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WO2000064168A1 - Procedes et appareil pour diffuser des objets de loisirs repartis sous forme de telemissions interactives personnalisees - Google Patents

Procedes et appareil pour diffuser des objets de loisirs repartis sous forme de telemissions interactives personnalisees Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2000064168A1
WO2000064168A1 PCT/US2000/010499 US0010499W WO0064168A1 WO 2000064168 A1 WO2000064168 A1 WO 2000064168A1 US 0010499 W US0010499 W US 0010499W WO 0064168 A1 WO0064168 A1 WO 0064168A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
telecast
objects
parsed
content
datastream
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US2000/010499
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Christopher D. Kaufman
Chris Belcher
Curtis R. Kosky
Original Assignee
I Pyxidis Llc
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by I Pyxidis Llc filed Critical I Pyxidis Llc
Priority to AU43620/00A priority Critical patent/AU4362000A/en
Publication of WO2000064168A1 publication Critical patent/WO2000064168A1/fr

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/45—Management operations performed by the client for facilitating the reception of or the interaction with the content or administrating data related to the end-user or to the client device itself, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies, resolving scheduling conflicts
    • H04N21/4508—Management of client data or end-user data
    • H04N21/4532—Management of client data or end-user data involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/25—Management operations performed by the server for facilitating the content distribution or administrating data related to end-users or client devices, e.g. end-user or client device authentication, learning user preferences for recommending movies
    • H04N21/258—Client or end-user data management, e.g. managing client capabilities, user preferences or demographics, processing of multiple end-users preferences to derive collaborative data
    • H04N21/25808—Management of client data
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/25—Management operations performed by the server for facilitating the content distribution or administrating data related to end-users or client devices, e.g. end-user or client device authentication, learning user preferences for recommending movies
    • H04N21/258—Client or end-user data management, e.g. managing client capabilities, user preferences or demographics, processing of multiple end-users preferences to derive collaborative data
    • H04N21/25866—Management of end-user data
    • H04N21/25891—Management of end-user data being end-user preferences
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/25—Management operations performed by the server for facilitating the content distribution or administrating data related to end-users or client devices, e.g. end-user or client device authentication, learning user preferences for recommending movies
    • H04N21/266—Channel or content management, e.g. generation and management of keys and entitlement messages in a conditional access system, merging a VOD unicast channel into a multicast channel
    • H04N21/2668—Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/45—Management operations performed by the client for facilitating the reception of or the interaction with the content or administrating data related to the end-user or to the client device itself, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies, resolving scheduling conflicts
    • H04N21/454—Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/45—Management operations performed by the client for facilitating the reception of or the interaction with the content or administrating data related to the end-user or to the client device itself, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies, resolving scheduling conflicts
    • H04N21/462—Content or additional data management, e.g. creating a master electronic program guide from data received from the Internet and a Head-end, controlling the complexity of a video stream by scaling the resolution or bit-rate based on the client capabilities
    • H04N21/4622—Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/47—End-user applications
    • H04N21/478—Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/47—End-user applications
    • H04N21/478—Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
    • H04N21/4782—Web browsing, e.g. WebTV
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/60—Network structure or processes for video distribution between server and client or between remote clients; Control signalling between clients, server and network components; Transmission of management data between server and client, e.g. sending from server to client commands for recording incoming content stream; Communication details between server and client 
    • H04N21/61—Network physical structure; Signal processing
    • H04N21/6106—Network physical structure; Signal processing specially adapted to the downstream path of the transmission network
    • H04N21/6125—Network physical structure; Signal processing specially adapted to the downstream path of the transmission network involving transmission via Internet
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/80—Generation or processing of content or additional data by content creator independently of the distribution process; Content per se
    • H04N21/83—Generation or processing of protective or descriptive data associated with content; Content structuring
    • H04N21/84—Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N7/00—Television systems
    • H04N7/08—Systems for the simultaneous or sequential transmission of more than one television signal, e.g. additional information signals, the signals occupying wholly or partially the same frequency band, e.g. by time division
    • H04N7/087—Systems for the simultaneous or sequential transmission of more than one television signal, e.g. additional information signals, the signals occupying wholly or partially the same frequency band, e.g. by time division with signal insertion during the vertical blanking interval only
    • H04N7/088—Systems for the simultaneous or sequential transmission of more than one television signal, e.g. additional information signals, the signals occupying wholly or partially the same frequency band, e.g. by time division with signal insertion during the vertical blanking interval only the inserted signal being digital
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N7/00—Television systems
    • H04N7/16—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems
    • H04N7/173—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal
    • H04N7/17309—Transmission or handling of upstream communications
    • H04N7/17318—Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B31/00—Arrangements for the associated working of recording or reproducing apparatus with related apparatus

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to methods and apparatus for delivering, customizing, and displaying a personalized interactive telecast over a broadcast medium, or over the Internet.
  • Pay-per-view movies which permit a cable company or other video supplier to charge viewers to play a particular movie.
  • Pay-per-view systems are not interactive or customizable, since the user is unable to control the flow of a movie, e.g. by pausing, fast-forwarding, or rewinding the movie. Instead, pay-per-view movies generally run continuously once started, just like any other television or cable channel, giving the viewer no control over the manner in which the movie is played.
  • VBI vertical blanking interval
  • An NTSC signal for example, contains 525 scanlines, the last 25 of which are the VBI.
  • Line 21 of the VBI in an NTSC signal is used to store closed captioning text, which may be displayed to assist hearing-impaired viewers.
  • ATVEF Advanced TV Enhancement Forum
  • IP Internet Protocol
  • Multi-cast packets are a "one way” delivery mechanism, in that there is no way to insure against dropped or lost packets of data.
  • video is embedded in a web page with text headlines.
  • the display of such web pages can be scheduled by the broadcaster, so that a particular web page is sent to the VBI inserter at a pre-determined time.
  • the text and video in these systems are separate.
  • the text or web-page portion has no "knowledge" of the content of the video, and the video is "unaware" that it is being displayed in the context of a web page. Additionally, such previously known systems provide no ability for a user to interact with the video or textual content, or to customize the content.
  • Digital VCRs permit a user to save video digitally, and permit viewing of the video with the ability to rewind, fast forward, pause, etc.
  • Video is saved in "folders" similar to the folder system of a Windows PC. The user can create custom folders and play back the video from those folders. The video contained in these folders is not altered, updated, or customized other than being saved in a static digital format.
  • PCs with a TV tuner card may have the same capabilities of these Digital VCRs.
  • Intel has included a set of special video encoding and decoding instructions in their Pentium III processors. These built in instructions enable PCs with a Pentium III processor to encode and decode MPEG2 video using the processor rather than an extra layer of software.
  • Most PCs sold in the next five years will have Digital VCR features built into the system.
  • telecast content that is separated into reusable accessible object containers, referred to as (1) data, which contains the various components and objects needed to assemble the content, (2) flow information, which describes the flow or sequence of the content, and (3) display methods, that provide information on how the content is to be displayed.
  • These reusable accessible object containers are referred to as "Distributed Entertainment Broadcast Objects" (DEBO) , and are represented using a hierarchical markup language called WSML.
  • DEBO distributed Entertainment Broadcast Objects
  • WSML Hierarchical markup language
  • the present invention provides for a high degree of interactivity through use of a centralized server, that may change the broadcast data, flow, or display according to information received from viewers.
  • This ability to change the broadcast in response to communications from the viewers may be used to implement interactive programing, such as an auction show, a chat show, or interactive game shows.
  • FIG. 1 shows telecast content split into data, flow, and display methods
  • FIGS. 2A-C show samples of data, flow, and display methods, respectively;
  • FIG. 3 shows the structure of server-side transaction engines in accordance with the present invention
  • FIG. 4 shows the structure of a client built in accordance with the principles of the present invention
  • FIG. 5 shows the contents of a webshow index file
  • FIG. 6 shows the structure of a server built in accordance with the principles of the present invention
  • FIG. 7 shows the interconnection of the server and client
  • FIG. 8 shows the interaction of the client with the store and distribute transaction services of the server
  • FIG. 9 illustrates types of transactions between the server and client
  • FIG. 10 shows the structure of the webshow user interface
  • FIG. 11 shows the structure of the datatube control.
  • the present invention provides methods and apparatus for delivering, customizing, and displaying entertainment based telecasts using a system comprising a client application and a server application.
  • the client application handles personalization and display of content;
  • the server application handles delivery of content, and interactions and transactions with viewers.
  • the system provides for customization at both the client side and the server side, and delivers "personal telecasts" to viewers.
  • a telecast includes any means by which media content may be provided to a client, including broadcast, Internet, cable, CD-ROM, and DVD.
  • a telecast includes any means by which media content may be provided to a client, including broadcast, Internet, cable, CD-ROM, and DVD.
  • a telecast includes any means by which media content may be provided to a client, including broadcast, Internet, cable, CD-ROM, and DVD.
  • a telecast includes any means by which media content may be provided to a client, including broadcast, Internet, cable, CD-ROM, and DVD.
  • a telecast includes any means by
  • personal telecast is a combination of standard telecast content (either analog or digital) , with a specialized content structure that contains information on the flow, data, and display methods for a show.
  • This specialized content structure called a “parsed datastream”
  • a parsed datastream is a continuous broadcast data feed from a server to a client, that is broken down into accessible, reusable objects to permit customization of telecast entertainment at both the server and client.
  • a parsed datastream may provide security features, such as encryption. These security features enable broadcasters to provide pay-per-view programming, blocking, and to limit access to specific content or content depth.
  • the information contained in a parsed datastream may be sent in the vertical blanking interval of a standard television broadcast, in a digital television signal, or may be sent over some other communication medium, such as the Internet.
  • Information on the viewer such as the viewer's name and demographic information, may be present on the client side (i.e. in a set-top box, personal computer, specialized television set, etc.), and may be used to filter material from the broadcast data to personalize content. If multiple viewers typically use a single client device (i.e. a set-top box or personal computer) , a "login" screen may be used to determine which viewer is the primary viewer at any given time, so that content may be customized to that viewer's tastes .
  • the present invention represents television-style content as a collection of objects that can be parsed into three portions — data 1, flow 2, and display methods 3.
  • This separation of the content permits a high degree of customization of television-style content to be achieved in a broadcast environment, in which a "back channel" permitting two- way communication may not be available.
  • Various alterations to the data, flow, or display may be made at the client end to permit a viewer to customize the content displayed on his or her television, personal computer, or other media appliance. Alterations to data or flow made on the server may affect all viewers, or some subset of viewers, providing television stations or networks with the ability to easily change broadcast content, or to alter broadcasts according to feedback from viewers, or according to demographic information on the viewers.
  • Data 1 includes all of the "raw" data of a television show, or other telecast content, separated into various components or objects. These objects may include digital video, digital audio, animation, three- dimensional characters, music, still images, text, and other types of digital data.
  • the components for a news broadcast may include images of one or more announcers or anchors, the dialog associated with each of the announcers (in both text and sound files), background or introduction music, live video images, and a "placeholder" for other media elements.
  • the data for a news program may include imagery and sound for both a male anchor and a female anchor, reading the same news stories.
  • a user's preferences may determine which of the anchors is displayed during the news program.
  • a preferred embodiment permits data 1 to be altered according to a viewer's preferences or input to achieve a degree of customization. For example, by adding a viewer's name to the dialog data in a show, the characters in the show may address or greet the viewer by name.
  • Alteration of data 1 on the server side may be used by stations, networks, or businesses to change the information that is displayed across all of the viewers of a show. As will be described in greater detail hereinbelow, this ability could be used to provide interactive features, such as auctions or chats, in which data collected from multiple viewers must be transmitted to all of the viewers of the auction or chat program.
  • Data 1 is preferably encoded in a hierarchical format, such as XML, as will be discussed in greater detail hereinbelow.
  • a hierarchical or tree format permits random access to the data, and permits the data to be easily classified, stored, and altered. By encoding data 1 in such a hierarchical format, it is possible to easily change individual objects without employing complex scripting techniques.
  • Flow 2 describes the flow, or sequence of a television show or other telecast content.
  • flow 2 comprises a list of actions to be taken sequentially, and the data on which the actions are to be taken.
  • the flow for a news program might specify that an image for an anchorman is displayed, introduction dialog is played, dialog for a first news story is played, video for the first news story is played, dialog for a second news story is played, and so on.
  • Flow 2 preferably contains "bookmarks," that permit specific portions of a program to be named and tagged for easy access.
  • the flow for a news program for example, might include "bookmarks" identifying a national news section, an international news section, a business section, a sports section, a weather section, and so on.
  • television shows or other content may be personalized to meet the preferences of a particular viewer. Sections of a show may readily be skipped or rearranged to personalize the show. For example, if a viewer of a news program is primarily interested in sports, the flow of the news program could be altered at the client side to place sports first in the news program. If the viewer is only interested in sports, the flow could be altered to skip everything in the news broadcast except the sports section. Additionally, stepping forward or backward through the flow may be used to create a fast forward or rewind effect, and temporarily stopping the flow may be used to pause a program.
  • flow 2 may be altered by stations or networks to rearrange their schedules, to insert special bulletins or announcements, or to alter the schedule according to feedback from viewers or viewer demographics. Additionally, alterations to flow 2 may be made on the server to assist in providing interactive programs, such as an auction, a chat show, or a mystery show, in which the ending is selected by taking a vote of the viewers.
  • Display methods 3 specifies the platform- dependent methods and plugins that should be used to display each type of content that makes up a television show or other telecast content.
  • display methods 3 may comprise a file that specifies for each type of client on which shows may be displayed (e.g. television set-top boxes, personal computers, etc.), which plug-in will display each type of content.
  • display methods 3 may specify that video content in a show displayed on a set-top box should be displayed using the "video-player" plugin.
  • the same telecast content may be viewed on a television set, using a set-top box receiving the broadcast over cable, or on a personal computer, receiving the telecast over the Internet.
  • This is achieved by specifying the appropriate plugin to be used on each of these devices for each of the types of content present in a show.
  • the display of the content may vary, according to the capabilities of the display device.
  • the ability to specify display methods 3 permits the system of the present invention to be upgraded or expanded to handle new types of content. The viewer would need to download (possibly through a special "upgrade” broadcast) a plugin that handles the new content type.
  • the system could then include a method specifying the new plugin as the correct display method for the new type of content.
  • new content types such as 3-D video and sound, become more widely available, the new plugins can be used to display them.
  • changing display methods 3 permits a viewer to personalize the manner in which telecast content is displayed.
  • XML tags are used to mark the various components of data 1.
  • the components of this particular example include announcers, dialog, images for the announcers, and music.
  • the use of XML tags permits the data to be organized according to its type, and to be randomly accessed.
  • XML is used in the preferred embodiment, any format that permits data to be organized by type and tagged for retrieval could be used.
  • FIG. 2B shows an example of flow 2 for a sports show using the data example from FIG. 2A.
  • XML is used to specify the order of the events.
  • other formats may also be used to specify the order in which actions are to be taken.
  • the system loads the first announcer ("Announcerl") , displays an image of the first announcer, and directs the first announcer to speak the first portion of the intro (using, e.g., text-to-speech software).
  • flow 2 of FIG. 2B directs the system to load the second announcer, display the second announcer, and speak the second portion of the intro.
  • FIG. 2C shows an example of display method 3.
  • XML is used here to specify the video player that is to be used on various platforms. As will be understood, other data formats could also be used to specify the information of display 3.
  • the "QuickTime" plugin will be used to play video. If the show is played on a PC, the "NetShow” plugin will be used, and so on.
  • the XML tags described above that are used to mark the various components of data, flow, and display are based upon Web Show Markup Language, or WSML.
  • WSML like other markup languages such as HTML, and Synchronized Markup Internet Language (SMIL) , all derive from Standard Generalized Markup Language, or SGML. More particularly, both SMIL and WSML derive from XML, a sub-language of SGML.
  • SMIL Synchronized Markup Internet Language
  • WSML differs from other markup languages in that it uses time as a subcomponent.
  • WSML is based on events, methods, functions, and properties. HTML, the most well-known markup language, does not use time as a component.
  • SMIL is similar to WSML in that it uses time as a component. However, SMIL is only able to describe a single linear timetable of events.
  • WSML uses time as a subcomponent, and can create branches and add timetables of events.
  • WSML can support multiple branching timelines, whereas SMIL is not structured to do so.
  • the separation of telecast content into data, flow, and display objects i.e.
  • DEBOs permits customization, personalization, and a small degree of interactivity to be achieved on a system that does not have a "back channel" permitting two-way communication.
  • two-way communication is possible, using either an Internet connection, or other means for sending information from a viewer's location to a server that delivers the show content, a greater degree of interactivity, including interaction between viewers, may be achieved.
  • DEBOs data, flow, and display objects
  • a significantly greater degree of reusability for the individual objects is achieved, because objects are no longer tied together through techniques that would hardcode all logic or dynamic elements into a single document, such as is done in HTML, DHTML, Cold Fusion Markup Language, or other languages based on a document object model.
  • separation of telecast content into data, flow, and display provides a greater degree of flexibility than is achieved using traditional programming techniques, which typically employ hard-coded logic and interactions.
  • separation of data, flow, and display methods into distributed entertainment broadcast objects allows for changes to be made in real-time, as the user is viewing the telecast content. For example, by separating the flow into a series of accessible event lists, a user can add or subtract to these event lists as the telecast content is being broadcast.
  • DEBOs distributed entertainment broadcast objects
  • a station transaction engine 4 is associated with a plurality of show transaction engines 5, each of which is optionally associated with a plurality of room transaction engines 6.
  • the lowest level transaction engines are room transaction engines 6.
  • Each room transaction engine 6 handles transactions for a particular show associated with viewers having a particular demographic characteristic, such as a particular postal code, gender, age, income level, etc.
  • viewers from within the specific demographic send information to the system, that information is filtered by the room transaction engine before being forwarded to a higher level (i.e. show) transaction engine.
  • a higher level i.e. show
  • the room transaction engine may send all bids received for an item on to the show transaction engine, or may send only information on the high bid.
  • the ability to process data at the "room" level may be used to implement off-site learning programs.
  • the logic involved in making these decisions on routing of information from the room transaction engine to higher level transaction engines is preferably hard coded, and may be dependent on the show, and the targeted audience.
  • Code that implements the needed logic may be loaded as a server behavior plugin, such as a TV logic plugin as described hereinbelow, for the room transaction engine.
  • Room transaction server engine 6 includes a sequencer that may be used to customize the data, flow, or display according to the demographic assigned to a particular room. This can be used to insert local teasers, giveaways, contests, or ads into the flow, as well as providing a method to send local disclaimers, or messages meant to conform to local law. For example, in a "room" associated with a particular postal code, advertisements for a car dealer local to that postal code could be inserted into the flow. Similarly, if the room demographic is children, the flow for certain portions of programs may be altered to make the programming more educational, and suitable for children, and ads for toys or pre-sweetened cereal could be inserted into the flow, rather than ads for cars.
  • Show transaction engines 5 handle transactions associated with particular shows, such as auction shows, or chat shows. Like room transaction engines 6, show transaction engines 5 may use hard-coded logic contained in a server behavior plugin to filter information from viewers, and determine how that information is to be handled.
  • the logic in a show transaction engine may cause the data, flow, or display of an entire show to be altered according to transactions with viewers.
  • the show transaction engine for a show in which viewers vote for a desired ending would count up the votes (received either directly, or from one or more room transaction servers), and cause a show-level sequencer on the server to insert the "winning" ending into the show.
  • the show transaction engine would determine the high bid at any given time, and determine, based on the bidding, when the auction ends, whether to give more detail on the item up for auction, whether to go on to another item, and so on. Information on the current highest bid would be inserted into the data and flow of the auction show.
  • Show transaction engine 5 includes a sequencer that may be used to customize the data, flow, or display of a show. This can be used to insert show- specific teasers, giveaways, contests, quizzes, or ads into the flow, as well as providing a method to send disclaimers or other legal messages associated with a particular show.
  • Station transaction engine 4 handles station-wide transactions, and may be implemented using hard-coded logic in a server behavior plugin.
  • Station transaction engine 4 includes a sequencer, and handles station-wide transactions and scheduling, including teasers, giveaways, station identification breaks, emergency breaks, and station disclaimers and other legal messages associated with the station.
  • Client 7 may comprise a set-top box, a personal computer, a television set containing specialized electronics, a media appliance, or any other home device that may receive, process, and display television-style content.
  • Client 7 receives telecast content via broadcasts over the air, through cable, over the Internet, or via any other medium.
  • client 7 displays and personalizes telecast content.
  • webshow engine 8 When the user wishes to view telecast content on client 7, the user activates webshow engine 8 by way of scripting or other similar methods. Once activated, webshow engine 8 in turn instantiates its three sub-components : data control 9, index manager 10, player control 11.
  • Data control 9 handles all of data 1 needed by client 7.
  • Data control 9 receives the data portion of a parsed datastream, as described hereinabove with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2A, and stores data 1 on a storage device in client 7.
  • Data Control 9 also stores information about the viewer's preferences and personalization data. Additionally, data control 9 may store digitized television signals on client 7, so that they may be retrieved and manipulated after they are broadcast.
  • Data control 9 includes data resource manager 12.
  • Data resource manager 12 is responsible for validating the integrity of the data, and insuring that all of the needed data for display is present when it is needed. Since data control 9 contains objects which can affect flow 2, it can anticipate which data will be needed, or make substitutions in the data if necessary. Thus, by replacing these objects, the flow may be altered as necessary.
  • data resource manager 12 determines that some portion of the needed data is not present, or has been corrupted or missed during the broadcast process, it may be able to connect to the Internet to retrieve the needed data. Alternatively, if the data will be repeated at some later time in the broadcast, it may be possible to retrieve the missed data at that time. Thus, data resource manager 12 provides a degree of data integrity to broadcast content.
  • data resource manager 12 may alter the flow to substitute in data that is similar in nature to the missing data. For example, if a user attempts to fast-forward in a sports broadcast that includes live video data of a basketball game in progress, data resource manager 12 will be unable to retrieve the required video data (since the data does not yet exist) . Depending on the viewer's preferences, data resource manager 12 may alter the flow to show a screen explaining the unavailability of the data, a screen showing a still image from earlier in the basketball game, or video from earlier in the game, or from previous games.
  • Index manager 10 handles flow 2 of programs on client 7, based on flow scripts, as described hereinabove with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2B. Based on a viewer's commands or preferences, portions of the flow may be altered, skipped, or rearranged. By allowing access to portions of the flow only if the user has paid, stations may implement pay-per-view programming. Additionally, client-side parental controls and preferences may be used to for blocking, by causing index manager 10 to remove or skip portions of the flow that are marked as being unsuitable for children. Index manager 10 displays content using player control 11, and gets the data it requires from data control 9.
  • Player control 11 deals with the actual displaying of the interactive telecast content, called a "webshow", by handling the various display and interaction plugins available on client 7. For example, when video must be displayed, player control 11 will load a plugin that is capable of displaying video, as specified in the display portion of a parsed datastream (described hereinabove with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2C) , and send the video to the plugin for display.
  • a plugin that is capable of displaying video, as specified in the display portion of a parsed datastream (described hereinabove with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2C) , and send the video to the plugin for display.
  • the set of plugins handled by player control 11 includes display plugins, that may be used to overlay and layer media content, including digital video.
  • This display plugin takes digital video, and turns a range of colors in the digital video transparent, which permits multiple layers of digital video to be assembled, with the transparent areas of each layer showing the contents of the layer behind it.
  • the set of plugins handled by player control 11 also preferably include plugins for handling video, audio, animations, three dimensional images and animations, virtual reality environments, text, text-to-speech conversion, animated characters or "agents", and web pages.
  • the plugins preferably include plugins for handling interaction, such as a plugin for connecting to the Internet or other two-way communication channel, and communicating with a server over the Internet or other two-way communication channel (e.g. for placing bids in an auction show, or participating in chat or game shows) , and for permitting the user to enter data (through a keyboard, mouse, voice, etc.).
  • plugins for handling interaction such as a plugin for connecting to the Internet or other two-way communication channel, and communicating with a server over the Internet or other two-way communication channel (e.g. for placing bids in an auction show, or participating in chat or game shows) , and for permitting the user to enter data (through a keyboard, mouse, voice, etc.).
  • player control 11 of client 7 instantiates webshow plugin collection manager 13, which is used for managing all of the webshow plugins to be accessed by the flow of the webshow.
  • webshow plugin collection manager 13 is instantiated, client 7 is in a ready state, able to accept calls from outside computer components.
  • webshow engine 8 can request from data control 9 a particular webshow.
  • Webshows are stored in what are referred to as index files. If a particular webshow requested by webshow engine 8 is stored locally in data resource manager 12, then data control manager 9 can send that local index file 14 to webshow engine 8 for processing. However, if the requested index file is not located in data resource manager 12, then data control manager 9 has to request the webshow from a server which contains webshow index files 22.
  • FIG. 5 is a detailed depiction of webshow index file 22.
  • Each webshow index file 22 has five meta-data properties: station, show, date, time, and description. Each of the meta-data properties are defined in the header of webshow index file 22.
  • each webshow index file 22 also contains two subcomponents: webshow plugin group 23, and webshow content group 24.
  • webshow engine 8 After downloading the webshow index file 22, webshow engine 8 then examines webshow index file 22 to ensure that it is a properly formatted webshow index file. If the webshow index file is properly formatted, the web show engine 8 passes the contents of webshow index file 22 to index manager 10.
  • index manager 10 receives webshow index file 22 from webshow engine 8
  • index manager 10 creates a local index file 14 that is named with the URL from which webshow index file 22 originated. Index manager 10 then passes the contents of webshow index file 22 to the newly created local index file 14.
  • Local index file 14 first takes webshow plugin group data 23 and passes that data (via webshow engine 8) to player control 11, and then to webshow plugin collection manager 13.
  • Webshow plugin group 23 contains multiple webshow plugin links 25.
  • Each webshow plugin link 25 refers to an external software component that manages some aspect of a webshow.
  • Webshow plugin links 25 contain a form of identification by which the particular plugin link will be referenced ("ID"), and a URL containing the location of the plugin ("SRC") .
  • ID identify by which the particular plugin link will be referenced
  • SRC URL containing the location of the plugin
  • local index file 14 activates content manager 17, and passes to it the data that was contained within webshow content group 24.
  • Each webshow content group 24 may contain a plurality of webshow content files 26.
  • content manager 17 creates corresponding local content file 18.
  • Each local content file 18 contains an ID by which it can be identified, and an SRC attribute, which contains the location of the actual contents of webshow content file 26.
  • Local content file 18, upon obtaining the SRC attribute, will check for the presence of the file indicated by the SRC attribute in data received via broadcast, or will download the file indicated by the contents of the SRC attribute. Local content file 18 will then ensure that the transmitted or downloaded file is properly formatted.
  • local content file 23 will extract every webshow instruction 28 from the downloaded or transmitted webshow content file 26, and create a corresponding local instruction 19 for local content file 18.
  • Every webshow instruction 28 is the child of a webshow plugin directive 27. Therefore, each local instruction 26 is given a plugin attribute (which is identical to an ID attribute (not shown) of webshow plugin directive 27), so that each local instruction 19 can be easily routed to the appropriate webshow plugin 16 for processing.
  • Each webshow instruction 28 may contain a plurality of webshow parameters 29, depending upon the function performed by the plugin.
  • the data contained within webshow parameters 29 in webshow instruction 28 is passed into corresponding local instruction 19 in local content file 18, at which time name and value attributes are assigned to each local parameter 20 contained within local instruction 19.
  • local index file 14 instantiates instruction manager 21.
  • Instruction manager 21 searches through all local content files 18 in local index file 14, creating a list of all the instructions contained within the various local content files 18. Creating such a list of all instructions contained within all of the content files provides for ease in adding, moving, or modifying instructions at run-time.
  • webshow engine 8 indicates to the user that the user can now play the loaded webshow.
  • the user can then play the now-loaded webshow through scripting or some other similar method.
  • webshow engine 8 passes that request to player control 11.
  • Player control 11 then asks instruction manager 21 for the current local instruction.
  • player control 11 gets a current local instruction 19, it passes that local instruction 19 to the appropriate webshow plugin 16 by matching the ID attribute of local index file 14 with the ID of webshow plugin collection 15.
  • local instruction 19 gets passed into webshow plugin collection 15, where webshow plugin collection 15 matches the local instruction's plugin attribute with the appropriate webshow plugin 's SRC attribute.
  • local instruction 19 gets passed to webshow plugin 16, which in turn passes local instruction 19 to the external software component associated with the particular webshow plugin 16 for processing.
  • the webshow plugin 16 signals player control 11 to go to the next instruction, whereby this process repeats until webshow engine 8 receives a request to modify the flow of the webshow, or the webshow reaches the end of the collection of local instructions.
  • a webshow can be stopped.
  • the webshow engine receives the stop command (e.g., from the server or client)
  • webshow engine 8 notifies the player control to send all the webshow plugins 20 a stop message.
  • the stop message reaches the webshow plugin 20, it in turn sends a stop commend to the associated external software component.
  • the external software component stops processing the instruction
  • the fast forward command is similar to the stop command, except once the external software component stops processing the instruction, player control 11 requests that instruction manager 22 move to the next instruction. If webshow engine 8 was stopped, nothing occurs; however, if webshow engine 8 was playing, then it gets the next instruction and continues with the play sequence. If the current instruction is the end of the instruction collection, and there is a fast forward request, then the current instruction loops around to the first instruction in the instruction collection.
  • a third flow altering command is the rewind command.
  • the rewind command operates in the same manner as the fast forward command except, instead of requesting that instruction manager 22 move forward one instruction, it requests that instruction manager 22 move back one instruction. If the current instruction is the first instruction in the instruction collection, and there is a rewind request, then the current instruction loops around to the final instruction in the instruction collection.
  • Another flow altering command is the goto command, which is usually generated by an external software component associated with a particular plugin. This command results in the flow being stopped (as previously described in the stop sequence above) . Then, player control 11 requests that index manager 10 move to a particular instruction. At that point, if the webshow was previously playing, a play command will be issued; otherwise, the webshow will remain stopped.
  • bookmarks can be used to move through bookmarks, as opposed to instructions.
  • these bookmarks may correspond to thematic units of the webshow, such as a play, act, or scene.
  • Content files 18 generally contain a scripted series of events. Since this scripted series of events is accessible to the user via webshow engine 8 (and through content manager 17) , the user can change these individual events during play, as long as the content file to be changed is not the content file being broadcast at that moment. Similar changes may be made from the server by a broadcaster or business.
  • This entire process can be repeated with any number of local index files 17, by loading more local index files 17 as described above. However, since each local index file 17 corresponds to one webshow, only one local index file 17 can be active at any one time; all other loaded index files must be in the stop state.
  • separating telecast content into DEBOs namely data 1, flow 2, and display methods 3, and then using different controls to manage each of these DEBOs provides for a high degree of interactivity and reusability.
  • player control 11 to manage the display methods, as opposed to playing media hard coded to a web page, client 7 creates its own interface to the plugins that are actually used to display the telecast content.
  • webshow engine 8 can send whatever media the user chooses to the particular plugin on a real-time basis.
  • client 7 can make changes to the scripted series of events that comprise the webshow, regardless of media type (e.g., data 1) or media player (e.g., display 3), and can do so as the webshow is running.
  • client 7 can alter or replace data 1 seamlessly, because data 1 now has properties that describe what the data is used for, as opposed to simply being tied to a document or cached in a web browser.
  • Broadcast portal server 30 is a server, located at a central site, which stores and distributes telecast content, or webshows, to multiple clients.
  • Broadcast portal server 30 uses three sub-components to transact a complete webshow: store transactions service 31, distribute transaction services 32, and calculate transaction services 33.
  • store transaction service 31 contains all of the files containing data, flow, and display information that will be sent to clients 7, and all of the data needed by the transaction services to distribute telecasts to clients.
  • Store transaction service 31 also holds scheduling information, and may include various administrative data, such as demographic data on the current viewers, and accounting data on which advertisements have been displayed to various audience groups .
  • Store transaction service 31 consists of three primary database services 34: SQL database 35, Microsoft Transaction Service (MTS) 36, and object oriented (XML) database 37.
  • SQL database 35 contains stored procedures 38 that create or confirm individual file identifications. Thus, all user information is stored in SQL database 35.
  • XML object oriented database 37 stores objects encoded in WSML.
  • the primary WSML component stored in XML object oriented database 37 is WSML cartridge 41.
  • WSML cartridge 41 is the sum of all index files 14 and associated data files used to provide telecast content to clients 7.
  • MTS 36 is the object bridge that allows broadcast portal server 30 to maintain a connection to thousands of clients and to retrieve data stored in the SQL database in real time. While MTS is used in a preferred embodiment of the invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that any other industry standard object bridge could be used in place of MTS 36.
  • Distribute transaction service 32 handles the routing of data between store transaction service 31 and calculate transaction service 33, and between the different levels of station, program, and room.
  • the major software component of distribute transaction service 32 is echo TV server 46.
  • Echo TV server 46 contains TV station server 47, TV Program server 48, and TV room server 49. These servers determine the "who", “where", “when”, and "in what order” to distribute webshow instructions 28. These distribute functions are derived from WSML cartridge 41.
  • Each of TV station server 47, TV program server 48, and TV room server 49 contain TV data stream router 51 and communication controller 52, which are server components that help the system communicate between the calculate transaction service 33 and the store transaction service 31.
  • the server components also enable the server at either the level above or the level below the current level to make changes in real time.
  • distribute transaction services 32 are used to initialize broadcast portal server 30.
  • WSML cartridge 41 must be uploaded or dragged and dropped into broadcast portal I-initializer 60.
  • I- intializer 60 parses WSML cartridge 41 into webshow index files 22, and parses webshow index files 22 into their component files and component data files.
  • I-initializer 60 then takes the parsed component files and sends commands to portal creator 59.
  • Portal creator 59 then instantiates the correct objects and directs them to the correct subset level (station, room, or show) of chat engine 57 (within chat engine 57 are already station levels, webshow levels, TV room levels, and seat enumeration) .
  • Calculate transaction services 33 primarily consists of TV station plugin servers 64, TV room plugin servers 66, and TV program plugin server 65. These servers are referred together as transaction logic plugin servers 63.
  • Each transaction logic plugin server 63 contains the following servers: procedure plugin server 67, which decides if data needs to be routed up or down to transaction servers other than the one to which it is attached; TV plugin commerce server 68, which handles all transactions for that particular server; TV logic plugin server 69, which both handles webshow variables and webshow instructions and contains the actual logic for a particular show, such as an auction or a news program; and extensible natural language processing (XNLP) plugin server 70, which parses natural chat messages from clients and makes decisions on how to act based on natural language processing.
  • XNLP extensible natural language processing
  • XNLP plugin server 70 could be used to react to the use of profanity within a chat room, or could be used to change the types of goods being auctioned on an auctioned program based upon participants' reactions.
  • Another way to delineate these three services on broadcast portal server 30 discussed above is to examine and understand their demands on resources.
  • Store transaction service 31 requires extensive hard drive access and space.
  • Distribute transaction service 32 requires expansive random access memory.
  • Calculate transaction services 33 require intensive processor resources.
  • the administration of broadcast portal server 30 can be distributed over a larger server farm, and as a result can handle millions of concurrent users. Or, on the other hand, if the system is only required to handle a few dozen users, the entire system can run on one robust server. Referring to FIG. 6 in conjunction with FIG.
  • Broadcast portal server 30 can deliver telecasts to various kinds of client applications 71.
  • Each client application 71 is able to receive data through a standard analog or digital broadcast signal 82, as well as through a two way communication channel, such as the Internet, which uses a TCP/IP connection protocol. Because of the work of the ATVEF group, described above, most, if not all client applications 71 will be able to extract data using ATVEF drivers from the broadcast signal. The system described herein does not interfere with the ATVEF standard, but rather extends it.
  • echo TV sockets 56 are made for TCP/IP connections, it is assumed that all client applications 71 have a TCP/IP layer built in order to connect to broadcast portal server 30. It will be understood by one skilled in the art that any network or communication protocol could be used in place of TCP/IP without departing from the present invention.
  • Set-top client 72 is either a set-top box or an Internet enabled appliance. Because of the limitations of set-top client 72, web server 78 directs set-top client 72 via active server pages (ASP) 79 or HTML link re-routes. This re-routing will be accomplished on the server by way of a browser sniffer.
  • the browser sniffer is contained within ASP 79 script files or hypertext application (HTA) page 84 contained within web server 80.
  • the HTML will initialize and download the correct client software so that set-top client 72 can connect to echo TV server sockets 56 within echo TV server 46. This allows a user to gain access to the broadcast portal service 30 described herein.
  • the second type of client application 71 is webshow administration client 73. Since webshow administration client 73 connects via a built-in initialization script, it must connect to the correct echo TV server socket 56. Webshow administration client 73 performs several important administrative functions. When broadcast portal service 30 is not yet initialized, webshow administration client 73 can file transfer WSML cartridge 41 to broadcast portal service 30, which would then parse WSML cartridge 41 via I- initializer 60. I-initializer 60 then creates the appropriate TV station server 47, TV program server 48, and TV room server 49 so that the administrator can operate broadcast portal server 30.
  • webshow administration client 73 allows the administrator of broadcast portal server 30 to modify webshow cartridge 41.
  • the administrator can use webshow administration client 73 to access XML database 37 and download WSML cartridge 41.
  • WSML cartridge 41 can then be edited within any standard XML editor, and can be saved back to the XML database 37, or be file transferred directly to broadcast portal server 28.
  • the third type of client application 71 is PC-TV client 74.
  • PC-TV client 74 will be able to initialize and connect to the correct echo TV server socket 56 via the correct HTA file.
  • the system will perform a set of SQL stored procedures 38, connecting through store transaction service 31 to SQL database 35. These stored procedures create (for first time users of the broadcast portal server 30) or confirm (for repeat users) individual file identifications. Once identified, the system will pass the user through to the correct service on broadcast portal server 30.
  • MTS allows echo TV server 46 to maintain connections with thousands of clients, and marshal and maintain database services 34 while databases 35 and 37 are in process. Echo TV server 46 can transact with MTS.
  • echo TV server 46 Before echo TV server 46 can proceed, it needs feedback from the user to determine what telecast content to provide the user. Thus, echo TV server 46 will parse basic chat instructions provided by the user by means of gateway 61. Once the appropriate feedback has been received, client application 71, through a WSML instruction 28, will request a specific station, webshow, and in some cases a specific room for the user.
  • WSML cartridge 41 contains four index files: web show index file 14, TV station index file 86, TV program index file 87, and TV room index file 88.
  • Each index file 14, 86, 87, and 88 contained within WSML cartridge 41 contains all the correct station, webshow, TV room, and appropriate transaction logic to run interactive broadcast portal server 30.
  • Each of these index files also contains a corresponding component file (16, 89, 90, and 91, respectively) .
  • I-initializer 60 breaks WSML cartridge 41 into the correct sub-cartridges for station, room, and show, and instantiates the appropriate distribute transaction services 32 and transaction logic plugin services 63 for that level.
  • TV station server 47 contains its own subset of WSML cartridge 41 in its own memory space. Only the sub cartridge of WSML cartridge 41 that pertains to the particular TV service (in this example, TV station server 47 and TV station plugin server 64) is held in the memory space of the specific server.
  • WSML cartridge 41 only instantiates the transaction logic plugin services 63 that are required to run the particular webshow.
  • WSML cartridge 41 only requires transaction logic plugin services 63 when a user or group "transaction" will occur, where a transaction is any communication involving more than one person that affects all those involved. For example, chat or hosting a chat session, an auction, and multi-player games are all transactions. Because transactions affect more than a single user, all transactions are the domain of the broadcast portal server 30. However, client 7 allows a user to personalize a TV show with or without transactions.
  • the WSML cartridge subsets are composed of XML branched instruction sets. Each instruction set can be further categorized into its own subsets of play, act, and scene.
  • WSML webshow instructions 28 tell the distribute transaction services 32 how, when, and why to distribute data. These instructions create the flow of the webshow that is required to be followed in the course of any interactive broadcast.
  • each of these webshow instructions 28 will create possible message sets.
  • Message sets are either webshow instructions 28, webshow events 98, or webshow variables 99, or webshow chat 100. These message sets can then be delivered to a different level of TV services (either station, program, or room) , to its own level or another level of plugin server, or to store transaction services 31 or client 7.
  • Webshow instructions 28, as discussed above, are a set of instructions encoded in WSML that are inserted either into one of transaction logic plugin servers 63, or webshow engine 8.
  • the TV station server 47, TV program server 48, and TV room server 49 all contain a webshow engine for parsing the WSML language.
  • client 7 has the ability to run all functions (because it contains webshow engine 8), so that client 7 can maintain a connected state to a one- way stream.
  • webshow instructions 28 and webshow variables 99 are sent directly to client 7 via the broadcast data stream or TV signal.
  • Non- connected clients are synchronized with connected clients via this broadcast stream.
  • all clients, whether connected or not-connected receive transactional data; the difference is that only connected clients can actually send or add transactional data to the server in real-time.
  • client 7 can simply store all transactions in data resource manager 12 until connected.
  • collaboration, competition, or chat are required between clients 7, dynamic events need to be calculated by the server (and not the client) so that all clients 7 can be synchronized.
  • the system places the user in a specific TV room, which is a subset of a specific TV show, which is, in turn, a subset of a specific TV station.
  • the TV room index file initializes all TV room plugin servers 66 and TV room server 49.
  • TV room engine 55 (a component of TV room server 49) holds in memory both TV room index file 88 and its corresponding TV room component file 91.
  • TV room engine 55 is what actually sequences WSML webshow instructions 28.
  • the TV room can have various parameters .
  • Typical parameters for a TV room include a total number of individuals within a certain demographic, such as a postal code.
  • the TV room can change as needed, or parameters can change based upon routines from TV program server 48 or TV station server 47, or even webshow administration client 73. All parameters are stored in the memory of TV room procedure plugin server 67.
  • TV room plugin server 67 determines whether or not a user should be in a room, or if a new room should be created and the user sent to that room.
  • Communication controller 52 handles communications between transaction logic plugin servers 63 and TV station, program, and room servers 47, 48, and 49. Communication controller 52 also enables the TV station, room, and program servers to communicate with any of webshow engine 8, procedure plugin servers 67, TV plugin commerce servers 68, TV logic plugin servers 69, or XNLP plugin servers 70. While in a preferred embodiment the COM interface is used to govern these communications, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that other communication interfaces could be used.
  • XNLP plugin servers 70 are natural language processors that handle queries from the user and user group and respond by communicating directly through chat engine 57, or by sending specific commands to TV room engine 55. For example, a user in a TV room of a city guide webshow may ask where they could find a good sushi restaurant. XNLP processor 70 would respond by first processing the chat string via a language query. In this example, XNLP processor 70 would recognize the terms "restaurant” and "sushi”. Next, XNLP processor 70 would send a command to MTS 36, which would then retrieve the specific information from XML database 37. This information would then be directed through TV data stream router 51 back to echo TV server 46 and to all clients 7 in that TV room. Such natural language plugins are previously known and commercially available.
  • MTS 36 The function of MTS 36 is to make connections to databases 35 and 37, and update changes to TV room index file 88 and TV room component file 91. It also makes changes to particular object variables, whose value may have changed during the process of the show.
  • TV data stream router 51 receives its data from either MTS 36, UDP stream media server 81, or from TV room engine 55.
  • TV data stream router 51 handles all communications outside of the TV room domain. Only TV data stream router 51 can communicate to a level below or above the TV room domain.
  • Communications controller 52 handles communications within the TV room domain. For example, communications controller 52 allows communications with various TV room plugin servers 67.
  • broadcast portal server 30 comprises an Intel- processor-based server, running Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, or Linux, as well as software performing the tasks described hereinabove.
  • Intel- processor-based server running Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, or Linux, as well as software performing the tasks described hereinabove.
  • other platforms may perform the same functions, if provided with software built in accordance with the principles of the present invention.
  • the webshow user interface screen displays a variety of objects. Each object is handled by a specific webshow plugin.
  • webshow players that comprise the user screen can handle any kind of media, including standard types such as mpeg 1, mpeg 2, mpeg 4, Macromedia's Shockwave, VRML, DHTML, Microsoft's Agent characters; and standard image formats such as JPG, GIF, and PNG file types.
  • the system allows multiple players and multiple objects to be layered upon one another.
  • the first set of plugins are navigation buttons 102. These buttons enable the user to specify topics of interest within a specific webshow, and then move the show forward and backward to the particular topic selected by the user depending on how and where those topics exist within the specific format of the webshow.
  • the second set of webshow plugins is Alpha Channel video sprite 103 with digital video stream, which stream is made transparent and layered onto the TV screen.
  • This control can layer any size or shape video layer onto the screen.
  • the player also can handle audio and video.
  • Another set of plugins that could be used includes advertising banner 104, which simply rotates advertisements based on commands from broadcast portal 30.
  • Webshow controls 105 are the main controls of the webshow or broadcast portal service 30. These controls enable the user to stop, play, rewind, or fast forward. Webshow controls 105 allow the user to stop all events, media, and media players on the screen. They also allow the user to fast forward to events that have not played if the media required is accessible. Media is made accessible either by client 7 itself, UDP media stream server 81, or the broadcast signal stream. HTTP can be employed when specific media files are required. Webshow controls 105 also enable the user to skip from bookmark to bookmark, which can, for example, correspond to segments, acts, or scenes.
  • Other webshow players 113 include: webshow active background 106, which is a container of any media type, including video animation or 3-D environment; main media window 107, which handles all types of video, audio, 3-D, or animation file types, including streaming media such as Microsoft's and Real Network's streaming video formats; and 3-D TV anchor services 109, which include an animated TV anchor 110.
  • 3-D TV anchor services 109 include voice recognition, text to speech engine, and advanced animation features.
  • the TV anchor can handle multitasking and various unscripted tasks, which the webshow handles in the course of its interactive functions. For example, during a travel show the TV anchor could answer questions from the user about specific places to visit in New York City.
  • the webshow player interface also includes user input plugin 108, which handles any user input.
  • user input plugin 108 handles either text strings or text variables as formatted by the graphical user interface.
  • a user is able to create a dynamic WSML cartridge, which consists of a WSML cartridge that has been customized by the user to contain particular webshow media (such as video, animation, or audio files) that has been stored with the WSML structure (i.e. separating the data, flow, and display) on data resource manager 12, or in database services 34.
  • Datatube control 113 can then play the stored content. This customized media is then categorized into sets of datatube cartridges.
  • client 7 can operate without a server side connection: it simply plays the stored datatubes based upon user preferences.
  • client 7 can also be connected to a server and updated.
  • the datatube can be updated to play new media based upon an old or familiar format.
  • a "sport news center" format can have the media switched and deliver cooking recipes in a sports news format and style.
  • the format can change, while the media stays the same.
  • the latest sports statistics could be presented in the manner of a cooking show.
  • Datatube control 113 can contain references to the software required to alter the WSML cartridge 41.
  • the TV show stored as a datatuue has the software built inside of it that is necessary to run the datatube.
  • Datatube control 113 has six elements which enable it to replay a stored webshow as well as update those shows dynamically at runtime.
  • webshow engine 8 would request a saved webshow from datatube registry 114. The registry would check to see if the requested webshow was available in the data control 2. It would also begin a set of variable retrievals from user ID base 118. User ID base 118 verifies the correct settings and preferences for the requested object. The requested object then gets a new pointer from webshow linked list 119, which has stored within it all the learned personal preferences of all the users of the system. The requested object is now passed to webshow resource manager 117, which interprets the request, and then retrieves the correct WSML cartridge 41 from data control 2.
  • Webshow resource manager 117 then verifies all needed components, and passes WSML cartridge 41 to active TV component 121.
  • Active TV component 121 parses all the WSM instructions that it has requested from webshow linked list 119.
  • Webshow linked list 119 has stored all webshow variables 99 and webshow instructions 28 it created during the running of previous webshows.
  • WSML cartridge 41 only has a set of datatube-only WSML instructions. These instructions are stored as WSM (web show macro) files 125, which are added from the webshow linked list in active TV component 121.
  • the enhanced dynamic WSML cartridges are passed to datatube registry 114 for updating the registry component. Datatube registry 114 then passes the newly registered dynamic WSML cartridge to active TV library 115.
  • Active TV library 115 runs all the WSM instructions in WSM files 125. The result is a newly formed WSML cartridge 41 amended to reflect the dynamic or personal preferences of the user. Webshow engine 8 is unaware of these changes because it does not parse, send, or receive the datatube control's WSML instructions 28. Rather, active TV library 115 strips the commands or instructions 119 once all WSM instructions are complete.
  • client 7 has the ability to play a TV show as it was broadcast or the user can change some parts of the broadcast, either by dynamically updating the content, or by interchanging the data, flow, or display functions or webshow events 98.
  • Datatube control 113 handles all the changes or alterations to stored WSML webshow instructions 28, or events 98.

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  • Information Transfer Between Computers (AREA)

Abstract

La présente invention concerne des procédés et un appareil pour émettre, personnaliser et visualiser des contenus médiatiques (figure 4, figure 10). Ce contenu médiatique est divisé en aspects données, flux et affichage (figure 1). Chaque aspect peut être manipulé pour modifier un spectacle de type télévision en temps réel. Le système de visionneuse comprend un décodeur, une télévision spéciale, un ordinateur personnel ou un système de média. Des spectacles interactifs (figure 11) peuvent être mis en oeuvre en modifiant les données, le flux ou l'affichage du contenu en temps réel au niveau d'un serveur, selon les communications à partir des visionneuses (figure 10) ou selon les besoins des entreprises.
PCT/US2000/010499 1999-04-19 2000-04-19 Procedes et appareil pour diffuser des objets de loisirs repartis sous forme de telemissions interactives personnalisees WO2000064168A1 (fr)

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AU43620/00A AU4362000A (en) 1999-04-19 2000-04-19 Methods and apparatus for delivering and viewing distributed entertainment broadcast objects as a personalized interactive telecast

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US13005999P 1999-04-19 1999-04-19
US60/130,059 1999-04-19

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US8839298B2 (en) 2000-03-21 2014-09-16 Intel Corporation Method and apparatus to determine broadcast content and scheduling in a broadcast system
WO2001091464A1 (fr) * 2000-05-23 2001-11-29 Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. Systeme de communication avec terminal d'acces a distance mpeg-4
US7275254B1 (en) 2000-11-21 2007-09-25 Intel Corporation Method and apparatus for determining and displaying the service level of a digital television broadcast signal
WO2002071742A1 (fr) * 2001-03-02 2002-09-12 Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. Procede et appareil permettant une presentation personnalisee de contenus internet/televisuels
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EP1241886A3 (fr) * 2001-03-14 2002-12-04 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Insertion de publicité contextuelle lors de la reproduction audio et vidéo
WO2002073968A3 (fr) * 2001-03-14 2003-03-13 Siemens Ag Publicite commandee par le contexte pendant une reproduction audio et video
EP1241848A1 (fr) * 2001-03-16 2002-09-18 Kamera Holding AB Système pour la production de transmissions sur internet
EP1274245A3 (fr) * 2001-06-29 2005-04-06 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Système et méthode de distribution de contenu
WO2003010620A3 (fr) * 2001-07-23 2003-12-11 Teracom Ab Procede et systeme pour la gestion de forum de discussion
WO2003024106A1 (fr) * 2001-09-07 2003-03-20 Tri-Vision Electronics Inc. Procede et systeme de mise en oeuvre selective de supports numeriques
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WO2003094516A1 (fr) * 2002-05-06 2003-11-13 Motorola Inc Reconfiguration du contenu d'une image destinee a diverses capacites de dispositif et procedes associes
KR100987312B1 (ko) * 2002-05-06 2010-10-13 모토로라 인코포레이티드 상이한 디바이스 능력들에 대한 영상 콘텐트 재구성과 그 방법
EP1361758A1 (fr) * 2002-05-06 2003-11-12 Motorola, Inc. Appareil et méthode de réconfiguration de contenu d'image pour des récepteurs à différentes capacités
RU2358409C2 (ru) * 2003-07-02 2009-06-10 Конинклейке Филипс Электроникс Н.В. Связывание записей интерактивного телевидения с приложениями
WO2006043192A1 (fr) * 2004-10-18 2006-04-27 Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. Dispositif de traitement de donnees et procede permettant d'informer un utilisateur concernant une categorie d'un article de contenu multimedia
EP1686796A1 (fr) * 2005-01-05 2006-08-02 Alcatel Guide électronique de programmes présenté par un avatar avec une tête parlante et une voix synthétique
DE102006020169A1 (de) 2006-05-02 2007-11-15 Benq Mobile Gmbh & Co. Ohg Vorrichtung und Verfahren zum Anpassen von fraktionalisierten Dateninhalten
DE102006020169B4 (de) 2006-05-02 2018-08-30 Qualcomm Incorporated Vorrichtung und Verfahren zum Anpassen von fraktionalisierten Dateninhalten
US9236024B2 (en) 2011-12-06 2016-01-12 Glasses.Com Inc. Systems and methods for obtaining a pupillary distance measurement using a mobile computing device
US9208608B2 (en) 2012-05-23 2015-12-08 Glasses.Com, Inc. Systems and methods for feature tracking
US9235929B2 (en) 2012-05-23 2016-01-12 Glasses.Com Inc. Systems and methods for efficiently processing virtual 3-D data
US9286715B2 (en) 2012-05-23 2016-03-15 Glasses.Com Inc. Systems and methods for adjusting a virtual try-on
US9311746B2 (en) 2012-05-23 2016-04-12 Glasses.Com Inc. Systems and methods for generating a 3-D model of a virtual try-on product
US9378584B2 (en) 2012-05-23 2016-06-28 Glasses.Com Inc. Systems and methods for rendering virtual try-on products
US9483853B2 (en) 2012-05-23 2016-11-01 Glasses.Com Inc. Systems and methods to display rendered images
US10147233B2 (en) 2012-05-23 2018-12-04 Glasses.Com Inc. Systems and methods for generating a 3-D model of a user for a virtual try-on product

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