Linking and browsing media on television

• US 8,384,743 B2
• Filed: 04/06/2006
• Issued: 02/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gorti, Sreenivasa, Nadarajah, Dinesh, Lowrie, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Tung, Kee M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Perromat, Carlos
• Application Number:
  US11/400,345
• Publication Number:
  US 20070250848A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,518 Days
• Field of Search: 725/51, 725/109, 725/37, 725/110
• US Class Current: 345/635
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/08 Monochrome to colour transformation
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/10 Mixing of images, i.e. displayed pixel being the result of an operation, e.g. adding, on the corresponding input pixels
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/38 Arrangements for distribution where lower stations, e.g. receivers, interact with the broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/93 which locates resources of other pieces of information, e.g. URL [Uniform Resource Locator]
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/33 Arrangements for monitoring the users' behaviour or opinions
• 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 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6106 specially adapted to the downstream path of the transmission network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6175 involving transmission via Internet broadcast-related systems characterised by the transmission system being the Internet H04H60/82
• 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 21/858 Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8583 by creating hot-spots
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Techniques for linking and browsing media on a television (TV) are provided. A selected program, which is associated with a channel of the TV, is detected and additional content, which is associated with that channel and/or the selected program, is dynamically acquired from one or more external sources. The additional content is formatted as links and simultaneously presented within a display of the TV along with the selected program that continues to play on the TV. Furthermore, activation of any link results in the additional content being dynamically acquired and presented within the display.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a processor of a set top box, a program from equipment of one of a plurality of channel providers that supply programs to a broadcaster;

presenting, by the processor, the program at a display coupled to the set-top box, wherein the program is presented in a video display area;

receiving, by the processor, an information request based on receiving an input via a remote control device;

detecting, by the processor, a date and a time the information request was received, a current elapsed time into a playing of the program, and an identifier of the program;

assembling, by the processor, metadata comprising the date and the time the information request was received and the identifier of the program;

transmitting, by the processor, the metadata to equipment of the channel provider that supplied the program to enable the channel provider to determine the context of what was being presented by the program when the information request was received and to identify additional content related to the context of what was being presented by the program at the current elapsed time into the playing of the program;

receiving, by the processor, from the equipment of the channel provider the additional content related to the context of what was being presented by the program at the date and time the request was received and at the current elapsed time into the playing of the program and obtained from one of a world wide web service associated with the channel provider and an Internet portal associated with the channel provider, wherein at least a portion of the additional content is content being currently played on another channel, and wherein the additional content includes archived television programs and geographic maps selected according to the context;

presenting, by the processor, selectable links to enable a presentation of at least a portion of the additional content within the display, wherein the selectable links are presented in a link display area that is outside of the video display area;

detecting, by the processor, a selection of a link from among the selectable links;

acquiring, by the processor, content from among the additional content that corresponds to the selected link;

presenting, by the processor, in the video display area the acquired content in response to the detecting of the selection of the link;

removing, by the processor, the selected link from the link display area in response to the detecting of the selection of the link;

ceasing, by the processor, to present the program in the video display area in response to the detecting of the selection of the link;

in response to the detecting of the selection of the link, generating, by the processor, another selectable link for reinstating presentation of the program in the video display area upon selection of the other selectable link; and

presenting, by the processor, the other selectable link with the selectable links in the link display area without presenting any images of the program.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

presenting the acquired content in accordance with digital rights management rules distributed with streamed content from an Internet Protocol networked based television source.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising, identifying a plurality of different content types to associate with the selectable links received from the channel provider, wherein the different content types comprise content related to at least one of video on demand content, a universal resource identifier for a world-wide web site, personalized content related to a personal multimedia store of a viewer, advertisements, personal advertisements, or streaming media content accessible from the Internet.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising, augmenting the additional content with more related content from other content sources or other services and generating other selectable links for presenting at the display.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising, ranking and ordering the selectable links presented at the display.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising, determining the ranking and ordering in response to fees paid by or agreements made with link owners associated with the selectable links.

7. A method comprising:

receiving, by a processor of a set top box, a content request from a remote control device in communication with the set-top-box;

assembling, by the processor, metadata responsive to the content request via the set-top-box, wherein the metadata comprises a date and time when the content request was received, a current elapsed time into a playing of a program being presented, and an identifier of the program being presented on a display at the date and time the content request was received to enable a channel provider that supplied the program to identify a context of what was being presented by the program at the date and the time when the content request was received and at a current elapsed time into the playing of the program being presented;

submitting, by the processor, the metadata to the channel provider;

presenting, by the processor, selectable links on the display for viewing additional content, wherein at least a portion of the additional content is obtained from one of a world wide web service associated with the channel provider or an Internet portal associated with the channel provider according to the context of the program using at least the metadata, wherein at least a portion of the additional content is content being currently played on another channel, and wherein the additional content includes at least one of archived television programs or geographic maps selected according to the context;

removing, by the processor, the program from the display upon a user selection of one of the selectable links;

receiving, by the processor, from a web-based service, streamed content related to the selected link;

presenting, by the processor, the streamed content at the portion of the display previously occupied by the program; and

presenting, by the processor, another selectable link for reinstating presentation of the program, wherein the other selectable link is presented without presenting any images of the program.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising transmitting the metadata with geographic constraints and at least one of preference constraints for a viewer, temporal constraints, television service provider constraints, categories associated with the program, key terms associated with the program, or recent viewing history associated with the set-top box or the viewer.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the channel provider searches a content repository according to the context determined for the program.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the channel provider searches external repositories or portals.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the selectable links and the other selectable link are presented in a link display area that is outside of a video display area in which the program is presented.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising acquiring at least a portion of the metadata from a repository in response to an identifier associated with at least one of a viewer, a television, the set-top box, or the remote control device.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising computer instructions, which responsive to being executed by a processor cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a content request from a remote control device in communication with the set-top-box;

assembling metadata responsive to the content request via the set-top-box, wherein the metadata comprises a date and time when the content request was received, a current elapsed time into a playing of a program being presented, and an identifier of the program being presented on a display at the date and time the content request was received to enable a channel provider that supplied the program to identify a context of what was being presented by the program at the date and the time when the content request was received and at a current elapsed time into the playing of the program being presented;

submitting the metadata to equipment of the channel provider;

presenting selectable links on the display for viewing additional content, wherein at least a portion of the additional content is obtained from one of a world wide web service associated with the channel provider or an Internet portal associated with the channel provider according to the context of the program using at least the metadata, wherein at least a portion of the additional content is content being currently played on another channel, and wherein the additional content includes at least one of archived television programs or geographic maps selected according to the context;

removing the program from the display upon a user selection of one of the selectable links;

receiving from a web-based service, streamed content related to the selected link;

presenting the streamed content at the portion of the display previously occupied by the program; and

presenting another selectable link for reinstating presentation of the program, wherein the other selectable link is presented without presenting any images of the program.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the selectable links and the other selectable link are presented in a link display area that is outside of a video display area in which the program is presented.