Interactive multimedia presentation and communications system

• US 5,191,410 A
• Filed: 02/05/1991
• Issued: 03/02/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/1987
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: TVWorks LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Telaction Corporation
• Inventors: McCalley, Karl W., Fischer, James L., Wilson, Steven D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dwyer, James L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chan, Wing F.
• Application Number:
  US07/652,238
• Time in Patent Office: 756 Days
• Field of Search: 379/96, 379/102, 379/104, 379/105, 358/85, 358/86, 455/5
• US Class Current: 725/114
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/085 using a television receiver, e.g. viewdata system
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/2179 Interfaces allowing access to a plurality of users, e.g. connection to electronic image libraries
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/21 Server components or server architectures
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23 Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4755 for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306
• 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 is provided for interactively and selectively communicating particular multimedia presentations to each of a plurality of subscribers along a CATV cable network. The subscriber communicates his selections, both for viewing particular presentations from a menu and for transactions with respect to the information and products being viewed, by entering codes on his Touch-Tone telephone pad. Subscriber input signals are communicated as digital signals through the intercommunications network and response signals are generated, ultimately as analog TV signals for viewing by the subscriber.

Claims

1. An interactive multimedia presentation and communications system concurrently accessible to a plurality of subscribers wherein each of said plurality of subscribers may input his choice of a particular multimedia presentation for viewing on a television set from a plurality of such presentations available on the system, each of said plurality of presentations generally including a sequence of video images, accompanying audio, and a menu of options related to said presentation, and in response to viewing said presentation, may input at least one option to perform transactions related to said presentation or may choose another particular presentation for viewing on said television set comprising:

a) computing means for preparing, storing, processing and transmitting digital data related to said plurality of multimedia presentations and to the performance of said transactions, and which, in response to input from the subscriber performs said transactions or retrieves and processes digital data related to said particular multimedia presentation;

b) input means available to each of said plurality of subscribers for communicating with said computing means;

c) signal processing means for receiving, storing and processing digital data related to said particular multimedia presentations that have been chosen and for converting said digital data into analog TV signals and transmitting said analog TV signals to said television set of each of said plurality of subscribers who have chosen said particular multimedia presentations; and

d) signal transmission means for transmitting digital data from said computing means to said signal processing means.

2. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 1 wherein said input means comprises a telephone.

3. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 2 wherein said input means further comprises in addition to said telephone a local access point at which signals from a plurality of telephones are combined and transmitted to said computing means along a telephone line.

4. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 1 wherein said computing means comprises a plurality of computers to form a distributed processing architecture.

5. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 1 wherein said signal transmission means comprises a transmitter capable of transmitting said digital data along a CATV cable network.

6. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 1 wherein said signal processing means comprises a transmitter capable of transmitting said analog TV signals along a CATV cable network.

7. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 1 wherein said computing means further comprises a plurality of local operating centers which can communicate with each other, each of which includes a plurality of computers to form a distributed processing architecture.

8. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 7 which further comprises a regional operating center including a plurality of computers to form a distributed processing architecture, said regional operating center capable of storing all data pertaining to its geographical region and capable of communicating with said plurality of local operating centers.

9. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 7 wherein data which is not present at one of said plurality of local operating centers may be imported, upon demand by said subscribers, from others of said plurality of local operating centers.

10. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 8 wherein data which is not present at said plurality of local operating centers may be imported from said regional operating center upon demand from said subscribers.

11. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 1 wherein said sequence of video images includes still frame video, predetermined images for displaying fixed motion video, and real time live motion video.

12. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 1 which further comprises a consumer service center capable of communicating with said computing means and said plurality of subscribers, from which each of said subscribers may be provided assistance.

13. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 1 which further comprises a client network services facility capable of communicating with said computing means to permit interchange of information between said computing means and commercial clients who have placed said multimedia presentations on said system.

14. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 1 which further comprises a store manager facility capable of communicating with said computing means, and including a production facility which permits commercial clients to prepare, store and edit said multimedia presentations on said system.

15. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 1 wherein said multimedia presentations are tailored to particular markets based upon market and demographic data supplied to the system, and wherein said computing means utilizes said demographic and market data to determine which of said plurality of multimedia presentations may be selected by one of said plurality of subscribers.

16. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 1 wherein said plurality of multimedia presentations relate to products and services available from commercial clients, and wherein viewing of said selected multimedia presentations and performance of said transactions permits each of said plurality of subscribers to individually shop for, select, and purchase said products and services.

17. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 1 wherein said input communicated to said computing means via said input means are transmitted from said computing means to said television of said subscriber who has entered said input, to provide a feedback indication that said input has been properly received by said computing means.

18. An interactive multimedia presentation and communications system accessible to a plurality of subscribers wherein each of said plurality of subscribers may input a selection of a particular multimedia presentation for viewing on a television set from a plurality of such presentations available on the system, each of said plurality of presentations generally including a sequence of video images, accompanying audio, and a menu of choices related to said presentation, and in response to viewing said presentation, may input at least one of said choices to perform transactions related to said presentation and to select another particular presentation for viewing on said television set comprising:

a) one or more local operating centers for preparing, storing and processing digital data related to said plurality of multimedia presentations and to the performance of said transactions, each of said local operating centers including a plurality of computers, a bus system for interconnecting said computers to form a distributed processing architecture, a plurality of processes executable by said computers which implement said transactions and enable said preparing, storing and processing of said digital data and which are capable of being executed by said computers in response to said input;

b) a telephone input means available to each of said subscribers for communicating with one of said local operating centers;

c) a plurality of presentation players, each presentation player connected to one of said operating centers and to a group of subscribers, and including means capable of receiving, storing and further processing digital data into analog TV signals and means for transmitting said analog TV signals to said television set of said one of said group of subscribers who has selected said particular presentation; and

d) signal transmission means for transmitting digital data from each of said local operating centers to said plurality of presentation players connected thereto.

19. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 18 wherein said telephone input means comprises a Touch-Tone telephone keypad.

20. The interactive multimedia presentation and communication system of claim 19 wherein said telephone input means further comprises, in addition to said Touch-Tone telephone keypad, a local access point at which signals from a plurality of telephones are combined and transmitted to said local operating center along a telephone line.

21. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 18 wherein said plurality of computers comprises a plurality of single-board computers.

22. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 18 wherein said signal transmission means comprises a transmitter capable of transmitting said digital data along a CATV cable network.

23. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 18 wherein each of said plurality of presentation players is capable of transmitting said analog TV signals along a CATV cable network to said television set of said one of said group of subscribers connected thereto who has selected said particular presentation.

24. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 18 wherein each of said local operating centers is capable of communicating with others of said local operating centers, and can import data demanded by subscribers from said others of said local operating centers.

25. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 18 which further comprises a regional operating center including a plurality of computers, to form a distributed processing architecture, said regional operating center capable of storing in digital format all data pertaining to its geographical region, and being further capable of communicating with each of said local operating centers, and transferring data which has been demanded by subscribers to ones of said local operating centers who request said data.

26. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 18 wherein each of said local operating centers further comprises a plurality of chassis, each of said chassis including a plurality of slots which accommodate said computers.

27. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 18, wherein said plurality of processes are dynamically distributed among said plurality of computers for execution on said plurality of computers in response to varying computing demands placed on said local operating center.

28. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 18 wherein one of said processes that may be executed on said plurality of computers comprising one of said local operating centers is a log-on server process wherein said log-on server process executing on said plurality of computers provides each of said subscribers with access to said local operating center.

29. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 18 wherein one of said processes that may be executed on said computers is a session server said session server process executing on said computers is assigned to each of said subscribers who log into said system, and which, in response to said subscriber'"'"'s selections, provides means for said subscriber to navigate through said system to obtain desired multimedia presentations, retrieve digital data representative of said presentations, and obtain the services of others of said processes as required by said subscriber.

30. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 18 wherein said sequence of video images includes still-frame video, predetermined images for displaying fixed-motion video, and real-time live-motion video.

31. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 18 wherein said plurality of multimedia presentations relate to products and services available from commercial clients, and wherein viewing of said selected multimedia presentations and performance of said transactions permits each of said plurality of subscribers to individually shop for, select, and purchase said products and services.

32. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 21 in which each of said local operating centers further comprises at least one modem, each of said modems connected to one of said single board computers to provide a telephone communications link.

33. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 21 wherein each of said local operating centers further comprises at least one gateway device, each gateway device interfaced to one of said single-board computers to provide an external communications link to other computing systems.

34. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 21 wherein each of said local operating centers further comprise a digital data storage facility including at least one first set of peripherals having a disk drive and a disk drive controller, each first set of peripherals interfaced to one of said plurality of single-board computers.

35. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 21 wherein each of said local operating centers further comprises at least one second set of peripherals including a multiplexer and a modulator, each second set of peripherals interfaced to one of said plurality of single-board computers and to said signal transmission means.

36. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 26 wherein each of said chassis provides an industry standard system bus for transferring data between said computers on the same chassis.

37. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 36 wherein the industry standard system bus further comprises an industry standard Multibus II system bus.

38. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 26 wherein communications between each of said plurality of computers comprised within said plurality of chassis is provided by a second industry standard system bus.

39. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 38 wherein said second industry standard system bus comprises an industry standard Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) bus to provide communications between each of said plurality of computers comprised within said plurality of chassis.

40. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 26 wherein each of said local operating centers further comprises a plurality of communications interfaces connected between ones of said plurality of single-board computers which are on different chassis, to provide communications between said plurality of single board computers comprised within a plurality of said chassis.

41. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 32 wherein one of said processes which said single-board computers interfaced to said modem are capable of executing a voice network server process, said single board computers executing said voice network server process communicating via said modem with said telephone input means available to each of said subscribers whereby said single board computers executing said voice network server process can acquire and process said selections entered via said telephone input means.

42. The interactive multimedia presentation and communication system of claim 34 wherein one of said processes which said single-board computers that comprise said digital data storage facility are capable of executing is a volume manager server, whereby said single board computers executing said volume manager server process provide read and write access to all of said digital data stored in said digital data storage facility to others of said processes which request said data.

43. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 35 wherein one said processes which said single-board computers that are interfaced to said second set of peripherals are capable of executing is a channel server whereby said single board computers executing said channel server process provide data related to said multimedia presentations to said signal transmission means for transmission to a CATV headend which transmits said data along its CATV distribution network to said plurality of presentation players connected thereto.

44. An interactive shopping system accessible to a plurality of subscribers on a CATV cable network, wherein each of said plurality of subscribers may input a selection for viewing on a television set a particular multimedia presentation from a plurality of such presentations available on the system, each of said plurality of presentations depicting products or services and generally including a sequence of video images, accompanying audio, and a menu of choices related to said products or services, and in response to viewing said presentation, may input at least one of said choices to perform shopping transactions related to the purchase of said products or services, and to select another particular presentation depicting other products or services for viewing on said television set comprising:

a) one or more local operating centers each of which includes means for preparing, storing and processing digital data related to said plurality of multimedia presentations and to the performance of said shopping transactions, each of said local operating centers further having a plurality of computers, a bus system for interconnecting said computers to form a distributed processing architecture, a plurality of processes executable by said computers which implement said transactions and enable said preparing, storing and processing of said digital data to simulate the environment of an electronic mall and which are capable of being executed by said computers in response to said selections;

b) an input means available to each of said subscribers for communicating with one of said local operating centers;

c) a plurality of presentation players, each presentation player connected along a CATV cable network to one of said operating centers and to a group of subscribers, and including means capable of receiving, storing and further processing digital data related to said particular multimedia presentation that has been selected by one of said group of subscribers, and further means for converting said digital data into analog TV signals and means for transmitting said analog TV signals along said cable distribution network to said television set of said one of said group of subscribers who has selected said particular presentation; and

d) signal transmission means for transmitting digital data from each of said local operating centers along said CATV distribution network to said plurality of presentation players connected thereto.

45. The interactive shopping system of claim 44 wherein said multimedia presentations are tailored to particular markets, and wherein demographic information available to said local operating center about each of said subscribers is used to define and limit the plurality of multimedia presentations which each of said subscribers may select.

46. The interactive shopping system of claim 44 wherein said sequence of video images includes still-frame video, predetermined images for displaying fixed-motion video, and real-time live-motion video.

47. The interactive shopping system of claim 44 which further comprises a consumer service center capable of communicating with said local operating centers and said plurality of subscribers, from which subscribers may request assistance.

48. The interactive shopping system of claim 47 wherein a consumer service representative at said consumer service center can view the same multimedia presentation that is being viewed by one of said subscribers requesting assistance.

49. The interactive shopping system of claim 48 wherein said subscriber requesting assistance can view a real-time live-motion video of said consumer service representative.

50. The interactive shopping system of claim 44 which further comprises a client network services facility capable of communicating with said local operating centers to permit interchange of information between said local operating centers and commericial clients who have placed said multimedia presentations on said system.

51. The interactive shopping system of claim 44 which further comprises a store manager facility capable of communicating with said local operating centers, and including a production facility which permits commercial clients to prepare, store and edit said multimedia presentations on said system.

52. The interactive shopping system of claim 44 wherein each of said local operating centers is capable of communicating with others of said local operating centers, and can import data demanded by subscribers from said others of said local operating centers.

53. The interactive shopping system of claim 44 which further comprises a regional operating center including a plurality of computers to form a distributive processing architecture, said regional operating center capable of storing in digital format all data pertaining to its geographical region, and being further capable of communicating with each of said local operating centers and transferring upon demand by subscribers to ones of said local operating centers who request said data.