Note: Claims are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CLAIMS:
What is claimed is:
1. A method and system allowing a user of an Advanced Television/Interactive
Multimedia Platform (IMP) to identify and select a plurality of objects
contained within an Encoded Video Session (EVS). The user selected objects
can be accessed via a graphic user interface and further processed via an
Internet Access Information (IAI) hyperlink.
2. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the Advanced Television/
Interactive Multimedia Platform (IMP) comprises:
(a) a means of receiving, processing and displaying television,
Internet, and/or other multimedia communication signal(s);
(b) a means of simultaneously receiving, processing and displaying
television, Internet, and/or other multimedia communication
signal(s);
(c) a means of receiving direct user input commands;
(d) a means of displaying Command Icons (CI);
(e) a means of displaying a user controlled graphic cursor;
(f) a means of performing split screen window display; and
(g) a processor integrated with the Advanced Television/Interactive
Multimedia Platform (IMP);
3. An apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein the apparatus is a
processor integrated with the Advanced Television/IMP, and which
processor further comprises:
(a) a means of receiving, decoding, storing and processing an
Encoded Video Session (EVS);
(b) a means of identifying and separating Video Object Information
(VOI) form Un-coded Broadcast Video Data (UBVD) contained
within Encoded Video Session (EVS);
(c) a means of decoding, storing and processing VOI (Video Object
Information) contained within the Encoded Video Session
(EVS);
(d) a means of pausing the video display image upon receiving a
User Requested Interrupt (URI);
(e) a means of retrieving and processing a Video Session Frame
Identification Code (VSFIC)
(f) a means of communicating the VSFIC (Video Session Frame
Identification Code) to the storage location where the user
selected object's VOI is stored:
(g) a means of retrieving the VOI corresponding to the communicated
VSFIC (Video Session Frame Identification Code), from the
storage location where the VOI is stored;
(h) a means of displaying user selectable objects) in a hi-lighted
manner;
(i) a means of determining whether an object has been selected from
the EVS display by comparing user input command, and the
position attributed to the object as derived from the object's VOI;
(j) a means of retrieving and processing the VOI data associated with
a user selected object;
(k) a means of displaying Command Icons (CI) on the Advanced
Television/IMP display;
(l) a means of receiving, processing and interpreting direct user
input; and
(m) a means of communicating via an Internet communication
module.
4. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the Advanced
Television/Interactive Multi Media Platform (IMP) is capable of:
(a) a means of receiving, decoding, storing and processing an Encoded
Video Session (EVS);
(b) a means of identifying and separating Video Object Information
(VOI form Uncoded Broadcast Video Data (UBVD) contained
within Encoded Video Session (EVS);
(c) a means of decoding, storing and processing VOI (Video Object
Information) not contained within the Encoded Video Session
(EVS), and wherein the VOI is located at/in/on an alternate
storage medium.
(d) a means of processing the VOI data, wherein the VOI will/may
comprise
(i) Frame Object Data (FOD); and
(ii) Object Caption Data (OCD).
(iii) an Internet Access Information (IAI) hyperlink.
(e) a means of processing the FOD (Frame Object Data), wherein
the FOD comprises a hierarchy of Object Frame Location (OFL)
data elements, and wherein an OFL relates to the occurrence of a
particular object within a particular frame and said OFL further
comprises:
(i) a Video Session Frame Identification Code (VSFIC).
(ii) the USO (User Selectable Object's) object(s) x & y
Co-ordinates formatted and stored in accordance with EVS
encoding standards;
5. A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein the processor comprises:
(a) a means of temporarily pausing the video display image upon
receiving a User Requested Interrupt (URI);
(b) a means of storing Uncoded Broadcast Video Data (UBVD) for
the duration of the User Requested Interrupt (URI) session;
(c) a means of retrieving and processing a Video Session Frame
Identification Code (VSFIC)
(d) a means of communicating the VSFIC (Video Session Frame
Identification Code) to the storage location where the user
selected object's VOI (Video Object Information) is stored:
(e) a means of retrieving the VOI (Video Object Information)
corresponding to the communicated VSFIC (Video Session Frame
Identification Code), from the storage location where the VOI is
stored;
(f) a means of processing Video Session Frame Sequencing Code
(VSFSC)
whereby relating the actual video frame at which UBVD was
paused to the Frame Identification Code contained within the
VOI;
(g) a means of displaying all User Selectable Objects (USO) in a
hi-lighted manner as in diagram 1;
(h) a means of determining whether an object has been selected from
the EVS display by comparing user input command, and the
position attributed to the object as derived from the object's VOI;
(i) a means of displaying a user controlled cursor,
(j) a means of displaying a Command Icon (CI) for each USO (User
Selectable Object);
(k) a means of displaying a Graphic User Interface within a
Secondary Display Window (SDW);
(l) a means of processing user commands, wherein the user
commands may/will comprise:
(i) a User Requested Interrupt (URI);
(ii) direction and control of the position of a graphic cursor on
the video display image; and
(iii) selecting an object or an available action via an User
Command Confirmation (UCC).
(m) a means of allowing the user to cancel a previously issued URI
wherein causing the video session to resume the processing and
display of the VBD.
(n) a means of resuming the processing and display of a paused VBD
at the same video frame image at which the URI was issued;
(o) a means of processing a time-out interrupt, which time-out
interrupt occurs in absence of any user activity during a
pre-defined period of time, and wherein the processing of the time out
interrupt causes the interrupted video session to be resumed at the
same video frame image at which the URI was issued;
(p) a means of causing the VOI data to be displayed via a Graphic
User Interface (GUT) which GUI is displayed within a Secondary
Display Window (SDW), and the GUI may be of a appearance
similar to the Graphic User Interface displayed in Diagram 3.
6. The method of claim 3, claim 4 and claim 5 wherein the Advanced
Television/IMP comprises:
(a) a means of displaying television, Internet and other multimedia
communication data simultaneously on different windows of a
split screen display; and
(b) a means of displaying product caption data while the VBD is in
progress.
7. The method of claim 3, wherein the video broadcast signal contains:
(a) a UBVD (Un-coded Broadcast Video Data); and
(b) an IAI (Internet Access Information) hyperlink to the VOI (Video
Object Information).
8. The apparatus described in claim 3. claim and claim 5, wherein the
processor comprises:
(a) a means of processing television, Internet and/or other
multimedia communication data simultaneously;
(b) a means of identifying and processing an IAI Hyperlink contained
within the video broadcast signal; and
(c) a means of retrieving the VOI (Video Object Information) data
from a remote storage location
(d) a means of decoding storing and processing the VOI (Video
Object Information) data prior to/or simultaneously with the
processing of the UBVD (Uncoded Broadcast Video Data).
9. The apparatus in accordance with claim 3. claim 4 and claim 5, wherein the
processor comprises:
(a) a means of simultaneously processing television, Internet and/or
other multimedia communication data;
(b) a means of receiving and storing VOI (Video Object Information)
data prior to receiving the UBVD (Uncoded Broadcast Video
Data)
(c) a means of identifying the precise video frame image where the
URI (User Request Interrupt)
(d) a means of processing the VOI (Video Object Information )with
the processing of the UBVD (Ucoded Broadcast Video Data).
10. A method in accordance with claim 3 and claim 9, wherein the processor
is capable of:
(a) a means of retrieving and processing a Video Session Frame
Identification Code (VSFIC)
(b) a means of communicating the VSFIC (Video Session Frame
Identification Code) to the storage location where the user
selected object's VOI is stored:
(c) a means of retrieving the VOI corresponding to the communicated
VSFIC (Video Session Frame Identification Code), from the
storage location where the VOI is stored.
11. The apparatus in accordance with claim 3 claim 4 and claim 5, wherein
the processor comprises:
(a) a means of simultaneously processing television, Internet and/or
other multimedia communication data;
(b) a means of identifying the precise video frame image where the
URI was issued;
(c) a means of locating an IAI hyperlink previously stored within the
processor memory;
(d) a means of processing the IAI hyperlink to a remote storage
location where the VOI data is stored;
(e) a means of retrieving from a remote storage location the VOI data
associated with the video frame image where the URI was issued;
and
(f) a means of decoding storing and processing the VOI data prior
to/or simultaneously with the processing of the UBVD.
12. A method wherein
(a) a means of processing the URI request where the video display
image will divide into a plurality of windows, of which one
window will display the un-paused UBVD, while the secondary
display window (SDW) will communicate with the user via the
Graphic User Interface (GUI), and where the GUI further
comprises:
(i) a means of displaying User Selectable Object's (USO) in a
hi-lighted manner(Diagram 1);
(ii) a means of displaying a Product Caption Window
(Diagram 3);
(iii) a means of displaying and processing user Command
Icons (CI);and
(iv) a means of further processing via an IAI hyperlink.
13. The method of claim 1 claim 2 and claim wherein the processing of
the VOI can be delayed and stored for processing at a later time;
14. The method of Claim 12 wherein a plurality of objects may be selected,
stored and subsequently executed.
15. A method to execute a user selected IAI hyperlink and CI command pre-
stored during a previous session.
