Patent Application
20080002021
The teachings of the present invention can be readily understood by considering the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
An exemplary embodiment of the invention will now be described while referring to the figures, several of which may be simultaneously referred to during the course of the following description.
3G broadcast multicast service provides scalable one-way transmission in the sense that there is no mechanism in place for the receivers to provide feedback of any kind to the sender. Similarly, both analog and digital broadcast networks also offer only one-way transmission. Besides switching channels, users do not have any other control over what they are viewing.
To provide an enhanced mobile TV viewing experience, we disclose, in accordance with the present invention, to use a 3G unicast channel to send interactive content related to a TV program that a user is currently viewing. Referring to
In a like fashion to
In the exemplary architectures illustrated in
In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the interactive content is associated with a TV program, and can be conveniently accessed by viewers through an overlay graphic user interface (GUI) displayed on top of the regular TV program.
In accordance with the present invention, one exemplary type of enhanced content related to a TV program that may be displayed may include an interactive TV guide 350 with information such as:
Another type of enhanced content related to a TV program may include background information 360 such as the following:
Yet another type of enhanced content could be a GUI 370 to send in viewer votes for popular TV shows such as “American Idol” where votes from viewers determine the winner of a competition.
The goal of the enhanced content is to provide viewers with convenient access to information related to a TV program that is accessible from the mobile phone where the TV program is shown. This feature is not feasible using the currently available broadcast multicast networks because of the one-way transmission limitation in these networks. However, it can be provided using 3G unicast channels (or a GPRS/UMTS unicast channel). Unicast is the perfect solution for delivering enhanced content for of a number of reasons. The enhanced content is accessed by viewers on an individual basis, which means the content is normally accessed by different viewers at different times. As a result, multicast or broadcast mechanisms cannot be used. The enhanced content is also less bandwidth intensive than the video content for TV programs. Therefore, wireless network system capacity will not be severely affected by the unicast traffic for distribution of enhanced content.
Note that the enhanced TV service of the present invention is distinguishable from “Interactive TV” where TV programs are dynamically changed according to viewer feedback. The proposed enhanced TV service simply offers viewers a convenient way to access information related to a TV program being displayed on his or her mobile device.
As can be seen from
Thus, the present invention describes a new concept for providing enhanced TV service on 3G and other mobile phones. Also described is the mechanism to realize the service by providing enhanced content to existing TV programs using 3G and other type unicast channels. Although the enhanced content information provided by the unicast channel is described as being associated with television programming, it would be understood that the invention is also applicable to the provision of other types of media. For example, instead of TV programs, the main content could be music programs, or video clips sent to mobile users using broadcast/multicast channels. The enhancement of the main content is sent over unicast channels.
The foregoing description merely illustrates the principles of the invention. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements, which, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the invention, and are included within its spirit and scope. Furthermore, all examples and conditional language recited are principally intended expressly to be only for instructive purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions. Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and embodiments of the invention, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass both structural and functional equivalents thereof. Additionally, it is intended that such equivalents include both currently known equivalents as well as equivalents developed in the future, i.e., any elements developed that perform the same function, regardless of structure.
In the claims hereof any element expressed as a means for performing a specified function is intended to encompass any way of performing that function including, for example, a) a combination of circuit elements which performs that function or b) software in any form, including, therefore, firmware, microcode or the like, combined with appropriate circuitry for executing that software to perform the function. The invention as defined by such claims resides in the fact that the functionalities provided by the various recited means are combined and brought together in the manner which the claims call for. Applicant thus regards any means which can provide those functionalities as equivalent as those shown herein. Many other modifications and applications of the principles of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art and are contemplated by the teachings herein. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is limited only by the claims.
