Media Content Affordance Overlay for Seamless Information Access
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for providing users with information related to video content are inefficient as they require users to take actions outside the viewing experience and present information in a way that is not conducive to easy understanding or follow-up.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that detects when a user is watching media content and presents affordances to receive information on entities relevant to the content, with program information being sampled and sent to a server to identify the content and generate user-selectable options, which are then displayed on the user device.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If users visit a website using an Internet-enabled device to obtain information related to video content, then information can be accessed, but the process requires actions outside the viewing experience and is inefficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the video playback interface and information retrieval interface into a single unified display. The system presents content-related information (such as spoken dialogue, entity information, or summaries) directly within the video player interface through affordances that appear overlaying or adjacent to the video content, eliminating the need to switch to a separate web browser or application.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary layer between the video content and the information retrieval process. This intermediary presents affordances (interactive elements) that mediate user interaction, allowing users to select information topics of interest directly from the video interface. The intermediary translates user selections into information retrieval operations without requiring users to leave the viewing environment.
2Loss of information
If existing methods present information related to video content, then information is provided, but it is not presented in a way conducive to ease of understanding or follow-up
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments information delivery into discrete, selectable affordances that correspond to specific aspects of the video content (e.g., spoken dialogue, named entities, summaries). Each affordance represents a distinct information category that users can independently select based on their interests. This segmentation allows users to access specific information types without being overwhelmed by comprehensive but undifferentiated information presentations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies local quality by positioning information-related affordances in proximity to the relevant video content they describe. For example, affordances appear at timestamps corresponding to when specific entities or dialogue occur in the video, allowing users to access contextually-relevant information at the precise moment it becomes meaningful in the viewing experience.
3Loss of information
If the system presents multiple levels of affordances and processes program information through sampling and server identification, then relevant information is accurately delivered, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by continuously sampling program information (audio, video, subtitle data) in the background and pre-processing it to identify content characteristics, entities, and topics. This preliminary processing occurs before user interaction, so when users engage with affordances, the heavy lifting of content analysis has already been completed, reducing real-time computational requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces a server intermediary that handles complex content identification and information retrieval tasks. The client device samples and sends program information to the server, which performs sophisticated content analysis, entity recognition, and information matching. This intermediary architecture distributes computational complexity from the user device to the server, maintaining information accuracy while reducing local device burden.
Data Source
AI summary
A method is performed at a server system. The server system receives from an electronic device media content information. The server matches the media content information with stored content information, and identifies a media content item based on the matching. It also identifies a genre of the media content item and one or more entities relevant to the identified media content item. The server generates one or more user-selectable elections based on the genre of the media content item. It sends to the electronic device the user-selectable elections and a plurality of affordances. Each of the affordances provides a user of the electronic device with one of the user-selectable elections corresponding to a respective entity that is relevant to the identified media content item. The server receives from the electronic device a selection of the one or more user-selectable elections, and performs an operation associated with the selection.