Overlay Rendering of User Interface Onto Source Video

• US 20140366057A1
• Filed: 06/06/2014
• Published: 12/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ACTIVEVIDEO NETWORKS, LLC
• Original Assignee: ActiveVideo Networks, Inc. (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Brockmann, Ronald A., Gorter, Onne, Dev, Anuj, Hiddink, Gerritt
• Granted Patent: US 9,326,047 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/37
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26283 for associating distribution time parameters to content, e.g. to generate electronic program guide data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43072 of multiple content streams on the same device
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4348 Demultiplexing of additional data and video streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440263 by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for displaying on a connected PDA
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440281 by altering the temporal resolution, e.g. by frame skipping television signal recording using magnetic recording on tape for reproducing at a rate different from the recording rate H04N5/783
• 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 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4821 using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64322 IP
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8126 involving additional data, e.g. news, sports, stocks, weather forecasts
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8545 for generating interactive applications

Abstract

A method of combining an interactive user interface for generating a blended output that includes the interactive user interface and one or more supplemental images. At a client device remote from a server, a video stream that contains an interactive user interface is received from the server using a first data communications channel configured to communicate video content, and a command that relates to an interactive user interface is transmitted to the server. In response to the transmitting, an updated user interface is received from the server using the first data communications channel, and one or more supplemental images for supplementing the interactive user interface are received using a second data communications channel different from the first data communications channel. The updated user interface and the one or more supplemental images are blended to generate a blended output, which is transmitted toward the display device for display thereon.

Claims

1. A method of combining an interactive user interface for generating a blended output, for a display, that includes the interactive user interface and one or more supplemental images, the method comprising:

at a client device remote from a server;

receiving a video stream that contains an interactive user interface from the server using a first data communications channel configured to communicate video content;

transmitting to the server a command that relates to an interactive user interface;

receiving, in response to the transmitting, an updated user interface from the server using the first data communications channel,

receiving, in response to the transmitting, one or more supplemental images for supplementing the interactive user interface using a second data communications channel different from the first data communications channel;

blending the updated user interface and the one or more supplemental images to generate a blended output; and

transmitting the blended output toward the display device for display thereon.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the interactive user interface comprises a source video stitched with user interface content.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the encoding specification is an MPEG specification, an AVS specification, or a VC-1 specification, and

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first data communications channel comprises at least one of:

quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) using a cable network infrastructure, user datagram protocol over internet protocol (UDP/IP) using an internet protocol television (IPTV) infrastructure, or hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) using a public or private internet infrastructure, and the second data communications channel comprises at least one of transmission control protocol over internet protocol (TCP/IP), remote frame buffer (RFB) protocol, and extended remoting technology (XRT) protocol.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein each supplemental image of the one or more supplemental images is associated with a corresponding transparency coefficient, and wherein blending the updated user interface with the one or more supplemental images comprises blending according to the transparency coefficient.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein blending comprises blending in a spatial domain.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the command is a request for secure content, and wherein:

the one or more supplemental images are received from a third party server; and

the second data communications channel uses a secure transport protocol.

8. A method of providing an interactive user interface for generating an output, for a display, that includes a source video and an interactive user interface, the method comprising:

at a client device remote from a server;

receiving the source video from the server using a first data communications channel configured to communicate video content, wherein the first data communications channel comprises a quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) protocol;

transmitting to the server a command related to an interactive user interface;

receiving, in response to the transmitting, one or more images of the interactive user interface using a second data communications channel different from the first data communications channel, wherein the second data communications channel comprises a transmission control protocol over internet protocol (TCP/IP) protocol;

blending the source video with the received one or more images to generate an output; and

transmitting the output toward a display device for display thereon.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the interactive user interface comprises a menu.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein the received video content is encoded using an MPEG specification, an AVS specification, or a VC-1 specification, and the one or more images of the interactive user interface are encoded using a bitmap (BMP) file format, a portable network graphics (PNG) file format, a joint photographic experts group (JPEG) file format, or a graphics interchange format (GIF) file format.

11. The method according to claim 8, wherein each image of the one or more images is associated with a corresponding transparency coefficient, and wherein blending the source video with the received one or more images comprises blending according to the transparency coefficient.

12. The method according to claim 8, wherein the blending comprises blending in a spatial domain.

13. The method according to claim 8, wherein each image of the one or more images is associated with a corresponding transparency coefficient, and wherein blending the determined frame with the one or more images comprises blending according to the transparency coefficient.

14. A method of providing an interactive user interface for generating a blended output, for a display, that includes the interactive user interface and one or more supplemental images, the method comprising:

at a server remote from a client device;

transmitting a video stream that includes an interactive user interface towards the client device using a first data communications channel configured to communicate video content;

receiving a command that relates to the interactive user interface;

generating an updated interactive user interface;

blending the updated user interface and one or more supplemental images to generate a blended output frame; and

transmitting the blended output frame toward a client device for display on a display device.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising:

transmitting the updated interactive user interface toward the client device for display on the display device thereon; and

switching between transmitting the blended output frame and transmitting the updated interactive user interface.

16. The method according to claim 14, wherein the encoding specification is an MPEG specification, an AVS specification, or a VC-1 specification.

17. The method according to claim 14, wherein the first data communications channel comprises at least one of:

quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) using a cable network infrastructure, user datagram protocol over internet protocol (UDP/IP) using an internet protocol television (IPTV) infrastructure, or hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) using a public or private internet infrastructure, and wherein the image format of the one or more supplemental images is a bitmap (BMP) file format, a portable network graphics (PNG) file format, a joint photographic experts group (JPEG) file format, or a graphics interchange format (GIF) file format.

18. The method according to claim 14, further comprising first determining that the client device is not capable of overlaying.