System and Method for Providing Video Content Associated with a Source Image to a Television in a Communication Network

• US 20120137337A1
• Filed: 12/05/2011
• Published: 05/31/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ActiveVideo Networks, Inc. (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ActiveVideo Networks, Inc. (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Pavlovskaia, Lena, Landau, Airan, Sigmon, Robert B. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 9,077,860 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/110
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/443 OS processes, e.g. booting an STB, implementing a Java virtual machine in an STB or power management in an STB
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17336 Handling of requests in head-ends

Abstract

A system and method are provided for processing video content, associated with a source image, for display on a television. The source image, such as a web page, and its associated (e.g., linked) video content are retrieved and separately encoded. The encoded source image and the encoded video content are composited together to form a sequence of encoded video frames, where a frame type of the video content is used to determine a type of a composited frame. For example, if all displayed frames of the video content are MPEG I-frames, then the composited frame also may be an I-frame. However, if any displayed frame of video content is an MPEG P-frame or B-frame, then the composited frame may be a P-frame.

Claims

1. A method of processing video content that includes a plurality of video frames, the video content being addressed by a link on a static source image, for display of the video content and source image on a television, the television coupled to a communication network through a communication device, the method comprising:

retrieving the video content addressed by the link; and

in response to receiving the request for display of the video content on the television, forming a sequence of encoded video frames in a format decodable by the communication device, each encoded video frame being formed by compositing at least a portion of a frame of the video content with at least a portion of the source image, wherein compositing includes selecting a frame type from a plurality of frame types based on the frame type of the portion of the frame and encoding the portion of the source image according to the selected frame type.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein a portion of the source image is removed and compositing includes, when forming each encoded video frame, inserting the encoded video content at a location of the source image where the removed portion was located.

3. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the composited sequence of encoded video frames through the communication network to the communication device that transmitted the request.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the source image is encoded as an MPEG frame prior to compositing and after receiving the request for display of the video content.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein retrieving the video content comprises:

searching a repository of video content for the requested content;

if the content is in the repository, determining whether the content is time-sensitive; and

if the content is time-sensitive, determining whether the content is the most recent version of the content.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein determining whether the content is the most recent version of the content includes comparing a timestamp associated with the video content in the repository to a timestamp of the video content associated with the link.

7. A method according to claim 5, wherein retrieving the video content includes, if video content is the most recent version of the video content, retrieving the video content from the repository of video content.

8. A method according to claim 5, wherein retrieving the video content includes, if the video content is not the most recent version of the video content, requesting the video content from a source associated with the link.

9. A method according to claim 5, wherein the repository of video content is located remotely from the content distribution platform.

10. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining a group of end users associated with the video content, each user in the group of end users having a communication device associated with a television.

11. A method according to claim 10, wherein the group of end users consists of a single user.

12. A method according to claim 10, wherein the group of end users is defined using a national boundary, a city boundary, or a circle having a given center and radius.

13. A method according to claim 1, wherein the selected frame type of each encoded video frame is I-frame or P-frame.

14. A method according to claim 13, wherein the video content comprises a plurality of video sources, each video source having a plurality of video frames, and each encoded video frame includes, from each of the plurality of video sources, at least a portion of a video frame, the method further comprising:

selecting the frame type of the encoded video frame to be I-frame if the frame type of each of the included portions is also I-frame.

15. A method according to claim 13, wherein the video content comprises a plurality of video sources, each video source having a plurality of video frames, and each encoded video frame includes, from each of the plurality of video sources, at least a portion of a video frame, the method further comprising:

selecting the frame type of the encoded video frame to be P-frame if the frame type of at least one of the included portions is also P-frame.

16. A method according to claim 1, wherein selecting the frame type includes selecting based on the encoding type of one or more macroblocks of the portion of the frame.

17. A system for providing, to a decoder associated with a television, video content that includes a plurality of video frames, the video content being addressed by a link on a static source image, the system comprising:

a receiver for receiving, from the decoder, a request for display of the video content on the television;

a retriever for retrieving the video content addressed by the link on the web page; and

a compositor for creating a sequence of composite video frames in response to the receiver receiving the request for display of the video content, wherein for each composite video frame, the compositor selects a frame type for the composite video frame based on the frame type of an encoded frame of the video content, and combines at least a portion of the static source image with the encoded frame of video content, the source image being encoded according to the selected frame type of the composite video frame.

18. A system according to claim 17, wherein the encoder encodes the source image with a portion of the source image removed and the compositor creates a series of video frames that includes the encoded video content inserted into the removed portion of the encoded webpage.

19. A system according to claim 18, wherein the encoder encodes the video content into an MPEG format.

20. A system according to claim 19, wherein the encoder can decode previously encoded video content.

21. A system according to claim 17, wherein the encoder encodes the video content as a series of MPEG frames.

22. A system according to claim 21, wherein the encoder encodes at least a portion of the sequence of video frames as one or more MPEG frames and the compositor combines the MPEG frames.

23. A system according to claim 17, wherein the selected frame type of each encoded video frame is I-frame or P-frame.

24. A system according to claim 23, wherein the video content comprises a plurality of video sources, each video source having a plurality of video frames, and each encoded video frame includes, from each of the plurality of video sources, at least a portion of a video frame, the method further comprising:

selecting the frame type of the encoded video frame to be I-frame if the frame type of each of the included portions is also I-frame.

25. A system according to claim 23, wherein the video content comprises a plurality of video sources, each video source having a plurality of video frames, and each encoded video frame includes, from each of the plurality of video sources, at least a portion of a video frame, the method further comprising:

selecting the frame type of the encoded video frame to be P-frame if the frame type of at least one of the included portions is also P-frame.

26. A system according to claim 17, wherein selecting the frame type includes selecting based on the encoding type of one or more macroblocks of the portion of the frame.