Television Receiver Customized Video Mosaic Automatic Focus Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Television users face frustration when switching between channels during commercial breaks, as they often need to manually flip between channels to avoid commercials, leading to excessive interaction and inconvenience.
Innovation Solution
A television receiver system that presents a customized video mosaic (CVM) allowing users to simultaneously view multiple channels with automatic focus control based on user-defined rules, prioritizing non-commercial content, which shifts focus among channels without user input once a preferred channel becomes available.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If users manually switch between channels to avoid commercials, then they can select non-commercial content, but user interaction increases and viewing convenience decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically monitors multiple channels and detects commercial breaks, then autonomously switches to non-commercial content without requiring user intervention. The television receiver performs self-service by implementing automatic focus control that monitors content characteristics and executes channel switching based on predefined rules, eliminating the need for manual user operation during commercial avoidance.
Solution Approach 2:
The system pre-configures focus control rules that define preferred content characteristics and switching criteria before commercial breaks occur. By establishing these rules in advance, the system is prepared to automatically respond to commercial detections, performing the switching action proactively rather than reactively, which improves viewing convenience without increasing operational complexity.
2Reliability
If users continuously monitor and switch channels during commercials, then they can avoid unwanted content, but time is lost and frustration increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements continuous feedback monitoring of content characteristics across multiple channels, detecting commercial breaks in real-time. This feedback mechanism allows the automatic focus control to reliably identify when commercials are present and switch to non-commercial content, ensuring reliable content selection while minimizing the time users spend manually monitoring and switching channels.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical manual channel switching process with an automated electronic system that uses content analysis and automatic focus control. This substitution eliminates the time-consuming manual operation of continuously monitoring and switching channels, as the electronic system performs these functions automatically based on detected content characteristics.
3Productivity
If multiple channels are monitored simultaneously, then non-commercial content can be found faster, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the monitoring task by assigning specific monitoring responsibilities to different tuners, with each tuner dedicated to monitoring a particular channel. This segmentation allows multiple channels to be monitored simultaneously through parallel processing, improving content search efficiency while managing system complexity through modular architecture where each tuner operates independently under coordinated control.
Solution Approach 2:
The automatic focus control system serves multiple functions: it monitors content characteristics, detects commercial breaks, determines focus priority, and executes channel switching. By consolidating these multiple functions into a single integrated system, the patent achieves improved content search efficiency without proportionally increasing overall system complexity, as the same control logic handles all these tasks.
Data Source
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AI summary
A television receiver (150) may be configured to receive, from a user of the television receiver, a set of viewing rules that define a focus preference of the user. The television receiver (150) may output, to a presentation device (160), a video mosaic (400) comprising a plurality of pieces of content presented as a plurality of tiles. Each piece of content may be linked with a corresponding audio stream from a plurality of audio streams. The television receiver (150) may select a piece of content for focus from the plurality of pieces of content based on the set of viewing rules defined by the user. The television receiver (150) may output only an audio stream linked with the piece of content being focused on from among the plurality of audio streams.