Patent Application
20230054042
This invention pertains generally to the field of generating interactive programming and more specifically to generating and transmitting interactive programming including participants' interactions over a communication network.
Broadcast media, such as television, have traditionally been limited to serial processes where a program is broadcast to a viewer in an audience with limited opportunities, such as calling in over a telephone line to talk to a talk show host, for the viewer to participate in the program. The evolution to a more interactive form of broadcast media, or media where the viewer is allowed to participate, has been slow given the lack of bidirectional communication channels between the viewer and the program broadcaster.
When bidirectional communication channels are created, viewer participation has so far been limited to choosing program content, responding to advertising messages, and answering viewer questionnaires or polls. This is primarily because most interactive programming follows a conventional broadcast program paradigm wherein the programming is wrapped in advertisements; and the only responses needed from an audience are to view linear pre-recorded programs and to buy advertised items or services. Little has been done to fully involve the audience in a rich participatory experience where the audience has as much control and influence over the content of an interactive program as the originator of the interactive program. Such limited viewer participation is in contrast to the expectations of some viewers who want a richer and more satisfying participatory experience within the context of an interactive program.
Therefore, a need exists for a light-weight interactive programming system allowing for rich viewer participation which is easily integrated with existing content. The present invention meets such need
Some television programs include captioning information created by the television program broadcaster. The captions are encoded into the television signal and broadcast to a viewer's television where the captions are extracted from the television signal and displayed on the viewer's television screen. The captions are intended for the hearing impaired and contain textual representations of the auditory components of a television broadcast. While intended for the hearing-impaired, captions are used in a variety of situations. For example, the captions may be used in lieu of the audio components of the television signal so that viewers can still watch television in environments where the noise levels are very high, for example in a gymnasium.
The captioning for a television program include a textual representation of the entire contents of the television program since the captions are intended as a complete replacement for the audio components of a television program. This aspect of captions makes the captions useful for a variety of other purposes. For example, the captions can be used to create transcriptions of a television program for archival purposes. In addition, the captions provide a compact representation of the complete television program. Finally, a description or metadata may be generated for a television program using the caption information. These different uses for captioning data make captioning an attractive source of information and content for people desiring to form special interest groups or communities around particular television programs. For example, a commentator may want to create a talkshow to explore news items included in a televised news report. Such a talkshow would allow viewers and a commentator to fully explore news items within the context of a news broadcast.
Therefore, a need exists for an interactive program generation tool allowing the creation of a talkshow from captioning data. Such a tool should be lightweight, meaning it does not require a lot of processing resources to run, and should be able to generate interactive programming for a variety of different display devices. The present invention meets such a need.
Television has traditionally been a serial process where a television program having a series of images and sounds are broadcast to a viewer in an audience with limited opportunity for the viewer to participate in the television program. The evolution to a more interactive form of television, or television where the viewer is allowed to participate, was slow given the lack of bidirectional communication channels between the viewer and the television program broadcaster. When bidirectional communication channels were created, they tended be of insufficient bandwidth for communication of complex viewer interactions with the television program.
Development of a nearly ubiquitous communications network, namely the Internet, has greatly expanded the use of interactive television. However, viewer participation has so far been limited to choosing television content, responding to advertising messages, and answering viewer questionnaires or polls. This is primarily because most interactive television programming follows a conventional television paradigm wherein the television programming is wrapped in advertisements; and the only responses needed from an audience are to watch linear pre-recorded programs and to buy advertised items or services. Little has been done to fully involve the audience in a rich participatory experience where the audience has as much control and influence over the content of an interactive program as the originator of the interactive program. This is in contrast to the expectations of some viewers who want a richer and more satisfying participatory experience within the context of an interactive program.
Some interactive television formats also have a disadvantage in that, although they may use the Internet as a bidirectional communication channel, the interactive television format is dependent upon set-top-boxes and middleware that a viewer either purchases or leases from a broadcaster such as a cable operator. While these devices may have a variety of functional features, they may require an additional expenditure that a viewer or a Multiple Systems Operator (MSO) may not want to incur, especially if the viewer already has an Internet-enabled device such as a home computer. This makes most existing interactive television programming “heavy” in the sense that specialized hardware is needed to take advantage of the interactive content embedded in an interactive programming signal. Additionally, the combination of a required set-top-box and specialized interactive television formats make interactive programming distributed over an interactive television network difficult to integrate with conventional Web content such as Web pages available from a Web site.
Therefore, a need exists for a light-weight interactive programming system allowing for rich viewer participation which is easily integrated with existing content. The present invention meets such need.
In one aspect of the invention, an interactive programming server embeds interactive components into a video signal. The interactive programming server receives content from a content source and interactive components from an interactive component source and uses the content and interactive components to generate an interactive Video On Demand (iVOD) interactive program. The iVOD interactive program is transmitted through a communications medium to a participant who views the content and interacts with the interactive components of the iVOD interactive program. The participant's responses to the content is transmitted back to the interactive programming server where the participant responses are incorporated into new content which is used to generate new iVOD interactive programming.
In another aspect of the invention, the content is a television signal having a vertical blanking interval and the interactive program is generated by embedding the interactive component in the vertical blanking interval.
In another aspect of the invention, the content is a digital video signal and generating the interactive program includes encapsulating the interactive components in a first elementary stream of a digital video broadcast transport stream and adding the content to a second elementary stream of the video broadcast transport stream.
In another aspect of the invention, the communications medium may be a cable television network, a satellite television network, or a wide area network.
In another aspect of the invention, the participant response includes an audience approval rating of the interactive program.
In another aspect of the invention, the participant response includes an answer to a poll question.
In another aspect of the invention, the interactive component includes additional information about the content.
In another aspect of the invention, the interactive component is a uniform resource locator of a resource coupled to the interactive programming transceiver through a wide area network. The resource may be a Web site where a participant can complete a commercial transaction such as purchasing an advertised product.
In another aspect of the invention, the interactive component includes an advertisement.
In one aspect of the invention, an interactive program includes moderator content generated by the moderator and edited participant commentary that is served by a moderator server. Moderators create and manage interactive programs using a Web site. Viewers register to be participants in interactive programs using the Web site as well. The interactive programs can be distributed as electronic documents written in a markup language such as HTML or XML over the Internet. The interactive programs can also be converted to conventional interactive television content for distribution over an interactive television network. The interactive programs can also be distributed over a Virtual Private Network (VPN) for use as a secure collaboration tool by an enterprise such as a business concern. The interactive programs require few processing resources so the interactive programs can be embedded within other Web processes such as electronic commerce (e Commerce) or television commerce (t-Commerce) transactions.
In another aspect of the invention, a method is provided for creating and transmitting an interactive program over a communications network. A moderator server is operably coupled to the communications network. A moderator client and a plurality of viewer clients are operably coupled to the moderator server via the communications network. In operation, participant comment signals are received by the moderator server via the communications network from the plurality of viewer clients and transmitted by the moderator server via the communications network to the moderator client. The moderator server then receives from the moderator client edited participant comment signals and moderator signals and generates interactive program signals using the edited participant comment signals and the moderator signals. The interactive program signals are then transmitted by the moderator server via the communications network to the plurality of viewer clients.
In another aspect of the invention, a data processing system is adapted for creating and transmitting an interactive program to a plurality of viewer clients as described above. In addition, the data processing system receives content signals from a content server and generates the interactive program signals using the content signals, edited participant comment signals, and the moderator signals.
In another aspect of the invention, the data processing system receives content signals from a content server and transmits the content signals via the communications network to the viewer clients while incorporating the content signals into the interactive program.
In another aspect of the invention, the communications network is a virtual private network thus enabling private and secure transmission of an interactive program throughout an enterprise.
In another aspect of the invention, the participant comment signals further include an interactive program rating signal indicating a level of audience satisfaction with the interactive program.
In another aspect of the invention, the moderator signals further include a participant exclusion signal corresponding to a specific viewer client from the plurality of viewer clients. The participant exclusion signal is used to exclude participant comments received from the specific viewer client thus preventing specified viewers from participating in the interactive program.
In one aspect of the invention, a caption and program information extractor monitors a broadcast media signal having captions and program information encoded in the broadcast media signal. A caption and program information extractor monitors a broadcast media signal having captions and program information encoded in the broadcast media signal. The captions and program information are extracted and stored in a content database. A moderator accesses the content database to retrieve captions and for a program specified by the program information. The moderator uses the services of a moderator server to generate interactive programming from the captions and the moderator's own comments. The interactive programming is transmitted to a plurality of viewers who interact with the interactive programming by entering viewer comments. The viewer comments are received by the moderator along with additional captions and new interactive programming is generated using the viewer comments, additional captions, and additional moderator commentary.
In one aspect of the invention, a method for generating an interactive program for transmission over a communications network is provided. A caption and program information extractor extracts captions and program information from a broadcast media signal and puts the captions and program information in a content database. A moderator server is coupled through the communications network to a moderator client and a plurality of viewer clients. The moderator server receives moderator comments and edited viewer comments from the moderator client through the communications network and gets captions and program information from the content database. The moderator server then generates interactive programming using the moderator comments, edited viewer comments, program information, and captions and transmits the interactive programming to the viewer clients through the communications network.
In another aspect of the invention, the moderator server receives viewer comments from the viewer clients and transmits the viewer comments to the moderator client through the communications network.
In another aspect of the invention, the communications network used is a virtual private network.
In another aspect of the invention, the viewers rate an interactive program by further including an interactive program rating signal in the viewer comment signals. In response, a moderator may transmit a viewer exclusion signal specifying a viewer client to the moderator server and the moderator server generates the interactive programming using the viewer exclusion signal to exclude viewer comments received from the specific viewer client. In addition, the moderator may transmit a viewer invitation signal corresponding to a specific viewer client to the moderator server and the moderator server generates viewer interactive programming using the viewer invitation signal to include viewer comments from the specific viewer client on a virtual stage.
In another aspect of the invention, an apparatus is provided for generating an interactive program for transmission over a television broadcast network and a communications network. The apparatus includes a content database, a caption and program information extractor coupled to a broadcast media signal source and the content database, and a moderator server coupled to a moderator client, the content database, and the television broadcast network. The moderator server includes a processor and a memory operably coupled to the processor. Program instructions stored in the memory are executed by the processor to implement the features of an interactive programming generation system. The program instructions include: receiving moderator comments and edited viewer comments by the moderator server from the moderator client; getting captions and program information by the moderator server from the content database; generating viewer interactive programming using the moderator comments, edited viewer comments, program information, and captions; and transmitting the interactive programming by the moderator server to viewer televisions through the television broadcast network.
In another aspect of the invention, the moderator server is further coupled to a plurality of viewer clients through the communications network. The program instructions further include receiving viewer comments by the moderator server from viewer clients through the communications network and transmitting the viewer comments by the moderator server to the moderator client through the communications network.
In another aspect of the invention, an apparatus for generating an interactive program for transmission over a television broadcast network is provided. The apparatus includes a content database and a caption and program information extractor coupled to a broadcast media signal source. The caption and program information extractor extracts captions and program information from a broadcast media signal and puts the captions and program information in the content database. A moderator server is coupled to a moderator client through the communications network and coupled to the content database. The moderator server is further coupled to the television broadcast network. The moderator server includes programming instructions for generation of interactive programming from the captions and program information. The moderator server receives moderator comments and edited viewer comments from the moderator client through the communications network and gets captions and program information from the content database. The moderator server then generates interactive programming using the moderator comments, edited viewer comments, program information, and captions and transmits the interactive programming to viewer televisions through the television broadcast network. In another aspect of the invention the moderator server is further coupled to a telephony network and viewers communicate with the moderator server through the telephony network.
These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings where:
In this embodiment of an interactive programming process, an interactive programming environment includes two communications channels. In a first or forward channel, interactive programming is transmitted by a producer to a participant. In a second or back channel, a participant's reactions to the interactive programming are transmitted from the participant to the producer. The communications channels may be included in a single medium capable of managing high bandwidth communications in two directions, or may be distributed across multiple media with each medium providing a separate portion of the interactive programming in a distributed manner.
After a participant interacts with the interactive components of the interactive programming, the interactive programming server process receives (324) participant responses 326. The interactive programming server then receives (328) additional content from the content source and modifies (330) the additional content using the participant responses. The process then repeats (332) in a loop indefinitely thus producing a continuous source of interactive programming for use by a participant.
In one interactive programming server in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the output of the interactive programming content encoder is a MPEG-2 encoded data stream. The output of the interactive component encoder is an UDP/IP data stream. These data streams are received by the transport multiplexer that generates the interactive programming by encapsulating the UDP/IP data stream along with the MPEG-2 data stream for inclusion in a Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) transport stream. A suitable commercially available transport multiplexer is a model TMX-2010 Transport Multiplexer available from Motorola, Inc. of Schaumburg Ill., USA.
In other interactive programming servers in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention, other transport multiplexers may be used. For example, transport multiplexers accepting inputs in the form of MPEG-4 streams or transport multiplexers generating a transport stream suitable for transmission using the DOCSIS standard may also be used.
The system controller is also coupled to a peripheral interface 368 having a user input device controller 370 for reception of participant responses transmitted by a user input device 372. A participant uses the user input device to transmit the participant's response to the presentation of the content. The system controller receives the participant's responses and uses a data communication interface 374 having a first communication device 376 to transmit the participant responses to the interactive programming server through a back channel included in the communications medium. Alternatively, the communications device may transmit the participant responses to the interactive programming server through a separate back channel communications medium 378. A suitable commercially available interactive programming transceiver is a DCT2000 set-top terminal available from Motorola, Inc. of Schaumburg Ill., USA.
Once the interactive programming server has generated the interactive programming, the interactive programming host uses a DVB network interface or cable head 630 to transmit the interactive programming over a DVB network 632 to a participant's digital set-top box 634. The DVB signal is received by the set-top box and the interactive programming content and interactive components are separated out of the DVB transport stream and processed as previously described.
After a participant interacts with the interactive components of the iVOD interactive programming, the interactive programming server receives (658) participant responses 618. The interactive programming server then receives (660) additional content from the content source and modifies (662) the content using the participant responses. The process then repeats (664) in a loop indefinitely thus producing continuous source of iVOD interactive programming for use by a participant.
There are several different classes of XDS packets encapsulating information about a broadcast program. For example, defined XDS packet classes include Current Class (information about the current program such as the title, length, rating, elapsed time, audio services, caption services, and aspect ratio), Future Class (the same information for an upcoming program), Channel Information Class (information such as the network name, station call letters, native channel number and tape delay), Miscellaneous Class (containing the time of day and the local time zone) and Public Service Class (severe weather warnings). In addition, Reserved and Undefined Classes are set aside for future expansion and proprietary applications.
A complete definition of a XDS packets may be found in Recommended Practice for Line 21 Data Service, Electronics Industries Association, EIA-608 (drafts Oct. 12, 1992 and Jun. 17, 1993).
The text fields may also be used to encode links to other types of data. For example, if the interactive programming system includes an Internet Protocol (IP) back channel, the links may be in the form of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs). Such a link is herein termed a “trigger”. In one interactive programming system in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a trigger 518 includes a URL field for specifying the URL of a resource in an IP network, a type field for specifying what type of network is used to access the URL, a name field for a display name used for the resource, a version field for specifying the version of the trigger, and a check sum field used to confirm that the trigger was accurately transmitted to a participant's STB 432.
Once the interactive programming server has generated the interactive programming, the interactive programming host uses a cable television network interface 430 to transmit the interactive programming to the participant's STB.
After a participant interacts with the interactive components of the iVOD interactive programming, the interactive programming server receives (617) participant responses 618. The interactive programming server then receives (620) additional content from the content source and modifies (622) the content using the participant responses. The process then repeats (624) in a loop indefinitely thus producing continuous source of iVOD interactive programming for use by a participant.
The interactive programming host is also coupled to a telephone network 442 by a telephone network interface 444. As such, the interactive programming server may receive participant responses from the participant using a participant telephone 440 through the telephone network. In this system, the back channel for participant responses is carried on the telephone network communications medium.
In one embodiment of interactive programming in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the interactive programming is associated with its own telephone extension number. In this embodiment of interactive programming, a participant dials a telephone number to access a Private Branch eXchange (PBX) telephone system and then the participant enters the extension number associated with the interactive program.
The interactive programming host is also coupled to a telephone network by a telephone network interface 444. The satellite television network STB uses the telephone network to transmit participant responses to the interactive programming host. In this system, the back channel for participant responses is carried on the telephone network communications medium.
In another system for delivering interactive programming wherein a medium for a forward channel is satellite television network in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the back channel is a communications network, such as wide area network 402. In this system, the interactive programming host is coupled to the communications network and the satellite television network STB transmits participant responses to the interactive programming host via the communications network.
In operation, the producer uses the producer client to access the user interface server via the communications network. Through a series of user interactions, the producer configures an interactive program by specifying content and interactive components. The interactive programming is then transmitted by the interactive programming server to a participant using a forward channel as previously described. The participant transmits participant responses back to the interactive programming server via a back channel as previously described. The interactive programming host may be coupled to multiple communications media which carry forward channels and back channels in various combinations.
The above described interactive programming systems may be used to deliver interactive programming having a variety of different purposes and structures. In one interactive programming system in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the interactive programming system is used to distribute interactive programming in the form of talk shows. Such an interactive programming system is more fully described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/123,618, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INTERNET-BASED INTERACTIVE PROGRAMMING” and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/222,461, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INTERACTIVE PROGRAMMING USING CAPTIONING”. One feature of the interactive programming system used to generate and distribute talk shows is that creators of the talk shows may archive their talk shows for later presentation in “on-demand” style formats including interactive Video On Demand (iVOD). Other interactive programming content sources may include any programming source. For example, entertainment programs, educational programs, and political talk shows can be enhanced to create iVOD interactive programming.
iVOD is a medium that exploits the ability to embed interactive components in a television or video signal. For an analog television signal, a Vertical Blanking Interval (VBI) is used to embed interactive components in the television signal. The interactive components may be included in closed captioning text streams that are part of the VBI in the television signal. For a digital video signal, the interactive components are embedded as in the transport medium along with interactive programming content.
The post-production tool provides a variety of services to the producer such as separate audio and text tracks with embedded time codes that may be synchronized with the content. The post-production tool may also be used to combine additional programming with the previously produced programming as a video signal embedded in the content. In addition, the post-production tool allows the creation of interactive components, such as polls that offer two, three, or four choice formats with a simple text entry user interface. Finally, the post-production tool allows the creation of time coded tcommerce links for product placement as an interactive component.
In addition to the interactive components embedded in the CC fields, the interactive program further includes a field or “ticker” 714 for display of information that is constantly updated based on participant responses to the iVOD content. This ticker can include information such as audience approval ratings for the iVOD program and participant polling responses.
In one embodiment of iVOD interactive programming, a participant uses a guest selector 816 to search for iVOD programming generated for a particular subject such as a talk show featuring a particular guest. The participant can access programming for a particular interview guest by selecting a pull down menu 820 listing the names of guests. Once selected, the guest name appears in a guest name field 818 and iVOD interactive programming is made available to the participant wherein the iVOD interactive programming features the guest. iVOD interactive programming may also be searched for having other features. For example, iVOD interactive programming may be proposed for a participant knowing that some participants searched for a particular guest also searched for another related guest. As another example, the iVOD interactive programming may be searched for specific events such as unexpected or notable statements by guests during a talk show. As another example, participants may select iVOD programming from a list of “top-ten” programming segments.
The types of interactive components that may be included in iVOD interactive programming varies depending on the desires of a producer. In one iVOD interactive program in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a producer may include participant polls in a datafeed of the interactive components. Participants may answer the poll and the interactive programming host tabulates the participant's responses and includes them in the content portion of the interactive programming as a “ticker” that is constantly updated.
In another iVOD interactive program in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a producer may embed “Easter eggs” in the interactive components of an iVOD interactive program. A participant looks for the Easter eggs and once found, the Easter eggs unlock special features like audio messages from a producer or a chance to win a prize from a sponsor. In addition, participants may visit a Web site to get information on how to unlock special bonus material in exchange for registration information or viewing an advertisement.
In another iVOD interactive program in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a producer may include archival historical footage related to a specific iVOD interactive program.
In another iVOD interactive program in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a producer may include opposition running commentary. For example, an opposing view point may be presented during a politically oriented iVOD interactive program.
In another iVOD interactive program in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a producer may include on-camera pre-screening interviews of talk show guests.
In another iVOD interactive program in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a producer may include diagrams of a particular structure being discussed, such as diagrams of architecturally significant buildings during a presentation on architecture.
In another iVOD interactive program in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a producer may include behind the scenes footage of the production of the iVOD interactive program.
In another iVOD interactive program in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a producer may include featurettes such as a documentary on a day in the life of a celebrity.
In another iVOD interactive program in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a producer may include triggers used for television Commerce (tCommerce) transactions.
In another iVOD interactive program in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a producer may include advertisements that a participant may view at their discretion. In addition, the advertisements may be linked to other information or tCommerce sites through the use of triggers.
In another iVOD interactive program in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a producer may include pop-up trivia facts including questions that a participant may answer. Answers from a plurality of participants may be collected as participant responses by the interactive programming server and scored so that a participant can see how the participant's performance in answering the questions compared to other participants.
In an audience approval system in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, an audience approval system signal can take on three states, 1112, 1114, and 1116, with each state representing a participant's subjective opinion of the interactive program. In this embodiment, the three states are mapped to the corresponding numeric values of “100”, “50”, and “0”, with “100” representing a participant's complete satisfaction with the interactive program, “50” representing the participant's partial satisfaction with the interactive program, and “0” representing the participant's complete dissatisfaction with the interactive program. Each of the plurality of audience approval system signals are mapped to one of these numeric values. These numeric values are used to generate an arithmetic mean representing the audience approval system rating of the interactive program. In the illustrated example of
The storage controller is operatively coupled to a storage device 1216. Computer program instructions 1218 implementing an interactive programming server are stored on the disk storage device until the processor retrieves the computer program instructions and stores them in the main memory. The processor then executes the computer program instructions stored in the main memory to implement the interactive programming server.
The moderator controls the content of the interactive program in a variety of ways. The moderator introduces the initial topic or content for audience interaction. For example, the moderator may introduce a topical event such as a news story and then ask for participant comments. The moderator may also use previously prepared content such as a non-interactive program that is transmitted to the audience in order to elicit audience member responses and engage viewers. The moderator can invite virtual guests 2112 from the audience onto the virtual stage. While on the virtual stage, the virtual guests exchange interactive messages directly with the moderator rather than with other audience members or participants. The moderator may also exclude a participant or viewer from the audience. Additionally, the moderator may generate additional interactive programming for use by the audience such as polls so that the audience can participate in the interactive program by selecting responses to a question from a list of answers. The results of the participant responses are aggregated for inclusion in the interactive program.
In one system for creating an interactive program incorporating participant interactions in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the interactive programs are talk shows hosted by independent moderators and delivered to an audience via the Internet. This system allows a moderator to be recognized as an expert or respected voice in a particular field while building a community of viewer participants interested in that particular field. The system allows the moderator to create a controlled and moderated environment where the moderator directs the flow of information and has complete control over the medium. The system is cost-effective because no special hardware or training is needed to operate the system. The system features a customizable Web-based interface for moderators and viewers to use in creating customized collaborative interactive programs.
In a system for creating an interactive program incorporating viewer interactions in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the moderator server is operably coupled to content server 2216 via a communications link 2218. The content server hosts a content source such as content database 2220 including content suitable for broadcast by the moderator server. Such content may include past broadcast programs that the moderator is using as a topic for further discussion within the audience. The moderator instructs the moderator server to request and receive content signals from the content server and the moderator server generates an interactive program including the content signals. In this way, non-interactive content may be enhanced with an interactive component thus leveraging non-interactive content by creating an interactive program using content without an interactive component. In another embodiment of enhanced content, the content is synchronized with the interactive component and the content is transmitted to the viewer client from a server other than the moderator server in a program synchronous fashion.
In a system for creating an interactive program incorporating viewer interactions in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the moderator server hosts software facilities for the moderator to use in generating an interactive program. The moderator server is operably coupled to a moderator database 2230 including moderator information describing the type of interactive program the moderator produces and the moderator's interactive program broadcast schedule. The moderator information may be used to automatically generate a dynamic programming guide thus helping viewers find the moderator's interactive program. In addition, the moderator server records viewer interaction data describing the amount, timing, and type of viewer interactions with the moderator's produced interactive programming. The moderator may access the viewer interaction data to generate reports regarding the moderator's interactive programming.
In a system for creating an interactive program incorporating viewer interactions in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the moderator server hosts a viewer database 2232 including viewer profile information. Viewer profile information includes information about viewer preferences and viewer notification requests. The viewer preferences are used by the moderator server to suggest interactive programming generated by a moderator which may match the viewer's stated preferences. The viewer notification requests are used by the moderator server to generate viewer notifications that are transmitted to a viewer in order to notify a viewer when a specific interactive program is about to be broadcast.
In one embodiment of a viewer notification generation process in accordance with the present invention, the privacy of the viewer is protected by not allowing the moderator access to viewer profiles. For example, the moderator may initiate a notification process but the moderator is never allowed to see to which viewers the notifications are sent. In addition, any viewership reports generated on behalf of a moderator use aggregate data for the viewers so that the viewers' identifications are not associated with the individual viewership reports.
In a system for creating an interactive program incorporating viewer interactions in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the audience and moderator comment on a broadcast program over which the moderator has minimal control. In this embodiment, a broadcaster 2222 transmits a broadcaster media signal 2224 received by a viewer's broadcast media receiver 2226 and a moderator's broadcast media receiver 2228. In this embodiment, the moderator and the audience watch the broadcast program and exchange commentary about the broadcast program over the communications network as described above. In this way, non-interactive programming can be supplemented with an interactive component. Exemplary broadcast programs include broadcasts of real-time events, such as sporting events or breaking news stories, and pre-recorded programming such entertainment programs or documentaries.
In one embodiment of a system for creating an interactive program in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the interactive programming generated by the moderator server is stored in a moderator database (for example moderator database 2230 of
In one embodiment of a system for creating an interactive program in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a viewer can initiate the creation of an archive for an interactive program. As the interactive program is produced and transmitted to the viewer, the interactive program signals are stored for the viewer's own use. For example, a viewer can initiate the creation of an archive for a short period of time so that the viewer can leave the interactive program and rejoin the interactive program and be able to view the portions of the interactive program that the viewer missed. As another example, the viewer can create a personal archive of past interactive programs in a manner similar to a personal video recorder.
In another system for creating an interactive program in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the communications network is the Internet and the viewer clients and a moderator client are Web browsers. The moderator server receives moderator and participant comment signals in the form of POST requests and generates the interactive program as an interactive electronic document written in a document markup language such as Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) or eXtensible Markup Language (XML) that is transmitted to the viewer clients. The viewer clients parse the electronic document and generate viewer displays using the instructions in the electronic document. The viewers respond to the viewer displays by entering text and selecting elements from the viewer displays. These viewer interactions are transmitted to the moderator server by the viewer's clients in subsequent POST messages. The moderator receives a different set of interactive moderator electronic documents that implement a moderator user interface enabling the moderator to control the operations of the moderator server.
In one system for creating an interactive program in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the system is deployed using the Microsoft® TV platform which is a standards-based, client and server software middleware system for deploying interactive programming. The platform includes a client software application hosted by a set-top-box and a server software application operably coupled by a communications network. The client software application includes a Web browser that can be used much like a conventional Web browser and an application programming interface for building native applications that are hosted by the set-top-box. The server includes several management functions including t-commerce and client management applications.
In another system for creating an interactive program in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the interactive programming generated by the moderator server further includes “click-through” style banner ads for selection by a viewer. If a viewer selects a click-through banner ad, the viewer's interaction with the banner ad is recorded in a moderator database in order to generate click-through activity related to the interactive programming. The banner ads may come either from the moderator server or an ad server not affiliated with the moderator server.
In another interactive program creation system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a viewer downloads and installs a custom client plug-in that allows a viewer a built-in microphone on the viewer client. Using a control panel, participants direct their questions or comments to either the virtual stage or the audience interactive message area. The spoken words are digitized by the viewer client, analyzed, translated into text form, and transmitted via the communications link to the moderator server. The question or comment then appears in the interactive program. The plug-in allows viewers to participate in an interactive program in a traditional, voice-based way if they choose to.
In another interactive program creation system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the spoken words are not translated to text. Instead, the digitized voice is transmitted directly over the communications link to the moderator server such as in Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) transmissions.
In another telephony process as used by a telephony system for delivery of an interactive program in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the video components of the interactive program are dispensed with and the participant interacts with the textual components of the interactive program using the telephone device. In this way, an interactive program can be created by a moderator with only textual or audio and textual components that is accessible to a participant using only a telephone device.
The captioning information is included as several text streams in the broadcast media signal. In one embodiment of a broadcast media signal in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the captioning information includes a field 1 6004 and a field 2 6006. Field 1 includes a first captioning information 6008 and a second captioning information 6010 text stream. Field 2 includes a third captioning information 6012 and a fourth captioning information 6014 text string as well as eXtended Data Service (XDS) information 6001 encoded in a series of packets. The fields are described in table 2a and table 2b below.
There are several different classes of XDS packets encapsulating information about a broadcast program. For example, defined XDS packet classes include Current Class (information about the current program such as the title, length, rating, elapsed time, audio services, caption services, and aspect ratio), Future Class (the same information for an upcoming program), Channel Information Class (information such as the network name, station call letters, native channel number and tape delay), Miscellaneous Class (containing the time of day and the local time zone) and Public Service Class (severe weather warnings). In addition, Reserved and Undefined Classes are set aside for future expansion and proprietary applications.
For each Class, there are two groups of similar packet types. Bit 6 is used as an indicator of these two groups. When bit 6 of the Type character is set to 0 the packet only describes information relating to the channel that carries the signal. This is known as an In-Band packet. When bit 6 of the Type character is set to 1, the packet only contains information for another channel. This is known as an Out-of-Band packet.
The Current Class includes a Program Identification Number (Scheduled Start Time) packet including four characters that define the program start time and date relative to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). This is non-character-based data so bit #6 is always set to one. The format of the characters is identified in Table 3.
The minute field has a valid range of 0 to 59, the hour field from 0 to 23, the date field from 1 to 31, the month field from 1 to 12. The “T” bit is used to indicate a program that is routinely tape delayed (for mountain and pacific time zones). The D, L, and Z bits are ignored by the decoder when processing this packet. (The same format utilizes these bits for time setting.) The T bit is used to determine if an offset is necessary because of local station tape delays. A separate packet of the Channel Information Class indicates the amount of tape delay used for a given time zone. When all characters of this packet contain all Ones, it indicates the end of the current program. A change in received Current Class Program Identification Number is interpreted by XDS receivers as the start of a new current program.
A Length/Time-in-Show packet is composed of 2, 4 or 6 non-character-based informational characters. It is used to indicate the scheduled length of the program as well as the elapsed time for the program. The first two informational characters are used to indicate the program's length in hours and minutes. The second two informational characters show the current time elapsed by the program in hours and minutes. The final two informational characters extend the elapsed time count with seconds. The informational characters are encoded as indicated in Table 4.
The minute second fields have a valid range of 0 to 59, and the hour fields from 0 to 63. The sixth character is a standard null.
The Program Name packet contains a variable number, 2 to 32, of Informational characters that define the program title. Each character is in the range of 20 h to 7 Fh. The variable size of this packet allows for efficient transmission of titles of any length.
A complete definition of a XDS packets may be found in Recommended Practice for Line 21 Data Service, Electronics Industries Association, EIA-608 (drafts Oct. 12, 1992 and Jun. 17, 1993), the subject matter of which is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully stated herein. An exemplary device suitable for extraction of captions and XDS packets from a television signal is an ATI-TV ISA television tuner sold by ATI technologies Inc. of Markham, Ontario Canada. The device includes software for monitoring television signals and extracting captioning to create a program transcription.
The caption and program information extractor extracts the captioning information 6018 from the broadcast media signal along with program information 6020 from the concurrently transmitted XDS packets and stores the captioning information and program information in a content database 2220 serviced by a content database server 6022. The content database server is coupled to the previously described content server 2216.
A moderator server 2210 receives captioning information from the content server and transmits the captions to a moderator client 2204 over communications link 2208 and communications link 2206. A moderator 2100 uses the moderator client to edit the captioning information and adds moderator commentary to the edited captioning information thus creating moderated programming content using the captioning information as source material. The moderator client transmits the edited captioning information and moderator commentary to the moderator server where the moderator server creates interactive programming for transmission to a plurality of viewer clients, as exemplified by viewer client 2214a, via a communications network 2202 such as the Internet and communications link 2212a. A plurality of viewers, as exemplified by viewer 2200a, view and interact with the interactive programming using a viewer client.
In one embodiment of a caption and program data extractor in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, other components of the broadcast media signal are extracted and stored in the content database. For example, the caption and program data extractor may extract video frames from the broadcast media signal on either a regular or random interval and store the captured frames along with the captioning information and program information. As another example, the caption and program data extractor may extract portions of an audio component and store the portions in the content database. These additional components of the broadcast media signal are associated with the captioning and programming information in the content database so that the additional components may be recalled and used to augment the captioning information when generating interactive programming.
In one system for extracting closed captioning from a broadcast signal in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the extracted captions are compressed before they are stored. As the captions are textual information, many compression tools may be used. In one system, the compression tool used is the Lempel-Ziv-Oberhumer (LZO) compression tool authored by Markus Franz Xaver Johannes Oberhumer. Source code for the compression tool is available at http://www.oberhumer.com/opensource/lzo/. LZO is a lossless block compression technique with decompression requiring no memory resources. As the decompression step does not require any memory resources, decompression may be performed on hosts with limited memory such as set top boxes used with televisions as displays.
In one interactive programming system in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the captioning information is compressed as previously described. In addition, the interactive programming for both commentator and the viewer is compressed before transmission.
Referring again to
Links to other resources are encoded in the television signal in the form of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) which are string representations of locations for use in identifying abstract or physical resources on the Internet. URLs can be transmitted in the T-2 service encoded in line 21 of the VBI, and may be used by receiving devices to permit the linking of television programs with related content on the Internet so that the content from these Internet services may be combined, mixed or shared by the receiving device.
URLs are transmitted in T-2 by using the following general format:
<url>[attr1:val1][attr2:val2] . . . [attrn:valn][checksum]
The URL is enclosed in angle brackets, followed by zero or more pairs of attributes and values in square brackets, which are then followed by a checksum in square brackets. Four attributes are defined in this standard: “type”, “name”, “expires”, and “script”. The “type” attribute indicates what sort of content the URL is associated with (for example, content related to the current television program or with the broadcast network). The type can be airy one of the values in table 5:
The “name” attribute indicates a human-readable title for the resource and can be any string of characters between 20 h and 7 Eh except square brackets (5 Bh and 5 Dh) and angle brackets (3 Ch and 3 Eh). The “expires” attribute enables an author to specify the last date the URL is valid, after which the URL should be ignored by the receiving device. The “script” attribute enables the triggering of specific actions within the content referenced by the URL. The value specifies a script fragment that is to be sent to the page and executed; the scripting language is compatible with ECMA-262 (for example, “JavaScript™” or “JScript™”). The script is executed when the content referenced by the URL is displayed on the receiving device. If that content is currently being displayed, the script fragment is immediately executed. The context for the script is the root document corresponding to the URL specified.
As another example, a link may provide access to other related interactive programming. A moderator uses a moderator client 2204 to transmit key words or phrases associated to links 6200 to the moderator server. The key words or phrases will be used to search the captions by the moderator server. When a key word or phrase is found, the moderator server generates a link for inclusion in a VBI. The moderator server receives captions 6202 from a content database server 6022 and retransmits the captions to the moderator client. The moderator edits (6204) the captions and adds (6206) commentary to the captions. The edited captions and commentary 6208 are transmitted by the moderator client to the moderator server. The moderator server generates 6210 an interactive program from the edited captions and moderator commentary. The moderator server then adds 6212 links to the interactive programming 6214 using the key words or phrases and associated links before the interactive programming is transmitted to a viewer's broadcast interactive program receiver 6018.
The interactive program generator receives the moderator content and the audience content and uses the content to generate enhanced interactive programming. The interactive programming includes viewer interactive programming 2310a and 2310b that is transmitted to the viewer clients for display and use of the viewers. The interactive programming further includes moderator interactive programming 2312 transmitted to the moderator for viewing and use by the moderator. The cycle of receiving participant, moderator and edited participant comments and using the comments to generate interactive programming for transmission to the moderator and viewer is repeated indefinitely to create a continuous interactive program.
In an interactive program creation system in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, content 4708 from a previously described content server 2216 is received by the interactive program generator and the content is included in the generated interactive programming. In an interactive program creation system in accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a virtual guest client 4710 transmits virtual guest comments 4712 to the virtual stage content engine for inclusion in the virtual stage content generated by the virtual content engine.
In an interactive program creation system in accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the moderator, participant, and guest interactive messages are chat messages and the virtual stage and audience content engines are chat engines. The text-based output from the chat engines is used by the interactive program generator generate interactive programming including electronic documents, such as transcripts, composed in a document markup language such as HTML or XML.
In one embodiment of a moderator server in accordance with the present invention, the moderator server is operated in an application service provider (ASP) mode. In this mode, the moderator server is used to create a “private label” interactive program creation system. In this mode, the moderator server provides services that an operator can embed into another system such that a viewer perceives the interactive program creation system as owned by individual operators. In some instances an indica of source, such as a “powered by” notice, is included in the interactive program creation system.
The moderator's interface is broken up into several operational sections. A “stage interaction” section 2410 displays the moderator's direct interaction with a virtual guest on a virtual stage. The stage interaction section includes a plurality of fields for display of virtual guests' previous questions as exemplified by previous question field 2412. For each answered virtual guest question, a moderator response field, as exemplified by moderator response field 2414, displays the moderator's response to the virtual guest's previous question. The stage interaction section further includes a current question field 2416 for display of a virtual guest's current question. A moderator uses a moderator text entry section 2418 to enter responses to the current virtual guest question.
An audience interaction section 2420 displays audience comments. The audience interaction comments are comments made by participants to other participants in the audience.
A moderator uses a status section 2423 to monitor the progress of the interactive program. The moderator invites audience members to the virtual stage to be virtual guests using an “invite to stage” selector 2426. The moderator can select a viewer to invite onto the virtual stage by using a pull down menu of viewer names and selecting a viewer to invite. Once a viewer is invited to the virtual stage, the viewer's interactive messages are displayed in the stage interaction section and not in the audience interaction section. The moderator can also exclude a participant by selecting a participant from a “kick user out” pull down menu 2428. Once excluded, the moderator server removes the excluded participant's comment signals from the plurality of participant comment signals edited by the moderator and used by the moderator server to generate the interactive program. In this way, the moderator exercises direct control over the participants participating in the interactive program.
In another interactive program creation system, the participant's exchange video clips and files directly with each other in a peer-to-peer relationship. In this mode, the moderator server is not directly involved in the message exchanges occurring between audience members interacting with each other.
The status section further includes an audience approval system indicator 2430 for indicating to the moderator how the audience feels about the progress of the show. Viewer responses are aggregated in a to-be-described process and displayed to the moderator as a colored indicator and as a numerical value. A moderator uses the audience member counter field 2432 and pull down menu to determine the number and identification of the viewers receiving the transmitted interactive program. The status section further includes an elapsed time field 2433 for display of the elapsed time of the interactive program.
An audience question section 2434 displays an audience question 2436 that the moderator may answer by selecting an answer question button 2438 or delete by selecting a delete question button 2440. The moderator can get a new audience question by selecting the update button 2442.
A polls section 2444 includes a poll question display field 2446 for display of a current poll question and a poll results display field 2448 for display of viewers' responses to the poll. The moderator selects a new poll button 2450 to enter a new poll question whenever the moderator feels that a new poll should be created.
If no excluded words are found in the participant question, the filter process determines (5608) the relevance of the participant question by matching the moderator's keywords 5609 to the words in the participant question. If it is determined (5610) that the relevance of the participant question exceeds the threshold relevance value, then the participant question is added (5612) to a participant question queue 5614.
In an embodiment of a filtering process in accordance with the present invention, keywords and excluded words are matched to the participant question using approximate string matching techniques in order to determine the relevance value of a participant question including misspelled keywords or excluded words.
A poll section 2510 displays a poll question 2511 asked by the moderator of the viewers. The poll section includes a plurality of response buttons, exemplified by response buttons 2512 and 2514, selectable by the viewer to indicate the viewer's response to the poll. The viewer selects an answer to the poll question by selecting one of the response buttons and then selects the “Vote!” button 2516 to register the viewer's poll answer with the moderator server. The viewer interface further includes sections for banner advertising 2518 and for placement of a trademark or service mark 2520 to identify the operator of the moderator server. By allowing banner adds, the moderator server allows a moderator to collect revenue from t-commerce interactions with the moderator's hosted interactive program.
In another embodiment of an interactive program creation system in accordance with the present invention, a poll is created using a plurality of participant questions for selection by participants. The participant question from the plurality of participant questions receiving the most participant selections is selected for submission to the moderator.
Referring again to
In an audience approval system in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, an audience approval system signal can take on three states, 2612, 2614, and 2616, with each state representing a viewer's subjective opinion of the interactive program. In this embodiment, the three states are mapped to the corresponding numeric values of “100”, “50”, and “0”, with “100” representing a viewer's complete satisfaction with the interactive program, “50” representing the viewer's partial satisfaction with the interactive program, and “0” representing the viewer's complete dissatisfaction with the interactive program. Each of the plurality of audience approval system signals are mapped to one of these numeric values. These numeric values are used to generate an arithmetic mean representing the audience approval system rating of the interactive program. In the illustrated example of
The moderator also accesses the interactive program creation system to host (2704) an interactive program. While the moderator is hosting an interactive program, the system provides facilities 2706 for audience management allowing the moderator to restrict access to an interactive program. As previously described, the system provides facilities for the moderator to block interactive messages from viewers in the audience. The system also provides a facility 2708 for posting polls during the interactive program. This allows a moderator to pose questions to the audience in order to receive and aggregate viewers' opinions about various subjects during an interactive program as previously described. The system further includes facilities 2710 for answering questions presented by viewers to the moderator. As previously described, a moderator can receive questions from viewers and determine whether or not to answer them. Additionally, the system provides an invitation facility 2712 for inviting viewers to participate in the interactive program as a virtual guest as previously described.
The moderator may also access the interactive program creation system to perform (2714) administrative tasks associated with moderating a periodically presented interactive program. The interactive program creation system provides facilities 2716 for sending scheduling reminders to viewers about upcoming interactive programs. Such scheduling reminders may be transmitted to a viewer by email, to a viewer's personal pager, to a viewer's wireless phone, or to a viewer's personal digital assistant. The interactive program creation system also includes facilities 2720 for a moderator to review metrics collected by the system on a moderator's interactive program.
The viewer may also access the interactive program creation system to view 2816 and become part of an interactive program. The interactive program creation system includes facilities 2817 allowing a viewer to interact with embedded advertising. The interactive program creation system also includes facilities 2818 allowing a moderator to poll viewers during an interactive program as previously described. The interactive program creation system also includes facilities 2820 allowing a viewer to ask questions of the moderator and virtual guests as previously described. The interactive program creation system also includes facilities 2822 allowing a viewer to rate an interactive program as previously described.
The viewer may also access the interactive program creation system to personalize (2808) the viewer's experience with the interactive program creation system. The interactive program creation system includes facilities 2810 for submitting suggestions by the interactive program creation system of interactive programs the viewer may be interested in based on viewer preferences as included in a viewer profile and previously viewed interactive programs. The interactive program creation system further includes facilities 2812 for creation of a list of favorite interactive programs used by moderators to send scheduling reminders to the viewer about upcoming interactive programs as previously described. The interactive program creation system also includes facilities 2814 allowing a viewer to create and edit a viewer profile including topics of interest to the viewer. In one embodiment of an interactive program creation system in accordance with the present invention, viewer profiles are stored in data files on the viewer client. In another embodiment of an interactive program creation system in accordance with the present invention, viewer profiles are stored on a central server and downloaded as XML documents to the viewer client as needed.
A user selects a log-in button 4902 to access the interactive program creation system as a viewer or selects a moderator log-in button 4904 to access the interactive program creation system as a moderator. The interactive program creation system log-in interface further includes an upcoming program guide section 4906 for display of interactive programs that are scheduled to be produced by their moderators in the next 24 hours. The listings in the upcoming program guide section include a previously described “mic” viewer rating 4908 and a category link 4910 to a viewer interface where a viewer can find more interactive programs similar to the listed interactive program.
Referring again to
The edit profile viewer interface further includes personal information entry fields, such as a first name entry field 3004 and a last name entry field 3006. Alternatively, the viewer may enter an anonymous viewer name rather than the viewer's real name in order to hide the viewer's identity. In operation, a viewer enters their personal information and selects the “Submit and Continue” button to store the viewer's personal information in the viewer's database. The personal information is used by the interactive program creation system to personalize the viewer's experience while using the interactive program creation system.
The edit profile viewer interface further includes a viewer profile entry field 3008. In operation, the viewer enters the viewer's interests into the viewer profile entry field. The entered viewer profile is stored in the viewer database for use by the interactive program creation system to make suggestions of interactive programs that the viewer may want to participate in. To make suggestions, the viewer profile is queried and key terms are identified. For example, the illustrated viewer profile 3010 includes the key terms “sports”, “movies”, and “music”. The interactive program creation system compares these key terms to key terms included in the moderator database 2230 (
In an embodiment of an interactive program creation system in accordance with the present invention, interactive programs are suggested to the viewer in a “pay-for-placement” mode. For example, if a plurality of interactive programs match the viewer's profile, the first interactive program suggested to the viewer is the interactive program whose moderator has paid the interactive program creation system's operator the most for being placed first.
The edit profile viewer interface further includes a viewer email address entry field 3012, viewer city 3016, viewer state 3018, viewer zipcode 3020, and viewer country 3022 entry fields. In operation, the viewer enters their email and address location and selects the “Submit and Continue” button to store the viewer address information in the viewer database. Moderators using the interactive program creation system can use the viewer address information to notify a viewer when the moderator's interactive program is to be broadcast. Additionally, the viewer may optionally select an “Include in Directory” button 3022 in order to exclude the viewer's address information from view by the moderators.
The edit profile viewer interface further includes an interactive program search entry field 3024. A viewer uses the search entry field to enter a search term used to search the moderator database for interactive programs with terms matching the search term. The edit profile viewer interface further includes a category or hub selection field 3026. A viewer may select an individual category, such as “News” 3027 to be taken to a hub process for accessing interactive programs related to the selected category.
The edit profile viewer interface further includes an advertising section for display of “click-through” style banner ads. A user selects one of the banner ads to be transferred to an advertiser's or retailer's Web site. The edit profile viewer interface further includes a feature section 3030 for display of links to featured hubs. By selecting a featured hub link, a viewer can quickly access a hub process for accessing interactive programs related to the selected feature category.
Referring again to
The program guide viewer interface further includes an interactive program rating 3210 display. The interactive program rating is a viewer rating determined from viewer responses to the interactive program. In a program guide in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the viewer rating is expressed in terms of “mics” (short for “microphone”). The greater the number of mics, the higher the viewer rating of the interactive program. For example, the maximum number of mics an interactive program may receive is five mics for a popular program. A minimally popular interactive program may only receive only one mic.
The program guide viewer interface further includes a link to an interactive program suggestion 3210 process. As previously described, the interactive program creation system uses a viewer's profile stored in the viewer database and interactive program descriptions stored in the moderator database to suggest interactive programs that the viewer may be interested in.
In another program guide viewer interface in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the viewer may also access archived programs in an “on-demand” mode. In an on-demand mode, the program guide includes previously broadcast and archived interactive programs.
Referring again to
The viewer may access a specific interactive program's home page 2916 in a variety of ways, such as: selecting a link to an interactive program from the previously described search facility 2910; immediate program guide 2912; browsing facility 2920; and suggestion facility 2918. Additionally, included in a moderator database 2230 is a schedule of upcoming interactive program broadcasts. The schedule of upcoming interactive program broadcasts may be accessed by the viewer using an upcoming interactive program facility 2920. From an interactive program's home page, a viewer may join a previously described actual interactive program 2922. Each interactive program is hosted by a previously described moderator server 2210.
The interactive program home viewer interface further includes a schedule section 4804 where the schedules of upcoming transmissions of the interactive program are listed. An upcoming listing 4805 includes a reminder button 4806. In operation, a viewer selects the reminder button for a listing and an entry is made by the interactive program creation system to the previously described viewer profile. The entry is used to transmit notifications to the viewer when the interactive program is about to be transmitted.
The interactive program home viewer interface further includes a preference addition button 4808 that the viewer selects to have the interactive program added to the previously described viewer's list of interactive program preferences. A contact button 4810 is provided for use by a viewer in sending an email message to a moderator. A search button 4812 is provided for the viewer to search for additional interactive programs that are related thematically to the interactive program represented in the interactive program home viewer interface.
Referring again to
In another facility for retrieving interactive programs for viewing in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the archived interactive programs may be accessed for presentation in conjunction with other content such as in a syndication mode. For example, an archived interactive program whose theme was discussion about a particular product can be linked to an advertisement for that product on a separate Website. As another example, an interactive program with a topical theme may be syndicated by a live news Website.
Referring again to
Referring again to
The interactive program creation moderator interface further includes a link to a theme facility 3422. A moderator uses this link to access a facility for assigning the interactive program to a thematic category for easier classification of interactive programs for browsing by a viewer.
The interactive program creation moderator interface further includes a link to a send reminders facility 3424. A moderator uses this link to access a facility for transmitting reminders to viewers. The interactive program creation system uses the previously described viewer's lists of interactive programs to send notifications to each of the viewers who have added the moderator's interactive program to their list of interactive programs. Reminders may be sent by various communication links such as email, voice mail, and pager as agreed to by the viewer.
In one viewer notification process in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a viewer notification is transmitted as an email message to the viewer. The viewer may retrieve the email message by any suitable device or client such as a personal digital assistant, a personal computer, etc. In another viewer notification process in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the viewer notification is in the form of an audio reminder transmitted to a viewer's voice mail system or directly to a viewer's telephone. In another viewer notification process in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the viewer notification is in the form of an instant message that is transmitted to a viewer if the viewer is currently on a system that is accessible to the moderator server.
Referring again to
The reporting tool moderator interface further includes entry fields for selection of types and formats of viewer interaction reports. Each of these sections is typified by a selection button 3504 and a format selection pull-down menu 3506. A moderator selects a selection button to include the specific type of report in a viewer interaction report and uses the format pull-down menu to select the format of the specific report. The types of reports the moderator can include in a viewer interaction report include a peak usage report 3504. A peak usage report is a report indicating the peak usage of the interactive program by the viewers.
A moderator can select a total traffic report 3508. A total traffic report is a report depicting the total number of viewers and viewer interactions with the interactive program over the broadcast time of the interactive program.
A moderator can select a breakdown by user report 3512. A breakdown by user report is reported depicting the interactions of single viewers.
A moderator can select a breakdown by demographic report 3516. A breakdown by demographic report is a report depicting viewer interactions by viewers fitting certain demographic descriptions.
A moderator can select a breakdown by geography report 3520. A breakdown by geography report is a report depicting where viewers participating in an interactive program are physically located.
A moderator can select a visitor path report 3524. A visitor path report is a report depicting where viewers are located on a network.
A moderator can select a referral report 3528. A referral report is a report depicting from which locations viewers have been referred from such as an external Web site, etc.
A moderator can select a polling data report 3534. A polling data report is a report depicting the results of polls taken by a moderator during an interactive program.
A moderator can select a “clicks by a viewer” report 3538. A clicks by a viewer report is a report depicting how many selections viewers make during an interactive program.
A moderator can select a feature utilization report 3542. A feature utilization report is a report depicting how many different features viewers are using during an interactive program.
A moderator can select a chat or interactive messaging report 3544. A chat or interactive messaging report is a report depicting how many interactive messages are being sent between the audience members during an interactive program.
Graph 3610 is a graph of click-through activity versus time for an interactive program. During an interactive program, individual instances of viewers selecting advertising banners are recorded in the previously described moderator database associated with the time of the selection of the advertising banner. An interactive program creation system can use the recorded advertising selection events and their associated times to generate the click-through activity versus time graph.
Graph 3612 is a geographically based graph depicting the geographic location of viewers participating in an interactive program. The viewers participating in an interactive program are recorded in the previously described moderator database. Each recorded viewer's geographic location can be determined from the previously described viewer's profile or by mapping the viewer's IP address to a specific geographic location. An interactive program creation system can use the recorded viewer identifications and viewer geographic locations to generate a graphic illustrating the geographic locations of the viewers.
The viewer interactivity reports are used by a moderator to determine the effectiveness of an interactive program. For example, the moderator can use the demographic charts to determine if the interactive program is reaching an audience with the demographic profile desired by the moderator. As a further example, the moderator can determine the effectiveness of various portions of an interactive program by analyzing participant interaction with the interactive program over time. Spikes in interactive message transmissions from the participants may indicate portions of the interactive program that the participants find most engaging.
An advertising geographical graphic 3716 indicates the geographic viewer locations of viewers participating with the interactive program. As the viewers participate in the interactive programs, the viewers' interactions with links and advertising banners included in the interactive program are recorded in the moderator database as previously described. Additionally, a viewer identification for each viewer interaction is stored in the moderator database. Each viewer's geographic location can be determined from the previously described viewer's profile or by mapping the viewer's IP address to a specific geographic location. An interactive program creation system can use the recorded viewer interactions and viewer identifications to generate a graphic illustrating the geographic locations of advertising revenue generation. An interactive program creation system can use viewer interaction data, viewer identification data, and viewer profile data to generate a revenue by age graphic 3718 or a revenue by demographic description graphic 3720.
A category is associated with a plurality of polls 3810 with each poll being associated with a plurality of poll responses 3812. A viewer profile is associated with a plurality of poll responses. In operation, viewers respond to a poll associated with a specific category and the viewers' responses are recorded in the moderator database for future analysis.
A category is associated with a plurality of interactive programs 3814 and each interactive program is associated with a plurality of interactive program broadcasts or instances. Each interactive program broadcast is associated with a plurality of reminders 3818 with each reminder being associated with a single user profile. In operation, a moderator determines an interactive programming schedule of interactive program broadcasts and generates reminders that are transmitted to viewers who have expressed an interest in being reminded of the interactive program's broadcasts.
A category is associated with a plurality of message boards 3820 with each message board being associated with a plurality of message board threads 3822. Each message board thread is associated with a plurality of message board messages 3824 with each message board message being associated with a single viewer profile. A viewer profile may be associated with a plurality of message board messages. In operation, viewers leave messages grouped into message board threads on message boards maintained by moderators. The messages may be for the moderators or may be for other viewers.
Keywords 3826 are stored in the moderator database so that viewers can search for categories 3802 and links 3832 associated with the categories. Additionally, all user inputs can be indexed and tagged to become interactive triggers that are linked to interactive programs served by the moderator server. Category keywords 3828 are associated with a plurality of categories. In operation, a viewer enters a category keyword into a previously described search facility and a set of categories for use by the viewer are generated that are associated with the category keyword. Link keywords 3830 associated with links to off-site resources are also stored in the moderator database. In operation, a viewer enters a link keyword in the previously described search facility and a set of links associated with the link keyword is generated for use by the viewer.
Viewer profiles are associated with a plurality of viewer histories 3834. In operation, a viewer history is recorded of a viewer's interactions when accessing an interactive program creation system while not actually participating in an interactive program.
In an interactive program creation system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the broadcast program is synchronized to the interactive program using synchronization signals included in the interactive program signals. In this way, an interactive program may be synchronized with an external broadcast.
A current broadcast content section 4006 includes a display of broadcast content that is currently being broadcast on a selected broadcast channel. Information about the broadcast content is shown in a broadcast content information section 4007 formatted as a televised programming guide. The broadcast information includes a broadcast channel, a title, a broadcast time, and a description, if available, of the broadcast content. If a microphone indicator 4008 is shown next to a listing of a scheduled broadcast this indicates that the scheduled broadcast is available as an interactive program including broadcast content as previously described. In operation, a viewer can select an interactive program that is currently being broadcast and view the broadcast content in the current broadcast content section. A viewer selects a “switch to full screen” button 4012 to participate in a currently broadcast interactive program corresponding to the currently broadcast content displayed in the current broadcast content section.
The reduced screen viewer interface further includes interactive program rating buttons 4112 for viewer rating of an interactive program as previously described. In operation, a viewer selects one of the interactive program rating buttons to indicate the viewer's satisfaction with the interactive program. Viewer ratings from a plurality of viewers are aggregated together and displayed to the moderator as previously described.
A moderator uses a reduced screen viewer interface to create a contextual commerce application using an interactive program. The moderator uses the interactive program to build a community from an audience attracted to the subject matter of the interactive program, such as a product line or a series of books. The moderator then links the reduced screen viewer interface to a location where a viewer can make a purchase of a product or item related to the subject matter of an interactive program. In addition, archived interactive programs can be accessed in an “on-demand” mode to be linked to an e-commerce Website in order to have a continually available sales tool such as an “infomercial” or testimonial for a product or item.
The same interactive program can be transmitted over a conventional interactive television (iTV) network as well. The moderator server transmits the interactive program to an iTV server 4500 and the iTV server generates iTV content 4500 from the interactive program. The iTV content is transmitted via communications network 4502 to an iTV signal processor 4506. The iTV signal processor receives the iTV content and uses the iTV content to generate iTV signals for transmission to an iTV enabled television 4508 for viewing by a viewer. In this mode, triggers are generated from the interactive program signals and the viewer uses the triggers to participate in the interactive program, such as through the use of tags associated with the triggers included in the iTV signals' Vertical Blanking Interval (VBI), and the viewer's comments are transmitted via a back channel 4510 to the moderator server. In this way, a viewer can use either an iTV enabled television or a viewer client to participate in an interactive program as previously described.
In operation, the locally hosted moderator server is used by a moderator to create an interactive program for transmission to the viewer clients and moderator client as previously described. In this embodiment, viewer information is stored in the viewer database, moderator information is stored in the moderator database and the moderator server and the viewer clients access the information via the interactive program server. The local host may be any type of programmable device capable of bidirectional communication with other devices over a communications network. For example, the local host can be a game console, or a personal computer, or a set-top-box, etc.
The disk storage controller is operatively coupled to a disk storage device 4655. Computer program instructions 4697 implementing a previously described moderator server are stored on the disk storage device until the microprocessor retrieves the computer program instructions and stores them in the main memory. The microprocessor then executes the computer program instructions stored in the main memory to implement the moderator server.
Although this invention has been described in certain specific embodiments, many additional modifications and variations would be apparent to those skilled in the art. It is therefore to be understood that this invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described. Thus, the present embodiments of the invention should be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention to be determined by any claims supportable by this application and the claims' equivalents.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/385,661 filed on Jul. 26, 2021, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/107,200 filed on Nov. 30, 2020, now issued U.S. Pat. No. 11,076,190 issuing on Jul. 27, 2021 which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/577,299, filed Aug. 30, 2019, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING INTERACTIVE PROGRAMMING IN A COMMUNICATION NETWORK”, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/252,179, filed Jan. 18, 2019, entitled “PROVIDING INTERACTIVE VIDEO ON DEMAND,” which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/790,802, filed Oct. 23, 2017, entitled “PROVIDING INTERACTIVE VIDEO ON DEMAND,” which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/611,152, filed Jan. 30, 2015, entitled “METHOD AND APPLICATION FOR INTERACTIVE VIDEO ON DEMAND”, on Oct. 24, 2017, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/323,575, filed Dec. 29, 2005, entitled “METHOD AND APPLICATION FOR INTERACTIVE VIDEO ON DEMAND,” which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/414,863, filed on Apr. 15, 2003, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INTERACTIVE VIDEO ON DEMAND,” now abandoned, which is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/335,200, filed Jan. 18, 2006, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INTERNET-BASED INTERACTIVE PROGRAMMING” (which is continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/123,618, filed Apr. 15, 2002, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INTERNET-BASED INTERACTIVE PROGRAMMING”), and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/222,461, filed on Aug. 16, 2002, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INTERACTIVE PROGRAMMING USING CAPTIONING,” now abandoned, the entire contents of all of which are incorporated by reference as if stated fully herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 17385661 | Jul 2021 | US |
| Child | 17968568 | US | |
| Parent | 17107200 | Nov 2020 | US |
| Child | 17385661 | US | |
| Parent | 16557229 | Aug 2019 | US |
| Child | 17107200 | US | |
| Parent | 16252179 | Jan 2019 | US |
| Child | 16557229 | US | |
| Parent | 15790802 | Oct 2017 | US |
| Child | 16252179 | US | |
| Parent | 14611152 | Jan 2015 | US |
| Child | 15790802 | US | |
| Parent | 11323575 | Dec 2005 | US |
| Child | 14611152 | US | |
| Parent | 10414863 | Apr 2003 | US |
| Child | 11323575 | US |
