Transmission apparatus and method, reception apparatus and method, and transmission and reception system

• US 9,762,968 B2
• Filed: 09/13/2013
• Issued: 09/12/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Saturn Licensing LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Saturn Licensing LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Yamagishi, Yasuaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Mirza, Adnan
• Application Number:
  US14/026,551
• Publication Number:
  US 20140013347A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,460 Days
• Field of Search: 709203, 709204, 709218
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/33 Arrangements for monitoring the users' behaviour or opinions
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/65 for using the result on users' side
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/72 using electronic programme guides [EPG] focusing on identifying broadcast space time H04H60/39 ; menu type display of EPG in television receivers H04N21/47
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25883 being end-user demographical data, e.g. age, family status or address arrangements for identifying locations of users in broadcast systems H04H60/52
• 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 21/4758 for providing answers, e.g. voting
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8543 using a description language, e.g. Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group [MHEG], eXtensible Markup Language [XML] information retrieval of semistructured data, the underlying structure being taken into account, e.g. mark-up language structure data G06F16/80
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8545 for generating interactive applications

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a transmission apparatus for distributing a content to a client, including a question generation section configured to generate question information representative of a question regarding liking of a user of the client, and a transmission section configured to transmit the question information and provider side answer information representative of an answer set by a provider which provides the content to the question regarding the liking of the user to the client.

Claims

1. A method of a content reception apparatus for receiving non-real-time (NRT) content, the method comprising:

receiving a digital television broadcast signal from a service provider, the digital television broadcast signal including a digital television program and NRT content;

extracting the digital television program from the received digital television broadcast signal;

outputting the digital television program for display to a user;

receiving an instruction from the user to access a setting screen that is configured to display questions received from a plurality of different service providers and receive answers to the questions, each of the questions relating to a preference, demographic, or interest of the user, and

outputting, by the content reception apparatus in response to the instruction from the user, the setting screen.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the questions are extracted from a plurality of digital television broadcast signals provided by the plurality of different service providers.

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

extracting a questionnaire including at least one of the questions from the digital television broadcast signal; and

storing the questionnaire in a memory of the content reception apparatus.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the step of outputting the setting screen comprises:

successively displaying the at least one of the questions included in the questionnaire.

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

filtering the NRT content included in the digital television broadcast signal based on at least one of the answers received by the setting screen.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the step of filtering comprises:

comparing the at least one of the answers received by the setting screen to metadata that is included in the digital television broadcast signal and associated with the NRT content, the at least one of the answers including an answer to one of the questions which is unique to the service provider.

19. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of receiving the instruction comprises:

receiving the instruction at a time that is independent of when the questions were received from the plurality of different service providers.

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

extracting a questionnaire including at least one of the questions from the digital television broadcast signal;

storing the questionnaire in a memory of the content reception apparatus, wherein

the setting screen is configured to display the at least one of the questions, included in the questionnaire stored in the memory, at a time that is independent of when the questionnaire was extracted from the digital television broadcast signal.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method of a content reception apparatus for receiving non-real-time (NRT) content, the method comprising:

receiving a digital television broadcast signal from a service provider, the digital television broadcast signal including a digital television program and NRT content;

extracting the digital television program from the received digital television broadcast signal;

outputting the digital television program for display to a user;

receiving an instruction from the user to access a setting screen that is configured to display questions received from a plurality of different service providers and receive answers to the questions, each of the questions relating to a preference, demographic, or interest of the user; and

outputting, by the content reception apparatus in response to the instruction from the user, the setting screen.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the questions are extracted from a plurality of digital television broadcast signals provided by the plurality of different service providers.

9. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

extracting a questionnaire including at least one of the questions from the digital television broadcast signal; and

storing the questionnaire in a memory of the content reception apparatus.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the step of outputting the setting screen comprises:

successively displaying the at least one of the questions included in the questionnaire.

11. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

filtering the NRT content included in the digital television broadcast signal based on at least one of the answers received by the setting screen.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the step of filtering comprises:

comparing the at least one of the answers received by the setting screen to metadata that is included in the digital television broadcast signal and associated with the NRT content, the at least one of the answers including an answer to one of the questions which is unique to the service provider.

13. A content reception apparatus, comprising:

circuitry configured to

receive a digital television broadcast signal from a service provider, the digital television broadcast signal including a digital television program and NRT content,

extract the digital television program from the received digital television broadcast signal,

output the digital television program for display to a user,

receive an instruction from the user to access a setting screen that is configured to display questions received from a plurality of different service providers and receive answers to the questions, each of the questions relating to a preference, demographic, or interest of the user, and

output, in response to the instruction from the user, the setting screen.

14. The content reception apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the questions are extracted from a plurality of digital television broadcast signals provided by the plurality of different service providers.

15. The content reception apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the circuitry is further configured to

extract a questionnaire including at least one of the questions regarding a preference, demographic, or interest of the user from the digital television broadcast signal, and

store the questionnaire in a memory of the content reception apparatus.

16. The content reception apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the circuitry is further configured to successively display the at least one of the questions included in the questionnaire.

17. The content reception apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the circuitry is further configured to filter the NRT content included in the digital television broadcast signal based on at least one of the answers received by the setting screen.

18. The content reception apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the circuitry is further configured to compare the at least one of the answers received by the setting screen to metadata that is included in the digital television broadcast signal and associated with the NRT content, the at least one of the answers including an answer to one of the questions which is unique to the service provider.

20. The content reception apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the circuitry is further configured to receive the instruction at a time that is independent of when the questions were received from the plurality of different service providers.

22. The content reception apparatus according to claim 13, wherein

the circuitry is configured to

extract a questionnaire including at least one of the questions from the digital television broadcast signal, and

store the questionnaire in a memory of the content reception apparatus, wherein

the setting screen is configured to display the at least one of the questions, included in the questionnaire stored in the memory, at a time that is independent of when the questionnaire was extracted from the digital television broadcast signal.