Customizing broadcast transmissions to viewer preferences

Abstract

Systems and methods allow users to customize content of broadcast transmissions. A parent might, for example, wish to remove or replace profanity from an audio portion of the movie or violence from audio and video portions of the movie so that it is more suitable for younger viewers. The method comprises receiving at a viewing station a broadcast transmission, performing, via the viewing station, a search to identify specified material in the broadcast transmission, and, in response to identifying the specified material in the broadcast transmission, modifying the broadcast transmission to suppress the specified material so that the broadcast transmission can be presented via the viewing station without the specified material.

1 . A method comprising:
 receiving at a viewing station a broadcast transmission, thereby resulting in a received broadcast transmission at the viewing station;   performing, via the viewing station, a search to identify specified material in the received broadcast transmission; and   in response to identifying the specified material in the received broadcast transmission, modifying the received broadcast transmission to suppress the specified material so that the received broadcast transmission can be presented via the viewing station without the specified material.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the viewing station receives the received broadcast transmission via a communication network. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein modifying the received broadcast transmission to suppress the specified material comprises deleting the specified material. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein modifying the received broadcast transmission to suppress the specified material comprises substituting the specified material with replacement material that is different than the specified material. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the received broadcast transmission includes an audio portion, the method further comprising:
 receiving at the viewing station a text version of the audio portion, wherein the text version of the audio portion is indexed to the audio portion of the received broadcast transmission via an index and wherein the viewing station performs a text-based search of the text version of the audio portion to identify the specified material in the received broadcast transmission.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein modifying the received broadcast transmission to suppress the specified material comprises:
 identifying the specified material in the audio portion of the received broadcast transmission via the index;   generating replacement audio based on one or more characteristics of the specified material in the audio portion of the received broadcast transmission; and   substituting the specified material in the audio portion of the received broadcast transmission with the replacement audio.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 measuring one or more characteristics of the specified material in the audio portion of the received broadcast transmission, wherein the replacement audio is generated based on one or more of the measured characteristics of the specified material in the audio portion of the received broadcast transmission.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein measuring the one or more characteristics of the specified material in the audio portion of the received broadcast transmission comprises measuring one or more of the volume, pitch, or duration of the specified material in the audio portion of the received broadcast transmission. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 isolating background audio in the audio portion of the received broadcast transmission from the specified material in the audio portion of the received broadcast transmission; and   causing the received broadcast transmission to be presented via the viewing station with the isolated background audio and without the specified material.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the received broadcast transmission includes an audio portion, the method further comprising:
 receiving at the viewing station replacement audio, wherein the replacement audio is indexed to the audio portion of the received broadcast transmission and wherein modifying the received broadcast transmission to suppress the specified material comprises substituting the specified material in the audio portion of the received broadcast transmission with the replacement audio.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the received broadcast transmission includes an audio portion, the method further comprising:
 after receiving the received broadcast transmission and before causing the received broadcast transmission to be presented via the viewing station, converting to text the audio portion of the received broadcast transmission; and   generating an index that correlates the text to the audio portion of the received broadcast transmission, wherein the viewing station performs a text-based search of the text to identify the specified material in the received broadcast transmission and wherein modifying the received broadcast transmission to suppress the specified material comprises identifying the specified material in the audio portion of the received broadcast transmission via the index and substituting the specified material in the audio portion of the received broadcast transmission with replacement audio.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the received broadcast transmission includes an audio portion, the method further comprising:
 converting to text the audio portion of the received broadcast transmission as the received broadcast transmission is received, wherein the viewing station performs a text-based search of the text to identify the specified material in the received broadcast transmission and wherein modifying the received broadcast transmission to suppress the specified material comprises substituting the specified material in the audio portion of the received broadcast transmission with replacement audio.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the received broadcast transmission includes an audio portion and wherein the viewing station performs the search to identify the specified material in the received broadcast transmission by comparing at least a portion of the audio portion of the received broadcast transmission to audio characteristics associated with a set of stored words or phrases. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the received broadcast transmission includes a video portion, the method further comprising:
 receiving at the viewing station one or more replacement scenes, wherein the one or more replacement scenes are indexed to the video portion of the received broadcast transmission via an index and wherein modifying the received broadcast transmission to suppress the specified material comprises substituting the specified material in the video portion of the received broadcast transmission with one or more of the replacement scenes based on a profile associated with a user.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving via an input device associated with the viewing station one or more words or phrases that should be suppressed from the received broadcast transmission;   receiving via the input device a selection of a user profile with which the one or more words or phrases should be associated; and   storing in a memory associated with the viewing station the one or more words or phrases in association with the selected user profile, wherein the viewing station performs the search to identify the specified material in the received broadcast transmission by comparing at least a portion of the received broadcast transmission to the one or more words or phrases associated with the selected user profile.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the received broadcast transmission comprises a video broadcast transmission. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the received broadcast transmission comprises an audio broadcast transmission. 
     
     
         18 . A system comprising:
 a display device; and   a processor in operative association with the display device, the processor configured to:
 in response to receiving a broadcast transmission, perform a search to identify specified material in the received broadcast transmission; and 
 in response to identifying the specified material in the received broadcast transmission, modify the received broadcast transmission to suppress the specified material so that the received broadcast transmission can be presented via the display device without the specified material. 
   
     
     
         19 . A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising:
 instructions for, in response to receiving a broadcast transmission, performing a search to identify specified material in the received broadcast transmission; and   instructions for, in response to identifying the specified material in the received broadcast transmission, modifying the received broadcast transmission to suppress the specified material so that the received broadcast transmission can be presented via the display device without the specified material.   
     
     
         20 . A method comprising:
 receiving at a broadcast station a broadcast transmission, thereby resulting in a received broadcast transmission at the broadcast station;   accessing a user profile that includes specified material that should be suppressed from the received broadcast transmission;   performing, via the broadcast station, a search to identify material in the received broadcast transmission that corresponds to the specified material by comparing at least a portion of the received broadcast transmission to the specified material included in the user profile;   in response to identifying the material corresponding to the specified material in the received broadcast transmission, modifying the received broadcast transmission to suppress the material corresponding to the specified material so that the received broadcast transmission can be presented via a viewing station without the material corresponding to the specified material; and   transmitting to the viewing station via a communication network the modified received broadcast transmission.   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 receiving from the viewing station via the communication network the user profile.   
     
     
         22 . A system comprising:
 a communication module configured to communicate via a communications network; and   a processor in operative association with the communication module, the processor configured to:
 in response to receiving a broadcast transmission via the communication module, access a user profile that includes specified material that should be suppressed from the received broadcast transmission; 
 perform a search to identify material in the received broadcast transmission that corresponds to the specified material by comparing at least a portion of the received broadcast transmission to the specified material included in the user profile; 
 in response to identifying the material corresponding to the specified material in the received broadcast transmission, modify the received broadcast transmission to suppress the material corresponding to the specified material so that the received broadcast transmission can be presented via a viewing station without the material corresponding to the specified material; and 
 transmit to the viewing station via the communication module the modified received broadcast transmission. 
   
     
     
         23 . A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising:
 instructions for, in response to receiving a broadcast transmission, accessing a user profile that includes specified material that should be suppressed from the received broadcast transmission;   instructions for performing a search to identify material in the received broadcast transmission that corresponds to the specified material by comparing at least a portion of the received broadcast transmission to the specified material included in the user profile;   instructions for, in response to identifying the material corresponding to the specified material in the received broadcast transmission, modifying the received broadcast transmission to suppress the material corresponding to the specified material so that the received broadcast transmission can be presented via a viewing station without the material corresponding to the specified material; and   instructions for transmitting to the viewing station via the communication module the modified received broadcast transmission.