Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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ENHANCED VCR TAPES
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Use of video cassette tapes with vertical blanking lines for containing
information such
as program indexing information is known in the prior art, as is disclosed in
U.S. application Ser.
No. 08/429,740 (attorney docket number I148/25337), incorporated herein by
reference. The
program indexing information is used to jump to a particular program recorded
on the tape.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The system and method of the present invention are described for storing
information
relating to the material contained in the video storage medium, retrieving the
Vertical Blanking
Information ("VBI") information from the video storage medium via the video
storage device and
displaying the VBI information on a video display system as part of the
interactive television
system. In addition, the interactive television system can add an additional
menu item or a button
when sufficient information is downloaded from the video storage device. The
information
relating to the material includes articles about performers, advertisements,
trivia information, or
web links. The video storage medium includes a VCR tape or a DVD. The video
storage device
includes a VCR or a DVD player. The video display system includes a computer
monitor or
television. The interactive television system includes an Electronic
Programming Guide.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for creating and reading enhanced VCR
cassette
tapes according to one embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 2 is a graphical representation of one embodiment of an EPG display for
usage with
enhanced VCR tapes.
FIG. 3 is a graphical representation of one embodiment of an EPG display
depicting a
Video option of the EPG display.
FIG. 4 is a graphical representation of one embodiment of the EPG display upon
selection
of an ARTICLES entry from the menu described in FIG. 3.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The idea of inserting Vertical Blanking Information ("VBI") data onto a video
cassette
tape is extended in the present system and method for enhanced VCR cassette
tapes. In general
terms, the system and method according to the present invention is directed to
storing into VBI
portions of the tape, information related to a movie or other material
recorded on the tape. For
instance, if the tape contains a movie, the VBI data might include news and
magazine articles
about the actors, trivia information about the making of the movie, headline
ads advertising other
movies, web links to resources related to the movie and the like. Such
enhanced VCR tapes may
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1 be rented or bought from video rental and sales places such as Blockbuster
or Hollywood Video.
A user may rent or purchase an enhanced VCR tape and view the information
stored in
the VBI portion of the tape, by using a VCR player and a television unit
configured by an
electronic program guide ("EPG"). Labels on the VCR may alert the user that
additional
information about the movie being rented or bought may be accessible through
the television
unit's EPG.
Information stored in the VBI portion of the tape is downloaded to the EPG
database as
the user plays the tape and watches the recorded movie. After sufficient
information has been
downloaded, the system causes an extra button or menu option to appear on the
EPG. The extra
button or menu option gives access to the downloaded information.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for creating and reading enhanced VCR
cassette
tapes according to one embodiment of the invention. The VCR tape 10 is a
conventional video
cassette having a magnetic tape packaged in a cartridge or cassette housing.
The VCR tape 10
can be an 8mm tape used in some camcorders, a BETA format tape, or a VHS
format tape, all
of which use the same general tape layout. The tape 10 comprises a write head
12 and a read
head 14 for writing and reading audio/video signals and VBI data to and from
the tape 10.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the tape 10 is divided into
three areas. A
narrow strip running along the upper edge of the tape 10 is an audio track
which contains audio
signals. A second narrow strip running along the bottom edge of the tape 10 is
a control track
which contains control signals. The middle area is for video signals which are
recorded in pairs
of parallel fields going up and down the width of the tape 10 at a slight
angle. A tape
manufacturer, information broadcasting system, or tape rental company, uses a
VBI encoder 16
to encode the VBI data that is to be inserted into the tape 10. A
microcontroller 18 interfacing
with the VBI encoder 16 accesses the write head 12 of the tape and inserts the
data in the VBI
portions of the video track or in the control track. A time stamp may also be
inserted at the
beginning of the VBI data.
The VBI information is encoded as downloadable packets. According to one
embodiment
of the invention, these packets include a General Article Service (GAS)
Definition packet, Text
Object packets, and Article packets. Advertisement packets may be optionally
inserted into the
tape.
All of the packets include a packet header including a packet ID number, the
number of
bytes in the packet, and the number of blocks in the packet. The GAS packet
includes the packet
header and one or more of the packet-specific envelopes. One of such envelopes
is a service
envelope that defines the service to be rendered as a video service. The
service envelope includes
the video Service ID, and further defines several parameters for the service
including the service
name, priority code, number of articles, number of categories, and channel ID
of the data source.
A Text Object packet includes a packet header, a descriptor envelope and one
or more
content envelopes. The descriptor envelope matches a Text ID to the text
included in the content
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1 envelope(s). The text might be the text in a magazine article, web site
links, and the like.
The Article packet includes the packet header and one or more packet-specific
envelopes.
One such envelope is an article envelope which defines the service. The
article envelope matches
an Article ID with a Service ID in the GAS packet. The Article ID is also
matched to a list of
Text IDs in the Text Object packets. Thus, the appropriate text packets may be
downloaded for
a particular service, in this case, the video service.
The encoded packets become available as the user plays the enhanced tape in a
VCR
player 19 interfaced with a television unit 24 configured with an EPG. The VCR
player 19
includes a VBI decoder 20, which decodes and extracts the VBI data from the
VCR tape 10. The
VBI decoder 20 is interfaced with the VCR microcontroller 22. The VCR
microcontroller 22
transmits the decoded data to a microcontroller 26 resident in the TV unit.
When the television microcontroller 26 receives a GAS definition packet for
the first time,
it proceeds to define a new video service, and awaits for the Text Object and
Article packets.
When those are received, they are stored in the EPG database 28. The
television microcontroller
26 also causes a VIDEO option to appear on the guide.
At the end of the movie, or as soon as the necessary information packets have
been
received, a viewer may enter the EPG to get more information about the movie
on the tape 10.
The video service remains on the EPG for a specific amount of time, determined
by the data and
time enclosed on the tape 10 at the beginning of the VBI data. If the viewer
plays another tape
with encoded VBI data within this timeframe, the television microcontroller 26
does not cause
a new VIDEO option to appear on the guide. Rather, information about the new
program is
accessible via the previously installed VIDEO option. After a specified amount
of time, the
television microcontroller 26 deletes the VIDEO option on the guide and the
associated
information in the EPG database 28.
FIG. 2 is a graphical representation of one embodiment of an EPG display for
usage with
the enhanced VCR tapes. The disclosure of U.S. Patent Application No.
09/120488 (attorney
docket No. 32714/LTR/E190) is incorporated herein by reference. In the
embodiment illustrated
in FIG. 2, the real-time video of the currently-tuned television program is
displayed in a Picture-
In-Picture Window 30. Panel Ad Windows 32 and 34 display commercial
advertisements.
Contextually sensitive action buttons 36 and 38, are located at the top of the
display. The text
next to each button defines the function of each button, and may change based
on the context of
the operation of the EPG.
An information box 40 allows display of more detailed information regarding a
selected
item on the EPG. A navigation bar 42 allows a user to view different types of
information and
3 5 interact with the EPG. A grid guide portion 44 includes a plurality of
program tiles with program
scheduling information. The grid guide 44 might also comprise advertisement
tiles including
advertisement information.
The viewer uses an IR remote control unit with up, down, right, and left arrow
buttons to
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1 select items on the EPG display. The viewer uses the arrow buttons to
maneuver a cursor on the
display screen, and presses a select button when the cursor is on the item
that the viewer wants
to choose. An input-response module in the television unit 24 responds to the
position of the
pointer and the particular display currently displayed to generate a
responsive display or take a
particular action. In another embodiment the viewer uses function buttons on
the remote control
unit to make a selection. In yet another embodiment, the viewer uses a user
input device such
as a mouse, track ball, touch pad, or the like, to move the cursor about the
display screen.
As a user views a recorded video program containing encoded VBI data, a
textual message
might be overlaid on top of the program being viewed, notifying the viewer
that such data is
available from the EPG. The viewer might, at this point, be asked to make a
selection with the
input device to download the data to the EPG database 28. Upon such selection,
the data is
downloaded throughout the viewing ofthe recorded program. Alternatively, the
download occurs
automatically without specific instructions from the user. The download is
seamless and does
not interrupt the viewing of the recorded program.
A user accesses the downloaded VBI data by selecting a VIDEO option of the EPG
display. The VIDEO option may appear on the navigational bar 42 of the EPG.
Alternatively,
the VIDEO option may appear as a contextuallly sensitive action button.
FIG. 3 is a graphical representation of an EPG display depicting a VIDEO
option 46 on
a navigational bar 48. The user accesses the downloaded information by using
the input unit and
selecting the VIDEO option 46. According to the embodiment of FIG. 3, the PIP
window 50,
allows the user to continue viewing the video program while the EPG is
displayed.
Panel ad windows 52 and 54 might be used to display advertising information of
other
movies, programs, or shows available for rental. In this case, further
information on the
advertised movies is displayed on the information box 56 upon selection of an
informational icon
in the panel ad windows 52 and 54.
The EPG further displays a menu 58 of downloadable information for user
access. Such
information might include magazine and newspaper articles on the actors in the
recorded movie,
trivia information, and web site links to products, resources, and information
on the Internet
related to the recorded movie.
FIG. 4 is a graphical representation of the EPG display upon selection of an
ARTICLES
entry from the menu 58 in FIG. 3. If multiple levels of information are
available for a selected
item, only a portion of the information is initially displayed in the
Information Box 56. In one
embodiment, the user requests additional information by clicking the track
ball, touchpad or
otherwise indicating a selection through the user's input device. In yet
another embodiment, an
"i" icon at the end of the displayed information allows the user to view
additional pages of
information if desired by moving the cursor to the "i" icon and selecting the
"i" icon.
Although this invention has been described in certain specific embodiments,
those skilled
in the art will have no difficulty devising variations which in no way depart
from the scope and
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spirit of the present invention. For instance, instead of recording VBI data
onto VCR tapes, the
data may be recorded on DVD, CD-ROM, or other mass video storage devices,
without departing
from the heart and scope of the present invention.
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