Interactive video distribution systems – Program – message – or commercial insertion or substitution
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-14
2003-02-11
Mehta, Bhavesh (Department: 2611)
Interactive video distribution systems
Program, message, or commercial insertion or substitution
C345S215000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06519771
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Communication networks such as the Internet have recently experienced dramatic growth in popularity and use. An advantage of the Internet that has helped to fuel this growth is the availability of quick and easy communication between widely disparate individuals and networks regarding virtually limitless topics. Thus, not only does the Internet provide for traditional communication, such as between a pair of friends, relatives or coworkers, but the Internet also facilitates communication between strangers and groups of strangers.
Chat is one of the various relatively new forms of communication provided by the Internet. Chat in this sense does not refer to audible conversation engaged in by people gathered together in one place, but rather to textual conversations between people that are connected by the Internet to the same chat room, which may be a file on a server. In this case, a participant in such a chat room types a message into his or her computer and the message virtually immediately appears on all the other computers connected to that chat room.
One of the most popular ways to chat via the Internet is called Internet Relay Chat (IRC). IRC employs special IRC servers that run the chat rooms, and special client/server software that allows client computers to send and receive chat via the IRC servers. The IRC servers may be connected together as a network. Various client computers from around the world may be connected via the Internet to these chat rooms, allowing conversations between disparate individuals who may typically never meet or know each other outside of the chat room experience.
It is common for a chat room to be related to a particular topic, with the participants attracted to that chat room by their interest in the topic. While many chat rooms exist regarding various topics, one popular theme for chat rooms is mass entertainment, such as television shows. Thus, chat rooms may exist devoted to a popular television show, such as “The Simpsons®.” Typically, viewers are forced to choose whether to watch television or to participate in a chat room, since most Internet connections are not provided by a television but rather by a separate device such as a computer that may be disposed at a separate location from the television. Moreover, both the television and the computer may be generally immobile, such as with a personal computer located on a desk in a study and a television located in a family room. Thus, many chat participants may converse in a chat room related to a television show before or after the show has played, although some fans may be connected to the chat room while the show is playing.
The advent of interactive television such as provided by WebTV® Networks offers the possibility of being connected to the Internet and watching television simultaneously via a single user interface device. Thus it is possible for a user to be watching a television show and on the same television be connected to a chat room that somehow relates to that show.
FIG. 1
is a diagram of an interactive television system
20
that enhances a television viewing experience by integrating television programming with enhanced content from the Internet or from the broadcaster. The broadcast of a baseball game can, for example, be enhanced by retrieving relevant information (for example, a batter's batting statistics
22
) from the Internet and displaying that information at an appropriate point in the baseball game (for example, when the batter
25
is batting). If the batter's batting statistics are already displayed by the broadcast, then statistics
22
may involve the team's standings, or the number of wins needed to clinch a playoff spot, or a variety of other topics that may be accessed via the Internet.
System
20
includes a server
28
maintained by the broadcaster, a broadcasting antenna
30
, a receiver unit
33
, a television set
35
, and an Internet access point
37
. Receiver unit
33
, which may be a set-top box, includes a receiving antenna
38
and a remote control unit
39
. A viewer uses remote control unit
39
to control the receiver unit and/or to interact with interactive television content via the receiver unit. A video link
40
couples receiver unit
33
to television set
35
so that the receiver unit can use the television set as a display device.
FIG. 2
is a block diagram of receiver unit
33
. TV interface circuitry
42
of the receiver unit
33
includes a tuner that is tuned to receive broadcast television video and to remove a television carrier signal. TV interface circuitry
42
digitizes the video signal after the carrier signal has been removed. Software executed by a digital processor
44
receives the digitized signal from TV interface
42
and decodes and checks the digitized signal for errors. Receiver unit
33
drives the television set
35
via video encoder
46
and audio digital-to-analog converter
48
. Digital processor
44
realizes a type of web browser that can access the Internet via a modem
50
. Receiver unit
33
includes an infrared interface
52
for receiving infrared transmissions from remote control unit
39
. Local storage
55
provides memory for processor
44
, and may house a web browsing program, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer® or Netscape Navigator®.
Television video
60
is broadcast over the airwaves from broadcasting antenna
30
to receiving antenna
38
of receiver unit
33
. Alternatively, television video may be broadcast via cable or satellite or other known means. The broadcast signal may include digital data. At an appropriate time in the baseball game when the broadcaster wishes batter statistics
22
to be displayed (for example, when batter
25
appears on the television screen), the broadcaster broadcasts a trigger
66
along with the television video
60
. Trigger
66
contains a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that identifies an information resource
70
on the broadcaster's server
28
or another server, not shown. In this case, information resource
70
is a web page containing the batter's statistics.
Receiver unit
33
receives trigger
66
, accesses the Internet via Internet access point
37
, uses the URL from the trigger to retrieve the web page of batter statistics from server
28
, and then displays the batter statistics
22
. In this way, broadcasters use triggers to have their viewers' receiver units retrieve information from the Internet and display that information in concert with their programming. Receiver unit
33
and television
35
together form a user interface device that is a client of the server
28
while connected to the Internet, similar to a personal computer that is connected to the Internet by an Internet service provider (ISP).
Like traditional television, interactive television may be most conveniently operated via a remote control unit such as remote control
39
. Similarly, the widespread deployment and use of a graphical user interface (GUI) for personal computers has made the mouse a favored means for user input. Personal digital assistants (PDAs), telephones and laptop computers may all have a GUI, affording ease of communication by simply selecting an icon on the screen. Chat, on the other hand, requires a keyboard of some sort or some other means of inputting and sending text to the chat room, such as voice recognition software or handwriting recognition software. Unfortunately, most user interface devices that are not typically operated with a keyboard, such as interactive televisions, PDAs, and telephones, do not have the expensive processing power and/or memory for running large software programs associated with voice or handwriting recognition. Thus it is difficult to participate in chat rooms with these devices.
Summary
In accordance with the present invention, a user interface device having a graphical user interface can send dialogue or messages to a chat room via selection with a pointing device, such as a remote control, mouse or screen pressure for the case of a touch screen display. The
Lonsberry Hunter
Mehta Bhavesh
Workman & Nydegger & Seeley
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