IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,744,973
Granted Patent B2
US 12,744,973 · App. 17/869,868 · Granted Sep 22, 2026

Program searching for people with visual impairments or blindness

Inventors: Jesse Sookne (Garner, NC); Karina Levitian (Austin, TX); Chris Tegethoff (Portland, OR); Abhijit Pol (Los Gatos, CA); Anthony Wood (Palo Alto, CA)
Assignee: ROKU, INC.
H04N21/8549G06F3/0482H04N21/4312H04N21/44H04N21/44204H04N21/44222H04N21/4667H04N21/472H04N21/4662
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,744,973
App. No.
17/869,868
Granted
Sep 22, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

Disclosed herein are various embodiments for providing content searching for people with visual impairments or blindness. An embodiment operates by receiving a command to search multimedia content including both video content and audio content. One or more scene changes, including a first scene change, corresponding to the video content are determined. The search command is executed on the multimedia content. It is detected that the multimedia content has reached the first scene change responsive to the executing the search command. An audio cue t is audibly output responsive to the detection.

Claims (46)

1 . A method comprising:

receiving a search command to search multimedia content being played comprising both video content and audio content;

identifying one or more scene changes corresponding to the video content based on crowdsourced scene change markers, wherein the crowdsourced scene change markers are identified based on a point value assigned based on interactions of a plurality of users with the video content, wherein the point value corresponds to a post-interaction time of an interaction of the interactions, wherein a longer post-interaction time corresponds to a higher point value;

executing the search command on the multimedia content; and

during an execution of the search command:

detecting that the multimedia content has reached a first scene change of the one or more scene changes; and

audibly outputting an audio cue responsive to the detecting the first scene change.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the audio cue comprises a portion of the audio content corresponding to the first scene change.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the audio content comprises both audio content corresponding to the video content, and supplemental audio content describing the video content, and wherein the audio cue comprises a portion of the supplemental audio content corresponding to the first scene change.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the detecting comprises:

detecting the first scene change based on a transcript of the audio content.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the crowdsourced scene change markers are displayed on a playback bar comprising a timeline of the multimedia content being played, wherein the crowdsourced scene change markers displayed on the playback bar are programmatically generated.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the audio cue indicates a length of time since the search command was received.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

detecting that that the multimedia content has reached a second scene change of the one or more scene changes; and

audibly outputting, during the execution of the search command, another audio cue responsive to the detecting the second scene change.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the search command pauses during the outputting of the audio cue, and the search command resumes upon a completion of the outputting of the audio cue.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the crowdsourced scene change markers are associated with point values above a predetermined threshold.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the point value is associated with a landing frame of the video content where the post-interaction time begins.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the post-interaction time comprises at least X minutes after fast forwarding or rewinding through the video content.

12 . A system, comprising:

one or more memories; and

at least one processor coupled to at least one of the memories and configured to perform instructions, the instructions comprising:

receiving a search command to search multimedia content comprising both video content and audio content;

identifying one or more scene changes corresponding to the video content based on crowdsourced scene change markers, wherein the crowdsourced scene change markers are identified based on a point value assigned based on interactions of a plurality of users with the video content, wherein the point value corresponds to a post-interaction time of an interaction of the interactions, wherein a longer post-interaction time corresponds to a higher point value;

executing the search command on the multimedia content; and

during an execution of the search command:

detecting that the multimedia content has reached a first scene change of the one or more scene changes; and

audibly outputting an audio cue responsive to the detecting.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the search command comprises a fast-forward command.

14 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the search command comprises a rewind command.

15 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the audio cue comprises a portion of the audio content corresponding to the first scene change.

16 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the audio content comprises both audio content corresponding to the video content, and supplemental audio content describing the video content, and wherein the audio cue comprises a portion of the supplemental audio content corresponding to the first scene change.

17 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the detecting comprises:

detecting the first scene change based on a transcript of the audio content.

18 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the audio cue comprises one or more characters in a new scene reached in the multimedia content responsive to executing the search command.

19 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one computing device, cause the at least one computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving a search command to search multimedia content comprising both video content and audio content;

identifying one or more scene changes corresponding to the video content based on crowdsourced scene change markers, wherein the crowdsourced scene change markers are identified based on a point value assigned based on interactions of a plurality of users with the video content, wherein the point value corresponds to a post-interaction time of an interaction of the interactions, wherein a longer post-interaction time corresponds to a higher point value;

executing the search command on the multimedia content; and

during an execution of the search command:

detecting that the multimedia content has reached a first scene change of the one or more scene changes; and

audibly outputting an audio cue responsive to the detecting.

20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the search command comprises one of: a fast-forward command or a rewind command.

21 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the audio cue comprises a portion of the audio content corresponding to the first scene change.

22 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the audio content comprises both audio content corresponding to the video content, and supplemental audio content describing the video content, and wherein the audio cue comprises a portion of the supplemental audio content corresponding to the first scene change.

Assignments (2)
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Sep 18, 2024
From: ROKU, INC.
To: CITIBANK, N.A.
Reel/Frame 068982/0377 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jul 22, 2022
From: SOOKNE, JESSE; LEVITIAN, KARINA; TEGETHOFF, CHRIS; POL, ABHIJIT; WOOD, ANTHONY
To: ROKU, INC.
Reel/Frame 060591/0544 →
Continuity (6)
Continuation In Part 17730454 · Apr 27, 2022
Continuation 17189558 · Mar 2, 2021
Continuation 16459730 · Jul 2, 2019
Continuation 15940386 · Mar 29, 2018
Continuation In Part 15806384 · Nov 8, 2017
Related Publication 20220353588A1 · Nov 3, 2022
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