Embedding Interactive Objects into a Video Session

• US 20150326925A1
• Filed: 05/06/2014
• Published: 11/12/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2014
• 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: Ozkan, Mehmet
• Granted Patent: US 10,638,194 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0243 Comparative campaigns
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23412 for generating or manipulating the scene composition of objects, e.g. MPEG-4 objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4314 for fitting data in a restricted space on the screen, e.g. EPG data in a rectangular grid
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/458 Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/466 Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies services using the results of monitoring in broadcast systems H04H60/61
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47205 for manipulating displayed content, e.g. interacting with MPEG-4 objects, editing locally
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4725 using interactive regions of the image, e.g. hot spots details of information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8547 involving timestamps for synchronizing content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/858 Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot

Abstract

A method includes receiving, at a media device, overlay data associated with media content. The overlay data includes information indicating a time and a position at which a particular object is represented within the media content, and the overlay data includes information associating the particular object with supplemental information. The method further includes, during playback of the media content, receiving user input at the media device, and, responsive to the user input, generating an overlay display based on the overlay data, where the overlay display causes the particular object to be highlighted in a display of the media content.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a media device, overlay data associated with media content, wherein the overlay data includes information indicating a time and a position at which a particular object is represented within the media content, and wherein the overlay data includes information associating the particular object with supplemental information;

during playback of the media content, receiving user input at the media device; and

responsive to the user input, generating an overlay display based on the overlay data, wherein the overlay display causes the particular object to be highlighted in a display of the media content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the overlay data is received during playback of the media content.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the overlay data is received as an overlay file that includes a first overlay entry associated with a particular object represented in the media content and a second overlay entry corresponding to a particular display format of the media content.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the overlay display includes an icon corresponding to a social network interaction, wherein selection of the icon causes an update to be sent to a social network associated with a user of the media device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the user input indicates movement of a remote control device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the user input corresponds to a pointer control input, and further comprising determining a position in the display of a pointer based on the pointer control input, wherein the particular object is highlighted when the pointer is determined to be within a bounding box defined by the overlay data, and wherein the bounding box is specified by the overlay data.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining a hover duration indicating how long the pointer is within the bounding box; and

when the hover duration satisfies a threshold, modifying the overlay display to include user selectable options associated with the particular object.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the overlay display includes a description of the particular object, a first selectable option to display additional information related to the particular object, a second selectable option to conduct a transaction related to the particular object, or a combination thereof.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the supplemental information includes a communication address of an advertiser.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the media content corresponds to video on demand content, content stored at a memory device coupled to the media device, or a combination thereof.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the overlay display is generated by:

determining, from the overlay data, an action identifier associated with the particular object;

sending the action identifier to a remote server; and

receiving display information from the remote server, wherein the overlay display is generated based on the display information.

12. A media device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory accessible to the processor, the memory storing instructions that are executable by the processor to cause the processor to;

receive overlay data associated with media content, wherein the overlay data includes information indicating a time and a position at which a particular object is represented within the media content, and wherein the overlay data includes information associating the particular object with supplemental information;

during playback of the media content, receive user input; and

responsive to the user input, generate an overlay display based on the overlay data, wherein the overlay display causes the particular object to be highlighted in a display of the media content.

13. The media device of claim 12, further comprising a wireless sensor, wherein the user input is received, via the wireless sensor, as a signal from a remote control device, and wherein the signal indicates movement of the remote control device.

14. The media device of claim 12, wherein the overlay data is received as an overlay file that includes a plurality of overlay entries, each overlay entry of the plurality of overlay entries associated with a corresponding object represented in the media content, and wherein the instructions further cause the processor to store the overlay file in the memory.

15. The media device of claim 14, wherein each overlay entry of the plurality of overlay entries includes information describing the corresponding object, information defining a bounding box associated with the corresponding object, information defining a time in the media content at which the corresponding object is represented, a pointer to additional information related to the corresponding object, or a combination thereof.

16. The media device of claim 14, wherein the overlay file includes overlay entries corresponding to a plurality of distinct versions of the media content, wherein the plurality of distinct versions of the media content have different display formats.

17. The media device of claim 12, wherein the overlay data is received after playback of the media content begins.

18. The media device of claim 12, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

while the overlay display is presented at a display device, automatically pause playback of the media content and store, at the memory, media data associated with portions of the media content that have not yet been provided to the display device; and

when presentation of the overlay display ceases, automatically resume playback of the media content using the media data stored at the memory.

19. A computer-readable storage device storing instructions that are executable by a processor to cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at a media device, overlay data associated with media content, wherein the overlay data includes information indicating a time and a position at which a particular object is represented within the media content, and wherein the overlay data includes information associating the particular object with supplemental information;

during playback of the media content, receiving user input at the media device; and

responsive to the user input, generating an overlay display based on the overlay data, wherein the overlay display causes the particular object to be highlighted in a display of the media content.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 19, wherein the overlay display includes a description of the particular object, a first selectable option to display additional information related to the particular object, a second selectable option to conduct a transaction related to the particular object, or a combination thereof.