Abstract: A main stream contains successive content elements of video and/or audio information that encode video and/or audio information at a first data rate. A computation circuit (144) computes main fingerprints from the successive content elements. A reference stream is received having a second data rate lower than the first data rate. The reference stream defines a sequence of the reference fingerprints. A comparator unit (144) compares the main fingerprints with the reference fingerprints. The main stream is monitored for the presence of inserted content elements between original content elements, where the original content elements have main fingerprints that match successive reference fingerprints and the inserted content elements have main fingerprints that do not match reference fingerprints. Rendering of inserted content elements to be skipped. In an embodiment when more than one content element matches only one is rendered.

Abstract: The invention relates to a feeding device (1) for introducing a piece of linen (12) to be ironed into an ironing unit by means of suction, the feeding device (1) being provided with a suction shaft (3) into which the piece of linen (12) can be sucked and a top suction portion (4) which is provided for sucking the piece of linen (12) into the suction shaft (3). The feeding device (1) comprises a blocking clamp (6) which is provided to secure the piece of linen (12) in a clamping position, and which is arranged in the feeding device (1) in such a way that there is located after the clamping of the piece of linen (12) a portion of this piece of linen (12) above this blocking clamp (6) that can be sucked by the top suction portion (4) into the suction shaft (3). The invention further relates to an ironing device, comprising an ironing unit for ironing a piece of linen (12) and a feeding unit (1) for feeding the piece of linen (12) to be ironed into the ironing unit.

Abstract: A lighting device 1 comprising a base part 2 with a first magnetic material, and a second part 3 is disclosed. The second part comprises a light source 4, and a nonmagnetic shell 5 defining an essentially closed cavity, the light source 4 and the nonmagnetic shell being in a fixed positional relationship, wherein the essentially closed cavity encloses a second magnetic material 6 displaceable therein. This provides a lighting device 1 in which the user may readily position the light source 4 with a large degree of freedom.

Abstract: The invention relates to a feeding device (1) for introducing a piece of linen (12) to be ironed into an ironing unit by means of suction, the feeding device (1) being provided with a suction shaft (3) into which the piece of linen (12) can be sucked and a top suction portion (4) which is provided for sucking the piece of linen (12) into the suction shaft (3). The feeding device (1) comprises a blocking clamp (6) which is provided to secure the piece of linen (12) in a clamping position, and which is arranged in the feeding device (1) in such a way that there is located after the clamping of the piece of linen (12) a portion of this piece of linen (12) above this blocking clamp (6) that can be sucked by the top suction portion (4) into the suction shaft (3). The invention further relates to an ironing device, comprising an ironing unit for ironing a piece of linen (12) and a feeding unit (1) for feeding the piece of linen (12) to be ironed into the ironing unit.

Abstract: Silences are detected when a local signal power is below a given fixed or relative threshold value, the duration of the local signal power being below the given fixed or relative threshold value is within a first range and at least one of the parameters signal power fall/rise rate and local power deviation falls within a respective further range. The invention further relates to the use of such a silence detection in a receiver (1).

Abstract: A main stream contains successive content elements of video and/or audio information that encode video and/or audio information at a first data rate. A computation circuit (144) computes main fingerprints from the successive content elements. A reference stream is received having a second data rate lower than the first data rate. The reference stream defines a sequence of the reference fingerprints. A comparator unit (144) compares the main fingerprints with the reference fingerprints. The main stream is monitored for the presence of inserted content elements between original content elements, where the original content elements have main fingerprints that match successive reference fingerprints and the inserted content elements have main fingerprints that do not match reference fingerprints. Rendering of inserted content elements to be skipped. In an embodiment when more than one content element matches only one is rendered.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method of identifying a boundary (211, 212) of a content item in a content stream (201), the method comprising the steps of: (110) receiving predetermined additional data related to the content item, the additional data comprising attribute data describing substantially the whole content item, (130) using a content-analysis processor (310) for analyzing the content stream so as to detect whether the content stream corresponds to the attribute data, and (140) identifying the boundary of the content item in the content stream when the correspondence changes from valid to invalid, or vice versa. The attribute data may indicate a genre of a movie, a music style of a song, etc. or a sequence of genres/music styles. The content-analysis processor (310) utilizes the attribute data to detect whether the content stream belongs to the content item by analyzing the content stream so as to detect the correspondence of the content stream to the attribute data.

Abstract: A device (DVR) handles data items that can be rendered to a user. Such a device may be, for example, a digital video recorder. The device (DVR) comprises a network interface (NWIC, NWIM) that couples the device (DVR) to a network, which comprises other devices. A content analysis initiator (ECF) within the device (DVR) detects that another device, which forms part of the network, comprises a content analyzer. The content analysis initiator (ECF) causes the content analyzer (AVCA) of the other device to be applied to a data item (AVF).

Abstract: The invention relates to an apparatus (300) and a method for analyzing a content stream (201) comprising a content item, and to a computer program product enabling a programmable device. The apparatus comprises a content analysis processor (310) for identifying an exact indicator of a boundary (221, 222) of the content item in the content stream, wherein identifying comprises determining a remote indicator (231) being remote from the boundary and analyzing the content stream starting from the remote indicator towards the boundary to identify the exact indicator.

Abstract: Estimating a signal power in a compressed audio signal [A] is provided, the audio signal comprising blocks of quantized samples, a given block being provided with a set of scale factors. The estimating is performed by extracting the set of scale factors from the compressed audio signal, and estimating the signal power in the given block based on a combination of the scale factors. Advantageously, the extracting step and estimating step are performed on only a sub-set of the set of scale factors. The signal power estimation may be used in a silence detector (11) for use in a receiver (1).

Abstract: The availability of television channels today may easily be overwhelming for a user and the use of conventional linear zapping when a user switches sequentially between channels arranged in a list as a method of finding interesting content becomes still more inefficient. Thus, a method of automatically determining a channel content for multi-media, audio, and video channels distributed to or acquired by an electronic device is provided, the method comprises the steps of collecting channel data, analyzing the data using statistical methods to determine a channel content, and categorizing the channels into predetermined clusters depending on the channel content. The determination may be made dynamically so that the clusters reflect the specific day and/or time of the day at which the electronic device is used. Also a system for providing such a method is provided.

Abstract: An apparatus for content indexing uses processing parameters that become available while processing multimedia content. One embodiment of this processing includes compression. A video processor receives multimedia content and generates processed multimedia content. A system for content analysis receives processing parameters from the video processor, where the processing parameters are separate from the processed multimedia content and are generated as a result of processing the multimedia content. The system for content analysis generates content descriptors representative for the multimedia content, responsively to the processing parameters generated during or while processing, e.g., encoding or decoding, the multimedia content.

Abstract: A method and arrangement (300) are disclosed for detecting the presence, appearance or disappearance of subtitles in a video signal. A very high reliability can be achieved, and a marginal processing power is needed, due to the fact that most computations are already done by circuitry of an MPEG encoder (101–113) or decoder. A subtitle is detected if the complexity of the image area in which subtitles are displayed substantially exceeds the complexity of at least one other image area. Examples of properties representing the complexity are (i) the products of bit cost (b) and quantizer scale (qs) in MPEG slices, (ii) the location of the center of gravity of the spectral DCT coefficients (c), (iii) the number of macroblocks in the subtitle image area having a small motion vector (mv) versus the number of macroblocks having a large motion vector, or (iv) the fact that scene changes are not simultaneously detected in the different image areas.

Abstract: The sharp price decrease of storage media enabled users to store more and faster content in contrary to the past. In the near future they will be overwhelmed by the amount of data stored on storage media. Because of the enormous amount of information, they will not be able to index the multimedia content stored manually for later retrieval. Tools to support the users are required. The disadvantage of these algorithms is that they are very expensive in terms of processing power and therefore not feasible for consumer storage devices. The invention proposes an apparatus for content indexing using processing parameters that come available while processing multimedia content. One embodiment of this processing is compression, processing which is performed with almost all multimedia content before it is stored.

Abstract: Estimating a signal power in a compressed audio signal [A] is provided, the audio signal comprising blocks of quantized samples, a given block being provided with a set of scale factors. The estimating is performed by extracting the set of scale factors from the compressed audio signal, and estimating the signal power in the given block based on a combination of the scale factors. Advantageously, the extracting step and estimating step are performed on only a sub-set of the set of scale factors. The signal power estimation may be used in a silence detector (11) for use in a receiver (1).

Abstract: Silences are detected when a local signal power is below a given fixed or relative threshold value, the duration of the local signal power being below the given fixed or relative threshold value is within a first range and at least one of the parameters signal power fall/rise rate and local power deviation falls within a respective further range. The invention further relates to the use of such a silence detection in a receiver (1).

Abstract: An apparatus for reproducing an ordered information unit, such as a TV program. The apparatus comprises a presentation unit (6) for generating a length display of the information unit on a display unit. The length display is divided in consecutive portions. A portion corresponds to a position in the information unit. The length display further comprises a marker. The apparatus further comprises a user operable input unit (8) for receiving commands to move the marker along the consecutive portions, means (10) for determining the portion at which the marker is located, and means (12) to enable reproduction of the information unit at the position indicated by the determined portion. A portion of the length display has at least one visual parameter. The visual parameter represents a parameter which is determined from at least a part of the information unit corresponding to said portion.

Abstract: A method and arrangement (300) are disclosed for detecting the presence, appearance or disappearance of subtitles in a video signal. A very high reliability can be achieved, and a marginal processing power is needed, due to the fact that most computations are already done by circuitry of an MPEG encoder (101-113) or decoder. A subtitle is detected if the complexity of the image area in which subtitles are displayed substantially exceeds the complexity of at least one other image area. Examples of properties representing the complexity are (i) the products of bit cost (b) and quantizer scale (qs) in MPEG slices, (ii) the location of the center of gravity of the spectral DCT coefficients (c), (iii) the number of macroblocks in the subtitle image area having a small motion vector (mv) versus the number of macroblocks having a large motion vector, or (iv) the fact that scene changes are not simultaneously detected in the different image areas.

Abstract: A digital transmission system (1) comprises: a transmitter (2), a receiver (3), and a transmission channel (4) coupled there between. Both the transmitter (2) and the receiver (3) are provided with an encoder (5) and a decoder (6) respectively, wherein a multilevel input signal is coded such, that a DC-balanced digital channel code is transmitted. The coders (5, 6) are embodied to match levels of the DC-free multilevel input signal and code words of the DC-balanced digital channel code such, that disparities of the selected code words are symmetrically grouped around zero disparity. This results in a DC-free digital channel code signal having a limited transmission band width, which signal can be conveyed with minimal hardware over the usually AC-coupled transmission channels.