Techniques to consume content and metadata

• US 8,805,817 B2
• Filed: 08/15/2012
• Issued: 08/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Allard, James E.
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, THU NGUYET T
• Application Number:
  US13/586,276
• Publication Number:
  US 20120311641A1
• Time in Patent Office: 727 Days
• Field of Search: 707/712, 707/732, 348/569
• US Class Current: 707/712
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/7837 using objects detected or recognised in the video content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41265 having a remote control device for bidirectional communication between the remote control device and client device unidirectional remote control device H04N21/42204
• 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 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8133 specifically related to the content, e.g. biography of the actors in a movie, detailed information about an article seen in a video program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A client device may receive a request from a remote control device to capture a still image from content in a broadcast received at the client device. The client device may capture the still image from the content in the broadcast responsive to the request. The still image is transmitted for receipt and display at the remote control device. Image data is received from the remote control device that includes a portion of the still image displayed at the remote control device. The portion of the still image is selected by a user via a user interface output at the remote control device and includes an object to be identified using image recognition.

Claims

1. A client device comprising:

at least a memory and a processor configured to utilize instructions in the memory to cause the client device to;

receive a request from a remote control device to capture a still image from content in a broadcast received at the client device;

responsive to the request, capture the still image from the content in the broadcast;

transmit the still image for receipt and display of the still image at the remote control device;

receive image data from the remote control device, the image data comprising a portion of the still image selected from the still image displayed at the remote control device and by a user via a user interface output at the remote control device, the portion of the still image received from the remote control device including at least one object to be identified using image recognition; and

transmit the portion of the still image for receipt by one or more servers to identify metadata that is relevant to the request by processing the option of the still image using the image recognition to identify the at least one object.

2. A client device as described in claim 1, wherein the instructions are utilized to further cause the client device to receive the identified metadata from the one or more servers, the identified metadata associated with the at least one object in the portion of the image.

3. A client device as described in claim 2, wherein the instructions are utilized to further cause the client device to output the received metadata for the remote control device to display the received metadata.

4. A client device as described in claim 1, further comprising a communication module configured to receive communications from the remote control device and cause the client device to implement one or more functions that are local to the client device based on the communications received from the remote control device.

5. A client device as described in claim 1, wherein the instructions are utilized to further cause the client device to store the content in storage at the client device.

6. A client device as described in claim 1, wherein the instructions are utilized to further cause the client device to capture the still image in real time as the content is received.

7. A remote device comprising:

at least a memory and a processor configured to utilize instructions in the memory to cause the remote device to;

form a request to cause a still image to be captured by a client device from content output in a broadcast at the client device and transmitted to the remote device for displaying the still image on an integrated display device of the remote device;

output a user interface on the integrated display device of the remote device;

display on the integrated display device the still image received from the client device;

receive via the user interface a user input comprising selection of a portion of the still image displayed on the integrated display device, the portion of the still image including one or more objects to be identified; and

transmit the portion of the still image and not the still image as a whole for receipt by the client device and to transmit the portion of the still image for receipt by one or more servers to identity metadata by processing the portion of the still image using image recognition to identify the one or more objects.

8. A remote device as described in claim 7, wherein the instructions are utilized to further cause the remote device to create a persistent network connection between the remote device and the client device such that the network connection between the remote device and the client device is automatically created without user intervention.

9. A remote device as described in claim 7, wherein the instructions are utilized to further cause the remote device to communicate with the client device to cause the client device to implement one or more functions that are local to the client device.

10. A remote device as described in claim 7, wherein the instructions are utilized to further cause the remote device to:

receive metadata that corresponds with the one or more objects in the portion of the still image; and

output the received metadata via the integrated display device.

11. A remote device as described in claim 7, wherein the instructions are utilized to further cause the remote device to receive metadata that corresponds with the one or more objects in the portion of the still image, wherein the metadata is streamed directly to the remote device without being streamed to the client device.

12. A remote device as described in claim 7, wherein the instructions are utilized to further cause the remote device to:

receive metadata that corresponds with the one or more objects in the portion of the still image selected by a user of the remote device; and

transmit the metadata for display at another remote device that corresponds to another user and is configured to communicate with the client device.

13. A computing device comprising:

at least a memory and a processor configured to utilize instructions in the memory to cause the computing device to;

display on a display screen integrated with the computing device an image received from a client device that captured the image from video data displayed on the client device, the computing device configured to control one or more operations of the client device;

receive a user input at the computing device that selects a portion of the image displayed on the display screen integrated with the computing device, the portion of the image being useable to obtain metadata associated with one or more objects in the portion of the image; and

transmit the portion of the image and not the image as a whole from the computing device for receipt by the client device to cause the client device to transmit the portion of the still image for receipt by one or more servers to identify the metadata associated with the one or more objects in the portion of the image using image recognition.

14. A computing device as described in claim 13, wherein the instructions are utilized to further cause the computing device to display the metadata on the display screen integrated with the computing device to enable user interaction with the metadata.

15. A computing device as described in claim 13, wherein the metadata comprises metadata based on one of computing device preferences or user preferences.

16. A computing device as described in claim 13, wherein the instructions are utilized to further cause the computing device to communicate with the client device to cause the client device to capture the image from the video data being displayed and transmit the image to the computing device without interrupting a current broadcast of the video data at the client device.

17. A computing device as described in claim 13, wherein the computing device and the client device are located in a same room.

18. A computing device as described in claim 13, wherein the one or more objects in the portion of the image include a face of an actor, the actor being identified using image recognition, and the metadata being associated with the actor.