Virtual and condensed television programs

• US 20020170068A1
• Filed: 03/19/2001
• Published: 11/14/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hubert Le Van Gong, Klaus Hofrichter, Richter A. Rafey, Rob Myers, Sidney Wang, Simon Gibbs
• Original Assignee: Hubert Le Van Gong, Klaus Hofrichter, Richter A. Rafey, Rob Myers, Sidney Wang, Simon Gibbs
• Inventors: Rafey, Richter A., Hofrichter, Klaus, Myers, Rob, Gibbs, Simon, Wang, Sidney, Van Gong, Hubert Le
• Application Number:
  US09/812,540
• Publication Number:
  US 20020170068A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/112
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/73 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/738 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• 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 21/454 Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/458 Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10
• 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 21/47205 for manipulating displayed content, e.g. interacting with MPEG-4 objects, editing locally
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4755 for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6543 for forcing some client operations, e.g. recording remote booting in general G06F9/4416
• 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 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Video content is provided from a video source, and an attribute identifying the subject of a selected segment of the video content is identified. The attribute is coded into a metadata tag that is associated with the selected segment of the video content. The selected video segment and the associated metadata tag are then transmitted or stored for later transmission. At the client end, the selected video content portion and the associated metadata tag are received. A show flow engine uses the attribute information in the metadata tag to create a script that is used by a rendering engine to output video to a viewer. One output format is a compressed version of at least a portion of a long program. Another output format is a “virtual television program” that is assembled using preselected viewer preferences. In some instances the output content of the virtual program is modified by the viewer in real time.

Claims

1. A method of outputting a television program to a viewer, comprising:

receiving a highlight content segment, wherein the highlight content segment includes information associated with a particular subject;

receiving a detail content segment, wherein the detail content segment includes additional information associated with the particular subject;

storing in a memory the highlight and detail content segments;

generating an output script that is associated with the highlight and detail content segments;

accessing and outputting the highlight content segment in accordance with the script; and

receiving during the output of the highlight content segment a command to output additional information associated with the particular subject; and

accessing and outputting the detail content segment in response to the command.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying to the viewer a menu that alerts the viewer that the command can be received.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the script sequences the highlight segment for output prior to the detail segment.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving during the output of the detail content segment a second command to skip to a subsequent content segment associated with the output script; and

accessing and outputting the subsequent content segment in response to the second command.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the content is one of a video segment, a music segment, a still drawing, a chart, and a web page.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a payment for outputting the television program.

7. A method of presenting a television program to a viewer, comprising:

storing in a memory a viewer preference, wherein the preference identifies a subject of particular interest to a viewer;

receiving and storing in the memory a plurality of content segments and a plurality of metadata tags, wherein for each unique one of the content segments a unique one of the metadata tags is associated, and wherein each metadata tag includes at least one attribute that identifies a subject of the associated content segment;

identifying the metadata tags that include attributes corresponding to the preference;

using the identified metadata tags to generate an output program script;

accessing selected stored video segments in accordance with the output script; and

displaying the accessed content segments.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the attribute is one of a time, a date, a title, a director, and an event.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the received content segments are part of at least one television program.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the received and stored content segments are accumulated over a period of time.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein the content segments are one of the following:

a video portion, an audio portion, a still drawing, a chart, and a web page.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein receiving and storing in the plurality of content segments and a plurality of metadata tags occurs in a secondary memory device.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the metadata tags are periodically received during reception of the program.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the metadata tags are received after reception of the program.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein the metadata tags are received before reception of the program.

17. The method of claim 13 further comprising receiving a command from the viewer to output highlights of the television program, and the accessing and outputting of the selected number of video segments occurs in response to the received command.

18. The method of claim 13 wherein the command is received during broadcast of the program, and the selected number of video segments that are output are associated with only a portion of the program already broadcast.

13. A method of outputting selected portions of a television program to a viewer, comprising:

receiving at least a portion of a television program that includes a plurality of video segments, wherein each of a selected number of the video segments is associated with a unique highlight of the program;

storing the selected number of video segments;

receiving metadata tags, wherein for each unique one of the selected video segments a unique one of the metadata tags is associated, and wherein each metadata tag includes an attribute that identifies a subject of the associated video segment as a highlight of the program;

storing data associated with the metadata tags;

using the stored data to generate an output program script for outputting the selected number of video segments to the viewer;

accessing the selected number of video segments in accordance with the script; and

outputting the accessed video segments to the viewer.

19. A method of storing video information, comprising:

storing in a memory a viewer preference, wherein the preference identifies a subject of particular interest to a viewer;

receiving a content segment of a program that includes a plurality of segments, and receiving a metadata tag associated with the content segment, wherein the metadata tag includes an attribute associated with a subject matter of the content segment;

comparing the attribute and the preference; and

storing in a second memory the content segment if the attribute corresponds to the preference.

20. A video output system comprising:

a receiving unit;

a content manager coupled to the receiving unit;

a video cache memory coupled to the content manager,

wherein the cache memory includes a content memory portion and a metadata memory portion;

a show flow engine coupled to the cache memory; and

a rendering engine coupled to the show flow engine.

21. The system of claim 20 further comprising a sensor/decoder unit coupled to the rendering engine, wherein the sensor/decoder unit receives coded signals from a transmitter activated by a viewer.

22. The system of claim 20 further comprising a viewer preference memory coupled to the content manager and to the show flow engine.

23. The system of claim 20 further comprising a gateway to a communications system coupled to the content manager.

24. The system of claim 20 wherein the communications system is the Internet.

25. The system of claim 20 wherein the receiving unit and the cache memory are parts of an audio-video tuner/disk combination.