JP2003517791A - Channel Forwarding Between Television in Home - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: A method and apparatus for providing peer-to-peer communication between televisions, wherein content identification information is transmitted from one arbitrary television (transmitting TV) to any other television. (Receiver TV). The content identification information is information for identifying the content currently being viewed on the television on the transmitting side, and includes a sample of the content currently being viewed. In operation, each television is first identified with respect to the other televisions. Identification includes determining whether a given TV conveys content identification from each transmitting TV. In some cases, the receiving TV may be programmed only to carry a particular type of content identification from the transmitting TV. Television identification is performed by the television or by an intermediary separate from each television. The television receives a reception acceptance status that identifies which content identification information is to be communicated from a given sender TV. The television may receive a reception compliance status from a user of the television. Television allows a given user to initially program or reprogram content identification information that may be communicated from a given sender TV by requesting identification information, such as a password, from the user. Decide if it is. When the user does not have an appropriate password, the television does not allow a given transmitting TV to program and / or reprogram the content identification information that can be transmitted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to methods and apparatus for sharing audiovisual content. The invention relates in particular to a method and a device for connecting two or more televisions together for sharing identification information about the audiovisual content being watched.

As network connections, such as those using the Local Area Network (LAN) protocol, have become standardized, making it easier for consumers to set up and use network connections, more and more network connections are available to the consumer's environment. Will appear. At the present time, there are many standards competing for acceptance in consumer network connections. These network protocols include HAVI (Ho
me Audio Video Interoperability), HAPI (Home Application Progr)
amming Interface), IEEE 1394 serial bus interface (registered trademark firewire, registered trademark (I-LINK), etc.), Home Phoneline
Network Alliance (Home PNA), Bluetooth, Cable Network Protocol System, and other methods of other proprietary Wired and Wireless Protocol Systems are included. Much of the current focus in network connectivity is on in-home networks. Manufacturers are now improving all their home appliances, from toasters to heating and cooling systems, to connect to in-home networks. Many of these systems are designed with master / slave drivability in mind. For example, many systems include the ability for a master controller, such as a television (TV), to recognize and control slave devices, such as a video cassette recorder (VCR). In this model, the master sends command and control information to the slave, and the slave follows the command and sends status information back to the master. In a similar system,
The master controller may be separate from the TV. In these systems, the TV functions as a display for the master controller and may also function as a command input for the master controller.

Another example of such a system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 10248020A to Hiyoshi (“Hiyoshi”). In Hiyoshi, two TVs are connected together in a master / slave configuration, allowing the parent on the master TV to monitor what the child is watching on the slave TV. In operation, the master TV receives the image data being viewed on the slave TV and displays that data in the corner portion of the master TV display. However, this setting does not enhance the experience of watching programs that are desired in a "communicating (connected)" home, or encourage the experience of the community. Moreover, since the received signal is always available on the master TV, it does not reflect the child's wishes on the slave TV in the parent's illegal attention to any particular viewing content.

In another prior art system shown in Remillard US Pat. No. 5,490,208, a TV-to-TV connection over a telephone line is utilized to facilitate a videoconferencing-like interaction. Each TV in the system is equipped with a device with speakerphone functionality, which may call another TV with a similar device.
After starting in voice mode, the user may switch to a data mode in which image data may be exchanged. The system can be switched between these modes. However, this system proposes to add features to the TV that are not related to the main viewing features of the TV.

In a typical home, there are TVs in two or more separate rooms within the home. In many cases, the first household member, when watching TV in the first room, indicates to the second household member in the second room the content that the first household member is watching. May want to.
The husband wants to tell his wife in another room to switch to an interesting current show. However, the methods currently available for communicating this information from one party to the other are the communicating party telling the other party to come up and switch channels, or the communicating party. The parties are screaming between the rooms to the other party.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for sharing content identification information within a TV watching community.

The apparatus of the present invention provides peer-to-peer communication between televisions, with any television sending the content identification information currently being viewed by any other television. The content identification information may include a sample of the currently viewed content, may include a request to switch to the currently viewed content, and / or may be of a primary or secondary (eg, picture-in-picture) display. It may include control information for switching one of them to the content or the like currently being viewed. Therefore, terms such as content identification information as used herein should be understood to include all or any part of the above. Further, it should be understood that terms such as content identification information may include current channel tuning information, current channel audio information, and other known types of information conveyed regarding the content currently being viewed. .

In operation, each television is first identified to each other. The identification information may include information whether each given television is programmed to convey content identification information from other televisions. The television receiving the content identification information (receiving TV) may be programmed to convey all content identification information from the television transmitting the content identification information (transmitting TV). Alternatively, the receiving TV may be programmed to carry no content identification information from the sending TV, or to carry only certain types of content identification information. Either the television or an intermediary separate from each television may provide the identification.

In some embodiments, the receiving television may be programmed or reprogrammed only by authorized users. In these embodiments, the receiving side T
V first determines whether the user is authorized to program or reprogram the receiving television to be able to convey the content identification information. This is determined by the television requesting the identification information from the user. The user identification information may include a password. If the user does not have the proper password, the receiving television will not allow the user to program or reprogram the content identification information, which may be conveyed by a given other television.

The description of the embodiments of the present invention sets forth the above features and advantages as well as additional features and advantages when considered in conjunction with the following figures. It should be understood that the drawings are included for illustrative purposes and do not represent the scope of the invention.

[0011]   The present invention will be best understood with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a peer-to-peer television system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the televisions (TV) 10A, ..., 10N are interconnected via a bidirectional connection 20. Connection 20 may be any system that interconnects devices capable of supporting bidirectional communication, including Internet connections, local area networks (LANs), in-home networks, and the like. In this embodiment, each of the TVs 10A, ..., 10N includes a processor 30 that operates according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention, in which the processors 30A, ..., 30N are separate from the TVs 10A ,. 2 and 3, the processor 30 operates similarly.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing, together with FIGS. 1 and 2, a specific operation according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in step 40, during operation, the TV 10A, ...,
Some time after the 10Ns are interconnected, registration systems, interrogation systems, intermediary systems, etc. may be utilized to identify these TVs 10A, ..., 10N to other TVs. During the identification process, each TV 10A
, 10N are provided to at least one intermediary device 35 and each processor 30. Furthermore, at least one intermediary 35 and each processor 30 may be provided with information regarding the transmission capabilities on the connection 20. For example,
Any current connection system is sufficient for transmitting control information and some content identification information. However, as will be explained in more detail below, higher transmission capabilities may be required to support the transmission of samples of the content currently being viewed. Furthermore, there is at least one information about whether a given receiving TV may convey content identification information from a given sending TV, at this time or in the future, as will be explained in more detail below. It may be provided to one intermediary device 35 and each processor 30.

At step 50, after some time has elapsed after at least two of the TVs 10A, ..., 10N have been identified with respect to each other, the users of one identified TV (sending TV) are different. The processor 30 of the transmitting TV may be requested to transmit the content identification information to the processor of the identified TV (reception side TV). This can be through the use of remote control 15, direct input to the sender TV, or sender T
It can be realized through other known methods of inputting control information into V.

The transmission may include the sending TV's current channel tuning information as well as other content identification information of the content currently being viewed. As an example, the content identification information is
It may include audio, video, and / or text message input from the sending TV user. The audio, video, and / or text message may be related to the content currently being viewed on the sending TV, or other related information. The content identification information may also be audio, video, and / or text messages directly from the sending TV, such as audio, video, and / or text messages associated with the sending TV's current channel and content name. Good. This information is readily available to the TV's processor 20 operating according to each TV 10A, ..., 10N, and / or, for example, the ATSC (Advanced Television System Committee) standard and other analog and digital systems and standards. This information is also readily available to the sending TV's processor 20, which has access to electronic program guide (EPG) data.

Further, if connection 20 can support, the transmission may include a sample of the current content from the sending TV. The sample of content may include a single frame or multiple frames of the content currently being viewed, depending on the capabilities of the connection 20 and the intent of the sending TV user. The single or multiple frames may be transmitted utilizing any known system for transmitting similar types of data, such as transmission according to MPEG.

In step 60, the receiving TV processor 30 causes the sending TV to accept the reception (
compliance) Determine status. Receiving acceptance status is given by the sending TV
Indicate to the user of the receiving TV whether the receiving TV is programmed to convey the content identification information. If the receive-acceptance status indicates that the receiver-TV is programmed to convey content identification information from a given sender-TV, the receive-acceptance status indicates which particular type of content-identification information is conveyed. May be shown.

Often, the receiving TV user does not want the receiving TV to convey some or all of the content identification information from a given other sending TV. For example, if the user of the receiving TV wants to be uninterrupted by the sending TV belonging to an unknown party. After the time has elapsed, if the user of the receiving TV determines that the user of the sending TV is a known party, the user of the receiving TV reprograms the reception acceptance status to convey the content identification information. You may want. Accordingly, the receive-acceptance status may be provided and freely programmed and / or reprogrammed by the user of the receiving TV, and may only be programmed and / or reprogrammed after the user of the receiving TV complies with the security restrictions. Good.

In some embodiments, the receiving TV user may be required to comply with security restrictions, such as entering a password, before being able to program and / or reprogram the receive acceptance status. . In this way, parties that do not have the correct password, such as television service technicians, can be prevented from programming and / or reprogramming the receive acceptance status of the receiving TV. The receiving acceptance status of the receiving TV may default to transmitting the content identification information from each TV 10A, ..., 10N, or each TV 10A ,.
It may be default not to transmit the content identification information from 10N. In other embodiments, the receiving TV may request user input to determine the receive acceptance status for each identified TV 10A, ..., 10N combination.

In other embodiments, the acceptance status may be programmed and / or reprogrammed to convey certain types of content identification information. For example, the receive acceptance status may be programmed and / or reprogrammed to allow the receiving TV to convey channel tuning information from the sending TV. However, at the same time, the receive-acceptance status may be programmed and / or reprogrammed so that the receiving TV does not convey (eg, act on) control information that causes the receiving TV to configure the channel of the sending TV. When the reception acceptance status is set so as not to convey the content identification information sent from a given sender TV or not convey all information, the processor 30 of the receiver TV makes possible content identification for the sender TV. Information indications may be sent. In another embodiment, the receiving TV
Processor 30 simply communicates (eg, displays) any content identification information that may have been received from the sending TV.

In step 70, the receiving TV processor 30 responds to the content identification information when the receive acceptance status is set to convey some content identification information from the sending TV. For example, if the content identification information contains a sample of the content that the sending TV is currently watching, and the receive-acceptance status is set to convey the sample, then the receiving TV properly delivers the sample of content. Content samples may include video frames, multiple video frames, audio content, and other content samples including combinations of the content samples. When the content sample includes a video content sample and the acceptance status is programmed to convey the video content sample, the video content sample is either a primary or secondary (
For example, it may be displayed on a picture-in-picture display. If the content identification contains a sample of multiple frames of the currently viewed content, and the connection 20 supports this, the processor 30 of the sending TV may
Samples of additional frames may be sampled while beginning to send samples of frames to the receiving TV.

The content identification information may include a control signal to switch the receiving TV to the content that the transmitting TV is currently watching. The sending TV determines the type of content identification information sent to the receiving TV. However, as mentioned above, the receiving TV determines the receive acceptance status for a given transmitting TV. For example,
The sending TV may send content identification information requesting the receiving TV to change the primary display to the content channel that the sending TV is currently watching. However, the acceptance status is picture
Content identification information (control information) to set in-picture display
May be set to receive. In this case, the acceptance status may be set to control the picture-in-picture display, such as to display channel tuning information, but not to allow control of the primary display. .

Since the TVs 10A ... 10N are operated in the peer-to-peer mode, the sending TV
Any receiving TV capable of delivering the content identification information from delivers the content identification information. Thus, a community watching TVs 10A, ..., 10N is provided by the system according to the invention.

Finally, the above description merely illustrates the present invention. One of ordinary skill in the art will be able to contemplate numerous alternative embodiments within the scope of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims. For example, in step 60 above, the processor 30 of the receiving TV is described as determining the receive acceptance status of the transmitting TV, but it should be apparent that intermediary 35 may perform this function. Indeed, in other embodiments, the intermediary 35 may be responsible for other or all parts of the system by the processor 30. In these examples, processor 30 and TV 1
0A, ..., 10N merely present a user interface to the user to set the acceptance status and send content identification information.

Further, the connection 20 may represent a connection leaving the house (eg, an internet connection) as described above. Therefore, the device according to the present invention can be applied to anyone else's TV (eg, anyone on the Internet) connected to the connection 20 as long as the receiving acceptance status of the receiving TV is not violated. A function of “forwarding” the content identification information may be provided. In this way, relatives and other people can send content identification information to the receiving TV.
With permission (eg, with properly programmed acceptance status), the service provider etc. may send the content identification information as an advertisement for the currently available content. To allow content identification information to be communicated from a given sender, the user may be paid to the party sending the content identification information instead of setting the acceptance status.

Furthermore, since the intermediary device 35 may be connected to the connection 20 that goes out of the house,
The intermediary device 35 may be outside the house. In this way, the intermediary device 35 may belong to the website. The TVs 10A, ..., 10N may be provided with unique TV identification numbers for the purpose of communicating with the website. The website may operate to provide a chat-like community for TV users. In this way
TV users in the community may suggest what to watch to other users in the community. Users may be interested in joining a community, such as a chat, to know what other users are currently watching. Other combinations of systems may be utilized as appropriate without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims of the present invention.

In understanding the claims appended hereto, a) terms such as “comprising” do not exclude other elements or steps not listed in a given claim. , B) elements are shown in the singular, but not excluding the presence of a plurality of the same elements, c) all reference signs in the claims do not limit the scope of the claims, and , D) It is understood that some “means” may be represented by the same item or structure or function implemented in hardware or software.

[Brief description of drawings]

[Figure 1]   FIG. 1 illustrates a peer-to-peer TV system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a peer-to-peer TV system according to an alternative embodiment of the present invention.

[Figure 3]   7 is a flowchart of a process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 5C025 DA08 DA10                 5C063 AB05 DA07 [Continued summary] Given by requiring identification information such as a password Identification information that may be transmitted from the sender TV of To be programmed or reprogrammed by a given user Decide whether or not is possible. User has appropriate password When the television has no Program and / or content identification information that can be transmitted Does not allow reprogramming.

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A television having a connection and a processor, wherein the connection is configured to be operatively connected to a connection of another television, the processor providing content to the other television. A television configured to provide identification information and configured to control transmission of the content identification information when the content identification information is transmitted from the other television. 2. A communication system having a plurality of televisions connected to each other, wherein each television of the plurality of televisions has content identification information with respect to other televisions of the plurality of televisions. And a communication system configured to control transmission of the content identification information from the other television. 3. The television of each of the plurality of televisions is configured to receive receive acceptance status information that identifies the receive acceptance status of another television of the plurality of televisions. The communication system described. 4. The communication of claim 3, wherein each television is configured to receive identification information from the user before the user can program and / or reprogram the reception acceptance status information. system. 5. Each television of the plurality of televisions transmits, from the other televisions, any content identification information that does not violate the reception acceptance status of the other television of the plurality of televisions. The communication system of claim 3, configured to: 6. A method of providing communication between a plurality of televisions, comprising: a. Transmitting content identification information from any television of the plurality of televisions to any other television of the plurality of televisions; b. Controlling the transmission of the content identification information in any of the other televisions. 7. The method of claim 6 including the step of identifying each of said televisions with respect to other televisions of said plurality of televisions prior to said step a. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the identifying step identifies receive acceptance status between the televisions. 9. The method of claim 7, wherein the identifying step is performed by an intermediary separate from each television. 10. Prior to performing step b, the reception acceptance status of said any one of said plurality of televisions transmitting said content identification information is identified, said content identification information being said reception acceptance status. The method according to claim 6, wherein the content identification information is not transmitted when the status is violated. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the receive acceptance status of the any television of the plurality of televisions is received from a user of any other television of the plurality of televisions. . 12. The receiving acceptance status is not programmed if requesting user identification information and programming inquiry acceptance status violates the access rights of the user before receiving the receiving acceptance status. 11. The method according to 11. 13. The method of claim 10, wherein the content identification information includes control information for changing a display of any other television of the plurality of televisions. 14. The method of claim 10, wherein the content identification information includes channel tuning information indicating a currently-watched channel of any one of the plurality of televisions.