Patent Application
20080115178
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to customer configurable video rich interfaces for use in selecting content for viewing and other purposes.
2. Background Art
Video rich navigation (VRN) generally refers to a concept of providing customers within user interfaces enhanced with video or other moving content. This concept improves upon existing electronic programming guides (EPGs) and other similar menu based interfaces. The use of VRN interfaces is advantageous to media services providers as it improves customer satisfaction and ease of viewing with respect to menu, grid and other limited text based interfaces.
The present invention is pointed out with particularity in the appended claims. However, other features of the present invention will become more apparent and the present invention will be best understood by referring to the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompany drawings in which:
The media provider, for exemplary purposes, is most prominently described with respect to being a cable television service provider having capabilities for providing cable television, telecommunications, and high-speed data services to the subscriber locations, primarily through wireline and/or wireline communications. The present invention, however, is not so limited and fully contemplates the provider being associated with any type of service provider, including other television providers (IP, broadcast, satellite, etc.) and non-television providers, such as those associated with high-speed data, telecommunications, cellular communications, and the like.
The media provider may be configured to support and/or facilitate the use of any number of television and non-television services and applications, such as, but not limited to linear and non-linear television programming/signaling (cable, satellite, broadcast, etc.), Video on Demand (VOD), interactive television (iTV), email services, data transmission service, interactive gaming, pay-per-view (PPV), digital video recording (local and remote), and/or broadcasting of signals associated with supporting television programming, movies, audio, and other multimedia, as well as, downloading of clips or full-length versions of the same.
The network 12 may include any number of features and devices to facilitate signal transportation and other operations associated with interfacing the subscriber locations with each other and otherwise supporting communications associated with services of the media provider. The network 12 may include terrestrial and extraterrestrial components and infrastructures, including cable lines, telephone lines, and/or satellite or other wireless architectures. The network 12 may be associated with other private and/or public networks, such as the Internet and dedicated or virtual private networks.
Each subscriber location may include one or more customer devices 14-16, such as but not limited to a settop box (STB), digital video recorder (DVR), personal computer (PC), television (which may include embedded user interface and processing capabilities), outlet digital adapter (ODA), media terminal adapter (MTA), cable modem (CM), personal digital assistant (PDA), computer, mobile device (phone, computer, etc.), personal media device, and any other item having capabilities to supporting access to any number of the services.
The customer devices 14-16 may be configured to descramble and to support and/or facilitate the use of any number of television and non-television related signals, such as, but not limited to, NTSC television, ATSC television, MPEG digital television, Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Syslog, Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP), Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS), Domain Name Server (DNS) applications, DOCSIS Settop Gateway (DSG), out-of-band (JOB) messaging, and others.
A number content/media sources 20-28 may be associated with and/or controlled by the media provider (which in turn may receive the content from other sources) to source content streams and/or one or more of the subscriber devices or other non-subscriber devices connected the network 12 may similar source content, such as but not limited to peer-to-peer environments. For example, if the media provider is a television service provider, a portion of the media content may relate to television programs, movies, and other multimedia packets. This content may be delivered from the contents sources 20-28 to the subscribers through streaming, downloading, broadcast, peer-to-peer, and any number of other processes.
The media content may be delivered to the subscriber locations directly from the media service provider and/or from one or more of the other devices in communication therewith. As is common with larger media content providers, multiple regional enterprises, such as headend units and the like, may be configured to provide regional programming to a number of subscribers associated therewith. Each of the headends may store various types of media content for distribution to the subscribers it services. Optionally, the headends may be configured to support headend to headend communications such that non-direct subscribers, i.e., those supported by other headends, may similarly receive content from other headends.
Optionally, a portion of the media content may be sourced from the subscribers themselves, such as by transporting content stored locally on the home networks of the subscribers to other locations within the same home network and/or to other locations beyond the home network that are in communication therewith by way of the network. The media provider may include features and capabilities to facilitate such inter-subscriber communications.
The system 10 may further include a VRN 32 element to facilitate VRN related operations required in accordance with the present invention. The VRN element 32 may include memories, processors, and/or other features necessary to the operations of the present invention. It may be a standalone item and/or integrated into the operations of one or more other elements in communication with the system 10. The media service provider may control operations of the VRN element 32 and/or the VRN element may be support or otherwise controlled by a third party.
One of the VRN related operations of the present invention may relate to directing and/or otherwise facilitating multiplexing content streams from the content sources 20-28 into a common VRN distribution channel. The VRN distribution channel may include any number of content streams associated with supporting VRN in accordance with the present invention. A multiplexer 34 may be in communication with the VRN element 32 or otherwise associated therewith to facilitate the multiplexing operations. The multiplexer may then transport the VRN distribution channel to the customer devices over the network 12 or other suitable communication medium.
The operations of the multiplexer 34 may generally correspond with multiplexing multiple content streams and any associated control information into the common VRN distribution channel and the operations associated therewith. Optionally, this may include multiplexing content streams associated with a number of VOD, television channels, or other content streams (gaming, interactive television, data, etc.) offered by the media provider into the single VRN distribution channel. The VRN distribution channel may be associated with the bandwidth commonly associated with a single QAM television channel such that the content associated with the multiple content streams may be accessed by tuning to or otherwise processing the single VRN distribution channel.
For example, each of the content sources 20-28 may be associated with a particular television service such that the content stream associated therewith occupies less bandwidth typically associated with a single QAM channel before being multiplexed. The multiplexer adjusts each stream as a function of the number of other multiplexed streams so that each stream can be included within the single channel bandwidth of the common VRN distribution channel. The resolution or other parameters (bandwidth) of particular content streams may take precedent over other streams such that each stream is not necessarily required to occupy equal portions of the VRN distribution channel bandwidth.
The content streams may be scaled down to approximately 140×90 pixels in size, and optionally thereafter compressed. Advanced coding, i.e. AVC, VC1, etc., may be used such that the estimated bit rate for each processed content stream may be on the order of 150 kbps. The associated audio may be encoded to use AAC with a target rate of 56 kbps. The VRN distribution channel may comprise individual content streams having bandwidth requirements of 206 kpbs (150+56 kpbs) such that the typically channel (256 QAM), which may include approximately 180 content streams.
The ability to multiplex multiple content streams into a common VRN distribution channel allows the present invention to provide a common channel having, in essence, multiple channels (content streams) of its own such that each of the content streams may be demultiplexed from the VRN distribution channel for customer viewing, as described below in more detail. The present invention, however, is not necessarily so limited and fully contemplates including any number of content streams within the VRN distribution channel and not necessarily limiting the VRN distribution channel to a single QAM channel.
The VRN element 32 may be configured to keep track of or otherwise assess the channels or content streams included within the common VRN distribution channel. This may include mapping or otherwise correlating source channel IDs associated with each of the channels to a VRN ID. The VRN element 32 may create a table, database, or other relational entity to support correlating the IDs, which for exemplary purposes may be referred to as a content source mapping table. If different channels or content streams are added to or removed form the VRN distribution channel, the VRN element may make corresponding changes to the content source mapping table. The VRN element may originate control information such as display rules, graphic overlay objects and timing data into the VRN distribution channel for use by a client application.
For exemplary purposes only, and without intending to limit the scope and contemplation of the present invention, operations of the VRN element 32 are predominately described with respect to supporting operations associated with the formation of a single VRN distribution channel having streams from multiple content sources commonly employed with cable television operations. The present invention, however, is not so limited and fully contemplates the formation of any number of separate VRN distribution channels and supporting the use thereof. The various VRN distribution channels may be transmitted to any number of local or national customer devices and/or specifically transmitted to one or more customer devices.
The customer device 14 may include a demultiplexer 40 to facilitate demultiplexing the VRN distribution channel. The demultiplexing may generally related to demultiplexing one or more of the content streams included within the VRN distribution channel for customer usage. The demultiplexer 40 may rely on the content source mapping table to facilitate selecting and demultiplexing the content streams. Because the content streams included in the VRN distribution channel may be of a lower resolution than the original content stream, the demultiplexed signals may be of a corresponding lower resolution and/or the demultiplexer may apply enhancements or other resolution techniques to improve upon the resolution thereof.
The customer device 14 may be loaded with or otherwise configured to include a VRN application 42. The VRN application 42 may be a controller or other suitably executing entity having capabilities to facilitate video rich navigation in accordance with the present invention. The VRN application 42 may be configured to support user selection of the demultiplexed content streams and related navigation, including executing conditional access operations for one or more of the content streams if necessary. As described below in more detail, the user may control which one or more content streams are shown within a navigable user interface so as to provide video rich navigation with an interface having navigable selection options associated with accessing other features supported for the corresponding customer.
The titles or other descriptor used to reference the content streams may be derived from metadata or other data associated with the content streams. This data may be included within the VRN content source mapping table or otherwise communicated to the VRN application 42. The listing may be arranged according to the typical channel map used by the customer device and/or according to some other methodology, such as but not limited to favorites, recommendations, genres, channel types, movies, and any number of other classifiable and non-classifiable orders.
The user may select one or more of the listings by selecting one or more check boxes from check box columns 48-50 or through some other selection process facilitate through the interface 46. This information may then be used by the demultiplexer for demultiplexing the corresponding content streams from the VRN distribution channel when presenting VRN navigation user interface. Control arrows 52-54 may be included to facilitate scanning or otherwise navigating through the available content streams and/or some other feature may be included, such as but not limited to navigating to channels as a function of inputted channel numbers, titles, descriptions, etc. The demultiplexer may recover the selected content stream from the VRN distribution channel for further processing in accordance with the present invention.
The user interface 60 may include a highlighter or other selection feature (not shown) to facilitate selecting one or more of the content streams for further processing. The user interface may present the content stream in a manner similar to or different form the presentation of the titles in the listings based user interface. The user interface of FIG. 4—as opposed to the user interface of
The content streams and overlay be selected or otherwise directed by the customer. As noted above, the customer may be presented with an interface to facilitate selecting the content streams. The customer may also be present with an interface (not shown) to facilitate selecting the overlay. With the customer driven selection of one or both of these elements, one non-limiting aspect of the present invention advantageously provides a customer configurable VRN (CC-VRN) user interface.
Referring to
The navigation features 90-104 may includes a “Guide” button 90 for tuning to an electronic programming guide or other feature which may provide another user interface for reviewing programs shown on other channels, a “Last Channel” button 92 for tuning to the last channel viewed before instigating the CC-VRN interface associated with the homepage user interface, a “Movies” button 94 for tuning to a different guide associated with a movies-themed user interface or for displaying a guide related thereto, a “Selection” button 96 for retuning to one of the content stream selecting user interfaces (
The overlay may further include menus for displaying advertisements 102 and user interactive advertisements 104. The advertisements may be based on viewing or other habits of the user, user preferences/profiles, and/or upon information associated with the metadata of the selected content streams. In this manner, the menus and selection buttons (including those associated with navigating to other accessible features of the customer device) may be correlated with the selected content streams or other customer determined influences to create the CC-VRN of the present invention.
As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention that may be embodied in various and alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale, some features may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particular components. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis for the claims and/or as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention.
While embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it is not intended that these embodiments illustrate and describe all possible forms of the invention. Rather, the words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation, and it is understood that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
