Interactive video distribution systems – Operator interface
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-07
2001-08-14
Grant, Chris (Department: 2611)
Interactive video distribution systems
Operator interface
C725S110000, C725S067000, C725S068000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06275989
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is related to interactive video delivery mediums such as interactive television, and more particularly to a system and method for generating and displaying hyperlinked web-like still video images in an interactive broadcast television system. The present invention is also related to a system and method for emulating Internet web pages in an interactive broadcast television system.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
The Internet is an international network based on various standard protocols and transfer mechanisms which supports thousands of computer networks. The basic transfer protocol used by the Internet is referred to as TCP/IP (Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol), which was a transfer protocol originally used in the Unix operating system. The Internet essentially provides an interactive image and document presentation system which enables users to selectively access desired information and/or graphics content. The Internet has grown to form an information superhighway or information backbone with many and varied commercial uses.
The Internet includes various server types, including World Wide Web (WWW) servers which offer hypertext capabilities. Hypertext capabilities allow the Internet to link together a web of documents, which can be navigated using a convenient graphical user interface (GUI). WWW servers use Uniform Resource Locators (Ls) to identify documents, where a URL is the address of the document that is to be retrieved from a network server. The WWW, also referred to as the “web”, also uses a hypertext language referred to as the hypertext mark-up language (HTML). A is a scripting or programming language which allows content providers or developers to place hyperlinks within web pages which link related content or data. The web also uses a transfer protocol referred to as HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP). When a user clicks on a link in a web document, the link icon in the document contains the URL which the client employs to initiate the session with the server storing the linked document. HTTP is the protocol used to support the information transfer.
Interactive television is an interactive audio/video delivery medium which provides broadcast audiovisual content to a number of subscribers. Interactive television provides broadcast video and audio to users and also provides a return path for the user to interact with the content, e.g, to make selections or order desired products, etc. Unlike the Internet, interactive television is primarily a broadcast medium which generally requires that the same audiovisual content be delivered to each user or subscriber.
One element of interactive television is the ability to provide electronic program guides and/or electronic catalogs which allow viewers to order programming or merchandise. An advertiser may advertise his product through interactive television, and the user may view and make selections to order the product or receive more information on the product.
It is clearly desired to provide a convenient and easy mechanism which enables a user or viewer in an interactive television system to more effectively select and view information with which the viewer is interested. For example, it is desired to provide a convenient advertising mechanism in an interactive broadcast television system which enables advertisers to more effectively display advertisements. It is more generally desired to enable the user or viewer to more conveniently navigate through information in a web-like fashion in an interactive television medium.
One problem in providing web-like capabilities in an interactive television system is the broadcast nature of the system. The Internet is essentially a multi-point to multi-point network where each user can selectively retrieve different information or view different selected content. In contrast, the broadcast television medium is primarily a point to multi-point network where every user is generally required to receive the same content. Therefore, an improved interactive television system and method is desired which provides web-like capabilities in a primary broadcast environment.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention comprises a system and method for displaying still video images related to video content in an interactive broadcast television system. The present invention thus provides hyperlinked web-like capabilities in an interactive television system. The interactive television system comprises a video delivery system for providing a plurality of channels of video and/or image content, and at least one subscriber television including a display screen, wherein the subscriber television is coupled to the video delivery system. The subscriber television further includes a set top box or interactive decoder logic which receives the plurality of channels and selectively displays a channel based on user input.
According to the method of the present invention, the video delivery system provides or broadcasts one or more audio/video channels each comprising video content. The video delivery system also provides or broadcasts at least one still image channel comprising a plurality of still video images, preferably MPEG-2 compressed still images. One or more of the audio/video channels comprise AVI (audio video interactive) signals which include an audiovisual data stream as well as interactive program content. The interactive program content is executable to display selection options which reference or link to MPEG stills transferred on the still image channel. The MPEG stills may also include interactive program content used to display selection options which reference or link to other MPEG stills.
According to the invention, when the television is displaying video content from an AVI signal which includes interactive program content, the interactive program content is executed by the set top box or interactive decoder to display various selection options on the television. One or more of the selection options each corresponds to respective compressed still video images broadcast on the still image channel. The user or viewer can select one of the options to view desired information. When the set top box receives user input selecting an option to view one of the linked still images, the set top box captures the requested image from the still image broadcast channel, stores the image in memory, and displays the captured still video image corresponding to the selection. The still image being displayed may have associated interactive program content for displaying further selections, wherein these selections may be for viewing other images or content, for ordering information, or purchasing products. The user can thus selectively navigate between the video content and stills in a web-like hyperlinked fashion.
In one embodiment, when a user is navigating through still images, the television program or video content which was being viewed is displayed in a small window overlaid on the still image being displayed. In this embodiment, the audio portion of the program image may also be presented while still images are displayed. This provides a continuous television presence in addition to the web-like hyperlinked navigational capabilities.
When the set top box captures a requested image from the still image broadcast channel, the set top box preferably also preaches or pre-loads other related still images based on the probability that these related images will be subsequently requested by the user. Thus, when an image is requested that has been pre-cached, the image is retrieved from memory, instead of having to wait for the net broadcast of the image. This reduces the navigation latency and improves system performance.
In one embodiment, the interactive television system of the present invention further comprises a media server or web server which stores a plurality of still images which may be requested “on demand.” In this embodiment, the broadcast center utilizes one or more channels which are reserved for user requests and thus provide sti
Broadwin Elliott
Haass Jon C
Conley Rose & Tayon PC
Grant Chris
Hood Jeffrey C.
OpenTV, Inc.
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