Synchronized presentation of television programming and web content
First Claim
1. A method of accessing information over a computer network, comprising the steps of:
- receiving at least one network information identifier transmitted with a television signal;
supplying the network information identifier to a device which utilizes the network information identifier to automatically retrieve information over the network, such that the retrieved information is displayed to a viewer in conjunction with related programming in the television signal; and
allowing the viewer to select continued display of currently-displayed retrieved information corresponding to a particular network information identifier, wherein selection of continued display of the currently-display retrieved information automatically interrupts display of additional retrieved information corresponding to at least one subsequently received network information identifier.
12 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) or other network information identifiers are transmitted with television signals in order to permit web content to be displayed in synchronization with television programming. In an illustrative embodiment, URLs are embedded in a closed caption portion of a transmitted television signal, and delimited from the closed caption text using predetermined delimiting characters. A decoder extracts the URLs from the television signal, and supplies the URLs to a retrieval device which automatically retrieves corresponding web pages or other similar information over a network. The retrieved web pages are then displayed to a viewer in synchronization with related programming in the television signal. The retrieval device may be a set-top box associated with a television set that displays both a retrieved web page and the corresponding television picture portion of the television signal. Alternatively, the retrieval device may be a computer which retrieves and displays a web page, while the corresponding television picture is displayed on a television set.
407 Citations
35 Claims
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1. A method of accessing information over a computer network, comprising the steps of:
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receiving at least one network information identifier transmitted with a television signal; supplying the network information identifier to a device which utilizes the network information identifier to automatically retrieve information over the network, such that the retrieved information is displayed to a viewer in conjunction with related programming in the television signal; and allowing the viewer to select continued display of currently-displayed retrieved information corresponding to a particular network information identifier, wherein selection of continued display of the currently-display retrieved information automatically interrupts display of additional retrieved information corresponding to at least one subsequently received network information identifier. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An apparatus for accessing information over a computer network, comprising:
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a decoder for processing at least one network information identifier transmitted with a television signal; and a display device coupled to an output of the decoder and receiving at least a portion of the television signal therefrom, wherein the network information identifier is utilized to automatically retrieve information over the network, such that the recieved information is displayed to a viewer in conjunction with a display on the display device of related programs in the television signal, and the viewer is permitted to select continued display of currently-displayed retrieved information corresponding to a particular network information indentifier, and wherein selection of continued display of the currently-displayed retrieved information automatically interrupts display of additional retrieved information corresponding to at least one subsequently-received network information identifier. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. An apparatus for accessing information over a computer network, comprising:
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means for receiving at least one network information identifier transmitted with a television signal; means for supplying the network information identifier to a device which utilizes the network information identifier to automatically retrieve information over the network, such that the retrieved information is displayed to a viewer in conjunction with related programming in the television signal; and means for allowing the viewer to select continued display of currently-displayed retrieved information corresponding to a particular network information identifier, wherein selection of a continued display of the currently-displayed retrieved information automatically interrupts display of additional retrieved information corresponding to at least one subsequently-received network information identifier.
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31. An apparatus for accessing information over a computer network, comprising:
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means for processing at least one network information identifier transmitted with a television signal, such that the network information identifier is utilized to automatically retrieve information over the network; and means for displaying the retrieved information to a viewer in conjunction with related programming in the television signal, such that the viewer is permitted to select continued display of currently-displayed retrieved information corresponding to a particular network information identifier, wherein selection of continued currently-displayed retrieved information automatically interrupts display of additional retrieved information corresponding to at least one subsequently-received network information identifier.
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32. A method of accessing information over a computer network, comprising the steps of:
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receiving a sequence of network information identifiers transmitted with a television signal; supplying the network information identifiers to a device which utilizes the network information identifiers to retrieve information over the network, such that the retrieved information is displayed to a viewer in synchronization with related programming in the television signal; and allowing the viewer to select continued display of currently-displayed retrieved information corresponding to a particular network information identifier, wherein selection of continued display of the currently-displayed retrieved information automatically interrupts display of additional retrieved information corresponding to at least one subsequently-received network information identifier.
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33. An apparatus for accessing information over a computer network, comprising:
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a receiver for receiving a sequence of network information identifiers transmitted with a television signal; and a display for displaying network information retrieved using the network identifiers, wherein the retrieved information is displayed to a viewer in synchronization with related programming the television signal, and the viewer is permitted to select continued display of currently-display retrieved information corresponding to a particular network information identifier, and further wherein selection of continued display of the currently-displayed retrieved information automatically interrupts display of additional retrieved information corresponding to at least one subsequently-received network information identifier.
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34. A method of accessing information over a computer network, comprising the steps of:
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receiving at least one network information identifier transmitted with a television signal; supplying the network information identifier to a device which utilizes the network information identifier to automatically retrieve information over the network, such that the retrieved information is displayed to a viewer in conjunction with related programming in the television signal; and preventing the retrieval and display of information corresponding to a particular network information identifier if the particular network information identifier has a designated predetermined form.
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35. An apparatus for accessing information over a computer network, comprising:
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a decoder for processing at least one network information identifier transmitted with a television signal; and a display device coupled to an output of the decoder and receiving at least a portion of the television signal therefrom, wherein the network information identifier is utilized to automatically retrieve information over the network, such that the retrieved information is displayed to a viewer in conjunction with a display on the display device of related programming in the television signal, and wherein the decoder prevents the retrieval and display of information corresponding to a particular network information identifier if the particular network information identifier has a designated predetermined form.
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Specification