System and method in a television system for responding to user-selection of an object in a television program based on user location

• US 8,832,747 B2
• Filed: 09/13/2010
• Issued: 09/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Karaoguz, Jeyhan, Seshadri, Nambirajan
• Primary Examiner(s): MENGESHA, MULUGETA A
• Application Number:
  US12/880,668
• Publication Number:
  US 20110067071A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,457 Days
• Field of Search: 725/38, 725/40, 725 60- 61
• US Class Current: 725/60
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0304 Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0308 comprising a plurality of distinctive and separately oriented light emitters or reflectors associated to the pointing device, e.g. remote cursor controller with distinct and separately oriented LEDs at the tip whose radiations are captured by a photo-detector associated to the screen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0325 using a plurality of light emitters or reflectors or a plurality of detectors forming a reference frame from which to derive the orientation of the object, e.g. by triangulation or on the basis of reference deformation in the picked up image
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0386 for light pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0428 by sensing at the edges of the touch surface the interruption of optical paths, e.g. an illumination plane, parallel to the touch surface which may be virtual sensing beam interruptions in a planar beam grid of an optical touch-screen G06F3/0421
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234318 by decomposing into objects, e.g. MPEG-4 objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23892 involving embedding information at multiplex stream level, e.g. embedding a watermark at packet level
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2408 Monitoring of the upstream path of the transmission network, e.g. client requests monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876; scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25841 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• 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 21/42206 characterized by hardware details
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42209 for displaying non-command information, e.g. electronic program guide [EPG], e-mail, messages or a second television channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42222 Additional components integrated in the remote control device, e.g. timer, speaker, sensors for detecting position, direction or movement of the remote control, microphone or battery charging device
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4325 by playing back content from the storage medium reproduction of recorded television signals H04N5/76; reproduction of recorded television signals H04N9/79
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/436 Interfacing a local distribution network, e.g. communicating with another STB or one or more peripheral devices inside the home
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/438 : Interfacing the downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. retrieving encoded video stream packets from an IP network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 : involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4524 : involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 : Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/472 : End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 : for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4725 : using interactive regions of the image, e.g. hot spots details of information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4728 : for selecting a Region Of Interest [ROI], e.g. for requesting a higher resolution version of a selected region
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47805 : Electronic banking banking in general G06Q30/02
• 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 21/4782 : Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 : End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4826 : using recommendation lists, e.g. of programs or channels sorted out according to their score
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 : for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 : involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8126 : involving additional data, e.g. news, sports, stocks, weather forecasts
• 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 21/8173 : End-user applications, e.g. Web browser, game
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/845 : Structuring of content, e.g. decomposing content into time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8545 : for generating interactive applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/858 : Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/445 : for displaying additional information H04N5/50 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 : Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8205 : involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the colour video signal

Abstract

A system and method in a television system for responding to user-selection of an object in a television program based on geographical location, substantially as shown in and/or described in connection with at least one of the figures, as set forth more completely in the claims.

Claims

1. A method, in a television system, for responding to user selection of an object in television programming, the television system comprising

a user'"'"'s local television system, the method comprising:

by the television system;

determining an identity of a user-selected object in a television program being presented to the user;

determining a geographical location different from a geographical location of the user'"'"'s local television system;

determining, based at least in part on the determined object identity and on the determined geographical location, one or more actions to perform with regard to the user-selected object, wherein the one or more actions comprise determining a first information server of a plurality of information servers to receive an information request based on the determined location, wherein the information request corresponds to the user-selected object;

performing the determined one or more actions.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a geographical location comprises determining a geographical location of the user'"'"'s local television system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a geographical location comprises determining a geographical location of the user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined one or more actions to perform comprise acquiring information associated with the user-selected object and associated with the determined geographical location.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said acquiring information comprises determining, based at least in part on the determined object identity and the determined geographical location, a memory address associated with the information, and retrieving the information from the determined memory address.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein said acquiring information comprises determining, based at least in part on the determined object identity and the determined geographical location, a network address of a networked entity, and interacting with the networked entity at the determined network address to acquire the information.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein said acquiring information comprises determining, based at least in part on the determined object identity and the determined geographical location, one or more search terms, and performing a search for the information utilizing the determined one or more search terms.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising providing a user interface configured to receive a user-specified geographical location, and wherein said determining a geographical location comprises determining the geographical location based at least in part on the user-specified geographical location.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more actions to perform comprise notifying a networked entity of the user'"'"'s selection of the user-selected object.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more actions to perform comprise establishing a two-way communication session with a networked entity, and identifying the networked entity based at least in part on the determined object identity and the determined geographical location.

11. The method of claim 1, comprising:

receiving data associating a user-selectable object in the television program and a geographical location with one or more actions to perform upon user-selection of the user-selectable object; and

storing the received data in memory.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said storing the received data in memory comprises storing the received data in memory indexed by user-selectable object identification and geographical location.

13. The method of claim 1, comprising:

receiving data associating a user-selectable object in the television program with one or more actions to perform upon user-selection of the user-selectable object, said received data being based at least in part on the determined geographical location; and

storing the received data in memory of the user'"'"'s local television system.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said action determining and said action performing are performed in the user'"'"'s local television system.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined geographical location corresponds to a source of a consumer good or service, wherein the consumer good or service corresponds to the user-selected object.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more actions comprise determining a price of the user-selected object at the determined location.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more actions comprise providing a list of locations within a particular distance of the determined geographic location and soliciting input from the user regarding the selection of one or more locations from the list of locations.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the determined geographic location is a home location.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the determined geographic location is a present location.

20. A television system for responding to user selection of an object in television programming, the television system comprising a user'"'"'s local television system, the television system comprising:

at least one processor operable to, at least;

determine an identity of a user-selected object in a television program being presented to the user;

determine a geographical location different from a geographical location of the user'"'"'s local television system;

determine, based at least in part on the determined object identity and on the determined geographical location, one or more actions to perform with regard to the user-selected object, wherein the one or more actions comprise determining, based at least in part on the determined object identity and the determined geographical location, one or more search terms, and performing a search for the information utilizing the determined one or more search terms; and

perform the determined one or more actions.

21. The television system of claim 20, wherein the one or more actions to perform comprise acquiring information associated with the user-selected object and associated with the determined geographical location.

22. The television system of claim 21, wherein said acquiring information comprises determining, based at least in part on the determined object identity and the determined geographical location, a memory address associated with the information and retrieving the information from the determined memory address.

23. The television system of claim 21, wherein said acquiring information comprises determining, based at least in part on the determined object identity and the determined geographical location, a network address of a networked entity and interacting with the networked entity at the determined network address to acquire the information.

24. The television system of claim 20, wherein said at least one processor is operable to provide a user interface configured to receive the user-specified geographical location.

25. The television system of claim 20, wherein the one or more actions to perform comprise establishing a two-way communication session with a networked entity, and identifying the networked entity based at least in part on the determined object identity and the determined geographical location.

26. The television system of claim 20, wherein said at least one processor is operable to:

receive data associating a user-selectable object in the television program and a geographical location with one or more actions to perform upon user-selection of the user-selectable object; and

store the received data in memory.

27. The television system of claim 26, wherein said at least one processor is operable to store the received data in memory by, at least in part, operating to store the received data in memory indexed by object identification and geographical location.

28. The television system of claim 20, wherein said at least one processor is operable to:

receive data associating a user-selectable object in the television program with one or more actions to perform upon user-selection of the user-selectable object, said received data being based at least in part on the determined geographical location; and

store the received data in memory of the user'"'"'s local television system.

29. The television system of claim 20, wherein said at least one processor operable to determine one or more actions to perform and operable to perform the determined one or more actions is located in the user'"'"'s local television system.