Methods and systems for interactive television

• US 20060174266A1
• Filed: 11/01/2005
• Published: 08/03/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gula Consulting Limited Liability Company (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Cyberview Technology, Inc. (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Gatto, Jean-Marie, Nobre, Louis
• Granted Patent: US 8,640,153 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/37
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/40 using video transcoding, i.e. partial or full decoding of a coded input stream followed by re-encoding of the decoded output stream
• 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 21/4223 Cameras H04N23/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4345 Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4347 Demultiplexing of several video streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4381 Recovering the multiplex stream from a specific network, e.g. recovering MPEG packets from ATM cells transmission of MPEG streams over ATM H04L12/5601
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4438 Window management, e.g. event handling following interaction with the user interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4524 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64322 IP
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/142 Constructional details of the terminal equipment, e.g. arrangements of the camera and the display
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

An interactive TV device is configured to receive and process multiple broadband input streams simultaneously. The device includes functionality to perform as a Web browser, HF, cable and satellite TV receiver, a digital PVR, an interactive TV set-top box, an advanced central processing unit and a videoconferencing device, thanks to an integrated videoconferencing camera. The present interactive TV device is configured to manage all multimedia sources identically, whether the input is a TV channel, a Web page, or a video stream played back from a data carrier such as a DVD, for example. The present interactive TV device is also configured to enable a user to watch and record a plurality of video streams simultaneously and to display them on four independently manageable quarter screen segments.

Claims

1-77. -77. (canceled)

78. An interactive device configured to display at least one selectively viewable pull out strip on a display, each of the at least one pull out strip originating from a predetermined one of the four sides of the display and being configured to extend toward an opposite one of the four sides in response to user interaction, each pull out strip displaying at least one of menu selections, icons and television channel logos.

79. The interactive device of claim 78, wherein the device is configured to display four selectively viewable pull out strips on the display, each of the four selectively viewable pull out strips originating from a respective one of the four sides of the display and extending toward an opposite one of the four sides, responsive to user interaction.

80. The interactive device of claim 79, wherein each of the four pull out strips is configured to be pulled out from one of the four sides of the display upon selection by an input device, each of the four pull out strips further being configured to be out of view when not selected or in use.

81. The interactive device of claim 78, wherein at least one of the four pull out strips is scrollable.

82. The interactive device of claim 78, wherein one of the icons may include an image of a user, the selection of which invoking a user management general module that is configured to enable the creation, modification and deletion of a user and a user profile.

83. The interactive television device of claim 82, wherein the user profile may include at least one of:

a unique user identification number;

a user logo, the user logo including an image of the user;

an identification of a last television channel selected by the user;

a number of television channels defined for the user;

a television channel table, the television channel table including a list of television channels assigned to the user;

a personal password of the user;

a default recording quality for recordings made for the user, and

an applications table for the user, the application table defining access rights for the user to the applications loaded onto the interactive TV device and a location of user and application-specific data.

84. The interactive television device of claim 78, wherein the device is further configured to display incoming signals either in a full screen format or in a format including up to four independent quarter screen segments on the display.

85. The interactive television device of claim 84, wherein the four independent quarter screen segments may be configured to display at least one of a web browser, an email client, and a videoconferencing session, a television channel.

86. The interactive television device of claim 78, further comprising:

an input, the input being configured to accept a plurality of input streams;

an output, the output being configured to selectively output a plurality of output streams;

a first digital bus connected between the input and output, the first digital bus being uninterrupted between the input and the output;

an analog bus connected between the input and the output, the analog bus including a video signal decoder coupled to the input and a video signal encoder coupled to the output, and

a graphics processing assembly coupled to the first digital bus and to the analog bus.

87. The interactive television device of claim 78, wherein the device is configured to treat all incoming video streams as a channel that is accessible to a user in a same manner as a television channel.

88. The interactive television device of claim 78, wherein each of the at least one selectively viewable pull out strip is configured to display at least one of communications-related information;

television channels, user and profile management information and events management and device configuration related information.

89. The interactive television device of claim 78, wherein each of the at least one selectively viewable pull out strips may define a first section and a second section, the first section being configured to display at least one of menu selections and icons, the second section being configured to display at least one television channel logo.

90. The interactive television device of claim 78, wherein each of the at least one selectively viewable pull out strips may define, when pulled out, an initially viewable zone and an initially hidden zone, the initially viewable zone being at least initially viewable when the pull out strip is pulled out, the initially hidden zone remaining hidden from view until the pull out strip is scrolled.

91. The interactive television device of claim 78, wherein one of the pull out strips is configured to display an icon representative of each user of the device, and wherein each user representative icon is configured to enable, when selected, configuration of user preferences.

92. The interactive television device of claim 91, wherein the user representative icon may include a photo of the user.

93. A method for enabling user interaction with an interactive television device, comprising displaying at least one selectively viewable pull out strip on a display, each of the at least one pull out strip originating from a predetermined one of the four sides of the display and being configured to extend toward an opposite one of the four sides in response to user interaction, each pull out strip displaying at least one of user-selectable menu selections, icons and television channel logos.

94. The method of claim 93, wherein the displaying step is configured to display four selectively viewable pull out strips on the display, each of the four selectively viewable pull out strips originating from a respective one of the four sides of the display and extending toward an opposite one of the four sides.

95. The method of claim 94, wherein the displaying step is carried out with each of the four pull out strips being configured to be pulled out from one of the four sides of the display upon selection by an input device, each of the four pull out strips further being configured to be out of view when not selected or in use.

96. The method of claim 93, wherein the displaying step is carried out with at least one of the four pull out strips is scrollable.

97. The method of claim 93, wherein one of the icons may include an image of a user, the selection of which invoking a user management general software module that is configured to enable the creation, modification and deletion of a user and a user profile.

98. The method of claim 97, wherein the user profile may include at least one of:

a unique user identification number;

a user logo, the user logo including an image of the user;

an identification of a last television channel selected by the user;

a number of television channels defined for the user;

a television channel table, the television channel table including a list of television channels assigned to the user;

a personal password of the user;

a default recording quality for recordings made for the user, and

an applications table for the user, the application table defining access rights for the user to the applications loaded onto the interactive TV device and a location of user and application-specific data.

99. The method of claim 93, further comprising a step of displaying incoming signals either in a full screen format or in a format including up to four independent quarter screen segments on the display.

100. The method of claim 99, wherein the four independent quarter screen segments may be configured to display at least one of a web browser, an email client, and a videoconferencing session, a television channel.

101. The method of claim 93, further including a step of handling all incoming video streams to the interactive television device as a channel that is accessible to a user in a same manner as a television channel.

102. The method of claim 93, wherein the at least one selectively viewable pull out strip is configured to display at least one of communications-related information;

television channels, user and profile management information and events management and device configuration related information.

103. The method of claim 93, wherein each of the at least one selectively viewable pull out strips may define a first section and a second section, the first section being configured to display at least one of menu selections and icons, and the second section being configured to display at least one television channel logo.

104. The method of claim 93, wherein each of the at least one selectively viewable pull out strips may define, when pulled out, an initially viewable zone and an initially hidden zone, the initially viewable zone being at least initially viewable when the pull out strip is pulled out, the method further comprising a step of displaying the initially hidden zone when the pull out strip is scrolled.

105. The method of claim 93, further comprising a step of displaying an icon representative of each user of the device on at least one of the at least one pull out strips, the user representative icon being configured to enable, when selected, configuration of user preferences.

106. The interactive television device of claim 105, wherein the user representative icon may include a photo of the user.

107. A graphical user interface for helping a user to perform tasks in software, the graphical user interface comprising:

at least one selectively viewable pull out strip, each of the at least one pull out strips being configured to originate from a predetermined one of the four sides of a display and being configured to extend toward an opposite one of the four sides in response to user interaction, each pull out strip displaying at least one of menu selections, icons and television channel logos.

108. The graphical user interface of claim 107, configured to display four selectively viewable pull out strips on the display, each of the four selectively viewable pull out strips originating from a respective one of the four sides of the display and extending toward an opposite one of the four sides.

109. The graphical user interface of claim 108, wherein each of the four pull out strips is configured to be pulled out from one of the four sides of the display upon selection by an input device, each of the four pull out strips further being configured to be out of view when not selected or in use.

110. The graphical user interface of claim 107, wherein at least one of the four pull out strips is scrollable.

111. The graphical user interface of claim 107, wherein one of the icons may include an image of a user, a selection of which invoking a user management general software module that is configured to enable the creation, modification and deletion of a user and a user profile.

112. The graphical user interface of claim 111, wherein the user profile may include at least one of:

a unique user identification number;

a user logo, the user logo including an image of the user;

an identification of a last television channel selected by the user;

a number of television channels defined for the user;

a television channel table, the television channel table including a list of television channels assigned to the user;

a personal password of the user;

a default recording quality for recordings made for the user, and

an applications table for the user, the application table defining access rights for the user to the applications and a location of user and application-specific data.

113. The graphical user interface of claim 107, further configured to display incoming signals either in a full screen format or in a format including up to four independent quarter screen segments on the display.

114. The graphical user interface of claim 113, wherein the four independent quarter screen segments may be configured to display at least one of a web browser, an email client, and a videoconferencing session, a television channel.

115. The graphical user interface of claim 107, wherein each of the at least one selectively viewable pull out strip is configured to display at least one of communications-related information;

television channels, user and profile management information and events management and device configuration related information.

116. The graphical user interface of claim 107, wherein each of the at least one selectively viewable pull out strips may define a first section and a second section, the first section being configured to display at least one of menu selections and icons, and the second section being configured to display at least one television channel logo.

117. The graphical user interface of claim 107, wherein each of the at least one selectively viewable pull out strips may define, when pulled out, an initially viewable zone and an initially hidden zone, the initially viewable zone being at least initially viewable when the pull out strip is pulled out, the initially hidden zone remaining hidden from view until displayed responsive to the pull out strip being scrolled.

118. The graphical user interface of claim 107, wherein one of the pull out strips is configured to display an icon representative of each user of the device, and wherein each user representative icon is configured to enable, when selected, configuration of user preferences.

119. The graphical user interface of claim 118, wherein the user representative icon may include a photo of the user.