Set-Top Box Guide Video Stream for Content Discovery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users unfamiliar with local television channel lineups, such as foreign guests in hotels, face difficulties in finding desired content due to language barriers and unfamiliarity with channel names and content types, making it time-consuming to locate specific programs or events.
Innovation Solution
A media system comprising a computer server and set-top box that generates a guide video stream displaying multiple original video streams simultaneously, allowing users to select and play full-screen playback through an interactive interface, with optional picture-in-picture preview functionality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If traditional EPG/IPG menus are used, then channel information is provided, but users unfamiliar with local channels cannot quickly find desired content
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a guide video stream that copies and displays scaled-down versions of actual channel content rather than using traditional text-based EPG menus. This allows users to visually identify desired content by seeing what is actually playing on each channel, eliminating the time-consuming process of reading channel names and descriptions in an unfamiliar language or region.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from two-dimensional text-based EPG interfaces to a multi-dimensional visual presentation where multiple channel video streams are displayed simultaneously in a grid layout. This dimensional change allows users to compare multiple channels at once and quickly identify desired content through visual recognition rather than sequential text reading.
2Loss of information
If multiple video streams are displayed simultaneously, then content visibility is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the display area into multiple zones, each showing a scaled-down video stream from a different channel. This segmentation allows multiple channels to be displayed simultaneously in an organized grid format, making content visible across all channels while maintaining system manageability through modular processing of individual video streams.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a nested structure where multiple scaled-down video streams are contained within the guide video stream, which itself is displayed within the television screen. This nesting approach allows hierarchical organization of multiple video channels within a unified interface, managing complexity through layered presentation.
3Ease of operation
If guide video stream is generated, then navigation is simplified, but processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary processing by generating the guide video stream in advance, pre-scaling and organizing multiple channel video streams into a navigable grid format. This preliminary action reduces the processing burden during user interaction, as the system only needs to handle simple navigation and full-screen transitions rather than complex real-time video processing.
Data Source
AI summary
A set-top box receives original video streams and generates a guide video stream that includes each of the original video streams resized and arranged as a plurality of scaled video streams such that all of the scaled video streams are simultaneously visible and playing on the guide video stream. The guide video stream is displayed on a display device and the set-top box provides an interactive user interface on the display device in conjunction with the guide video stream to allow a user of the set-top box to select one of the scaled video streams for full screen playback. In response to the user selecting a particular scaled video stream on the guide video stream for full screen playback, the set-top box plays full screen on the display device a particular original video stream corresponding to the particular scaled video stream as received via the communication interface.