Television Receiver Embedding Metadata for Enhanced Content Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
The US TV broadcast industry faces challenges in delivering enhanced television components to viewers, as approximately 85% of viewers receive signals from MVPDs, which often strip off components other than linear television, preventing broadcasters from reaching a large audience with advanced content.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that embeds base programming identification metadata in video streams using steganographic or watermarking techniques, allowing television receivers to extract and combine enhancement data with video streams, enabling the delivery of enhanced content directly to TVs, even when received through MVPDs, using ATSC Mobile streams and latency adjustment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If MVPDs strip off components other than linear television from the broadcast signal, then the linear television service is maintained, but enhanced television components cannot be delivered to viewers
Solution Approach 1:
The broadcast signal is segmented into multiple independent components: linear television content and enhanced television components. Each component can be independently processed and delivered. The linear TV signal is delivered through traditional MVPD infrastructure, while enhanced components are embedded within the video stream itself, allowing them to bypass MVPD filtering and reach viewers directly.
Solution Approach 2:
Enhanced television components are nested within the linear television video stream. The enhancement data is embedded as metadata or watermarks within the existing video signal structure, allowing it to travel through the same transmission path without requiring separate infrastructure or MVPD cooperation for delivery.
2Ease of operation
If Set-Top Boxes are used for reception and decoding of DTV signals, then signal decoding is enabled, but the TV is used only as a viewing device and cannot receive enhanced content directly
Solution Approach 1:
The television set itself becomes an intermediary device that performs both viewing and enhanced content reception functions. By embedding identification metadata directly in the video stream, the TV can automatically extract and process enhancement data without requiring an external STB to mediate the connection between the broadcaster and the display device.
Solution Approach 2:
The television set is transformed from a single-function viewing device into a multi-functional device capable of both displaying linear television content and receiving/processing enhanced television components. The TV's existing video processing capabilities are leveraged to also handle the embedded enhancement metadata, eliminating the need for separate STB functionality.
3Loss of information
If enhanced components are delivered as discrete elements in the multiplex, then enhanced content can be transmitted, but functionality is required at the receiver to extract, reassemble and act accordingly
Solution Approach 1:
The enhanced television components are merged with the linear television video stream rather than being delivered as separate discrete elements. By embedding the enhancement data within the video stream itself using steganographic or watermarking techniques, the receiver only needs to process a single integrated signal, significantly reducing the complexity of extraction and reassembly operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The enhancement data is embedded as a copy or representation within the video stream using metadata or watermarking techniques. This allows the TV to extract and process enhancement information without requiring complex reassembly operations, as the data is already in a usable format embedded within the existing signal structure.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is an enhanced television system and method including a television receiver in communication with a broadcast reception tuner. The television receiver is configured to receive and display video data from a video stream and enhancement data from the reception tuner. The video stream includes embedded base programming identification metadata, and the television receiver is further configured to extract a base identification tag from the embedded base programming identification metadata, and combine enhancement data received from the reception tuner associated with the base identification tag with the video stream. The video stream may then be displayed.