Patent No. 5953046 Television system with multiple video presentations on a single channel
Patent No. 5953046
Television system with multiple video presentations on a single channel (Pocock, Sep 14, 1999)
Abstract
A system for providing, in a television system, the combination, transmission, and reception of multiple video presentations over a single channel of a television distribution system. Presentations may be concurrently broadcast for viewing by many users, as well as interactively requested for display by many (potentially one thousand or more) individual users. A presentation consists of a sequence of images which reproduce a motion or still image video presentation for the user when displayed. The signal is transmitted in a standard television format, and consists of a sequence of video images from the various presentations being transmitted. A user terminal receiving the transmitted signal is selectably operable to display one of the multiple transmitted presentations with accompanying audio. The terminal identifies the video images on an associated television receiver. The number of concurrent presentations, and the degree of motion in the presentations are variable. User requested Interactive instructions between a user at the terminal end and the presentation system are transmitted by an associated telephone line or other communications link. A selected group of continuously transmitted interactive information can also be accessed without the use of a communications link.
Notes:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is generally directed to a television system which is
capable of concurrently distributing multiple video presentations having different
video information content over a single television channel for receipt by different
respective viewers. For example, a television system in accordance with the
present invention can distribute a broadcast video presentation as well as a
plurality of interactive presentations from a central presentation system, to
respective viewers with associated television set and terminal, by means of
a single television channel.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
An interactive still frame television distribution system is disclosed, for
example, in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,764 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,303. Such systems
are particularly suited for interactive video services such as home shopping,
financial transactions, education and the like. Generally speaking, in this
type of system a viewer sends an indication to a central location describing
a video presentation which he desires to receive, e.g. houses being offered
for sale by a real estate service. Video frames which show the available houses
are individually retrieved from a suitable video presentation which enables
it to be retrieved from a suitable video storage medium, and each frame is labelled
with an identification code which enables it to be retrieved by the viewer who
desires to see it. Other viewers can independently request other presentations
available on the system. All of the frames selected by the various viewers are
multiplexed onto a transmission medium, such as the trunk cable of a cable television
system, and transmitted at the standard television frame rate, e.g. 30 frames
per second under the NTSC standard, over a channel associated with the video
presentation service. Frame stores are positioned at various locations along
the length of the transmission medium, and each is provided with a match code,
for example an address. When a video frame is labelled with the match code of
a particular frame store, that frame store identifies the frame, stores it in
a memory, and then continually retransmits the stored frame at the standard
television frame rate to the viewer's television receiver. The continually transmitted
frame appears as a still frame on the viewers's television receiver. When the
next frame in the presentation is required, this frame is retrieved, labelled
with the appropriate code, and transmitted to the frame store for display in
the same manner. This process is repeated for all the frames in the still-frame
presentation.
A sequence of frames may be sent for each still-frame presentation. If still
frames are delivered at sufficient rate, the presentation takes on the appearance
of reduced motion rather than distinct still frames. For example, if frames
are sent at a rate of 6 per second, 5 concurrent user presentations are possible
over a single television channel (having 30 frames per second capacity) with
reduced motion. Additional processing within the frame store unit can interpolate
several images to display additional images, with the object of producing the
appearance of smoother motion.
With the increasing acceptance of the value of interactive television services,
there is a clear benefit to the industry to provide an efficient transmission
medium for these services. The interactive television systems as disclosed in
the U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,764 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,303 require a dedicated
television channel to offer interactive services. The high cost of dedicating
a television channel solely to an interactive service is viable only for the
largest of such services. The present invention enables interactive services
to begin with a small amount of channel capacity at a fraction of the channel
costs.
Additionally, many television telecasters such as cable, direct broadcast satellite
(DBS) and wireless cable companies have reached the limit of their channel capacity
and are unable to meet the demand of the proliferation of new programming sources.
The result is that interactive service providers are unable to acquire the "full"
channel required to offer their services. The present invention enables the
sharing of channel capacity enabling an interactive medium for broadcasters
and information providers. Furthermore, it is highly desirable to include interactive
capabilities with many of these broadcast services. As an example, a Public
Broadcast Service (PBS) educational video broadcast could simultaneously support
a plurality of viewer requested interactive video presentations for example
testing and additional information on a particular subject reviewed in the broadcast.
Combining these applications onto one channel would save the cost of an additional
channel while providing the benefits of interactivity.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a television
system which expands the program capacity of each channel of the television
system by distributing at least two distinct presentations concurrently on a
single channel. It is a further object of the present invention to address the
above-mentioned needs by providing a television system which is capable of distributing
multiple interactive and broadcast video presentations, to different respective
viewers by means of a single television channel, including the combination of
full motion, reduced motion and still-frame video presentations. It is a further
object of the present invention that the combination of presentations be dynamically
variable so that the system can respond to changing presentation requests over
time.
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The
presently disclosed embodiments are therefore considered in all respects to
be illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is indicated
by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description, and all modifications
that come within the meaning and range of equivalence thereof are intended to
be embraced therein.
Comments