Abstract:
A user interface device has a graphical user interface that can simultaneously display a combination of television and Internet content in various display modes. The display modes may have different proportions, positioning or other features of the Internet and television content. Means are included in each display made for conveniently changing to other display modes. A viewer of the user interface device may be able to change display modes simply by selecting a link available in each of the display modes. The television content being displayed may be a broadcast show and the Internet content may be chat from a chat room corresponding to the television show. Various display modes are provided for displaying the television show and corresponding chat, ranging from maximal television display and minimal chat display to minimal television display and maximal chat display. Changing television channels may initiate a corresponding change in the chat room being participated in and the content being displayed.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/461,565, filed Dec. 14, 1999, and entitled “MULTIMODE INTERACTIVE TELEVISION CHAT”, and which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND  
       [0002]     Communication networks such as the Internet have recently experienced dramatic growth in popularity and use. An advantage of the Internet that has helped to fuel this growth is the availability of quick and easy communication between widely disparate individuals and networks regarding virtually limitless topics. Thus, not only does the Internet provide for traditional communication, such as between a pair of friends, relatives or coworkers, but the Internet also facilitates communication between strangers and groups of strangers.  
         [0003]     Chat is one of the various relatively new forms of communication provided by the Internet. Chat in this sense does not refer to audible conversation engaged in by people gathered together in one place, but rather to textual conversations between people that are connected by the Internet to the same chat room, which may be a file on a server. In this case, a participant in such a chat room types a message into his or her computer and the message virtually immediately appears on all the other computers connected to that chat  
         [0004]     One of the most popular ways to chat via the Internet is called Internet Relay Chat (IRC). IRC employs special IRC servers that run the chat rooms, and special client/server software that allows client computers to send and receive chat via the IRC servers. The IRC servers may be connected together as a network. Various client computers from around the world may be connected via the Internet to these chat rooms, allowing conversations between disparate individuals who may typically never meet or know each other outside of the chat room experience.  
         [0005]     It is common for a chat room to be related to a particular topic, with the participants attracted to that chat room by their interest in the topic. While many chat rooms exist regarding various topics, one popular theme for chat rooms is mass entertainment, such as television shows. Thus, chat rooms may exist devoted to a popular television show, such as “The Simpsons®.” Typically, viewers are forced to choose whether to watch television or to participate in a chat room, since most Internet connections are not provided by a television but rather by a separate device such as a computer that may be disposed at a separate location from the television. Moreover, both the television and the computer may be generally immobile, such as with a personal computer located on a desk in a study and a television located in a family room. Thus, many chat participants may converse in a chat room related to a television show before or after the show has played, although some fans may be connected to the chat room while the show is playing.  
         [0006]     The advent of interactive television such as provided by WebTV® Networks offers the possibility of being connected to the Internet and watching television simultaneously via a single user interface device. Thus it is possible for a user to be watching a television show and on the same television be connected to a chat room that somehow relates to that show.  
         [0007]      FIG. 1  is a diagram of an interactive television system  20  that enhances a television viewing experience by integrating television programming with enhanced content from the Internet or from the broadcaster. The broadcast of a baseball game can, for example, be enhanced by retrieving relevant information (for example, a batter&#39;s batting statistics  22 ) from the Internet and displaying that information at an appropriate point in the baseball game (for example, when the batter  25  is batting). If the batter&#39;s batting statistics are already displayed by the broadcast, then statistics  22  may involve the team&#39;s standings, or the number of wins needed to clinch a playoff spot, or a variety of other topics that may be accessed via the Internet.  
         [0008]     System  20  includes a server  28  maintained by the broadcaster, a broadcasting antenna  30 , a receiver unit  33 , a television set  35 , and an Internet access point  37 . Receiver unit  33 , which may be a set-top box, includes a receiving antenna  38  and a remote control unit  39 . A viewer uses remote control unit  39  to control the receiver unit and/or to interact with interactive television content via the receiver unit. A video link  40  couples receiver unit  33  to television set  35  so that the receiver unit can use the television set as a display device.  
         [0009]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of receiver unit  33 . TV interface circuitry  42  of the receiver unit  33  includes a tuner that is tuned to receive broadcast television video and to remove a television carrier signal. TV interface circuitry  42  digitizes the video signal after the carrier signal has been removed. Software executed by a digital processor  44  receives the digitized signal from TV interface  42  and decodes and checks the digitized signal for errors. Receiver unit  33  drives the television set  35  via video encoder  46  and audio digital-to-analog converter  48 . Digital processor  44  realizes a type of web browser that can access the Internet via a modem  50 . Receiver unit  33  includes an infrared interface  52  for receiving infrared transmissions from remote control unit  39 . Local storage  55  provides memory for processor  44 , and may house a web browsing program, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer® or Netscape Navigator®.  
         [0010]     Television video  60  is broadcast over the airwaves from broadcasting antenna  30  to receiving antenna  38  of receiver unit  33 . Alternatively, television video may be broadcast via cable or satellite or other known means. The broadcast signal may include digital data. At an appropriate time in the baseball game when the broadcaster wishes batter statistics  22  to be displayed (for example, when batter  25  appears on the television screen), the broadcaster broadcasts a trigger  66  along with the television video  60 . Trigger  66  contains a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that identifies an information resource  70  on the broadcaster&#39;s server  28  or another server, not shown. In this case, information resource  70  is a web page containing the batter&#39;s statistics.  
         [0011]     Receiver unit  33  receives trigger  66 , accesses the Internet via Internet access point  37 , uses the URL from the trigger to retrieve the web page of batter statistics from server  28 , and then displays the batter statistics  22 . In this way, broadcasters use triggers to have their viewers&#39; receiver units retrieve information from the Internet and display that information in concert with their programming. Receiver unit  33  and television  35  together form a user interface device that is a client of the server  28  while connected to the Internet, similar to a personal computer that is connected to the Internet by an Internet service provider (ISP).  
         [0012]     Unlike traditional television, interactive television offers to the viewer the possibility of varying the format of the information being displayed, for example by choosing whether or not to display Internet content along with a television broadcast. While such a complete change in display format between interactive and non-interactive television is currently available, other changes in display format may also be desirable. For example, viewers that are connected to a chat room may wish to change the relative proportion of chat versus television content that is being displayed. This change in proportion of content may occur when a viewer&#39;s primary interest changes from watching television to chatting. In other words, a viewer may initially wish to passively observe a small stream of chat while primarily focusing on the television broadcast. Should that viewer wish to become more active in the chat room, perhaps including sending messages to the chat room, the viewer may wish to change the relative proportions of the display screen devoted to chat versus television. Unfortunately, convenient means for changing the proportions of interactive versus television content being displayed are not currently available.  
       SUMMARY  
       [0013]     In accordance with the present invention, a user interface device having a graphical user interface can simultaneously display a combination of television and Internet content in various display modes. The display modes may offer different proportions, positions or other features of Internet versus television content. Devices are included in each display mode for conveniently changing to other display modes. A viewer of the user interface device may be able to change from one display mode to another simply by selecting a link available in the first display mode.  
         [0014]     In one embodiment, the television content being displayed is a show and the Internet content is chat from a chat room corresponding to the television show. Various display modes may be available for displaying the television show and corresponding chat, ranging from maximal television display and minimal chat display to minimal television display and maximal chat display. Changing television channels may initiate a corresponding change in the chat room in which the viewer is participating and in the chat being displayed.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0015]      FIG. 1  is a simple plan view diagram of an interactive television system.  
         [0016]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a receiver unit of the system of  FIG. 1 .  
         [0017]      FIG. 3  is a schematic view of a user interface device that can display both television content and Internet content.  
         [0018]      FIG. 4  is a schematic view of a first mode of display on the user interface device of both a television program and chat related to that program.  
         [0019]      FIG. 5  is a schematic view of a second mode of display on the user interface device of both a television program and chat related to that program.  
         [0020]      FIG. 6  is a schematic view of a third mode of display on the user interface device of both a television program and chat related to that program.  
         [0021]      FIG. 7  is a schematic view of a fourth mode of display on the user interface device of both a television program and chat related to that program.  
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0022]      FIG. 3  shows a user interface device  100  including a display screen  102  such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), flat panel display, or touch screen display. In general, the user interface device may take the form of a personal computer, a television having a set-top box or other means of processing and transmitting communications, a laptop or handheld computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a telephone, an internet appliance or other device having the communications, processing and display capabilities for performing the present invention. The user interface device  100  in this embodiment also includes a controller  105  that manages a transceiver  110 . Controller  105  may include a digital processor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and local memory, such as semiconductor memory. Transceiver  110  may also contain local memory such as semiconductor memory. A storage unit  108  such as a disk drive or additional semiconductor memory may be provided in communication with controller  105  and transceiver  110 .  
         [0023]     Transceiver  110  may receive television broadcasts and digital data such as Internet or network content via a first channel  112 . A second channel  113  can be provided for sending communication to the outside world such as a network, the Internet, broadcast servers or other servers. Channels  112  and  113 , which may be combined, may be take the form of twisted pairs of telephone lines, coaxial cable or fiber-optic cable, or may be a link to an antennae for wireless communication. In one embodiment, both broadcast signals such as television broadcasts and an Internet connection are provided by single channel  112 . This single channel may be a cable coupled to a cable modem at transceiver  110 . In another embodiment, both broadcast signals such as television broadcasts and an Internet connection may be provided by channel  112  connected to a satellite receiver such as a satellite dish, while channel  113  provides another communication link. The means for receiving information by the user interface device may be termed a source channel  112 , and the means for transmitting information from the user interface device may be termed a back channel  113 .  
         [0024]     The transceiver  110  also can receive signals from an optional keyboard  115  and a pointing apparatus  118  such as a mouse or remote control via a wire or the infrared interface, and provides signals via a video encoder/decoder and digital-analog converter for presenting information on the display  102 . The display  102  provides a graphical user interface (GUI) managed by controller  105 . The device  100  can take the form of a personal computer, a laptop computer, an intelligent network appliance such as a hand-held network appliance or telephone, or an interactive television set.  
         [0025]     In one embodiment, the device  100  is a television connected with a set-top box such as a WebTV® Plus Internet terminal, as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/296,542, which is incorporated by reference herein. The transceiver  110  in this case has TV interface circuitry including a tuner that is tuned to receive the broadcast television video and to remove a television carrier signal. After the carrier signal is removed, TV interface circuitry digitizes the resulting video signal. In addition to the television interface, transceiver  110  preferably includes an infrared interface, a digital-analog converter, a video encoder/decoder and a modem. Software executed by the controller  105  receives the digitized signal from TV interface and decodes and checks the digitized signal for errors. Transceiver  110  drives the display  102 , which in this embodiment is a television set, via video encoder and audio digital-to-analog converter. The user interface in this embodiment has been specialized for viewing on an interlaced TV screen rather than a computer monitor. The controller  105  runs a web browser that can access the Internet via a modem or transmitter contained in the transceiver.  
         [0026]     Device  100  can simultaneously display both television content and Internet content. The storage unit  108  has stored thereon an operating system, such as Windows CE®, and a web browser program  101  such as Microsoft Internet Explorer®, Netscape Navigator® or the WebTV® browser. The web browser program is run by the controller for accessing the Internet from the user interface device. Also stored on the storage unit is a chat handler program  111 , which may for convenience be assembled from ActiveX or component object module (COM) components. The chat handler program is run by the controller and manages connectivity between the user interface device  100  and IRC servers. A chat buffer is provided for temporary storage of chat messages in the local memory of transceiver  110  or in storage unit  108 .  
         [0027]      FIG. 3  depicts an opening screen that a viewer may encounter, including a television show  120  and several viewing choices, such as TV chat  122 , TV favorites  125 , World Wide Web  128  and personal video recorder (PVR)  130 . Also present in an upper right corner of the display screen  102  is an icon  133  for choosing to view interactive TV. In general, the device  100  can display pure television broadcasting, pure web pages, or a combination of television and web pages. To combine television and web pages, television programs can be inserted as tags within hypertext transfer markup language (HTML) documents that are interpreted by the web browser program  101 , in accordance with the Advanced Television Enhancement Forum (ATVEF) Specification, incorporated by reference herein. The television programming thus inserted can be rendered as a small proportion of the display screen, with the web page occupying the remainder of the screen. Alternatively, by tagging the television as a background and specifying a reduced size for the other content, the web page can overlay a part of the larger television show displayed on the screen.  
         [0028]     Selecting TV chat  122  by the pointing device, for example, sends a request from the chat handler to an IRC server to join a chat room. The chat room selected may correspond to the particular television show  120  being displayed. That television show  120  may be identified by the chat handler via a unique identifier assigned to the show and broadcast with the television signal. Such unique identifiers are typically provided by the broadcaster. The chat dialogue can be displayed simultaneously with the television show in a variety of display modes. The combined television and chat content are provided as television markup language (TVML) documents, which are a combination of JavaScript (JS) and dynamic hypertext transfer markup language (DHTML).  
         [0029]     The chat room may correspond to a television signal in a variety of ways besides simple corresponding to the individual show that is currently broadcast. For example, the chat room may correspond to a replay of a past television show, such as a past episode in a series, or all episodes that are currently being broadcast. Alternatively, the chat room may correspond to a television channel, such as Fox® News Network. In addition, the chat room may correspond to a category, such as professional football, that may be selected by the viewer while watching a particular football game.  
         [0030]     The chat which is displayed on the user interface device may be audio or video instead of text. Audio or video chat may be sent from the user interface device to the chat room. For example, the viewer may speak into a microphone connected to the user interface device to create an audio clip, which is then sent to the IRC server chat room to be broadcast to all the user interface devices connected to that chat room.  
         [0031]      FIG. 4  shows the display screen  102  presenting the combination of television and Internet content according to a first display mode  150 . In this mode, the television show  120  is virtually unchanged from the display that would occur in the absence of chat, aside from a small overlay of chat dialogue  152  in a lower corner of the display screen  102 . This first display mode  150  may be considered a relatively passive mode, in which the only user activity is viewing the television and chat. A link  155  is displayed adjacent the chat dialogue, the link providing a convenient means to switch the display to a second mode in which the chat dialogue is more pronounced.  
         [0032]      FIG. 5  shows the display mode  160  that results from selecting and actuating link  155  of the previous figure. In this mode the television show  120  is essentially unchanged while the chat dialogue  162  has grown to occupy a larger portion of the display screen  102 . This allows more lines of chat dialogue to be displayed, in a somewhat more active format than that of the previous mode. A link  165  is provided to switch the display back to the first mode, and another link  167  is provided to switch the display to a third mode.  
         [0033]      FIG. 6  shows a third display mode  170  that results from selecting and actuating link  167  of the previous figure. The chat dialogue  172  in this mode occupies a much larger portion of the screen  102 , while the television show  120  has been reduced in size and occupies a smaller portion of the screen. The chat  172  may overlay the television show or it may have an opaque or semi-opaque background, for instance. A link  175  is provided to switch the display back to the second mode, and another link  177  is provided to switch the display to a fourth mode. A send bar  173  is also provided in this mode  170  for entering dialogue into the chat room. The dialogue may be typed into the send bar  173  with the keyboard  115  and then sent from the device  100  to the IRC server. Alternatively, the dialogue sent from the device to the IRC server may be selected from certain prescripted chat messages by the pointing device  118 , as described in U.S. Patent Application “System for Interactive Chat Without a Keyboard,” invented by Steven Ericsson Zenith, filed on even date herewith and incorporated by reference herein. In this case, the send box may have several prescripted chat messages available for selection. The third display mode  170  also includes a scroll bar  176  for scrolling through the chat dialogue  172 , for example to access a part of the dialogue which is not being currently presented on the display.  
         [0034]      FIG. 7  shows a fourth display mode  180  that results from selecting and actuating link  177  of the previous figure. The chat dialogue  182  in this mode occupies most of the screen  102 , while the television show  120  has been reduced in size and occupies only a small window. This mode  180  has the most active chat features of the four modes presented herein as examples. A link  185  is provided to switch the display back to the third mode, and another link  187  is provided to switch the display to the first, least intrusive mode  150 . A send bar  183  is also provided in this mode  180  for entering dialogue into the chat room. The dialogue may be typed into the send bar  183  with the keyboard  115  and then sent from the device  100  to the IRC server. Alternatively, as mentioned above, the dialogue sent from the device to the IRC server may be selected from certain prescripted chat messages by the pointing device  118 . The fourth display mode  180  also includes a scroll bar  186  for scrolling through the chat dialogue  182 , for example to access a part of the dialogue which is not being currently presented on the display.  
         [0035]     Different modes of displaying a television show and corresponding chat room dialogue ( 150 ,  160 ,  170  and  180  in this example) may simply be transmitted as different linked web pages from the IRC server. Alternatively, the chat handler program of the user interface device may contain instructions to display according to the different modes, as locally stored TVML documents. Thus, while the input of the television video and chat text are the same in each mode, they are incorporated as tags with different attributes in the different TVML pages, the TVML pages being interpreted by the web browser  101  for display in the different modes.  
         [0036]     Changing a television channel while in a combined chat and television mode may result in changing chat rooms to a chat room corresponding to the newly selected television channel. A predetermined waiting period may occur before switching chat rooms, in order to avoid bouncing around various chat rooms during channel surfing until the new channel has been settled upon. For example, switching television channels and remaining on a channel different from the original channel for a time period of perhaps thirty seconds may initiate a request from device  100  to the IRC server chat room corresponding to the new television channel. That chat room can be determined according to a lookup table that has been downloaded to the device memory  108 , the lookup table including the unique electronic program guide (EPG) number of the various television shows and the corresponding chat servers. Alternatively, actuating a link to another display mode while tuned to a different television channel can initiate a switch to a new chat room corresponding to the new channel.  
         [0037]     Thus, a method, device and system for providing different modes of displaying combined video and Internet content, particularly chat and corresponding television shows, is provided in accordance with the present invention. Numerous modifications in form and detail may be made by those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention. Although this invention has been shown in relation to a particular preferred embodiment, it should not be considered so limited. Rather, the present invention is limited only by the scope of the appended claims.