Method and apparatus to invoke a shopping ticker

• US 7,237,252 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2002
• Issued: 06/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: ARRIS Enterprises LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Digeo Incorporated (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Billmaier, James A.
• Primary Examiner(s): SALCE, JASON P
• Application Number:
  US10/186,286
• Publication Number:
  US 20040003406A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,825 Days
• Field of Search: 725/40, 725/42, 725/43, 725/51, 725/52, 725/60, 725/61, 725 32- 36, 725135-136, 725139-140, 715/716, 715/738, 715/774, 715744-746, 705 77- 80, 705/14, 705/16, 705 26- 27
• US Class Current: 725/43
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42204 User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4431 characterized by the use of Application Program Interface [API] libraries
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/478 Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47815 Electronic shopping payment schemes, payment architectures or payment protocols for electronic shopping systems G06Q20/12
• 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 shopping ticker can be invoked when the viewer presses a BUY button on a remote control while a television program is being shown. The television program, which can be a commercial, may not necessarily have an interactive commerce opportunity originally associated with it. However, instead of ignoring a signal sent from the remote control when the BUY button is pressed, the signal is processed to invoke the shopping ticker. The shopping ticker can include advertisements, links to e-commerce opportunities (including merchant web sites), product information, or other information that may be potentially useful to help initiate a transaction with the viewer, including context-sensitive shopping information that is related to the subject matter of the television program. A commerce opportunity is thus created in a situation where there originally would not have been such an opportunity and where the viewer'"'"'s remote control action would otherwise have been ignored.

Claims

1. A method performed by an interactive television system, the method comprising:

presenting a television program provided via a television program signal on a display screen;

receiving, after the television program has begun being presented on the display screen, a specifically-designated user command for making a purchase;

determining, in direct response to receiving the specifically-designated user command, whether an interactive commerce opportunity is explicitly provided for the television program; and

in response to said interactive commerce opportunity not being explicitly provided;

determining whether a context trigger has been previously received with the television program; and

in response to a context trigger having been previously received with the television program, superimposing a ticker over the presented television program, the ticker comprising a context-sensitive advertisement related to the television program, the advertisement being selected based on the context trigger.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving comprises detecting activation by a user of a specifically-designated button on a user input device for making a purchase while showing a full-screen presentation of a television program.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

in response to a shopping trigger having not been received with the television program, superimposing a ticker over the presented television program, the ticker comprising an advertisement that is not context-sensitive.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the button on the user input device comprises a BUY button.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the user command is specifically designated to initiate a purchase related to subject matter of the presented television program.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the context trigger comprises an ATVEF trigger.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the context trigger is received independent of electronic program guide data.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the context trigger is received within a vertical blanking interval of the television program.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising conducting a transaction with a user within the ticker, if the user responds to the advertisement in the ticker.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein superimposing a ticker comprises displaying a scrolling ticker in which the advertisement is scrolled into and out of a center-focus area.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein displaying a scrolling ticker comprises horizontally scrolling the advertisement within the ticker.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein displaying a scrolling ticker comprises vertically scrolling the advertisement within the ticker.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising initiating an interactive commerce opportunity in response to a second user command being received when the advertisement scrolls into the center-focus area.

14. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a machine-readable medium having instructions stored thereon to;

detect activation by a user of a specifically-designated button on a user input device for making a purchase while showing a full-screen presentation of a television program;

determine, in direct response to activation of said specifically-designated button, whether an interactive commerce opportunity is explicitly provided for the television program; and

in response to said interactive commerce opportunity not being explicitly provided;

determine whether a context trigger has been previously received with the television program; and

in response to a context trigger having been previously received with the television program, superimpose a ticker over the presented television program, the ticker comprising a context-sensitive advertisement selected based on the context trigger.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 14 wherein the context trigger comprises an ATVEF trigger.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 15 wherein the context trigger is received independent of electronic program guide data.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 14 wherein the specifically-designated button corresponds to a BUY button.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 14 wherein the machine-readable medium further includes instructions stored thereon to conduct a transaction within the ticker in response to the advertisement.

19. An apparatus, comprising:

a means for detecting activation by a user of a button on a user input device for making a purchase while showing a full-screen presentation of a television program;

a means for determining, in direct response to activation of said button, whether an interactive commerce opportunity is explicitly provided for the television program; and

a means for determining, in response to said interactive commerce opportunity not being explicitly provided, whether a context trigger has been previously received with the television program and, in response to a context trigger having been previously received with the television program, displaying a ticker in connection with the presented television program, the ticker comprising a context-sensitive advertisement selected using the context trigger.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising a means for selecting the advertisement to be in context with subject matter of the presented television program.

21. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the context trigger comprises an ATVEF trigger.

22. An apparatus for a video casting system, the apparatus comprising:

at least one communication interface to receive a signal having a television program;

an output section to display a presentation of the television program;

a wireless interface to detect activation of a specifically-designated button on a user input device to make a purchase during the presentation of the television program;

a storage medium coupled to the wireless interface to store a software program;

a processor, coupled to the storage medium and to the communication and wireless interfaces, to cooperate with the software program to determine, in direct response to activation of said specifically-designated button, whether an interactive commerce opportunity is explicitly provided for the television program; and

in response to said interactive commerce opportunity not being explicitly provided;

determine whether a context trigger has been previously received with the television program; and

in response to a context trigger having been previously received with the television program, display a ticker on the presented television program, the ticker comprising a context-sensitive advertisement selected based on the context trigger.

23. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein the software program includes a ticker software program having:

a ticker user interface (UI) to present the advertisement within the ticker;

a ticker application program interface (API) in communication with the ticker UI to control presentation of the advertisement by the ticker UI; and

an advertisement application in communication with the ticker API to select and provide the advertisement to the ticker API.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the advertisement application includes code to select the advertisement to be context-sensitive to subject matter of the television program.

25. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein the specifically-designated button comprises a BUY button.

26. A video casting system, comprising:

a source of ticker data; and

an apparatus coupled to the source, the apparatus including;

at least one communication interface to receive a signal having a television program;

an output section to display a presentation of the television program;

a wireless interface to receive a user command during the presentation of the television program;

a storage medium coupled to the wireless interface to store a software program;

a processor, coupled to the storage medium and to the communication and wireless interfaces, to cooperate with the software program to determine, in direct response to activation of said user command, whether an interactive commerce opportunity is explicitly provided for the television program in response to the user command; and

in response to said interactive commerce opportunity not being explicitly provided, superimpose a ticker over the presented television program, the ticker comprising a context-sensitive advertisement selected based on a previously-received context trigger.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein the software program includes code to select the advertisement to be in context with subject matter of the television program.

28. The system of claim 26 wherein the specifically-designated button comprises a BUY button.

29. The system of claim 26 wherein the context trigger comprises an ATVEF trigger.

30. A method usable in a video casting system, the method comprising:

receiving a signal having a television program and showing a full-screen presentation of the television program on a display screen,

wherein the display screen comprises at least a part of a television for the video casting system,

wherein a client terminal for the television is coupled to the display screen,

wherein the video casting system includes a plurality of sources, which provide ticker data for a ticker capable of being rendered on the display screen, the plurality of sources being communicatively coupled to a plurality of broadcast centers,

wherein at least one of the broadcast centers is coupled to a server capable to provide the ticker data from the sources to the client terminal, and

wherein the video casting system is capable to provide the ticker data to the client terminal via different communication channels, including at least one of a plurality of television broadcast channels, an out-of-band channel, and a communication channel with a communication network;

receiving a user command at the client terminal;

detecting activation by a user during the presentation of the television program of a specifically-designated button on a user input device for making a purchase;

determining, in direct response to said activation, whether an interactive commerce opportunity is explicitly provided for the television program; and

in response to said interactive commerce opportunity not being explicitly provided, superimposing a scrolling ticker over the presented television program, the ticker comprising a context-sensitive advertisement that is horizontally or vertically scrolled through a center-focus area of the ticker.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising selecting the advertisement in the ticker to be context-sensitive to subject matter of the television program.

32. The method of claim 30 wherein the specifically-designated button comprises a BUY button.

33. A video casting system, comprising:

a source of ticker data including;

a feed server to receive a plurality of feeds of ticker data and having a feed engine to manipulate the ticker data received from the feeds;

a production server coupled to the feed server to receive the ticker data manipulated by the feed engine, and coupled to a database having tables for the manipulated ticker data received from the feed server, the production server being capable to change a format of the manipulated ticker data to a format compatible with client terminals configured to present a screen interface on a display screen; and

a distribution server to send the manipulated ticker data having the format compatible with the client terminals; and

an apparatus coupled to the distribution server of the source, the apparatus including;

at least one communication interface to receive a signal having a television program;

an output section to display a full-screen presentation of the television program;

a wireless interface to receive a user command during said full-screen presentation of the television program;

a storage medium coupled to the wireless interface to store a software program;

a processor, coupled to the storage medium and to the communication and wireless interfaces, to cooperate with the software program to determine, in direct response to said user command, whether an interactive commerce opportunity is explicitly provided for the user command in the television program and, in response to said interactive commerce opportunity not being explicitly provided, determine whether a context trigger has been previously received with the television program and, in response to a context trigger having been previously received with the television program, superimpose a ticker over the presented television program, the ticker comprising a context-sensitive advertisement selected based on the context trigger.

34. The system of claim 33 wherein the source of ticker data comprises part of a satellite television delivery system.

35. The system of claim 33 wherein the specifically-designated button comprises a BUY button.

36. The system of claim 33 wherein the software program comprises part of an operating system of the apparatus, the software program including code related to operation of the ticker.

37. The system of claim 33 wherein the television program comprises a television commercial.