Methods and apparatus for filtering content in a video stream using closed captioning data

1. A method for filtering a video stream, the method comprising:

receiving a video stream including at least one segment of a show, at least one interstitial of the show, and closed captioning data associated with the video stream;

receiving metadata referencing the closed captioning data to identify a first anchor frame and a second anchor frame within a segment of the show, the metadata comprising a first displayable text string that is unique for the segment and a second displayable text string that is unique for the segment, the first and second displayable text strings included within the closed captioning data as originally transmitted by a content provider, and the metadata further comprising a first offset, relative to the first anchor frame, that identifies a beginning of the segment, and a second offset, relative to the second anchor frame, that identifies an ending of the segment;

parsing the closed captioning data associated with the video stream to locate the first anchor frame in the segment, corresponding with the presentation of the first displayable text string located in the closed captioning data;

identifying a beginning boundary of the segment based on the located first anchor frame and the first offset;

parsing the closed captioning data associated with the video stream to locate the second anchor frame in the segment, corresponding with the presentation of the second displayable text string located in the closed captioning data;

identifying an ending boundary of the segment based on the located second anchor frame and the second offset;

filtering the at least one interstitial from the video stream based on the identified beginning and ending boundaries to generate a filtered video stream; and

outputting the filtered video stream for presentation to a user.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the first and second anchor frames is associated with a presentation location of the last two bytes of the respective displayable text string in the video stream.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein parsing the closed captioning data associated with the video stream further comprises:

indexing the closed captioning data according to a presentation order to generate indexed closed captioning data;

discarding null closed captioning bytes from the indexed closed captioning data; and

parsing the indexed closed captioning data to identify the first and second anchor frames.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

creating a beginning bookmark, identifying the beginning of the segment, based on the first anchor frame and the first offset; and

creating an ending bookmark, identifying the ending of the segment, based on the second anchor frame and the second offset.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein creating the beginning and ending bookmarks is performed responsive to receiving the metadata, the method further comprising:

receiving a request to view the video stream, subsequent to creation of the beginning and ending bookmarks; and

outputting the filtered video stream responsive to the request.

6. A method for filtering a video stream, the method comprising:

receiving a video stream including first and second segments of a show, at least one interstitial of the show temporally positioned between the first and second segments, and closed captioning data associated with the video stream;

receiving metadata referencing the closed captioning data to identify first and second anchor frames within the video stream, the metadata comprising first and second displayable text strings included within the closed captioning data as originally transmitted by a content provider, and the metadata further comprising a first offset relative to the first anchor frame and a second offset relative to the second anchor frame;

parsing the closed captioning data associated with the video stream to locate the first anchor frame corresponding with the presentation of the first displayable text string located in the closed captioning data;

identifying a beginning boundary of the at least one interstitial of the show based on the located first anchor frame and the first offset;

parsing the closed captioning data associated with the video stream to locate the second anchor frame corresponding with the presentation of the second displayable text string located in the closed captioning data;

identifying an ending boundary of the at least one interstitial of the show based on the located second anchor frame and the second offset;

filtering the at least one interstitial from the video stream based on the identified beginning and ending boundaries to generate a filtered video stream; and

outputting the filtered video stream for presentation to a user.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein each of the first and second anchor frames is associated with a presentation location of the last two bytes of the respective displayable text string in the video stream.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein parsing the closed captioning data associated with the video stream further comprises:

indexing the closed captioning data according to a presentation order to generate indexed closed captioning data;

discarding null closed captioning bytes from the indexed closed captioning data; and

parsing the indexed closed captioning data to identify the first and second anchor frames.

9. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

creating a beginning bookmark, identifying the beginning of the at least one interstitial of the show, based on the first anchor frame and the first offset; and

creating an ending bookmark, identifying the ending of the at least one interstitial of the show, based on the second anchor frame and the second offset.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein creating the beginning and ending bookmarks is performed responsive to receiving the metadata, the method further comprising:

receiving a request to view the video stream, subsequent to creation of the beginning and ending bookmarks; and

outputting the filtered video stream responsive to the request.

11. The method of claim 6 , wherein each of the first and second displayable text strings is unique within the closed captioning data.

12. A digital video recorder comprising:

a receiver that receives a video stream including at least one segment of a show, at least one interstitial of the show, and closed captioning data associated with the video stream, and that receives metadata referencing the closed captioning data to identify first and second anchor frames within the video stream, the metadata comprising first and second displayable text strings included within the closed captioning data as originally transmitted by a content provider, the metadata further comprising a first offset relative to the first anchor frame, and a second offset relative to the second anchor frame;

a recording module that stores the video stream on a storage medium for subsequent presentation to a user;

a parsing module that parses the closed captioning data associated with the video stream to locate the first anchor frame corresponding with the presentation of the first displayable text string located in the closed captioning data recorded, identify a beginning boundary of a segment of the show based on the first anchor frame and the first offset, parse the closed captioning data associated with the video stream to locate the second anchor frame corresponding with the presentation of the second displayable text string located in the closed captioning data recorded and identify an ending boundary of the segment of the show based on the second anchor frame and the second offset; and

a presentation module that filters the at least one interstitial from the video stream based on the beginning and ending boundaries, and that outputs the filtered video stream to the user.

13. The digital video recorder of claim 12 , wherein the parsing module is further operable to:

index the closed captioning data according to a presentation order to generate indexed closed captioning data;

discard null closed captioning bytes from the indexed closed captioning data; and

parse the indexed closed captioning data to identify the first and second anchor frames.

14. The digital video recorder of claim 12 , wherein the parsing module is further operable to:

create a beginning bookmark, identifying the beginning of the segment, based on the first anchor frame and the first offset; and

create an ending bookmark, identifying the ending of the segment, based on the second anchor frame and the second offset.

15. The digital video recorder of claim 14 , wherein the parsing module creates the beginning and ending bookmarks responsive to receiving the metadata and the presentation module is configured to:

receive a request to view the video stream, subsequent to creation of the beginning and ending bookmarks; and

output the filtered video stream responsive to the request.

16. The digital video recorder of claim 12 , wherein each of the first and second anchor frames is associated with a presentation location of the last two bytes of the respective displayable text string in the video stream.

17. The digital video recorder of claim 12 , wherein the first anchor frame comprises a video frame within the segment of the show and the second anchor frame comprises a video frame within another segment of the show.