U.S. patent application number 09/429057 was filed with the patent office on 2001-06-07 for identifying ancillary information associated with an audio/video program.
Invention is credited to CASEY, SCOTT P., CASSEZZA, JASON T., KINDER, DAVID B., LALOMIA, MARY J., MARLER, JERILYN L..
Application Number | 20010003212 09/429057 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 23701598 |
Filed Date | 2001-06-07 |
United States Patent
Application |
20010003212 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
MARLER, JERILYN L. ; et
al. |
June 7, 2001 |
IDENTIFYING ANCILLARY INFORMATION ASSOCIATED WITH AN AUDIO/VIDEO
PROGRAM
Abstract
A system communicates video information including television
content associated with a plurality of channels and ancillary
information. Information may be transmitted with the ancillary
information that is indicative of the type of content included in
the ancillary information. This provides the user, in one
embodiment of the present invention, with a visual indication of
the type of information that accompanies television content. This
helps the user to decide whether the user wishes to view the
ancillary information and provides the opportunity to select that
enhancement for viewing.
Inventors: |
MARLER, JERILYN L.;
(BEAVERTON, OR) ; LALOMIA, MARY J.; (PORTLAND,
OR) ; KINDER, DAVID B.; (PORTLAND, OR) ;
CASSEZZA, JASON T.; (ALOHA, OR) ; CASEY, SCOTT
P.; (PORTLAND, OR) |
Correspondence
Address: |
TIMOTHY N TROP
TROP PRUNER HU & MILES P C
8554 KATY FREEWAY SUITE 100
HOUSTON
TX
77024
|
Family ID: |
23701598 |
Appl. No.: |
09/429057 |
Filed: |
October 29, 1999 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
725/40 ; 348/109;
348/E7.031 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04N 21/4722 20130101;
H04N 21/4622 20130101; H04N 7/088 20130101; H04N 5/445 20130101;
H04N 21/8126 20130101; H04N 21/4782 20130101; H04N 21/8586
20130101; H04N 21/435 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
725/40 ;
348/109 |
International
Class: |
G06F 003/00; H04N
005/445; G06F 013/00 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method comprising: transmitting video data; transmitting
ancillary information associated with said video data; and
transmitting information that may be used to identify the content
included in said ancillary information.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein transmitting information
indicative of the content includes providing a universal resource
locator identifying a web page.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein transmitting information
indicative of the content includes providing a uniform resource
locator to a web page that includes an appropriate icon indicative
of the content included in said ancillary information.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein transmitting information
indicative of the content included in the ancillary information
includes transmitting a local identifier in said ancillary
information that points to a location storing a content-identifying
icon.
5. The method of claim 1 further including providing information to
produce an icon indicative of the content included in said
ancillary information on a display screen.
6. The method of claim 5 further including providing information
that causes an icon to be displayed as an overlay.
7. The method of claim 6 further including transmitting a duration
for the display of said icon in said ancillary information.
8. The method of claim 7 further including determining whether the
icon has been displayed for the duration set with the ancillary
information.
9. The method of claim 5 further including providing information to
produce a plurality of icons indicative of content in said
ancillary information.
10. An article comprising a medium for storing instructions that
cause a processor-based system to: transmit video data; transmit
ancillary information associated with said video data; and transmit
information indicative of the content included in said ancillary
information.
11. The article of claim 10 further storing instructions that cause
a processor-based system to provide a universal resource locator
identifying a web page.
12. The article of claim 11 further storing instructions that cause
a processor-based system to provide a uniform resource locator to a
web page that includes an appropriate icon indicative of the
content included in said ancillary information.
13. The article of claim 10 further storing instructions that cause
a processor-based system to transmit a local identifier in said
ancillary information that points to a location storing a
content-identifying icon.
14. A method comprising: receiving video data, ancillary
information associated with said video data, and information that
may be used to identify the content included in said ancillary
information; and displaying an icon indicative of the content
included in said ancillary information.
15. The method of claim 14 wherein receiving includes receiving a
uniform resource locator identifying a web page.
16. The method of claim 15 including receiving a uniform resource
locator identifying a web page that includes an appropriate icon
indicative of the content included in the ancillary
information.
17. The method of claim 14 including receiving a local identifier
in the ancillary information that points to a location storing a
content-identifying icon.
18. The method of claim 17 including storing said local identifier
and using said local identifier to locate a content-identifying
icon.
19. The method of claim 15 including automatically accessing said
web page.
20. An article comprising a medium for storing instructions that
cause a processor-based system to: receive video data, ancillary
information associated with the video data, and information that
may be used to identify the content included in the ancillary
information; and cause an icon indicative of the content included
in said ancillary information to be displayed.
21. The article of claim 20 further storing instructions that cause
a processor-based system to receive a uniform resource locator
identifying a web page.
22. The article of claim 21 further storing instructions that cause
a processor-based system to receive a uniform resource locator
identifying a web page that includes an appropriate icon indicative
of the content included in the ancillary information.
23. The article of claim 20 further storing instructions that cause
a processor-based system to receive a local identifier in the
ancillary information that points to a location storing a
content-identifying icon.
24. The article of claim 23 further storing instructions that cause
a processor-based system to store the local identifier and use the
local identifier to locate a content-identifying icon.
25. The article of claim 21 further storing instructions that cause
a processor-based system to automatically access the web page.
26. A processor-based system comprising: a processor; and a
transmitter coupled to said processor to transmit video data along
with ancillary information associated with the video data together
with information that may be used to identify the content included
in said ancillary information.
27. The system of claim 26 wherein said transmitter transmits a
local identifier that may be used to identify the content included
in the ancillary information.
28. The system of claim 26 wherein said transmitter transmits a
uniform resource locator that may be used to identify the content
included in the ancillary information.
29. A processor-based system comprising: a processor; and a
receiver to receive video data with ancillary information
associated with the data together with information that may be used
to identify the content included in the ancillary information.
30. The system of claim 29 wherein said receiver displays an icon
indicative of the content included in said ancillary information.
Description
BACKGROUND
[0001] The invention relates to communicating ancillary information
associated with a plurality of audio/video programs, such as
television content associated with a plurality of channels.
[0002] Ancillary information, such as program sub-titles, emergency
messages, closed caption messages, and program guide information,
may be transmitted with regular television content. Other types of
ancillary information that may be sent with television content
include enhancement data such as web pages, multimedia information,
or other digital data files. Ancillary information may be sent in
the vertical blanking interval (VBI) of an analog television
broadcast signal. Alternatively, the ancillary information may be
sent with digital television content over a digital transport
medium.
[0003] Various standards exist that provide for transmission of
ancillary information with television content. One standard is the
Advanced Television Enhancement Forum (ATVEF) Specification, Draft
Version 1.1r26, dated Feb. 2, 1999. The ATVEF Specification is
designed to provide for transmission of enhancement data along with
television content in both analog and digital systems, such as
cable systems, satellite systems, terrestrial systems, and so
forth. The combination of the enhancement data and the television
content may be referred to as enhanced television content. Enhanced
television content provides more information and options to
viewers. For example, a viewer may be presented with the option of
viewing advertisements, educational information, and so forth,
while watching regular television programming.
[0004] The transmission of ancillary information may be signified
to the user by displaying an icon indicating that enhanced
information accompanies the programming currently displayed. This
alerts the user to the possibility that additional information is
available but provides nothing useful to help the user decide
whether or not the user wishes to review the information.
[0005] Thus there is a continuing need for better ways to give the
user more information about the ancillary information that may have
been transmitted with television content.
SUMMARY
[0006] In accordance with one aspect, a method may include
transmitting video data. Ancillary information associated with the
video data is also transmitted. Information may be transmitted that
may be used to identify the content included in the ancillary
information.
[0007] Other features and embodiments will become apparent from the
following description and from the claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an
information delivery system in accordance with the present
invention;
[0009] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a transport operator system,
receiving system, and server according to one embodiment of the
information delivery system of FIG. 1;
[0010] FIG. 3 is a view of a screen display in accordance with one
embodiment of the present invention;
[0011] FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing software resident on the
content creator in accordance with one embodiment of the present
invention; and
[0012] FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing software resident on a
receiver in accordance with one embodiment of the present
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0013] Referring to FIG. 1, an information delivery system 10
according to one embodiment of the invention includes a content
creator 12, a transport operator system 14, and a plurality of
receivers 16. The receivers 16 may be located at various receiving
sites, including homes, offices, entertainment facilities, or other
locations. The content creator 12 originates enhancement data (or
other type of ancillary information) and television content (or
other type of content including audio and/or video data) to be
transmitted by the transport operator system 14. Alternatively, the
content creator 12 may create enhancement data with television
content provided by another source to the transport operator system
14. Enhancement data may include graphics (e.g., web pages,
multimedia information, or other digital data files), presentation
layout, and synchronization information. The combination of the
enhancement data and television content is referred to as enhanced
television content.
[0014] The transport operator system 14 provides an enhanced
television content delivery infrastructure that may include
terrestrial, cable, satellite, or other types of transmission
facilities (either analog or digital). The television content and
enhancement data may be transmitted over a transport medium 22,
which may be a terrestrial, cable, satellite, or other type of
link, to the receivers 16. The receivers 16 may include
televisions, set-top boxes, personal computers, or other types of
systems adapted to receive television content and associated
enhancement data.
[0015] As used in this description, the term audio/video (A/V)
content is intended to include any type of audio and/or video data
that may be transmitted or distributed to one or more receiving
sites for presentation to viewers and/or listeners. As used here,
A/V content may refer to content that may include both an audio and
a video portion or one of an audio or video portion. Further,
ancillary information other than enhancement data may be
transmitted with the A/V content. For example, ancillary
information may include program sub-titles, emergency messages,
closed caption messages, and program guide information.
[0016] The receivers 16 may further be coupled to a secondary link
20 that may be a data delivery communications channel such as the
Internet, a DOCSIS network (which is an interface for cable
modems), or other communications link (whether uni-directional or
bi-directional). DOCSIS stands for Data Over Cable Systems
Interface Specifications, and is described in DOCSIS, Version 1.0,
dated March 1998, as provided by the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU). The secondary link 20 may be coupled
to the transport operator system 14 and/or to one or more servers
18. According to some embodiments, portions of enhancement data
associated with the A/V content transmitted over the transport
medium 22 may be communicated over the secondary link 20 from the
transport operator system 14, the one or more servers 18, or some
combination of such systems.
[0017] In an alternate embodiment, another type of secondary data
path can be part of the A/V transmission itself, but not tightly
tied to a particular A/V channel. For instance, in MPEG-2 based
systems such as ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) or DVB
(Digital Video Broadcasting), transport stream programs correspond
to what is commonly thought of as TV channels. MPEG stands for
Moving Picture Experts Group, and the MPEG-2 standard is described
in ISO/IEC 13818-1 (MPEG-2 Systems), ISO/IEC 13818-2 (MPEG-2 Video)
and ISO/IEC 13818-3 (MPEG-2 Audio), dated in 1994 and provided by
the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). A description of
ATSC may be found in "Guide to the Use of the ATSC Digital
Television Standard," dated October 1995. DVB standards may be
available from the web site {http://www.etsi.org}.
[0018] These transport stream programs can contain audio, video,
and data (e.g., ancillary information), with all of them tightly
associated with that single transport stream program. When a user
tunes to the transport stream program, the receiving device knows
the audio, video, and data that are associated because they are
marked as all being part of the same program.
[0019] One standard for describing transmission of enhancement data
with television content is the ATVEF specification, with one
version described in ATVEF Specification, Draft Version 1.1r26,
dated Feb. 2, 1999. Enhancement data may be transmitted in a number
of different ways from the transport operator system 14 to the
receivers 16, depending on the type of transport medium 22. For
example, with an analog transport medium such as the National
Television System Committee (NTSC) Standard of the Electronics
Industries Association, portions of the enhancement data may be
sent in the vertical blanking interval (VBI) of the NTSC
transmission. A description of NTSC may be found in the book,
"Video Demystified: A Handbook For the Digital Engineer" by Keith
Jack, published by HighText Publications (2d Ed. 1996). Other types
of transport media (analog or digital) may provide different
mechanisms of communicating the enhancement data.
[0020] Enhancement data according to the ATVEF Specification may
include enhancements each having the following components: an ATVEF
announcement, a resource, and a trigger. The three components may
be transmitted using Internet Protocol (IP) multicast to the
receivers. An IP multicast standard is described in Request for
Comment (RFC) 1301, entitled "Multicast Transport Protocol." RFCs
may be available at website address
{http://www.ietf.org/rfc.html}.
[0021] Generally, an ATVEF announcement indicates that enhancement
data is being transmitted, a resource includes one or more files
that contain the enhancement data, and a trigger synchronizes the
enhancement data with the TV transmission. An announcement may
describe the location of both the resource stream and the trigger
stream. For each television (TV) channel, one or more enhancements
may be offered as choices presented to the user, who can select
which of the enhancements, if any, to view. The ATVEF Specification
may utilize a one-way transmission protocol (the Unidirectional
Hypertext Transfer Protocol or UHTTP, described in the ATVEF
Specification) to deliver resource data.
[0022] The announcements, resources, and triggers associated with
an A/V channel may be delivered at about the same time as, and with
the transmission of, the A/V content on that channel.
Conventionally, for each enhancement, the resource stream may be
delivered along with the announcement, with the resource stream
stored locally in the receiver 16. If a viewer so desires, the
enhancement data can be retrieved at the receiver from local
storage for viewing.
[0023] To provide for greater flexibility and/or to alleviate
bandwidth concerns of the transport medium 22, some embodiments of
the invention transmit (using IP multicast) enhancement data
associated with multiple A/V channels (e.g., TV channels) over a
link that is separate from the transport medium used to transmit
A/V content. Alternatively, the link may be part of the same
delivery mechanism as the A/V content but is not associated with
any A/V channel, e.g., an MPEG-2 transport stream with ancillary
information in a data-only program separate from the A/V programs.
The separate delivery mechanism to deliver the A/V content may be a
separate transport stream or a separate link 20 such as a general
purpose data link or some other type of communications link. Thus,
according to some embodiments, enhancement data is separated from
the A/V data at the transport operator system 14 (or alternatively,
at another source), with the A/V content transmitted over the
transport medium 22 and the enhancement data transmitted over the
secondary link 20 (or a separate transport stream).
[0024] In the ensuing description, reference is made to receiving
enhancement data received over the secondary link 20; however, it
is contemplated that the enhancement data or other type of
ancillary information may be received over a separate transport
stream such as that used with MPEG-2 delivery systems. In addition,
reference is made to tuning to a specific A/V channel (e.g., TV
channel) at the receiving end. It is contemplated, however, that
the receiver system can be tuning instead to one of the A/V
transport stream programs in an MPEG-2 based systems.
[0025] Thus, generally, tuning to an A/V program may include tuning
to A/V channels (e.g., TV channels), to transport stream programs
(e.g., in an MPEG based system), or to other separations or
segments of A/V content. Also, associating ancillary information
with an A/V program can thus refer to associating ancillary
information with an A/V channel, a transport stream program, or
other A/V separations or segments.
[0026] Referring to FIG. 2, the transport operator system 14,
receiving system 16 and the server 18 in the system 10 of FIG. 1
are illustrated. The transport operator system 14 may include a
receiving port 102 to receive information from the content creator
12 over a link 24. The received enhancement data may be provided to
a controller 106 in the transport operator system 14. A/V content
may be received with the enhancement data through port 102 or
through a separate A/V receive port (not shown). The controller 106
may be run under control of a software routine 108 (referred to as
a transport routine). The transport routine 108 may initially be
stored in a storage medium 104 and loaded by the controller 106 for
execution. Instructions and data of the transport routine 108 may
also be stored in the storage medium 104. The controller 106 may
create special announcements to be transmitted with enhancement
data over a separate link (e.g., link 20). The enhancement data and
special announcements may be stored in a storage medium 113, which
may be transmitted over the secondary link 20 through a transceiver
112.
[0027] Alternatively, the enhancement data and special
announcements may be transmitted over the transport medium 22 with
the A/V content but in a separate transport stream program. In the
latter embodiment, different parts of the transport routine 108 (or
alternatively, different routines) may handle transmission of both
the A/V content and the enhancement data and special announcements.
The transceiver 112 may be a telephone modem, a cable modem, or any
other type of analog or digital transceiver or transmitter,
including a satellite transmitter, adapted to communicate over the
secondary link 20.
[0028] Enhancement data may be stored in a storage medium 126 in
the server 18 in addition to, or instead of, the enhancement data
stored in the transport operator system 14. The server 18 further
includes a transceiver 124 coupled to the secondary link 20 and a
control device 128. More than one server 18 may be coupled to the
secondary link 20 to store additional enhancement data.
Alternatively, a plurality of servers 18 may be coupled to the
receivers 16 over separate links.
[0029] In the receiving system 16, a receiver circuit 114 (e.g., a
TV tuner card) is adapted to receive content over the transport
medium 22 and a transceiver 116 is adapted to communicate over the
secondary link 20. The receiving circuit 114 may be associated with
an A/V device driver routine 130 that forwards the received A/V
content to application software adapted to process and present the
A/V content in the receiving system. The transceiver 116 may be
associated with a network device driver 132 to receive enhancement
data from the link 20.
[0030] In one embodiment, the network device driver 132 may send
received data to a TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet
Protocol) stack 134. TCP is described in RFC 793, entitled
"Transmission Control Protocol," dated September 1991. Data flows
through the TCP/IP stack 134 to application software, including an
enhancement routine 138 for receiving and processing enhancement
data and a special announcement routine (SA process) 136 to receive
and process special announcements. In an alternative arrangement,
the SA process 136 may be part of the enhancement application 138.
The application routines, device drivers, and other routines or
programs may be executable on a controller 120. Such routines or
programs may be initially stored in a storage medium 118 and loaded
by the controller 120 for execution. The SA process 136 is capable
of associating enhancement data received over the secondary link 20
to the currently tuned A/V channel. The SA process 136 may then
combine the associated enhancement data with the A/V content of the
currently-tuned TV channel for presentation. Alternatively, the
enhancement data and special announcements may arrive in a separate
transport stream program (e.g., such as those in MPEG based
systems) over the transport medium 22, in which case it may be
different parts of the SA routine 136 (or different routines) that
process receipt of the enhancement data and A/V content.
[0031] Referring next to FIG. 3, in accordance with one embodiment
of the present invention, the user may be given information about
the ancillary information that may have been transmitted with the
television content. For example, in accordance with one embodiment
of the present invention, a chevron-shaped indicator 32 may be
displayed on the display 30 of a receiver 16 to indicate the
transmission of ancillary information in general. An additional
indicator 34 may be provided to give information about the
particular type of content provided as ancillary information. Thus,
the indicator 34 may be indicative of children's content. An
additional indicator 36 may be provided to indicate that the
children's content is available in Spanish. Additional indicators
may be provided as well.
[0032] The indicators may provide information about the ancillary
information, such as enhancement data, that has been provided with
the television content. This gives the user greater information
about the ancillary information, enabling the user to make an
informed decision about whether or not to access the ancillary
information. In some cases, the icons 32, 34, and 36 may be
hyperlinks that allow the user to mouse click on the icon (or use
another pointing device) and to jump immediately to the ancillary
information.
[0033] Software 52 resident on the server 18 or content creator 12,
for example, may begin by receiving content to be transmitted as
indicated in block 54 of FIG. 4. Next, as indicated in block 56,
the content creator receives the ancillary information that is to
be transmitted in association with the content previously received.
Based on the content of the ancillary information, an icon locator
is developed as indicated in block 58. The icon locator provides a
pointer to the location of information about a content-identifying
icon. The icon may be a graphical symbol that indicates the nature
of all or part of the content in the ancillary information.
Finally, the content, the ancillary information, and the icon
locator are transmitted through the transport operator 14 to the
receivers 16 (block 60).
[0034] FIG. 5 illustrates implementing one embodiment of the
present invention. Software 40, resident on a receiver 16, begins
by receiving an announcement stream as indicated in block 42. The
announcement stream is parsed to locate an icon locator, as
indicated in block 44.
[0035] The icon locator may take a variety of forms. In one
embodiment of the present invention, the icon locator may be a
uniform resource locator (URL). The URL may point to an Internet
web address containing information about a suitable icon that may
be displayed to provide the user with information about the content
contained within the ancillary information. Alternatively, the URL
may point to a location in the transmitted ancillary information
that may be utilized to access and then display a suitable
icon.
[0036] Alternatively, a local identifier (LID) may be provided.
Particularly where the information is not necessarily available on
an on-demand basis, a local identifier or LID may be utilized to
provide a name for a resource such as a content-identifying icon.
The use of a LID supports cross-references within the content to
the resource. The LID may be useful in creating hyperlinks or
embedding one piece of content in another. The LID scheme enables
content creators to assign unique identifiers to each resource
relative to a given name space.
[0037] Thus, the LID may be utilized to access the icon information
repeatedly. Once the icon has been stored on the receiver and is
identified through the LID, it can be called up repeatedly and used
over and over again. For example, in one embodiment of the present
invention, the receiver may be loaded with a plurality of
content-identifying icon images before those images are actually
needed. The icon code for one of those icons may be sent with an
announcement stream that identifies the icon already on the
receiver.
[0038] A LID or URL may be transmitted as part of a trigger.
Triggers are real time events delivered for enhanced television
programs. A receiver may set its own policy for allowing users to
enable or disable enhanced television content and triggers may be
utilized as a signal to notify users of enhanced content
availability. Triggers generally include a URL and may optionally
also include a human readable name, an expiration date, and script.
The expiration date in connection with triggers utilized to
announce the arrival of a particular type of content may provide
for a limited duration of display of the icon. For example, the
expiration date may also cause the icon to disappear and reappear
periodically.
[0039] In some embodiments of the present invention, the user may
select from among a plurality of pre-received icons that identify
content that the user is interested in knowing about. Other icons
may be left unselected. When information of a type corresponding to
a selected icon is received, the pre-selected icon may be
displayed.
[0040] In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention,
the announcement stream may include script that causes a
transparent overlay to be produced over the display image on the
display 30 of a receiver 16. The transparent overlay may include
one or more icons to identify the content that accompanies the
enhanced television content. In one embodiment of the invention, a
plurality of icons indicating available content may be displayed
alternately.
[0041] Thus, returning to FIG. 5, after the icon locator has been
parsed, the icon information may be accessed (block 46) either from
the local system or from the Internet as two examples. One or more
icons are then displayed as indicated in block 48. If an expiration
time was transmitted with the trigger data, a check at diamond 50
determines whether the expiration time has occurred. If so, the
flow ends. Otherwise, the icon persists.
[0042] While the present invention has been described with respect
to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art will
appreciate numerous modifications and variations therefrom. It is
intended that the appended claims cover all such modifications and
variations as fall within the true spirit and scope of this present
invention.
* * * * *
References