The present invention relates generally to interactive video delivery mediums such as interactive television, and more particularly, to a system and method for providing multi-perspective instant replay of broadcast material.
A broadcast service provider transmits audio-video streams to a viewer's television. Interactive television systems are capable of displaying text and graphic images in addition to typical audio-video programs. They can also provide a number of services, such as commerce via the television, and other interactive applications to viewers. The interactive television signal can include an interactive portion consisting of application code, data, and signaling information, in addition to audio-video portions. The broadcast service provider can combine any or all of this information into a single signal or several signals for transmission to a receiver connected to the viewer's television or the provider can include only a subset of the information, possibly with resource locators. Such resource locators can be used to indicate alternative sources of interactive and/or audio-video information. For example, the resource locator could take the form of a world wide web universal resource locator (URL).
The television signal is generally compressed prior to transmission and transmitted through typical broadcast media such as cable television (CATV) lines or direct satellite transmission systems. Information referenced by resource locators may be obtained over different media, for example, through an always-on return channel, such as a DOCSIS modem.
A set top box connected to the television controls the interactive functionality of the television. The set top box receives the signal transmitted by the broadcast service provider, separates the interactive portion from the audio-video portion, and decompresses the respective portions of the signal. The set top box uses interactive information to execute an application while the audio-video information is transmitted to the television. Set top boxes typically include only a limited amount of memory. While this memory is sufficient to execute interactive applications, it is typically not adequate to store the applications for an indefinite period of time. Further, the memory of the set top box is typically too small to accommodate a program which includes large amounts of audio or video data, application code, or other information. Storage devices may be coupled to the set top box to provide additional memory for the storage of video and audio broadcast content.
Interactive content such as application code or information relating to television programs is typically broadcast in a repeating format. The pieces of information broadcast in this manner form what is referred to as a “carousel”. Repeating transmission of objects in a carousel allows the reception of those objects by a receiver without requiring a return path from the receivers to the server. If a receiver needs a particular piece of information, it can simply wait until the next time that piece of information is broadcast, and then extract the information from the broadcast stream. If the information were not cyclically broadcast, the receiver would have to transmit a request for the information to the server, thus requiring a return path. If a user is initially not interested in the carousel content, but later expresses an interest, the information can be obtained the next time the carousel is broadcast. Since broadcast networks have access only to a limited bandwidth, audio-video content is not broadcast in carousels. There is also insufficient bandwidth and server resources to handle pulling of large amounts of data required for video and audio in real-time to handle near simultaneous requests for broadcast of previously broadcast material from a vast number of television viewers.
In a broadcast by a television network, such as a broadcast of a sporting event, the content provider may generate multiple video feeds from various angles of the game, for example. The network may select one or more feeds from the multiple video feeds and broadcast the selected video feed(s) to the viewing audience at any given point in time. That is, the network may simultaneously broadcast video tracks that present the same scene, except from a different perspective or send different audio tracks or subtitles if a movie is broadcast in different languages, for example. The viewer may use an interactive application that executes on their set top box to choose between different perspectives. When a viewer requests a change in perspective, the interactive application uses meta-data to determine which packets contain the chosen perspective. It starts delivering packets that contain the newly chosen perspective.
As previously described, a viewer cannot request previously broadcast audio or video material due to the limited bandwidth available on broadcast networks. Also, data that accompanies interactive applications sometimes corresponds to audio and video that is currently being broadcast, so it changes frequently. In these cases, the values broadcast as part of the carousel often change and old values are no longer carried in the carousel. Thus, a viewer cannot replay a scene or a sporting event play from a different perspective unless the viewer has already recorded the video stream for the alternate perspective.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
The following description is presented to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention. Descriptions of specific embodiments and applications are provided only as examples and various modifications will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. The general principles described herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not to be limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features described herein. It will be understood by one skilled in the art that many embodiments are possible, such as the use of a computer system and display to perform the functions and features described herein. For purpose of clarity, the invention will be described in its application to a set top box used with a television, and details relating to technical material that are known in the technical fields related to the invention have not been included.
Referring now to the drawings, and first to
The receiving station includes a set top box 16 connected to a storage device 18, and a television 20 which is used to present programs to a viewer. The set top box 16 is operable to decompress the digital data and display programs to a viewer. The decompressed video signals may be converted into analog signals such as NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) format signals for television display. Signals sent to the set top box 16 are filtered and of those that meet the filtering requirements, some are used by the processor 30 immediately and others can be placed in local storage such as RAM. Examples of requirements that would need to be filtered for include a particular value in the location reserved for an elementary stream identifier or an originating network identifier. The set top box 16 may be used to overlay or combine different signals to form the desired display on the viewer's television 20.
As further described below, the set top box 16 is configured to record one or more video and/or audio streams simultaneously to allow a viewer to replay a scene which has recently been viewed or heard by a viewer, except from a different perspective. Broadcast station 12 simultaneously broadcasts multiple perspectives for use by viewers that have set top boxes 16 which execute interactive television applications. For example, multiple cameras may be used to record a sporting event and the station may broadcast from the multiple cameras at the same time to allow the viewer to choose between different camera views using an interactive application that executes on their set top box 16. A broadcaster may also send multiple perspectives of audio tracks in different languages, for example. The multiple video and audio perspectives are only examples of types of perspectives of which a plurality may be contained in a broadcast. Other examples include multiple teletext streams, perhaps in different languages; multiple executables, perhaps each meant for a different skill level; or multiple data streams. The present invention allows a viewer to replay the same scene from a different perspective, while ensuring that the viewer will still be able to view, either simultaneously or at a later time, the portion of the program being broadcast simultaneously with their viewing of the replay. The viewer may request a replay of any combination of audio, video, executables, and data, from either the same or different perspectives as the perspectives previously played.
It is to be understood that the term “program” as used herein refers to any broadcast material including television shows, sporting events, news programs, movies, or any other type of broadcast material, or a segment of the material. The material may include only audio, video, data, or any combination thereof. The program may be only a portion of a television show or broadcast (e.g., without commercials or missing a portion of the beginning or end) or may be more than one show, or include commercials for example. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the term “viewing” as used herein is defined such that viewing of a program begins as soon as a tuner begins filtering data corresponding to a program. If a viewer has tuned to a particular frequency prior to the broadcast of a program, the beginning of the viewing preferably corresponds to the beginning of the program. The viewing preferably ends when the program is complete or when the tuner is no longer filtering the frequency corresponding to the program. Thus, the recording of a program coincides with the “viewing” of a program and the program is only recorded when a tuner is tuned to the station broadcasting the program. In the event that the television display is turned off after a viewer has started recording the program, as long as the tuner is tuned into the station broadcasting the program and a recording of the information broadcast on the same frequencies as those used at the start of the viewing is being made, the viewing is said to continue. The audio-video signals and program control signals received by the set top box 16 correspond to television programs and menu selections that the viewer may access through a user interface. The viewer may control the set top box 16 through an infrared remote control unit, a control panel on the set top box, or a menu displayed on the television screen, for example.
It is to be understood that the system 10 described above and shown in
The set top box 16 may be used with a receiver or integrated decoder receiver that is capable of decoding video, audio, and data, such as a digital set top box for use with a satellite receiver or satellite integrated decoder receiver that is capable of decoding MPEG video, audio, and data. The set top box 16 may be configured, for example, to receive digital video channels which support broadband communications using Quadrate Amplitude Modulation (QAM) and control channels for two-way signaling and messaging. The digital QAM channels carry compressed and encoded multiprogram MPEG (Motion Picture Expert Group) transport streams. A transport system extracts the desired program from the transport stream and separates the audio, video, and data components, which are routed to devices that process the streams, such as one or more audio decoders, one or more video decoders, and optionally to RAM (or other form of memory) or a hard drive. It is to be understood that the set top box 16 and storage device 18 may be analog, digital, or both analog and digital.
As shown in
Control information may also be recorded as broadcast along with the audio-video data or may be first manipulated by software within the set top box 16. For example, broadcast CA (conditional access) information may be used to decrypt broadcast video. The original broadcast streams, or modifications of these streams may be optionally re-encrypted using a set top box key or algorithm prior to recording. The encrypted video may also be stored as received along with the broadcast CA information. Also, clock information may be translated to a virtual time system prior to recording. An MPEG-2 elementary stream may be de-multiplexed from an MPEG-2 transport stream, then encapsulated as a program stream and recorded.
A copy of data sent from the transport stage 28 to the AV stage 34 is sent to the storage device 18 at the beginning of the viewing. The CPU in the control processor 30 configures a DMA controller to ensure that the data is written to a buffer that is allocated in the storage device 18. The number of minutes of viewing data to be recorded in the buffer is preferably selected by the viewer; however, the set top box may 16 be preset with a default value such as fifteen minutes. The control processor's CPU calculates the size of the buffer to allocate based upon the number of minutes and the maximum speed at which bits in the transport stream that the viewer is watching will be sent. This maximum speed may be obtained from meta-data sent with the audio-video stream. When the end of the buffer is reached, the CPU in the control processor is interrupted, at which time it will re-configure the DMA controller to start writing at the beginning of the buffer. This design is known as a circular buffer.
The buffer is preferably circular to allow contiguous recording and writing over of previously recorded content. When the viewer changes the channel or a TV event (e.g., television program ends) occurs, the control processor's CPU will be interrupted. At this time, the CPU may allocate a new buffer or mark the beginning of the new event in the original buffer. The automatic recording of a program and all related video, audio, and data streams in a storage device at the start of the program without any action by the viewer, allows the viewer to replay a portion of the program from a different perspective.
As previously described, the control processor 30 records the multi-perspective streams at a start of the program to store the perspectives in storage device 18. The perspectives will continue to be recorded and stored within the storage device 18 for a pre-determined period of time (e.g., 15 minutes). If a viewer decides to record the entire viewing after the start of the program, he will select a record option and the processor 30 will allocate space within the storage device 18. All perspectives will be recorded along with the program that is being viewed. See e.g., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/630,646, entitled “System and Method for Incorporating Previously Broadcast Content” and filed Aug. 2, 2000, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The joining of the first and second recorded portions of any given perspective in a common storage area may be implemented either physically or virtually. A physical implementation may include copying the first recorded portion to a location where the second portion has been recorded. A virtual implementation may include the modification of a data structure stored in a storage device. In either case, a viewer watching a replay of any perspective should not be able to detect that the two parts of the perspective were originally stored separately. Thus, the portions of the perspective may be physically contiguous or the portions of the perspective may be stored separately in a non-contiguous format as long as the entire recorded program can be played back in a continuous manner (i.e., viewer does not notice a transition between the playback of the first and second portions of the perspective).
It is to be understood that the recording of the entire program, including the plurality of perspectives, in the storage device 18 may occur without any action by the viewer. For example, if the viewer rewinds (or performs a similar action on different types of storage media) a portion of one of the recorded perspectives to replay a scene, the entire program along with all of its multiple perspectives may be recorded in the storage device, since the viewer has shown interest in the program.
The control information that is broadcast with the program preferably indicates which streams are related to the viewed streams. The set top box 16, by filtering on the appropriate identifiers in the broadcast MPEG-2 (or DSS or other encoding) packets can locate all related elementary streams. It sends the streams that the viewer is watching to the television set 20 and records in the storage device 18 the content of these streams, along with the other related streams, including related video, audio, executables, and data. Meta-data that indicates the maximum bit rate for the streams may accompany the elementary or transport streams. The format of the recorded streams may depend upon the hardware support. For example, special purpose hardware inside the set top box 16 may support re-multiplexing of streams or concurrent reads and writes to the storage device 18, as is well known by those skilled in the art.
Broadcast data such as audio and video data, application code, control signals and other types of information may be sent as data objects. If the program is to be consumed (i.e., presented to the viewer) the broadcast data must be parsed to extract data objects from the stream. When the necessary data objects have been extracted, the program is played. For example, any applications that need to be executed are launched and any audio or video data that needs to be presented to the viewer is played. If the program is stored, the data objects are extracted in the same manner, but they are stored instead of being immediately used to present the program. The recorded program is played back using the stored data objects. The data objects may include “live” data which becomes obsolete if not consumed immediately. If this data is stored and used when the program is played back, the program will in at least part, be obsolete. Thus, while most of the data objects may be stored as files, live data objects may be stored as references in the program. When the program is played back, new live data corresponding to the reference may be obtained and used in place of the data which was live at the time the program was recorded. Thus, only temporally correct data is used by the interactive application when it executes at a later time. (See e.g., U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/162,490 entitled “RECORDING OF PUSH CONTENT” filed Oct. 29, 1999, which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes).
In
As shown in
Alternatively, a viewer may prefer not to be distracted by the live broadcast which is shown as being displayed in the PIP in
In this example, the viewer has been watching a live broadcast that contains video perspective V1. As the viewer watches, that video perspective, V1 is being recorded to a file. Also, other video perspectives, including video perspective V2, are being recorded to a different file because they represent a different view of the same information. Of course. V2 could be recorded in the same file as long as other information distinguishing V1 from V2 is recorded somewhere. The viewer has just seen something interesting on the screen and enters the appropriate commands to cause V1 to be re-wound to the beginning of the interesting scene. The viewer stops V1 when the MPEG-2 I-Frame1,t is being used to display the contents of the screen. (Again, this is only an example. P- and B-frames could also be recorded in the file containing the I-frames from V1, and could be used in locating a scene, but they are not used in this example. Also, MPEG-2 is only used as an example; other formats of media and/or data can equally well be used) The viewer then issues a command that tells the set top box to start playing forward, but from V2 rather than from V1. The set-top box must determine which I-frame of V2 it should first cause to be displayed. A simple solution, choosing the I-frame nearest to the same offset as I-frame1,t in the file that contains V2 would only work correctly if both perspectives were sent at the same constant rate, although such an approximation may be useful if the perspectives were sent at approximately the same non-constant rate. A better solution for either variable-rate streams or streams with different constant rates is now presented. This solution uses a linear interpolation, although other well-known classical interpolation methods that are readily available in the open literature may provide a better approximation under some circumstances.
First the actual time corresponding to the originally intended playing time of I-frame1,t is approximated. The offset into the file containing V1 where I-frame1,t is located, d1,t is used for this approximation. In order to approximate this time, t, two consecutive time values, d1,i and d1,i+1, are searched for in the meta-data file, such that d1,i≦d1,t<d1,i+1. (As a practitioner of the art would know, a binary search would likely find these two consecutive elements the most quickly if the records are fixed length and the elements are stored in consecutive order as shown. A different search would be optimal if a different storage format is used. Again, these are well-known techniques that are extensively documented in the computer science literature.) Once they are located, both t1,i and t1,i+1 will also be known. These values are then used to approximate t. This example uses the linear interpolation formula:
t=((t1,i+1−t1,i)(d1,t−d1,i)/(d1,i+1−d1,i))+t1,i
After an approximation for t has been found, the location of the I-frame in the recording of perspective V2 that is nearest to that time needs to be found. The first step here is to locate t2,k and t2,k+1 such that t2,k≦i<t2,k+1. Again, the search that performs the best in any given case is dependent upon the format of the file and is a well-studied problem. Having these values allows for an approximation of d2,t. Once again, this example uses linear interpolation:
d2,t=((d2,j+1−d2,j)(t−t2,j)/(t2,j+1−t2,j))+d2,j
Now that an approximation for d2,t is known, the I-frame that is nearest to being d2,t bytes from the beginning of the file containing the recording of V2 is used as the starting frame for playing back the recording for the viewer.
A method and system for processing broadcasts have been disclosed. Software written according to the present invention may be stored in some form of computer-readable medium, such as memory or CD-ROM, or transmitted over a network, and executed by a processor. Additionally, where methods have been disclosed, various sequences of steps may be possible, and it may be possible to perform such steps simultaneously, without departing from the scope of the invention.
Although the present invention has been described in accordance with the embodiments shown, one of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that there could be variations made to the embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description and shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/589,589, titled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING A MULTI-PERSPECTIVE VIDEO DISPLAY,” filed Aug. 12, 2012, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/765,965, titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING MULTI-PERSPECTIVE INSTANT REPLAY,” filed Jan. 19, 2001, which claims the benefit of priority of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/235,529, titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING MULTI-PERSPECTIVE INSTANT REPLAY,” filed Sep. 26, 2000, each of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Each of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/630,646, titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INCORPORATING PREVIOUSLY BROADCAST CONTENT,” filed Aug. 2, 2000, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/162,490, titled “RECORDING OF PUSH CONTENT,” filed Oct. 29, 1999, is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
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Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20140375885 A1 | Dec 2014 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
60235529 | Sep 2000 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 13589589 | Aug 2012 | US |
Child | 14479077 | US | |
Parent | 09765965 | Jan 2001 | US |
Child | 13589589 | US |