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1. means for presenting the intermission playlist between each assigned playlist in the schedule 59 In a digital cinema system a method for decoding programs for playback comprising checking a schedule to determine if there is a schedule entry for presentation the schedule entry being com prised of one or more programs and initiating playback of the schedule entry according to the schedule by appropriately decoding each program of the schedule entry 60 The method of claim 59 wherein checking the sched ule comprises determining a next schedule entry for presentation 61 The method of claim 60 wherein initiating playback comprises initiating playback of the next schedule entry according to the time it is scheduled to start 62 The method of claim 61 wherein determining the next schedule entry comprises determining an earliest schedule entry whose start time is equal to or greater than a current time and Mar 13 2003 determining the earliest schedule entry as the next sched ule entry 63 The method of claim 60 further comprising cueing a user to control the playback of the next schedule entry 64 The method of claim 63 wherein determining the next schedule entry comprises locating a current schedule entry and determining an entry following the current schedule entry to be the next schedule entry and otherwise determining the next schedule entry as the earliest sched ule entry whose start time i
2. Scheduler US 2003 0048418 A1 Sheet 1 of 8 Patent Application Publication Mar 13 2003 SVL 061 L o ainpoy 6uipooeq s ainpoy wnuoupny mE enpowebelgs E Jepiing jsi ejd qni Kjyoe 4 Eier Jejnpeuog Ste dius JaBeueyy egeau uejs sqng ago POL Patent Application Publication Mar 13 2003 Sheet 2 of 8 US 2003 0048418 A1 Idle Stop Ignore Cancel Ignore Processing Completed or Cancel Cancel Paused Running Stop Ignore Start Ignore FIG 2 Playlist Scheduler File Edit View Window Help Theatre View rar Paver US 2003 0048418 A1 Sheet 3 of 8 Patent Application Publication Mar 13 2003 8 Old oppene ou uo peseg giel Sou 10 BUD paubissy ay JO uonejueseJd OO 02S uoneyueseJd 104 S si Ae q 2104 10 UO ubissy 0 ejnpeuos v ejeJeuec OLS y OI s si Ae q peuDissy 2104 10 UQ eut uo peseg ejnpeuos e ejeJeueo oer Ier au uo peseg uopejuas ld 10 s siAe q eJojy Jo euo Ubissy a sisie d Jo 3sr1 ejdsiq oly Patent Application Publication Mar 13 2003 Sheet 4 of 8 US 2003 0048418 A1 Check Schedule to Determine if there is a Schedule Entry For Presentation Initiate Playback of the Schedule Entry According to the Schedule FIG 6 Patent Application Publication Mar 13 2003 Sheet 5 of 8 US 2003 0048418 A1 LEDs PUSH BUTTONS Automatic Mode o Running O PAUSE
3. process digital programming to create and schedule digital platters SUMMARY 0014 Advances in digital technology have led to a dis tribution concept whereby presentation material is electroni cally stored in a digitized format Digitized images may be distributed on various storage mediums such as magnetic media or compact optical discs and or transmitted over wired fiber optic wireless or satellite communication sys tems 0015 To reduce the data rate requirement for the storage and or transmission of high quality electronic images com pression algorithms are being developed For example US 2003 0048418 Al absolute discrete cosine transform ABSDCT allows sig nificant compression while preserving the quality of image signals ABSDCT is disclosed in U S Pat No 5 021 891 entitled Adaptive Block Size Image Compression Method And System assigned to the assignee of the present inven tion and incorporated herein by reference DCT techniques are also disclosed in U S Pat No 5 107 345 entitled Adaptive Block Size Image Compression Method And System assigned to the assignee of the present invention Further the use of the ABSDCT technique in combination with a Discrete Quadtree Transform technique is discussed in U S Pat No 5 452 104 entitled Adaptive Block Size Image Compression Method And System also assigned to the assignee of the present invention 0016 Technologies such as ABSDCT of
4. Cancel transition events correspond to inputs entered at the decoding module 140 UI or from the theatre manager UI AutoStart event occurs when the start time of the Next Schedule Entry arrives Transitioning from Running to Intermission occurs when the processing of the Current Schedule Entry completes Here if enablement of the Intermission playlist is provided and activated the decoding module 140 presents playlist s specified as Intermission playlist without user intervention 0089 Note that in FIG 8 a state may optionally have some action s performed each time the state is entered or exited denoted respectively as entry condition action and exit condition action where action describes the action taken A state may optionally have an activity that is US 2003 0048418 Al performed while in the state denoted by do condition activity where activity describes the activity performed Each entry do and exit statement may optionally have a condition associated with it contained within square brack ets CT and The condition is a Boolean expression that causes the transition and associated action to occur only if the expression evaluates to true A state may contain multiple entry do and exit actions 0090 A state may also process certain events that cause action to be taken without causing a transition to another state denoted by event condition action where event is the n
5. Digital cinema may comprise the electronic gen eration compression encryption and storage of audio visual programming such as motion pictures in theatre Mar 13 2003 systems theatres theatre complexes and or other presenta tion systems Accordingly the invention is applicable to the presentation of image and audio information in a variety of locations such as theatre or theatre complex outdoor amphi theatres drive in complexes civic auditoriums schools and specialty restaurants For purposes of the explanation the invention will be described with reference to a theatre or theatre complex However those skilled in the art will readily understand that the invention may be applied to other types of locations systems and fields 0041 Also as disclosed hereafter the term playlist refers to a list of one or more programs for display in theatres cinemas televisions and or any other presentation system and or locations The term program refers to any digital data relating to an image moving picture and or associated soundtrack or audio Examples of a moving picture includes but is not limited to a full or portion of motion picture trailers a movie a video clip a commercial a drama or a combination thereof The term storage medium refers to any one or more means for storing comprising high capacity data storage devices such as a digital versatile disk DVD or a removable hard drive RHD The terms enc
6. Running o PAUSE Paused 9 as FIG 15 US 2003 0048418 Al PRESENTATION SCHEDULING IN DIGITAL CINEMA SYSTEM RELATED APPLICATIONS 0001 This application claims priority from U S Provi sional patent application entitled Apparatus and Method for Presentation Scheduling in a Digital Cinema System Serial No 60 316 921 filed Aug 31 2001 BACKGROUND 0002 0003 The invention generally relates to digital cinema and is more particularly related to scheduling one or a plurality of presentations in a digital cinema system 0004 II Description of the Related Art 0005 Video compression is a key factor of multimedia An effective digital compression can reduce the cost as well as increase the quality of video displayed over any digital communication One application of the video compression technique is in the motion picture industry I Field of Invention 0006 In the traditional motion picture industry theatre operators receive reels of celluloid film from a studio or through a distributor for eventual presentation in a theatre auditorium The reels of film include the feature program a full length motion picture and a plurality of previews and other promotional material often referred to as trailers The theatre operator may also be required or choose to present some of its own trailers often comprising of local promo tional and advertising material A two hour motion picture plus five minutes of tra
7. a schedule is generated playlist s is are presented based on the schedule FIG 5 shows one embodi ment of a procedure 500 for presentation in a digital cinema Generally the procedure 500 comprises generating a sched ule to assign one or more playlists for presentation block 510 and controlling presentation of the assigned one or more playlists based on the schedule block 520 Here each playlist can be presented by the decoding module 140 of a specified auditorium module 120 at a specified date and or a specified time in accordance with the assignment 0074 When presenting playlist s based on a schedule the decoding module 140 checks the schedule to determine if there is a schedule entry for presentation as shown in block 610 of FIG 6 Here a schedule entry is comprised of one or more programs The playback of the schedule entry is initiated according to the schedule by appropriately decod ing each program of the schedule entry block 620 That is each program of the schedule entry is retrieved from the storage module 130 and processed by the appropriate audi torium module 120 at the appropriate time according to the schedule 0075 Moreover the decoding module 140 may operate in one of two modes automatic and manual In Automatic Mode playback may be initiated without user intervention based on a schedule This may be accomplished with no user intervention User intervention is allowed to cancel or resume playback if
8. been paused The decoding module 140 user interface may have a Pause button that allows a user to pause the processing of the Current Sched ule Entry or Intermission playlist The decoding module 140 Mar 13 2003 user interface may have a Cancel button that allows a user to cancel the processing of the Current Schedule Entry Note that the Run Pause and Cancel buttons may be any other input means such as a switch dial or a touch panel 0084 The theatre manager 110 user interface UT pro vides remote access to some or all of the playback control functionality that is available from the decoding module 140 user interface UI More particularly the theatre manager 110 UI may have one or a combination of the Online indicator the Running indicator the Paused indicator input to Run input to Pause and input to Cancel When a playback control related command is entered at the theatre manager 110 the theatre manager 110 sends a message to the indi cated decoding module 140 and the decoding module 140 carries out the appropriate behavior In addition the theatre manager 110 user interface provides functionality to change the mode of the decoding module 140 and to enable the Intermission playlist Auto Start feature for Manual Mode 0085 Changing the mode of a decoding module is accomplished by entering the change mode command at the theatre manager 110 user interface The change mode func tion is not available via the de
9. construed as limiting the invention For example although FIG 1 shows the storage module 130 as separately implemented in the theatre sub system 104 each auditorium module 120 may be imple mented with a storage module 130 Also in theatre systems having multiple auditoriums each auditorium module may process and present a different playlist from other audito rium modules or one or more auditorium modules may simultaneously process and present the same playlist That is the scheduler may assign a predetermined playlist for at least two presentations such that one presentation of the predetermined playlist begins before the end of the other presentation 0099 Moreover while a theatre complex has a theatre manager in context of other presentation systems a theatre manager may be any module capable of implementing a scheduler and optionally a playlist builder Similarly in context of other presentations an auditorium module may be any module capable of processing and presenting a playlist Accordingly the present teachings can be readily applied to other types of apparatuses The description of the invention is intended to be illustrative and not to limit the scope of the claims Many alternatives modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art What is claimed is 1 In a digital cinema system having at least one storage module and at least one auditorium module a presentation system comprising a
10. than a presentation start date 46 The method of claim 38 further comprising designating a playlist as a repeating playlist and assigning the repeating playlist in the schedule 47 The method of claim 38 further comprising designating a playlist as an intermission playlist 48 The method of claim 47 further comprising either one of assigning the intermission playlist in the schedule or presenting the intermission playlist between each assigned playlist in the schedule 49 In a digital cinema system a scheduling system for generating a schedule comprising means for displaying a list of playlists means for assigning one or more playlists for presentation based on the list and means for generating a schedule based on the selected one or more playlists 50 The scheduling system of claim 49 further compris ing means for verifying that the digital cinema system has resources to present each playlist assigned in the sched ule when generating the schedule and means for rejecting assignment of a playlist in the sched ule if the digital cinema does not have the resource 51 The scheduling system of claim 50 wherein the means for verifying the resources comprises either one or a com bination of means for checking that each image program needed to present each assigned playlist exists means for checking that each audio program needed to present each assigned playlist exists means for checking that no
11. theatre manager configured to control presentation and a scheduler configured to allow assignment of one playlist for presentation the scheduler further configured to allow assignment of one or more playlists for presen tation by generating a schedule US 2003 0048418 Al 2 The presentation system of claim 1 wherein the sched uler is implemented in the theatre manager 3 The presentation system of claim 1 wherein the sched uler is configured to store the schedule in the storage module 4 The presentation system of claim 1 wherein the sched uler is configured to send a message indicating a change in the schedule if a change is made in the schedule 5 The presentation system of claim 1 wherein the storage module is configured to store one or more programs and wherein the presentation system further comprises a playlist builder coupled to the scheduler the playlist builder configured to generate at least one playlist based on the programs stored in the storage module 6 The presentation system of claim 5 wherein the playlist builder is configured to store the playlist in the storage module 7 The presentation system of claim 1 wherein the sched uler is configured to verify that the system has resources to present contents of each assigned playlist when generating the schedule 8 The presentation system of claim 1 further comprising a decoding module configured to prepare contents of each assigned playlist fo
12. when a Start command is received from the theatre manager 110 0053 In some embodiments the theatre subsystem may further comprises a Theatre Automation System TAS 190 that allows the theatre manager 110 to operate in a TAS mode In TAS mode the starting and stopping of the playback is performed by the TAS More particularly the designated decoding module 140 starts playback of the assigned playlist when a Start command is received from the TAS The TAS allows users to automate the playback of a playlist including the execution of the necessary cue s for control of environmental functions To avoid having mul tiple points of control user may not be allowed to start or stop playback from the theatre manager 110 when operating in the TAS mode 0054 Referring back to FIG 2 when a Start command is received while the decoding module 140 is in the Idle state 210 the decoding module 140 may start the presentation of the currently scheduled playlist starting at the beginning of the playlist Stopping playback before the presentation is complete may cause the decoding module 140 to stop the presentation remember where in the presentation it was stopped and or dowse the projector 150 Here the stopping of the playback may cause events other than dowsing of the projector 150 Starting playback after it has been stopped during a presentation may cause the presentation to continue at the point it was stopped or as near as possible prior t
13. which like reference numerals refer to like elements wherein 0028 system 0029 FIG 2 shows the decoding module behavior in response to various commands FIG 1 shows an example of a digital cinema 0030 FIG 3 shows an example view for scheduling playlists 0031 FIG 4 shows an embodiment of a process for generating a schedule 0032 FIG 5 shows an embodiment of a process for presentation in a digital cinema system 0033 FIG 6 shows an embodiment of a process for decoding programs for presentation in a digital cinema system 0034 FIG 7 shows an example of a decoding module user interface 0035 FIG 8 shows the decoding module user interface transition diagram for automatic mode 0036 FIGS 9 11 show various the decoding module user interface in various states when in automatic mode 0037 FIG 12 shows the decoding module user interface transition diagram for manual mode and 0038 FIGS 13 15 show various the decoding module user interface in various states when in manual mode DETAILED DESCRIPTION 0039 Generally the disclosed embodiments allow a user such as theatre operator to schedule presentations in a digital cinema system In one embodiment a user can schedule a presentation and control the playback of the presentation In another embodiment a user can assign one or more presen tations More particularly a schedule can be generated to assign one or more presentations 0040
14. 180 may verify that no security conflicts exist i e that all US 2003 0048418 Al required encryption keys are present and that the presenta tions fall within valid key epochs If a security conflict exists scheduler 180 may notify the user of the conflict and reject the assignment of the playlist into the schedule 0066 Scheduler 180 may allow a user to reserve a screen for a specified period of time Auditorium module 120 may be reserved for something other than playlist presentation e g maintenance or special function This is a convenience feature that prevents double booking Before allowing a user to reserve a screen scheduler 180 may verify that no time conflicts are created by adding the reserve to the schedule If a time conflict exists scheduler 180 may notify the user of the conflict and not insert the reserve into the schedule 0067 After completing the assignment of playlist s scheduler 180 may allow a user to save the schedule to the storage module 130 Saving a schedule causes the scheduler 180 to send an Update Schedule message to the decoding modules 140 in the theatre subsystem 104 to give notifica tions of the schedule change or update The scheduler 180 sends to the auditorium 120 a message indicating a change or update in the schedule if a change or update is made in the schedule Scheduler 180 may allow a user to exit the scheduler 180 application User may save or discard unsaved changes prior to exit
15. 21 wherein generating the schedule comprises designating a playlist as an intermission playlist 26 The method of claim 25 further comprising either one of assigning and presenting the intermission playlist between a predetermined two assigned playlists or presenting the intermission playlist between each assigned playlist 27 The method of claim 21 wherein generating the schedule comprises assigning a predetermined playlist for at least two pre sentations such that a second presentation of the pre determined playlist begins before the end of a first presentation 28 The method of claim 21 wherein generating the schedule comprises reserving an auditorium module for a specified period of time 29 In a digital cinema system a presentation system comprising means for assigning a single playlist for presentation and means for generating a schedule to assign one or more playlists for presentation 30 The presentation system of claim 29 further compris ing means for verifying that the system has resources to present each assigned playlist before presenting each assigned playlist 31 The presentation system of claim 29 further compris ing means for sending a message indicating a change in the schedule if a change is made in the schedule US 2003 0048418 Al 32 The presentation system of claim 29 further compris ing means for controlling presentation of each assigned play list 33 The prese
16. Paused FIG 7 Intermission Run Ignore Pause Ignore Cancel Ignore AutoStart Cancel Processing Completed Running Entry Activate Running Indicator Paused Do Process Platter Run Entry Activate Paused Indicator Exit Deactivate Running Indicator Exit Deactivate Paused Indicator Run Ignore Pause Ignore Cancel Ignore FIG 8 Patent Application Publication Mar 13 2003 Sheet 6 of 8 US 2003 0048418 A1 Online RUN Automatic Mode o Running o Paused O FIG 9 Online RUN Automatic Mode o Running o Paused O FIG 10 Patent Application Publication Mar 13 2003 Sheet 7 of 8 US 2003 0048418 A1 Online e RUN Automatic Mode Running o PAUSE Paused FIG 11 Intermission Run Ignore Pause Ignore Cancel Ignore Run or Intermission Platter AutoStart Cancel Processing Completed Running Entry Activate Running Indicator Paused Do Process Platter Run Entry Activate Paused Indicator Exit Deactivate Running Indicator Exit Deactivate Paused Indicator Run Ignore Pause lgnore Cancel Ignore FIG 12 Patent Application Publication Mar 13 2003 Sheet 8 of 8 US 2003 0048418 A1 Online RUN Automatic Mode o Running o Paused O FIG 13 Online e RUN Automatic Mode o Running o Paused O FIG 14 Online e RUN Automatic Mode o
17. US 20030048418A1 a2 Patent Application Publication co Pub No US 2003 0048418 A1 oa United States Hose et al 43 Pub Date Mar 13 2003 54 PRESENTATION SCHEDULING IN DIGITAL CINEMA SYSTEM 76 Inventors Jesse Hose Carlsbad CA US Michael Mitrani San Diego CA US Roger Olmstead Carlsbad CA US Correspondence Address QUALCOMM Incorporated Attn Patent Department 5775 Morehouse Drive San Diego CA 92121 1714 US 21 Appl No 10 233 257 22 Filed Aug 30 2002 Related U S Application Data 60 Provisional application No 60 316 921 filed on Aug 31 2001 Voie Central Facility Hub Theatre Subsystem Theatre Manager Playlist Builder Decoding Module Publication Classification 1 CE ness teeaencune G03B 21 04 52 US EE 352 123 57 ABSTRACT Embodiments disclosed allow assigning programs for pre sentation in a digital cinema system In one embodiment a scheduler 180 is implemented to generate a schedule in accordance to which decoding modules 140 control play back of data for presentation in the digital cinema systems The decoding module 140 may operate in an automatic mode and or manual mode In automatic mode the decoding module 140 controls playback based on the schedule with out user intervention In manual mode the decoding module 140 cues the user at the appropriate times to control play back based on the schedule 104 190 v Zo
18. across each of the days starting on the presentation start date and ending on the presentation end date Scheduler 180 may allow a user to specify any special audio properties to be used for the presentations being scheduled 0063 Moreover scheduler 180 may allow a user to designate the playlist as a repeating playlist A playlist designated as a repeating playlist exhibits carousel like behavior during presentation A repeating playlist is sched uled for a specified period of time called the repeat duration If during the presentation of a repeating playlist the pre sentation of the last program of the playlist completes before the repeat duration has elapsed the decoding module con tinues the presentation starting over at the beginning of the playlist When the repeat duration elapses the decoding module 140 ceases presentation of the playlist immediately even though the end of the program may not have been reached If a user designates a playlist as a repeating playlist scheduler 180 may require the user to enter the associated repeat duration 0064 Scheduler 180 may on a per screen basis allow a user to specify a playlist as an intermission playlist for presentation during an intermission Users may add proper ties including the ID of the playlist to be used as the intermission playlist A repeating playlist may be specified as an intermission playlist The intermission playlist can then be scheduled or assigned in the appro
19. ame of the event condition is a Boolean expression that causes the action to occur only if the expression evaluates to true and action is the action taken when the event is received Actions are associated with transitions occur quickly and cannot be interrupted Activities are associated with states can take a while to perform and can be interrupted If an entry do exit or event designation is explicitly specified for a state then the state has no associated action or activity for the unspecified designation Transitions consist of an event and optionally a condition and or an action 0091 When the decoding module 140 is in Automatic Mode the Automatic Mode Indicator on the decoding mod ule 140 user interface is activated FIG 9 shows the decoding module 140 user interface for the Intermission State in Automatic Mode In this state there would be nothing onscreen For example the projector 150 may be dowsed Also there is no available functions for Idle state in Automatic Mode Next Schedule Entry cannot be started manually When start time of Next Schedule Entry arrives the decoding module 140 starts processing the Next Sched ule Entry Decoding module 140 user interface enters a Running state 0092 FIG 10 shows the decoding module 140 user interface for the Running State in Automatic Mode In this state the decoding module 140 is presenting a scheduled playlist Current Schedule Entry When presentation is comple
20. any event interrupts the playback of a presentation In Manual Mode the playlist designated by the schedule may be cued for playback The playback may then begin after a user enters a start command from the theatre manager 110 user interface 0076 The operating mode of the decoding module 140 may be a part of the saved state when a decoding module 140 shuts down so that the next time the decoding module is brought online it will come up in the same operating mode as its last saved state If the operating mode cannot be determined from its last saved state the default may be set to the Automatic Mode 0077 For purposes of explanation a Schedule Entry refers to any scheduled playlist in the schedule A Current Schedule Entry refers to the playlist that is currently being presented A Next Schedule Entry refers to the playlist that a decoding module 140 will playback after the Current Schedule Entry Therefore in order for a decoding module 140 to know what Schedule Entry to process or playback the decoding module 140 determines the Next Schedule Entry US 2003 0048418 Al 0078 In order to determine the Next Schedule Entry upon initialization the Current Schedule Entry is set to indicate that it is undetermined Determining the Next Schedule Entry is then mode dependent In Automatic Mode the decoding module determines the Next Schedule Entry as the earliest Schedule Entry whose start time is equal to or greater t
21. coding module 140 user interface When a change mode command is received by a decoding module 140 the decoding module 140 determines the Next Schedule Entry according to its new mode as it does upon initialization i e as if the Current Schedule Entry is undetermined If a decoding module 140 receives the change mode command while it is processing a playlist or Paused it waits until the processing has completed or is cancelled before updating the Next Schedule Entry so as not to interfere with the current presentation changing the mode should have no effect on a presentation in progress 0086 As part of the nominal decoding module 140 shutdown procedure the current operating mode of the decoding module 140 is saved in persistent memory This allows the decoding module 140 to come back online in the same operating mode as it was when it last shutdown 0087 Regardless of the operational mode the decoding module 140 can be in one of three states Intermission is the state of a decoding module 140 during an Intermission Running is the state of the decoding module 140 when processing a Schedule Entry Paused is the state of the decoding module 140 after the Pause command is received when in Running state The commands available to the user in each state may vary depending on the mode 0088 FIG 8 shows a state transition chart for Automatic Mode Each state represents a Decoding module 140 User Interface state Run Pause and
22. d by the scheduler or the decoding module Moreover generation of the schedule may comprise desig nating a playlist as a repeating playlist and or designating a playlist as an intermission playlist The intermission playlist may either be assigned and presented between a predeter mined two assigned playlists or be presented between each assigned playlist 0021 In a further a method for generating a schedule comprises displaying a list of playlists assigning one or more playlists for presentation based on the list and gener ating a schedule based on the assigned one or more playlists The method may further comprise verifying that the digital cinema system has resources to present each playlist assigned in the schedule when generating the schedule and rejecting assignment of a playlist in the schedule if the digital cinema does not have the resource Also the method may comprise either one or a combination of checking that each image program needed to present each playlist exists checking that each audio program needed to present each playlist exists checking that no security conflict exists checking that no time conflicts are created and checking that there is no resource conflicts The method may further comprise specifying a presentation start date of each selected playlist specifying a presentation end date of each selected playlist specifying the start time for one day and or replicating the start time across multiple days start
23. ed on May 8 1998 entitled Apparatus and Method for Distri bution of High Quality Image and Audio Programs to Remote Locations and pending U S patent application Ser No 09 564 174 filed May 3 2000 entitled Apparatus and Method for Encoding and Storage of Digital Image and Audio Signals and pending U S patent application Ser No 09 563 880 filed May 3 2000 entitled Apparatus and Method for Decoding Digital Image and Audio Signals all assigned to the same assignee as the present invention 0045 In the hub 102 a program is either generated or received from an external source The program or digital information is then compressed and may be encrypted such that only specific locations for example theatres are autho rized to show specific programs The compressed and US 2003 0048418 Al optionally encrypted program is distributed to the theatre subsystem 104 Here the compressed information may be physically transported using a storage medium Alterna tively the compressed information or portions thereof may be transmitted to a storage module 130 using any wireless and or wired transmission methods The wireless and or wired transmission of the information compressed allows real time delivery and playback of presentations in the theatre subsystem 104 0046 The theatre subsystem 104 may comprise a theatre manager 110 at least one auditorium module 120 and the storage module 130 The storage module 130 may s
24. enerating a schedule to assign one or more playlists for presentation in a digital cinema system Generally a list of playlists is displayed block 410 from which one or more playlists can be assigned for presentation block 420 Based on the assigned one or more playlists a schedule is gener ated The generated schedule may be stored in the storage module 130 and can be updated using the user interface 0061 In some embodiments the scheduler 180 may not allow any entity other than a playlist to be scheduled for presentation Also when scheduling playlist s scheduler 180 may require a user to specify the auditorium module 120 or screen for which the playlist is to be scheduled to specify a presentation start date and or to specify a presentation end date The start date may not be set to be earlier than the date on which the scheduling activity takes place i e a start date Mar 13 2003 cannot be in the past The presentation end date may be the same or a later date as the presentation start date 0062 The scheduler 180 may allow a user to enter a single day s presentation start times with up to a predeter mined number e g 8 of separate presentation start times per day If a user has specified a presentation end date that is later than the presentation start date 1 e user is scheduling for multiple days at once the user has only to specify the start time for a single day and scheduler 180 may replicate the start times
25. f the digital cinema does not have the resource 40 The method of claim 39 wherein verifying the resources comprises either one or a combination of checking that each image program needed to present each assigned playlist exists checking that each audio program needed to present each assigned playlist exists checking that no security conflict exists checking that no time conflicts are created and checking that there is no resource conflicts 41 The method of claim 40 further comprising sending a message that indicates a reason for the rejection Mar 13 2003 42 The method of claim 38 wherein the schedule com prises either one or a combination of a list of assigned playlist identifications IDs times that each assigned play list is scheduled to be presented and ID of a decoding module that is to present each assigned playlist 43 The method of claim 38 further comprising either one or a combination of specifying an auditorium module for which each playlist is to be assigned specifying a presentation start date of each assigned playlist and specifying a presentation end date of each assigned play list 44 The method of claim 43 further comprising specifying the start time for one day 45 The method of claim 44 further comprising replicating the start time across multiple days starting on a presentation start date and ending on a presentation end date if a presentation end date that is later
26. fer the possibility of a digital cinema system Generally defined digital cinema refers to the electronic distribution and display of high quality film programming which has been converted to a digital electronic representation for storage transmission and display purposes A digital cinema system would over come many of the limitations of the current film distribution process A digital system would not be subject to the quality degradation over time experienced by celluloid film Fur ther a digital system may eliminate the theft and illegal duplication of films by allowing implementation of security measures within the digital system itself Moreover distri bution of film information using a digital electronic format actually increases the potential for rapid low cost duplica tion without quality degradation 0017 With the advent of digital cinema systems full length motion pictures trailers advertisements and other audio image cinema quality programs are delivered to theatres throughout the world using digital technology Authorized theatres receive the digitized programs and store them typically while still compressed At each showing the digitized information is retrieved via a local area network from the storage medium then is decrypted if necessary decompressed and displayed using cinema quality elec tronic projectors featuring high quality digital sound 0018 In one embodiment a presentation system com p
27. han a current time In Manual Mode the current schedule entry is located in the schedule and the schedule entry immediately following the current schedule entry is determined to be the Next Schedule Entry If the Current Schedule Entry is Undetermined e g upon decod ing module 140 initialization the Next Schedule Entry is determined in the same manner as in Automatic Mode 0079 Also in automatic mode playback of the Next Schedule Entry is initiated by the decoding module 140 according to the time it is scheduled to start When the decoding module 140 determines its Next Schedule Entry it checks to see if the start time is equal to the current time If the start time is equal to the current time the decoding module 140 starts playback of the Next Schedule Entry otherwise the decoding module 140 waits until the specified start time to start playback When processing begins on the Next Schedule Entry the Next Schedule Entry becomes the Current Schedule Entry When playback of the Current Schedule Entry completes the decoding module 140 deter mines the Next Schedule Entry and initiates the playback accordingly 0080 In manual mode playback of the Next Schedule Entry is initiated by a Start Resume command from decod ing module 140 or the theatre manager 110 user interface When the Start Resume command is received by the decod ing module 140 the Next Schedule Entry becomes the Current Schedule Entry and playback begins When
28. ilers for example generates approxi mately 11 250 feet of celluloid film As a result theatre operators may receive a two hour movie that is divided into five or six reels 0007 One way to present the multiple reels of film is to use two projectors One projector is threaded with the first reel and the other projector with the second reel The theatre operator starts the film on the first projector At an appro priate time for a changeover the theatre operator starts the second projector and stops the first projector While the second reel is rolling the theatre operator removes the first reel and threads a third reel on the first projector This swapping continues throughout the presentation Therefore the theatre operator must monitor each presentation in each auditorium for the changeovers 0008 Alternatively a device called a platter is also used in theatres A platter may consist of two or more large discs of approximately four or five feet in diameter that are stacked vertically about one to two feet apart The discs are large enough to hold one large spool of film which the theatre operator assembles by splicing together all of the lengths of film from the different reels Splicing is the process of cutting the end of one strip of film so that it carefully matches up to the beginning of the next strip of film and then taping the strips together This allows the theatre operator to show the entire presentation without changeo
29. ime 17 The presentation system of claim 1 wherein the scheduler is configured to generate the schedule by display ing a list of playlists receiving selection of one or more playlists for presentation and generating the schedule based on the selected one or more playlist 18 The presentation system of claim 17 wherein the scheduler comprises a user interface configured to receive selection of one or more playlists for presentation Mar 13 2003 19 The presentation system of claim 18 wherein the user interface is one of a graphical user interface GUD a liquid crystal display soft keys or video graphic array panel 20 The presentation system of claim 19 wherein the GUI is configured to provide either one or both a theatre view and a screen view 21 In a digital cinema system a method for presentation comprising generating a schedule to assign one or more playlists for presentation and controlling presentation of the assigned one or more playlists based on the schedule 22 The method of claim 21 further comprising sending a message indicating a change in the schedule if a change is made in the schedule 23 The method of claim 21 further comprising verifying that the digital cinema system has resources to present each assigned playlist when generating the schedule 24 The method of claim 21 wherein generating the schedule comprises designating a playlist as a repeating playlist 25 The method of claim
30. ing on a presentation start date and ending on a presentation end date if a presentation end date that is later than a presentation start date 0022 In yet a further embodiment a method for decod ing programs for presentation comprises checking a sched ule to determine if there is a schedule entry for presentation the schedule entry being comprised of one or more pro grams and initiating playback of the schedule entry accord ing to the schedule by appropriately decoding each program of the schedule entry Checking the schedule comprises determining a next schedule entry for presentation 0023 Initiating playback comprises initiating playback of the next schedule entry according to the time it is scheduled to start Here determining the next schedule entry comprises determining the next schedule entry as the earliest schedule entry whose start time is equal to or greater than a current time 0024 Also a user may be cued to control the playback of the next schedule entry Here determining the next schedule entry comprise locating a current schedule entry and deter mining an entry following the current schedule entry to be the next schedule entry and otherwise determining the next schedule entry as the earliest schedule entry whose start time is equal to or greater than a current time 0025 In yet another embodiment a decoding system for decoding programs comprises three states an intermission state a paused state and a
31. ing the application 0068 Scheduler 180 may allow a user to undo the last operation if there is an operation to undo One or more schedule entries may be selected Selecting one or more entries may cause the entry or entries to be highlighted giving visual confirmation of the selection Selecting mul tiple schedule entries may be allowed when the entries selected form a contiguous block of entries Scheduler 180 may allow a user to delete a selected entry or entries This removes the selected entries from the schedule The delete operation may be available only when an entry or entries is selected 0069 Scheduler 180 may allow a user to get scheduler application help via an online user manual Scheduler 180 may allow a user to display Scheduler application version and copyright information online 0070 The user interface of the scheduler 180 may be a GUI that provides two types of views a theatre view and a screen view The theatre view as shown in FIG 3 displays the schedule for all of the screens in the theatre for a given day and allows a user to display the entire theatre s schedule on a day by day basis The user can select the date of the schedule to be display with the entire theatre schedule being available in this manner one day at a time Scrolling may be necessary to examine all the data for a given day as it may be too large to fit into a GUI window at one time The Theatre view may be set as the default view tha
32. iving the start command means for receiving the pause command and means for receiving the cancel command 70 The system of claim 65 further comprising a theatre manager wherein the theatre manager comprises a user interface 71 The system of claim 70 wherein the user interface is one of a graphical user interface GUI a liquid crystal display soft keys or video graphic array panel US 2003 0048418 A1 Mar 13 2003 12 72 The system of claim 70 wherein the user interface 73 The system of claim 70 wherein the user interface comprises either one or a combination of comprises either one or a combination of a visual indicator that signifies that the decoding system means for receiving the start command is online a visual indicator that signifies that the decoding system means for fecelvine the pause comtnand and is currently processing a playlist and means for receiving the cancel command a visual indicator that signifies that the decoding system is in the paused state g Woo ewe
33. ntation system of claim 32 wherein the means for controlling presentation comprises means for checking the schedule and means for controlling playback of contents of the assigned playlist based on the schedule 34 The presentation system of claim 32 wherein the means for controlling presentation comprises means for checking the schedule and means for cueing a user to control playback of contents of the assigned playlist 35 The presentation system of claim 29 further compris ing means for designating one of the stored playlist as a repeating playlist 36 The presentation system of claim 29 further compris ing means for designating one of the stored playlist as an intermission playlist 37 The presentation system of claim 36 further compris ing means for enabling or disabling the intermission playlist and means for presenting the intermission playlist between each assigned playlist if the intermission playlist is enabled 38 In a digital cinema system a method for generating a schedule comprising displaying a list of playlists assigning one or more playlists for presentation based on the list and generating a schedule based on the one or more assigned playlists 39 The method of claim 38 further comprising verifying that the digital cinema system has resources to present each playlist assigned in the schedule when generating the schedule and rejecting assignment of a playlist in the schedule i
34. o that point to allow for resynchronization of the audio and image programs Therefore a Stop command received in the Run ning state 220 causes the decoding module 140 to enter a Paused state 230 wherein the decoding module 140 may save the information necessary to allow the decoding mod ule 140 to restart the presentation at the point that it was US 2003 0048418 Al stopped When a Start command is received while the decoding module 140 is in the Paused state 230 the decod ing module 140 may restart the presentation at the point in was stopped or as near as possible prior to that point to allow for resynchronization of audio and image programs 0055 Canceling playback is done from the theatre man ager 110 regardless of the mode Canceling a presentation in the Running state 220 or the Paused state 230 has the same result in that the decoding module 140 does not remember where it was stopped For example the decoding module 140 may reset the presentation progress state such that the next time playback is started the playlist will start from the beginning 0056 When a user attempts to cancel a current presen tation the theatre manager 110 may requests a confirmation from the user that requires a non trivial affirmative response before executing the Cancel command Requiring the user to click on an OK button may be considered trivial while requiring the user to type in a response such as yes may be considered non
35. play back of the Current Schedule Entry completes the decoding module 140 determines the Next Schedule Entry and waits for the Start Resume command to initiate playback 0081 To allow a user to enter the Start Resume com mand the decoding module 140 may also comprise a user interface The decoding module 140 user interface may comprise one or more visual indicators and or buttons The decoding module 140 user interface may be implemented by GUI liquid crystal display LCD soft keys and or video graphic array VGA panels FIG 7 shows an example of the decoding module 140 user interface 0082 The decoding module 140 user interface may have a visual Online indicator that when activated signifies the decoding module 140 is online and ready for normal opera tion The decoding module 140 user interface may have a visual Running indicator that when activated signifies the decoding module 140 is currently processing the Current Schedule Entry or Intermission playlist The decoding mod ule 140 user interface may have a visual Paused indicator that when activated signifies the processing of the Current Schedule Entry or Intermission playlist has been paused 0083 The decoding module 140 user interface may have a Run button that allows a user to tell the decoding module 140 to start processing the Next Schedule Entry or to resume processing the Current Schedule Entry or Intermis sion playlist if the processing has
36. priate time slots or between two assigned playlists Alternatively the sched uler 180 may on a per screen basis allow a user to enable or disable the intermission playlist behavior If the intermis sion playlist is enabled the intermission playlist would be presented between each assigned playlists without user intervention 0065 Furthermore when assigning a playlist into the schedule scheduler 180 may verify that the system has resources to present each assigned playlist The scheduler 180 may verify that no time conflicts are created by adding the playlist to the schedule i e that no two presentations are scheduled during the same time period for a given decoding module 140 If there is a time conflict scheduler 180 may notify the user of the conflict and reject the assignment of the playlist into the schedule Also scheduler 180 may verify that the programs specified in the playlist are present in the storage module 130 If scheduler 180 cannot find programs specified in the playlist scheduler 180 may notify the user of the missing file s and reject the assignment of the playlist into the schedule Furthermore scheduler 180 may verify that no resource conflicts exist Le that presenting the playlist at the specified times will not cause the system to exceed network capacities If a resource conflict exists scheduler 180 may notify the user of the conflict and reject the assignment of the playlist into the schedule Scheduler
37. r playback 9 The presentation system of claim 8 wherein the decod ing module is configured to verify that the presentation system has resources to present the contents of each assigned playlist 10 The presentation system of claim 8 wherein the decoding module is configured to check the schedule and control playback of each assigned playlist based on the schedule 11 The presentation system of claim 8 wherein the decoding modules is configured to check the schedule and cue a user to control playback of each assigned playlist 12 The presentation system of claim 1 wherein the scheduler is configured to designate a playlist as a repeating playlist 13 The presentation system of claim 1 wherein the scheduler is configured to designate a playlist as an inter mission playlist 14 The presentation system of claim 13 wherein the scheduler is configured to enable or disable the intermission playlist and wherein the intermission playlist is presented between each assigned playlist if the intermission playlist is enabled 15 The presentation system of claim 1 wherein the scheduler is configured to assign a predetermined playlist for at least two presentations such that one presentation the predetermined playlist initiates before the completion of another presentation of the predetermined playlist 16 The presentation system of claim 1 wherein the scheduler is configured to reserve the auditorium module for a specified period of t
38. rises a theatre manager configured to control presentation and a scheduler configured to allow assignment of one playlist for presentation The scheduler is also configured to allow assignment of one or more playlists for presentation by generating a schedule The scheduler may be imple mented in the theatre manager The presentation system may further comprise a decoding module configured to prepare contents of each assigned playlist for playback The decod ing module may check the schedule and control playback of the contents of each playlist based on the schedule Alter natively the decoding modules may check the schedule and cue a user to control playback of the contents of each assigned playlist 0019 In another embodiment a method for presentation comprises generating a schedule to assign one or more playlists for presentation and controlling presentation of the assigned one or more playlists based on the schedule In still another embodiment a presentation system comprises means for assigning a single playlist for presentation and means for generating a schedule to assign one or more playlists for presentation 0020 In the above embodiments a message indicating a change in the schedule may be sent if a change is made in Mar 13 2003 the schedule Also a verification that the digital cinema system has resources to present each assigned playlist can be performed when generating the schedule The verification may be performe
39. running state The decoding system comprises starting presentation of a currently sched uled playlist from the beginning of the playlist when a start command is received if the decoding system is in an intermission state starting presentation of the currently scheduled playlist from approximately the point the playlist was stopped when a start command is received if the US 2003 0048418 Al decoding system is in a paused state entering the paused state when a stop command is received before completing the presentation of the playlist and entering the intermission state either if a cancel command is received or if the presentation of the playlist is completed 0026 The system may comprise a decoding module with a user interface Alternatively the system may comprise a theatre manager having a user interface The user interface may comprise either one or a combination of a visual indicator that signifies that the decoding system is online a visual indicator that signifies that the decoding system is currently processing a playlist and a visual indicator that signifies that the decoding system is in the paused state The user interface may also comprise either one or a combination of means for receiving the start command means for receiv ing the pause command and means for receiving the cancel command BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 0027 Various embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the following drawings in
40. ryption refers to any means of processing digital data streams of various sources using any of a number of cryptographic techniques to scramble cover or directly encrypt digital data streams using sequences generated using secret digital values keys in such a way that it is very difficult to recover the original data sequence without knowledge of the secret key values 0042 Furthermore it is noted that the invention may be described as a process which is depicted as a flowchart a flow diagram a structure diagram or a block diagram 0043 Although a flowchart may describe the operations as a sequential process many of the operations can be performed in parallel or concurrently In addition the order of the operations may be re arranged A process is termi nated when its operations are completed A process may correspond to a method a function a procedure a subrou tine a subprogram etc When a process corresponds to a function its termination corresponds to a return of the function to the calling function or the main function 0044 One embodiment of a theatre complex implement ing a digital cinema system 100 is illustrated in FIG 1 Digital cinema system 100 comprises two main systems at least one central facility or hub 102 and at least one presentation or theatre subsystem 104 The hub 102 and the theatre subsystem 104 may be of a similar design to that of pending U S patent application Ser No 09 075 152 fil
41. s equal to or greater than a current time 65 In a digital cinema system a decoding system for decoding programs comprising starting presentation of a currently scheduled playlist from the beginning of the playlist when a start com mand is received if the decoding system is in an intermission state starting presentation of the currently scheduled playlist from approximately the point the playlist was stopped when a start command is received if the decoding system is in a paused state entering the paused state when a stop command is received before completing the presentation of the playlist and entering the intermission state either if a cancel command is received or if the presentation of the playlist is completed 66 The system of claim 65 wherein the decoding system comprises a user interface 67 The system of claim 66 wherein the user interface is one of a graphical user interface GUI a liquid crystal display soft keys or video graphic array panel 68 The system of claim 66 wherein the user interface comprises either one or a combination of a visual indicator that signifies that the decoding system is online a visual indicator that signifies that the decoding system is currently processing a playlist and a visual indicator that signifies that the decoding system is in the paused state 69 The system of claim 66 wherein the user interface comprises either one or a combination of means for rece
42. s in Manual Mode the Automatic Mode Indicator on the decoding module 140 user interface is deactivated FIG 11 shows the decoding module 140 user interface for the Intermission State in Manual Mode In this state there would be nothing onscreen The projector 150 may be dowsed The available function is RUN which causes the decoding module 140 to begin processing the Next Schedule Entry 0096 FIG 13 shows the decoding module 140 user interface for the Running State in Manual Mode In this state the decoding module 140 is presenting scheduled playlist Current Schedule Entry When presentation is complete next decoding module 140 UI state is either Intermission or Running if the Intermission playlist is acti vated and Intermission playlist Auto Start is enabled The available function is PAUSE which causes decoding module 140 to pause the presentation 0097 FIG 14 shows the decoding module 140 user interface for the Paused State in Manual Mode In this state there would be nothing onscreen The projector 150 may be dowsed The available functions are RUN and CANCEL RUN command causes decoding module 140 to resume presentation where it left off CANCEL causes decoding module 140 to abort processing of Current Schedule Entry 0098 Therefore a single playlist or a schedule compris ing of one or more playlist s can be scheduled or assigned for presentation However the foregoing embodiments are merely exemplary and are not to be
43. security conflict exists means for checking that no time conflicts are created and means for checking that there is no resource conflicts US 2003 0048418 Al 11 52 The scheduling system of claim 50 further compris ing means for sending a message that indicates a reason for the rejection 53 The scheduling system of claim 49 further compris ing either one or a combination of means for specifying an auditorium module for which each playlist is to be assigned means for specifying a presentation start date of each selected playlist and means for specifying a presentation end date of each selected playlist 54 The scheduling system of claim 53 further compris ing means for specifying the start time for one day 55 The scheduling system of claim 54 further compris ing means for replicating the start time across multiple days starting on a presentation start date and ending on a presentation end date if a presentation end date that is later than a presentation start date 56 The scheduling system of claim 49 further compris ing means for designating a playlist as a repeating playlist and means for assigning the repeating playlist in the schedule 57 The scheduling system of claim 49 further compris ing means for designating a playlist as an intermission play list 58 The scheduling system of claim 57 further compris ing means for assigning the intermission playlist in the sched ule and
44. t is displayed when scheduler 180 is started The screen view shows the schedule for a given auditorium module 120 and allows a user to display a single screen s schedule across multiple days The screen view spans the given decoding module 140 s entire schedule although scrolling may be necessary to examine all parts of the schedule as it may be too large to fit into a GUI window at one time 0071 Scheduler 180 may allow no more than one win dow containing the Theatre view to be open at any one time Scheduler 180 may allow no more than one window con taining the Screen view for each screen in the theatre to be Mar 13 2003 open at any time Multiple screen views may be open at once as long as they are for different auditorium modules Sched uler 180 may allow a user to select a window from a list of open windows belonging to the scheduler application in order to bring the selected window to the forefront of the application 0072 The scheduler 180 GUI may allow users to enter various commands to create edit and or save a schedule Commands may include but is not limited to Undo Select Delete Scheduled playlist Schedule Playlist Reserve Screen Edit Intermission playlist Properties Go To Win dow Help and About Scheduler Here Go To Window allows a user to bring an open GUI window to the forefront of the screen in the event that multiple views are open 0073 Therefore a schedule can be generated and updated When
45. te the next is either Intermission or Running depend ing upon whether the Intermission playlist is activated or now is the start time of the Next Schedule Entry The available function is PAUSE which causes decoding module 140 to pause the presentation 0093 FIG 11 shows the decoding module 140 user interface for the Paused State in Automatic Mode In this state there also would be nothing onscreen For example the projector 150 may be dowsed The available functions are RUN and Cancel The Run command causes the decod ing module 140 to resume presentation where it left off The CANCEL command causes decoding module 140 to abort processing of Current Schedule Entry 0094 FIG 12 shows the state transition chart for Manual Mode Each state represents a Decoding module 140 User Interface state Run Pause and Cancel transition events correspond to buttons being pushed at the decoding module 140 UI or from the theatre manager UI Enablement of Intermission playlist can also be provided in Manual Mode If activated the Intermission playlist AutoStart event occurs when Auto Start feature of the Intermission playlist is enabled from the theatre manager GUI Transitioning from Running to Intermission occurs when the processing of the Mar 13 2003 Current Schedule Entry completes Here the decoding mod ule 140 presents playlist s specified as Intermission playlist without user intervention 0095 When the decoding module 140 i
46. tore one or more programs and one or more playlists A playlist is a list comprising at least one or a combination of presentation entries or programs such as for example advertisement s preview s feature presentation s trailer s and cue s The auditorium module 120 is configured to present a playlist from the storage module 130 0047 The theatre manager 110 is configured to assign a playlist for presentation in the auditorium module 120 In one embodiment the theatre manager 110 assigns a playlist from the playlists stored in the storage module 130 0048 The auditorium module 120 may comprise a decoding module 140 a projector 150 and a sound module 160 When an assigned playlist is to be presented in the auditorium module 120 the decoding module 140 receives the compressed information or program s of the playlist from the storage module 130 and process the compressed information for playback The decoding module 140 pre pares the compressed information to a predetermined sequence size and data rate The compressed information is then decrypted if necessary decompressed and output respectively to a projector 150 and a sound module 160 The projector 150 plays back the image information on a pro jector and the sound module 160 plays back the audio information on the sound system Therefore the decoding module 140 is configured to prepare contents of each assigned playlist for playback 0049 More particularly the thea
47. tre manager 110 com prises a scheduler 180 that allows users to schedule one or a plurality of playlists for presentation at an auditorium module 120 Scheduling involves assigning a playlist to a designated decoding module 140 at a designated time in a particular auditorium module 120 The scheduler 180 may comprise a user interface that displays a list of available playlist from which the user can select a playlist to schedule or assign The name of the playlist currently scheduled or assigned on the decoding module 140 may also be displayed Also although the scheduler 180 shown in FIG 1 is implemented in the theatre manager 110 the scheduler 180 may be implemented separately from the theatre manager 110 0050 In one embodiment the theatre manager 110 may further comprise a playlist builder 170 configured to gener ate one or more playlists for presentation A playlist may be created by a playlist builder as disclosed in pending U S patent application Ser No 09 708 361 filed on Mar 2 2001 entitled Apparatus and Method for Building a Playlist assigned to the same assignee as the present invention Generally the playlist builder 170 allows users to generate a playlist from one or more programs stored in the storage module 130 In addition the playlist builder 170 may also Mar 13 2003 allow a user to insert a cue or milestone into a playlist The generated playlist s may then be stored in the storage module 130 Alternati
48. trivial The theatre manager 110 may allow a user to abort the Cancel command if there is not affirmative response to the theatre manager Cancel confir mation request This is to reduce the possibility of acciden tally canceling a presentation in progress 0057 Note that in the Idle state 210 the Stop and Cancel commands are ignored Similarly the Start command is ignored in the Running State 220 and the Stop command is ignored in the Paused state 230 0058 Therefore the scheduler 180 is configured to schedule a playlist and then at a designated time the theatre manager 110 and or optionally the TAS is configured to control the presentation of a single playlist In addition to scheduling a single playlist the scheduler 180 may also allow a user to schedule or assign one or a plurality of playlists for presentation This may be achieved by creating a schedule that the decoding module 140 checks regularly 0059 FIG 3 shows an example of a user interface of the scheduler 180 that allows users to create and or edit a schedule The schedule may comprise a list of playlist identifications IDs the time that the playlist is scheduled to be presented the ID of the decoding module that is to present the playlist and other information relevant to pre sentation scheduling Through the schedule the decoding module 140 is informed of what and when to present a playlist 0060 FIG 4 shows one embodiment of a process 400 for g
49. tudio or distributor typically ship multiple soundtracks for a given film 0011 Moreover trailers and features each have associ ated ratings which define the appropriateness of the material for a given audience In the United States ratings are labeled to motion pictures and trailers by the Motion Picture Asso ciation of America MPAA However different jurisdic tions have different ratings systems and not all jurisdictions are consistent as to the rating level of a given program Accordingly a theatre operator in a given jurisdiction need be conscious of the types of programs he plans to display together 0012 Therefore when a theatre operator is building a platter the operator must be careful to ensure that the platter is created accurately For example each image program should have the appropriate soundtrack loaded in terms of language and sound format Moreover the image programs on the platter should have the appropriate ratings That is one wants to ensure that an R rated trailer is not displayed with a G rated movie Further cues must be inserted in the proper places and the correct lens needs to be attached to the projector in order for viewing at the proper display aspect ratio However human error is inevitable and all too fre quent 0013 An evolution of the film industry is occurring as the industry moves from celluloid film to digitized image and audio programs However theatres are not equipped to
50. vely some or all of the playlists may be generated externally Accordingly in some embodiments the theatre manager 110 may receive generated playlist s from an external source for storage in the storage module 130 0051 Once playlist s are generated and or stored the scheduler 180 may allow a user to schedule a single playlist When a user attempts to schedule and or update an assigned playlist the decoding module 140 may verify that the system has resources to present the assigned playlist before pre senting the playlist The verification may include but is not limited to checking that each image program each audio program and each Cryptographic key needed to present the playlist in its entirety exist in the storage module 130 If the decoding module 140 determines that a resource is not available the decoding module may reject the schedule change The decoding module 140 may further send a message to the theatre manager 110 indicating the reason for the rejection 0052 After the scheduling of a playlist is verified play back control may be performed by the theatre manager 110 Playback control may comprise starting stopping and can celing the scheduled playlist FIG 2 shows the response of the decoding module 140 to the Start Stop and Cancel commands based upon a current playback state of the decoding module 140 Starting from the Idle state 210 the designated decoding module 140 starts playback of the assigned playlist
51. vers 0009 Therefore a theatre operator builds a platter by sequencing reels of celluloid film in the order in which it is to be presented and physically splicing together the film to be played by the projector A theatre operator may also insert Mar 13 2003 cues and milestones onto celluloid film by physically attach ing trigger strips onto the film Cues may be attached in between programming or within a particular feature or trailer Currently a theatre operator controls auditorium environment through the use of theatre automation systems Theatre automation systems control such functions as turn ing lights on and off opening and closing curtains and changing the projector lens Theatre automation systems control these functions by reading a trigger strip physically placed onto the film as the film passes through a reader connected to the theatre automation system Trigger strips are typically metallic or optical pieces of tape adhered onto the film When the tape passes under the reader an electrical signal is output to the theatre automation system 0010 Along with reels of films comprising features and trailers the theatre operator receives one or more soundtracks to be played with each film Soundtracks come in a variety of languages and sound formats Sound formats such as stereo 7 1 or 5 1 refer to the number of channels the sound format requires Because sound systems vary greatly from theatre to theatre the s

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