DYNAMIC MODIFICATION OF MULTIMEDIA CONTENT

摘要

A method and system for manipulating or modifying identifiable objects in a standard broadcast or Internet-based multimedia stream according to a control specification and a content specification. Viewers and/or organizations can independently specify accept able levels of content on multiple dimensions to satisfy the content specification while mi nimizing the filtering or blocking to the viewers. A "fuzz ball" control specification is provided for masking some portion of a video frame. Several fuzz ball specifications can be overlaid t o address multidimensional content specifications or rating systems. The manipulation of the multimedia stream can take place at the client (set-top box or computer), intermediate node, the content server or a combination thereof. Proxy servers can modify content specificat ions for outgoing requests, enabling organizations to specify intranet-wide policies. Multicas ting can be supported by using a single stream delivered to multiple clients, each modifying the v ideo using a different specification. The specification to facilitate modification can be done at d ifferent granularity levels: the video, a group of frames, or individual frame level and can also be time-based. Various protocols can be used to provide the content and/or control specific ation, including the VBI of a standard broadcast, PICS, RTSP and MPEG protocols.