METHODS FOR DISPLAYING CONTEXTUALLY TARGETED CONTENT ON A CONNECTED TELEVISION

• US 20100306805A1
• Filed: 05/27/2010
• Published: 12/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Inscape Data, Inc. (VIZIO, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cognitive Media Networks, Inc.
• Inventors: Neumeier, Zeev, Liberty, Edo
• Granted Patent: US 8,769,584 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23418 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics television picture signal circuitry for scene change detection H04N5/147; filtering for image enhancement G06T5/00; methods or arrangements for recognising scenes G06V20/00; arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• 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 21/4394 involving operations for analysing the audio stream, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in audio streams arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of audio in broadcast systems H04H60/58
• 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 21/44204 Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• 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 21/462 Content or additional data management, e.g. creating a master electronic program guide from data received from the Internet and a Head-end, controlling the complexity of a video stream by scaling the resolution or bit-rate based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections
• 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 21/8126 involving additional data, e.g. news, sports, stocks, weather forecasts

Abstract

Systems and methods for deriving data from television signals received by a connected television system, the derived data being indicative of a subject related to a video segment being displayed on said screen. The systems and methods may further provide contextually targeted content to the television system, the contextually targeted content being a function of the derived data.

Claims

1. A method for displaying contextually targeted content on a screen of a connected television system, comprising the following steps:

(a) receiving television signals comprising video data and audio data of a video segment;

(b) displaying said video segment on said screen based on said video data;

(c) displaying a widget window on said screen, said widget window overlying a portion of the image from said video segment being displayed on said screen;

(d) deriving data from said television signals, said derived data being indicative of a subject related to said video segment being displayed on said screen;

(e) transmitting said derived data to a content source connected to the television system via a network;

(f) receiving from said content source data representing content associated with the portion of said video segment being displayed on said screen; and

(g) displaying said content-representing data on said widget window.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said derived data comprises metadata derived from said video data.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said derived data comprises metadata derived from said audio data.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said derived data comprises a key word or phrase derived from said audio data.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said derived data comprises a compressed version of said audio data.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said television signals further comprise metadata, and said derived data comprises a key word or phrase derived from said metadata.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein said metadata is closed captioning data.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said deriving step comprises detecting audio signature data in said audio data.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said deriving step comprises recognizing a word or phrase in said audio data.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said deriving step comprises recognizing an image in said video data.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said content-representing data displayed on said widget window comprises multiple selectable content options for selecting further content to be received from said content source and displayed on said widget window.

12. A method for providing contextually targeted content to a television system comprising a screen, comprising the following steps:

(a) receiving television signals comprising video data and audio data of a video segment;

(b) displaying said video segment on said screen based on said video data;

(c) displaying a widget window on said screen, said widget window overlying a portion of the image from said video segment being displayed on said screen;

(d) extracting pixel or audio data from said television signals during display of said video segment on said screen;

(e) processing said extracted pixel or audio data to derive cue data;

(f) transmitting said cue data to a content source connected to the television system via a network;

(g) receiving from said content source data representing content associated with the portion of said video segment being displayed on said screen; and

(h) displaying said content-representing data on said widget window.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein said extracting step comprises extracting a multiplicity of patches of pixel data, each of said patches comprising a two-dimensional array of sets of pixel values.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein each of said sets of pixel values comprises a respective set of RGB values.

15. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein said processing step comprises computing a respective average of the sets of pixel values for each array, said computed average for each patch forming a respective pixel cue point, said cue data comprising a multiplicity of said pixel cue points.

16. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein said processing step comprises computing a respective weighted average of the sets of pixel values for each array, said computed weighted average for each patch forming a respective cue point, said cue data comprising a multiplicity of said pixel cue points.

17. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein said extracting step comprises sampling said audio data.

18. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein said processing step comprises computing values which are a function of respective sets of audio data samples, said computed values for each set of audio data samples forming a respective audio cue point, said cue data comprising a multiplicity of said audio cue points.

19. A television system comprising a multi-pixel screen and a processor system, said processor system comprising a widget engine and client software for generating a request comprising pixel cue points, each of said pixel cue points being derived by extracting a multiplicity of patches of pixel data, each of said patches comprising a two-dimensional array of sets of pixel values, and computing a respective average or weighted average of the sets of pixel values for each array, said computed average or weighted average for each patch forming a respective pixel cue point, said cue data comprising a multiplicity of said pixel cue points.

20. A television system comprising a multi-pixel screen and a processor system, said processor system being programmed to perform the following steps:

(a) receiving television signals comprising video data and audio data of a video segment;

(b) displaying said video segment on said screen based on said video data;

(c) displaying a widget window on said screen, said widget window overlying a portion of the image from said video segment being displayed on said screen;

(d) deriving data from said television signals, said derived data being indicative of a subject related to said video segment being displayed on said screen;

(e) transmitting said derived data to a content source connected to the television system via a network;

(f) receiving from said content source data representing content associated with the portion of said video segment being displayed on said screen; and

(g) displaying said content-representing data on said widget window.