media content.

It will be appreciated that the aforementioned methods, systems and devices may be modified to have some components and steps removed, or may have additional components and steps added, all of which are deemed to be within the spirit of the present disclosure. Even though the present disclosure has been described in detail with reference to specific embodiments, it will be appreciated that the various modification and changes can be made to these embodiments without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as set forth in the claims. The specification and the drawings are to be regarded as an illustrative thought instead of merely restrictive thought.