Customized program creation by splicing server based video, audio, or graphical segments
First Claim
1. A method of providing customized programming in a digital interactive programming system from a programming transmission center to at least one user, the customized programming comprising a succession of digital program segments selected by the interactive programming system from a plurality of digital program segments according to user preference information of the at least one user, the customized programming selected to appeal to the programming preferences of the at least one user, the method comprising:
- accessing user preference information indicating the programming preferences of the at least one user;
selecting and accessing a first digital program segment of the succession of digital program segments from the plurality of digital programming segments according to the user preference information of the at least one user;
transmitting the first digital program segment to a reception system of the at least one user;
identifying a splice point in the first digital program segment before the completing the step of transmitting;
selecting and accessing a second digital program segment of the succession of digital program segments from the plurality of digital program segments according to the user preference information;
seamlessly switching from the first digital program segment to the second digital program segment at the splice point identified in the first digital program segment, wherein the switch occurs without creating any artifacts perceptible when the succession of digital program segments is presented to the at least one user; and
transmitting the second program segment to the reception system of the at least one user.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A Customized Programming creation system provides the ability to transmit Customized Programming offerings to individual users based upon their known profile or their responses to contemporaneous queries. In its basic form, the invention provides for a programming transmission center to maintain a single or multiple MPEG storage server environments. Through the use of digital conversion and MPEG compression standards, a vast library of programming and other information signals can be stored on such file servers. The transmission center selects and accesses programming segments or other information from the storage servers. Through the use of splice points encoded through the MPEG process, the programming transmission center can inconspicuously splice disparate program segments together to create a single custom program stream for delivery to a single user or multiple users of the same profile.
Using interactive programming technology, a user profile is created and stored based on known, purchased and/or usage-based variables. The interactive programming system collects information through the user'"'"'s receiver by monitoring the user'"'"'s viewing habits and cataloguing user responses to interactive programming queries. Such profile information is transmitted to the programming transmission center via a backchannel communication link with the user'"'"'s receiver. The Customized Programming stream may then be created to reinforce known or educated assumptions of programming and commercial selections that are most pertinent to the particular user, bringing some personalization to the vast library of stored programs and information.
489 Citations
92 Claims
-
1. A method of providing customized programming in a digital interactive programming system from a programming transmission center to at least one user, the customized programming comprising a succession of digital program segments selected by the interactive programming system from a plurality of digital program segments according to user preference information of the at least one user, the customized programming selected to appeal to the programming preferences of the at least one user, the method comprising:
-
accessing user preference information indicating the programming preferences of the at least one user;
selecting and accessing a first digital program segment of the succession of digital program segments from the plurality of digital programming segments according to the user preference information of the at least one user;
transmitting the first digital program segment to a reception system of the at least one user;
identifying a splice point in the first digital program segment before the completing the step of transmitting;
selecting and accessing a second digital program segment of the succession of digital program segments from the plurality of digital program segments according to the user preference information;
seamlessly switching from the first digital program segment to the second digital program segment at the splice point identified in the first digital program segment, wherein the switch occurs without creating any artifacts perceptible when the succession of digital program segments is presented to the at least one user; and
transmitting the second program segment to the reception system of the at least one user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
14. A method of providing customized programming as described in
claim 14 wherein the transmission received from the remote transmission source is received via a transmission medium selected from the group consisting of:- terrestrial television broadcast, cable, satellite, fiber optic, point-to-point microwave, radio, telephony, wireless telephony, the Internet, a private network, and a communication network.
-
25. A programming transmission system in a digital interactive programming system for providing customized programming from a programming transmission center to at least one user utilizing an interactive programming system, the customized programming comprising a succession of digital program segments selected by the interactive programming system from a plurality of digital program segments according to user preference information of the at least one user, the customized programming selected to appeal to the programming preferences of the at least one user, the programming transmission system comprising:
-
a program selector which selects and accesses the succession ofdigital program segments from the plurality of digital program segments, wherein the succession of digital program segments selected are determined in individual succession by the interactive programming system based upon user preference information of the at least one user;
a memory which stores the user preference information;
a data filter which identifies a splice point in each of the succession of digital program segments;
a program switcher which switches between a prior digital program segment and a successive digital program segment in the succession of digital program segments at the splice point of the prior digital program segment, wherein a seamless switch occurs without creating any artifacts perceptible when the succession of digital program segments is presented to the user;
a processor that coordinates the functions of the program selector, the data filter, the program switcher, and the interactive programming system; and
a programming transmitter that transmits the successive digital program segments to the at least one user. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
-
-
50. A method of creating customized programming for transmission within an interactive programming system comprising the steps of:
-
selecting multiple digital program segments;
encoding a splice point within one or more of the digital program segments to facilitate a seamless switch to another of the digital program segments;
compressing the digital program segments; and
storing the selected digital program segments on one or more storage servers accessible by a programming transmission center. - View Dependent Claims (51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61)
-
-
62. A computer program product for instructing a computer controlled programming transmission system with interactive programming technology to provide customized programming to a user, the computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for controlling the programming transmission system, the computer readable program code comprising instructions for:
-
causing the programming transmission system to access information in a user preference;
causing the programming transmission system to select and access a first digital program segment, wherein the particular digital program segment selected as the first digital program segment is determined by the interactive programming system based upon the user preference information of a particular user;
causing the programming transmission system to transmit the first digital program segment to the particular user;
causing the programming transmission system to identify a splice point in the first digital program segment prior to the completion of its transmission to the user;
causing the programming transmission system to select and access a second digital program segment, wherein the particular digital program segment selected as the second digital program segment is determined by the interactive programming system based upon user preference information of the particular user;
causing the programming transmission system to seamlessly switch from the first digital program segment to the second digital program segment at the splice point identified in the first digital program segment, whereby the switch is accomplished without a user perceptible delay between the digital program segments; and
causing the programming transmission system to transmit the second digital program segment to the particular user, thereby providing an uninterrupted customized program transmission to the particular user. - View Dependent Claims (63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92)
-
Specification