WO1997039579A1

WO1997039579A1 - Process for playing back additional information contained in a television or radio broadcast signal

Info

Publication number: WO1997039579A1
Application number: PCT/EP1996/001604
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gerhard Eitz
Original assignee: Fridley Technologies Limited
Priority date: 1995-01-31
Filing date: 1996-04-17
Publication date: 1997-10-23

Abstract

Additional information contained in a television or radio broadcast signal includes information on one or several corresponding numbers of pages which are repeatedly transmitted in the broadcast signal during a longer period of time without any time correlation with the broadcast content. These pages contain more detailed information for example about products presented as a commercial in the broadcast signal. The received additional information is temporarily stored at the receiver for a determined duration. Upon a command from the user, text and possibly graphic information in the most recently received additional information are displayed, together with the corresponding page(s) with the palette of products on offer. The user selects by means of a variable marker the desired product among the displayed products. Upon a second command from the user, ordering information related to the desired product is extracted from the page(s) and retransmitted to connection switching means (for example a modem). The ordering information is supplemented therein with a subscriber number which identifies the user and is stored for example in a PROM memory. For demoscopic surveys, it is possible to include in the displayed pages several multiple choice questions instead of ordering and subscriber information and to transmit to the modem the answer checked by the user as 'ordering information' (information on user choice).

Description

METHOD FOR PLAYING OUT ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTAINED IN A TELEVISION OR RADIO PROGRAM SIGNAL

INFORMATION

DESCRIPTION

The invention relates to a method according to the preamble of claim 1. Such a method is known from "Rundfunkchnik Mitteilungen", Issue 1, 1978 "System for editing and inserting subtitles according to the English Teletext standard".

It is known from the abovementioned literature to insert subtitles into the television picture in the case of foreign-language television sound or for the deaf. The subtitles shown are temporally correlated with the television picture.

It is also known to present products in television advertising programs, and at the end of the advertising program to separately indicate the prices and telephone numbers for each country under which the previously advertised products can be ordered. However, this so-called "teleshopping" has the disadvantage that the telephone numbers in question must be recorded by the television subscriber; In addition, the direct connection between the television presentation of the product and the display of price and telephone number suffers. It is also known to indicate products, the associated prices and the relevant telephone numbers for an order on teletext pages. The television subscriber must also copy the telephone number here and carry out a telephone ordering process. If many TV participants want to order at the same time, a large number of dialing attempts is required. Additional information is known from German patent application P44 27 046.1 in order to make ordering of products that are presented on television or radio as simple as possible for television or radio subscribers and at the same time to ensure the legal certainty required for an order , in particular in the form of plain text and possibly graphic information, to be transmitted within the program signal in a time correlation to its program content and to be decoded by the receiver. The additional information received is temporarily stored on the receiver side for a certain duration. At a first command from the user, plain text and possibly graphic information contained in the last additional information received is reproduced for a certain period of time. During the reproduction of the plain text and, if applicable, the graphic information, an order or selection information associated with the plain text and possibly graphic information is extracted from the last temporarily stored additional information and forwarded to a dialing switching device (eg modem).

With the latter method, however, only one ordering process for a certain product can be carried out for a certain period of time.

The object of the invention is to enable a method of the type mentioned in the introduction to be able to order various products as easily as possible for the user without time pressure.

This object is achieved by the characterizing features of claim 1. Advantageous refinements and developments of the method according to the invention result from the subclaims.

The invention is based on the consideration that various products with corresponding ordering information are put together on pages and that the selection of the individual pages is controlled by special additional information which is sent in a time correlation to the program content. For this purpose, the television or radio subscriber calls at the push of a button in the visual or acoustic presentation of products or services, in addition to plain text information, which is made visible to him by insertion into the television picture or playback on a display on the receiver, special additional information with one or more Page numbers and a control information and thus triggers an automatic selection and reproduction of the plain text information of the first page. In order to minimize the search process, it makes sense to evaluate all incoming special additional information according to the page numbers that are also transmitted, and then to immediately initiate a search process for the specified pages without a direct request from the user. One page contains in plain text e.g. Selection information about the offered products including price and desired number and - hidden for the participant - the information about the positions of the individual selection information and their associated product and telephone numbers. To order, the participant only marks the desired product on the displayed page and then presses a special button on his receiver or its remote control, whereupon the ordering process is triggered automatically.

The invention is explained in more detail using an exemplary embodiment shown in the drawings. Show it: Fig. La is a timing diagram for the chronological sequence of individual

Television contributions and the additional information assigned to the individual television contributions;

Fig. Lb shows a representation of those transmitted in the additional information

Plain text information and page numbers;

Fig. Lc a representation of the assigned to the individual television contributions

Pages;

2 shows a schematic view of a page displayed on a television screen with selection information and a remote control with an “ES” and a “Next” key, and

Fig. 3 is a block diagram of a receiver-side device according to the

Invention for decoding the additional information.

The information necessary for an automatic selection of transmitted pages is transmitted as additional information correlated in time with the television program on teletext pages in a manner similar to subtitles under certain page numbers which are known to the receiving device. For example, as shown in FIG. 1 a, the additional information AI and for the spot S2 the additional information A2 are transmitted with the television signal for the spot SI; the same applies to T. FIG. 1b shows possible contents of the additional information AI, A2 and B from FIG. For example, the additional information AI from Spot SI contains plain text information "for ordering the summer dress ..." and a page number "205" for the associated catalog page number. If the user presses a special button YES on his remote control (FIG. 2), for example during the spot SI of a running advertising program, the associated plain text information "To order the summer dress ..." is added to the running program and shortly afterwards the content of the page the number 205, namely the offer "summer dress 37, - DM" superimposed on the television picture (Fig. lc). The page shows an example of a matrix with six ordering options for different colors and sizes (S = Small, M = Medium, L = Large). The decoder automatically positions a movable marker (not shown) on the first order option. In addition, the page contains hidden information about the product numbers belonging to the different ordering options and the phone number of the provider. If, on the other hand, the user presses the YES button a short time later during the spot S2 ", the plain text information associated with the spot S2" for ordering the men's suit ... "and shortly thereafter the page 210 with the corresponding offers are reproduced (FIG. 1c). At the request of the user, the other pages listed in the additional information can be reproduced (page 211 in FIG. 1c). If the user has found the desired page, he selects the product with the movable marking and presses the YES key again his remote control, whereupon the ordering process is triggered automatically and the concealed product number and a user-specific device number for identifying the user are transmitted to the provider selected under the concealed telephone number (for example a credit card organization). The provider identifies the customer using the device number , provides the address, account details and requested product a body responsible for delivery and, if necessary, regulates payment or debiting. A successful ordering or selection process and a successful transmission of the ordering or selection data is indicated to the user in a suitable manner by the receiving device. With the method according to the invention, a connection between tele-shopping and teletext shopping is possible. For example - inspired by an advertising spot - the viewer can easily select related pages of a goods shipping catalog transmitted in teletext and check and, if necessary, order a offered product without time pressure even after the spot has ended.

With the described method, not only pages with different products can be called up under control of the program signal. It is also possible to carry out demoscopic surveys or voting on television participants with a YES keyboard. For this purpose, selection information with selection identifications and telephone number (s) are transmitted in the individual pages. 2 shows an example of a survey in which the viewer can choose from three options. A selection process is similar to an order process; there is only no transmission of the device number to identify the user.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a receiving device according to the invention installed in a television set. The received television signal with the page information and the (subtitle) additional information is fed to a teletext decoder 1, which detects those pages from the incoming page information that are requested by a controller 2. Furthermore, the teletext decoder 1 examines the television signal for additional information, e.g. are transmitted as subtitles in a time correlation to the program content of the television signal.

If error-free additional information is determined by the teletext decoder 1, it is temporarily stored in a RAM memory 3, a message to the controller 2 and a corresponding display for the user, for example by means of appropriate signaling on the front of the television set or by a logogram generated by the teletext decoder and as an RGB signal on the screen together with the selected program in a corner appears on the screen.

In certain embodiments of the receiving device according to the invention, preferably in a RAM memory 3 with a large storage capacity, possible waiting times on pages can be minimized by searching for those pages from the incoming page information stream whose numbers have been transmitted in the additional information last stored. These pages are also buffered in RAM 3. If the viewer presses a button 'YES' (FIG. 2) which is assigned to the receiving device and which can be arranged on the remote control of the television set, a corresponding control signal "YES" is transmitted to the controller 2. The control then causes the teletext decoder 1 to read the last temporarily stored additional information and the first associated page from the RAM memory 3 and the plain text information contained in the additional information (FIG. 1b) as viewer information and the first associated page with information the order options (Fig. lc) on the screen of the TV in a suitable manner.

In other embodiments, preferably with smaller RAM memories, the search process for the page or pages specified in the additional information is only started when the 'YES' button is pressed. When displaying the pages, there may be corresponding waiting times until the requested page is displayed. When a page is played back, a movable marker is automatically set to the position of the first order. For this purpose, the controller 2 requests the information contained on the relevant page, evaluates it and issues appropriate commands to the teletext decoder 1. The user now has the option of selecting all of the products listed one after the other by pressing a 'Next' key and thus selecting them . It is also conceivable, when selecting the last product of a page, by pressing the 'Next' button to read out and play back the page following in the additional information from the RAM.

In addition to the order information for the user, which is reproduced in plain text, the pages conceal the individual positions for the movable marking, furthermore product identifiers assigned to the positions and generally one, and possibly also several, telecommunication numbers.

If the 'YES' key is pressed a second time by the user, the product identifier selected with the marking and the telecommunications number contained in the page are transferred to a modem 4 and a dialing process is triggered. A telecommunication or telephone line leads from the modem 4 from the receiving device according to the invention to the telephone connection of the user. Once the connection has been established with the selected subscriber, the product number for the desired product is transmitted for an ordering process together with a device number for identification of the user, which is read out from a PROM memory 5. On the other hand, if the additional information contains a selection identification number (FIG. 2), only it, without a device number, is transmitted to the selected subscriber in order to maintain the anonymity of the user. The successful transmission of the data is signaled by the modem 4 to the controller 2, which in turn sends a corresponding message to the teletext decoder 1 for display on the screen. In addition, a corresponding display on an associated LED display or on the television with an integrated receiving device is conceivable.

Instead of a television transmission of the additional information and the page information and their insertion into a television picture, it is just as possible to transmit the additional information and the page information in a radio program and display them on a display on the radio receiver. A digital radio program signal is particularly suitable for this because of the large transmission capacity. However, an analog radio program signal (FM and AM signal) provided with an RDS (radio data system) signal also comes into consideration, since the RDS signal still has unassigned identifiers which are used for the invention Additional information and the page information can be used.

Claims

PATENT CLAIMS

1. Method for reproducing information contained in a television or radio program signal, which are organized in the form of pages and transmitted within the program signal without time correlation to its program content and decoded on the receiver side, and additional information, in particular in the form of plain text. and possibly graphic information, which is transmitted within the program signal in a time correlation to its program content and decoded on the receiver side and temporarily stored for a certain duration, characterized in that on the receiver side, information about the number (s) of one or removed several associated pages and automatically initiate a search for the relevant page or pages without further action on the part of the user, which are stored when they arrive, and that at the user's command within the zule The received plain information and, if applicable, graphic information as well as the associated, previously searched and saved page (s) are reproduced.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that on request by the user the plain text and possibly the graphic information is reproduced within the last cached additional information and one or more associated page numbers are taken from the additional information, a search for the relevant pages are initiated and saved on arrival and reproduced in a suitable manner.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the pages specified in the additional information contain one or more ordering or selection information.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the order or selection information listed in the first position is automatically marked in a suitable manner for the user on a reproduced page.

5. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that further pages specified in the additional information are reproduced at the request of the user.

6. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that the reproduced page contains one or more order information (s) with associated product identifier (s) and one or more telecommunications number (s), possibly in coded form, that the user at selects the desired order information on a page with multiple order information and that, if the user so desires, the dialing switching device then carries out a dialing operation in accordance with the specified telecommunication number and transmits the associated product identifier together with a user identifier to the called subscriber when the telecommunication connection is established.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the reproduced page contains one or more selection information (s) with associated selection identification (s) and one or more telecommunications number (s), optionally in coded form , and that the user selects the desired selection information on a page with a plurality of selection information and that the dialing switching device then carries out a dialing operation according to the specified telecommunication number and transmits the associated selection identification to the called subscriber when the telecommunication connection is established.