INTERACTIVE SERVICE PROVISION METHOD AND RELEVANT DEVICE AND SYSTEM

• US 20080141305A1
• Filed: 11/27/2007
• Published: 06/12/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Zhao, Wenpeng
• Application Number:
  US11/945,392
• Publication Number:
  US 20080141305A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/254 Management at additional data server, e.g. shopping server, rights management server arrangements for maintenance or administration in data networks H04L41/00; network services using third party service providers H04L67/53
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44213 Monitoring of end-user related data arrangements for monitoring the users' behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/472 End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4758 for providing answers, e.g. voting
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8545 for generating interactive applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/858 Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

The present invention discloses an interactive service provision method mainly including: associating a program with interactive service information, acquiring the interactive service information associated with the program and presenting the interactive service information by the set-top box when the program is played, according to interaction attribute of the program indicating that the program is associated with the interactive service information. The invention also provides a corresponding interactive television system. The invention allows the interactive service information to be acquired through the interaction attribute of the program, and thus to be separated from television signals. In addition, it is possible for the user to participate in the interactive service information directly through the set-top box conveniently while watching the program, which is advantageous in facilitating and improving the efficiency of the interactive service, and enhancing the user participation.

Claims

1. An interactive service provision method, comprising:

associating a program with interactive service information, and sending an interaction attribute of the program to a set-top box, the interactive attributing indicating that the program is associated with the interactive service information;

acquiring and presenting, by the set-top box, the interactive service information associated with the program according to the interaction attribute.

2. The interactive service provision method according to claim 1, wherein the sending the interaction attribute of the program to the set-top box comprises:

updating an electronic program guide system with the interaction attribute of the program; and

receiving, by the electronic program guide system, a request from the set-top box, and sending program information including the interaction attribute.

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

collecting and reporting, by the set-top box, feedback information of a user regarding the interactive service information; and

making data statistics and analysis on the feedback information reported from the set-top box according to the program associated with the interactive service information and/or program time.

4. The interactive service provision method according to claim 3, wherein the program information sent from the electronic program guide system further comprises an address of a signaling gateway, and the set-top box reports the feedback information through the signaling gateway according to the address of the signaling gateway.

5. The interactive service provision method according to claim 4, wherein the set-top box sends the feedback information to the signaling gateway directly or through a third-party information feedback system.

6. The interactive service provision method according to claim 3, wherein after collecting the feedback information from the user, the set-top box reports the feedback information after a random delay.

7. The interactive service provision method according to claim 2, wherein the associating the program with the interactive service information comprises:

inquiring about the program to be associated;

inputting corresponding contents of the interactive service information for the program according to content information of the inquired program;

configuring the interaction attribute for the program.

8. The interactive service provision method according to claim 7, wherein updating the electronic program guide system with the interaction attribute of the program comprises:

updating a general service management system with the interaction attribute; and

synchronizing instantly or periodically, by the general service management system, the electronic program guide system with the updated program attribute.

9. The interactive service provision method according to claim 7, wherein after inputting the corresponding contents of the interactive service information for the program and before configuring the interaction attribute for the program, the method further comprises:

submitting the input contents of the interactive service information for audit.

10. The interactive service provision method according to claim 1, wherein the acquiring and presenting, by the set-top box, the interactive service information associated with the program comprises:

acquiring and presenting media data of the program according to a program playing flow;

determining that the program has already been associated with the interactive service information according to the interaction attribute of the program and registering for an interactive service;

requesting contents of the interactive service information when the registering is successful; and

receiving and presenting the contents of the interactive service information.

11. The interactive service provision method according to claim 10, wherein the program is an on-demand program, and the set-top box receives all the contents of the interactive service information associated with the program at one time after requesting the contents of the interactive service information.

12. The interactive service provision method according to claim 10, wherein the program is a live program and the set-top box receives the contents of the interactive service information associated with the program in batches after requesting the contents of the interactive service information.

13. The interactive service provision method according to claim 12, wherein contents received each time comprises a designation of a time for the next reception, and the time for the next reception is chosen randomly or in a distributive manner within a preset range of time.

14. An interactive service management system, comprising:

a program attribute updating unit adapted to configure an interaction attribute for a program and to update an electronic program guide system with the program attribute; and

an interaction control unit adapted to send interactive service information associated with the program upon a request from a set-top box and to receive feedback information reported from the set-top box.

15. The interactive service management system according to claim 14, further comprising:

a program inquiring unit adapted to inquiry about the program to be associated;

an interaction content input unit adapted to input corresponding contents of the interactive service information for the program according to content information of the program acquired by the program inquiring unit;

wherein

the program attribute updating unit is adapted to configure the interaction attribute for the program associated with the contents of interactive service information input by the interaction content input unit, and to update the electronic program guide system with the interaction attribute.

16. The interactive service management system according to claim 15, further comprising an interaction content audit unit adapted to submit the contents of the interactive service information input by the interaction content input unit for audit, and after receiving an audit confirmation, to instruct the program attribute updating unit to configure the interaction attribute for the program and update the electronic program guide system with the interaction attribute.

17. A set-top box, comprising:

an information acquiring unit, adapted to determine that a program has already been associated with interactive service information according to an interaction attribute of the program, and to acquire the interactive service information associated with the program from an interactive service management system and present the interactive service information; and

an information feedback unit, adapted to collect feedback information of a user regarding the interactive service information and to report the feedback information to the interactive service management system.

18. The set-top box according to claim 17, further comprising:

an electronic program guide acquiring unit, adapted to send a request to an electronic program guide system and to receive program information sent from the electronic program guide system;

a program playing unit, adapted to, following a program playing flow, acquire and present media data of the program according to the program information received by the electronic program guide acquiring unit;

wherein

the information acquiring unit determines that the program has already been associated with the interactive service information according to an interaction attribute comprised in the program information received by the electronic program guide acquiring unit.

19. An interactive television system, comprising an interactive service management system, an electronic program guide system and a set-top box;

wherein

the interactive service management system is adapted to associate a program with interactive service information;

to update the electronic program guide system with an interaction attribute of the program, the interaction attribute indicating that the program is associated with the interactive service information; and

to send the interactive service information associated with the program upon a request from the set-top box and to receive feedback information reported from the set-top box;

the electronic program guide system is adapted to receive a request from the set-top box and to send program information including the interaction attribute; and

the set-top box is adapted to acquire the interactive service information associated with the program from the interactive service management system and present the interactive service information according to the interaction attribute of the program; and

to collect feedback information of a user regarding the interactive service information and report the feedback information to the interactive service management system.

20. The interactive television system according to claim 19, further comprising an interactive service application system, wherein the interactive service application system is adapted to acquire, from the interactive service management system, the feedback information reported from the set-top box and to make data statistics and analysis according to the program associated with the interactive service information and/or program time.

21. The interactive television system according to claim 19, further comprising a signaling gateway, wherein the program information sent from the electronic program guide system further comprises an address of the signaling gateway;

the set-top box reports the feedback information regarding the interactive service information to the signaling gateway; and

the signaling gateway is adapted to send the feedback information reported from the set-top box to the interactive service management system after making a interface adaptation on the feedback information.

22. The interactive television system according to claim 21, further comprising a third-party information feedback system, wherein the third-party information feedback system is adapted to forward the feedback information reported from the set-top box to the signaling gateway.

23. The interactive television system according to claim 19, further comprising a general service management system, wherein the general service management system is adapted to synchronize instantly or periodically the electronic program guide system with a program attribute updated by the interactive service management system.