Abstract:
A TV system with improved video switching capabilities is described. The system has: a TV set with at least one high-definition digital video and control input, a first content-providing unit connected to a network for providing high-definition video contents to the TV set, a second content-providing unit connected to a network for providing alternative high-definition video contents to the TV set, a video switching unit having inputs connected to outputs of the first and second content-providing units, a communicating user terminal provided with a user interface, a first network communications channel between said user terminal and said switching unit, and a second network communications channel between and external server and said switching unit, wherein said video switching can be performed remotely either by action of said user terminal, or by a switching command received from said server. Associated TV environment, server and terminal are also described.

Description:
FIELD 
       [0001]    This disclosure refers to consumer television systems and more particularly to the switching of the available video streams to the television set. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Many TV viewers find traditional advertisements annoying. Thus, more and more viewers use the web on their smartphones or on their tablets (second display functionality) while keeping their television on, in particular during the TV ads. It is observed that 70% of the viewers visit their social networks on a second device (smartphone, tablet) during a commercial break. 
         [0003]    Solutions have been proposed to allow the viewers to avoid the commercial breaks. 
         [0004]    In the closest state of the art, the TIVO Box® contains a conventional hard-disk digital video recorder. It receives a video signal that is processed by an algorithm adapted to detect advertisements. In this way, this video signal can be fragmented taking into account the commercial breaks, released from these breaks and stored on the hard disk. This technique thus enables the user to have access to commercial-free content, but with a time-delayed broadcasting. 
         [0005]    The algorithms for advertisement detection have been the subject of many researches among which Bo Zhang, Jiancheng Zou, Bo Xu “Context-dependent audio-visual and temporal features fusion for TV commercial detection”, Circuits and Systems (ISCAS), 2013 IEEE International Symposium; A.Albiol, M.J.Ch, F.A.Albiol and L.Torres, Detection of TV commercials, Proc. of ICASSP, 2004; D. Sadlier, et al, “Automatic TV Advertisement Detection from MPEG Bitstream,” Intl Conf on Enterprise Information Systems, Setubal, Portugal, 7-10 Jul. 2001. 
         [0006]    On the other hand, this technique of advertisement detection and removal has the following disadvantages:
       it does not provide an alternative content adapted to a break of a few minutes;   the TV operators integrate minute variations to the video signal to affect the signal processing; consequently, this technique requires:
           for the user: regular updates to maintain the reliability of the processing; and since they take place over landline connection, in practice they are not operational before a few days;   for the Tivo Box® operator: regular updates of the algorithms for commercial break identification;   
           it requires a cumbersome installation, particularly when the phone wall socket is remote from the television set.       
 
         [0012]    Other known solutions offer more personalized advertising, in particular by making use of the Internet infrastructure, or multi-screen systems:
       the “Freebox”® is a box enabling the user to access the Internet and includes an environment that is adapted to video applications such as YouTube®;   Google TV® offers a more comfortable browsing experience thanks to specialized browsers and to a remote control provided with an alphanumeric keyboard;   Spotlight Gallery®, used on Google TV®, offers Chrome®-based applications specifically developed for Google TV®, for example games that enable the use of a smartphone; for instance, the game Poker Fun® displays the poker table on the TV and the playing cards on the smartphone.       
 
         [0016]    Finally, other solutions provide a switching between different HDMI video sources, such as KAM-5-1HDM 10 of Kamatec®. With this switching unit, the user selects one HDMI source among five by means of a specific remote control unit. 
         [0017]    All these solutions have at least one of the following drawbacks:
       a degradation of content quality: truncated contents, undesirable insertions, lack of copyright control, etc.   requirement of an additional remote control unit.   requirement of tedious operations by the user: change in the wiring, need of several handling operations to switch from TV to the Web and back again, etc.   the inhibition of some TV channels: for instance, the presence of Google TV® can be detected by a conventional box (set-top box); since this box is provided with decryption keys for some channels, it blocks the transmission of the corresponding video signal on its HDMI video interface, or it replaces it with a video display such as &lt;&lt;Please disconnect your Google TV&gt;&gt;; the user is then obliged to change the wiring of his television set; similarly, with the Xbox One® box, most of the TV channels are blocked.       
 
       SUMMARY 
       [0022]    There is, therefore, a need to replace on the TV set the advertising slots broadcasted by the TV operators by an alternative content such as a Web service without the user having to change the wiring or without any other tedious handling. 
         [0023]    For that purpose, several embodiments of the present disclosure provide a TV system provided with improved video switching capabilities, said system comprising: 
         [0024]    a TV set provided with at least one high-definition digital video and control input, 
         [0025]    a first content-providing unit connected to a network for providing high-definition video contents to the TV set, 
         [0026]    a second content-providing unit connected to a network for providing alternative high-definition video contents to the TV set, 
         [0027]    a video switching unit having inputs connected to outputs of the first and second content-providing units, 
         [0028]    a communicating user terminal provided with a user interface, 
         [0029]    a first network communications channel between said user terminal and said switching unit, 
         [0030]    a second network communications channel between and external server and said switching unit, wherein said video switching can be performed remotely either by action of said user terminal, or by a switching command received from said server. 
         [0031]    Preferred but non-limiting aspects of this system may include the following features, taken individually or in any technically compatible combinations:
       said user terminal comprises a sound recognition circuit capable of recognizing a specific sound type collected by a terminal microphone, and said action on the user terminal is the generation of a sound according to said type;   said user terminal comprises a touch screen, and said action on the user terminal comprises a specific keying action on the touch screen;   the first content providing unit is a TV box provided with wireless communications network generation circuitry, and said second content-providing unit is a PC dongle;   said second content providing unit and said switching unit are provided in a single physical unit having a single video and control output for the TV set;   said first network communications channel between said user terminal and said switching unit relies on the wireless network generated by said TV box;   said switching command from said server is a collaboratively-generated by detection of states of a plurality of such TV systems connected to said server;   said user terminal comprises means for selecting a content-generating mode of said second content providing-unit via said first network communications channel;   said mode is selected among a plurality of modes including a gaming mode where said user terminal is used as a game input device, a gallery mode where said user terminal is used as a source of information for display on the TV set, and a Web mode where said user terminal is used as an input device for browsing;   said video switching is performed automatically in response to a switching command from said server;   said video switching is performed only after a switch-ready command has been received from said server and a user-generated switching action has been received by said system.       
 
         [0042]    Other embodiments of the present disclosure further provide a TV environment, comprising a plurality of TV systems as defined above and said external server, all TV systems being connected to said TV server via respective second network communications channels. 
         [0043]    According to another aspect, the present disclosure provides server for switching a TV system as defined above, comprising a plurality of network input for periodically receiving state and action data from a plurality of such TV systems, computing means for approximating from said data start times and end times for commercial breaks on a plurality of TV channels, and means for generating switching commands or switch-ready commands, on a channel-by-channel basis, to said plurality of TV systems. 
         [0044]    Still another aspect of the disclosure provides a communicating user terminal, comprising a user interface, a processing unit and a memory, and a communications circuitry capable of establishing a wireless communications channel with a TV system as defined, said terminal including means for generating and transmitting through said channel to the TV system:
       mode setting signals for the second content-providing unit of said system,   user interface input signals for said second content-providing unit, said signals being adapted to the mode types,   switching signals for the video switching unit of said TV system.       
 
         [0048]    Preferred but non-limiting aspects of this terminal include the following features, taken individually or in any technically compatible combinations:
       said mode setting signals include addressing signals for content sources.   said user interface input signals selectively include gaming signals and content browsing signals depending on the mode of the second content-providing unit.   said switching signals comprise manual switching signals and switch-confirmation signals.   the terminal further comprises a sound recognition circuitry for selectively generating a manual switching signal or a switch confirmation signal.       
 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0053]    Other aims, features and advantages of the disclosure shall appear more clearly from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof, made with reference to the appended drawings, in which: 
           [0054]      FIG. 1  depicts television equipment comprising a signal switch according to the disclosure, 
           [0055]      FIG. 2  diagrammatically shows the display of a viewer&#39;s smartphone, that enables him to parameterize services and to control the signal switch of the disclosure, and different possible states that can be taken by the a content providing unit of the disclosure in response to the smartphone, 
           [0056]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart showing the control process of the signal switch by a user&#39;s noise, 
           [0057]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart showing the control process of the signal switch by use of advertisement detection by a users&#39; community, and 
           [0058]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart showing the control process of the signal switch by advertisement detection by the users&#39; community and remote control action by the user. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0059]    As a preliminary remark, it will be noted that certain of the reference signs used in the description below do not have counterparts in the drawings, but are nevertheless used for convenience purposes. 
       1) Components 
       [0060]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , a TV environment  100  comprises a set of television systems  101 - 102 - 103 , each of them comprising at least one television set  110 , a switch box  120 , a content-providing unit or box  130  and a smartphone  140 . 
         [0061]    The television set  110  comprises an interface, in the present case a HDMI interface, having a control interface  111  and a video interface  112 . The video signal  113  is displayed on a TV screen, not shown. The control interface  111  comprises the control signals HPD, CEC, HDCP, DDC data, DDC CLOCK as defined in the HDMI standard. The video interface  112  comprises the identified video, audio and synchronization TMDS signals CLOCKA/DATA A0/A1/A2 or CLOCKB DATAB0/B1/B2, and CLOCKOUT/DATA OUTO/1/2 as defined in the HDMI standard. 
         [0062]    The switch box  120  comprises a switch  121 , a content-providing unit or PC Dongle  122  such as an Android Dongle®, an input control interface  123  and an output control interface  124 , these interfaces being defined again here by the HDMI standard. 
         [0063]    This switch  121  is primarily made on the basis of an integrated circuit for switching between two signal ports, in this example HDMI ports, for example Fairchild® FSHDMI08®. This switch  121  comprises two input video interfaces  1212  and  1213  and one output video interface  1215 . This switch  121  also comprises a controlled switch  1216  that switches between two stable positions. In the first position  12161 , this controlled switch  1216  establishes a connection between the input video interfaces  1212  and the output video interfaces  1215  and carries out a disconnection between the video interfaces  1213  and  1215 . Conversely, in the second position  12162 , the connection is established between the input video interfaces  1213  and the output video interfaces  1215 , and the disconnection is carried out between the video interfaces  1212  and  1215 . This controlled switch  1216  is essentially built-in into the Fairchild® circuit, but it also comprises for the implementation needs a NI gate, for example an integrated circuit Rohm® BU4S01G2, connected to the legs  32  and  42  of the Fairchild® circuit. This NI gate enables to receive a binary input, to duplicate it on the leg  42  of the Fairchild® circuit and to invert it on the leg  32 . This binary command thus results into the switching of the controlled switch  1216  as well as the switching of the switch  121 . 
         [0064]    The PC Dongle  122  is, for example, a commercially available Rikomagic® mk802 box. This PC dongle  122  comprises a HDMI output port composed of a control interface  1221  and of a video interface  1222  according to the HDMI standard described above. This control interface  1221  reads in particular the reference of the channel  1311  being broadcast thanks to the CEC protocol of the HDMI standard and can calculate the difference between two successive references to deduce that, when this difference is of 1 or of −1, the user pressed the &lt;&lt;Channel+1&gt;&gt; or &lt;&lt;Channel −1&gt;&gt; key respectively of its remote control  136 . The PC dongle  122  also comprises a GPIO port  1223  that delivers a binary logic signal, an operating system  1224  that manages the interfaces  1221 - 1222 - 1223 - 1225  and that comprises application software and a Wi-Fi interface  1225 . 
         [0065]    The box  130  is a television electronic box, such as the one traded in France under the name Freebox®. This box  130  comprises a HDMI output port composed of a control interface  131  and of a video interface  132  according to the HDMI standard described above. In particular, this control interface  131  indicates the reference (ID) of the channel  1311  that is being broadcast at the video interface  132 . This box  130  also comprises a Wi-Fi network generator  133  equipped with a Wi-Fi port, not shown, which enables a wireless connection with the PC dongle  122 . Box  130  further comprises an operating system  135  that manages the interfaces  131 - 132 - 133 - 134  and that comprises application software, an internet interface  134  such as an ADSL port, a remote control  136  enabling in particular the user to change the channel by means of numeric keys or of the &lt;&lt;Channel+1&gt;&gt; and &lt;&lt;Channel −1&gt;&gt; keys. 
         [0066]    The smartphone  140  comprises an operating system  141  and a Wi-Fi interface  142  allowing the establishment a wireless connection between the smartphone  140  and the PC dongle  122  via the Wi-Fi network generator  133 . 
         [0067]    Furthermore, the system  100  comprises a server  160  comprising an operating system  161 , a statistical base  162  and an advertising base  163 , the operating system being connected to the box  130  via the internet network  150  and the internet connection interface  134 , to the PC dongle  122  and to the smartphone  140  via the Wi-Fi network generator  133  and the Wi-Fi interfaces  1225  and  14   
       2) Switch Command 
       [0068]    The control interfaces  131 ,  1221 ,  123 ,  124  and  111  are connected with each other in parallel. It is thus possible, in particular at the PC dongle  122 , to read the information exchanged between the box  130  and the television set  110 . 
         [0069]    The smartphone  140  can send a switch command  1217 A to the switching box  120  according to the following command string: the operating system  141  generates this switch command  1217 A and transmits it to the PC dongle  122  via the Wi-Fi server  133  and the Wi-Fi interfaces  142  and  1225  and thanks to the client/server communications programs  12241 - 1411  described below. This switch command  1217 A is then copied by the operating system  1224  from the Wi-Fi interface  1225  onto the GPIO port  1223 . The GPIO port  1223  delivers a binary logic signal and sends it to the controlled switch  1216 . 
         [0070]    Similarly, the server  160  can send a switch command  1217 A to the switching box  120  according to the following command steps: the operating system  161  generates this switch command  1217 A and transmits it to the box  130  via the Internet network  150  and the Internet interface  134 . The operating system  135  of the box  130  copies this switch command  1217 A and transmits it to the PC dongle  122  via the Wi-Fi server  133  and the Wi-Fi interface  1225 . This switch command  1217 A is then transmitted to the controlled switch  1216 , as indicated above. 
         [0071]    Moreover, the video interfaces  132  and  1222  are respectively connected to the two input video interfaces  1212  and  1213  of the switch  121 . The controlled switch  1216  establishes a connection of the output video interface  1215  with a selected one of the two input video interfaces  1212  and  1213 . The output video interface  1215  is connected to the video interface  112  for the display of the video signal  113  on the screen of the television set  110 . 
         [0072]    It is thus possible to display on the television set  110  either the video signal  1219  coming from box  130  via the video interface  132 , or the video signal  1218  coming from the PC dongle  122  via the video interface  1222 , depending on the switch command  1217 A transmitted either by the smartphone  140 , or by the server  160 . 
       3) “Switch-Ready” Command 
       [0073]    The server  160  can also send a switch-ready command  1217 C, that is not represented, to the switching box  120  according to the following command steps: the operating system  161  of server generates this switch-ready command  1217 C and transmits same to box  130  via the internet network  150  and the internet interface  134 . The operating system  135  of the box  130  copies this switch-ready command  1217 C and transmits it to the PC dongle via the Wi-Fi network maintained by Wi-Fi network generator  133  and the Wi-Fi interface  1225 . Upon receipt, the PC dongle  122  is enters into a switch-ready mode in which it waits for the reception of a “Channel+1” command by the remote control  136  of the box  130 . This command is calculated by the command interface  1221 , as described above. At the reception of this “Channel+1” command, a switch command is sent to the controlled switch  1216 , as indicated above. 
         [0074]    4) Addressing command 
         [0075]    The video signal  1218  of the PC dongle  122  can come from different sources depending on an addressing command  1217 B issued by smartphone  140  via the Wi-Fi network  142 - 133 - 1225 . 
         [0076]    Thanks to a human-machine interface  144  described below, the smartphone  140  is in a particular mode among different modes  230 - 231 - 232 , each mode being associated to a respective source address  2301 - 2311 - 2321  (e.g. a URL) for the PC dongle. When the smartphone  140  transmits a switch command  1217 A, this command is accompanied by an addressing command  1217 B that indicates to the PC dongle  122  this particular address  2301 - 2311 - 2321 . 
         [0077]    The display management program  12242  mixes two information flows or contents, as described below. The first flow is the one accessed by the PC dongle  122  at this particular address, for example that of Facebook® on the Internet  150 , that of a photo gallery on the internal memory of the smartphone  140 , that of an online video game requiring the use of Internet  150  and of the internal memory of the smartphone  140 . The second flow has the same origin as the one that feeds the video interface  132  of box  130 . The reference of the corresponding television channel is transmitted by the command interface  131  and is read by the PC dongle  122  by means of its command interface  1221 . This reference is thus used by the PC dongle  122  to access to this television channel via the Wi-Fi network  1225 - 133 . 
         [0078]    4) Resolution initialization process 
         [0079]    During the switching on of the television set  110  and of the box  130 , the HDMI standard provides a protocol for the definition of resolution, i.e. the display format on the screen of the television set  110 . Thus, a first HPD request is sent by the television set  110  to the box  130  via the command interfaces  111 - 123 - 124 - 131  that confirms its connection on the same channel, then makes a DDC request to obtain the resolution of the television set  110 . Upon receipt, the box  130  adjusts the transmission format of its video signal  1219  to adapt it to this resolution. 
         [0080]    The command interface  1221  of the PC dongle  122  is connected to the command interfaces  123  and  131 . Thus, the PC dongle  122  can read the resolution definition protocol above and adjust accordingly the transmission format of its video signal  1218  to adapt it to this resolution.
       5) Dongle/smartphone communications       
 
         [0082]    The PC dongle  122  is supplied with an operating system  1224  such as Android®. 
         [0083]    A client/server communications program  12241  is associated to this operating system  1224  to manage the communication between the PC dongle  122 , as a server, and the smartphone  140 , as a client. For this purpose, the client program allows the personalization and control of the server program via a set of commands comprising, on the one hand, the navigation commands: up, down, right, left, input, position xy of the pointer, click, positions xyzt of two fingers on a touchscreen, gyroscope coordinates, etc. and, on the other hand, data commands: HTML address, command line, data etc. This type of program is known from the skilled in the art. It is often developed with the protocols JSON® of JSON-RPC Working Group®, and Node.js®. It is to be found in the open source application XBMC®, developed by Team XBMC®, implemented in Android®, Xbox One® or the game Multeor®. 
         [0084]    6) Video signal generation 
         [0085]    A display management program  12242  is also associated to this operating system  1224  to generate the video signal  1218  on the basis of information flows coming from different web, video, image or sound sources, that can be mixed with each other. This display management program  12242  is known to the skilled person. This program may be for instance the application “YouTube for Android®” that enables in particular to embed a television channel into a web content in PIP mode (Picture in Picture). 
         [0086]    7) Sound command recognition 
         [0087]    The smartphone  140  is supplied with an operating system  141 , such as Android®. 
         [0088]    A sound (preferably a whistle sound) recognition program  143  is added to the smartphone  140  and cooperates with the operating system  141 . Sound recognition programs are known to the skilled person; cf. for instance Lopes, G., Ribeiro, A. F., &amp; Carvalho, P. (2010). “Whistle sound recognition in a noisy environment”, Mellinger, D. K., Martin, S. W., Morrissey, R. P., Thomas, L., &amp; Yosco, J. J. (2011), “A method for detecting whistles, moans, and other frequency contour sounds”, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 129, 4055. This program  143  is parameterized so as to recognize a characteristic noise perceived by the microphone of the smartphone  140 , such as a whistle or a snap of fingers. 
         [0089]    8) Initialization of the smartphone modes 
         [0090]    A human-machine interface  144  also cooperates with the smartphone operating system  141 . 
         [0091]    Referring to  FIG. 2 , the display  200  of the smartphone  140  displays the pages generated by the human-machine or user interface  144 . The home page comprises control buttons, among which a web button  210 , a video game button  211 , a photo gallery button  212 , a setting button  213  and navigation buttons  220 . 
         [0092]    By activating the setting button  213 , the user of the smartphone  140  can set the latter into the setting mode 233. By activating the gallery button  122 , the smartphone enters into a Gallery mode and the user interface displays a menu that enables the user to select the HTML address or the internal memory address of a folder of photos by means of the navigation buttons  220 . He thus creates an association of the gallery button  212  to this address  2321 . Similarly, the user can set the Web mode by associating the web button  210  to a web page address  2301 , for example Facebook®, Twitter® or Gmail®, and set the (video) Game mode by associating the video game button  211  to the address  2311  of an application. After the smartphone has left the Setting mode, the activation of the buttons  210 - 211 - 212  by the user sets the smartphone respectively into the web mode state  230 , video game mode 231 or gallery mode 232, each of these modes being respectively associated to the address  2301 ,  2311  or  2321 . 
         [0093]    In the Setting mode, the user of the smartphone  140  also accesses an Advertising mode button  2131  that defines an Advertising mode which is superimposed on the other modes. This button  2131  has three positions: manual  21311 , semi-automatic  21312  and automatic  21313 . Depending on the position of this button  2131 , the switch command  1217 A or  1217 C is sent by the smartphone  140  or by the server  160 , as described below. 
         [0094]    9) Command interface 
         [0095]    A client/server communications program  1411  also cooperates with the smartphone operating system  141  and communicates with the client/server communications program  12241  of dongle  122 . 
         [0096]    By activating the navigation buttons  220  or by modifying the orientation of the smartphone  140 , the smartphone user causes the transmission by the client program of commands among the set of commands described above. When the television set  110  displays a web page generated by the PC dongle  122 , the user can thus browse in this page with the navigation buttons  220 . 
         [0097]    10) Statistical advertisement detection 
         [0098]    Thanks to its command interface  1221 , the PC dongle  122  can read from the command interface  131  the reference of the channel  1311  that is being broadcast by the video interface  132  of the box  130 . It informs the server  160  thereof. Moreover, the smartphone  140  also informs the server  160  of the state of its advertising mode button  2131 , of the transmitted switch commands  1217 , of the modes  230 - 231 - 232  and of the associated addresses  2301 - 2311 - 2321 . 
         [0099]    By collecting this information from a plurality television systems  101 - 102 - 103 , the server  160  generates a time-stamped statistical database  162  comprising at least the following fields: IDs of the television systems  101 - 102 - 103 , reference of the channel  1311 , advertising mode 2131, switch command  1217 , mode of the smartphone  230 - 231 - 232 , addresses  2301 - 2311 - 2321  associated to these modes. 
         [0100]    A first processing action  1621  by the operating system  161  on database  162  enables to set a list  1622  of the television systems  101 - 102 - 103 , the channel reference  1311  of which corresponds to a given reference and the button  2131  of which is in automatic mode position. 
         [0101]    A second processing action  1623  by the operating system  161  on database  162  enables to compute the number of switch commands per unit of time  1624  and per channel reference  1311 . 
         [0102]    A third processing action  1625  by the operating system  161  on database  162  enables to define the start  1626  and the end  1627  of a commercial break for each channel reference  1311 . The start time  1626  is defined as the time when the number of switch commands per unit of time  1624  exceeds a first predefined threshold for a predefined channel reference. Since a subgroup of the viewers of this channel has a control window of the channel being broadcast in PIP mode, the end time  1627  is defined as the time when the number of switch commands per unit of time  1624  exceeds a second predefined threshold for the considered predefined channel. 
         [0103]    A fourth processing action  1628  by the operating system  161  on database  162  enables to generate a list  1629  of the television systems  101 - 102 - 103 , the channel reference  1311  of which corresponds to a defined channel reference and the smartphone  140  of which is in automatic mode 21313. 
         [0104]    A fifth processing action  1630  by the operating system  161  on database  162  enables to generate a list  1631  of the television systems  101 - 102 - 103 , the channel reference  1311  of which corresponds to a defined channel reference and the smartphone  140  of which is in semi-automatic mode 21312. 
         [0105]    11) Sound-actuated switching method 
         [0106]    Referring now to  FIG. 3 , a process  300  enables the user of a smartphone  140  to cause, by whistling with his mouth, an alternative display in replacement of the advertisements on his television set according to the following steps:
       in step  310 , the television set  110  displays the video signal  113  outputted by the box  130 , via the video interfaces  132 ,  1212 ,  1215  et  112 , the controlled switch  1216  being set in its first position, as described above;   in step  320 , the user whistles, the sound being captured by the microphone of the smartphone  140  and recognized by the sound recognition program  143 ;   in step  330 , the smartphone  140  sends a switch command  1217 A to the switch  121 , according to the functional command steps described above;   in step  340 , the smartphone  140  sends to the PC dongle  122  an address command  1217 B that indicates the source address  2301 - 2311 - 2321  of an information flow;   in step  350 , the display management program  12242  generates the video signal  1218  from the above address  2301 - 2311 - 2321 , and the controlled switch  1216  is set to its second position.       
 
         [0112]    12) Automatic switching method 
         [0113]    Referring to  FIG. 4 , the process  400  enables the server  160  to automatically cause an alternative display to the advertisements on the television set  110 , thanks to the advertisements detection by the community of users, according to the following steps:
       in step  410 , the television set  110  displays the video signal  113  outputted from the box  130 , via the video interfaces  132 ,  1212 ,  1215  et  112 , the controlled switch  1216  being switched into its first position  12161 , as described above;   in step  420 , the server  160  detects the beginning  1626  of a commercial break for a defined channel reference thanks to the third processing action  1625  described above;   in step  430 , the server  160  generates the list  1629  of the television systems  101 - 102 - 103  corresponding to this predefined channel reference and in semi-automatic mode 21313, thanks to the fourth processing action  1628  described above;   in step  440 , the server  160  sends a switch command  1217 A to the switch  121  of each television system  101 - 102 - 103  of this list  1629 , according to the functional command string described above;   in step  450 , the server  160  sends to the PC dongle  122  of each of the television systems  101 - 102 - 103  of this list  1629  an addressing command  12178  that indicates the address  2301 - 2311 - 2321  of an information flow;   in step  460 , the display management program  12242  of each of these television systems  101 - 102 - 103  generates the video signal  1218  with this address  2301 - 2311 - 2321 , and each corresponding controlled switch  1216  tilts into its second position  12162 ;   in step  470 , the server  160  detects the end  1627  of a commercial break for this predefined channel reference thanks to the third processing action  1625  described above;   in step  480 , the server  160  sends a switch command  1217 A to the switch  121  of each of these television systems  101 - 102 - 103 , according to the functional command string described above;   in step  490 , the controlled switch  1216  of each of these television systems  101 - 102 - 103  is set to its first position  12161 .       
 
         [0123]    13) Semi-automatic switching method 
         [0124]    Referring to  FIG. 5 , the process  500  enables the user of a television system  101  who presses the          Channel+1          key of his remote control  136 , either to cause a change of channel when there is no advertisement, or to cause an alternative display in replacement of the advertisements on the television set  110 , according to the following steps:
       step  510  corresponds to step  420  of the method  400 : during this step, the server  160  detects the start  1626  of a commercial break for a predefined channel reference thanks to the third processing action  1625  described above;   in step  520 , the server  160  generates the list  1631  of the television systems  101 - 102 - 103  corresponding to this predefined channel reference and in semi-automatic mode 21312, thanks to the fifth processing action  1630  described above;   in step  530 , the server  160  sends a switch-ready command  1217 C to the PC dongle  122  of each of these television systems  101 - 102 - 103  of this list  1631 , according to the functional command string described above;   in step  540 , the server  160  sends to the PC dongle  122  of each of these television systems  101 - 102 - 103  of each list  1631  an addressing command  1217 B that indicates the address  2301 - 2311 - 2321  of an information flow;   in step  550 , the user of one of these particular television systems  101  presses a          Channel+1          key of the remote control  136 . This pressing of the key is detected by the command interface  1221  of the PC dongle  122 , as described above;   in step  560 , the display management program  12242  of this television system  101  generates the video signal  1218  with this address  2301 - 2311 - 2321 , and the corresponding controlled switch  1216  is set to its second position  12162 ;   in step  570 , the user of this television system  101  presses the          Channel −1          key of the remote control  136 . This pressing of the key is detected by the command interface  1221  of the PC dongle  122 , as described above;   in step  580 , the PC dongle  122  of this television system  101  sends a switch command  1217 A to the switch  121 ;   in step  590 , the controlled switch  1216  is set to its first position  12161 .       
 
         [0134]    14) Smartphone—Remote control 
         [0135]    In a variant embodiment, the smartphone  140  implements an application that replaces the actions by remote control  136 . 
         [0136]    Remote control emulation by a smartphone is known to the skilled person. Google Play® proposes, for example, the FreeTelec® software, developed by Roro®, that enables to emulate the remote control of the Freebox® of Free® by implementing the Freebox® API. This emulation causes for instance the transmission by the command interface  131  of a channel reference  1311  that will be read by the PC dongle  122 . 
         [0137]    As an alternative, the smartphone  140  comprises an application  145  that, in addition to the emulation of the remote control  136 , copies each command of this emulated remote control, for example, a change of channel, to simultaneously transmit it to the dongle  122  via the Wi-Fi server  133 . Thus, the dongle  122  is directly informed of the actions of the emulated remote control without having to monitor the CEC protocol exchanged between the interfaces  131  and  111 . 
         [0138]    15) Variants and modifications 
         [0139]    The switch  121  can be implemented on the basis of an integrated circuit between more than two HDMI ports, such as the ADV7623® circuit of Analog Devices®. This variant enables to connect additional content-generating devices such as Blu-Ray® players, multimedia boxes, etc. The human-machine interface  144  and the setting button  213  are then adapted to set more modes  230 - 231 - 232 . The switch  121  can also be implemented on the basis of a SIL 9573 type or of 9575® type component, produced by Silicon Image® and implemented in the Insta Pre-vue® technology enabling to mix four video streams in PIP mode. In this case, the controlled switch  1216  comprises four positions  12161  to  12164  that define the main video stream, each position being associated to information indicating the presence, the positioning and the size of the three secondary video streams. 
         [0140]    The box  130  is a decoder, a set-top box, a satellite terminal, a television cable terminal or a TNT tuner. This box usually comprises a Wi-Fi network generator  133  and an Internet interface  134 , but these functions can be separate and communicate with each other by other connection types. 
         [0141]    The smartphone  140  can be replaced by an electronic tablet such as an Apple iPad®, connected glasses such as Google Glass®, a connected watch such as Sony Smartwatch® or any terminal type that is equipped with a display and a Wi-Fi connection. 
         [0142]    Each Wi-Fi connection can be replaced or completed by a Bluetooth® connection or by any other wireless connection technology. 
         [0143]    The video signals  1218 - 1219  can originate from various sources such as the Internet network  150 , the server  160 , one of the smartphones  140  of the users via the Wi-Fi network  133 . The operating systems  1224 - 135 - 141  can also mix several video streams originating from several sources. These applications are known from the skilled in the art, such as the Freebox TV Mobile® application and generally the          second display          commercial software. 
         [0144]    The characteristic noise can be sensed by two or more microphones located in the smartphone(s) of the users, or in the PC dongle  122 , or in the box  130 , or in its remote control  136 , or in any other equipment of the television system  101  equipped with a microphone. This characteristic noise is then sent by the Wi-Fi server  133  to the sound recognition program  143  that can be itself integrated into the smartphone  140  or the PC dongle  122 . 
         [0145]    In the semi-automatic method  500 , the          Channel+1          key of the remote control  136  that causes the switching operation can be replaced by any other key of this remote control  136 . 
         [0146]    In order to avoid any undesirable switching operation in the processes  300 ,  400  and  500 , a security step, that is not represented, is preferably provided in which the user expressly accepts the mode of operation of these methods. 
         [0147]    As a conclusion, the present disclosure innovatively combines various technical bricks, and in particular:
       sound recognition techniques to enable a viewer to indicate the start of an advertisement by whistling.   the Internet to collect the viewers switching commands and to confirm the start of an advertisement by statistical processing.   PC dongles to develop an alternative television flow, to receive an advertising start signal from the social network and to transmit a switch command.   the controlled HDMI switches to receive this switch command between the signal of a television channel and that of a website.       
 
         [0152]    Thanks to the combination of these technical features, the disclosure provides a HD-Video switch such as a HDMI switch that makes possible to the viewer, in particular, the switching of video stream by whistling or snapping a finger, the switching through detection of the TV advertisement by the community of viewers, the display of web services on the TV set in a single step and the display of web services by simply pressing the          Channel +1          key or any other channel key of the remote control during the commercials. 
         [0153]    Of course, the present invention is not limited to the described and shown embodiments, but the skilled person will be able to devise many variants and modifications within the scope of the appended claims.