In accordance with the present invention a filtering process is based on the
output
side of a multimedia decoder. A navigator, located at a server system, monitors
the current play position of multimedia content at a consumer system and compares
that position with navigation objects. Each navigation object defines a start position,
a stop position, and a filtering action to perform on the portion of the multimedia
content that begins at the start position and ends at the stop position. When the
current play position falls within the portion of multimedia content defined by
a particular navigation object, the navigator sends the filtering action to the
consumer system for processing. Filtering actions include skipping, muting, reframing,
etc., the portion of multimedia content defined by a navigation object. Alternatively,
the navigator may be located at a consumer system and the server system may provide
access to the navigation objects (e.g. download) so that the consumer system monitors
and filters the multimedia content based on the received navigation objects. A
variety of systems may be used to implement the present invention, such as computer
systems (consumer and server), television systems, and audio systems.
