System and method for providing video content associated with a source image to a television in a communication network

• US 8,074,248 B2
• Filed: 10/25/2005
• Issued: 12/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: ACTIVEVIDEO NETWORKS, LLC
• Original Assignee: ActiveVideo Networks, Inc. (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Pavlovskaia, Lena, Landau, Airan, Sigmon, Robert B. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Koenig, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Leija, James
• Application Number:
  US11/258,601
• Publication Number:
  US 20070028288A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,233 Days
• Field of Search: 725/110, 725/112, 725/113, 725/136, 348/240.11, 348/240.25, 348/240.26
• US Class Current: 725/110
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/443 OS processes, e.g. booting an STB, implementing a Java virtual machine in an STB or power management in an STB
• 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 and method for providing video content associated with a source image to a television that is part of a communication network is provided. At least a portion of the source image and the video content are displayed on the television. A request at a content distribution platform in the communication network is received for display of the source image from a communication device associated with the television. In certain embodiments, the communication network is cable television network. In other embodiments, the communication network may be a television over IP network. The requested source image is retrieved by the content distribution platform. The source image is displayed on a user'"'"'s television, and the user may desire to have video content associated with a link displayed on the user'"'"'s television. A request for video content associated with the link is then received. The content distribution platform then retrieves the video content that is associated with the link. The video content is pre-encoded and may be, for example, an MPEG data file. The content distribution platform then composites the video content and at least a portion of the source image together. The data of the source image and the pre-encoded video content form a video stream that can be decoded by a decoder associated with the television. The composited video stream is then sent through the communication network to the communication device where it is decoded and displayed on the user'"'"'s television. In certain embodiments, the source image is a web page.

Claims

1. A method for processing video content including a plurality of video frames, the video content addressed by a link on a web page, for display of the video content and web page on a television, the television coupled to a communication network through a communication device, the method comprising:

receiving a request for display of the web page, from the communication device, at a content distribution platform in the communication network;

retrieving the web page;

locating on the web page at least one link to the video content;

retrieving the video content addressed by the link;

encoding the video content, in a format decodable by the communication device, prior to receiving a request for display of the video content from the communication device; and

upon receiving the request for display of the video content, forming a sequence of encoded video frames in a format decodable by the communication device, each encoded video frame being formed by compositing at least a portion of a frame of the encoded video content with at least a portion of the web page, wherein compositing includes selecting a frame type from a plurality of frame types based on the frame type of the portion of the frame and encoding the portion of the web page according to the selected frame type.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein a portion of the web page is removed and the compositor, when forming each encoded video frame, inserts the encoded video content at a location of the web page where the removed portion was located.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request to view the video content associated with the link.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

transmitting the composited sequence of encoded video frames through the communication network to the communication device that transmitted the request.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein at least a portion of the web page is encoded as an MPEG frame prior to compositing and after receiving the request for display of the video content.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein pre-encoding the video content includes compressing data of the video content.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the data of the video content is compressed using MPEG-based compression.

8. The method according to claim 7 wherein the video content is compressed as series of MPEG frames.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein retrieving the video content comprises:

searching a repository of video content for the requested content;

if the content is in the repository, determining whether the content is time-sensitive; and

if the content is time-sensitive, determining whether the content is the most recent version of the content.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein determining whether the content is the most recent version of the content includes comparing a timestamp associated with the video content in the repository to a timestamp of the video content associated with the link.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein retrieving the video content includes, if video content is the most recent version of the video content, retrieving the video content from the repository of video content.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein retrieving the video content includes, if the video content is not the most recent version of the video content, requesting the video content from a source associated with the link.

13. The method according to claim 9, wherein the repository of video content is located remotely from the content distribution platform.

14. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining a group of end users associated with the video content, each user in the group of end users having a communication device associated with a television.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the group of end users consists of a single user.

16. The method according to claim 14, wherein the group of end users is defined using a national boundary, a city boundary, or a circle having a given center and radius.

17. The method according to claim 1, wherein the selected frame type of each encoded video frame is I-frame or P-frame.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the video content comprises a plurality of video sources, each video source having a plurality of video frames, and each encoded video frame includes, from each of the plurality of video sources, at least a portion of a video frame, the method further comprising:

selecting the frame type of the encoded video frame to be I-frame if the frame type of each of the included portions is also I-frame.

19. The method according to claim 17, wherein the video content comprises a plurality of video sources, each video source having a plurality of video frames, and each encoded video frame includes, from each of the plurality of video sources, at least a portion of a video frame, the method further comprising:

selecting the frame type of the encoded video frame to be P-frame if the frame type of at least one of the included portions is also P-frame.

20. The method according to claim 1, wherein selecting the frame type includes selecting based on the encoding type of one or more macroblocks of the portion of the frame.

21. A system for providing video content including a plurality of video frames, the video content addressed by a link on a web page, to a decoder associated with a television for display, the system comprising:

a receiver for receiving a request for transmission of the web page wherein the web page has one or more links addressing video content, wherein the receiver subsequently receives a request for display of the video content addressed by the link;

a retriever for receiving the request from the receiver and retrieving the web page, and for retrieving video content addressed by the link on the web page;

an encoder for encoding the video content into a format decodable by the decoder, wherein the encoder is configured to begin encoding the video content prior to the receiver receiving the request for transmission of the video content, the encoder also being capable of encoding the web page according to a frame type;

a compositor for creating a sequence of composite video frames in response to the receiver receiving the request for display of the video content, wherein for each composite video frame the compositor selects a frame type for the composite video frame based on the frame type of an encoded frame of the video content, and combines at least a portion of the encoded web page with the encoded frame of video content, the web page being encoded according to the selected frame type of the composite video frame; and

a transmitter for transmitting via a communication network the encoded stream for display on a television associated with the requests.

22. The system according to claim 21, wherein the encoder encodes the web page with a portion of the web page removed and the compositor creates a series of video frames that includes the encoded video content inserted into the removed portion of the encoded webpage.

23. The system according to claim 22, wherein the encoder encodes the video content into an MPEG format.

24. The system according to claim 23 wherein the encoder can decode previously encoded video content.

25. The system according to claim 21 wherein the encoder encodes the video content as a series of MPEG frames.

26. The system according to claim 25 wherein the encoder encodes at least a portion of the sequence of video frames as one or more MPEG frames and the compositor combines the MPEG frames.

27. The method according to claim 21, wherein the selected frame type of each encoded video frame is I-frame or P-frame.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein the video content comprises a plurality of video sources, each video source having a plurality of video frames, and each encoded video frame includes, from each of the plurality of video sources, at least a portion of a video frame, the method further comprising:

selecting the frame type of the encoded video frame to be I-frame if the frame type of each of the included portions is also I-frame.

29. The method according to claim 27, wherein the video content comprises a plurality of video sources, each video source having a plurality of video frames, and each encoded video frame includes, from each of the plurality of video sources, at least a portion of a video frame, the method further comprising:

selecting the frame type of the encoded video frame to be P-frame if the frame type of at least one of the included portions is also P-frame.

30. The system according to claim 21, wherein selecting the frame type includes selecting based on the encoding type of one or more macroblocks of the portion of the frame.

31. A method for providing encoded video content associated with a link on a source image to a decoder associated with a television, the method comprising:

receiving a request for transmission of the video content, the encoded video content including a plurality of video frames;

retrieving the video content from the link;

creating a series of composite frames that can be decoded by the communication device, the composite frames forming a composite stream by compositing the encoded video content into the source image, wherein for each composite frame, at least a portion of the source image included in that frame is encoded according to a selected frame type of that frame˜

the frame type being selected from a plurality of frame types based on the frame type of a corresponding frame of the encoded video content; and

transmitting via a communication network the composite stream for display on a television associated with the request.

32. The method according to claim 31, wherein at least a portion of the source image is encoded in a MPEG format.

33. The method according to claim 32, wherein the video content is a series of MPEG frames.

34. The method according to claim 31, wherein the video content contains data representative of video images and data representative of an audio signal.

35. A method according to claim 31, wherein the source image is a web page.

36. The method according to claim 31, wherein the selected frame type of each encoded video frame is I-frame or P-frame.

37. The method according to claim 36, wherein the video content comprises a plurality of video sources, each video source having a plurality of video frames, and each encoded video frame includes, from each of the plurality of video sources, at least a portion of a video frame, the method further comprising:

selecting the frame type of the encoded video frame to be I-frame if the frame type of each of the included portions is also I-frame.

38. The method according to claim 36, wherein the video content comprises a plurality of video sources, each video source having a plurality of video frames, and each encoded video frame includes, from each of the plurality of video sources, at least a portion of a video frame, the method further comprising:

selecting the frame type of the encoded video frame to be P-frame if the frame type of at least one of the included portions is also P-frame.

39. The method according to claim 31, wherein selecting the frame type includes selecting based on the encoding type of one or more macroblocks of the portion of the frame.

40. A system for displaying video content as part of source image via a set-top box, wherein the set top box is capable of displaying the source image formatted according to a protocol, the system comprising:

an input for receiving a request addressed from a set-top box for video content including at least a plurality of video frames addressed on a source image;

an encoder for creating an encoded source image by encoding at least a portion of the source image in the protocol format according to a frame type;

a compositor for creating a composite video stream by selecting the encoding frame type from a plurality of frame types and splicing the encoded video content into the encoded source image according to the selected frame type, each frame of the composite video stream determining the frame type selected for encoding each frame of the source image; and

an output for sending the video stream to the set-top box requesting the video content.

41. A system according to claim 40, wherein the set-top box can display content in an MPEG format.

42. A system according to claim 41, wherein the video content is encoded as an MPEG video stream.

43. A system according to claim 40, wherein the video content is pre-encoded in an MPEG video format prior to receiving the request for video content.

44. A system according to claim 40, wherein the source image is a web page.

45. The method according to claim 40, wherein the selected frame type of each encoded video frame is I-frame or P-frame.

46. The method according to claim 45, wherein the video content comprises a plurality of video sources, each video source having a plurality of video frames, and each encoded video frame includes, from each of the plurality of video sources, at least a portion of a video frame, the method further comprising:

selecting the frame type of the encoded video frame to be I-frame if the frame type of each of the included portions is also I-frame.

47. The method according to claim 45, wherein the video content comprises a plurality of video sources, each video source having a plurality of video frames, and each encoded video frame includes, from each of the plurality of video sources, at least a portion of a video frame, the method further comprising:

selecting the frame type of the encoded video frame to be P-frame if the frame type of at least one of the included portions is also P-frame.

48. The system according to claim 40, wherein selecting the frame type includes selecting based on the encoding type of one or more macroblocks of the portion of the frame.