Abstract:
A media ticker system for overlaying side channel information on a video display, including a portable media player for presenting a content media file on a video display, and for overlaying ticker display data on the video display with the content media file being presented, a ticker manager connected to the media player for receiving as input at least one attribute of the content media file being presented by the media player, and for producing as output informative data relevant to the content media file, and a ticker generator communicatively coupled with the ticker manager and with the media player, for receiving as input the informative data relevant to the content media file produced by the ticker manager, and for producing as output the ticker display data for overlay on the video display with the content media file being played. A method is also described and claimed.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The field of the present invention is digital media presentation. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Many common consumer electronic devices, including inter alia computers, cell phones, portable media players, game stations, digital cameras and camcorders, present multi-media content to users on video displays. Content presented on video displays may be stored locally on the player as content media files, or streamed on-line over a broadcast channel or as a point-to-point Internet connection. 
         [0003]    Some multi-media content providers bundle their media content together with side channel information that is presented in the form of a rolling ticker. Such side channel information may be a channel enhancement that enhances the multi-media viewing experience, and may provide directed advertising to the viewer. For example rolling ticker information is often used to display stock price and index information during financial news broadcasts, and to display artist information during broadcast of an artist&#39;s video clip. 
         [0004]    Side channel information may be packaged directly with the broadcast video, as is done with analog TV broadcast, or may be integrated as a separate digital stream bundled together with the digital video and audio streams, as is done with digital TV broadcast. Side channel information may be presented as-is, or may include references to URL connections that are accessed over separate communication channels. 
         [0005]    Generally, bundling of media content with side channel information is prescribed by a content provider, and the overlay of the side channel information with the video content may be performed by the player. 
         [0006]    It would thus be useful to provide a flexible architecture for generating, managing and displaying side channel ticker display data, that allows for a diversity of source and merge points. 
       SUMMARY OF THE DESCRIPTION 
       [0007]    The present invention provides an architecture for on-the-fly generation, management and overlay of side channel ticker data. As a user interactively selects media for video presentation on a media player, informative data relevant to the media being played is searched, collected, filtered and transformed into a rolling ticker display that is overlaid on the video presentation. For example, when a user plays a music video, a rolling ticker overlaid on the music video may display artist information and other music videos by the same artist; and when a user plays a movie, a rolling ticker overlaid on the movie may display lead actor information and other movies that have the same lead actors. Additionally, the rolling ticker may include selection points, which may be activated by the user to enable transactions such as purchasing media and purchasing tickets to a performance. 
         [0008]    The present invention provides a ticker manager that generates and transmits ticker information to the media player. The ticker manager architecture is flexible, and encompasses many different networked embodiments. 
         [0009]    The media file being played may reside locally in the player&#39;s memory, or in another device&#39;s memory, or may be arriving via streaming from an Internet content server. Search and collection of informative data from content being played by the player may be performed by the ticker manager, or by a dedicated ticker server that identifies content based on attributes thereof. Ticker information is formatted according to display characteristics of the player&#39;s video display. 
         [0010]    In a more general embodiment of the present invention, the nature of the ticker information may be user driven. I.e., instead of providing information related to the content being player by the player, the ticker information may instead be related to a different topic. E.g., a user may wish to have sports information or financial information delivered as ticker data, while he is watching an action movie. 
         [0011]    It will thus be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the present invention provides an end-to-end system for dynamically authoring, publishing, generating and overlaying ticker display information with content being presented on a video display. 
         [0012]    Although ticker displays themselves are not new, the present invention, in distinction to the prior art, uses a ticker manager that collects relevant information, organizes the information based on the available screen, and displays the information. 
         [0013]    There is thus provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a media ticker system for overlaying side channel information on a video display, including a portable media player for presenting a content media file on a video display, and for overlaying ticker display data on the video display with the content media file being presented, a ticker manager connected to the media player for receiving as input at least one attribute of the content media file being presented by the media player, and for producing as output informative data relevant to the content media file, and a ticker generator communicatively coupled with the ticker manager and with the media player, for receiving as input the informative data relevant to the content media file produced by the ticker manager, and for producing as output the ticker display data for overlay on the video display with the content media file being played. 
         [0014]    There is moreover provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a media ticker system for overlaying side channel information on a video display, including a portable media player for presenting a movie on a video display, a ticker manager connected to the media player for receiving as input at least one attribute of the movie being presented by the media player, and for producing as output informative data relevant to the movie, and a ticker generator communicatively coupled with the ticker manager and with the media player, for receiving as input from the media player a frame of the movie, and for receiving as input from the ticker manager the informative data relevant to the movie, and for producing as output for the media player a composite frame with ticker display data overlaying the frame of the movie, wherein the ticker display data includes the informative data relevant to the content media file. 
         [0015]    There is additionally provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a method for overlaying side channel information on a video display in the form of a ticker display, including presenting a content media file on a video display, receiving at least one attribute of the content media file being presented, determining informative data relevant to the content media file, based on the at least one attribute of the content media file, transforming the informative data relevant to the content media file to ticker display data, and overlaying the ticker display data on the video display. 
         [0016]    There is further provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a method for overlaying data on a video display in the form of a ticker display, including providing a content media file, receiving a selection of a topic from a user, determining informative data relevant to the selected topic, transforming the informative data relevant to the selected topic to ticker display data, and overlaying the ticker display data on a video display. 
         [0017]    There is yet further provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a method for overlaying data on a video display in the form of a ticker display, including providing a movie, receiving a selection of a topic from a user, determining informative data relevant to the selected topic, transforming the informative data relevant to the selected topic to ticker display data, and compositing the ticker display data with at least one frame of the movie, for rendering on a video display. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0018]    The present invention will be more fully understood and appreciated from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the drawings in which: 
           [0019]      FIG. 1  is an illustration of ticker data overlaid on a movie frame, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0020]      FIG. 2  is a simplified block diagram of a system for generating ticker display overlays, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0021]      FIG. 3  is a simplified flowchart of a method for generating ticker display overlays using a ticker manager, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0022]      FIG. 4  is a simplified flowchart of a method for generating ticker display overlays using a server computer, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0023]      FIG. 5  is a simplified block diagram of an alternative system for generating ticker display overlays using a ticker manager, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and 
           [0024]      FIG. 6  is a simplified flow chart of method for generating ticker display overlays with ticker data for a user-selected topic, using a ticker manager, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0025]    Aspects of the present invention relate to methods and systems for generating side channel rolling ticker display information for media content, and for overlaying the ticker display information on the media content while the content is being presented on a video display. In this regard, reference is now made to  FIG. 1 , which is an illustration of ticker data  110  overlaid on a movie frame  120 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Ticker data  110  includes the title, director and actors of the movie, with links to information about the director, about the actors, and about the movie&#39;s plot. 
         [0026]    Reference is now made to  FIG. 2 , which is a simplified block diagram of a system for generating ticker display overlays, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Shown in  FIG. 2  is a multi-media player  210 , which captures and presents multi-media content, such as movie  120 . Multi-media player  210  is connected to a ticker manager  220  that generates side channel information for overlay on the multi-media content presented by player  210 . The side channel information is overlaid in the form of a running ticker, such as ticker data  110 . 
         [0027]    The connection between multi-media player  210  and ticker manager  220  is generally a physical communication connection. 
         [0028]    Multi-media player  210  includes a keypad  211 , a video display  212  and a memory  213 . Multi-media player  210  also includes a communication channel  215  that connects player  210  to a content server  230 . 
         [0029]    Ticker manager  220  includes a memory  223 . In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, memory  223  is exposed to media-player  210  as a mass storage device, via a USB interface, or an SD interface, or such other interface that enables media-player  210  to access ticker manager memory  223 . 
         [0030]    Ticker manager  220  includes a communication channel  225  that connects ticker manager  220  to a ticker server computer  240 . Ticker manager  220  also includes a ticker generator  226 , which generates ticker display information for overlap on content presented on display  212 . Ticker display information may be formatted as simple bitmap data that is overlaid on display  212 , or as higher level description data such as XML or HTTP data, which is processed by player  210  prior to being overlaid on display  212 . 
         [0031]    Content server  230  stores content files in a memory  233 , and transmits content files to media player  210  for storage in memory  213 . Content  230  also streams content files to player  210  for direct presentation on display  212 , without saving the content as a file. 
         [0032]    Server computer  240  may be an Internet server, or a dedicated ticker server. 
         [0033]    Multi-media content presented by multi-media player  210  may reside locally in memory  213 , or remotely in memory  223 . I.e., memory  223  may serve as a storage device for multi-media player  210 , as described hereinabove. In the former case, where content resides locally on player  210 , memory  223  is optional. Conversely, in the latter case, where memory  223  serves as a storage device for player  210 , memory  213  is optional. 
         [0034]    In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, ticker manager  220  is aware of the specific multi-media content being captured or played on player  210 . Specifically, for multi-media content that is stored locally on memory  213 , player  210  sends a notification to ticker manager  220  when a user chooses to play a specific media file on player  210 . Such notification includes meta-data for the specific content. For multi-media content that is stored remotely on memory  223 , ticker manager  220  is aware that a specific media file in memory  223  is being accessed by player  210 . 
         [0035]    Meta-data for multi-media content is used to identify the content and its source. Meta-data for music content, for example, generally includes an artist name, a track title, an album title, a genre, a release year and a track number. Meta-data  214  may be stored locally on player  210  in memory  213 . Meta-data  224  may also or alternatively be stored remotely on ticker manager  220  in memory  223 . Meta-data  234  for downloaded content files and for media that is streamed from content server  230  is stored in memory  233 . 
         [0036]    If meta-data is not available for specific multi-media content, then services are available for determining meta-data from attributes of the content, such as a file name and a file length. Alternatively, the content may be played to a dedicated content identification server, and the server identifies the content and provides its meta-data. Content identification servers are well-known. The Tunatic™ software available at http://www.wildbits.com/tunatic/ is able to analyze a song being played on a computer, via a microphone or via a desktop, and provides artist name and track title. MusicBrainz™ provides a music metadata database at http://musicbrainz.org. 411Song™ is a “name that tune” service provided by NMK, Inc. of New York, N.Y., available at http://www.411song.com/, which listens to a song for approximately 15 seconds and derives the artist name. 
         [0037]    In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, ticker manager  220  performs content identification, or alternatively ticker server  240  provides such a content identification service, or both. Ticker manager  220  performs a web search for content informative data and retrieves the data, and ticker generator  226  filters the data and re-formats the data for overlay on content presented on display  212 . Alternatively, ticker manager  220  passes information about the content being presented on player  210 , along with display characteristic information for display  212 , to ticker server  240 . In such case, ticker server  240  retrieves the content informative data, and returns to ticker manager  220  ticker-ready data for overlay on content presented on display  212 . 
         [0038]    For example, a user selects a specific movie to play on a portable movie player  210 . The movie is stored locally as a file in memory  213 . Player  210  accesses the movie file, and begins playing the movie. Player  210  also sends a notification to ticker manager  220 , including the movie title and other meta-data from the movie file header. In turn, ticker manager  220  performs a web search for the movie title and retrieves information about lead actors. Ticker manager  220  then searches for other movies that the lead actors starred in. Ticker generator  226  processes the information and formats the information into a rolling ticker with actors&#39; names and movie information, such as ticker data  110 . 
         [0039]    Ticker generator  226  formats ticker display information as bitmap image data that overlay parts of display screen  212 . Alternatively, ticker generator  226  formats ticker display information in a higher level description format, such as XML or HTTP, which is processed by player  210  prior to being overlaid on display screen  212 . 
         [0040]    In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, ticker display information includes selection points, in the form of hyper-links and controls, for player  210  to present to a viewer. For example, a selection point may enable a purchase, with text such as “Press the blue button for purchasing tickets.” Selection point text may be transferred as part of the image. Key presses by keypad  211  on display  212  are transmitted to ticker manager  220 . In response, ticker generator  226  generates updated display information for player  210 , or alternatively ticker manager  220  triggers an exchange over communication channel  225 , such as purchase of a ticker over the Internet. 
         [0041]    In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, selection point data may be transferred using an XML schema, or HTTP, with specified user interaction elements. 
         [0042]    Reference is now made to  FIG. 3 , which is a simplified flowchart of a method for generating ticker display overlays using a ticker manager, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. At step  300  a user plays a media file on a multi-media player, such as player  210  of  FIG. 2 . At step  310  a determination is made whether the media file being played is stored locally on player  210 , or stored on ticker manager  220 . If the file is stored locally on player  210 , then at step  320  player  210  sends meta-data for the file to the ticker manager. The method then advances to step  350 . Referring back to step  310 , if the media file being played is not stored locally on player  210 , then the file resides on the ticker manager, and meta-data for the file is available to the ticker manager, as indicated at steps  330  and  340 . 
         [0043]    At step  360  the ticker manager collects relevant informative data for the media file over an Internet communication channel. At step  380  the ticker manager organizes the relevant informative data for overlay on the media presented by the player, according to the player&#39;s display characteristics. Finally, at step  390  the ticker data is overlaid on the media presented by the player. 
         [0044]    Reference is now made to  FIG. 4 , which is a simplified flowchart of a method for generating ticker display overlays using a server computer, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The steps shown in  FIG. 4  are analogous to their respective counterpart steps in  FIG. 3 . However, at step  450  the ticker manager sends meta-data for the media file to an Internet server, such as server  240  of  FIG. 2 . At step  460  the Internet server collects and prepares the relevant informative data for the media file. At step  470  the Internet server sends the relevant informative data to the ticker manager. 
         [0045]    At steps  380  and  390  of  FIG. 3 , and at steps  480  and  490  of  FIG. 4 , it was assumed that multi-media player  210  receives ticker display data  110  from ticker manager  220 , and composites movie frame  120  and overlaid ticker data  110 . In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, ticker manager  220  composites movie frame  120  and overlaid ticker data  110 ; i.e., ticker manager  220  prepares the full display image for multi-media player  210 , including both the movie frame and the overlaid ticker data, and multi-media player  210  simply displays the composited movie frame. 
         [0046]    In the regard, reference is now made to  FIG. 5 , which is a simplified block diagram of an alternative system for generating ticker display overlays using a ticker manager, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0047]    In this alternate embodiment, multi-media player  210  includes video-out, audio-out, audio-in and video-in jacks  510 ,  520 ,  530  and  540 , respectively. Ticker manager  220  includes video-out, audio-out, audio-in and video-in jacks  550 ,  560 ,  570  and  580 , respectively. Multi-media player  210  sends original video and audio signals to ticker manager  220  via the multi-media player&#39;s video-out and audio-out jacks, respectively. The original video signal includes uncomposited movie frames. Ticker manager  220  includes a video compositor  590 , which processes the original video signal by compositing the ticker display data therewith. Ticker manager  220  sends the composited video signal and the original audio signal back to player  210 . In turn, player  210  plays the original audio and composited video signals to the user. 
         [0048]    Sending the original audio signal back and forth between player  210  and ticker manager  220  is performed in order that the audio be in sync with the video. The original audio signal is unchanged. It is synchronized and sent back to player  210  after a small time delay; namely, the time for video compositor  590  to process the video signal. 
         [0049]    In a more general embodiment, the present invention may be used to provide ticker data for a user-specified topic, instead of ticker data related to content being displayed by player  210 . E.g., a user may desire to have a sports ticker or a financial ticker data displayed on player  210 , while he is watching an unrelated action movie. 
         [0050]    In this regard, reference is now made to  FIG. 6 , which is a simplified flow chart of method for generating ticker display overlays with ticker data for a user-selected topic, using a ticker manager, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. At step  605  a determination is made whether ticker data is to be generated corresponding to the content being played on a multi-media player, or is instead to be generated based on a user selected topic. 
         [0051]    If the ticker data is to correspond to the content being played, then at step  610  a user plays a multi-media file on the multi-media player. At step  615  a determination is made whether or not the media file is being played from the player&#39;s local storage. 
         [0052]    If so, then at step  620  the player sends meta-data for the media file to the ticker manager. At step  635  the ticker manager collects appropriate ticker data over an Internet communication channel. At step  640  a determination is made whether the ticker manager is responsible for rendering a full screen display for the player, or only responsible for generating the ticker display itself. 
         [0053]    If the ticker manager is responsible for the full screen display, then at step  645  the ticker manager renders a full screen that includes both the screen for the content being player on the player and the overlaid ticker display. The ticker manager then transmits the full screen generated at step  645  to the player for display, and at step  650  the multi-media player displays the full screen received from the ticker manager. 
         [0054]    If it is determined at step  640  that the ticker manager is only responsible for generating the ticker display itself, then at step  655  the ticker manager transforms the ticker data according to the display characteristics of the player. The ticker manager transmits the ticker display to the player, and at step  660  the multi-media player overlays the ticker display on the content being played. 
         [0055]    If it is determined at step  615  that the media file being played by the player is not from the player&#39;s local storage, then at step  625  ticker manager concludes that the file is being played from the ticker manager&#39;s memory, and at step  630  the meta-data for the media file is available to the ticker manager. Processing then proceeds to step  635  as above. 
         [0056]    Finally, if it is determined at step  605  that the ticker data should be generated based on a user selected topic, then at step  610  the user selects a topic for which ticker data should be displayed. Processing then proceeds to step  635  as above. 
         [0057]    In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made to the specific exemplary embodiments without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.