Linking and browsing media on television

• US 9,241,201 B2
• Filed: 01/22/2013
• Issued: 01/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gorti, Sreenivasa, Nadarajah, Dinesh, Lowrie, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Perromat, Carlos
• Application Number:
  US13/746,377
• Publication Number:
  US 20130139211A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,092 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/08 Monochrome to colour transformation
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/10 Mixing of images, i.e. displayed pixel being the result of an operation, e.g. adding, on the corresponding input pixels
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/38 Arrangements for distribution where lower stations, e.g. receivers, interact with the broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/93 which locates resources of other pieces of information, e.g. URL [Uniform Resource Locator]
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/33 Arrangements for monitoring the users' behaviour or opinions
• 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 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6106 specially adapted to the downstream path of the transmission network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6175 involving transmission via Internet broadcast-related systems characterised by the transmission system being the Internet H04H60/82
• 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 21/858 Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8583 by creating hot-spots
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Techniques for linking and browsing media on a television (TV) are provided. A selected program, which is associated with a channel of the TV, is detected and additional content, which is associated with that channel and/or the selected program, is dynamically acquired from one or more external sources. The additional content is formatted as links and simultaneously presented within a display of the TV along with the selected program that continues to play on the TV. Furthermore, activation of any link results in the additional content being dynamically acquired and presented within the display.

Claims

1. A server comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

a controller coupled to the memory, wherein responsive to executing the instructions, the controller performs operations comprising;

constructing a search query comprising contextual information associated with a media program, the contextual information formulated as metadata;

transmitting the search query over a network to a content service;

receiving from the content service, in response to the search query, additional content related in context to the media program;

assigning descriptive information to the additional content; and

supplying the additional content to a program presentation device, the additional content formulated as a descriptive hypertext link,

wherein the media program is selected from a programming guide including archived programs and is not currently playing, on the presentation device,

wherein the metadata comprises a viewer profile maintaining anonymity of the viewer.

2. The server of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise receiving an information request in accordance with input via the program presentation device, and wherein the metadata comprises a date and a time the information request was received and an identifier of the media program.

3. The server of claim 2, wherein the input comprises a signal from a remote control device associated with the program presentation device.

4. The server of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise dynamically assembling the metadata to construct a search query for transmission to a plurality of content services.

5. The server of claim 4, wherein the plurality of content services comprises a content service other than a content service supplying the media program.

6. The server of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise supplying the additional content to a cache associated with the program presentation device.

7. The server of claim 1, wherein the additional content comprises a plurality of content items, and the operations further comprise ranking the content items and supplying descriptive information for each of the content items.

8. The server of claim 7, wherein the operations further comprise assigning a link to each of the content items.

9. The server of claim 7, wherein the content items comprise audio, video, graphics, images, text, or combinations thereof.

10. The server of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise directly contacting a world-wide web portal to transmit the search query.

11. The server of claim 1, wherein the program presentation device comprises a set-top box, and wherein the server is coupled to the set-top box to dynamically augment the media program with the additional content.

12. A device comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

a controller coupled to the memory, wherein responsive to executing the instructions, the controller performs operations comprising;

presenting a programming guide via a presentation device, the programming guide including current media programs and archived media programs;

receiving a selection of a program not currently playing on the presentation device;

receiving an input comprising an information request;

generating, in response to the input, metadata associated with the selected program;

transmitting the metadata to a server;

receiving from the server additional content related in context to the selected program, the additional content formulated as a descriptive hypertext link; and

presenting the hypertext link via the presentation device,

wherein the metadata comprises a viewer profile maintaining anonymity of the viewer.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the metadata comprises a date and a time the information request was received, an identifier of the media program, and an identifier of the device.

14. The device of claim 12, wherein the input comprises a signal from a remote control device.

15. The device of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise receiving the additional content in a cache associated with the device.

16. The device of claim 12, wherein the additional content comprises a plurality of content items, and the content items comprise audio, video, graphics, images, text, or combinations thereof.

17. The device of claim 12, wherein the device comprises a set-top box coupled to the presentation device and coupled to the server.

18. A device comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

a controller coupled to the memory, wherein responsive to executing the instructions, the controller performs operations comprising;

receiving a program from equipment of one of a plurality of channel providers that supply programs to a broadcaster;

presenting the program at a display coupled to the controller, wherein the program is presented in a video display area;

receiving an information request based on receiving an input via a remote control device;

detecting a date and a time the information request was received, a current elapsed time into a playing of the program, and an identifier of the program;

assembling metadata comprising the date and the time the information request was received and the identifier of the program;

transmitting the metadata to equipment of the channel provider that supplied the program to enable the channel provider to determine a first context of what was being presented by the program when the information request was received and to identify additional content related to a second context of what was being presented by the program at the current elapsed time into the playing of the program;

receiving from the equipment of the channel provider the additional content related to the first context of what was being presented by the program at the date and time the request was received and the second context of what was being, presented by the program at the current elapsed time into the playing of the program and obtained from a world wide web service associated with the channel provider or an Internet portal associated with the channel provider, wherein at least a portion of the additional content is content being currently played on another channel, and wherein the additional content includes archived television programs and geographic maps selected according to the first context or the second context;

presenting selectable links to enable a presentation of at least a portion of the additional content within the display, wherein the selectable links are presented in a link display area that is outside of the video display area;

detecting a selection of a link from among the selectable links;

acquiring content from among the additional content that corresponds to the selected link;

presenting in the video display area the acquired content in response to the detecting of the selection of the link;

removing the selected link from the link display area in response to the detecting of the selection of the link;

ceasing to present the program in the video display area in response to the detecting of the selection of the link;

in response to the detecting of the selection of the link, generating another selectable link for reinstating presentation of the program in the video display area upon selection of the other selectable link; and

presenting the other selectable link with the selectable links in the link display area without presenting any images of the program.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise identifying a plurality of different content types to associate with the selectable links received from the channel provider, wherein the different content types comprise content related to video on demand content, a universal resource identifier for a world-wide web site, personalized content related to a personal multimedia store of a viewer, advertisements, personal advertisements, or streaming media content accessible from the Internet.

20. The device of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise presenting the acquired content in accordance with digital rights management rules distributed with streamed content from an internet protocol networked based television source.