The present invention is related to a method and an apparatus for updating supplementary information in TV programs. In particular, the invention is related to a method and an apparatus for providing a reliable display of child protection or youth protection information.
TV logo detection plays an important role in child protection. In some countries like in France child protection logos or icons are used to communicate to the user that some programs should not be watched by children below a certain age. In other countries for example in Germany a text insertion is displayed before the program starts informing about child protection. Sometimes there is also a combination of text insertion and logo or icon. However, in some programs or TV broadcasts these kinds of text insertion or logos appear only for a short period of time at the beginning of the program. If the user switches the TV receiver on or changes to another channel after the beginning of the program then the user may miss the information that the program is not appropriate for children under a given age.
Consequently, there remains a need to improve child protection information at least in those countries where such kind of information is not permanently broadcasted in conjunction with the TV program but only at the beginning of a program.
The present invention suggests a method and a TV receiver for providing child protection information on the TV receiver. The inventive method scans receivable TV channels, searches for child protection information and stores such information together with the associated TV channel number in a memory. If the user switches to a new TV channel then as a first step it is checked if for the newly selected TV channel child protection information is stored and if it is within a predefined allowed range. Eventually, the display of the TV program is blocked if predefined conditions are not met. In this way adolescent users are effectively protected against offensive content.
According to a first aspect, the present invention suggests a method for updating and making available children protection information. The method comprises the following steps:
According to an embodiment of the present invention the method further comprises the step of
Advantageously, the method can comprise the step of displaying the stored child protection information together with the image of the selected TV channel for a limited period of time. This embodiment allows informing the user about an existing child protection information regardless of when he switches to a program.
In a useful development a message is displayed informing the user that the selected TV channel is associated with a child protection information outside the allowed range. In this way the user is informed why no image is displayed on the TV screen and confusion of the user is avoided.
In an advantageous embodiment the method further comprises the steps of verifying if the TV receiver is operated within an open time window if no child protection information is found. The image of the selected TV channel is displayed if the TV receiver is operated within the open time window. A user defined action is executed if the TV receiver is operating outside the open time window. This embodiment of the invention uses the fact that offensive content is mainly broadcasted in the late evening and not when it is likely that the entire family is watching a TV program. In the present patent application this latter period of time is called “open time window”. Therefore, during this open time window it is acceptable that the image of the TV program is displayed even when no child protection information is available. Only outside the open time window the display of the image is e.g. blocked as a matter of precaution.
Advantageously, the method may further comprise the step of displaying a message requesting the user to enter a code to enable the display of the selected TV channel. It is an advantage for the user if he can enable a TV program which was blocked automatically by the TV receiver. The user can do that by entering a corresponding code.
In an alternative embodiment the method comprises the step of displaying a list of receivable TV channels in conjunction with the associated and stored child protection information upon user request. In this way the user may browse through the receivable TV channels having child protection information within the allowed range. The user avoids the experience that the image of a certain TV channel is blocked and can select a desired TV channel faster.
As a simple and effective way of protecting children from offensive content an embodiment of the inventive method provides for blocking the image of the selected TV channel e.g. if the child protection is outside the allowed range. Other conditions can also be defined by the user.
According to a second aspect, the present invention suggests a television receiver for updating and making available children protection information. The television receiver includes a first and a second tuner, a digital signal processing unit and a memory. The first and the second tuner provide signal data to the digital signal processing unit. The first tuner is controlled to tune to the TV channel selected by a user The second tuner scans receivable TV channels. The digital signal processing unit is adapted to detect child protection information in the TV channels scanned by the second tuner and to store the child protection information in conjunction with the associated channel number in the memory.
In an advantageous embodiment, TV channel navigation is restricted to those TV channels which are associated with child protection information within a predefined allowed range. Adolescent users are not even tempted to watch inappropriate TV programs.
In alternative embodiment of the inventive television receiver TV channel navigation is restricted to those TV channels associated with child protection information within a predefined allowed range or to those TV channels for which no child protection information is stored for the selected TV channel when the TV receiver is operated within a predefined open time window. This alternative embodiment enables a user to surf freely through all TV channels when the TV receiver is operated in the open time window. Only outside the allowed time window TV channel navigation is restricted again.
In the drawings, an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated. It shows:
Similar or same elements are referenced with the same reference numbers.
In the entire specification of the present patent application, the term “program” refers to broadcasted content. The term “channel” is used to distinguish different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum allocated to different broadcasters. For example, a broadcasting company broadcasts in one or several channels a TV show representing the program of this broadcaster.
In the present patent application, the terms “television receiver” or “receiver” refer to any device which incorporate a tuner for tuning a particular channel within an incoming television signal including, but not limited to, television sets, DVD players, BD players, set-top boxes, PC card, etc. It is noted that a television set includes a display and necessary driver circuit for driving the display.
The functional blocks shown in
The input signal received at the signal input 201 is provided in parallel to the second tuner (T2) 203. The output signal of the second tuner (T2) 203 is provided to the second digital signal processing unit (DSP2) 205. The second digital signal processing unit (DSP2) 205 continuously processes the received input signal from the second tuner (T2) 203 to detect child protection information contained in the input signal. The child protection information is provided as logo 103 or as text insertion 104 as shown in
The user controls the operation of the television receiver 200 by commands which are sent from a remote control device (not shown) or which are directly keyed into a keypad (not shown) arranged on the housing of the television receiver. In both cases the command signals are received by the command receiver (CMD REC) 208 and are transferred to the CPU 206. Practically, the process of searching for child protection information is implemented as software application running on the CPU 206.
In parallel and simultaneously to the application searching for child protection information, the CPU runs a display control application. The display control application controls if images are displayed on the display 210 or not and provides user selection options in response to the presence or absence of child protection information. The details of this software application are explained in conjunction with a flow diagram shown in
The display control application is initiated every time the user inputs a channel selection command to the television receiver in step 401. This user command is received by the CPU which requests the tuner (T1) to tune to the selected channel in step 402. In step 403 the application checks if child protection information (logo or text insertion 103 or 104) is stored in memory (M) 207 for the selected channel number. If a child protection information is found for the selected channel number then the application checks in step 404 if the corresponding child protection rating is within an allowed range. The allowed range is predefined in the television receiver 200 and can be changed by the user by accessing a protected menu. The allowed range of child protection may be defined such as to allow programs which are not appropriate for children under the age of 10 but may block films which are not appropriate for children under the age of 16. The user may choose this setting according to the youngest child that needs to be protected from offensive content on the TV. If the rating found in the memory for the selected channel number remains within the allowed range then the television program is displayed normally in step 405. In a specific embodiment of the present invention, the stored child protection information is displayed together with the TV program for a few seconds to inform the user about the child protection information. The period of time during which the child protection information is also displayed can be adapted to the needs of the user. However, if the rating of the child protection information found in the memory 207 is not within the allowed range then the output of the images data of the selected television program is blocked in step 406. In other embodiments of the invention, the image of the selected TV program is not blocked but rather the user is offered to take a decision, i.e. either display the image or block the image or take another action e.g. record the program for viewing it at a later point in time. Optionally the recording can be protected with a code. If the image of the selected TV program is blocked a message is displayed in step 407 instead of the television program. The displayed message informs the user that the selected TV program is associated with a child protection outside the allowed range. Optionally, the user is requested to enter a code in step 408 to unblock the display of the television program.
In step 409 it is verified if the entered code is correct and if so the image of the selected channel is displayed in step 410. If the code is not correct, feedback loop 411 returns to step 406 and the image data remains blocked until the correct code is entered or the user switches to another channel. This is a useful feature for example if parents would like to watch a film in the evening which is not appropriate for their youngest child. In such a situation the parents are only required to enter the code which is secret to their children.
Going back to step 403 in which it is checked if for the selected channel number an child protection information is stored in the memory. In practice, the result may also be that there is no child protection logo available in the memory (M) 207. In this case the process checks in step 411 if the television receiver 200 operates within an allowed open time window of the day. This open time window is adjustable by the user. It starts for example at 8 o'clock in the morning and lasts until 10 o'clock in the evening. If the television receiver 200 is operated within the open time window then the image of the television program is displayed in step 405 even though no child protection information is found in the memory 207. However, if the operating time is outside of the open time window then the display of the image data of the selected television program is blocked in step 406 like in the case when the child protection information is outside the allowed range. In such a situation again a message is displayed to the user that the image of the selected TV channel is e.g. blocked and the entry of a code is required to unblock the TV channel. Then the process continues as it has been described already above.
In another embodiment of the invention, it is continuously checked if the TV receiver is operated within the open time window. When the operation time is outside the open time window this embodiment requires the entry of a code to enable the display of any TV channel regardless of the presence or absence of child protection.
Alternative embodiments of the present invention provide more flexibility with regard to the actions which are taken if certain viewing conditions are not met. E.g. if the child protection information is outside the allowed range, the image of the selected TV channel is displayed anyway but before that a message is displayed informing the user about the viewing condition which is currently not complied with.
Software algorithms capable of searching for transparent, semi-transparent or opaque logos are known in the art. One example of such technology is published in U.S. Pat. No. 8,396,302 B2. However, it is noted that the present invention does not depend on what kind of technologies are chosen for the logo detection. The present invention is feasible utilizing any technology which is capable of detecting a logo 103 (
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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13305577.2 | May 2013 | EP | regional |