From U.S. Pat. No. 6,789,106, it is known a method and a structure that allows a user who has access to an audio/visual object to cause an interactive control element of an interactive multimedia system to grab and store for future retrieval and peruse the audio/visual object by simply activating a selection mechanism of the interactive multimedia system. The interactive control element of the interactive multimedia system receives a plurality of audio/visual objects for play from the content provider and causes each such object to be stored to a temporary storage element as it is played. In response to the user activating the selection mechanism of the interactive multimedia system, it is determined whether the interactive control element has completed storing an audio/visual object to the temporary storage element that the user has selected via the selection mechanism. If the interactive control element has completed storing the selected audio/visual object to the temporary storage element, the selected audio/visual object is transferred from the temporary storage element to a long-term storage element. If, however, the interactive control element has not completed storing the selected audio/visual object to the temporary storage element, it is determined whether the selected audio/visual object is currently being played. If it is not currently being played, this means that the selected object may not be available locally and the interactive control element retrieves the selected audio/visual object from the content provider (if necessary) and stores it in the long-term storage element. If the selected audio/visual object is being currently played, then the interactive control element continues to store the selected audio/visual object within the temporary storage element until the selected audio/visual object is stored in its entirety (has finished playing) and then transfers it from the temporary storage element to the long-term storage element, where it can be retrieved at some later time when desired.
From patent application no US2002/0087988, it is known an interactive TV contextual content surfing method, system and program product that enables viewers to surf from one related program to another program through hyperlinking. A TV broadcast station receives interactive TV program content generated by creators. The content is categorized by the creator and provided to the broadcast station in the MPEG or webstreaming video/audio formats. A broadcast server stores a dynamic table of correspondence between TV program categories and TV channel numbers. The hyperlinking information contains a list of channels that broadcast the same nature of programs by referencing the correspondence table. The server broadcasts the hyperlinking information to the list of channels. The broadcast network carries the TV programs and associated classification information in separate channels to the local TV station for retransmission to TV devices including set-top boxes. The set-top box stores program information by categories in classification tables, contents of a TV program guide section, and recorded programs.
From U.S. Pat. No. 6,215,483, it is known a method and apparatus for receiving logical address links in advance of a television program and combining such links with those links that may be received in real-time during a television broadcast. According to one aspect of this invention, content associated with a TV program may be automatically displayed by a client system, such as an Internet terminal or a computer equipped with a TV tuner. Prior to broadcast of a TV program, TV listing information is stored in the client system. The TV listing information includes one or more batch mode logical addresses, e.g. Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), that identify content, such as Internet content. The client system alerts the viewer of the existence of an active logical address associated with the current TV program by providing a visual indication. After the visual indication has been selected by the viewer, the client system displays the content identified by the logical address. Additionally, one or more real-time logical addresses may be received by the client system embedded in a video signal associated with the TV program. The real-time logical addresses may be embedded in either a text service channel (e.g., T1, T2, T3, T4) or a captioning service channel (e.g., CC1, CC2, CC3, CC4) of the vertical blanking interval (VBI) of the video signal. When both real-time logical addresses and batch mode logical addresses are associated with a TV program, the client system determines which to bring to the attention of the user of the client system based upon a set of predefined rules. Features of the present invention are applicable to many broadcast television (TV) systems including National Television Standards Committee (NTSC), Phase Alternate Lines (PAL), and Sequential Couleur Avec Memoire (SECAM) as well as the proposed High Definition Television (HDTV) standard.
From patent application no WO02/085024, it is known a video-processing method and system for enriching one or several primary video signals by association of additional data in a video scene encoded in accordance with the MPEG4 standard, this associating allowing simultaneous display of a primary video signal and said additional data, and enabling a user to interact with and access the contents of said additional data.
From patent application no US2005/0193425, it is known a method for delivery and presentation of information relevant to the contents of frames in an audio/video program that enables TV viewers to retrieve information on the contents (for example, objects, items, concepts and the like) contained in a frame or a set of frames (video segments) when they watch TV or video programs. The information relevant to the contents of frame(s) is delivered to a STB or DVR by third-party service providers through back channels such as the Internet if the information of how to accurately access the frames pointed by STB users are delivered to the service providers, and the content-relevant information may be presented in the form of a GUI for the TV viewer. This disclosure relates to the processing of program guide information and, more particularly, to techniques for delivering information on video segments of broadcast TV programs to STBs.