Method and system for improving interactive media response systems using visual cues

• US 9,955,205 B2
• Filed: 06/10/2005
• Issued: 04/24/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Covell, Michele, Roy, Sumit, Ankcorn, John, Huve, Frederic
• Primary Examiner(s): Kassim, Khaled
• Application Number:
  US11/149,719
• Publication Number:
  US 20060282774A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,701 Days
• Field of Search: 7071041, 707204, 707E17009, 709231, 375 E7025, 375 E7073, 375 E7267, 375 E7278, 714 5, 714E11106, 714E11128, 714 8, 711112, 711206, 711 3
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2343 involving reformatting operations of video signals for distribution or compliance with end-user requests or end-user device requirements video transcoding H04N19/40; media packet handling at the source H04L65/762
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• 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 21/478 Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6131 involving transmission via a mobile phone network wireless downlink channel access H04W74/006
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8126 involving additional data, e.g. news, sports, stocks, weather forecasts
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention recite a method and system for providing visual cues in an interactive media response system. In one embodiment, at least one visual prompt for display on a thin device is generated. The visual prompt is then sent to the thin device where it is displayed.

Claims

1. An interactive media response method comprising:

determining, by a media stream generation system, a video compression standard used by a thin device, wherein the media stream generation system is connected to the thin device via a network;

generating media at the media stream generation system using the determined video compression standard, wherein said media stream generation system provides interactive control of said generated media by utilizing a software application resident in said media stream generation system to modify said generated media subsequent to said media generation, said generated media comprising;

a compressed visual prompt for display on said thin device using the determined video compression standard; and

an audio prompt for presentation on said thin device;

determining, by the media stream generation system, whether the video compression standard used by the thin device is a block-based video compression standard;

in response to a determination that the video compression standard used by the thin device is a block-based video compression standard, the media stream generation system adjusting positions of text characters included in the compressed visual prompt based on block boundaries of the block-based video compression standard, wherein the adjusting comprises computing rendering coefficients of the text characters included in the compressed visual prompt;

sending the rendering coefficients, said compressed visual prompt, and said audio prompt from the media stream generation system to said thin device via the network, wherein said sending of said compressed visual prompt and said audio prompt are synchronized based on a correlation of said compressed visual prompt and said audio prompt;

decompressing, by the thin device, the compressed visual prompt using the determined video compression standard to generate a decompressed visual prompt; and

displaying the decompressed visual prompt on said thin device.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

presenting said audio prompt and said visual prompt concurrently on said thin device.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

for each block of a plurality of blocks included in the compressed visual prompt, allocating a quantity of data bits to the block based on whether the block includes a text character.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said generating further comprises:

receiving a description of said visual prompt from a text string generator; and

generating said compressed visual prompt based upon said description.

5. The method as recited in claim 4 wherein said visual prompt conveys options for controlling a streaming media application accessed by said thin device.

6. The method as recited in claim 5 wherein the information conveyed in said decompressed visual prompt corresponds to the information conveyed in said audio prompt.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the video compression standard used by the thin device is a Motion Pictures Experts Group 4 (MPEG4) standard.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the video compression standard used by the thin device is an H.263 standard.

9. An interactive media response system comprising:

a thin device; and

a media stream generating system connected to the thin device, the media stream generating system to;

determine a video compression standard used by the thin device;

generate compressed media for said thin device using the determined video compression standard, said compressed media comprising compressed video content and an audio prompt for presentation on the thin device, the compressed video content including a visual prompt to be displayed upon said thin device, wherein the media stream generation system uses a software application to provide interactive control of the generated compressed media;

determine whether the video compression standard used by the thin device is a block-based video compression standard;

in response to a determination that the video compression standard used by the thin device is a block-based video compression standard, adjust positions of text characters included in the compressed video content visual prompt based on block boundaries of the block-based video compression standard, comprising a computation of rendering coefficients of the text characters included in the visual prompt; and

transmit the compressed media and the rendering coefficients to the thin device via a network connection;

the thin device to decompress the compressed video content using the video compression standard to generate decompressed video content, and to display the decompressed video content on a display of the thin device.

10. The interactive media response system of claim 9, the media stream generating system to:

for each block of a plurality of blocks included in the compressed media, allocate a quantity of data bits to the block based on whether the block includes a text character.

11. The interactive media response system of claim 9 wherein the video compression standard used by the thin device is an H.263 standard.

12. The interactive media response system of claim 9 wherein said media stream generating system comprises:

a visual prompt description generator for generating a description of the visual prompt included in the compressed media.

13. The interactive media response system of claim 12 wherein said visual prompt description generator comprises a text string generator.

14. The interactive media response system of claim 12 wherein said visual prompt conveys options for controlling a streaming media application accessed by said thin device via said streaming media generating system.

15. The interactive media response system of claim 14 wherein the information conveyed in said visual prompt corresponds to information conveyed in the audio prompt included in the compressed media.

16. The interactive media response system of claim 9 wherein the video compression standard used by the thin device is a MPEG4 standard.

17. The interactive media response system of claim 15 wherein the information conveyed in said visual prompt is un-related to the information conveyed in said audio prompt.

18. A media stream generating method comprising:

determining, by a media system, a video compression standard used by a thin device, wherein the thin device is connected to the media system;

generating, by the media system, compressed media for said thin device using the determined video compression standard, the compressed media including a visual prompt and an audio prompt to be presented on the thin device, wherein the media system uses a software application to provide interactive control of the generated compressed media;

determining, by the media system, whether the video compression standard used by the thin device is a block-based video compression standard;

in response to a determination that the video compression standard used by the thin device is a block-based video compression standard, adjusting positions of text characters included in the visual prompt based on block boundaries of the block-based video compression standard, wherein the adjusting comprises computing rendering coefficients of the text characters included in the visual prompt;

transmitting, by the media system, the compressed media and the rendering coefficients to the thin device via a network connection;

decompressing, by the thin device, the compressed media using the video compression standard to generate decompressed media; and

presenting the decompressed media on the thin device.

19. The media stream generating method of claim 18, further comprising:

for each block of a plurality of blocks included in the compressed media, allocating a quantity of data bits to the block based on whether the block includes a text character.

20. The media stream generating method of claim 18 further comprising:

generating a description of said visual prompt.

21. The media stream generating method of claim 20 wherein generating the description of said visual prompt comprises generating text strings using a text string generator.

22. The media stream generating method of claim 21 wherein said visual prompt conveys options for controlling a streaming media application accessed by said thin device.

23. The media stream generating method of claim 18 wherein the video compression standard used by the thin device is a MPEG4 standard.

24. The media stream generating method of claim 18 wherein the video compression standard used by the thin device is an H.263 standard.

25. The media stream generating method of claim 18 wherein the information conveyed in said visual prompt is un-related to the information conveyed in said audio prompt.

26. A non-transitory computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for causing a computer system to perform a method, said method comprising:

determining a video compression standard used by a thin device;

generating compressed media at a media stream generation system, said compressed media comprising a visual prompt and an audio prompt for presentation on said thin device, wherein the media stream generation system includes a software application to provide interactive control of the generated compressed media;

determining whether the video compression standard used by the thin device is a block-based video compression standard;

in response to a determination that the video compression standard used by the thin device is a block-based video compression standard, adjusting positions of text characters included in the visual prompt based on block boundaries of the block-based video compression standard, the adjusting comprising computing rendering coefficients of the text characters included in the visual prompt; and

sending the compressed media and the rendering coefficients to said thin device, wherein the thin device is to decompress the compressed media using the video compression standard to generate a decompressed visual prompt, and to display said decompressed visual prompt on a display of said thin device.

27. The computer usable medium of claim 26, wherein the thin device is to present the audio prompt and said decompressed visual prompt concurrently on said thin device.

28. The computer usable medium of claim 26, the method comprising:

for each block of a plurality of blocks included in the compressed media, allocating a quantity of data bits to the block based on whether the block includes a text character.

29. The computer usable memory of claim 26 wherein the video compression standard used by the thin device is a MPEG4 standard.

30. A computer system comprising:

a bus;

a memory unit coupled to said bus; and

a processor coupled to said bus, said processor for executing a method, said method comprising;

determining a video compression standard used by a thin device connected to the computer system;

generating compressed media for the thin device using the determined video compression standard, the compressed media including a visual prompt and an audio prompt for presentation on the thin device, wherein the computer system uses a software application to provide interactive control of the generated compressed media;

determining whether the video compression standard used by the thin device is a block-based video compression standard;

in response to a determination that the video compression standard used by the thin device is a block-based video compression standard, adjusting positions of text characters included in the visual prompt based on block boundaries of the block-based video compression standard, comprising computing rendering coefficients of the text characters included in the visual prompt; and

sending the compressed media and the rendering coefficients to said thin device via a network connection, wherein the thin device is to decompress the compressed media using the video compression standard to generate a decompressed visual prompt, and to display said decompressed visual prompt on said thin device.

31. The computer system of claim 30, the method further comprising:

presenting the audio prompt and said decompressed visual prompt concurrently on said thin device.

32. The computer system of claim 30, the method further comprising:

for each block of a plurality of blocks included in the compressed media, allocating a quantity of data bits to the block based on whether the block includes a text character.

33. The computer system of claim 30 wherein the video compression standard used by the thin device is an H.263 standard.