KR20010103011A - In-house TV to TV channel forwarding - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing peer-to-peer communication between televisions whose content identification information is sent from one television (transmission TV) to another. The content identification information is information for identifying a content currently viewed on a transmission television that includes a sample of the content currently being viewed. In operation, each television is first identified with another television. The identification information includes determining whether a given receiving TV can convey content identification information from each transmitting TV. In some examples, the receiving TV may be programmed to convey some type of content identification information from the transmitting TV. The identification of the television may be performed by a mediator or television that is separate from each television. The television receives a reception request status that identifies what the content identification information has delivered from a given transmitting TV. The television may receive a reception request status from a user of the televisions. The televisions first determine whether the user can program or reprogram the content identification information that can be delivered from the transmitting TV given by the request identification information from the user, such as a password. If the user does not have an appropriate password, the television does not allow programming or reprogramming of content identification information from a given transmitting TV.

Description

In-house TV to TV channel forwarding}

As network connections, such as those using local area network (LAN) protocols, are standardized and the setup and use of network connections is being simplified for the average consumer, more network connections will appear in the consumer environment. Currently, there are a number of competing standards for acceptance of consumer network connections. These network protocols include home audio-video interoperability (HAVI), home application programming interface (HAPI), IEEE1394 serial bus interface (firewire ^TM , I-LINK ^TM, etc.), Home Phoneline Networking Alliance (PNA), Bluetooth ^TM , cable network protocol. Systems, and other wired and wireless protocol systems in other ways. Network connections that are currently the focus of much attention are on indoor networks. Manufacturers are now retrofitting various types of household appliances from toasters to heating and cooling systems for access to indoor networks. Most of these systems are designed with master / slave operability in mind. For example, many systems are designed to have the capability that a master controller such as a television (TV) can recognize and control a slave device such as a video cassette recorder (VCR). In this model, the assertion sends command and control information to the slave device and the slave device sends status information back to the master device in compliance with the commands. In a similar system, the master controller can be separated from the TV. In these systems, the TV functions as a display for the master controller and may function as a command input for the master controller.

Another example of such a system is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-248020A (hereinafter referred to as "Hiyoshi") by Hiyoshi. In Hiyoshi's literature, the two TVs are linked together in a master / slave configuration for the purpose of allowing parents watching the main TV to monitor what their children are watching on the slave TV. In operation, the main TV receives image data being viewed on the slave TV and displays the data on the corner of the main TV display. However, this setup does nothing to enhance the viewing experience and does not enhance the community that 'connected' families may want. In addition, the received signal is always available on the master TV, so it does not reflect children's needs on the slab TV to prohibit parents' attention to any particular viewing content.

In another prior art system disclosed in US Pat. No. 5490208 by Remillard, a TV-to-TV connection over a telephone line is used to facilitate an interaction such as a teleconference. Each TV in the system has a device capable of initiating a call to another TV having speakerphone capability and having a similar device. After initiation of the audio mode, users may switch to a data mode in which image data may be exchanged. The system may switch back and forth between the modes. However, the system is not intended to be about the basic entertainment functions of a TV, but to add the functionality of a TV.

In general furniture, a TV is arranged in two or more separate rooms in a household. The first family member may watch TV in the first room and may suddenly have an interest in what the second family member is watching in the second room. The husband may deliver the present interesting program to his wife in another room. However, the only currently available ways to allow both parties to decide what the other party is watching are: the interested party gets up from their seats, tells them to move, turns the channel, or the party talks to the other party. It's about to get tired.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for assigning content identification information in a television viewing communication.

The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for sharing audio visual content. In particular, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for connecting two or more televisions together to share identification information regarding the viewed audio visual content.

1 illustrates a peer-to-peer TV system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

2 shows a peer-to-peer TV system according to an alternative embodiment of the invention.

3 is a flow diagram illustrating a process according to one embodiment of the present invention.

The apparatus according to the present invention is to provide peer-to-peer communication between televisions where current viewing content identification information is sent from one television to another. The content identification information may comprise a sample of the currently viewed content and may display a viewing switch request for the currently viewed content and / or display a first or second (eg, picture-in-picture) display of the currently viewed content. And control information for switching to the same. Accordingly, the term content identification information, as used herein, includes some or all of the above contents. The term content identification information may also include other types of content identification information including current channel turning information, current channel audio information, and other known types of information that may be delivered in the currently viewed content.

In operation, each television is first identified with a different respective television. The identification information may include information as to whether or not programming each given television is programmed to deliver content identification information from the other respective televisions to the user. The television received content identification information (receive TV) can be programmed to convey all the content identification information from the television transmission content identification information (transmission TV). In addition, the receiving TV may be programmed not to transmit content identification information or other types of content identification information from the transmitting TV. A mediator or televisions separated from each of the televisions may perform identification of each of the televisions.

In some embodiments, receiving televisions can be programmed and reprogrammed only by authorized users. In these embodiments, the receiving televisions first determine whether to allow the user to program or reprogram the receiving television for delivery of content identification information. Can be determined by the received television request identification information from the user. The user identification information may include a password. If the user does not have an appropriate password, the receiving television may prevent the user from programming or reprogramming content identification information that may be delivered to a given other television.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention showing the above features, advantages, and the like will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that the drawings are for illustrative purposes only and do not represent the scope of the invention.

The invention is best understood in connection with the accompanying drawings.

1 illustrates a P2P television system according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the televisions (TVs) 10A, ..., 10N are interconnected via a bidirectional connection 20. The connection 20 may be any system for interconnect devices capable of supporting two-way communication including an Internet connection, a LAN, an indoor network, and the like. In the present embodiment, each of the TVs 10A, ..., 10N includes a processor 30 operating according to the present invention. 2 shows another embodiment of the invention in which the processors 30A, ..., 30N are independent of the TVs 10A, ..., 10N. In any of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the processors 30 operate similarly.

3 is a flow diagram illustrating certain operations in conjunction with FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In operation, after a predetermined time period when the TVs 10A, ..., 10N are interconnected, any of the registration system, the inquiry system, the mediation system, etc. may be replaced with each other as shown in step 40. It may be used to identify the TVs 10A, ..., 10N to the TV. During the identification process, each of the at least one mediator 35 and the processors 30 is provided with identification information for each of the TVs 10A, ..., 10N. In addition, each of the at least one mediator 35 and the processors 30 may be provided with information regarding the transmission performance of the connection 20. For example, any of the existing existing access systems are sufficient for the transmission of query information and content identification information. However, higher transmission performance may be required to support the transmission of samples of the currently viewed content, as described in more detail below. In addition, at present or in the future, information as to whether or not a given TV will share content identification information with a given another TV, as described in more detail below, may include at least one mediator 35 and each, respectively. May be provided to the processors 30 of the.

In step 50, sometimes, after at least two of the TVs 10A, ..., 10N have been mutually identified, the user of one identified TV (transmission TV) is identified by the processor 30 of the transmitting TV. The processor 30 of the received TV (receive TV) may be requested to transmit the content identifying the information. This can be accomplished through the user of the remote control 15 or through direct input on the transmission TV or through other known methods of inputting control information to the transmission TV.

The transmission may include current channel tuning information of the transmitting TV, as well as other content identification information of the content currently being viewed. For example, the content identification information may also include audio, video, and / or text messages input from the user of the transmitting TV. The audio, video, and / or text message may relate to the content currently being viewed on the transmitting TV, or may be other related information. The content identification information may also be direct audio, video, and / or text messages from the transmitting TV, such as audio, video, and / or text messages related to the current channel and content name of the transmitting TV. This information may be, for example, TVs 10A,..., 10N, respectively, and / or TV, operating in accordance with the Advanced Television System Committee (ATSC) standards, as well as other analog and digital systems and standards. It is easily applied to the processor 20 of the. This information may also be easily applied to the processor 20 of the transmitting TV, where the transmitting TV has access to electronic program guide (EPG) data.

Also, if the connection 20 can support it, the transmission may include a current content sample from the transmitting TV. The content sample may include single or multiple frames of the content currently being viewed depending on the user's intention of the transmitting TV and the capabilities of the connection 20. The single or multiple frames may be transmitted utilizing any known system for transmitting similar data types, such as MPEG compliant transmission.

In step 60, the processor 30 of the receiving TV determines the reveiving compliance status of the transmitting TV. The reception compliance state is an indication of whether the receiving TV is programmed to deliver content identification information of a given transmitting TV to a user of the receiving TV. If the reception compliance state indicates that the receiving TV is programmed to deliver content identification information from a given transmission TV, the reception compliance state may also indicate that certain forms of content identification information may be delivered.

There are many cases where the receiving TV user does not want the receiving TV to convey some or all of the content identification information from a given other transmitting TVs. For example, if the receiving TV user can choose not to be interrupted by a transmitting TV belonging to an unknown party, the receiving TV user is determined that the user of the transmitting TV is a known party. If so, it may wish to reprogram the receive compliance state to convey content identification information. Thus, the reception compliance state can be provided by the receiving TV user and can also be programmed and / or freely reprogrammed, or can only be reprogrammed after the programming and / or receiving TV user has been subject to security restrictions. Can be.

In some embodiments, the user of the receiving TV may be required to comply with security restrictions, such as entering a password, before allowing programming and / or reprogramming of the receive compliance state. In this way, a party without an appropriate password, such as a television service technician, may be disconnected from programming and / or reprogramming the reception compliance state of the receiving TV. The reception compliance state of the receiving TV may fail to deliver content identification information from each of the TVs 10A, ..., 10N, or may not carry content identification information from each of the TVs 10A, ..., 10N. You can do so by default. In another embodiment, the receiving TV may request user input to determine a reception compliance state for each combination of identified TVs 10A, ..., 10N.

In still other embodiments, the receive compliance state may be programmed and / or reprogrammed to convey certain forms of content identification information. For example, the receive compliance state can be programmed and / or reprogrammed so that the receiving TV can carry channel-tuning information from the transmitting TV. At the same time, however, the receive compliance state may be programmed and / or reprogrammed such that the receiving TV does not convey control information (eg, act on) to set the receiving TV on the channel of the transmitting TV. When the reception compliance state is set to not transmit or transmit all the transmitted content identification information from a given transmission TV, the processor 30 of the receiving TV may transmit to the TV transmitting the indication of allowed content identification information. . In another embodiment, the processor 30 of the receiving TV may simply convey (eg display) allowed content identification information received from the transmitting TV.

In step 70, when the reception compliance state is set to deliver predetermined content identification information from the transmission TV, the processor 30 of the reception TV responds to the content identification information. For example, if the content identification information includes samples of the currently viewed content of the transmitting TV and the reception compliance state is set to deliver the samples, the receiving TV will appropriately deliver the content samples. The content samples may include a video frame, a plurality of video frames, audio content and other content samples, and a combination of the above-described content samples. When the content sample comprises a video content sample and the reception compliance state is programmed to deliver the video content sample, the video content sample may be displayed on the first or second (eg, picture-in-picture) display. If the content identification information includes a number of frames of the content currently being viewed and the connection 20 can support it, the processor 30 of the transmitting TV may begin transmitting frame samples to the receiving TV while sampling more frame samples. Can be.

The content identification information may include a control signal for exchanging the received TV with the currently viewed content of the transmitting TV. The transmitting TV determines the type of content identification information transmitted to the receiving TV. However, as described above, the receiving TV determines the reception compliance state for a given transmitting TV. For example, the transmitting TV may transmit content identification information requesting that the receiving TV exchange the first display for the currently viewed content channel of the transmitting TV. However, the reception compliance state can be set to accept content identification information (control information) to set the in-picture display, not the first display. In this case, the reception compliance state can be set to control the in-picture display without allowing control of the first display to display channel tuning information or the like.

It should be noted that since the TVs 10A,..., 10N capable of carrying content identification information from the transmitting TV operate in a peer-to-peer mode, the content identification information will be delivered. Thus, a TV showing sharing of the TVs 10A, ..., 10N is provided by the system according to the invention.

Finally, the foregoing is only intended as an example of the invention. Those skilled in the art may devise various alternative embodiments that fall within the scope of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims. For example, in step 60 above, although it is mentioned that processor 30 of the queried TV determines the question compliance state of the queried TV, it is clear that mediator 35 does not perform this step. It can also be done. Indeed, in other embodiments, the mediator 35 may be used for other portions of the systems described above or all of the systems described above that contribute to the processor 30. In these embodiments, processor 30 and TVs 10A, ..., 10N may simply provide a user interface to a user to set a question compliance state and initiate a question.

The connection 20 may also represent an outdoor connection (eg, an internet connection) as described above. Apparently, the apparatus according to the present invention provides the content identification information to the other person's TV to the particular person connected to the connection 20 (eg, the person connected to the Internet) as long as the reception compliance state of the receiving TV is not violated. It may also provide the ability to "transmit". In this way, the parties and others may send content identification information to the receiving TV. In the case of permission (eg, a properly programmed receive compliance state), the service provider or others may send content identification information as an advertisement for currently available content. Users may be charged by the party transmitting the content identification information instead of the user setting a reception compliance state that allows content identification information to be delivered from a given sender.

In addition, since the mediator 35 may be connected to the outdoor connection 20, the mediator 35 may obviously be an outdoor external device. In this way, the mediator 35 may exist at the website. The TVs 10A, ..., 10N may be provided with a unique TV identification number for the purpose of communicating with the website. The website may be operable to provide an interactive community to TV users. In this way, TV users may suggest watching TV to others in the community. Users may be interested in participating in an interactive community so that other users know what they are currently watching. Other combinations of systems may also be used stably without departing from the spirit and scope of the following claims.

In interpreting the claims, the following should be understood.

a) The term "comprising" does not exclude the presence of elements or steps other than those listed in a given claim.

b) The singular expression of the term does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements.

c) Reference signs in the claims do not limit the scope of the claims.

d) Multiple "means" may be represented by the same item or hardware or software implementation structure or function.

Claims (14)

In television, A connection 20 configured to be operatively connected to a connection of another television 10, And a processor (30) configured to provide content identification information to the other television (10) and to control delivery of content identification information when content identification information is transmitted from the other television (10). A communication system comprising a plurality of televisions 10 interconnected together, The televisions 10 are configured to provide content identification information to other televisions of the plurality of televisions 10 and to transmit content identification information from the other televisions of the plurality of televisions 10. And to control. The method of claim 2, And each of the plurality of televisions (10) is configured to receive reception compliance state information identifying a reception compliance state of each of the other of the plurality of televisions (10). The method of claim 3, wherein Wherein each of the plurality of televisions (10) is configured to receive identification information from the user before the user is able to perform at least one of programming and reprogramming the reception compliance state information. The method of claim 3, wherein Each of the plurality of televisions (10) is configured to convey any content identification information from other televisions that do not violate the reception compliance state of each of the plurality of televisions (10). A method of providing communication between a plurality of televisions, the method comprising: a) transmitting content identification information from any one of the plurality of televisions 10 to any other one of the plurality of televisions 10; b) controlling the transfer of the content identification information on any other of the plurality of televisions (10). The method of claim 6, Identifying each of the plurality of televisions (10) for each other of the plurality of televisions (10) prior to performing step a). The method of claim 7, wherein The identifying step includes identifying a reception compliance state between each of the plurality of televisions (10). The method of claim 7, wherein Wherein said identifying step is performed by a mediator (35) independent of each of said plurality of televisions (10). The method of claim 6, Identify the reception compliance state of any of the plurality of televisions 10 that have transmitted the content identification information before executing step b), and if the content identification information violates the reception compliance state, the content. And not passing the identification information. The method of claim 10, Receiving the question compliance state of the any of the plurality of televisions (10) from a user of the any of the plurality of televisions (10). The method of claim 11, Requesting user identification information prior to receiving the receive compliance state and not programming the receive compliance state if programming of the question compliance state violates the access rights of the user. The method of claim 10, The content identification information includes control information for changing a display of the any other of the plurality of televisions (10). The method of claim 10, The content identification information includes channel tuning information indicating a currently viewed channel of any of the plurality of televisions (10).