RECOGNITION LOOKUPS FOR SYNCHRONIZATION OF MEDIA PLAYBACK WITH COMMENT CREATION AND DELIVERY
Methods, systems, and devices are described for associating comments with playback of media content. At an input device, an insertion point for a comment during the playback of the media content is received from a user, and a sample is obtained of a portion of the playback of the media content. A time code associated with the selected insertion point is identified based on the sample. The comment is received from the user and associated with the time code of the selected insertion point. At an output device, a synchronization request is received from a user, and a sample of a portion of the playback of the media content is obtained. A time code for a current point in the playback is identified based on the sample, and a comment associated with the current point in the playback is identified and displayed to the user based on the time code.
1 . A method of associating comments with playback of media content, the method comprising:
receiving from a user at an input device a selection of an insertion point for a comment during the playback of the media content;
obtaining a sample of a portion of the playback of the media content with the input device;
identifying a time code associated with the selected insertion point at the input device based on the sample;
receiving the comment from the user at the input device; and
associating the comment with the identified time code.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting a representation of the sample to a pattern recognition server over a network.
3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
receiving a response to the transmitted representation of the sample from the pattern recognition server;
wherein the identifying the time code is further based on the received response from the pattern recognition server.
4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
sampling the playback of the media content at a sampling point to obtain the sample, the sampling point being different from the insertion point;
wherein the response from the pattern recognition server comprises a time code associated with the sampling point.
5 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
determining an offset between the selected insertion point and the sampling point;
wherein the identifying the time code associated with the insertion point comprises adjusting the time code associated with the sampling point by the determined offset to determine the time code associated with the insertion point.
6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining an identity of the media content based on the sample.
7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting the comment and the time code associated with the insertion point to a data store of stored comments associated with the media content;
wherein the data store is stored independently from the media content.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving the selection of the insertion point for the comment occurs after the obtaining the sample.
9 . An apparatus for associating comments with playback of media content, the apparatus comprising:
a selection receiving module configured to receive from a user a selection of an insertion point for a comment during the playback of the media content;
a sampling module configured to obtain a sample of a portion of the playback of the media content;
a time code identification module configured to identify a time code associated with the selected insertion point based on the sample;
a comment receiving module configured to receive the comment from the user; and
an association module configured to associate the comment with the identified time code associated with the selected insertion point.
10 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the time code identification module is further configured to:
transmit a representation of the sample to a pattern recognition server over a network.
11 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the time code identification module is further configured to:
receive a response to the transmitted representation of the sample from the pattern recognition server; and
identify the time code associated with the insertion point based on the received response from the pattern recognition server.
12 . The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein:
the sampling module is further configured to sample the media content playback beginning at a sampling point to obtain the sample, the sampling point being different from the insertion point; and
the response from the pattern recognition server comprises a time code associated with the sampling point.
13 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein:
the time code identification module is further configured to determine an offset between the selected insertion point and the sampling point; and
the identifying the time code associated with the insertion point comprises adjusting the time code associated with the sampling point by the determined offset to determine the time code associated with the insertion point.
14 . A method of associating comments with playback of media content, the method comprising:
receiving from a user at an output device a synchronization request;
obtaining a sample of a portion of the playback of the media content at the output device;
identifying a time code associated with a current point in the playback of the media content based on the sample of the portion of the playback of the media content;
identifying a comment associated with the current point in the playback of the media content based on the time code associated with the current point in the playback of the media content; and
displaying the identified comment to the user at the output device.
15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
transmitting a representation of the sample to a pattern recognition server over a network.
16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
receiving a response to the transmitted representation of the sample from the pattern recognition server;
wherein the identifying the time code is further based on the received response from the pattern recognition server.
17 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
sampling the playback of the media content beginning at a sampling point to obtain the sample;
wherein the response from the pattern recognition server comprises a time code associated with the sampling point.
18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
determining an offset between the current point in the playback of the media content and the sampling point;
wherein the identifying the time code associated with the current point of the playback of the media content comprises adjusting the time code associated with the sampling point by the determined offset to determine the time code associated with the current point in the playback of the media content.
19 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
receive the comment associated with the current point in the playback of the media content from a data store of stored comments associated with the media content;
wherein the data store is stored independently from the media content.
20 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
determining an identity of the media content based on the sample.