APPARATUS FOR ADAPTING A PRESENTATION OF MEDIA CONTENT ACCORDING TO A POSITION OF A VIEWING APPARATUS

• US 20150213576A1
• Filed: 04/08/2015
• Published: 07/30/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2010
• 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: Meuninck, Troy C., Bedingfield, James Carlton Sr., Brown, William A., DeLorme, David Brux, Morris, Nadia
• Granted Patent: US 9,830,680 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1423 controlling a plurality of local displays, e.g. CRT and flat panel display
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/20 Processor architectures; Processor configuration, e.g. pipelining
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/20 Linear translation of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. panning
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/18 Timing circuits for raster scan displays specially adapted for television H04N ; synchronisation between the display unit and other display units, videodisc player G09G5/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/282 for generating image signals corresponding to three or more geometrical viewpoints, e.g. multi-view systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/337 using polarisation multiplexing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/349 Multi-view displays for displaying three or more geometrical viewpoints without viewer tracking for viewing without the aid of special glasses using fly-eye lenses H04N13/307
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/356 having separate monoscopic and stereoscopic modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/368 for two or more viewers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/398 Synchronisation thereof; Control thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2013/405 the images being stereoscopic or three dimensional
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/422 Input-only peripherals , i.e. input devices connected to specially adapted client devices, e.g. global positioning system [GPS] input devices also receiving signals from specially adapted client devices H04N21/4104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4524 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer instructions to detect a first position of a viewing apparatus, wherein the viewing apparatus enables viewing of media programs, obtain a media program in a first viewing perspective that conforms to the first position, present the media program with the first viewing perspective for viewing by way of the viewing apparatus, and transmit to the viewing apparatus a first audio signal corresponding to the first viewing perspective. The storage medium can also have computer instructions to detect that the viewing apparatus has moved to a second position, obtain the media program in a second viewing perspective according to the second position, and present the media program with the second viewing perspective for viewing by way of the viewing apparatus. Other embodiments are disclosed and contemplated.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

obtaining, by a system comprising a processor, a first media program in a first viewing perspective that is based on a first position of a first viewing apparatus;

obtaining, by the system, a second media program in a second viewing perspective that is based on a second position of a second viewing apparatus;

detecting, by the system, whether the first viewing apparatus has moved to a third position based on third position information transmitted to the system by the first viewing apparatus;

obtaining, by the system, the first media program in a third viewing perspective that is based on the third position;

obtaining, by the system, a third recorded audio signal that has been recorded at a viewing perspective in accordance with the third viewing perspective;

directing, by the system, a presentation device to present the first media program in the third viewing perspective;

transmitting, by the system, to the first viewing apparatus the third recorded audio signal;

determining, by the system, whether the second media program is available in a fifth viewing perspective, wherein a fourth viewing perspective of the second media program is derivable from a combination of the second viewing perspective of the second media program and the fifth viewing perspective of the second media program;

interpolating, by the system, the second viewing perspective of the second media program and the fifth viewing perspective of the second media program to generate the fourth viewing perspective of the second media program;

obtaining, by the system, the fourth viewing perspective of the second media program that is generated; and

directing, by the system, the presentation device to present the second media program in the fourth viewing perspective.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

assigning, by the system, a first viewing apparatus to a first periodic time slot;

assigning, by the system, a second viewing apparatus to a second periodic time slot;

directing, by the system, a presentation device to present the first media program during the first periodic time slot; and

directing, by the system, the presentation device to present the second media program during the second periodic time slot.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first viewing apparatus enables viewing of the first media program during the first periodic time slot while preventing a viewing of the second media program during the second periodic time slot, and wherein the second viewing apparatus enables viewing of the first media program during the second periodic time slot while preventing a viewing of the second media program during the first periodic time slot.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, by the system, a first infrared light signal to the first viewing apparatus;

receiving, by the system, first position information from the first viewing apparatus, wherein the first position information is determined by the first viewing apparatus by capturing the first infrared light signal;

transmitting, by the system, a second infrared light signal to the second viewing apparatus; and

receiving, by the system, second position information from the second viewing apparatus, wherein the second position information is determined by the second viewing apparatus by capturing the second infrared light signal.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the system, a request from the second viewing apparatus for changing from the second viewing perspective to a fourth viewing perspective, wherein the request is generated by the second viewing apparatus responsive to a speech command received by the second viewing apparatus.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first media program and the second media program each include a plurality of viewing perspectives, and further comprising obtaining, by the system, the first viewing perspective and the second viewing perspective from the plurality of viewing perspectives included in each of the first media program and the second media program.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, by the system, the third position to a media system remote from the system, wherein the media system has access to a plurality of viewing perspectives; and

receiving, by the system, from the media system the first media program in the third viewing perspective without receiving other viewing perspectives of the plurality of viewing perspectives responsive to transmitting the third position to the media system.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, by the system, the first position and the second position to a media system remote from the system, wherein the media system has access to a plurality of recorded audio perspectives;

receiving, by the system, from the media system a first recorded audio signal in the first viewing perspective without receiving other recorded audio perspectives of the plurality of recorded audio perspectives; and

receiving, by the system, from the media system a second recorded audio signal in the second viewing perspective without receiving other recorded audio perspectives of the plurality of recorded audio perspectives.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

transmitting, by the system, the third position to the media system; and

receiving, by the system, from the media system the third recorded audio signal in the third viewing perspective without receiving other recorded audio perspectives of the plurality of recorded audio perspectives.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting, by a system, a change in position of each of the first viewing apparatus and the second viewing apparatus via an imaging sensor.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first viewing apparatus and the second viewing apparatus each comprise a location detector, and wherein each of the first viewing apparatus and the second viewing apparatus is operable to inform the system of the first position and the second position.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first media program and the second media program each comprise multi-dimensional images, wherein the system corresponds to a set-top box, and wherein each of the first viewing apparatus and the second viewing apparatus are selected from a group consisting of:

shutter glasses;

polarized glasses; and

a combination thereof.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first media program and the second media program comprise a single instance of media content viewed in different viewing perspectives by the first viewing apparatus and the second viewing apparatus, and wherein the first viewing perspective and the second viewing perspective correspond to two of a plurality of viewing angles of images associated with the first media program and the second media program.

14. A media processor, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

receiving, from a data source, a first, two-dimensional, stereoscopic stream in a first channel capable of transmitting two-dimensional, high definition data;

receiving, from the data source, a second, two-dimensional, stereoscopic stream in a second channel capable of transmitting two-dimensional, high definition data;

synchronizing the first, two-dimensional, stereoscopic stream and the second two-dimensional, stereoscopic stream;

determining whether a presentation device supports polarization or time-division multiplexing;

responsive to determining that the presentation device supports polarization;

directing the presentation device to transmit the first, two-dimensional, stereoscopic stream on a first polarized portion of the presentation device; and

directing the presentation device to transmit the second, two-dimensional, stereoscopic stream on a second polarized portion of the presentation device; and

responsive to determining that the presentation device supports time-division multiplexing;

submitting a synchronization signal to a rt;

directing the presentation device to transmit the first, two-dimensional, stereoscopic stream during first periodic time slots; and

directing the presentation device to transmit the second, two-dimensional, stereoscopic stream during second periodic time slots.

15. The media processor of claim 14, wherein the data source generates the first, two-dimensional, stereoscopic stream and the second, two-dimensional, stereoscopic stream from a three-dimensional media stream.

16. The media processor of claim 14, wherein the first polarized portion of the presentation device comprises odd rows of the presentation device and wherein the second polarized portion of the presentation device comprises even rows of the presentation device.

17. The media processor of claim 14, further comprising transmitting an audio signal associated with a three-dimensional media program to a viewing apparatus.

18. A viewing apparatus, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

transmitting position information for the viewing apparatus to a media processor;

receiving a first, two-dimensional, stereoscopic stream of a media program from a first polarized portion of a presentation device, wherein the media program is presented at the presentation device according to the position information;

receiving a second, two-dimensional, stereoscopic stream of the media program from a second polarized portion of the presentation device wherein the media program is presented at the presentation device according to the position information; and

presenting the first, two-dimensional, stereoscopic stream of a media program and the second, two-dimensional, stereoscopic stream of the media program as a combined, three-dimensional representation of the media program.

19. The viewing apparatus of claim 18, further comprising receiving an audio signal from the media processor according to the position information.

20. The viewing apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

capturing a light signal from the media processor; and

determining the position information according to the light signal.