This invention relates generally to media systems and, more particularly, to media systems supporting more than one version of media assets.
Today's media systems provide viewers with a large array of media content. Broadcast television content, pay-per-view (PPV) content, recorded content, on-demand content (e.g., video on-demand (VOD) content), and digital music may all be accessed in a viewer's home using suitable user equipment. In addition, in some cases more than one version of a particular media asset may be accessible by the user equipment.
For example, a standard-definition (SD) version and a high-definition (HD) version of the same media asset may be accessible from different content sources or on different channels at the same time. As another example, an HD version or a media asset with Dolby 5.1 audio and an HD version of the same media asset with Dolby Digital EX (or Dolby Digital Plus) may also be available in the media system at the same time. Often, however, users are unaware of the availability of one or more alternate versions of media assets that are currently being presented on the user equipment.
In addition, a user may want to easily switch or toggle between more than one version of a media asset in certain instances. For example, if an HD transmission or HD signal becomes corrupt, lossy, or jumpy (e.g., due to inclement weather in satellite systems or processing and/or decoding delays), a user may wish to switch from the HD version to the SD version of the asset in order to increase video and/or audio integrity. At some later time, when the signal integrity increases, the user may then wish to quickly switch or toggle back to the HD version. As another example, a viewer may be watching an R-rated movie when other family members enter the room, and may wish to switch to a version where the audio and/or video have been edited to create a PG-13-rated movie.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide user equipment that automatically presents the highest-quality version of a requested media asset that is available in the media system and supported by the user equipment device. It would also be desirable to provide an enhanced user interface for notifying a user of the availability of alternate versions of media assets and permitting efficient toggling or switching from one version to another.
In accordance with the principles of the present invention, an interactive media guidance application with enhanced asset selection support is provided. The enhanced video selection support may be used to switch or toggle between two or more versions of the same media asset.
As used herein, alternate versions of media assets may include the same content available in different formats, sizes, resolutions, encoding rates, compression, frame rates, video quality, audio quality, number of audio channels, editing status, or any other suitable audio or video characteristic. Although SD and HD are sometimes used as two examples of alternate versions of a media asset, it should be clearly understood that other versions may also exist. Alternate versions may include enhanced versions of higher audio quality, video quality, or both, as well as versions of lower audio quality, video quality, or both. For example, multiple HD versions each with a different Dolby digital (AC-3) version (e.g., Dolby digital (5.1), Dolby Digital EX, Dolby Digital Surround EX, and Dolby Digital Plus) or other audio format may be accessible. In addition, one or more highly-compressed versions of an asset may be available (e.g., in an AVC/H.264 format) in the media system. Alternate versions may also include versions in which the audio and/or the video have been edited. For example, commercials may have been added or removed, or objectionable scenes or dialog may have been removed or replaced.
The principles of the present invention may also be applied to versions of digital audio media assets without an associated video component. For example, multiple MP3 or other digital audio files with different bit rates (e.g., 128, 192, 256, and 320 kbps) and sampling frequencies (e.g., 32, 44.1, 48, 128, and 192 kHz) may be available in a media system. These digital audio files may be classified with different quality designations (e.g., average, good, better, best), and users may switch or toggle efficiently between two or more of these versions.
In some embodiments, the standard source (e.g., the SD source) of a media asset is automatically mapped to the enhanced source (e.g., the HD source), if an enhanced source is available in the media systems and supported by the user equipment device. Enhanced sources may include any sources of higher-quality video and/or audio. After receiving a user request for an asset, the interactive media guidance application may determine if the user is an enhanced tier customer. If the user is an enhanced tier customer and an enhanced version of the requested asset is available in the media system, the enhanced content source may be located. A version mapping table may then be updated to reflect the new version mapping. The standard source may be automatically mapped to the enhanced source for future access requests.
In order to facilitate source switching or toggling (these terms are used interchangeably herein), in some embodiments, a user-selectable version toggle option is presented in, for example, a flip or browse bar, information screen, transparent overlay, or window. The version toggle options allows the user to efficiently switch or toggle between one or more alternate versions of a media asset without knowing the channel number or source the alternate version or versions are accessible on. The version toggle option may be overlaid on the media asset in some embodiments and presented in any suitable location on the display screen. After a user's selection of the version toggle option, an alternate source of the media asset currently being presented is accessed and presented to the user. In some embodiments, after a user's selection of the version toggle option, the user equipment performs a stealth tune, whereby the display channel is not changed, but the call letters for the source or channel may be updated (e.g., from HBOHD to HBO or vice versa), and the new source is presented. The user-selectable version toggle option may also change to reflect that the alternate source is now being presented.
In order to toggle back and forth between alternate versions of the asset, the user may select the user-selectable option one or more times. After each selection, the appropriate source is tuned and presented to the user. If multiple alternate versions are available in the media system, the version toggle option may cycle through the available versions in a round-robin manner in some embodiments.
To facilitate seamless source toggling, one or more real-time buffers may be maintained on the user equipment in some embodiments. After determining that one or more alternate versions of the requested media asset are available in the media system, the real-time buffer may buffer one or more of these alternate versions. For example, after requesting a media asset in SD, a 30-minute buffer of both the HD and H.264 versions of the same media asset may be maintained behind, ahead, or both behind and ahead of the current viewing position. In some embodiments, the version toggle option or alternate version notification may not be displayed to the user until a sufficient amount (e.g., enough to begin decoding) of one or more of the alternate versions are buffered on the user equipment. In this way, after a user's selection of the version toggle option, the new version may be presented almost immediately without waiting to receive enough of the new version of the media asset to decode.
In some embodiments, a user profile may be created and stored to the user equipment or other location. The user profile may include various version viewing preferences. For example, the user may indicate in the user's profile that certain assets should always be presented in a particular version or format (e.g., always in HD, SD, or AVC/H.264-encoded format) if available in the media system. The user may designate media assets by title, genre, time, channel, media type, or any other suitable criterion (or combination of criteria). For example, the user may desire to always watch sports content after 5:00 PM in HD and always watch news content in SD. By making the appropriate selections in the user's profile, content in the sports or news genres (as determined, e.g., from media guidance application data) will be presented in the specified version or format, if available.
The above and other features of the present invention, its nature and various advantages will be more apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and in which:
Content sources 130, 133, and 135 may include any suitable content sources such as, for example, cable system headends, satellite television distribution facilities, television broadcast facilities, on-demand servers (e.g., video-on-demand (“VOD”) servers), in-home media hubs, Internet or network media/web servers, or any other suitable facilities or systems for originating or distributing passive or interactive media content to user equipment device 102. Media assets that may be provided by content sources 130, 133, and 135 to user equipment device 102 includes broadcast programs, broadcast series, VOD programs, digital music, news, interactive applications (e.g., interactive games), Internet resources and web services (e.g., websites, newsgroups, and chat rooms), and any other media assets capable of being displayed by, presented to, recorded, or interacted with, using user equipment device 102.
The content sources available in media system may include one or more of SD content source 130, HD content source 133, and H.264 content source 135. Although these content sources are shown as separate elements in media system 100, in actual implementations these content sources may be integrated into a single content source. Other content sources may also be defined in media system 100. For example, HD content with various Dolby digital audio versions may be available as part of HD content source 133 or as one or more separate content sources. Edited content may also be included as part of any or all of the sources.
Some or all of the content available on SD content source 130 may also be available on HD content source 133, H.264 content source 135, or both HD content source 133 and H.264 content source 135. For example, some content may be available in all three formats whereas other content may be available in only SD, HD, or H.264 format.
In some embodiments, some instances of user equipment device 102 may have different capabilities. The user equipment devices may be configured to display different types of content and run different types of software on different platforms. For example, instances of user equipment device 102 may include set-top boxes, media servers, personal computers, and various mobile communications devices, such as cellular telephones and PDAs. Each of these user equipment devices may have a different bandwidth capability for receiving data. For example, a wireless user equipment device may receive data at a lower data rate than a user equipment device connected to a content or data source via a wired (e.g., cable) path. In addition, a wireless device may not be configured to display HD content, while other user equipment devices may have HD decoders and display support. In some embodiments, a user equipment device may automatically select to only present content that is compatible with the requesting user equipment device.
Content sources 130, 133, and 135 may be configured to transmit signals to user equipment device 102 over any suitable communications path 150 including, for example, a satellite path, a fiber-optic path, a cable path, or any other suitable wired or wireless path. Although in the example of
User equipment device 102 may receive interactive application data from one or more instances of data sources 140. Data sources 140 may provide data for a particular type of content or for a particular application running on user equipment device 102. For example, one data source 142 may provide data for an interactive media guidance application and another data source 142 may provide data for an interactive home shopping application. In some embodiments, data sources 140 may provide data to the applications running on user equipment device 102 using a client-server model. There may be one server per data source, one server for all sources, or, in some embodiments, a single server may communicate as a proxy between user equipment device 102 and various data sources 140.
Content sources 130, 133, and 135 and data sources 140 are shown in
User equipment device 102 may include any equipment suitable for providing an interactive media experience. For example, user equipment device 102 may include computer equipment, such as a personal computer with a television card (PCTV). User equipment device 102 may also include television equipment such as a television and set-top box, a recording device, a video player, a user input device (e.g., remote control, a keyboard, a mouse, a touch pad, a touch screen, and/or a voice recognition/verification module) or any other device suitable for providing a complete, interactive experience. For example, user equipment 102 may include a DCT 2000, 2500, 5100, 6208 or 6412 set-top box provided by Motorola, Inc. User equipment device 102 may also include various mobile communications devices with integrated or attached displays, such as PDAS, laptop computers, cellular telephones, audio players, such as iPODs, and the like.
In the example of
Control circuitry 110 may direct one or more tuners to acquire a content signal in response to some user input from input device 108. Decoding/encoding circuitry 109 may include MPEG (e.g., MPEG-2 or MPEG-4) decoding/encoding circuitry, compression/decompression circuitry, and transcoding circuitry. Decoding/ encoding circuitry 109 may be capable of encoding and/or decoding HD content received from HD content source 133, SD content received from SD content source 130, and/or H.264 content received from H.264 content source 135. Although decoding/encoding circuitry 109 is shown in the example of
Display device 104 may be any suitable device capable of presenting human-perceivable media, such as, for example, a television monitor, computer monitor, LCD or plasma display, video projection device, holographic projector, virtual reality simulator, etc. Display device 104 may also be configured to provide audio and other sensory output. In some embodiments, display device 104 may also provide input to control circuitry 110 (e.g., a capacitive, resistive, or surface wave touch screen display).
Control circuitry 110 is adapted to receive user input from input device 108 (and optionally display device 104), execute the instructions of interactive media guidance application 106, execute the instructions of any other interactive applications, and direct display device 104 to display media content and interactive application display screens and overlays. Control circuitry 110 may include one or more tuners (e.g., analog or digital tuners), encoders and decoders (e.g., MPEG encoders and decoders), processors (e.g., Motorola 68000 family processors), communications circuitry (e.g., cable modem and ATSC 256 QAM receiver circuitry), input/output circuitry (e.g., graphics circuitry), connections to the various devices of user equipment 102 (e.g., memory 112), and any other suitable components for providing analog or digital media content, including television programming, interactive media applications and games, digital music, and other interactive features. Control circuitry 110 may be configured to execute the instructions of interactive media guidance application 106 from memory 112, which can include any type of storage or memory mechanism (e.g., RAM, ROM, flash memory, hybrid types of memory, hard disks, and/or optical drives). In one embodiment, control circuitry 110 may be included as part of one of the devices of user equipment 102 such as, for example, part of display 104 or any other device (e.g., a set-top box, television, and/or video player).
Memory 112 may also include one or more recording devices for storing data and assets from data sources 140 or content sources 130, 133, and 135. The recording devices may include any media storage or recording device, including a digital video recorder (DVR), file system, or gaming system. The data and assets stored on the recording device may include data for use by interactive media guidance application 106 (e.g., media content information, or any other suitable information) as well as any media assets capable of being presented with user equipment device 102.
Although, in the illustrated embodiment of
In at least some embodiments, interactive media guidance application 106 is implemented in software. However, an implementation of software and/or hardware may be used in other embodiments. These arrangements are merely illustrative. Other suitable techniques for implementing interactive media guidance application 106 may be used if desired.
Interactive media guidance application 106 may maintain a table of source mappings in memory 112. The table may be generated locally by the media guidance application or downloaded from a remote server, content, or data source. This table of source mappings may associate standard versions of content (e.g., SD versions) with their enhanced (e.g., HD) equivalents, if available in media system 100 (e.g., from content source 130, 133, or 135 or memory 112). The table of source mappings may also identify alternate sources of available content, such as H.264 and HD versions of content with various Dolby digital sound versions. In some embodiments, the table of source mappings may also include source or channel identifiers for the available sources, as shown in
For example, if network bandwidth is limited or highly-utilized, interactive media guidance application 106 may select an available SD source in lieu of the requested HD source. As another example, if a user requests a media asset in a format that is not supported by the requesting user equipment device (e.g., an HD asset when the user equipment device does not support HD decoding), interactive media guidance application 106 may automatically present the supported SD equivalent of the requested asset, if one is available in media system 100.
As previously mentioned, a media system may often have multiple versions of a media asset available within the system. For example, separate SD and HD channels may be provided for local channels, premium channels, sports channels, and other content. Sometimes corresponding SD/HD channel pairs may be grouped together in the local channel map on adjacent channel numbers. Other times, all SD channels may be grouped together in a first range, and all HD channels may be grouped together in some second range. Therefore, it may not be readily apparent to a user that an alternate version or versions of a media asset are available in the media system.
The user equipment may buffer alternate versions of the requested content to facilitate seamless source switching or toggling between the alternate versions. As described in more detail below, a user may desire to switch from one version of media content to another version of the same media content (e.g., from an HD version to an SD version, if the HD source becomes corrupt or lossy). By maintaining real-time buffers of alternate versions of the media asset, the user equipment may more quickly present an alternate version of the asset without processing or decoding delays often associated with channel changing. The user equipment may also enable the user to manipulate the video (e.g., rewind or fast-forward) regardless of which version is being viewed. All or part of the aforementioned buffers may be pre-decoded, if desired.
Although, in the depicted embodiment, buffers 202, 204, and 206 maintain 30 minutes of buffered content, buffers 202, 204, and 206 may buffer any suitable amount or duration of content. In addition, the content buffered may be ahead, behind, or, as in the depicted embodiment, ahead and behind the user's current viewing position. As the user's current viewing position changes, buffers 202, 204, and 206 may automatically buffer more content to maintain a window centered around the viewing position. Although the depicted embodiment maintains three real-time buffers corresponding to three available versions of the requested media content, more or fewer buffers may be used in other embodiments. All of the aforementioned buffers may be maintained at the local user equipment device or at a server or content source (e.g., content source 130, 133, and/or 135 of
Buffer set 210 shows an alternate or additional buffer set that may be used in some embodiments. Buffer set 210, like buffer set 200, may support real-time seek commands (e.g., fast-forward and rewind) using buffer 212. For example, if the user is currently watching a media asset in SD, SD buffer 212 may be used for seek commands, allowing a user to seek through the version of the media asset currently being presented on the user equipment device. Instead of maintaining a centered buffered windows as in buffer set 200, once the user seeks past a certain point in buffer 212, e.g., position 213, the user equipment device may fetch more content to buffer in buffers 214, 216, and 218. The content buffered in buffers 214, 216, and 218 may correspond to the currently accessed media content in HD, SD, and H.264 format, respectively. Buffers 214, 216, and 218 may be used to allow the user to continue seeking in the same direction without delay (or with reduced delay). After the seek command is stopped, the user may then switch or toggle between buffered sources without processing or decoding delays. Although the depicted embodiment maintains three real-time buffers corresponding to three available versions of the requested media content, more or fewer buffers may be used in other embodiments, corresponding to more or fewer alternate versions of the media asset. Buffers may be used for any suitable type of alternate version, including edited versions. The versions selected for buffering may be derived from user history, user activity (e.g., active user monitoring), or user profile information, as described in more detail below in regard to
Each content entry in table 300 may be associated with one or more entries in HD source column 304, SD source column 306, H.264 source column 308, and other sources column 310. A list of available Dolby digital versions may also be included in table 300 in Dolby support column 312. When a user requests a media asset from a particular source (e.g., The Sopranos on HBO), interactive media guidance application 106 (
As described above, in some embodiments, after a user request for the media content, interactive media guidance application 106 (
For example,
In addition to or instead of the version notification appearing in a flip bar area, the notification may appear in area 402 itself. For example, version notification 404 may appear in any corner of area 402, on an information overlay, on a full-screen information screen, in an interactive application screen (e.g., interactive media guidance application screen), or any other suitable location.
In some embodiments, the version notifications may be interactive or selectable by a user. For example, a user may select alternate version notification 404 to be presented with the HD version of the movie “X-Men,” as shown in display screen 500 of
In addition to presenting the content in HD in area 502, the interactive media guidance application may also update the call name and/or channel number for the HD content. For example, in the example of
In some embodiments, HD content may be available with different digital sound characteristics. For example, the HD movie “X-Men” shown in
After selecting icon 604, the user may be presented with display screen 700 of
The interactive media guidance application may also maintain a user profile of viewing preferences in some embodiments. The user profile may be derived from direct user input (e.g., a user changing the default settings). Additionally or alternatively, a user's viewing profile may be automatically adjusted based on active user monitoring. For example, the interactive media guidance application may execute an application process that monitors all user interaction with the user equipment. This application process may monitor such user interactions as the amount of time spent on a given channel, the number and types (e.g., genres) of programs viewed in SD, the number and types (e.g., genres) of programs viewed in HD, the number and types (e.g., genres) of programs viewed in H.264, the ratings of programs watched, parental controls in place, and any other suitable interaction with the user equipment of the interactive media guidance application. Based on the active user monitoring, the interactive media guidance application may automatically create or update the user's viewing preferences in the user's profile.
For example viewing preferences display screen 800 of
In some embodiments, the user may set viewing preferences based on any suitable criterion (or combination of criteria). Some common criteria are shown in
Below each genre, the user is presented with several viewing options. These viewing options may include such presentation options as “Always HD,” “Always SD,” “Always H.264,” “Always HD/Dolby 5.1,” “Always HD/Dolby 6.1,” “Always HD/Dolby EX,” “Always HD/Dolby Digital Plus,” and “Best Available.” Other suitable options may also be presented based on the availability of other versions of media content in the media system. Other suitable options may include, for example, “Unedited,” “Edited for Families,” and “Commercial Free.” After a user has saved the preferences displayed in display screen 800 by selecting accept button 812, the interactive media guidance application may create or update the user's profile to reflect the selections in display screen 800. This profile information may then be used to automatically present the desired versions of media content based on the genre of the media content. For example, as shown in the example of
Similarly, a user may select to have all content on a particular channel (or from a particular source) be presented in a certain version or format. As shown in channel listing 804, some frequently watched channels are listed with viewing options. These options may include the same viewing options available under genre listing 802 (e.g., always HD, always SD, always H.264). More or fewer channels than those shown in
The user may also select specific programming (e.g., all episodes of “The Sopranos”) for presentation in a particular version or format (if available). The user may add or remove content from content listing 806 by selecting options button 810. The viewing options for content may include the same viewing options available under genre listing 802 (e.g., always HD, always SD, always H.264). In some embodiments, specific programs may be added to the list by the user when the programs are encountered in the context of an interactive application, such as an interactive media guidance application. For example, the user may access a program information screen for a specific program found in a program listing screen of an interactive media guidance application, and the program information screen may include an option to specify a viewing preference for the program, its channel, or its genre.
Finally, the user may also set up viewing preferences for certain times of the day (e.g., 6:00 AM-10:00 AM), certain days of the week (e.g., Saturday and Sunday), certain months of the year (e.g., basketball season), or any other convenient temporal criteria. In some embodiments, time criteria may be specified in combination with genres, channels or specific programs. The viewing options for temporal criteria may include the same viewing options available under genre listing 802 (e.g., always HD, always SD, always H.264, and family friendly).
To save the selections displayed in display screen 800, the user may select accept button 812. After selecting accept button 812, the user's profile may be created (if a profile does not already exist for the user) or updated accordingly. To discard all changes, the user may select discard button 814.
At step 902 a user request for media content is received. For example, a user may tune to a particular channel or content using input device 108 (e.g., a remote control). At step 904, the interactive media guidance application may determine if the user is an enhanced tier customer at step 904. For example, the user may be required to pay an additional fee or have a user equipment device with an authorized network identifier. This authorized network identifier may indicate what versions or formats of media content the user equipment is capable of presenting. For example, some user equipment devices may include decoding/encoding circuitry 216 (
If the user is not an enhanced tier customer, the requested content may be presented to the user in standard format at step 910. For example, control circuitry 110 (
After determining the capabilities of the requesting user equipment device at step 906, the interactive media guidance application next determines, at step 908, whether one or more alternate versions of the requested content is available in media system 100 (
If an alternate version is not available at step 908, the requested content may be presented in its standard version at step 910. If an alternate version is available at step 908, the interactive media guidance application may locate the alternate content at step 912. For example, the source or channel the alternate version is located on may be read from mapping table 300 (
After locating the alternate source, a source mapping table (e.g., table 300 of
In practice, one or more steps shown in illustrative process 900 may be combined with other steps, performed in any suitable order, performed in parallel (e.g., simultaneously or substantially simultaneously) or removed. For example, in some embodiments, the standard version may not be automatically mapped to the enhanced version for subsequent access requests at step 914. Rather, in some embodiments, the user may access the standard version on subsequent on subsequent access requests. After accessing the standard version, a notification may be presented to the user, as indicated in illustrative process 1000 below.
If, at step 1006, an alternate version is not available in the media system, the media content may continue to be presented at step 1002. If, at step 1006, the alternate version is available in the media system, a version toggle option or version notification may be presented to the user at step 1010. For example, the information flip bar in
After the user selects the version toggle option at step 1012, the alternate content source may be located at step 1014. For example, the source or channel the alternate version is located on may be read from mapping table 300 (
Although illustrative process 1000 refers to an alternate version, in some embodiments multiple alternate versions may be available. For example, an SD, HD, H.264, and several HD versions with different Dolby digital sound versions may all be available. The versions notification or version toggle option may permit a user to select one version from all such versions available in the media system, or separate version toggle options may be provided for each alternate version.
In practice, one or more steps shown in illustrative process 1000 may be combined with other steps, performed in any suitable order, performed in parallel (e.g., simultaneously or substantially simultaneously) or removed.
If, at step 1104, the media guidance application determines that the requested content is not listed in a source mapping table, at step 1106 the media guidance application may search for alternate versions accessible by the user equipment device. For example, a query of content sources 130, 133, and 135 (
After updating the mapping table at step 1108 or locating alternate sources at step 1110, one or more of the alternate source may be buffered in one or more real-time buffers, like the buffers shown in
In practice, one or more steps shown in illustrative process 1100 may be combined with other steps, performed in any suitable order, performed in parallel (e.g., simultaneously or substantially simultaneously) or removed.
The above described embodiments of the present invention are presented for purposes of illustration and not of limitation, and the present invention is limited only by the claims which follow.