METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRESENTING MEDIA PROGRAMS

• US 20110126252A1
• Filed: 11/20/2009
• Published: 05/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: SCHULTZ, NATASHA BARRETT, ROBERTS, LINDA, CHANG, E-LEE, KING, ROBERT ARTHUR, SUNG, JA-YOUNG
• Granted Patent: US 8,839,306 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/114
• 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 21/4438 Window management, e.g. event handling following interaction with the user interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• 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 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6175 involving transmission via Internet broadcast-related systems characterised by the transmission system being the Internet H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8173 End-user applications, e.g. Web browser, game
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a computing device, including a controller to: transmit a client program having a graphical user interface (GUI) to a media device operating in an interactive television (iTV) network, wherein the client program presents a symbolic overlay that superimposes onto media content received by the media device and enables the media device to associate commentary with the media content received at the media device; and conduct searches for one of consumer products or consumer services associated with the media content based on the commentary regarding the media content. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

presenting each of a plurality of users a media program;

collecting one or more temporal actions including commentary initiated by the plurality of users while the media program is presented;

creating one or more symbolic overlays corresponding to the one or more temporal actions of each user;

combining the presentation of the media program with a presentation of the one or more symbolic overlays; and

using the commentary initiated by the plurality of users in order to conduct searches for one of products or services associated with the media program.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the media program corresponds to one of a video stream, an audio stream, a sequence of still images, a sequence of text images, or combinations thereof.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a depiction of the plurality of users comprises one of an avatar representation of each user, a live webcam image of each user, a still picture of each user, or an animation of each user, or combinations thereof.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the one or more temporal actions are expressed by way of one of the avatar representation of each user, the live webcam image of each user, a still picture of each user, or an animation of each user, or combinations thereof, wherein a gesture of the avatar corresponds to a motion of a body of the avatar, and wherein the expression of the avatar comprises at least one of a plurality of expressions.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising conducting the searches for one of products or services based on a comparison of the commentary initiated by the plurality of users to meta tags in a frame associated with the media program being commented on.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the media program comprises a video, and wherein the method comprises advising at least one of the users to click on an image of a product or service or to click on a link to the product or service, in order to one of purchase the product or service or find out more information about the product or service.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising automatically conducting the searches for one of products or services based on monitoring of the commentary initiated by the plurality of users.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising manually conducting the searches for one of products or services based on at least one of the users who is viewing the media program dragging and dropping a particular commentary to one of a shopping cart or a search engine icon to invoke a search.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the particular commentary belongs to one of the user who is viewing the content or to another user.

10. The method of claim 1, comprising presenting results for the searches for one of products or services associated with the media program in an area for advertisements in at least one of the symbolic overlays.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the area for advertisements comprises a vertical column.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the area for advertisements comprises one of a horizontal carrousel or a vertical carrousel.

13. The method of claim 1, comprising presenting on the one or more symbolic overlays one or more comment icons situated on a timeline.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein when the commentary of a user is initiated regarding a particular product or service observed during the presentation of the media program, the method comprises bringing up an image of the particular product or service in at least one of the symbolic overlays.

15. A computer-readable storage medium, comprising a program for instructing a computer to:

receive commentary while presenting media content;

combine a presentation of the media content with a presentation of a symbolic overlay generated from the commentary; and

use the commentary in order to conduct searches for one of products or services associated with the media content.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, comprising computer instructions to automatically conduct the searches for one of products or services based on monitoring of the commentary initiated by one or more users.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the media content comprises at least one of video content, audio-only content, or video with no audio content.

18. A computing device, comprising a controller to:

transmit a client program having a graphical user interface (GUI) to a media device operating in an interactive television (iTV) network, wherein the client program presents a symbolic overlay that superimposes onto media content received by the media device and enables the media device to associate commentary with the media content received at the media device; and

conduct searches for one of consumer products or consumer services associated with the media content based on the commentary regarding the media content.

19. The computing device of claim 18, wherein the commentary is a user-generated commentary, and wherein when the user-generated commentary is initiated regarding a particular consumer product or consumer service observed during the presentation of the media content, the controller brings up an image of the particular consumer product or consumer service in the symbolic overlay.

20. The computing device of claim 18, wherein the commentary is a user-generated commentary, and wherein the searches for one of consumer products or consumer services are based on a comparison of the user-generated commentary to meta tags in a frame associated with the media content being commented on.