3134results about "Simultaneous/sequential multiple television signal transmission" patented technology

A method of generating an object oriented interactive multimedia file, including encoding data comprising at least one of video, text, audio, music and / or graphics elements as a video packet stream, text packet stream, audio packet stream, music packet stream and / or graphics packet stream respectively, combining the packet streams into a single self-contained object, said object containing its own control information, placing a plurality of the objects in a data stream, and grouping one or more of the data streams in a single contiguous self-contained scene, the scene including format definition as the initial packet in a sequence of packets. An encoder for executing the method is provided together with a player or decoder for parsing and decoding the file, which can be wirelessly streamed to a portable computer device, such as a mobile phone or a PDA. The object controls provide rendering and interactive controls for objects allowing users to control dynamic media composition, such as dictating the shape and content of interleaved video objects, and control the objects received.

A system for tracking usage of digital content on user devices. Content sites for distributing digital content over a computer readable medium to users. The content sites associate unique content identifier with the content associated. Electronic stores coupled to a network sell licenses to play digital content data to users. The licenses contain a unique transaction identifier for uniquely identifying the transaction, and the licenses contain a unique item identifier for uniquely identifying at least one item in the transaction. Content players, which receive from the network the licensed content data, are used to play the licensed content data. The content players produce a purchase identifier based upon the mathematical combination of the content identifier, the transaction identifier and the item identifier.

A portal for a communications system that includes a remote terminal connected via a communications network to a broadcast center. The portal includes a display connected to the remote terminal for displaying an arrangement of cells, each cell including a visual object and an underlying application. A user input device enables user inputs to select one of the cells. The portal provides simple and intuitive access to the wide variety of services currently offered, and to be offered in the future, in communications systems.

A method of navigating through television programs is disclosed. A television receiver displays a mosaic image with sub-images representing the available programs. The receiver further receives an electronic program guide with program descriptions. Upon activating a "theme" button (42), the viewer can enter a desired program type, e.g. "movie". In response thereto, the brightness of the sub-images representing programs that are not desired is reduced. The user is thus assisted in navigating through programs he is interested in, while maintaining the mosaic structure he is familiar with, and without losing the association between channels and their positions on the mosaic screen.

A viewer of television programming is alerted to the availability of content related to the programming (e.g. an associated Internet web page) by an icon momentarily displayed on the screen. Using a remote control, the viewer can select the icon. A control panel then appears, superimposed over the television image, and provides additional detail about the related content. By further operating the remote control, the viewer can select the associated content for viewing, or return to watching the television. Various other features and variations are disclosed.

A television viewer uses a PIP format for display of program related information such as television program listings from a program schedule data base in the background and moving, real time images of a program selected from the displayed listings in the PIP window. All the text of the background information lies outside the PIP window. In one embodiment, as the viewer selects a particular program from the display of current television program listings by means of a cursor or a code number, the corresponding program automatically appears in the PIP window.

A full service cable television system and method are provided. The system comprises a cable headend, at least one fiber transport, at least one distribution hub, at least one hybrid fiber coax plant, and a plurality of set-top terminals. The system delivers television programs, advanced cable services, and online services. Programs and services are transmitted to the set-top terminals in both digital and analog formats to maintain downward compatibility with existing systems. The set-top terminal includes a central processing unit, a unified memory architecture, a memory management unit, communications circuitry, I / O control circuitry, and audio and video output circuitry. Through these components, the set-top terminal provides advanced cable services such as a comprehensive channel navigator, an interactive program guide, impulse Pay-Per-View, Near-Video-On-Demand and Video-On-Demand programming, and advanced configuration controls. The set-top terminal also provides online services such as World Wide Web browsing, Internet e-mail, and home shopping.

A system for providing interactive television program guide features and other features and information related to a specific user interest or programming category in niche hubs is provided. All of the television programming features provided by user television equipment that relate to a specific user interest or programming category may be accessed from the niche hub. For example, a movie lovers niche hub may provide programming features such as television program listings for movies, video-on-demand listings for movies, pay-per-view listings for movies, web site links related to movies, movie-related merchandise, movie news groups, movie chat groups, movie e-mail clubs, movie contests, movie trivia questions, movie actor interviews, movie reviews, movie channel package ordering, etc. The programming features of the niche hubs may be transmitted from a server, database, or other storage facility via a television distribution facility. User television equipment may be connected via two-way communications paths to transmit messages to each other.

A Digital Home Communication Terminal (DHCT) including a plurality of tuners, each of which can select one of a plurality of transmission channels provided by a Digital Broadband Delivery System (DBDS). The multiple tuners enable the DHCT to tune to a plurality of downstream media and data transmissions, thereby allowing a subscriber to tune simultaneously to multiple channels and content transmitted in the downstream transmission via the DBDS, an advantage over conventional DHCTs. The present invention enables subscribers to receive and view multiple channels and associated content, including electronic program guide information, at will. Furthermore, using the multiple-tuner DHCT of the present invention, subscribers can view multiple television stations and program content simultaneously, without degradation to television signals or pictures.

Television schedule information transmission and utilization systems (50A-50D) transmit TV schedule data and associated network control messages provided by computer (54) as packets via the Video Blanking Interval (VBI) lines in the TV signal from various television program providers (51). This data is acquired by regional data processing systems and forwarded by the regional data processing systems to subscriber units (52) and used to construct an internal database. This intern database can be accessed by the subscriber unit (52) to display a TV schedule for the channels that are received by the user's TV.

A digital television (DTV) transmitter and a method of coding data in the DTV transmitter method are disclosed. A pre-processes enhanced data by coding the enhanced data for forward error correction (FEC) and expanding the FEC-coded enhanced data. A data formatter generates enhanced data packets including the pre-processed enhanced data and inserting known data to at least one of the enhanced data packets. A first multiplexer multiplexes main data packets with the enhanced data packets, and a data randomizer randomizes the multiplexed data packets. A Reed-Solomon (RS) encoder RS-codes the randomized data packets by adding first parity data, and a data interleaver interleaves the RS-coded data packets. A trellis encoder trellis-encodes the interleaved data packets, wherein the trellis encoder may be initialized when a known data sequence is inputted thereto.

A steganographic embedder associates data with a media signal by encoding the data, a link to the data, or a combination of both into the media signal. The embedder may be located in an media signal capture device or an external process or device.

An interactive system provides a video program signal and generates interactive content data to be associated with at least one object within a frame of the video program. The interactive content data is embedded with the object and the object is tracked through a sequence of frames and the interactive content data is embedded into each one of the frames. The program frames with the embedded data are multiplexed with video and audio signals and may be broadcast. A receiver identifies an object of interest and the embedded data associated with the object is retrieved. The embedded data may be used for e-commerce.

A system and method for non-intrusively embedding a multimedia advertisement associated with an object in an audiovisual program provided by one of various sources. The advertisement may be accessed and extracted from the program by pointing and clicking on the object while the object is displayed. A summary of advertisements may thereby be created. The accessed advertisements may be bookmarked or stored to create the summary. A user may create a profile of preferred types(s) of advertisements to filter out the display of advertisements for undesired types of advertisements.

A system provides evaluation of individual segments of a video program in accordance with a viewer's viewing preferences. The system included a server that receives production data for a program including descriptive information and timing information, and that generates individual metadata for each program segment. The system further includes a client device that receives the individual metadata and processes the metadata in accordance with a viewer profile to determine the desirability of each program segment for the viewer. The client device may record desirable segments or alert the viewer about desirable segments. The server may provide the metadata to the client through a programming event transmission system or through the internet. The metadata and viewer profile may utilize a classification hierarchy. A related device generates metadata for video program segments. The device receives production data for a program that includes descriptive information and timing information, determines time data and descriptive data for individual segments of the program, and generates individual metadata corresponding to each program segment. Each metadata comprises an identifier of the program, and time data and descriptive data for the program segment. The individual metadata for each segment of the program enables separate evaluation of each program segment with respect to a given viewer's viewing preferences. The metadata may utilize a classification hierarchy. Another related device provides metadata for segments of a video program to consumers. The device obtains production data for a program from production equipment in a production studio where the program is produced. The production data is provided to a metadata generator, which returns individual metadata corresponding to individual segments of the program. The individual metadata are provided for transmission through a programming event transmission system in advance of the corresponding program segments. The individual metadata enable separate evaluation of each program segment with respect to a given viewer's viewing preferences. The metadata may be encoded for transmission and may utilize a classification hierarchy. Related processes in the aforementioned devices are also disclosed.

An interactive television program guide is provided. The interactive television program guide provides a user with the opportunity to select a language for playing television programming and displaying program guide text. Television program audio in the desired language may be obtained from a SAP or digital audio track and played in the selected language. Television related information in the desired language may be obtained from a digital track. If television program audio or related information is not provided in the selected language, the program guide may use a default language. The program guide may coordinate program guide display screen text with languages available for television programs when the programs are broadcast to users.

A system and method for distributing auxiliary data embedded in video data includes a content source that embeds the auxiliary data into the video data. The content source then encodes the video data together with the auxiliary data to create a distribution multiplex including compressed video data. A decoder receives and decompresses the distribution multiplex to reproduce the video data with the auxiliary data embedded. A television or other device then detects and extracts the auxiliary data from the video data. The television or other device processes the auxiliary data to support a variety of possible interactive applications including displaying a synchronized widget on a display of the television.

A method (200, 400) and an apparatus (500) in a wireless communication system for communicating contents of a broadcast message are provided. A wireless portable communication device (104) receives an emergency status indicator associated with the broadcast message from a base station (102). Upon determining the broadcast message is an emergency message, the contents of the broadcast message are immediately communicated.

Tags are inserted into a broadcast stream. The tags contain command and control information that a receiver acts upon. For example, tags may indicate start and end points of a program segment. The receiver may skip the segment automatically or in response to the viewer pressing a button. Or, the receiver may automatically replace commercial segments with new segments. As another example, menus, icons, and Web pages may be displayed based on tags. If a menu requires that the viewer exit from playback of program material, the receiver returns the viewer back to the same exit point when the interaction is complete. Menus and icons may be used to generate leads, generate sales, and schedule the recording of programs. As another example, an icon is displayed to indicate that an advertised program is available for recording. The viewer presses a single button to cause the receiver to schedule the recording.

Provided are apparatuses and methods for transmitting and receiving ESG fragments containing identification information. In one example, the identification identifies a mobile operator. For example, the identification information may include a Mobile Network Code (MNC), Mobile Country Code (MCC), or name corresponding to the mobile operator. In another example, the identification information may also contain a web address corresponding to a web page associated with the mobile operator. For example, the identification information received in the ESG fragment may be compared to stored identification information at a receiver. Based on the identification information in the ESG fragment and stored identification information, a corresponding web page may be provided. Also, a program or service corresponding to the ESG fragment may be filtered based on the identification information in the ESG fragment and stored identification information.

A web page staging area for construction of web pages hidden from view of the user. Once the web page is constructed, it is displayed to the user based upon timer event information or receipt of a particular command instructing that it be displayed. Use of the staging area provides the user with a more television-like experience in viewing content from the Internet or other source in that the user need not view a web page being constructed on a display device. Use of timer event information for displaying the constructed web page permits synchronization of the web page with associated programming.

A packet switch router that processes downstream digital information to provide dedicated bandwidth to each subscriber destination in a hybrid fiber coax (HFC) network. The router includes a network module that terminates a network connection, a switch that forwards data from the network module, and a channel module. The channel module includes a switch interface, a cell processing engine, one or more modulators, and a radio frequency (RF) transmitter network. The switch interface forwards packetized data from the switch to the cell processing engine. The cell processing engine organizes the packetized data into multiple data streams, encapsulates data in each data stream into data cells, and multiplexes the data cells into a multiplexed cell stream. Each modulator is configured to modulate a multiplexed cell stream into an analog signal. The RF transmitter network up converts and combines a plurality of analog signals into a combined electrical signal for transmission.

A method and system for extracting relevant information from content metadata is provided. User access to content is monitored. A set of extraction rules for information extraction is selected. Key information is extracted from metadata for the content based on the selected extraction rules. Additionally, a type for the content can be determined, and a set of extraction rules is selected based on the content type. The key information is used in queries for searching information of potential interest to the user, related to the content accessed.

A signature is extracted from the audio of a program received by a tunable receiver such that the signature characterizes the program. In order to extract the signature, blocks of the audio are converted to corresponding spectral moments. At least one of the spectral moments is then converted to the signature. Also, a test audio signal from a receiver is correlated to a reference audio signal by converting the test audio signal and the reference audio signal to corresponding test and reference spectra, determining test slopes corresponding to coefficients of the test spectrum and reference slopes corresponding to coefficients of the reference spectrum, and comparing the test slopes to the reference slopes in order to determine a match between the test audio signal and the reference audio signal.

A video display device, such as a television, having a picture-in-picture (PIP) display and a processor. The processor detects cues, such as color / texture / events / behaviors, etc., present in a primary display image, that is overlaid by the PIP. These cues are utilized by the processor to determine important and relatively unimportant portions of the primary display image. The processor then determines whether a change in a display characteristic of the PIP leads to the PIP obscuring less of an important portion of the primary display image, and if so, the processor changes the display characteristic of the PIP. Display characteristics of the PIP that may be changed by the processor include the PIP position, size, and transparency. The processor may also utilize a combination of the detected cues to determine important and relatively unimportant portions of the primary display image. The processor may also change combinations of display characteristics of the PIP.

Interactive content preservation and customization technology is placed at the broadcast facility to ensure reliable transmission of the interactive content to a local subsystem. An interactive content code detector detects interactive content codes in the video stream at the broadcast facility. The interactive content code detector is placed in the transmission path before the video stream is transmitted to broadcast facility hardware that may strip out, destroy, corrupt or otherwise modify the interactive content and interactive content codes. Once an interactive content code detector detects a code, an interactive broadcast server determines what action to take, and instructs an data insertion unit accordingly. The interactive content codes or interactive content may be placed in a portion of the video that is guaranteed by the broadcast facility to be transmitted, for example, the closed caption region of the vertical blanking interval.

A DTV signal includes frames, and the frames include data segments. Data segments are replaced by codewords which represent digital data. The DTV signals are broadcast and received by receivers. The receivers recover the digital data from the codewords in the DTV signals, for example by using matched filtering. By using long codewords, the digital data can be broadcast over a longer range and recovered by simpler circuitry in comparison to the television programming contained in the DTV signal. In one implementation, the DTV signal is an American Television Standards Committee (ATSC) DTV signal.