INFORMATION PROVISION

• US 20140098293A1
• Filed: 10/05/2012
• Published: 04/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: General Instrument Corporation (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ishtiaq, Faisal, Gandhi, Bhavan, Metcalf, Crysta J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,763,042 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/563
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23418 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics television picture signal circuitry for scene change detection H04N5/147; filtering for image enhancement G06T5/00; methods or arrangements for recognising scenes G06V20/00; arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4126 The peripheral being portable, e.g. PDAs or mobile phones
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43079 of additional data with content streams on multiple devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• 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 21/8547 involving timestamps for synchronizing content

Abstract

Disclosed are methods and apparatus for providing information to a first client device (e.g., a tablet computer) for presentation on that device. The information may be related to multimedia content (e.g., a television program) that may be presented using a second client device (e.g., a television). Firstly, an activity level for a portion of the multimedia content is determined. Using the activity level, an amount of the information is assigned to that portion of the multimedia content. The amount of the information assigned is dependent on that determined activity level. The assigned information is then provided for use by (e.g., for display on) the first client device.

Claims

1. A method of providing information to a first client device for presentation using the first client device, the information being related to multimedia content, the multimedia content being provided to a second client device for presentation using the second client device, the method comprising:

acquiring, by one or more processors, the multimedia content;

acquiring, by the one or more processors, the information;

using the multimedia content or the information, for at least a portion of the multimedia content, determining, by the one or more processors, an activity level, the activity level being indicative of a level of activity that occurs within the at least a portion of the multimedia content;

using the determined activity level and the acquired information, assigning, by the one or more processors, some or all of the information to the at least a portion of the multimedia content for which the activity level has been determined, the amount of the information assigned to the at least a portion of the multimedia content being dependent upon the activity level; and

providing, by the one or more processors, to the first client device, the assigned information, thereby providing information to the first client device.

2. A method according to claim 1:

wherein the activity level is determined for a portion of the multimedia content; and

wherein some of the information is assigned to the portion;

the method further comprising;

using the multimedia content, for a further portion of the multimedia content, determining, by the one or more processors, a further activity level, the further activity level being indicative of a level of activity that occurs within the further portion of the multimedia content; and

using the determined further activity level and the acquired information, assigning, by the one or more processors, some of the information to the further portion of the multimedia content for which the further activity level was determined, the amount of the information assigned to the further portion of the multimedia content being dependent upon the further activity level;

wherein the further portion is a different portion of the multimedia content from the portion for which the activity level was determined;

wherein the activity level and the further activity level are different levels such that the activity level and the further activity level indicate that a different amount of activity occurs within the further portion compared to the portion; and

wherein due to the activity level and the further activity level being different levels, a different amount of the information is assigned to the further portion than the amount of information that is assigned to the portion.

3. A method according to claim 2:

wherein if the activity levels indicate that a greater amount of activity occurs within the further portion than occurs within the portion, a lesser amount of information is assigned to the further portion than is assigned to the portion; and

wherein if the activity levels indicate that a lesser amount of activity occurs within the further portion than occurs within the portion, a greater amount of information is assigned to the further portion than is assigned to the portion.

4. A method according to claim 1 further comprising, for the assigned information, providing, to the first client device, timing information, the timing information being indicative of a time within the multimedia content at which the portion of the multimedia content corresponding to assigned information occurs.

5. A method according to claim 4 further comprising:

acquiring, by the first client device, the assigned information;

acquiring, by the first client device, the timing information;

presenting, by the second client device, the multimedia content; and

using the timing information presenting, by the first client device, the assigned information such that the assigned information is presented at the same time as the portion of the multimedia content to which the assigned information has been assigned.

6. A method according to claim 1 wherein determining the activity level comprises using a template to provide an estimated level for the activity level and determining the activity level using the estimated level.

7. A method according to claim 6 wherein providing a template comprises:

using the multimedia content, determining, by the one or more processors, a genre of the multimedia content;

providing a plurality of templates, each template in the plurality corresponding to a different genre; and

selecting, by the one or more processors, a template corresponding to the determined genre, thereby providing the template.

8. A method according to claim 1 further comprising:

using the determined activity level and the acquired information, determining, by the one or more processors, how quickly the assigned information is to be presented by the first client device; and

providing, to the first client device, speed information, the speed information indicating how quickly the assigned information is to be presented by the first client device.

9. A method according to claim 8 further comprising:

acquiring, by the first client device, the assigned information;

acquiring, by the first client device, the speed information; and

presenting, by the first client device, at the speed indicated by the speed information, the assigned information.

10. A method according to claim 1 wherein the first and second client devices are different client devices.

11. A method according to claim 1:

wherein the one or more processors comprises a binding module;

the method further comprising binding, by the binding module, the assigned information into a data stream, the data stream being useable by the first client device;

wherein providing comprises providing, by the binding module, to the first client device, the data stream.

12. A method according to claim 1:

wherein each of the first and second client devices are selected from the group consisting of;

a computer, a desktop personal computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a mobile station, an entertainment appliance, a set-top box communicatively coupled to a television, a television, a wireless phone, a smartphone, a netbook, and a game console; and

wherein the multimedia content is selected from the group consisting of;

a television program, a movie, recorded television data, DVD data, digital picture data, an ebook, and Blu-Ray data.

13. A method according to claim 1 wherein the information related to multimedia content includes programmatic metadata.

14. A method according to claim 1 wherein determining the activity level for the at least a portion of the multimedia content comprises determining values for one or more parameters selected from the group consisting of:

a number of bits, a number of frames, a texture metric, an activity-level metric, a number of bytes per video frame, an I-frame, a P-frame, a B-frames, a shot boundary, an advertisement location, a presence of high motion activity, and an audio or textual mood measurement.

15. A method according to claim 1 further comprising:

determining, by the one or more processors, a lifespan value, for the assigned information, the lifespan value for the assigned information being indicative of for how long a the assigned information is to be presented; and

providing, to the first client device, the lifespan value.

16. A method according to claim 1 further comprising:

determining, by the one or more processors, a specification for a display window, the specification for a display window specifying a display window in which the assigned information is to be presented; and

providing, to the first client device, the specification for a display window.

17. A method according to claim 1 further comprising:

determining, by the one or more processors, a display format, the display format specifying a format in which some or all of the assigned information is to be presented; and

providing, to the first client device, the display format.

18. A method according to claim 1 further comprising selecting, by a device selection module, from a plurality of devices, as a device upon which the information is to be presented, the first client device.

19. A method according to claim 1:

wherein acquiring the information comprises, with respect to one or more capabilities of the first client device, filtering a data set, thereby providing the information; and

wherein the data set comprises information related to multimedia content.

20. Apparatus for providing information to a first client device for presentation using the first client device, the information being related to multimedia content, the multimedia content being for provision to a second client device for presentation using the second client device, the apparatus comprising one or more processors configured to:

acquire the multimedia content;

acquire the information;

using the multimedia content or the information, for at least a portion of the multimedia content, determine an activity level, the activity level being indicative of a level of activity that occurs within the at least a portion of the multimedia content;

using the determined activity level and the acquired information, assign some or all of the information to the at least a portion of the multimedia content for which the activity level was determined, the amount of the information assigned to the at least a portion of the multimedia content being dependent upon the activity level; and

provide, to the first client device, the assigned information, thereby providing information to the first client device.