PRODUCING SPECIAL EFFECTS TO COMPLEMENT DISPLAYED VIDEO INFORMATION

• US 20080276291A1
• Filed: 10/09/2007
• Published: 11/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Stanford-Clark, Andrew James, Fletcher, Benjamin Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 10,051,239 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/109
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/222 Secondary servers, e.g. proxy server, cable television Head-end provisioning of proxy services in data packet switching networks H04L67/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26616 for merging a unicast channel into a multicast channel, e.g. in a VOD application, when a client served by unicast channel catches up a multicast channel to save bandwidth data multicast over packet-switching network H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2665 Gathering content from different sources, e.g. Internet and satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47208 for requesting near-video-on-demand content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8133 specifically related to the content, e.g. biography of the actors in a movie, detailed information about an article seen in a video program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8453 by locking or enabling a set of features, e.g. optional functionalities in an executable program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17354 in an intermediate station common to a plurality of user terminals

Abstract

A hierarchical publish/subscribe network is employed to produce and distribute special effects to users to complement displayed video information. A top level broker in the network receives a plurality of data streams corresponding to a respective plurality of primary special. A service provider makes a subscription request for one of said primary special effects and receives the corresponding selected data stream. The selected data stream is transformed into at least one further data stream, corresponding to a further special effect. The further data stream is published to a lower level broker associated with the service provider. In response to a user subscription request for the further special effect, the lower level broker publishes the further data stream to a user interface for presentation to the user in association with the displayed video information.

Claims

1. A method of distributing special effects to users to complement displayed video information comprising:

at a top level broker in a hierarchical publish/subscribe network, receiving a plurality of data streams corresponding to a respective plurality of primary special effects;

at the top level broker, providing a selected data stream to a service provider in response to a subscription request received from the service provider;

at the service provider, transforming the selected data stream into at least one further data stream corresponding to a further special effect and publishing said at least one further data stream to a lower level broker associated with the service provider;

at the lower level broker, receiving a user subscription request for the further special effect; and

providing said at least one further data stream to a user interface for presentation in association with displayed video information.

2. A method according to claim 1 in which the further data stream is provided to the user interface for presentation in synchronism with the displayed video information.

3. A method according to claim 2 in which the displayed video information is a broadcast in near-real time.

4. A method according to claim 2 in which a plurality of data streams, received in response to subscription requests, are transformed into a respective plurality of further data streams that are published to a respective plurality of lower level brokers.

5. A method according to claim 4 in which at least one of the plurality of lower level brokers receives a selected further data stream in response to a subscription request, said selected further data stream being further transformed into a further-modified data stream corresponding to a further-modified special effect.

6. A method according to claim 2 in which the requested primary special effect is text in a first language and the further special effect is text in a different language.

7. A method according to claim 3 in which the data stream corresponding to the further special effect is adapted for presentation on different apparatus from the displayed video information.

8. A hierarchical publish/subscribe computer network for producing special effects to complement displayed video information provided by a primary content provider, the network comprising:

a top level broker for receiving a plurality of data streams from the primary content provider corresponding to a respective plurality of primary special effects and for publishing said plurality of data streams to the network;

a service provider including a lower level broker and a transformation means, arranged to receive, in response to a subscription request, a selected data stream corresponding to one of said primary special effects;

the transformation means transforming the selected data stream into at least one further data stream corresponding to a further special effect, for distribution to said lower level broker; and

the lower level broker being responsive to a user subscription request for the further special effect to provide said at least one further data stream to a user interface for the presentation of the further special effect to the user in association with the displayed video information.

9. A network according to claim 8 comprising a plurality of service providers, each adapted to receive a respective data stream in response to a subscription request and to transform its respective data stream into a respective further data stream for distribution to an associated lower level broker.

10. A network as claimed in claim 9 in which at least one of said service providers is arranged to receive said further data stream in response to a subscription request and to transform said further data stream into a further-modified data stream corresponding to a further-modified special effect.

11. A network according to claim 10 in which the requested primary special effect is text in a first language and the further special effect is text in a different language.

12. A network according to claim 10 in which the requested primary special effect is the production of text and the further special effect is a particular visual form of the text.

13. A network according to claim 12 in which the data stream corresponding to the further special effect is adapted for presentation on different apparatus from the displayed video information.

14. A computer program product for distributing special effects to users to complement displayed video information, the computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising:

computer usable program code for execution in a top level broker and being configured to receive a plurality of data streams from a primary content provider corresponding to a respective plurality of primary special effects and to publish said plurality of data streams to an associated network;

computer usable program code for execution in a lower level broker and configured to subscribed to the top level broker in the network in order to receive a selected data stream corresponding to a selected special effect; and

computer usable program code for execution in the lower level broker and configured to transform the selected data stream into at least one further-modified data stream corresponding to a further special effect, for further distribution to the network by said lower level broker, said computer usable program code being responsive to a user subscription request for the further special effect to provide said at least one further data stream to a user interface for the presentation of the further special effect to the user in association with the displayed video information.

15. A computer program product according to claim 14 wherein the computer usable program code being responsive to a user subscription request for the further special effect to provide said at least one further data stream to a user interface for the presentation of the further special effect to the user in association with the displayed video information further comprises computer usable program code enabling said further data stream to be provided to the user interface for presentation in synchronism with the displayed video information.

16. A computer program product according to claim 15 wherein the computer usable program code enabling said further data stream to be provided to the user interface for presentation in synchronism with the displayed video information further comprises computer usable program code for enabling said further data stream to be provided in near real time.

17. A computer program product according to claim 14 further comprising computer usable program code configured to receive a plurality of data streams in response to subscription requests and computer usable program code configured to transform said received plurality of data streams into a respective plurality of further data streams that are published to a respective plurality of lower level brokers.

18. A computer program product according to claim 17 in which at least one of the plurality of lower level brokers receives a selected further data stream in response to a subscription request, said selected further data stream being further transformed into a further-modified data stream corresponding to a further-modified special effect.