Simultaneous viewing of multiple viewer-specific programming on a single display

• US 8,773,331 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2010
• Issued: 07/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Zustak, Frederick J., Candelore, Brant L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Perungavoor, Sath V
• Assistant Examiner(s): Le, Peter D
• Application Number:
  US12/972,701
• Publication Number:
  US 20120154553A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,296 Days
• Field of Search: 348/51
• US Class Current: 345/51
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 30/24 involving temporal multiplexing, e.g. using sequentially activated left and right shutters
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/167 Synchronising or controlling image signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/341 using temporal multiplexing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/356 having separate monoscopic and stereoscopic modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/398 Synchronisation thereof; Control thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2013/403 the images being monoscopic
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2365 Multiplexing of several video streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25866 Management of end-user data customer care in data networks H04L41/5077
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4347 Demultiplexing of several video streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/441 Acquiring end-user identification , e.g. using personal code sent by the remote control or by inserting a card
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/454 Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02

Abstract

In certain implementations, a method consistent with certain embodiments involves associating a first headset with a first viewer profile; associating the first headset with a first audio channel within an audio channel multiplex and with a first set of display refresh time slots; selecting a first advertisement based on criteria contained in the first viewer profile; displaying a video portion of the first advertisement on a video display during the first set of refresh time slots associated with the first headset; transmitting a synchronization signal that is synchronized to a video frame refresh clock to establish the video time slots; and transmitting an audio portion of the first advertisement on the first audio channel associated with the headset. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.

Claims

1. A method of operating a television, comprising:

associating a first headset with a first viewer profile residing on the television by authenticating or verifying a first user of the first headset to establish association of the first user with the first viewer profile;

associating a second headset with a second viewer profile residing on the television by authenticating or verifying a second user of the second headset to establish association of the second user with the second viewer profile;

associating the first headset with a first audio channel within an audio channel multiplex and with a first set of display refresh time slots;

associating the second headset with a second audio channel within the audio channel multiplex and with a second set of display refresh time slots;

transmitting a synchronization signal that is synchronized to a video frame refresh clock to establish the video time slots;

displaying a video portion of three dimensional stereoscopic programming content on a video display during both the first and second set of video display refresh time slots;

transmitting an audio portion of the three dimensional stereoscopic programming content on both the first and second audio channels associated with the first and second headsets;

determining that an advertisement start time slot is encountered;

selecting a first advertisement based on criteria contained in the first viewer profile;

selecting a second advertisement based on criteria contained in the second viewer profile;

displaying a video portion of the first advertisement on a video display during the first set of refresh time slots associated with the first headset;

displaying a video portion of the second advertisement on the video display during the second set of refresh time slots associated with the second headset;

transmitting an audio portion of the first advertisement on the first audio channel associated with the first headset;

transmitting an audio portion of the second advertisement on the second audio channel associated with the second headset;

at a first headset;

receiving audio via the first audio channel at an audio receiver, reproducing the first audio channel as audio through a first transducer, and opening and closing left and right eye views through the shutter glasses to reveal the video portion of the first advertisement on the display;

at a second headset;

receiving audio via the second audio channel at an audio receiver, reproducing the second audio channel as audio through a second transducer, and opening and closing left and right eye views through the shutter glasses to reveal the video portion of the second advertisement on the display; and

where the video portion of the first and second advertisements comprise stereoscopic video portions, and where displaying the video portions of the first and second advertisement is carried out during breaks in displaying three dimensional stereoscopic programming content.

2. A method of operating a television, comprising:

associating a first headset with a first viewer profile residing on the television by authenticating or verifying a first user of the first headset to establish association of the first user with the first viewer profile;

associating the first headset with a first audio channel within an audio channel multiplex and with a first set of display refresh time slots;

associating a second headset with a second viewer profile residing on the television by authenticating or verifying a second user of the second headset to establish association of the second user with the second viewer profile;

associating the second headset with a second audio channel within the audio channel multiplex and with a second set of display refresh time slots;

transmitting a synchronization signal that is synchronized to a video frame refresh clock to establish the video time slots;

displaying a video portion of main programming content on a video display during both the first and second set of refresh time slots associated with the first and second headsets;

transmitting an audio portion of the main programming content on the first audio channel associated with the headset;

determining that an advertisement is beginning;

selecting a first advertisement based on criteria contained in the first viewer profile;

displaying a video portion of the first advertisement on a video display during the first set of refresh time slots associated with the first headset;

transmitting an audio portion of the first advertisement on the first audio channel associated with the headset;

selecting a second advertisement based on criteria contained in the second viewer profile;

displaying a video portion of the second advertisement on the video display during the second set of refresh time slots associated with the second headset; and

transmitting an audio portion of the second advertisement on the second audio channel associated with the headset.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

at the first headset;

receiving audio via the first audio channel at an audio receiver;

reproducing the first audio channel as audio through a first transducer; and

opening and closing left and right eye views through the shutter glasses to reveal the video portion of the first advertisement on the display.

4. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

at the second headset;

receiving audio via the second audio channel at an audio receiver;

reproducing the second audio channel as audio through a second transducer; and

opening and closing left and right eye views through the shutter glasses to reveal the video portion of the second advertisement on the display.

5. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

at the first headset;

receiving audio via the first audio channel at an audio receiver,

reproducing the first audio channel as audio through a first transducer, and

opening and closing left and right eye views through the shutter glasses to reveal the video portion of the first advertisement on the display; and

at the second headset;

receiving audio via the second audio channel at an audio receiver,

reproducing the second audio channel as audio through a second transducer, and

opening and closing left and right eye views through the shutter glasses to reveal the video portion of the second advertisement on the display.

6. The method according to claim 2, further comprising displaying multiple progressively refreshed frames of images on the display with a blank image between certain of the multiple progressively refreshed frames of images.

7. The method according to claim 2, where the video portion of the first advertisement comprises a stereoscopic video portion.

8. The method according to claim 2, where the video portion of the first advertisement comprises a two dimensional video portion.

9. The method according to claim 2, where the video portion of the second advertisement comprises a stereoscopic video portion.

10. The method according to claim 2, where the video portion of the second advertisement comprises a two dimensional video portion.

11. The method according to claim 2, where displaying the video portion of the first advertisement is carried out during breaks in displaying three dimensional stereoscopic main programming content.

12. The method according to claim 2, where displaying the video portions of the first and second advertisements are carried out during breaks in displaying three dimensional stereoscopic main programming content.

13. The method according to claim 2, where displaying the video portions of the first and second advertisements are carried out with greater brightness than if both headsets are receiving the same video image.

14. The method according to claim 2, where at least one of the first and second advertisements is received in real time.

15. The method according to claim 2, where at least one of the first and second advertisements is retrieved from a local advertisement library.

16. A tangible non-transitory computer readable electronic storage medium storing instructions which, when executed on one or more programmed processors, carry out a method according to claim 2.

17. A method of operating a stereoscopic shutter glasses headset, comprising:

associating the headset with an audio channel within an audio channel multiplex associated with a set of display refresh time slots;

associating the headset with a viewer profile by authenticating or verifying a user of the headset to establish association of the user with the viewer profile;

receiving audio via an audio channel receiver for main audio programming content, where the main audio content is transmitted to multiple audio channels associated with multiple refresh time slots;

receiving audio via the audio channel receiver, where the audio is selected as audio for an advertisement selected on the basis of the viewer profile;

receiving a video frame synchronization signal; and

opening and closing left and right eye views through the shutter glasses in synchronization to the video frame synchronization signal to reveal an image on a display, where the image is selected as main video programming content that is transmitted to multiple video channels except during an advertisement, where during the advertisement video for the advertisement selected on the basis of the viewer profile.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising reproducing the audio channel as audio through a transducer forming a part of the shutter glasses headset.

19. The method according to claim 17, where the revealed image on the display comprises a stereoscopic video portion.

20. The method according to claim 17, where the revealed image on the display comprises a two dimensional video portion.

21. The method according to claim 17, where revealed image on the display of the advertisement occurs during breaks in displaying three dimensional stereoscopic main programming content.

22. The method according to claim 17, where displaying the video portions of the advertisement is carried out with greater brightness than if multiple headsets are receiving the same video image.

23. The method according to claim 17, where the advertisement is received in real time.

24. The method according to claim 17, where the advertisement is retrieved from a local advertisement library.

25. A tangible non-transitory computer readable electronic storage medium storing instructions which, when executed on one or more programmed processors, carry out a method according to claim 17.

26. A television, comprising:

a storage device that stores a plurality of viewer profiles;

a processor programmed to associate a plurality of headsets with a plurality of viewer profiles and store the associations, where in being programmed to associate the plurality of headsets with the plurality of viewer profiles the processor is programmed to verify or authenticate a user of each of the plurality of headsets to one of the viewer profiles;

the processor being further programmed to associate each of the plurality of headsets with an audio channel within an audio channel multiplex and with a set of display refresh time slots;

the processor being further programmed to select an advertisement based on criteria contained in the viewer profile;

a display that displays a video portion of the advertisement on a video display during the display refresh time slots associated with the headset when an advertisement is being displayed and to display the programming content on a plurality of the display refresh time slots when an advertisement is not being displayed; and

an audio transmitter that transmits an audio portion of the advertisement on the audio channel associated with each headset during display of an advertisement and transmit audio content associated with the programming content on a plurality of audio channels during display of the programming content.

27. The television according to claim 26, further comprising a headset, where the headset comprises an audio receiver that receives audio via the audio channel and reproduces the audio channel as audio through a transducer;

and

shutter glasses that open and close left and right eye views to reveal the video portion of the advertisement on the display.

28. The television according to claim 26, where the video portion of the advertisement comprises a stereoscopic video portion.

29. The television according to claim 26, where displaying the video portion of the advertisement is carried out during breaks in displaying three dimensional stereoscopic programming content.

30. The television according to claim 26, where displaying the video portions of the advertisement is carried out with greater brightness than when multiple headsets are receiving the same video image.

31. The television according to claim 26, where the advertisement is received in real time.

32. The television according to claim 26, where the advertisement is retrieved from a local advertisement library.

33. A television, comprising:

a storage device that stores a plurality of viewer profiles;

a processor programmed to associate each of a plurality of headsets with one of the viewer profiles and store the associations, where in being programmed to associate the plurality of headsets with the plurality of viewer profiles the processor is programmed to verify or authenticate a user of each of the plurality of headsets to one of the viewer profiles;

the processor being further programmed to associate each headset with an audio channel within an audio channel multiplex and with a set of display refresh time slots;

the processor being further programmed to select a plurality of advertisements based on criteria contained in the viewer profile;

a display that displays a plurality of video portions of the selected plurality of advertisements on a video display during the respective display refresh time slots associated with each headset, where the display further displays programming content during multiple display refresh time slots when the advertisements are not being displayed; and

an audio transmitter that transmits a plurality of audio portions of the selected plurality of advertisements on the audio channel associated with each headset, and where the audio transmitter further transmits an audio portion associated with the programming content over multiple audio channels when the advertisements are not being displayed.

34. The television according to claim 33, further comprising a plurality of headsets, where each headset comprises an audio receiver that receives audio via the associated audio channel and reproduces the audio channel as audio through a transducer;

and

shutter glasses that open and close left and right eye views to reveal the video portion of the associated advertisement on the display.

35. The television according to claim 33, where the video portion of the advertisement comprises a stereoscopic video portion.

36. The television according to claim 33, where displaying the video portion of the advertisement is carried out during breaks in displaying three dimensional stereoscopic programming content.

37. The television according to claim 33, where displaying the video portions of the advertisements are carried out with greater brightness than if both headsets are receiving the same video image.

38. The method according to claim 33, where at least one of the advertisements is received in real time.

39. The method according to claim 33, where at least one of the advertisements is retrieved from a local advertisement library.