A media appliance comprising: video apparatus for outputting signals to a screen; a control device allowing a user to control the output of signals from the video apparatus to the screen, thereby selecting a viewing activity; a network interface for accessing a packet-based network; a memory storing a communication client application; and processing apparatus, coupled to the memory, network interface and video apparatus, and arranged to execute the communication client application; wherein the client application is configured so as when executed to allow the user to conduct bidirectional communications with other users via the packet-based network, and output notifications to the user of incoming communication events received from other users over the packet-based network; and wherein the client application is further configured to defer one or more of said notifications of incoming communication events received during said viewing activity, determine a delineation in the viewing activity, and automatically output the one or more notifications to the user following said delineation.

Systems and methods are described to selectively stream content based on parental control ratings. At a client device, a manifest identifying sequential segments of a media asset and versions of a particular segment of the sequential segments may be received, and a graphical user interface may be generated for display to simultaneously depict a respective portion of each respective version of the particular segment and respective selectable options associated with each respective version of the particular segment. A selection of a first option may be received that is associated with a first version of the particular segment, and during playing of the media asset, in response to determining that the particular segment is the next segment to be played, the first version of the particular segment may be requested from the server.

A method, system and apparatus for applying and synchronizing filter information with a multimedia presentation, such as a movie provided in a video-on-demand context, to suppress objectionable content. In one example, filter information, which includes an indicia of a portion of the multimedia presentation including objectionable content and a type of suppression action, is provided on either a set-top-box or a video-on-demand server. A user selects a particular video-on-demand presentation, and the selection is transmitted to the set-top-box. Filtering may take place at the set-top-box side such that the complete video-on-demand movie is transmitted to the set-top box and then content suppression, such as skipping, muting, cropping, and blurring, takes place at the set-top-box. Alternatively, some or all suppression may take place at the server such that some or all of the objectionable content is not transmitted to the set-top-box. Additionally, whether in a video-on-demand, DVD, or other environment it may be necessary to synchronize filter with the multimedia content so that the proper objectionable content is suppressed.

Systems and methods are provided herein to dynamically update content restrictions for multiple users by detecting a first user in the proximity of a media device playing a first content item and detecting a second user entering the proximity of the media device. In response to detecting a second user entering the proximity of the media device and receiving a command from the first user that controls playing the first content, the system modifies a stored relationship between the first user and the second user to track the relationship between the first user and the second user. Thereafter, when the system detects the first user and the second user in the proximity of a media device playing a second content, in response, the system automatically performs an action that controls the playing of the second content (e.g., without user having to issue those commands).

Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for media classification using local and global audio features are disclosed. A media classification system determines local features of an audio input using an audio event detector model that is trained to detect a plurality of audio event classes descriptive of objectionable content. The local features are extracted using maximum values of audio event scores for individual audio event classes. The media classification system determines one or more global features of the audio input using the audio event detector model. The global feature(s) are extracted using averaging of clip-level descriptors of a plurality of clips of the audio input. The media classification system determines a content-based rating for media comprising the audio input based (at least in part) on the local features of the audio input and based (at least in part) on the global feature(s) of the audio input.

Systems and methods are described herein for recommending content restrictions to a user based on chatter in a social network of the user. The system analyzes chatter in the social network to identify a correlation between what is posted by users and the content that the users are posting about. The system stores a mapping between chatter and expected attributes of the content referenced by the chatter. The system will determine whether to block the content when an expected attribute is associated with a content restriction.

A method for automatically replacing a first type of content associated with a real-time broadcast with a second type of content is provided. The method may include automatically parsing media content associated with the real-time broadcast and assigning timecode to the parsed media content. The method may further include determining whether the parsed media content includes the first type of content. The method may further include, in response to determining the parsed media content includes the first type of content, automatically determining a context associated with the first type of content. The method may further include automatically identifying the second type of content that matches the determined context. The method may also include, automatically replacing the first type of content in the parsed media content with the second type of content. The method may further include automatically presenting the real-time broadcast with the second type of content.

“Binge watching” of multiple episodes of a program is improved by the player device automatically skipping repeated portions of the program. Opening and closing credit scenes, for example, can be automatically skipped to thereby allow the viewer to progress through the entire season of programming at an even faster rate than was previously thought possible. Programming to be skipped may be identified by detecting audio or other digital fingerprints in the content itself, for example. Content to be skipped may be identified to the playback device according to presentation time stamp (PTS) or other time markers.

Systems, apparatuses, and methods are described for providing audio assistance during trick play. Users, for example, visually-impaired users, may enable audio assistance features for trick play operations and customize audio assistance settings. The audio assistance may comprise outputting one or more audio cues during trick play. The audio cues may be associated with one or more types of scenes may indicate the progress of a trick play content item. The audio cues may also indicate automatic skipping of an objectionable scene or commercial and the output of a next scene.

To appropriately prevent an image with disadvantageous or inappropriate imaged content from being transmitted when such imaged content is generated in a use case such as real-time distribution of a captured image, and to prevent mistrust of a viewer due to malfunction or the like. Therefore, a transmission unit is caused to execute transmission of a first image that is delayed by a delay processing unit. If a switching trigger is detected during this time, the image that the transmission unit is caused to transmit is switched from a first image to a second image that is reproduced by a reproduction unit.