Closed Captioning for Interactive Supplemental TV Content

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Existing closed captioning systems in television broadcasts have unused secondary fields that are not utilized for presenting supplemental content, limiting interactive viewer experiences.

Innovation Solution

A system and method that exploits secondary closed captioning fields to encode supplemental content codes, allowing viewers to interactively access additional content through a secondary closed captioning decoding module and network connectivity, without altering the primary captioning data.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If secondary closed captioning fields are utilized to encode supplemental content codes, then viewer interaction capability is improved, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveviewer interaction capabilityVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies multi-functionality by enabling the secondary closed captioning fields to serve dual purposes: maintaining their original function for alternative language captions while simultaneously encoding supplemental content codes. This allows the same data structure to provide both language accessibility and interactive content delivery without adding separate transmission channels.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Solution Approach 2:

The system enables user computing devices to automatically decode supplemental content codes from the secondary captioning fields and retrieve associated content through network connections. The decoding module and content delivery mechanism operate autonomously once the codes are embedded in the broadcast stream, reducing the need for additional manual intervention or complex user setup.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

2Adaptability or versatility

If supplemental content is presented alongside primary captions, then viewer engagement is enhanced, but information loss increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveviewer engagementVSAvoidcaption information integrity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the closed captioning data into distinct fields: primary captioning fields for main language content and secondary captioning fields for alternative languages. Supplemental content codes are specifically embedded in the secondary fields, allowing the primary captioning information to remain completely intact and unchanged while adding interactive functionality through the secondary fields.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system applies local quality by modifying only the secondary closed captioning fields to include supplemental content codes, while leaving the primary captioning fields unchanged. This localized modification ensures that the main captioning information maintains its original quality and integrity, while the secondary fields provide enhanced functionality.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentUS20250343964A1Interactive television system and method including supplemental content

Publication Date: 2025.11.06 DYMAXION LLC

AI summary

The present disclosure provides technical solutions for effective systems and methods to present supplemental content in a primary video stream, without changing the format of the video stream. Data fields within existing closed captioning standards are exploited to enable presentation of supplemental content to a viewer. This is independent of the main closed captioning system, so that a viewer can still display the main captioning text, including the captioning text corresponding to the language of the video stream itself.