Patent Application
20090228948
The present invention relates generally to allowing viewers to select a position for subtitle display on a TV screen.
Subtitles are text transcripts of TV dialogue that can be displayed on a portion of the TV screen. For purposes of the present invention, closed captioning is a species of subtitles, with the difference being that in addition to translating dialogue into on-screen text, closed captions also describe significant audio content and “non-speech information,” such as the identity of speakers and their manner of speaking, along with music or sound effects using words or symbols.
As understood herein, TVs that are enabled for subtitles typically give a viewer the option of displaying subtitles or not, and when displayed, the subtitles appear on screen in a position designated by the broadcaster, which may vary within or between programs. As further understood herein, this may be disruptive for the viewer because depending on the program and the broadcaster-defined subtitle screen position, parts of the video in which the viewer might be most interested can be blocked by the subtitles.
A method presents a graphic user interface (GUI) on a TV screen listing plural on screen position options for subtitles received in TV signals. A viewer selection of one of the position options is received and a subtitle address altered in response as necessary to present subtitles at the position option selected by the viewer.
The method may include presenting predetermined on screen position options. At least one position option may be one in which subtitles are overlaid on video and another option may be one in which subtitles are displayed on screen but not overlaid on video. In the latter instance, subtitles can be displayed in a subtitle pane in which no video appears.
In non-limiting embodiments the position options include top of screen overlaid on video, bottom of screen overlaid on video, top of screen not overlaid on video, bottom of screen not overlaid on video. The position options may further include a position as received in broadcast TV signals.
In another aspect, a system includes a TV display, a processor associated with the TV display, and a tuner controllable by the processor to cause programming including subtitle text from a tuned-to channel number to be presented on the display. The processor is configured to change a screen position at which the subtitle text is displayed in response to a viewer command.
In still another aspect, an apparatus is provided for allowing a user to display subtitles on a TV without blocking an area of video on the TV that would otherwise be blocked by subtitles in a broadcaster-defined subtitle position. The apparatus includes a processor receiving a viewer subtitle position command and in response presenting subtitles in an area of the TV corresponding to the position command instead of presenting subtitles in an area of the TV corresponding to the broadcaster-defined subtitle position.
The details of the present invention, both as to its structure and operation, can best be understood in reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts, and in which:
Referring initially to
The TV 12 typically includes a TV processor 20 accessing a tangible computer readable medium 22. The tangible computer readable medium 22 may be established by, without limitations solid state storage, optical or hard disk storage, etc. The medium 22 may store software executable by the TV processor 20 to, e.g., control a display driver 24 that drives a TV visual display 26 in accordance with one or more settings such as brightness, contrast, and the like that may be stored in, e.g., the medium 22. The display 26 may be a flat panel matrix display, cathode ray tube, or other appropriate video display, and typically is associated with one or more audio speakers 27. The medium 22 may also contain additional code including backend software executable by the TV processor 20 for various non-limiting tasks. One or more of the processors described herein may execute the logic below, which may be stored as computer code on one or more the computer readable media described herein.
In the non-limiting embodiment shown in
Additionally, the TV 12 can communicate via a network such as the Internet with a server 32. To this ends the TV 12 may be Internet-enabled, although it is to be understood that the server 32 may be combined with the TV program source 18 when the source 18 is a remote entity accessible over a wide area network, in which case no modem need be provided, with the TV sending signals through a reverse link to the source 18/server 32.
In the non-limiting embodiment shown, the server 32 is separate from the source 18 and the TV 12 communicates with the server 32 through a set-back box (SBB) 34. In some implementations a set-top box (STB) may be used, and the SBB/STB may itself include the tuner 16 or otherwise communicate with the source 18.
In any case, the SBB 34 shown in
A wireless remote control 42 can be provided to input commands such as the below-described subtitle position commands into the system 10. The remote control 42 can be a conventional TV remote control or other portable hand-held device.
Now referring to
At block 46, a viewer selection of one of the positions presented for selection is received. Then, at block 48 in the event that the viewer has selected a position other than the current subtitle position (which can default to the position received in the broadcast TV signal), the screen address or addresses for subtitle text are changed as necessary to satisfy the viewer's selection.
As Shown on the left side of the GUI, a viewer may be provided with plural subtitle-related selection options, including turning subtitle display on and off and selecting between analog and digital subtitles. Of focus to the present invention is a subtitle position selection 50 which, if selected by the viewer, can invoke a sub-menu 52 of position options on the right part of the display 26 as shown.
While some implementations may allow fine-granularity viewer definition of subtitle position by, e.g., allowing a viewer to key in numbers representing the address of a desired subtitle area or by allowing a viewer to drag and drop a subtitle box at a desired location on the display, in the preferred embodiment the viewer is permitted to select an option from a predetermined set of subtitle position options as indicated in
While the particular VIEWER SELECTION OF SUBTITLE POSITION ON TV SCREEN is herein shown and described in detail, it is to be understood that the subject matter which is encompassed by the present invention is limited only by the claims.
