Patent Application
20250203160
Linear television conventionally provides viewers with a plurality of channels to select from. Each channel includes television programs which are transmitted in accordance with a predetermined schedule. Whilst linear television has in the past largely been delivered over terrestrial, cable or satellite broadcast links, the delivery of linear television by streaming over the Internet is growing.
In any multi-channel television system, it is necessary to provide users with a user interface which enables them to select which of the plurality of channels is displayed on their display apparatus. Conventional approaches include using a remote control unit to increment or decrement the channel number (using channel-up and channel-down buttons), enter a channel number, or interact with an interactive program guide.
Despite the widespread availability of interactive program guides which provide details of what programs are being broadcast at different times on different channels, many viewers choose to ‘channel surf’ (sometimes known as channel zapping) using the channel-up/channel-down buttons on the remote control. This behavior is probably driven by the extremely easy user interaction required, namely the repeated pressing of the same button on the remote control. In part because the human-machine interaction is so simple, viewers will willingly traipse through the channels one-by-one until they happen to alight upon a channel which they wish to continue watching.
In cases where a channel includes advertisements, the display of an advertisement on that channel can trigger a user to channel surf in order to find another channel on which adverts are not currently being shown. Sometimes the viewer will swap back to the original channel in order to see whether the program they were watching has restarted on the originally selected channel. For advertisers, this behavior is undesirable since it results in the viewer not consuming the advert in full. For viewers, and the content provider, this is unsatisfactory because it disrupts the viewer's enjoyment of the content—in particular because the viewer can miss the part of the program immediately following the restart of the program.
There is a need for a better viewer interface for channel selection.
According to an aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a media device arranged in operation to provide a user with an interface which features two types of video panel, namely a video stream browser panel type and a video stream monitor panel type. If a particular video stream is displayed in a video stream browser panel, then the user may set that particular video stream as a monitor stream. A monitor stream is a stream whose presentation on the screen should continue even on receipt of a video stream (e.g., channel) change command at the video display apparatus. To accommodate the user's desire to view another video stream (e.g., another channel), the video display apparatus may generate a video stream browser panel for display along with a video stream monitor panel showing the monitor stream. In some cases, when the user sets a particular video stream appearing in a video stream browser panel as a monitor stream, the video stream browser panel will be replaced by two video panels, one of which is a video stream monitor panel (showing the monitor stream), and the other of which is a video stream browser panel (showing the video streams through which the user is surfing).
In some cases, in order to accommodate both a video stream monitor panel and a video stream browser panel on a screen which was previously showing only an initial video panel, the video stream monitor panel and the video stream browser panel are sized and shaped to fit within the area previously occupied by the initial video panel.
The user is thus able to build a multi-view presentation showing both a video stream which they wish to monitor, and a video stream browser panel which they can use to surf through other video streams.
In some embodiments, a locked/unlocked flag or panel type is associated with each video panel displayed on the screen. The video display apparatus may respond to a user command to lock a browser video panel by creating a monitor video panel showing the same video stream. The video display apparatus may respond to a user command to unlock a monitor video panel either by replacing the monitor video panel with a browser video panel or, if a browser video panel is already on the screen, removing the monitor video panel from the screen. This allows the user to build up a collection of monitored video streams on the screen, and later remove some or all of the monitored video streams from the screen.
A straightforward user interface results since the flag (e.g., ‘locked’/‘unlocked’) can be set or cleared using a single user action. The single user action may be one press of a button on a remote control unit. The button may be a single button offering a lock/unlock toggle control, or separate lock and unlock buttons may be provided.
The video streams through which the user browses may be a collection of Free Ad-Supported Television (FAST) channels.
In some cases, the setting of the locked flag on a video stream browser panel may happen automatically in response to a predetermined type of content (e.g., an advertisement) appearing in the video stream.
In some embodiments, the video display apparatus stores a panel configuration data structure representing video panel areas and the associated video stream source for each video panel. The panel configuration data structure may further include audio settings (e.g., volume, audio mute, subtitles, closed captions). Additionally, the panel configuration can be given a name, such as “NFL Sunday,” where selecting NFL Sunday retrieves a predetermined or preexisting configuration, such as 3 windows or panels or video players that play content from 3 different sources (e.g., 3 different channels) where the first player outputs video and audio, and the remaining 2 players output just video. Such settings are part of the panel configuration data structure.
There now follows, by way of example only, a description of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. This description is given with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
In use of some embodiments of the present disclosure, a user of a media device 100 is presented with the output of a television channel on a display screen 101 (
The display screen 101 features a video panel area 103 which fills or substantially fills the display screen 101. The video panel area 103 features one or more video panels 104. Each video panel 104 may feature one or more video panel framing elements such as a border, title bar etc., but in example shown in
The remote control 102 has a number of control buttons which the user can press in order to control the operation of the media device 100 (only some buttons relevant to the operation of the embodiment described here are shown in the Figure).
The buttons include a power on/off button 106, a volume up/down button 108, a channel up/down button 110, channel lock and unlock buttons 112,114 (the purpose of these buttons will be explained below), a mute button 116 and a subtitles on/off button 118.
In another embodiment, instead of the channel lock/unlock buttons, a rocker switch like those used on the volume and channel controls may be used instead of two separate buttons. In yet another embodiment, the remote control unit may feature one or more pressure sensors under the channel change button 110 which detects the difference between a relatively light button press and a relatively hard button press and sends a signal to the media device 100 indicative of the which type of button press was performed by the user. The media device 100 is configured to respond to the light button press as a channel change command and the heavy button press as a channel lock command followed by a channel change command (e.g., channel up or down). In addition, or instead of, the above-mentioned controls, the media device 100 or the remote control unit 102 may provide a voice-control interface to the media device 100.
In some embodiments, instead of, or in addition to, channel-up and channel-down commands (which increment or decrement the channel number respectively), the remote control may have buttons representing each of the digits 0 to 9 to enable the user to select a channel by entering a channel number.
Video panel 104 is an example of what will be referred to herein as a channel browser video panel. A user is able to change the video stream fed to a channel browser video panel by activating channel change controls—for example, the channel change button or buttons provided on remote control 102.
In some cases, the media device may generate for display streamed video from a Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television channel (a FAST channel). FAST channels offer a similar viewing experience to traditional linear TV channels. In particular, trick-play functions (including ad-skipping) are not supported.
In a manner reminiscent of traditional linear TV systems, FAST channels can be arranged into a channel line-up (an ordered channel list). Such a channel list (e.g., as part of an electronic program guide) may be fetched from an external source. The application software may be installed on the device, or may instead be provided in the form of mobile code (e.g., JavaScript) run by an interpreter or just-in-time compiler installed on the device (e.g., a runtime system provided as part of a web browser). The user may be able to select which channels are included in a channel line-up, and alter the order of the channels in the channel line-up. Alternatively, or additionally, the application may automatically control which channels are included in the channel line-up, and automatically alter the order of the channels in the channel line-up.
A user inconvenienced by the onset of an advertisement break (as seen in
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the user clicks on the channel lock button 112 on the remote control unit 102. This results in the remote control 102 sending a signal to the media device 100 indicating that the current channel is to be locked. On receiving the signal, the media device 100 changes the type of the video panel 104 from a channel browser video panel to a channel monitor video panel. As seen in
If the user presses the channel-up button 110 when all the one or more video panels on the screen are channel monitor video panels, then the media device 100 adds a channel browser video panel to the screen (as seen in the change from
The two video panels 104A, 104B share the available video panel area 103. In this example, in order to substantially avoid distortion or cropping of the picture, each video panel 104A, 104B occupies a rectangular quarter of the video panel area 103 to offer a similar aspect ratio to that of the video panel area 103. Other panel layouts may be used.
From the situation seen in
By pressing the channel change button 110, the user may channel surf in the channel browser video panel 104B. As the user surfs through the channel line-up, the corresponding FAST channel is fed to the channel browser video panel 104B. An example of channel surfing can be seen in the change from
In this way, the user is able to monitor the channel in the channel monitor video panel 104A whilst browsing through channels in the channel browser video panel 104B. In the meantime, the advert in channel monitor video panel 104A continues to be displayed to the user (in the diagram, the same frame of the advert is shown, but in practice the advert may have progressed to a different frame).
By pressing first the lock button and then the channel change button 110, the user can change a channel browser video panel in a multi-panel display layout (e.g., 104B in
Finally, as illustrated in
It will be seen how, if at some point, the user notices that the advertisement break on the channel shown in the first channel monitor panel 104A has finished (e.g., when presented with the display seen in
In other words, a new video panel layout is generated having a single video panel 104 filling all or substantially all of the video panel area 103. The media device 100 then feeds the channel which was being monitored in first channel monitoring panel 104A to the single video panel 104.
A content distribution network suitable for providing a user interface like the one described in relation to
The content provision system comprises a media device 100, content server 200 and advertising content server 202 interconnected via a telecommunications network 203.
In some embodiments, the media device 100 has the hardware architecture illustrated in
The user input/output circuitry 204 comprises (in the case of the media device 100 having an in-built display screen), a display screen 214, a receiver 216 for receiving signals (e.g., infra-red or Bluetooth signals) from remote control unit 102, a speaker 218, and (in cases in which a voice interface is provided) a microphone 220. In embodiments in which the media device 100 is a smartphone, then user input may be by way of a touchscreen interface instead of a remote control unit. In embodiments in which the media device 100 is a personal computer, then user input may be by way of a computer mouse, trackpad or keyboard. In some embodiments, the media device is a set-top box or streaming media player (e.g., Apple TV, or Roku Player) that are configured to connected to a display, such as a TV (e.g., via an HDMI cable).
The memory circuitry 208 comprises volatile memory 222, a boot ROM 224, and a persistent store 226 (for example solid-state storage).
The processing circuitry 210 comprises a microprocessor 214.
The internal communications circuitry 206 comprises one or more digital communication busses 300 which connect user input/output devices 214-220, microprocessor 214, volatile memory 222 and solid-state storage 226.
The content server 200 and advertising content server 202 may have a similar hardware architecture to the media device 100, save for lacking the user input/output devices 214-220. Instead, input/output interfaces for each of the servers 200, 202 are provided for use by administrators working at one or more terminals (not shown) connected to the servers 200, 202. In many embodiments, the administration terminals are connected to the servers via telecommunications network 203.
Many variations on the hardware architecture of the content distribution system are possible. At the broadest level, the content distribution system can be viewed as a combination of user input/output interface circuitry and control circuitry.
In one embodiment, the entire content distribution system could be provided on a single computer. In another embodiment, a single mixed content server may combine the processing circuitry, memory circuitry, code and data structures found in the content server 200 and advertising content server 202.
The software architecture of the media device 100 may include an operating system 230, a multi-panel video application 232 and at least one video player 234.
The multi-panel video application 232 manages a plurality of instances 236, 238 of the video player 234 and a number of data structures including a channel source directory 240, and a current panel configuration 242 in volatile memory 222, and stores saved panel configurations 244 in persistent storage 226.
The content server 200 stores an operating system 250 and a video server 252 in its persistent memory 256. In addition, the content server 200 stores a channel source directory 258, and video content 260 including content manifests 262.
The content server 200 runs a number of instances 266, 268 of the video server 252 in its volatile memory 262.
In some embodiments, the channel source directory (perhaps along with electronic program guide data for FAST channels) is instead stored in a separate server.
The advertising content server 202 stores an operating system 270 and a video server 272 in its persistent memory 276. In addition, the advertising content server 202 stores advertising video content 280 including content manifests 282.
The advertising content server 202 runs a number of instances 286, 288 of the video server 272 in its volatile memory 290.
The operation of an example embodiment of the multi-panel video application 232 will now be described with reference to
The initialization (
The population of the fields of the initial panel record begins with three steps (406-410) which bind a channel to the video panel represented by the panel record. Initially, the first channel in the local channel source directory 240 is allocated to the panel. Thereafter, the video source for that channel is looked up 408 in the channel source directory (
The multi-panel video application 232 then generates 422 for display on the screen 101 the one or more panels in accordance with the panel configuration data structure 242. In this initialization phase, the panel configuration data structure 242 includes only the initial video panel.
The video stream from the video source for the channel associated with each panel is then shown in accordance with the audio settings found in the relevant panel record.
A channel change handling process (
If the panel configuration data structure does include a channel browser video panel, then a sequence of steps (506, 508 and 510) updating the channel shown in the channel browser video panel is performed. The sequence of steps involves determining 506 the new channel ID, updating 508 the panel record relating to the channel browser video panel to bind the new channel to the channel browser panel, and rendering 510 the panels in the panel configuration data structure (a process which will be described with reference to
If the panel configuration data structure does not include a channel browser video panel, then a sequence of steps 512 to 516 is performed to add 514 a channel browser video panel to the panel configuration data structure 242, and set 516 the audio setting for the channel browser video panel to muted/closed-captions on. Each of these settings might be set differently in other embodiments. In some embodiments, only one of the video panels will have the audio unmuted, and the others will have the audio muted and closed captions on.
The steps of 506, 508 of binding the channel to the new browser window and rendering the panels on the screen are then carried out as described above.
The process of rendering the one or more panels in the panel configuration data structure (
The screen estate sharing rules, may for example, include:
The allocated screen areas may then be recorded in the panel configuration data structure.
In addition to allocating screen estate between the video panels, the rendering process allocates the inbound bandwidth between the video player instances feeding the video to the video panels. Again, this can be done in accordance with hard-coded or editable rules.
The inbound bandwidth sharing rules, may for example, include:
The rendering process then generates for display 610 the panels in the allocated screen areas, and adds 612 an icon or other on-screen indication to each channel monitor panel.
The audio settings found in the panel configuration data structure are then applied to the video panels. Audio settings include volume settings (which in turn includes muting the audio altogether), subtitling, closed captioning and audio description settings.
The bandwidth of the video stream is then artificially throttled in accordance with the previously-performed inbound bandwidth allocation 608. In some embodiments, one or more video player instances include adaptive bit-rate methods, which request video segments of different resolutions in dependence of the available bandwidth between the video stream source and the display apparatus (in particular, the bandwidth between the source and the video player instance). Hence, assuming panel sizes are equal, video panels with larger bandwidth allocations will request higher resolution video segments, and thus present higher resolution (and/or faster frame rate) video on the screen.
Initially, the screen is showing a first channel (channel A) full screen. At a particular time (TO), an advertisement break starts on channel A. In response, the user locks the panel (in this case the initial channel browser panel takes up substantially all the display screen 101) at a time TLOCK. This causes the lock icon to appear on the screen (e.g., as seen in
In some embodiments, if channel A is displayed in a channel monitor panel, then channel A is removed from the channel line-up which is used to respond to channel up/channel down commands in the channel browser panel. The channel line-up may be derived from the channel list by adding a flag to each channel in the channel list—the flag can indicate that the channel is ‘displayed’ or ‘in-use’. Alternatively, or in addition, each channel in the channel list may be provided with an indication of the position of the channel in the channel line-up.
In some embodiments, some channels in the channel list might be marked with a parental rating (e.g., unsuitable for children). These channels may be removed from the channel line-up, or a request for a PIN might be displayed on the screen when the user browses to the corresponding position in the channel line-up. Similarly, the channel line-up may include channels that the user is not able to access (not subscribed to); again, these channels may be removed from the channel line-up, or a ‘Subscribe’ prompt might be displayed on the screen when the user browses to the corresponding position in the channel line-up.
In some embodiments, if a channel browser window has been displaying the same channel (‘persistently displayed channel’) for a default time period or for a default time period after an event, then the other video panels on the screen are removed to leave a single video panel showing the persistently displayed channel. The user may be able to manually input a user-selected time period to replace the default time period.
For example, as shown in
The data structure may include one or more of:
As an alternative to the ad impression report data structure having an indication 1126 of the absolute size of the advert when displayed on the screen of the media device, the data structure could instead include an indication of the absolute size of the screen. Then, by combining the absolute size of the screen with the size 1124 of the advert relative to the screen, the absolute size of the advert could be determined.
In short, the ad impression report provides an indication of the impact of the panel/multi-panel display configuration on the size and/or impact of the advert when it was displayed.
In some embodiments, the multi-panel video application 232 includes an advert display reporting process (
Many variations on the above disclosure are possible. A non-exhaustive list follows.
In some embodiments, rather than relying on a common or user-specific ordering or numbering of channels, the display screen includes a channel menu featuring a plurality of channel graphical elements which the user can select from in order to choose a corresponding channel. In some embodiments, the screen area is then divided between the panel display area and a channel menu display area.
In contrast to those above-described embodiments in which newly-presented video panels were created as channel browser video panels by default, in other embodiments, video panels could be designated as channel-locked video panels by default, and the user would need to unlock those video panels in order to channel surf within the video panel.
In contrast to those above-described embodiments in which the channels were FAST channels delivered over the Internet, in other embodiments linear television channels may be delivered by cable, satellite or terrestrial broadcast networks.
In contrast to those above-described embodiments in which a new video panel layout was created to accommodate an additional video panel in response to a user re-designating a channel browser video panel as a channel monitor video panel, in other embodiments, the user interface may present a user with a plurality of selectable video panel layout icons. For example, a first video panel layout icon may represent a single full-screen video panel, a second icon may represent the screen halved vertically into two video panels, and a third icon may represent a screen divided into quarters. A user selection of a screen arrangement with more video panels than are currently presented on the screen can then be handled as a request to designate one or all of the video panels currently on the screen as channel monitor video panels, and to designate a new panel as a channel browser video panel. Similarly, a selection of the full-screen video panel icon can be treated as a request to present one of the video panels (e.g. the first created, or the video panel currently in focus) full-screen.
In some embodiments, the media device may be a television, and a smartphone may be configured to send commands to the television. This may involve the smartphone emulating a remote control, or the smartphone display being cast to the television.
In some embodiments, the media device may feature or drive a plurality of screens instead of a single screen. In each case, the available screen estate is shared between the video panels.
In some embodiments, the panel layout may be split-screen, L-frame, picture-in-picture (in which a first video panel lies within the area of a second video panel, and the first video panel hides or obscures that part of the second video panel it covers), or one video panel may partially overlap another video panel.
In some embodiments, instead of a newly-opened channel browser window showing the channel currently shown in the just-locked channel monitor window, a recommended channel (e.g. based on a user profile) may be shown in a newly-opened channel window.
In some embodiments, the user interface can be configured so that instead of generating a new video panel in response to a user locking a panel, a new video panel is not generated until the user requests a channel change on a locked panel. An additional dialogue step may be added in which the system presents the user with a user interface element with which the user can interact to trigger the generation of a channel browser video panel.
In some embodiments, channel monitor panels can automatically revert to channel browser panels after a predetermined or user-specified period of time.
In some embodiments, in order to drive a client device to lower the resolution of the display in one panel relative to another, the manifest provided to that client device (as part of an adaptive bit-rate implementation) is manipulated to remove references to higher bitrate segments or chunks. For example, any video player instance in browse mode (if there's at least one video player instance in persistent mode) may be provided with a manifest which has been stripped of higher-resolution options. In one embodiment, the server is aware of the status of the video player instance (e.g., browse mode) and sends a manifest that includes access to one lower bitrate rendition and therefore forces the video player instance to request lower bit rate segments. The server may strip off renditions from an existing manifest to remove references to specific higher bitrate renditions. The status of the video player instance maybe communicated to the streaming server 200 when a channel is requested and if the channel request will result in two or more video players generating representations of respective channels on the screen. The streaming server 200 may then respond by sending a manifest which lacks references to higher bit-rate renditions found in an original manifest.
In some embodiments, there is additional processing which detects that two panels are showing the same channel, and removes one of the two panels in response. It may be that two panels have to be shown for a threshold minimum of time before the removal of one of the panels is triggered.
In some embodiments, the layout and sizes of the video panels can be adjusted by the user.
In some embodiments, the user may be presented with a selectable interface option to enable the use of a multi-panel display. For example, the user may be presented with a prompt “Browse in Multi-view)?”
In some embodiments, when the user switches to full screen on one of the channels or panels, the system may record the panel configuration data structure prior to the switch. The recorded panel configuration data may be accessible for a period of time for content discovery. For instance, if the user were to move from the panel configuration illustrated in
Similarly, in some embodiments, the user may mark a specific layout of channels (e.g., as represented by a particular panel configuration data structure) as ‘favorite’ and label it for later retrieval. For example, a user might enjoy watching 2 sports channels (A&B) and one news channel (K) simultaneously. The user can save such layout as “My Sunday Channels” which would allow the user to retrieve the exact selection (i.e., My Sunday Channels) from the programming guide or from the suggested channels to watch, or through a voice command.
In some embodiments, a layout that is labelled as a favorite by the viewer can also be replicated for Video-on-Demand viewing (e.g., viewing content recorded from the 3 channels mentioned above). For example, if the user has series passes or individual program recordings set up for channel A, B and K, the user may not need to search for the recording associated with Channel A, and then add the recording for channel B and K to the multi-view. The user may simply select an option such as “Play Recording from My Sunday Channels”—and this may retrieve the last recorded content from all 3 channels and display them simultaneously (accessible from any user equipment such as a Streaming Media Player, tablet, etc.). If the latest recorded content from a channel was already viewed, then the multi-view layout may only include 2 programs. Therefore, the dynamic layout is dependent on availability of recorded content and whether the content has been viewed. If multiple programs were recorded for one or more of the channels, then invoking the command may present an option such as “Play program A or B.” Similarly, the multi-view algorithm may auto-select program A or B based on user's watch history and viewing patterns (e.g., time of day, etc.).
Since users may sometimes record content so that they may view it ad-free, the layout of the channels may change during content consumption. For example, in response to detecting that one of the channel is about to start showing an advertisement, the instance of the player associated with that channel or program (and driving the display in the corresponding video panel) may automatically skip the ads. Similarly, the layout may deprioritize the instance of the video player that is playing an ad by making it smaller or prioritizing higher bitrate requests from the other players (assuming cloud DVR is being used). Detection of an ad playing or an ad that is about to play can be determined from the manifest files for example as ads are designated as such as in the manifest.
In some embodiments of the above multi-view mode of recorded or time-shifted content viewing, the panel assignment can first be prioritized for channels. When there is no more recording for a channel, the recorded programs of other channels can take over and display in the window of that channel.
In some embodiments, hybrid multi-view browsing of linear and recorded content is enabled by having one panel showing video streamed from a FAST channel, and another panel showing video streamed from local storage (e.g., the persistent store 226 of the media device 100).
The processes described above are intended to be illustrative and not limiting. One skilled in the art would appreciate that the steps of the processes discussed herein may be omitted, modified, combined, and/or rearranged, and any additional steps may be performed without departing from the scope of the disclosure. More generally, the above disclosure is meant to be illustrative and not limiting. Furthermore, it should be noted that the features and limitations described in any one embodiment may be applied to any other embodiment herein, and flowcharts or examples relating to one embodiment may be combined with any other embodiment in a suitable manner, done in different orders, or done in parallel. In addition, the systems and methods described herein may be performed in real time. It should also be noted that the systems and/or methods described above may be applied to, or used in accordance with, other systems and/or methods.
