Provision of Alternate Content in Response to QR Code

• US 20120138671A1
• Filed: 12/03/2010
• Published: 06/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Dish Network Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Echostar Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Schaefer, Germar, Gaede, Jason
• Granted Patent: US 9,280,515 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/375
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9554 by using bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/236 Assembling of a multiplex stream, e.g. transport stream, by combining a video stream with other content or additional data, e.g. inserting a URL [Uniform Resource Locator] into a video stream, multiplexing software data into a video stream; Remultiplexing of multiplex streams; Insertion of stuffing bits into the multiplex stream, e.g. to obtain a constant bit-rate; Assembling of a packetised elementary stream multiplexing of data packets for data networks, e.g. RTP/UDP H04L65/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2665 Gathering content from different sources, e.g. Internet and satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4223 Cameras H04N23/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6581 Reference data, e.g. a movie identifier for ordering a movie or a product identifier in a home shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8126 involving additional data, e.g. news, sports, stocks, weather forecasts
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8352 involving content or source identification data, e.g. Unique Material Identifier [UMID]

Abstract

A party that is not the source or originator of a QR code is enabled to provide a consumer a selection of related alternate content rather than content identified in the QR code. A method is implemented on a computer system to receive additional content information represented by a QR code extracted by a consumer'"'"'s QR reader device from a media presentation containing the QR code. The QR code is generated by a source of the media presentation. A location of alternate content from a captive environment related to the additional content information is identified. The location of the alternate content may be identified based upon the decoded information from the QR code. The location of the alternate content is transmitted to the QR reader device.

Claims

1. A method implemented on a computer system comprising

receiving additional content information represented by a QR code extracted by a QR reader device from a media presentation containing the QR code, wherein the QR code is generated by a source of the media presentation;

identifying a location of alternate content from a captive environment related to the additional content information; and

transmitting the location of the alternate content to the QR reader device.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising

determining whether the additional content information comprises the QR code and, if so,

decoding the QR code to aid in the identifying operation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying operation further comprises

searching a directory of available alternate content to determine an affinity between the additional content information and the available alternate content;

selecting alternate content from the available alternate content having a highest affinity with the additional content information; and

returning a location identifier associated with the selected alternate content as the location.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional content information comprises an address location for additional content related to the media presentation provided by the source of the media presentation.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising accessing the address location for the additional content to collect data about the additional content to inform the identifying operation.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising

determining whether the alternate content related to the QR code information is available locally and, if so,

transmitting the alternate content to the QR reader device in lieu of transmitting the location.

7. A computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions for performing a computer process stored in a non-transitory storage medium, wherein the instructions comprise operations to

receive additional content information represented by a QR code extracted by a QR reader device from a media presentation containing the QR code, wherein the QR code is generated by a source of the media presentation;

identify a location of alternate content from a captive environment related to the additional content information; and

transmit the location of the alternate content to the QR reader device.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the instructions further comprise operations to

determine whether the additional content information comprises the QR code and, if so,

decode the QR code to aid in the identifying operation.

9. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the instructions providing the identifying operation further comprise operations to

search a directory of available alternate content to determine an affinity between the additional content information and the available alternate content;

select alternate content from the available alternate content having a highest affinity with the additional content information; and

return a location identifier associated with the selected alternate content as the location.

10. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein

the additional content information comprises an address location for additional content related to the media presentation provided by the source of the media presentation;

and

the instructions further comprise an operation to access the address location for the additional content to collect data about the additional content to inform the identifying operation.

11. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the instructions further comprise operations to

determine whether the alternate content related to the QR code information is available locally and, if so,

transmit the alternate content to the QR reader device in lieu of transmitting the location.

12. A method implemented on a computer system comprising

generating a QR code corresponding to a location identifier for additional content stored within a captive environment, wherein the additional content is related to a media presentation created by a third party source;

transmitting the QR code in conjunction with a transmission of the media presentation;

receiving a request for the additional content from a consumer device;

transmitting the additional content to the consumer device.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising combining the QR code within the media presentation.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the additional content comprises an address identifier of a location for accessing further additional content.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the first transmitting operation is incorporated within a television broadcast transmission

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the first transmitting operation is incorporated within a streaming media transmission over a telecommunication network

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the second transmitting operation further comprises transmitting a web page.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the consumer device is a QR code reader.

19. A computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions for performing a computer process stored in a non-transitory storage medium, wherein the instructions comprise operations to

transmit the QR code in conjunction with a transmission of the media presentation;

receive a request for the additional content from a consumer device; and

transmit the additional content to the consumer device.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the instructions further comprise operations to combine the QR code within the media presentation.