Patents by Inventor David F. HOUGHTON

David F. HOUGHTON has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11978439
    Abstract: Speech recognition may be improved by generating and using a topic specific language model. A topic specific language model may be created by performing an initial pass on an audio signal using a generic or basis language model. A speech recognition device may then determine topics relating to the audio signal based on the words identified in the initial pass and retrieve a corpus of text relating to those topics. Using the retrieved corpus of text, the speech recognition device may create a topic specific language model. In one example, the speech recognition device may adapt or otherwise modify the generic language model based on the retrieved corpus of text.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2024
    Assignee: TiVo Corporation
    Inventors: David F. Houghton, Seth Michael Murray, Sibley Verbeck Simon
  • Publication number: 20230197069
    Abstract: Speech recognition may be improved by generating and using a topic specific language model. A topic specific language model may be created by performing an initial pass on an audio signal using a generic or basis language model. A speech recognition device may then determine topics relating to the audio signal based on the words identified in the initial pass and retrieve a corpus of text relating to those topics. Using the retrieved corpus of text, the speech recognition device may create a topic specific language model. In one example, the speech recognition device may adapt or otherwise modify the generic language model based on the retrieved corpus of text.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 20, 2022
    Publication date: June 22, 2023
    Inventors: David F. Houghton, Seth Michael Murray, Sibley Verbeck Simon
  • Publication number: 20230070056
    Abstract: Aspects described herein relate to identifying media items relevant to a selected subject matter including, for example, determining the subject matter of a first media item, which may comprise at least one of audio content or video content; determining the classification within an ontology of the subject matter of the first media item; analyzing the ontology to identify other subject matter related to the subject matter of the first media item; and performing a search for other media items relevant to the subject matter of the first media item as a function of at least the other related subject matter according to the ontology.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 6, 2022
    Publication date: March 9, 2023
    Inventors: Leslie Eugene Chipman, Evelyne Tzoukermann, Anthony R. Davis, David F. Houghton, Ryan M. Farrell, Hongzhong Zhou, Oliver Jojic, Vladimir Kronrod, Bageshree Shevade, Geetu Ambwani
  • Patent number: 11562737
    Abstract: Speech recognition may be improved by generating and using a topic specific language model. A topic specific language model may be created by performing an initial pass on an audio signal using a generic or basis language model. A speech recognition device may then determine topics relating to the audio signal based on the words identified in the initial pass and retrieve a corpus of text relating to those topics. Using the retrieved corpus of text, the speech recognition device may create a topic specific language model. In one example, the speech recognition device may adapt or otherwise modify the generic language model based on the retrieved corpus of text.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2023
    Assignee: TIVO CORPORATION
    Inventors: David F. Houghton, Seth Michael Murray, Sibley Verbeck Simon
  • Patent number: 11468109
    Abstract: Aspects described herein relate to identifying media items relevant to a selected subject matter including, for example, determining the subject matter of a first media item, which may comprise at least one of audio content or video content; determining the classification within an ontology of the subject matter of the first media item; analyzing the ontology to identify other subject matter related to the subject matter of the first media item; and performing a search for other media items relevant to the subject matter of the first media item as a function of at least the other related subject matter according to the ontology.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2022
    Assignee: Comcast Interactive Media, LLC
    Inventors: Leslie Eugene Chipman, Evelyne Tzoukermann, Anthony R. Davis, David F. Houghton, Ryan M. Farrell, Hongzhong Zhou, Oliver Jojic, Vladimir Kronrod, Bageshree Shevade, Geetu Ambwani
  • Publication number: 20220070405
    Abstract: Detecting the start of a credit roll within video program may allow for the automatic extension of video recordings among other functions. The start of the credit roll may be detected by determining the number of text blocks within a sequence of frames and identifying a point in the sequence of frames where a difference between the number of text blocks in frames occurring before the point and the number of text blocks in frames occurring after the point is greatest and exceeds a specified threshold. Text blocks may be identified within each frame by partitioning the frame into one or more segments and recording the segments having a pixel of a sufficiently high contrast. Contiguous segments may be merged or combined into single blocks, which may then be filtered to remove noise and false positives. Additional content may be inserted into the credit roll frames.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 20, 2021
    Publication date: March 3, 2022
    Inventors: Oliver Jojic, David F. Houghton
  • Patent number: 11134214
    Abstract: Detecting the start of a credit roll within video program may allow for the automatic extension of video recordings among other functions. The start of the credit roll may be detected by determining the number of text blocks within a sequence of frames and identifying a point in the sequence of frames where a difference between the number of text blocks in frames occurring before the point and the number of text blocks in frames occurring after the point is greatest and exceeds a specified threshold. Text blocks may be identified within each frame by partitioning the frame into one or more segments and recording the segments having a pixel of a sufficiently high contrast. Contiguous segments may be merged or combined into single blocks, which may then be filtered to remove noise and false positives. Additional content may be inserted into the credit roll frames.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2021
    Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications, LLC
    Inventors: Oliver Jojic, David F. Houghton
  • Publication number: 20200312310
    Abstract: Speech recognition may be improved by generating and using a topic specific language model. A topic specific language model may be created by performing an initial pass on an audio signal using a generic or basis language model. A speech recognition device may then determine topics relating to the audio signal based on the words identified in the initial pass and retrieve a corpus of text relating to those topics. Using the retrieved corpus of text, the speech recognition device may create a topic specific language model. In one example, the speech recognition device may adapt or otherwise modify the generic language model based on the retrieved corpus of text.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 27, 2019
    Publication date: October 1, 2020
    Inventors: David F. Houghton, Seth Michael Murray, Sibley Verbeck Simon
  • Publication number: 20200233895
    Abstract: Aspects described herein relate to identifying media items relevant to a selected subject matter including, for example, determining the subject matter of a first media item, which may comprise at least one of audio content or video content; determining the classification within an ontology of the subject matter of the first media item; analyzing the ontology to identify other subject matter related to the subject matter of the first media item; and performing a search for other media items relevant to the subject matter of the first media item as a function of at least the other related subject matter according to the ontology.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 9, 2020
    Publication date: July 23, 2020
    Inventors: Leslie Eugene Chipman, Evelyne Tzoukermann, Anthony R. Davis, David F. Houghton, Ryan M. Farrell, Hongzhong Zhou, Oliver Jojic, Vladimir Kronrod, Bageshree Shevade, Geetu Ambwani
  • Patent number: 10635709
    Abstract: Aspects described herein relate to identifying media items relevant to a selected subject matter including, for example, determining the subject matter of a first media item, which may comprise at least one of audio content or video content; determining the classification within an ontology of the subject matter of the first media item; analyzing the ontology to identify other subject matter related to the subject matter of the first media item; and performing a search for other media items relevant to the subject matter of the first media item as a function of at least the other related subject matter according to the ontology.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2020
    Assignee: Comcast Interactive Media, LLC
    Inventors: Leslie Eugene Chipman, Evelyne Tzoukermann, Anthony R. Davis, David F. Houghton, Ryan M. Farrell, Hongzhong Zhou, Oliver Jojic, Vladimir Kronrod, Bageshree Shevade, Geetu Ambwani
  • Patent number: 10559301
    Abstract: Speech recognition may be improved by generating and using a topic specific language model. A topic specific language model may be created by performing an initial pass on an audio signal using a generic or basis language model. A speech recognition device may then determine topics relating to the audio signal based on the words identified in the initial pass and retrieve a corpus of text relating to those topics. Using the retrieved corpus of text, the speech recognition device may create a topic specific language model. In one example, the speech recognition device may adapt or otherwise modify the generic language model based on the retrieved corpus of text.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2020
    Assignee: Comcast Interactive Media, LLC
    Inventors: David F. Houghton, Seth Michael Murray, Sibley Verbeck Simon
  • Publication number: 20200021770
    Abstract: Detecting the start of a credit roll within video program may allow for the automatic extension of video recordings among other functions. The start of the credit roll may be detected by determining the number of text blocks within a sequence of frames and identifying a point in the sequence of frames where a difference between the number of text blocks in frames occurring before the point and the number of text blocks in frames occurring after the point is greatest and exceeds a specified threshold. Text blocks may be identified within each frame by partitioning the frame into one or more segments and recording the segments having a pixel of a sufficiently high contrast. Contiguous segments may be merged or combined into single blocks, which may then be filtered to remove noise and false positives. Additional content may be inserted into the credit roll frames.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 29, 2019
    Publication date: January 16, 2020
    Inventors: Oliver Jojic, David F. Houghton
  • Patent number: 10440305
    Abstract: Detecting the start of a credit roll within video program may allow for the automatic extension of video recordings among other functions. The start of the credit roll may be detected by determining the number of text blocks within a sequence of frames and identifying a point in the sequence of frames where a difference between the number of text blocks in frames occurring before the point and the number of text blocks in frames occurring after the point is greatest and exceeds a specified threshold. Text blocks may be identified within each frame by partitioning the frame into one or more segments and recording the segments having a pixel of a sufficiently high contrast. Contiguous segments may be merged or combined into single blocks, which may then be filtered to remove noise and false positives. Additional content may be inserted into the credit roll frames.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications, LLC
    Inventors: Oliver Jojic, David F. Houghton
  • Publication number: 20190035388
    Abstract: Speech recognition may be improved by generating and using a topic specific language model. A topic specific language model may be created by performing an initial pass on an audio signal using a generic or basis language model. A speech recognition device may then determine topics relating to the audio signal based on the words identified in the initial pass and retrieve a corpus of text relating to those topics. Using the retrieved corpus of text, the speech recognition device may create a topic specific language model. In one example, the speech recognition device may adapt or otherwise modify the generic language model based on the retrieved corpus of text.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 15, 2017
    Publication date: January 31, 2019
    Applicant: Comcast Interactive Media, LLC
    Inventors: David F. Houghton, Seth Michael Murray, Sibley Verbeck Simon
  • Patent number: 10192116
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to recognizing data such as items or entities in content. In some aspects, content may be received and feature information, such as face recognition data and voice recognition data may be generated. Scene segmentation may also be performed on the content, grouping the various shots of the video content into one or more shot collections, such as scenes. For example, a decision lattice representative of possible scene segmentations may be determined and the most probable path through the decision lattice may be selected as the scene segmentation. Upon generating the feature information and performing the scene segmentation, one or more items or entities that are present in the scene may be identified.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2019
    Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications, LLC
    Inventors: Jan Neumann, Evelyne Tzoukermann, Amit Bagga, Oliver Jojic, Bageshree Shevade, David F. Houghton, Corey Farrell
  • Publication number: 20180295313
    Abstract: Detecting the start of a credit roll within video program may allow for the automatic extension of video recordings among other functions. The start of the credit roll may be detected by determining the number of text blocks within a sequence of frames and identifying a point in the sequence of frames where a difference between the number of text blocks in frames occurring before the point and the number of text blocks in frames occurring after the point is greatest and exceeds a specified threshold. Text blocks may be identified within each frame by partitioning the frame into one or more segments and recording the segments having a pixel of a sufficiently high contrast. Contiguous segments may be merged or combined into single blocks, which may then be filtered to remove noise and false positives. Additional content may be inserted into the credit roll frames.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 9, 2017
    Publication date: October 11, 2018
    Inventors: Oliver Jojic, David F. Houghton
  • Patent number: 9892730
    Abstract: Speech recognition may be improved by generating and using a topic specific language model. A topic specific language model may be created by performing an initial pass on an audio signal using a generic or basis language model. A speech recognition device may then determine topics relating to the audio signal based on the words identified in the initial pass and retrieve a corpus of text relating to those topics. Using the retrieved corpus of text, the speech recognition device may create a topic specific language model. In one example, the speech recognition device may adapt or otherwise modify the generic language model based on the retrieved corpus of text.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2018
    Assignee: Comcast Interactive Media, LLC
    Inventors: David F. Houghton, Seth Michael Murray, Sibley Verbeck Simon
  • Patent number: 9843759
    Abstract: Detecting the start of a credit roll within video program may allow for the automatic extension of video recordings among other functions. The start of the credit roll may be detected by determining the number of text blocks within a sequence of frames and identifying a point in the sequence of frames where a difference between the number of text blocks in frames occurring before the point and the number of text blocks in frames occurring after the point is greatest and exceeds a specified threshold. Text blocks may be identified within each frame by partitioning the frame into one or more segments and recording the segments having a pixel of a sufficiently high contrast. Contiguous segments may be merged or combined into single blocks, which may then be filtered to remove noise and false positives. Additional content may be inserted into the credit roll frames.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2017
    Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications, LLC
    Inventors: Oliver Jojic, David F. Houghton
  • Publication number: 20170161284
    Abstract: Aspects described herein relate to identifying media items relevant to a selected subject matter including, for example, determining the subject matter of a first media item, which may comprise at least one of audio content or video content; determining the classification within an ontology of the subject matter of the first media item; analyzing the ontology to identify other subject matter related to the subject matter of the first media item; and performing a search for other media items relevant to the subject matter of the first media item as a function of at least the other related subject matter according to the ontology.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 8, 2016
    Publication date: June 8, 2017
    Inventors: Leslie Eugene Chipman, Evelyne Tzoukermann, Anthony R. Davis, David F. Houghton, Ryan M. Farrell, Hongzhong Zhou, Oliver Jojic, Vladimir Kronrod, Bageshree Shevade, Geetu Ambwani
  • Patent number: 9626424
    Abstract: Tagging of content items and entities identified therein may include a matching process, a classification process and a disambiguation process. Matching may include the identification of potential matching candidate entities in a content item whereas the classification process may categorize or group identified candidate entities according to known entities to which they are likely a match. In some instances, a candidate entity may be categorized with multiple known entities. Accordingly, a disambiguation process may be used to reduce the potential matches to a single known entity. In one example, the disambiguation process may include ranking potentially matching known entities according to a hierarchy of criteria.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: Comcast Interactive Media, LLC
    Inventor: David F. Houghton