System for creating and delivering enhanced television services

• US 20020157101A1
• Filed: 07/12/2001
• Published: 10/24/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Simms, Andrew M., Hart, Michael P., Schrader, Joseph A., Crow, William M., Scott, Samuel T., Blackburn, John W.
• Application Number:
  US09/904,409
• Publication Number:
  US 20020157101A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/64
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26208 the scheduling operation being performed under constraints
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/266 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2665 Gathering content from different sources, e.g. Internet and satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42204 User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• 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 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• 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 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8126 involving additional data, e.g. news, sports, stocks, weather forecasts
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8352 involving content or source identification data, e.g. Unique Material Identifier [UMID]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8543 using a description language, e.g. Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group [MHEG], eXtensible Markup Language [XML] information retrieval of semistructured data, the underlying structure being taken into account, e.g. mark-up language structure data G06F16/80
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/45 Picture in picture , e.g. displaying simultaneously another television channel in a region of the screen
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/50 Tuning indicators; Automatic tuning control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309

Abstract

A system for delivering television services provides enhanced content with broadcast television programming. The enhanced content includes event identifiers to enable an association with the broadcast television programming.

Claims

1. A method for delivering enhanced broadcast television content comprising the steps of:

delivering a plurality of television programs over a first broadcast channel;

while the plurality of television programs are being delivered, creating a plurality of indicators associated with events that occur in selected ones of the plurality of television programs;

assigning an identifier to at least ones of the indicators, the identifier associating said indicators with a respective one of said plurality of television programs; and

delivering the indicators and associated identifiers to at least one client system.

2. The invention as in claim 1 wherein the indicators and associated data are transmitted over a second broadcast channel.

3. The invention as in claim 1 wherein said indicators and associated identifier are transmitted in the first broadcast channel.

4. The invention as in claim 1 further comprising the step of:

assigning a priority level to the indicators, the priority level corresponding to a time at which indicators are to be transmitted to said at least one client system.

5. The invention as in claim 1 wherein said identifier is a unique event identifier associated with a televised sporting event.

6. The invention as in claim 5 wherein said indicators correspond to real-time events occurring in one of a plurality of televised sporting events.

7. The invention as in claim 6 wherein said indicators correspond to the delivery of an alert that an event is about to occur in one of said plurality of televised sporting events.

8. The invention as in claim 7 wherein said alert is a tunable alert.

9. The invention as in claim 7 wherein said alert is capable of invoking an action when delivered to a client system.

10. The invention as in claim 7 wherein said plurality of televised sporting events corresponds to broadcast televised football programming.

11. The invention as in claim 7 wherein at least one of said indicators correspond to sports television programming currently in progress.

12. The invention as in claim 1 wherein said identifier is a unique event identifier associated with a televised music event.

13. The invention as in claim 1 wherein said identifier is a unique event identifier associated with one of a plurality of televised movies.

14. The invention as in claim 1 wherein said identifier is a unique event identifier associated with a televised news items.

17. The invention of claim 16 wherein the broadcast content comprises real-time event notifications associated with the plurality of broadcast sporting events.

18. The invention of claim 17 wherein the broadcast content comprises alert notifications associated with the plurality of broadcast sporting events.

19. The invention of claim 18 wherein the alert notifications are tunable alert notifications.

20. The invention of claim 18 wherein the alert notifications are capable of invoking an action when delivered to a client system.

21. The invention of claim 16 wherein the set of priority attributes includes four priority levels.

22. The invention of claim 16 wherein the event producer is capable of generating event log indices for at least one of the plurality of television programs, encapsulating the event log indices, and inserting the same into the data stream.

24. The system as in claim 23 wherein the data provider creates an enhanced schedule of television programs including one or more program entries having an associated event identifier.

25. The system as in claim 24 wherein the broadcast server receives the enhanced schedule of television programs from the data provider, matches each of the program entries with local data including a tuner position and time slot appropriate for a given location, and provides the enhanced schedule and local data to one or more client systems.

26. The invention as in claim 23 wherein the data provider creates dynamic content associated with televised sporting events.

27. The invention as in claim 23 wherein the data provider creates dynamic content associated with televised music items.

28. The invention as in claim 23 wherein the data provider creates dynamic content associated with televised news items.

29. The invention as in claim 23 wherein the data provider creates dynamic content associated with televised movies.

15. A method for creating a data stream associated with televised sporting events comprising the steps of:

generating first event-based content associated with a first one of a plurality of televised sporting events;

associating the first event-based content with a first event identifier;

assigning a first priority to said first event-based content;

creating a first data packet including the first event-based content and the first event identifier;

generating second event-based content associated with a second one of a plurality of televised sporting events;

associating the second event-based content with a second event identifier;

assigning a second priority to the second event-based content;

creating a second data packet including the second event-based content and the second event identifier;

determining whether the first priority is greater than the second priority; and

inserting the first data packet and then the second data packet into the data stream when the first priority is greater than the second priority.

16. A television broadcast service providing dynamic information associated with a plurality of broadcast television programs concerning sporting events comprising:

a broadcast center for collecting a multiplicity of live data feeds associated with the sporting events;

an event producer connected to the broadcast center assigning each of the data feeds one of a set of priority attributes, formatting the data feeds for a one-way broadcast transmission, sorting the data feeds according to their priority attributes, and outputting the sorted data feeds;

a content aggregator cascaded with the event producer for aggregating the output data feeds from the event producer and generating a stream of broadcast content based on the aggregated data feeds.

23. A system for delivering enhanced broadcast television content comprising:

a data provider disposed to create dynamic content associated with the broadcast television programs, to assign an event identifier to the dynamic content associating the dynamic content to one of the plurality of television programs, and to deliver the dynamic content together with the event identifiers as a data stream; and

a broadcast server disposed to receive the data stream and to provide the data stream to one or more client systems.

30. A method for delivering broadcast television programming related to sporting events and associated enhanced content comprising the steps of:

delivering broadcast television programming relating to sporting events;

generating dynamic content concerning the occurrence of events in the broadcast television programming;

assigning an event identifier to the dynamic content associating the content of one of the programs in the broadcast television programming to create a tunable alert; and

delivering the tunable alert together with the broadcast television programming to one or more client devices.

31. The method as in claim 30 further comprising the steps of:

creating a listing of a plurality of sporting events;

assigning an event identifier to at least respective ones of the sporting events to create an enhanced sports television schedule; and

delivering the enhanced sports television schedule to one or more client devices.

32. The method as in claim 31 further comprising the step of:

periodically updating the enhanced sports television schedule; and

delivering an updated enhanced sports television schedule to one or more client devices.