Patent Application
20120066715
This relates generally to television displays and, particularly, to enabling television displays to be remotely controlled.
Television displays are becoming increasingly popular for the display of web based content. Thus, television displays, including high definition television displays, may be used to display information that is accessed by the user from the Internet, generally through the user's personal computer. This personal computer can control the experience that the user has with the video on the television, including additional information that enhances the video content.
In many cases, the personal computer is not directly connected by wires to the television display, but, instead, a wireless connection is provided, such as Intel's Wireless Display (WiDi) wireless connection. In this way, the user can send video obtained from the Internet to be displayed on a television screen.
In accordance with some embodiments, content obtained from the Internet, such as video content, from sites such as YouTube, may be first rendered on the user's personal computer (PC) and then displayed on a television display remote from the host computer used to download the information. For example, the information may be sent from the personal computer wirelessly to an adapter for display on a television. The controls for television display may be displayed at a location different from the television, namely, on the host computer display. The host computer can be used for other functions by simply displaying the television controls in a window of reduced size on the host computer display. This leaves the rest of the host computer display screen for running other functions.
Referring to
The video manager core 16 may be part of the user's host computer 11. The host computer 11 may, for example, be a cell phone, a laptop computer, a desk top computer, a mobile Internet device (MID), a netbook, storage server, or a tablet, to mention a few examples. The video manager core coordinates all of the other components and includes things like settings and preferences. It also is responsible for rendering the various media items into a presentation to be displayed on the remote display. For example, it may support picture in picture where two different media sources are composited before being sent for display.
The host computer 11 may include a display manager 18 that controls the dedicated displays connected to the host computer 11 and remote display on a television. Thus, the display manager 18 may be coupled to a wireless video manager 26, which controls remote displays on a television screen. The wireless display manager may be Intel's WiDi technology platform. The display manager 18 may also discover and configure the various available displays. It may also determine which displays are most appropriate for the available media. It may, for example, determine how close a display is to the host computer 11, for example, using wireless proximity sensing. As another example, the display manager 18 may determine which television was used last or most often with the display manager and default the remote display to that television. In other situations, the host display manager 18 may make its decisions based on privacy settings assuring that sensitive videos, as defined by the user, will not display on public screens.
The playlist manager 15 controls the order in which media can be played. The user can queue various media files and/or streams in the playlist. The playlist manager maintains the state of the playlist between restarts so the user can resume a playlist from the point it was stopped.
The recommendation engine 20 provides recommendations to the user for watching media relevant to what has been watched in the past in some embodiments.
The controller view 28, shown in
Thus, referring to
The annotation engine 22 (
In order to implement the annotation engine 22 functions, the controller view 28, shown in
Thus, in some embodiments, two displays may operate at the same time. For example, in some embodiments, the computer display may provide a private display for one user or for fewer users than the television display 38.
These annotations may be displayed on the host computer display as little markers 29 on a controller time line 31. When playback reaches a marker, the appropriate action is triggered and a display manager 18 can display a small visual queue to the user on the television display indicating the contextual information is available. The user can also expand the controller view on the host computer display to show more information about the annotation. This allows the user to view annotations without disrupting the overall media experience.
In some embodiments, the annotations can be color coded, depending on the source and/or type of the annotations. For example, friends' comments may be red, advertisements are blue and video annotations are green, while the rest are yellow. Thus, the annotation engine 22 controls when annotations stored in the annotation source 24 are provided on top of existing video playback. The annotation source 24 may also be internal to the computer 11.
The controller view 28 may also include a graphical user interface button 43 for settings. This allows the user to input various user preferences for disambiguating audio and video, including the various inputs described hereinafter. Similarly, a graphical user interface button 45 for extras may be provided which may provide an indication of what are the available annotations.
When the user selects the playlist button 35, in one embodiment, a dropdown menu 47 is generated which includes a plurality of entries 49 for each of the available videos in a sequence from top to bottom that the videos would otherwise be played in. Each entry 49 may include a thumbnail depiction 51 from the video and a textual description extracted from the video metadata. The sequence defined in the playlist may be changed by the user. For example, in one embodiment, each of the entries 49 may be dragged and dropped to reorder the sequence of video play.
The wireless display manager 26 may be a mechanism for interfacing with a wireless display, such as through Intel's WiDi technology, to initiate and set up a connection with a High Definition television.
In some embodiments, the selection of video for display on the host computer 11 display 36 or on the television screen 38 may be made using the user's browser. For example, in one embodiment, a plug-in may provide a graphical user interface button so that, when the user is looking at information on the Internet that the user wishes to view, the user can select (e.g. by a mouse click) this button (in the form of a graphical user interface) to cause the information to be added to a playlist. Then another graphical user interface button 35, on the controller view 28 of
To accomplish these capabilities several steps may be automated so that content may be sent from a video application, browser, or web page to a television, such as a high definition television. This may be done by checking for an available wireless display adapter or wired adapter such as High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) or DisplayPort having been plugged in. The application is opened, scanned, and connected to the nearest adapter. The nearest wireless adapter can be located using any available wireless device discovery technology. The screen mode may be then set to “extend” to another display (i.e. a television 38) and the television 38 may be automatically set to the appropriate high definition setting. The player view 30 on the television may be set to full screen display and the controller view 28 on the host computer may be set up as a reduced display. Then media viewing may be separated from media control.
In some embodiments of the present invention, sequence may be implemented in software, hardware, firmware, network resource, or a combination of these. In software implemented embodiments, a sequence may be implemented via instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, such as a semiconductor, optical, or magnetic memory. The instructions may be executed by an appropriate processor. In some embodiments, the instructions may be stored in a memory separate from the processor and in other cases one integrated circuit may do both storage and execution of instructions. For example, the video manager core 16 may include a storage 17 that stores instructions 39.
Thus, a sequence 39 implemented by the video manager 16 begins by discovering the displays that are available, as indicated in block 40 of
The user may be browsing the Internet and the user's browser may provide a button to select video, located on the Internet, to add to a list for subsequent playback. Local video can be handled in the same way. That list of video to be played back subsequently is called a playlist herein. Thus, the user can add any video found on the Internet to the user's playlist. Of course, in some embodiments, the user can precipitate a playlist display and can reorder and edit the playlist.
Then when the user is ready to play back the video, the user can simply operate a playlist button 35 of
Referring to
Referring back to
Referring to
Referring to
For example, referring to
Referring to
One way to define the annotations of interest would be to identify the individuals who are the only individuals of interest with respect to their annotations. Thus, as indicated in block 88, the annotations may be filtered based on user supplied preferences. For example, the user may wish to see annotations only from friends in a predefined social network or buddy list or those from an authoritative source, such as a trusted reviewer or publisher. Then the selected annotations, together with time stamps to indicate where the annotations go and together with an identification of the associated video, may be provided to the user, as indicated in block 90. The system can also allow users to insert their own annotations on the video. These annotations will be timestamped and saved on the annotation server if the user has the rights to do so.
Annotations can also be filtered locally as well. The local filtering can be contextual, based on user preferences, user purchasing patterns, or other criteria.
In accordance with still another embodiment, inputs to either the television or the computer system may be disaggregated. In the course of play of a selected video, inputs may be received on the computer system 11 and on the associated television 35. For example, some televisions now have keyboard and other input devices associated with them, as well as conventional remote controls. The inputs to the two different displays can be correlated in one embodiment. For example, a user may wish to make a phone call using the keyboard associated with the television and may want the call to go out through the computer system 11. In accordance with some embodiments, user preferences can be pre-supplied to indicate which of the two devices, (the television or the computer system) would handle particular input commands, regardless of which system's input devices were use. Then the inputs may be applied appropriately.
Thus, as shown in
At block 98, user preferences are received and stored. These preferences indicate to which system an input should apply when received in the course of an ongoing video presentation. Then, in block 100, inputs may be received from the user. The system then distributes these inputs to the correct system, either the computer system or the television, based on those user preferences, as indicated in block 102.
In still other embodiments, sounds may be disambiguated from display. For example, in some embodiments, any sound that would have been generated on the computer system may be generated on the television when the extended television display is selected for play of video. Thus, indications of an incoming phone call, an incoming email, etc. may sound on the television. In some embodiments, this may be undesirable and the user can specify which of the computer system and the television should be used to generate particular sounds. As a result, audio outputs can be disambiguated from the video information. Particularly, audio may be linked to video so that audio for the presentation on the television may be presented on the speaker 118b, associated with the content that is assembled for display on the television and audio associated with content on the display for the computer system 11 may be played on the speaker 118a, associated with the computer display 36. This allows the computer system to be more effectively used for other functions while video is being played on the television, for example. In general, the audio related to a given graphical display element may be played by a speaker associated with the display on which that graphical view is presented.
In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, an audio manager 110 (
A check at diamond 112 determines whether an extended mode display has been initiated. If so, a separate display audio driver is created for the separate or extended display, as indicated in block 114. Thus, for example, when an extended display is set up on a remote television, sounds associated with elements being presented on the remote television display may be sent through the new audio driver to the separate display for presentation on speakers associated with that separate television display. At the same time, sounds associated with the computer system 11, such as sounds announcing incoming emails, do not get sent to the television display. Then the audio and video are linked together on the separate display, as indicated in block 116. Thus, in some embodiments, sounds associated with the separate or extended display are produced in association with that extended display and sounds associated with the host or base computer system 11 are generated locally on the system 11. In some embodiments, it may also be possible to program where sounds are generated. For example, sounds generated in association with the television may be programmably selected to also be displayed on the computer system. Likewise, it may be desirable to receive a notification on the television system of incoming emails or other audible alerts.
Thus, in some embodiments, remote control may be possible of the display of a video presentation on a television through the user's personal computer. In some embodiments, this can be done without co-opting the entire personal computer for this function. That is, video may be displayed on the television while doing other operations at the same time on a single display associated with the personal computer.
References throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one implementation encompassed within the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrase “one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be instituted in other suitable forms other than the particular embodiment illustrated and all such forms may be encompassed within the claims of the present application.
While the present invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art will appreciate numerous modifications and variations therefrom. It is intended that the appended claims cover all such modifications and variations as fall within the true spirit and scope of this present invention.
This application is a non-provisional application claiming priority from provisional application Ser. No. 61/381,791, filed Sep. 10, 2010, incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61381791 | Sep 2010 | US |
