SYNCHRONIZATION OF USER INTERACTIVE EVENTS WITH ON-SCREEN EVENTS DURING PLAYBACK OF MULTIMEDIA STREAM

• US 20150249846A1
• Filed: 04/27/2015
• Published: 09/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Klein, Craig Arthur, Harp, Gregory O., Rushing, James D.
• Application Number:
  US14/697,149
• Publication Number:
  US 20150249846A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/12 involving interaction between a plurality of game devices, e.g. transmisison or distribution systems protocols for networked virtual reality, networked games H04L29/06034
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/30 Interconnection arrangements between game servers and game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/338 using television networks
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/88 Mini-games executed independently while main games are being loaded
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/409 Data transfer via television network
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6036 for offering a minigame in combination with a main game
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2353 specifically adapted to content descriptors, e.g. coding, compressing or processing of metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/242 Synchronization processes, e.g. processing of PCR [Program Clock References] arrangements for synchronising broadcast or distribution via plural systems in broadcast distribution systems H04H20/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47205 for manipulating displayed content, e.g. interacting with MPEG-4 objects, editing locally
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6587 Control parameters, e.g. trick play commands, viewpoint selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8173 End-user applications, e.g. Web browser, game
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8455 involving pointers to the content, e.g. pointers to the I-frames of the video stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8547 involving timestamps for synchronizing content

Abstract

A method includes receiving, at a multimedia device, a data stream representing multimedia content, the data stream comprising first timing information for the multimedia content, and metadata representing interactive event information associated with the multimedia content, the metadata comprising second timing information for the interactive event information. During the playback of the multimedia content, a first user interactive event is identified that is associated with a first time point in the playback of the multimedia content based on the interactive event information, and the first user interactive event is performed concurrent with the first time point in the playback of the multimedia content.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

encoding, by a system comprising a processor, multimedia data representing multimedia content to provide a data stream to a recipient device, wherein the encoding comprises inserting a first plurality of timing indicators into the data stream,

identifying, by the system, a plurality of events in the multimedia content and a corresponding plurality of time points in the multimedia data;

determining, by the system, interactive event information for each of the plurality of events;

generating, by the system, metadata associated with the multimedia content, the metadata comprising the interactive event information and a second plurality of timing indicators for the respective time points,

wherein the first plurality of timing indicators are inserted at substantially equal intervals in the data stream, and

wherein the recipient device performs a first interactive event based on the interactive event information for the first interactive event, responsive to determining during playback of the multimedia content that the playback is approaching a first time point based on a first timing indicator of the second plurality of timing indicators.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising accessing the multimedia data from a storage component of the system.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the accessing and the encoding are performed responsive to a triggering event.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of timing indicators are inserted into respective headers of a plurality of packets of the data stream.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of timing indicators comprise relative time indicators referencing an elapsed time from a start of the playback of the multimedia content.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein performance of the first interactive event comprises a display of video content at a display device coupled to the recipient device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia content comprises a recording of a live activity.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein determining the interactive event information comprises obtaining measurement data relating to the activity.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of timing indicators and the second plurality of timing indicators are synchronized to coordinated universal time.

10. A server comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor, responsive to executing the instructions, performs operations comprising;

accessing multimedia data from a storage component coupled to the server;

encoding multimedia data representing multimedia content to provide a data stream to a media processor in communication with the server, wherein the encoding comprises inserting a first plurality of timing indicators into the data stream;

identifying a plurality of events in the multimedia content and a corresponding plurality of time points in the multimedia data;

determining interactive event information for each of the plurality of events;

generating metadata associated with the multimedia content, the metadata comprising the interactive event information and a second plurality of timing indicators for the respective time points,

wherein the first plurality of timing indicators are inserted into respective headers of a plurality of packets of the data stream at substantially equal intervals in the data stream,

wherein the media processor performs interactive events based on the interactive event information in conjunction with presenting the multimedia content, and

wherein the interactive events are synchronized to the events in the multimedia content during playback of the multimedia content based on the first plurality of timing indicators and the second plurality of timing indicators.

11. The server of claim 10, wherein the accessing and the encoding are performed responsive to a triggering event.

12. The server of claim 10, wherein the first plurality of timing indicators comprise relative time indicators referencing an elapsed time from a start of a playback of the multimedia content.

13. The server of claim 10, wherein performance of an interactive event comprises a display of video content at a display device coupled to the media processor.

14. The server of claim 10, wherein the multimedia content comprises a recording of a live activity.

15. The server of claim 14, wherein determining the interactive event information comprises obtaining measurement data relating to the activity.

16. A machine-readable storage device comprising instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

encoding multimedia data representing multimedia content to provide a data stream to a recipient device in communication with the processor, wherein the encoding comprises inserting a first plurality of timing indicators into the data stream;

identifying a plurality of events in the multimedia content and a corresponding plurality of time points in the multimedia data;

determining interactive event information for each of the plurality of events;

generating metadata associated with the multimedia content, the metadata comprising the interactive event information and a second plurality of timing indicators for the respective time points,

wherein the first plurality of timing indicators are inserted into respective headers of a plurality of packets of the data stream at substantially equal intervals in the data stream, and

wherein the recipient device performs interactive events based on the interactive event information in conjunction with presenting the multimedia content.

17. The machine-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise accessing the multimedia data from a storage component coupled to the processor.

18. The machine-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the first plurality of timing indicators comprise relative time indicators referencing an elapsed time from a start of a playback of the multimedia content.

19. The machine-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the multimedia content comprises a recording of a live activity.

20. The machine-readable storage device of claim 19, wherein determining the interactive event information comprises obtaining measurement data relating to the activity.