Methods for using broadcast media content information and related broadcast media receivers/playback devices

• US 20070143816A1
• Filed: 12/15/2005
• Published: 06/21/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications USA Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications USA Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Forbes, Stephen, Gupta, Vikram, Dunko, Gregory
• Granted Patent: US 7,643,807 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/135
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/13 radio data system/radio broadcast data system [RDS/RBDS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/40 characterised in that additional data relating to the broadcast data are available via a different channel than the broadcast channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/46 for recognising users' preferences
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/65 for using the result on users' side
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/74 using programme related information, e.g. title, composer or interpreter
• 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 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• 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 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8106 involving special audio data, e.g. different tracks for different languages
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/45 Picture in picture , e.g. displaying simultaneously another television channel in a region of the screen

Abstract

Methods of displaying broadcast media content information to a user include receiving at a first receiver first content from a first channel of a multi-channel broadcast media system while receiving at a second receiver information regarding the content on a second off-channel of the multi-channel broadcast media system. Then, at least some of the received information regarding the content on the second channel is displayed to the user. A database of information may also be provided that includes, for example, information regarding listening/viewing preferences of the user. This database of information may be used, for example, to select the off-channels that are scanned for content information and/or to select what information is displayed to the user.

Claims

1. A method of displaying broadcast media content information to a user, the method comprising:

receiving at a first receiver content from a first channel of a multi-channel broadcast media system;

receiving at a second receiver information regarding the content on each of a plurality of additional channels of the multi-channel broadcast media system, wherein the plurality of additional channels comprise off-channels; and

displaying at least some of the received information regarding the content on each of the plurality of additional channels to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising pre-selecting the plurality of additional channels, wherein the plurality of additional channels contains only some of the channels of the multi-channel broadcast media system.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein pre-selecting the plurality of additional channels comprises pre-selecting the plurality of additional channels as the ones of the channels of the multi-channel broadcast media system for which a pre-set tuning button has been set.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving at the second receiver information regarding the content on each of the plurality of additional channels comprises serially receiving the information regarding the content on each of the respective plurality of additional channels.

5. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising comparing at least some of the information regarding the content on each of the plurality of additional channels with a database of information to identify ones of the plurality of additional channels having preferred content.

6. The method of claim 5, the method further comprising:

selecting one of the identified channels; and

automatically tuning the first receiver to the selected one of the identified channels.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first receiver comprises an FM radio receiver and wherein the information regarding the content on each of the plurality of additional channels comprises RDS data associated with each of the plurality of additional channels.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first receiver comprises a television receiver.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein displaying at least some of the received information regarding the content on each of the plurality of additional channels comprises displaying information regarding the content on ones of the plurality of additional channels that are identified as channels having preferred content.

10. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

comparing the information regarding the content on each of the plurality of additional channels with a database of information to identify channels having content that the user has designated as undesirable content; and

using the identification of undesirable content in determining the at least some of the received information regarding the content on each of the plurality of additional channels that is displayed to the user.

31. The method of claim 5, wherein the database of information is generated by the user identifying at least some of the received information regarding the content on each of the plurality of additional channels as preferred content.

32. The method of claim 5, further comprising at least partially populating the database of information by entering data into the database of information via a user interface.

33. The method of claim 5, further comprising at least partially populating the database of information by loading data from a second database of information into the database of information.

11. A method of classifying content on at least some of the channels of a multi-channel broadcast system, the method comprising:

receiving at a first receiver first content from a first channel during a first time period;

receiving information regarding the content available on a plurality of additional channels of the multi-channel broadcast media system during the first time period; and

automatically comparing the received information regarding the content available on the plurality of additional channels to a database of information associated with a user to classify at least some of the content available on the plurality of additional channels.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein classifying at least some of the content available on the plurality of additional channels comprises identifying one of the plurality of additional channels as having preferred content of the user.

13. The method of claim 12, the method further comprising automatically tuning the first receiver to the identified channel.

14. The method of claim 12, the method further comprising automatically recording the content on the identified channel.

15. The method of claim 12, the method further comprising:

playing the received first content;

determining that the first content is disfavored content;

automatically tuning the first receiver to the identified channel.

16. The method of claim 11, the method further comprising:

pre-selecting at least one channel of the plurality of additional channels;

comparing the first content with database of information associated with the user to identify the first content as disfavored content; and

automatically tuning the first receiver from the first channel to one of the pre-selected channels in response to identifying the first content as disfavored content.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein identifying the first content as disfavored content comprises identifying the first content as a commercial.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein automatically tuning the first receiver from the first channel to one of the pre-selected channels in response to identifying the first content as disfavored content comprises automatically tuning the first receiver to a one of the pre-selected channels, wherein the one of the pre-selected channels that the first receiver is automatically tuned to is selected based on the classification of the at least some of the content available on the plurality of additional channels.

19. The method of claim 16, the method further comprising ranking the pre-selected channels, and wherein automatically tuning the first receiver from the first channel to one of the pre-selected channels in response to identifying the first content as disfavored content comprises automatically tuning the first receiver from the first channel to the pre-selected channel that is ranked the highest.

24. The method of claim 11, wherein classifying at least some of the content available on the plurality of additional channels comprises identifying ones of the plurality of additional channels as having the strongest correlations with preferred content of the user stored in the database of information, and wherein the method further comprises automatically setting a plurality of pre-set tuning buttons to the identified ones of the plurality of additional channels.

20. A method of operating a broadcast media receiver and playback device, the method comprising:

receiving at the broadcast media receiver and playback device first content from a first channel of a multi-channel broadcast media system;

receiving information regarding the content on a plurality of other channels of the multi-channel broadcast media system;

receiving a command to tune the receiver from the first channel to a different channel of the multi-channel broadcast media system; and

selecting the different channel that the broadcast media receiver and playback device tunes to based at least in part on the received information regarding the content on the plurality of other channels of the multi-channel broadcast media system.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the received command comprises a seek command.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the different channel is selected as the next adjacent channel in the direction of the scan that has a sufficient signal quality and that the received information regarding the content on the channel indicates that programming is currently playing on the channel.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the multi-channel broadcast media system is the FM radio system, and wherein the programming comprises music programming.

25. A broadcast media receiver and playback device, comprising:

a broadcast media player;

a first receiver that is configured to receive content over a first channel of a broadcast media system and to play the received content over the broadcast media player;

a second receiver that is configured to serially receive information regarding the content being broadcast on a plurality of additional channels of the broadcast media system; and

a user interface that includes a display that is configured to display at least some of the information regarding the content being broadcast on the plurality of additional channels.

26. The broadcast media receiver and playback device of claim 25, further comprising a database of information regarding preferred content of a user of the broadcast media receiver and playback device.

27. The broadcast media receiver and playback device of claim 26, further comprising a processor that is configured to compare the received information regarding the content being broadcast on the plurality of additional channels to the database of information regarding preferred content of the user.

28. The broadcast media receiver and playback device of claim 26, wherein the broadcast media player comprises at least one speaker, wherein the first receiver comprises an FM radio receiver, wherein the second receiver comprises a receiver that is configured to receive and decode RDS data, and wherein the information regarding the content being broadcast on the plurality of additional channels comprises RDS data.

29. The broadcast media receiver and playback device of claim 25, further comprising a plurality of pre-set tuning buttons, wherein each of the plurality of pre-set tuning buttons is configured to tune the first receiver to receive a respective one of the plurality of additional channels.

30. The broadcast media receiver and playback device of claim 25, wherein the second receiver comprises a receiver that is only configured to receive information regarding the content being broadcast on the plurality of additional channels of the broadcast media system.