Interactive video distribution systems – User-requested video program system – Near video-on-demand system
Reexamination Certificate
1997-11-12
2001-10-02
Faile, Andrew (Department: 2611)
Interactive video distribution systems
User-requested video program system
Near video-on-demand system
C725S040000, C725S046000, C725S100000, C725S118000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06298482
ABSTRACT:
DESCRIPTION
1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a method of delivering data from a server to a plurality of subscribers connected to the server.
2. Description of the Prior Art
ITV systems require a network architecture which supplies an “upstream” (from user to head end) and a “downstream” (from head end to user) channel to each user. Most commonly, the downstream channel has been the TV broadcast, satellite, or cable medium, while the upstream channel has used the public service telephone network. Typical ITV applications have included viewer polling, home shopping, and distance learning. These applications were frequently menu-based, and static—i.e. a modest number of choices in a given category were pre-programmed into the system and offered to users.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,536,791, a method is presented for “channel monitoring”—i.e. the transmission to the head end of information regarding current viewing information, such as when a set is turned on, what channel it is tuned to, and when the channel is changed. This patent also presents an “interactive information retrieval” capability, with which the viewer may access a data bank by interacting with the head end by use of a non-video TV channel (uses keyboard or keyboard-like remote.) U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,303 describes a system which allows users to search for and retrieve still frame video images and audio segments. U.S. Pat. No. 5,355,480 describes an interactive TV terminal for user with services such as in-room hotel checkout. A distance learning ITV system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,537,141. This system supplies prepared pre-recorded audio responses which are customized for individual students' responses to questions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,550,578 describes an ITV system for the delivery of video and data, the latter from a variety of information services.
The A. C. Nielsen company (Nielsen Media Research Interactive Services Co.) utilizes special-purpose hardware (the “Storage Instantaneous Audimeter” and “Nielsen People Meter”) for the purpose of monitoring TV viewing behavior. These devices monitor home viewing per household member, and report to a central location by use of telephone lines. Because of the complications involved in distributing this hardware, only a limited number of these units are in use (5000 units, as of July 1997, distributed to “Nielsen families”). The system presented here requires no special purpose hardware, allowing a larger number of viewers to be included in the sample. Previous monitoring systems were limited to the use of the phone line in both the head-end-to-user direction and vice versa, causing complications if another device (e.g. a fax machine) answered the phone, receiving the message from the head end. The system presented here gives a dedicated channel to the head end for control of the STB, namely the private data channel in the digital broadcast stream, as described below. In addition, the system presented here allows a finer granularity of viewer selection report to the head-end (i.e. a single program selection or termination) and a shorter reporting period (an immediate report following the selection—i.e. “instant feedback” as described below—as opposed to a daily viewing report.)
Patent applications, Ser. Nos. 08/854,227 and 08/854,225, assigned to the same assignee as that of the instant application, describe systems, which customize the program material which is sent to the user. For example, the (video) commercials seen by the viewer of a video program are customized based on the viewer's interests.
The above mentioned systems customize content without the user's participation, on the basis of historical profiles, not allowing user “navigation” through databases, as described below.
There is, therefore, a need for a dynamic system for the interactive delivery of data. By “dynamic”, we mean rapidly adaptive. More specifically there is a need for a system which:
1. enables the user to navigate through a vast collection of resources, such as a multimedia database (as opposed to a small number of pre-defined selections);
2. enables this navigation to be performed within the medium itself, e.g. navigation (switching to another video program) through a group of videos by interaction with the objects in videos themselves, as opposed to navigation by use of another medium, e.g. searching through supplementary information such as a text list of video titles and keywords;
3. delivers multimedia resources to the user on the basis of selection and search activity performed by the user and the head end in tandem.
4. spontaneously modifies both the content of the digital stream (e.g. video and data files) as well as the association of objects in the stream (e.g. the association of objects appearing in the video to text files on related topics.)
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Schaffa Frank Andre
Seidman David Israel
Bui Kieu-Oanh
Cameron Esq. Douglas W.
Faile Andrew
International Business Machines - Corporation
Scully Scott Murphy & Presser
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