Overlay rendering of user interface onto source video

• US 10,200,744 B2
• Filed: 04/26/2016
• Issued: 02/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ActiveVideo Networks, Inc. (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ActiveVideo Networks, Inc. (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Brockmann, Ronald A., Gorter, Onne, Dev, Anuj, Hiddink, Gerritt
• Primary Examiner(s): Montoya, Oschta I
• Application Number:
  US15/139,166
• Publication Number:
  US 20170055023A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,015 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26283 for associating distribution time parameters to content, e.g. to generate electronic program guide data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43072 of multiple content streams on the same device
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4348 Demultiplexing of additional data and video streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440263 by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for displaying on a connected PDA
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440281 by altering the temporal resolution, e.g. by frame skipping television signal recording using magnetic recording on tape for reproducing at a rate different from the recording rate H04N5/783
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4821 using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64322 IP
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8126 involving additional data, e.g. news, sports, stocks, weather forecasts
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8545 for generating interactive applications

Abstract

A method of generating a blended output including an interactive user interface and one or more supplemental images. At a client device, a video stream containing an interactive user interface is received from a server using a first data communications channel configured to communicate video content and a command is transmitted to the server that relates to a user input received through the interactive user interface. In response to the transmitting, an updated user interface is received using the first data communications channel, and one or more supplemental images are received using a second data communications channel. Each supplemental image is associated with a corresponding transparency coefficient. The updated user interface and the one or more supplemental images are blended according to the transparency coefficient for each supplemental image to generate a blended output and the blended output is transmitted toward the display device for display thereon.

Claims

1. A method of providing an interactive user interface for generating a blended output that includes the interactive user interface and one or more supplemental images, the method comprising:

at a server remote from a client device;

transmitting a video stream that includes an interactive user interface towards the client device using a first data communications channel configured to communicate video content;

receiving a command that relates to a user input received through the interactive user interface;

generating an updated interactive user interface in accordance with the command;

in accordance with a determination that the client device is not capable of overlaying the updated interactive user interface and one or more supplemental images;

determining, at the server, a state of a decoder at the client device by retrieving one or more frames buffered on the server to obtain a state that corresponds to a frame corresponding to the command related to the user input; and

blending the updated interactive user interface and the one or more supplemental images determined based on the state of the decoder at the client device to generate a blended output frame with the one or more supplemental images over the updated interactive user interface, wherein each supplemental image of the one or more supplemental images is associated with a corresponding transparency coefficient and the blending is performed according to the transparency coefficient for each supplemental image of the one or more supplemental images; and

transmitting the blended output frame toward the client device for display on a display device.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

switching between transmitting the blended output frame and transmitting the updated interactive user interface; and

transmitting the updated interactive user interface toward the client device for display on the display device.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein an encoding specification for the video stream is an MPEG specification, an AVS specification, or a VC-1 specification.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first data communications channel comprises at least one of:

quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) using a cable network infrastructure, user datagram protocol over internet protocol (UDP/IP) using an internet protocol television (IPTV) infrastructure, or hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) using a public or private internet infrastructure, and wherein an image format of the one or more supplemental images is a bitmap (BMP) file format, a portable network graphics (PNG) file format, a joint photographic experts group (JPEG) file format, or a graphics interchange format (GIF) file format.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising, prior to determining, at the server, the state of the decoder at the client device that corresponds to the frame corresponding to the command related to the user input, determining that the client device is not capable of overlaying the updated interactive user interface and the one or more supplemental images.