Generation and insertion of indicators using an address signal applied to a database

• US 7,421,729 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2002
• Issued: 09/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OpenTV, Inc. (Kudelski SA)
• Original Assignee: Intellocity USA, Inc. (Kudelski SA)
• Inventors: Zenoni, Ian
• Primary Examiner(s): Kelley, Christopher S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hossain, Farzana E
• Application Number:
  US10/076,950
• Publication Number:
  US 20020131511A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,394 Days
• Field of Search: 725/32, 725/34, 725/28, 725/115, 725/116, 725/145, 725/146, 715/719, 715/723
• US Class Current: 725/146
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/37 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/202 by remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23892 involving embedding information at multiplex stream level, e.g. embedding a watermark at packet level
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44016 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/441 Acquiring end-user identification , e.g. using personal code sent by the remote control or by inserting a card
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; 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 21/454 Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
• 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 21/4756 for rating content, e.g. scoring a recommended movie
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/088 the inserted signal being digital
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

Disclosed is a system for inserting indicators, such as tags and markers, in a video stream. The tags and markers can be inserted automatically using a database, or manually using an operator input station that supplies standard tags and markers for easy insertion. The information can be accessed with the database functioning as a look-up table, or using a comparator that compares a time code with stored table information. Also disclosed is the generation of supplemental video signals that can be combined with a video signal to provide supplemental information that varies on a regional basis. The present invention also discloses the use of indicators to access Internet web sites to generate enhanced video signals. The indicators can be transmitted by embedding them in the streaming video, in the video blanking interval, encoding them as a separate data PID or placing them on a back channel.

Claims

1. A method of generating and inserting indicators into a video stream, said method comprising:

generating a time code signal that is synchronized with the video stream;

applying the time code signal to an address generator that decodes the time code signal and generates a corresponding address signal;

applying the corresponding address signal to a database, said database storing a plurality of indicators;

accessing a set of indicators that are stored in said database using said address signal as an address into said database; and

encoding said video stream with said set of indicators accessed from said database using said address signal.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of encoding said video stream with indicators comprises encoding said video stream with content indication tags.

3. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of encoding said video stream with indicators comprises encoding said video stream with segment division markers.

4. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of encoding said video stream with said set of indicators is performed using a vertical blanking interval encoder.

8. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of encoding said video stream with said set of indicators is performed using a horizontal blanking interval encoder.

9. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of encoding said video stream with said set of indicators is performed using a back channel encoding techniques.

10. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of encoding said video stream with said set of indicators is performed by encoding said set of indicators within a digital video stream.

11. The method as set forth in claim 10 wherein said set of indicators are identified in said digital video stream using a data program identification (PID).

12. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of encoding said video stream with indicators comprises encoding XML code within said video stream.

13. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of encoding said video stream with indicators comprises encoding a trigger to generate an enhanced video signal within said video stream.

14. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of encoding said video stream with indicators comprises encoding a trigger to access Internet address within said video stream.

5. A system for encoding a video stream with indicators, said system comprising:

a time code generator that generates a time code signal that is synchronized with the video stream;

an address generator that receives the time code signal, decodes the time code signal, and generates a corresponding address signal;

a database, said database having said indicators stored therein, said database receiving the corresponding address signal and generating an indicator signal in response to said corresponding address signal; and

an encoder that encodes said video stream with said indicator signal to generate a video stream encoded with said indicators.

6. The system as set forth in claim 5 wherein said indicators are content indication tags.

7. The system as set forth in claim 5 wherein said indicators are segment division markers.

15. The system as set forth in claim 5 wherein said encoder comprises a horizontal blanking interval encoder.

16. The system as set forth in claim 5 wherein said encoder uses back channel encoding techniques.

17. The system as set forth in claim 5 wherein said encoder encodes encoding said set of indicators within a digital video stream.

18. The system as set forth in claim 17 wherein said set of indicators are identified in said digital video stream using a data program identification (PID).

19. The system as set forth in claim 5 wherein said encoder encodes XML code within said video stream.

20. The system as set forth in claim 5 wherein said encoder encodes a trigger to generate an enhanced video signal within said video stream.

21. The method as set forth in claim 5 wherein said encoder encodes a trigger to access Internet address within said video stream.

22. The system as set forth in claim 5 wherein said encoder comprises a vertical blanking interval encoder.