Patent Application
20100198732
The present invention relates to the field of media information communication. More specifically, the present invention includes a method, a system and a media player used in the system to transmit content within a network using a chaincast communication system.
Reference in the specification is made to PCT/US2001/006786 (WO 2001/065767), filed by Chaincast Inc on 28 Feb. 2001. Chaincast Inc has been acquired by, the applicant/assignee of the present application, Creative Technology Ltd.
There is an increasing number of people who have embraced the habit of regularly expressing themselves over the internet by having their own blogs or online diaries. They express their thoughts for any possible issue in words, sound clips or videos for consumption by the public, and some of these bloggers have attracted their own band of followers who either have the same mindset/interest or are simply fans of the bloggers per se.
These bloggers act like a hub where like-minded people or fans gather and peruse content which interest them and also enable the sharing of thoughts/opinions on subjects close to their heart. Due to the presence of such bloggers, an online community may form which comprises people with similar mindsets/interests or fans who hang on the words of the bloggers. Having access to such a community may be a golden opportunity for commercial entities seeking groups of a particular mindset/interest. There is a degree of certainty for the commercial entity that interest would be generated in a particular product/service if that product/service is deemed to appeal to a particular mindset/interest.
However, there is currently no system which allows for a blogger to make a live video broadcast to an audience equipped with individual handheld devices that are also able to receive advertisements which the audience may express an interest in. The present invention presents such a solution.
There is provided a communication system including a plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices connected to a network, each device being for receiving content, for selectively storing content, and for selectively retransmitting content. The system may include at least one server for storage of advertisements and transmission of advertisements either directly to the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices, or the transmission of advertisements being directed by at least one chaincast manager, the at least one server for storage of advertisements and transmission of advertisements being either online or offline. There may also be at least one content server connected to the network for storage of content and transmission of content either directly to the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices, or the transmission of content being directed by at least one chaincast manager. The at least one chaincast manager connected to the network may preferably be for registering the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices, and for scheduling content and advertisement transfers amongst the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices. It is advantageous that the system enables simultaneous recording and transmission of content by each content receiver cum transmitter device with minimal lag time. It is advantageous that the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices may enable real time communication between users.
The system may include a membership module for access to the chaincast manager. The membership module may include storage of user parameters, the user parameters selected from the group consisting of: profile score, user interests, a right to broadcast content using the system, a right to receive content using the system, a right to participate in commercial activities using the system, and channel favourites of the user. Access to the membership module may be either free or paid. Preferably, the aforementioned commercial activities are selected from the group consisting of: online auctions, online donations and online shopping.
It is preferable that the advertisements are selected from either public service announcements or commercially motivated announcements. The m advertisements may be cached in the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices and transmitted at a later instance. It is advantageous that the scheduling of content and advertisement transfers by the chaincast manager is based on parameters selected from the group consisting of: profile score, broadcast requests sent from the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices, the user interests and the channel favourites of the user. The content stored in the content server may be transmitted either per a predetermined schedule or on an “on demand” basis.
The at least one server connected to the network for storage of advertisements is accessible by advertisers who upload their advertisements with a plurality of settings selected from the group consisting of: profile score, interest group, age group target and advertisement ratings. It is advantageous that the advertisers are billed with information selected from either by frequency of views/playback or by subscription. Preferably, the billing information for advertisers are either encrypted or DRM protected.
Preferably, at least one of the content servers includes a voice-to-text conversion function to convert voice-based content into a form which is text searchable. In addition, at least one of the content servers may also include a voice identification function to enable voice-based content to be voice searchable
There is also provided a media player connectable to a network, including: a display module incorporated in the media player to show visual content; a camera module incorporated in the media player to record visual content; an audio module to input and output audio content; at least one memory module to store content in the media player; a wireless receiver cum transmitter module for input and output of content from the media player; and a processor to control the aforementioned modules. It is advantageous that the media player is connectable to at least one chaincast manager connected to the network for registering a plurality of media players, the at least one chaincast manager also for scheduling content and advertisement transfers amongst the plurality of media players. It is advantageous that the media player may be enabled for simultaneous recording and transmission of content with minimal lag time.
The media player may interface with a membership module coupled to the at least one chaincast manager to allow access to the at least one chaincast manager. The membership module may include storage of user parameters such as, for example, profile score, user interests, a right to broadcast content using the system, a right to receive content using the system, a right to participate in commercial activities using the system, and channel favourites of the user. It is preferable that the commercial activities are selected from the group consisting of: online auctions, online donations and online shopping. Scheduling the content and advertisement transfers by the chaincast manager is based on parameters such as, for example. profile score, broadcast requests sent from the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices, the user interests and the channel favourites of the user. The advertisements may be cached in the media player and transmitted at a later instance.
The wireless receiver cum transmitter module of the media player may utilise wireless technologies like UWB, Bluetooth, infrared, and any form of radio frequency transmission. The display module may include a screen selected from a panel from the group consisting of: TFT, OLED, LCD and CSTN. The screen may be touch-sensitive.
It is advantageous that the media player may further include a graphical user interface with a virtual “activator”, wherein the “activator” has different activation functions depending on content shown on the screen. The activation functions are for example, bidding, invoking transaction, text transmit and voice transmit. It is advantageous that the media player may enable real time communication between users.
The present application also discloses a method of communicating content over a network. The method includes registering a plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices with a chaincast manager; transmitting content from the at least one content receiver cum transmitter device connected to a network; selectively storing content in the at least one content receiver cum transmitter device; selectively re-transmitting content from the at least one content receiver cum transmitter device; transmitting advertisements from at least one advertisement server to either directly to a plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices, or the transmission of advertisements being is directed by at least one chaincast manager; receiving the content and advertisements on at least one content receiver cum transmitter device with the at least one chaincast manager scheduling content and advertisement transfers amongst the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices. The method may advantageously enable simultaneous recording and transmission of content by each content receiver cum transmitter device with minimal lag time. It is advantageous that the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices may enable real time communication between users.
In the method, registration of the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices with a chaincast manager may be done through a membership module. The membership module may include storage of user parameters, the user parameters selected from the group consisting of: profile score, user interests, a right to broadcast content, a right to receive content, a right to participate in commercial activities, and channel favourites of the user. Preferably, the commercial activities are online auctions, online donations or online shopping. The advertisements may be either public service announcements or commercially motivated announcements. The advertisements may be cached in the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices and transmitted at a later instance.
It is advantageous that the scheduling of content and advertisement transfers by the chaincast manager is based on parameters selected from for example, profile score, broadcast requests sent from the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices, the user interests and the channel favourites of the user.
In the method, it is preferable that the at least one advertisement server is accessible by advertisers who upload their advertisements with a plurality of settings selected from the group consisting of: profile score, interest group, age group target and advertisement ratings. Preferably, the advertisers may be billed with information selected from either by frequency of views/playback or by subscription. It is important that billing information for advertisers may be either encrypted or DRM protected.
In order that the present invention may be fully understood and readily put into practical effect, there shall now be described by way of non-limitative example only preferred embodiments of the present invention, the description being with reference to the accompanying illustrative drawings.
In a preferred embodiment of the present application, there is provided a communication system 20 as shown in
Wireless communication between the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices 22 may occur without intervention by at least one chaincast manager 26 using wireless technologies such as, for example, UWB, Bluetooth, infrared, and any form of radio frequency transmission. The plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices 22 would need to be within a transmission range of the wireless technology being utilised for wireless communication to take place.
There may be at least one server 24 connected to the network for storage of advertisements. The advertisement server 24 may also transmit advertisements to the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices 22. This is done either via direct transmission to the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices 22, or by relying on the at least one chaincast manager 26 to direct the transmission of advertisements to the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices 22. The advertisements may be either public service announcements or commercially motivated announcements. The advertisements may be of the interactive type. Advertisers may access the advertisement server 24 to upload their advertisements with a plurality of settings, such as, for example, interest group, age group target, advertisement ratings and so forth. Access to the advertisement server 24 by the advertisers may be made available for a fee. The advertisements may be tagged with related content (and subsequently transmitted together) or may be independent. The advertisements (either from the advertisement server 24 or another content receiver cum transmitter devices 22) may be cached in the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices 22 and transmitted at a later instance. In this regard, the advertisement server 24 may not be a mandatory aspect of the communication system 20. Advertisements may be transmitted among the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices 22 connected to the system 20 regardless of whether the advertisement server 24 is connected to the communication system 20.
There may also be at least one content server 25 connected to the network for storage of content. The at least one content server 25 may be, for example, a remote storage device, a home based server and so forth. The content server 25 may store content transmitted from each of the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices 22. The content server 25 may also transmit content to the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices 22. This is done either via direct transmission to the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices 22, or by relying on the at least one chaincast manager 26 to direct the transmission of content to the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices 22. Control of the transmission of content to and between the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices 22 by the chaincast manager 26 is depicted by the dotted-lines arrows in
The at least one chaincast manager 26 may be connected to the network and the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices 22 may be registered with the chaincast manager 26. The chaincast manager 26 may perform tasks such as scheduling content and advertisement transfers amongst the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices 22. The chaincast manager 26 may schedule the content and advertisement transfers based on parameters such as, for example, broadcast requests sent from the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices 22, user interests and the channel favourites of the user.
The chaincast manager 26 may include a membership module 28 that either allows or blocks access to the chaincast manager 26. The membership module 28 may be part of the chaincast manager 26 or an independent module which interacts with the chaincast manager 26. The membership module 26 may include storage of user parameters such as, for example, user interests, a right to broadcast content using the system 20, a right to receive content using the system 20, a right to participate in commercial activities using the system 20, and channel favourites of the user. The right to broadcast/receive content may be based on a quantity of data scheme, where broadcasting/receiving content beyond a specified quantity may incur additional charges in addition to a basic cost of the data scheme. The fee to obtain access to the membership module 28 may be waived if the user accedes to either carrying advertisements during their broadcasts or viewing advertisements when receiving broadcasts.
Generally, these parameters may be mandatory information required for the membership module 26 to operate in a desired manner. The parameters stored in the membership module 26 for a user enables the user to have a specific profile for use in the system 20. Such a profile determines tasks which the user is able to perform in the system 20 and is also used to identify the user and/or specific content receiver cum transmitter device 22. This is to because each user and/or specific content receiver cum transmitter device 22 may not be identifiable by an IP address as the content receiver cum transmitter device 22 need not be connected to the internet. The profile also enables appropriate content/advertisements in accordance with the user's interests to be sent to the user should the user allow reception of the content/advertisements on their content receiver cum transmitter devices 22. The profile may be quantified into a numerical score using a predetermined scoring system. Users with a profile within a particular scoring range may be grouped together to form a community of users with similar profiles. All content management, marketing efforts, and advertising may be dependent on the profile score.
The commercial activities allowable on the system 20 may include online auctions, online donations and online shopping. Users may be able to use their content receiver cum transmitter devices 22 to bid for items in online auctions or make purchases from online stores/sellers. The commercial activities may be done in real-time in response to the content that the users receive in their content receiver cum transmitter devices 22.
Access to the membership module 28 may be allowed only with payment of a fee. All transactions in the system may be handled by at least one payment server or facilitated by payment institutions like banks, credit card companies and Paypal.
The content receiver cum transmitter device 22 may be a media player 50 connectable to a network. Referring to
The media player 50 may be used like a media player similar to a Zen Vision from Creative Technology Ltd and may additionally be able to function like a mobile broadcaster cum receiver, where the user is able to use the media player 50 to make and receive recordings with moving images. Using the media player 50 in the system 20 enables the user to operate an independent broadcasting hub. Thus, the user may use the media player 50 to record a video diary, a filmlet, or even a movie. The system 20 allows for the transmission of large files without taking up too much bandwidth because of chaincast.
The media player 50 may have a graphical user interface shown on the screen of the display module 52 with a virtual “activator” (a predefined location on the screen) that may have different activation functions depending on content shown on the screen. For example, the virtual “activator” may be used to submit a bid price when the user is participating in an online auction. Alternatively, the virtual “activator” may also be used as a text message “send” button during a broadcast session, a voice transmit button (like a walkie-talkie) during a broadcast session, or may be used to invoke a transaction when the user is making a donation/making payment. The user's profile may be linked to a payment transmission/reception service to facilitate the conduct of commercial activities.
In another application of the media player 50 as shown in
In a third application of the media player 50 as shown in
It is evident that the wider the screen of the display module, the greater the space available to display content and the less obstructive the virtual “activator” is to the user. In this regard, the virtual “activator” enables more channels of interactivity for the user when using the media player 50.
Regardless of whether the media player 50 is on the network, the processor may allow for the tracking of the advertisements being viewed/played back on the player 50. This information may be sent to the advertisement server 24 to to enable billing of the advertiser. This may be one way which the advertisers are charged. Alternatively, the advertisers may pay fees on a subscription basis which allows them to broadcast a predetermined number of advertisements over a predetermined period of time. The information for the tracking of the advertisements being viewed/played back on the player 50 may be either encrypted or DRM protected. This is to deter and minimise the incidence of tampering of the information which is of immense commercial value.
Referring to
Advertisers may access the advertisement server to upload their advertisements with a plurality of settings, such as, for example, interest group, age group target, advertisement ratings and so forth. Access to the server by the advertisers may be made available for a fee. The advertisements may be tagged with related content (and subsequently transmitted together) or may be independent.
The advertisements may be directly transmitted to the other content receiver cum transmitter devices from the advertisement server 88. Content from the content receiver cum transmitter devices, and the advertisements on the content receiver cum transmitter devices may then be transmitted under the direction of the chaincast manager 92. Alternatively, the advertisements and content may also be directed to the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices by the chaincast manager 90. The advertisements may be of the interactive type.
In the aforementioned method, registering the plurality of content receiver cum transmitter devices with a chaincast manager may be done through a membership module. The chaincast manager may include a membership module that either allows or blocks access to the chaincast manager. The membership module may be part of the chaincast manager or an independent module which interacts with the chaincast manager. Access to the membership module may be allowed only with payment of a fee. The membership module may include storage of user parameters such as, for example, user interests, a right to broadcast content, a right to receive content, a right to participate in commercial activities, and channel favourites of the user. Generally, these parameters may be mandatory information required for the membership module to operate in a desired manner. The parameters stored in the membership module for a user enables the user to have a specific profile. Such a profile determines tasks which the user is able to perform. The profile also enables appropriate content/advertisements in accordance with the user's interests to be sent to the user should the user allow reception of the content/advertisements on their content receiver cum transmitter devices. The commercial activities allowable may include online auctions, online donations and online shopping. Users may be able to use their content receiver cum transmitter devices to bid for items in online auctions or make purchases from online stores/sellers. All transactions in the system may be handled by at least one payment server or facilitated by payment institutions like banks, credit card companies and Paypal.
Whilst there has been described in the foregoing description preferred embodiments of the present invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the technology concerned that many variations or modifications in details of design or construction may be made without departing from the present invention.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/SG2007/000408 | 11/27/2007 | WO | 00 | 5/26/2009 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60861188 | Nov 2006 | US |
