SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INTEGRATING MESSAGING WITH A TELEVISION

• US 20100043039A1
• Filed: 08/13/2008
• Published: 02/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: VIZIO, Inc.
• Original Assignee: VIZIO, Inc.
• Inventors: Apitz, Marcus, Price, William Pat, Elliott, Timothy
• Application Number:
  US12/190,980
• Publication Number:
  US 20100043039A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/109
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43072 of multiple content streams on the same device
• 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 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44012 involving rendering scenes according to scene graphs, e.g. MPEG-4 scene graphs
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44209 Monitoring of downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. bandwidth variations of a wireless network arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4438 Window management, e.g. event handling following interaction with the user interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4755 for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306
• 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 21/8126 involving additional data, e.g. news, sports, stocks, weather forecasts

Abstract

An application for a digital television platform includes a display, a television receiver operatively coupled to the display and a processor operatively coupled to both the display and to the television receiver. A memory and a non volatile storage medium is communicably coupled to the processor. A communication link is also communicably coupled to the processor and a communication event is detected signaling reception of a communication on the communication link. Responsive to the communication event, a set of instructions is executed by the processor, the set of instructions is configured to receive the communication and to process the communication with respect to a set of user preferences.

Claims

1. A digital television platform comprising:

a display;

a television receiver operatively coupled to the display, operable to display television content on the display;

a processor operatively coupled to the display and to the television receiver;

a memory communicably coupled to the processor,

a non volatile storage medium communicably coupled to the processor;

a communication link communicably coupled to the processor, said communication link detecting a communication event signaling reception of a communication on the communication link; and

said non-volatile storage medium storing a set of instructions executed by the processor responsive to the communication event, the set of instructions being configured to receive the communication and to process the communication with respect to a set of user preferences and to display at least one item of information regarding said communication on the same said display that displays said television content.

2. The digital television platform of claim 1, wherein the communication is a voice message and the set of instructions further includes instructions to convert voice message into a text message for display on the display.

3. The digital television platform of claim 1, wherein the communication is a voice message and the set of instructions further includes instructions to convert voice message into a text message and instructions to translate the text message from a first language into a second language for display on the display.

4. The digital television platform of claim 1, wherein the communication is a text message and the set of instructions further includes instructions to translate the text message from a first language into a second language for display on the display.

5. The digital television platform of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions further includes instructions to control the communication link to notify an originator of the communication that a recipient of the communication cannot answer.

6. The digital television platform of claim 5, wherein said notify is also customized based on a status, the status selected from the group consisting of a date, a time of day and a user activity.

7. The digital television platform of claim 1, wherein the communication is a text message and the set of instructions further include instructions to convert the text message into spoken language.

8. The digital television platform of claim 7, wherein the set of instructions further include instructions to select a voice for the spoken language, the voice having characteristics selected from the group consisting of gender and regional dialects.

9. The digital television platform of claim 1, wherein the communication is selected from the group consisting of a telephone call, a text message, a video conference, and a voice over IP call.

10. The digital television platform of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions further include instructions to record the communication.

11. The digital television platform of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions further include instructions to redirect the communication to an alternate device.

12. The digital television platform of claim 11 wherein the alternate device is selected from the group consisting of a POTS telephone, a cell phone, a wireless handset.

13. A method of a digital television interacting with communication comprising the steps of:

receiving a digital television signal;

displaying the digital television signal on a display device;

detecting a communication event on a communication link;

signaling the reception of a communication, said signaling including displaying information indicative of the reception on the same display device that displays the digital television signal; and

processing the communication event based upon a set of parameters.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the communication is a voice message and the processing further includes converting the voice message into a text message.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the communication is a text message and the processing further includes translating the text message from a first language to a second language.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the processing further includes notifying an originator of the communication that the communication will not be answered.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the processing further includes determining the originator and if the initiator is included on a list, notifying the originator of the communication that the communication will not be answered.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the processing further includes determining the current time and if the current time is within a predetermined range, notifying an originator of the communication that the communication will not be answered.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the communication is a text message and the processing further includes converting the text message to spoken language.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the processing further includes selecting a voice for the spoken language, the voice having characteristics selected from the group consisting of gender and regional dialects.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein the communication is selected from the group consisting of a telephone call, a text message, an instant message, an incoming video conference call, and a voice over IP call.

22. The method of claim 13, wherein the processing further includes recording the communication.

23. The method of claim 13, wherein the processing further includes redirecting the communication to an alternate device.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the alternate device is selected from the group consisting of a POTS telephone, a cell phone, a wireless handset.

25. A computer readable medium encoded with a computer program to cause a machine to:

receive a digital television signal;

display the digital television signal on a display device;

detect a communication event on a communication link;

signal the reception of a communication; and

process the communication event based upon a set of parameters.

26. The medium of claim 25, wherein the communication is a voice message and the processing further includes converting the voice message into a text message.

27. The medium of claim 25, wherein the communication is a text message and the processing further includes translating the text message from a first language to a second language.

28. The medium of claim 25, wherein the processing further includes notifying an originator of the communication that the communication will not be answered.

29. The medium of claim 25, wherein the processing further includes determining the originator and if the initiator is included on a list, notifying the originator of the communication that the communication will not be answered.

30. The medium of claim 25, wherein the processing further includes determining the current time and if the current time is within a predetermined range, notifying an originator of the communication that the communication will not be answered.

31. The medium of claim 25, wherein the communication is a text message and the processing further includes converting the text message to spoken language.

32. The medium of claim 31, wherein the processing further includes selecting a voice for the spoken language, the voice having characteristics selected from the group consisting of gender and regional dialects.

33. The medium of claim 25, wherein the communication is selected from the group consisting of a telephone call, a text message, an instant message, an incoming video conference call, and a voice over IP call.

34. The medium of claim 25, wherein the processing further includes recording the communication.

35. The medium of claim 25, wherein the processing further includes redirecting the communication to an alternate device.

36. The medium of claim 35, wherein the alternate device is selected from the group consisting of a POTS telephone, a cell phone, a wireless handset.