User managed internet links from TV

• US 20080098433A1
• Filed: 05/01/2007
• Published: 04/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Candelore, Brant L., Hardacker, Robert L.
• Application Number:
  US11/799,245
• Publication Number:
  US 20080098433A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/52
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4355 involving reformatting operations of additional data, e.g. HTML pages on a television screen optimising the visualization of content for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/9577; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/066; media handling at the source in data packet switching networks H04L65/764
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440236 by media transcoding, e.g. video is transformed into a slideshow of still pictures, audio is converted into text
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/478 Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8146 involving graphical data, e.g. 3D object, 2D graphics
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8358 involving watermark protecting executable software by watermarking G06F21/16; image watermarking in general G06T1/0021; watermarks inserted in still images for transmission purposes H04N1/32144; inserting watermarks during video coding H04N19/467
• 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 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A method of providing access to content associated with a television program consistent with certain embodiments involves acquiring information that identifies a currently playing television program; accessing a specified web site that contains a database that relates television programs with links to associated content on the Internet; querying the specified web site for a link associated with the currently playing television program; receiving a response from the specified web site that provides the link associated with the currently playing television program; presenting a displayed offer to navigate to associated content using the link; receiving an instruction accepting the offer to navigate to the associated content using the link; and navigating to the link to acquire the associated content. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.

Claims

1. A method of providing access to content associated with a television program, comprising:

acquiring information that identifies a currently playing television program;

accessing a specified web site that contains a database that relates television programs with links to associated content on the Internet;

querying the specified web site for a link associated with the currently playing television program;

receiving a response from the specified web site that provides the link associated with the currently playing television program;

presenting a displayed offer to navigate to associated content using the link;

receiving an instruction accepting the offer to navigate to the associated content using the link; and

navigating to the link to acquire the associated content.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising storing the link to a memory.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

receiving a link command from a user interface;

retrieving the link from memory; and

navigating to the link to acquire the associated content.

4. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

receiving a link command from a user interface;

retrieving the link from memory;

presenting the displayed offer to navigate to the associated web site using the link;

receiving the instruction accepting the offer to navigate to the associated content using the link; and

navigating to the link to acquire the associated content.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the presenting is carried out by display of the offer in one of a Picture in Picture (PIP) image, Picture Outside Picture (POP) display, full screen display, a display of a display enabled remote control, and a transparent overlay of the television display.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the acquiring comprises identifying the currently playing content by reference to an electronic program guide.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the acquiring comprises identifying the currently playing content by reference to an electronic program guide (EPG), and wherein the program guide is obtained by optical character reader processing of EPG data provided from an access device.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the acquiring comprises identifying the currently playing content by a combination of an approximate physical location and service provider plus date, time and selected channel.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the method is carried out in a television remote controller.

10. A method of providing access to content associated with a television program, comprising:

acquiring information that identifies a currently playing television program;

accessing a specified web site that contains a database that relates television programs with links to associated content on the Internet;

querying the specified web site for a link associated with the currently playing television program;

receiving a response from the specified web site that provides the link associated with the currently playing television program;

storing the link to a memory;

receiving a link command from a user interface;

retrieving the link from memory;

presenting a displayed offer to navigate to associated content using the link;

receiving an instruction accepting the offer to navigate to the associated content using the link; and

navigating to the link to acquire the associated content.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the presenting is carried out by display of the offer in one of a Picture in Picture (PIP) image, Picture Outside Picture (POP) display, full screen display, a display of a display enabled remote control, and a transparent overlay of the television display.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the acquiring comprises identifying the currently playing content by reference to an electronic program guide.

13. The method according to claim 10, wherein the acquiring comprises identifying the currently playing content by reference to an electronic program guide (EPG), and wherein the program guide is obtained by optical character reader processing of EPG data provided from an access device.

14. The method according to claim 10, wherein the acquiring comprises identifying the currently playing content by a combination of an approximate physical location and service provider plus date, time and selected channel.

15. The method according to claim 10, wherein at least a portion of the method is carried out in a television remote controller.

16. A method of providing access to content associated with a television program, comprising:

receiving a link command from a user interface;

acquiring information that identifies a currently playing television program;

accessing a specified web site that contains a database that relates television programs with links to associated content on the Internet;

querying the specified web site for a link associated with the currently playing television program;

receiving a response from the specified web site that provides the link associated with the currently playing television program;

storing the link to a memory;

receiving an instruction to navigate to the associated content using the link; and

navigating to the link to acquire the associated content.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the presenting is carried out by display of the offer in one of a Picture in Picture (PIP) image, Picture Outside Picture (POP) display, full screen display, a display of a display enabled remote control, and a transparent overlay of the television display.

18. The method according to claim 16, wherein the acquiring comprises identifying the currently playing content by reference to an electronic program guide.

19. The method according to claim 16, wherein the acquiring comprises identifying the currently playing content by reference to an electronic program guide (EPG), and wherein the program guide is obtained by optical character recognition processing of EPG data provided from an access device.

20. The method according to claim 16, wherein the acquiring comprises identifying the currently playing content by a combination of an approximate physical location and service provider plus date, time and selected channel.

21. A digital television receiver device that provides access to content associated with a television program, comprising:

means for acquiring information that identifies a currently playing television program;

an programmed processor that controls an Internet connection that accesses a specified web site that contains a database that relates television programs with links to associated content on the Internet, and queries the specified web site for a link associated with the currently playing television program;

means for receiving a response from the specified web site that provides the link associated with the currently playing television program;

a user interface that presents a displayed offer to navigate to associated content using the link;

the user interface further receiving an instruction accepting the offer to navigate to the associated content using the link; and

a browser function that navigates to the link to acquire the associated content.

22. The digital television receiver device according to claim 21, further comprising a memory that stores the link.

23. The digital television receiver device according to claim 21, wherein:

the user interface further receives a link command;

the processor retrieves the link from memory; and

the browser function navigates to the link to acquire the associated content.

24. The digital television receiver device according to claim 21, wherein:

the user interface further receives a link command;

the processor retrieves the link from memory;

the user interface presents the displayed offer to navigate to the associated web site using the link;

the user interface receives the instruction accepting the offer to navigate to the associated content using the link; and

the browser navigates to the link to acquire the associated content.

25. The digital television receiver device according to claim 21, wherein the user interface display presents the displayed offer in one of a Picture in Picture (PIP) image, Picture Outside Picture (POP) display, full screen display, a display of a display enabled remote control, and a transparent overlay of the television display.

26. The digital television receiver device according to claim 21, wherein the acquiring comprises identifying the currently playing content by reference to an electronic program guide.

27. The digital television receiver device according to claim 21, wherein the means for acquiring identifies the currently playing content by reference to an electronic program guide (EPG), and wherein the program guide is obtained by optical character reader processing of EPG data provided from an access device.

28. The digital television receiver device according to claim 21, wherein the means for acquiring identifies the currently playing content by a combination of an approximate physical location and service provider plus date, time and selected channel.

29. An automated method of identification of currently tuned television content tuned by a television receiver device, comprising:

determining an approximate physical location of the television receiver device;

ascertaining a service provider identity for the service provider providing the currently tuned television content;

identifying a date and time;

identifying a selected channel; and

deducing an identity of the television content from a content database on the basis of the selected channel, current date and time, service provider and approximate physical location.

30. The method according to claim 29, wherein at least one of the selected channel, date, time, service provider and approximate physical location is determined using optical character recognition (OCR) processing of television displays.

31. The method according to claim 29, wherein at least one of the selected channel, date, time, service provider and approximate physical location is determined by information in at least one of an electronic program guide, a program watermark, and channel change information.

32. The method according to claim 29, wherein deducing the identity of the television content is carried out by accessing a specified web site that contains the database.

33. The method according to claim 32, further comprising relating the television content to a link to associated content on the Internet.

34. The method according to claim 33, further comprising querying the specified web site for a link associated with the television content;

receiving a response from the specified web site that provides the link associated with the currently playing television program;

presenting a displayed offer to navigate to associated content using the link;

receiving an instruction accepting the offer to navigate to the associated content using the link; and

navigating to the link to acquire the associated content.

35. The method according to claim 34, further comprising storing the link to a memory.

36. The method according to claim 35, further comprising:

receiving a link command from a user interface;

retrieving the link from memory; and

navigating to the link to acquire the associated content.

37. The method according to claim 35, further comprising:

receiving a link command from a user interface;

retrieving the link from memory;

presenting the displayed offer to navigate to the associated web site using the link;

receiving the instruction accepting the offer to navigate to the associated content using the link; and

navigating to the link to acquire the associated content.

38. The method according to claim 35, wherein the presenting is carried out by display of the offer in one of a Picture in Picture (PIP) image, Picture Outside Picture (POP) display, full screen display, a display of a display enabled remote control, and a transparent overlay of the television display.

39. A method of obtaining metadata associated with an element of television programming, wherein the method is carried out in a control device that does not have direct access to the metadata, comprising:

instructing an access device to generate and communicate a signal to the control device suitable for driving a display, wherein the signal contains metadata suitable for rendering on a display device in a visual representation;

receiving the signal and storing a representation of the video frame;

processing the video frame using optical character recognition (OCR) to extract enough information to identify an element of television programming content from the video frame;

processing the video frame to extract sufficient information to identify an element of television programming content from the video frame; and

retrieving metadata associated with the identified element of television programming content from a television programming content source of metadata.

40. The method according to claim 39, wherein at least one of a selected channel, date, time, service provider and approximate physical location is determined using optical character recognition (OCR) processing the video frame in order to identify the element of television programming.

41. The method according to claim 39, wherein at least one of the selected channel, date, time, service provider and approximate physical location is determined by information in at least one of an electronic program guide, a program watermark, and channel change information in order to identify the element of television programming.

42. The method according to claim 39, wherein identifying the television program element is carried out by accessing a specified web site that contains the database.

43. The method according to claim 39, wherein the retrieving of the metadata is carried out over the Internet.

44. The method according to claim 39, wherein at least a portion of the method is carried out in a television remote controller.