Use of multiple embedded messages in program signal streams

US007614066B2

(12) United States Patent

(10) Patent N0.2

Urdang et a].

(45) Date of Patent:

(54)

USE OF MULTIPLE EMBEDDED MESSAGES IN PROGRAM SIGNAL STREAMS

(75)

Inventors: Erik G. Urdang, Boulder, CO (US);

5,253,066 A

_

(Commued) FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS

(73) Assignee: Time Warner Interactive Video Group IIlC., Stamford, CT (US)

Notice:

Nov. 3, 2009

10/1993 Vogel

John B. Carlucci, Boulder, CO (US)

(*)

US 7,614,066 B2

W0

WO 01/56285

8/2001

Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35

U.S.C. 154(1)) by 1021 days.

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

_

Society of Cable Telecommunication Engineers, “Digital Program

(21) Appl' NO" 10/428’676

Insertion Cueing Message for Cable,” ANSI/SCTE 35, Dec. 14,

(22) Filed:

2001'

May 1, 2003

(65)

Prior Publication Data Us 2004/0010807 A1

(

Continued

)

Primary Examinerilason P Salce (74) Attorney, Agent, or FirmiStraub & Pokotylo; Michael

Jan‘ 15’ 2004

Related US. Application Data

P' Straub; Abbas H' Zaldl

(63) Continuation-in-part of application No. 10/263,015,

(57)

ABSTRACT

?led on Oct. 2, 2002.

(60) 52832011211 application NO‘ 60/377963’ ?led on May ’

'

creating a sequence of serial programs that include a ?rst

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secon ,

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event an

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plurahty of messages 1n the sequence of ser1al programs, betWeen the ?rst event and the second event. The messages

' 725/34 725/32 725/35

may be indicative ofa time to the second event, as measured

14_ 7’25/116_ ’725/138f

from each respective message of an elapsed time since the

725/1’44_ 725;146_ 386;46_ 386/8’3_ 386/95’

?rst event, to each respective message. Alternatively or in

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event an

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A method of generating a program signal stream comprises

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addition, the messages may be at equal time intervals betWeen

Field of Classi?cation Search ................. .. 725/58,

the ?rst event and Second events The ?rst and Second events

725/32’ 34’36’ 114’ 116’ 138’ 144’ 146;

may be the start and end ofa program or a program portion,

_

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386/46’ 83’ 95

such as a chapter, an advertisement, unscheduled content or

See apphcanon ?le for Complete Search hlstory'

an entire program, for example. At least one message indica

References Cited

tive of the time' to the second 'event may be inserted in the

(56)

sequence of ser1al programs prior to the ?rst event.

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS

4,476,488 A

10/1984 Merrell

34 Claims, 13 Drawing Sheets

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US 7,614,066 B2 Page 2 U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS

5,335,277 5,357,276 5,371,551 5,377,051 5,436,917 5,479,303 5,543,927 5,550,640 5,579,183 5,606,359 5,625,406 5,659,350 5,671,386 5,687,275 5,699,360 5,727,113 5,729,648 5,748,254 5,771,335 5,805,762 5,805,763 5,822,018 5,822,493 5,850,218 5,915,068 6,005,603 6,046,760 6,052,588 6,055,358 6,065,050 6,108,002 6,115,532 6,118,922 6,172,712 6,177,931 6,233,389 6,314,572 6,324,338 6,327,275 6,351,596 6,370,319 6,378,130 6,389,218 6,442,328 6,510,554 6,515,680 6,549,718 6,721,794 6,771,317 6,853,728 6,938,268 7,024,678 B2

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2001/0021926 2002/0016970 2002/0042924 2002/0059621 2002/0075402 2002/0107940 2002/0138831 2002/0174438 2003/0048671 2003/0093800 2003/0149988 2003/0159151 2003/0172376 2004/0010807 2004/0015999 2004/0040035

A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1

8/1994 10/1994 12/1994 12/1994 7/1995 12/1995 8/1996 8/1996 11/1996 2/1997 4/1997 8/1997 9/1997 11/1997 12/1997 3/1998 3/1998 5/1998 6/1998 9/1998 9/1998 10/1998 10/1998 12/1998 6/1999 12/1999 4/2000 4/2000 4/2000 5/2000 8/2000 9/2000 9/2000 1/2001 1/2001 5/2001 11/2001 11/2001 12/2001 2/2002 4/2002 4/2002 5/2002 8/2002 1/2003 2/2003 4/2003 4/2004 8/2004 2/2005 8/2005 4/2006 9/2001 2/2002 4/2002 5/2002 6/2002 8/2002 9/2002 11/2002 3/2003 5/2003 8/2003 8/2003 9/2003 1/2004 1/2004 2/2004

2004/0078817 A1

Harvey et al.

4/2004 Horowitz et al.

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Banker et al.

Logan et al. Lane et al. Karasawa Suzuki et al. HerZ Tsuboi et al. Van Gestel et al. Youden et al.

Newberry et al. Hendricks et al. Blair et al. Lane et al. Nishida et al. Shimoda

Consumer Electronics Association, “CEA Standard, Line 21 Data Services,” CEA-608-B, Oct. 2000.

Society of Cable Telecommunication Engineers, “Digital Program Insertion Cueing Message for Cable,” SCTE/DVS 253, Sep. 27, 1999.

US. Appl. No. 10/428,900, ?led May 1, 2003, Carlucci et al. US. Appl. No. 10/428,719, ?led May 1, 2003, Carlucci et al. “PVR copyright concerns raised”, Audio Week, Aug. 23, 1999, sec tion: This Week’s News, 1999 Warren Publishing, Inc., pp. 1-3. Society of Cable Telecommunication Engineers, Inc., “Digital Pro gram Insertion Cueing Message for Cable,” SCTE/DVS 253, Sep. 27, 1999, pp. 1-26. Roy Furchgott, Don’t people want to control their T.V.’s?, The New York Times, Aug. 24, 2000, Section G, p. 1, col. 2, Circuits, 2000 The New York Times Company, pp. 1-5. Consumer Electonics Association, “CEA Standard,Line 21 Data Ser vices,” CEA-608-B, Oct. 2000, 152 total pages.

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2001, 25 pages total.

Dale Buss, “Ultra TV”, Brandmarketing, Sep. 1999, vol.VI, No. 9, p. 74, ISSN 1091-6962, Fairchild Publications, 6 pages total. Brian Lowry, “Television, as you like it; Today’s gadgetry is smart enough to let viewers choose camera angles, or kick back and rewind as the action unfolds live. Watch it, and it watches back”. Los Angeles

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ers will be a godsend for viewers. But what about the schedulers”,

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Urdang Carlucci Carlucci

Cable Regulation Monitor, Jan. 20, 2003, WLNR 7301805, Warren Publishing Inc., pp. 1-2. Amendment dated Sep. 9, 2008 from US. Appl. No. 10/428,900, ?led May 1, 2003, pp. 1-15. Amendment dated Sep. 9, 2008 from US. Appl. No. 10/428,719, ?led May 1, 2003, pp. 1-31. U.S. Appl. No. 10/428,676, ?led May 1, 2003, Erik G. Urdang.

US 7,614,066 B2 Page 3 Of?ce Action Dated Jan. 22, 2009 from US. Appl. No. 10/428,719, ?led May 1, 2003, 1-43 pages. Of?ce Action Dated Dec. 23, 2008 from US. Appl. No. 10/428,900, ?led May 1, 2003, 1-15 pages.

Of?ce Action Dated May 22, 2009 from US. Appl. No. 10/428,900, ?led May 1, 2003, 1-15 pages.

* cited by examiner

US. Patent

Nov. 3, 2009

Sheet 1 0f 13

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US 7,614,066 B2

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US. Patent

Nov. 3, 2009

Sheet 3 0f 13

US 7,614,066 B2

FIG. 2b

100

114 /

PROGRAM STREAM

j

J

TIME TO EvEMT

RIGHTS

PIC

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PROGRAM STREAM

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FIG. 3

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US. Patent

Nov. 3, 2009

Sheet 4 0f 13

US 7,614,066 B2

FIG. 4

G4 IDENTIFY EVENT

$66

BOUNDARIES

E INSERT CONTENT

670 L 3 ENCRYPT MESSAGES

SEGNENTATIoN MESSAGE $67 IN PRoGRAN STREAM I INSERT RIGHTS SEGMENTATION MESSAGE was IN PROGRAM STREAN

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US. Patent

Nov. 3, 2009

Sheet 5 0f 13

FIG. 6

/

SCAN PROGRAM STREAM INCLUDING SEGMENTATION MESSAGES I

DERIVE ENCODED INFORMATION 206 IS THERE RIGHT TO STORE PROGRAM ?

DERIVE ADDITIONAL ENCODED INFORMATION 7

SEGMENT AND STORE PROGRAM BASED ON SEGMENTATION MESSAGES PROGRAM IS AVAILABLE FOR RETRIEVAL I

COMPARE START AND END TIMES TO PROGRAM GUIDE DATA V

UPDATE PROGRAM GUIDE DATA IF NECESSARY

US 7,614,066 B2

200

US. Patent

Nov. 3, 2009

Sheet 6 6f 13

US 7,614,066 B2

FIG. 7

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US. Patent

Nov. 3, 2009

Sheet 7 0f 13

US 7,614,066 B2

FIG. 8

RECEIVE REQUEST EoR PROGRAMMING

w 302

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l RETRIEVE ASSET

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THERE RIGHT TO TRANSMIT ASSET

NOTIFY 312“ CUSTOMER

ASSEMBLE ASSET IF NECESSARY

308

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w 310

REQUESTED ASSET

FIG. 9 w 270

INTERFACE

» 272

PROCESSOR PVR

MEMORY

278 " 274

J‘ 276

US. Patent

Nov. 3, 2009

US 7,614,066 B2

Sheet 8 0f 13

FIG.

10a

/ 35D BROADCASTING A PROGRAM SIGNAL STREAM TO A TERMINAL II

IDENTIFYING AN ADVERTISING INSERTIDN POINT IN THE PROGRAM SIGNAL STREAM II

INSERTING ADVERTISING AT THE IDENTIFIED INSERTIDN POINT II

IDENTIFYING AN END OF ADVERTISING POINT IN THE PROGRAM SIGNAL STREAM I

PROVIDING THE PROGRAM SIGNAL STREAM FROM THE SET-TOP TERMINAL TO DISPLAY

w 358

US. Patent

Nov. 3, 2009

Sheet 9 0f 13

US 7,614,066 B2

FIG. 10b RECEIVE PROGRAM STREAM INCLUDING SEGMENTATION MESSAGES

[280 v“ 282

Tr

OERIVE ENCODED PROGRAM START SEGMENTATION MESSAGE

w 284

I DETERMINE PROGRAM START TIME BASED ON SEGMENTATION MESSAGE AND COMPARE TO RECORDING START TIME

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ADJUST RECORDING sum TIME IF NECESSARY

288 V“

V

START RECORDING

w 290

DERIVE ENCODED PROGRAM END TIME

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DETERMINE PROGRAM END TIME BASED ON PROGRAM END SEGMENTATION MESSAGE

w 294

AND COMPARE TO RECORDING END TIME I;

ADJUST RECORDING END TIME IF NECESSARY J‘ 296 ‘I

END RECORDING

J‘ 298

US. Patent

Nov. 3, 2009

Sheet 11 0f 13

FIG.

11b

US 7,614,066 B2

‘[420 424

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SERIAL INTERFACE ORIGINATION 405’ PROXY

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AUTOMATION SYSTEM

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US. Patent

Nov. 3, 2009

Sheet 12 0f 13

US 7,614,066 B2

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