Patent Publication Number: US-2018035167-A1

Title: Content presentation device and method

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present disclosure relates to presentation and management of content items in a program guide for video content. 
     BACKGROUND 
     With the development of modern audio/video technologies, people can instantly access large amount of content at any given time from various sources. This requires a tool that can help the users to conveniently browse available content to find a content item of interest. This can be achieved by a program guide that presents available content items along with additional information, so that the user can learn more about the content before deciding which content item to watch or record. 
     A well known method of presenting available content is a grid-type electronic programme guide (EPG) or interactive program guide (IPG), which typically has a timeline along its X axis and lists available channels on a Y axis, wherein programmes available at a particular channel at a particular time are presented in cells within the grid. 
     The existing program guide systems allow presentation of content items not only with basic data, such as content item title or genre, but also extended information, such as detailed description and/or a preview image. 
     There is a need to further improve the way the content is presented to the user, in order to achieve at least one of the effects of: providing even more extended content information so that the user can learn more about the content before deciding which content item to select for further actions (such as watching or recording), reducing of the time and/or number of actions to be performed by the user to obtain extended content information, improving the usability of the program guide, efficient use of hardware and/or software resources of a device that presents the recommended content to the user. 
     SUMMARY 
     There is disclosed a computer-implemented method for presenting content items to a user of a device having a network interface and a controller configured to generate a graphical user interface, the method comprising performing the following steps within the device: receiving, from a program guide data provider accessible over the network, program guide data for a plurality of content items; generating a graphical program guide to display program guide data for the plurality of content items; allowing the user to select a content item of interest; extracting from the program guide data, extended information for the selected content item; presenting the extended information for the selected content item. The method comprises extracting from the program guide data an URL for a trailer video clip accessible over the network from a trailer video clip provider, accessing the trailer video clip; and presenting the trailer video clip for the selected content item. 
     The method may further comprise, prior to presenting the trailer video clip, checking whether the parental rating for the selected content item complies with the parental settings for the user or the device. 
     The method may further comprise, prior to presenting the trailer video clip, waiting for a predetermined delay time. 
     The delay time can be selected from a plurality of predetermined delay times. 
     The method may comprise presenting the trailer video clip in a loop. 
     The method may comprise, presenting the trailer video clip in a reduced window within the program guide screen along with program guide data. 
     The method may comprise presenting the trailer video clip in a full-screen window. 
     The method may comprise, upon accessing the trailer video clip, storing the trailer video clip in the memory of the device. 
     There is also disclosed a non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a computer, enable presenting content items to a user of a device in accordance with the method as described above. 
     There is also disclosed a device comprising: a network interface configured to allow communication with external services over a network; and a controller configured to generate a graphical user interface and to perform the steps of the method as described above. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
       The disclosure is accompanied by the drawing, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  presents an overview of a general content distribution system. 
         FIG. 2  presents an overview of a content distribution system at a user premises. 
         FIG. 3  presents a block diagram of a mobile device at which the content presentation system can be implemented. 
         FIG. 4  presents a block diagram of a stationary device at which the content presentation system can be implemented. 
         FIG. 5A  presents data stored in user device memory. 
         FIG. 5B  presents configuration of trailer presentation modes. 
         FIG. 5C  presents configuration of trailer presentation parameters. 
         FIG. 6  presents in general a method for presenting extended content data in a form of a trailer video clip. 
         FIGS. 7A-7B  show a method for presentation of a trailer in an auto-preview mode. 
         FIG. 8  shows a method for presentation of a trailer in a full-screen mode. 
         FIG. 9  presents an embodiment of a program guide presentation scheme that allows auto-preview mode for watching trailers. 
         FIGS. 10A-B  present an embodiment of a program guide presentation scheme that allows auto-preview mode for watching trailers 
     
    
    
     NOTATION AND NOMENCLATURE 
     Some portions of the detailed description which follows are presented in terms of data processing procedures, steps or other symbolic representations of operations on data bits that can be performed on computer memory. Therefore, a computer executes such logical steps thus requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. 
     Usually these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated in a computer system. For reasons of common usage, these signals are referred to as bits, packets, messages, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like. 
     Additionally, all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Terms such as “processing” or “creating” or “transferring” or “executing” or “determining” or “detecting” or “obtaining” or “selecting” or “calculating” or “generating” or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer&#39;s registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the memories or registers or other such information storage. 
     A computer-readable (storage) medium, such as referred to herein, typically may be non-transitory and/or comprise a non-transitory device. In this context, a non-transitory storage medium may include a device that may be tangible, meaning that the device has a concrete physical form, although the device may change its physical state. Thus, for example, non-transitory refers to a device remaining tangible despite a change in state. 
     In the present disclosure, the term “video content” is to be understood more broadly as multimedia content comprising video data and associated audio data and associated additional data (such as content description, etc.). The term “video content” is used to distinguish the content from other content types, such as still images or raw data (e.g. files). 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The presented system and method are aimed for efficient presentation of extended content information in the form of video trailers. This is particularly useful for presenting extended data for movies, but also any other video content. A trailer is defined as a pre-recorded video clip that is distinct from the main video clip to which it relates. A trailer typically comprises a pre-arranged set of main video clip fragments that are designed to catch the user&#39;s attention and attract the user to watch the main video clip. The trailer typically has a length from a few seconds to a few minutes. 
       FIG. 1  presents an overview of a general content distribution system. Content can be provided to user devices  110  by various distributors from various sources. 
     A content provider  120  may provide linear TV content, such as time-and-channel based television, live broadcasts etc, to a content delivery network  100 , which may be broadcast, multicast or unicast. The user is connected with the content delivery network via a transmission channel  101 , such as a QAM, Satellite, Terrestrial, IP multicast network or other type of network. Additional services are available to the user devices  110  linked via a transmission channel  151  with the Internet  150  (or through the content provider  120  connected via a transmission channel  152  with the Internet and via a transmission channel  102  with the content delivery network  110 ) and include at least some of the following. 
     A catch-up service  140  is configured to provide, via a transmission channel  154 , retransmission the content that has been already broadcast as linear TV, in order to allow the users to watch it a few hours or even days later. 
     An Electronic Program Guide (EPG) data provider  130  is configured to provide, via a transmission channel  153 , additional data about content available from various sources, including the content available from the content delivery network  100  and the other content providers  140 ,  160 . As part of the EPG data related to extended information for content items, URL addresses are provided that point to a trailer video clip for that content item, which can be downloaded from one or more trailer providers  160 . 
     Electronic Program Guide (EPG) data provider  130  is configured to provide, via a transmission channel  153 , additional data about content available from various sources, including the content available from the content delivery network  100  and the other content providers  140 . 
     The content items for which the program guide is displayed may include live broadcast events and/or other content items, such as catch-up content, video-on-demand content, etc. 
     The transmission channels  151 - 154  may be of any known type, such as wired or wireless, using transmission technologies suitable to carry data of a particular service. 
       FIG. 2  presents an overview of a content distribution system at a user premises, such as at home or at an office. The user devices are connected to an Intranet—a local area network (LAN)  200  via an interface such as Ethernet (IP)  210 , which is connected with the Internet  150  via the transmission channel  151 . The LAN  200  preferably includes a firewall  201  and a router  202  configured to secure and coordinate data transmission. A gateway  280  may provide access to the Intranet  200  via a wireless access point (AP)  290 , such as in Wi-Fi technology. A plurality of devices may be used in the user premises. Some of the devices may be mobile devices, such as a smartphone  231 , a tablet  232  or another type of device  233 . Other devices may be mobile or stationary and include devices such as a notebook computer  241 , a personal computer  242 , a Set Top Box (STB) or a Set Back Box (SBB)  251 ,  253 ,  255  connected to a television set  252 ,  254 ,  256 , or a smart television set  260 . A broadcasting distribution interface  270  may receive content from the content delivery network  100  via the transmission channel  101  and distribute it to the other devices via direct links or via the Ethernet interface. 
       FIG. 3  presents a block diagram of a device  230 , such as a tablet or smartphone, or a smart television, a notebook or a personal computer, at which the content presentation system can be implemented, and wherein mainly the elements essential for operation of the system of the invention are shown. 
     A data receiving/transmitting block  320  is configured to communicate, via at least one transmission channel  302 , with the Ethernet (IP) network  210  or the wireless network, in order to receive content, applications and/or content data. The device may further comprise external interfaces  330  to communicate, via at least one communication channel  303 , with other devices or accessories. 
     A controller  310  comprises a plurality of units configured to provide the functionality of the system as described herein. A trailer presentation unit is configured to perform the procedure of  FIG. 6 . A time control unit  312  is configured to measure times, in particular to measure the delay times before playing the trailer video clips. The units  311 ,  312  may be implemented as stand-alone or embedded hardware units or as software applications, such as applications downloadable from an external application server. The controller  310  operates utilizing memory blocks  340 , including RAM  342  and Flash  341  blocks. 
     A clock module  360  is configured to provide timing data necessary e.g. to present content available at a current time. 
     A media player  350  is an example of a content presentation block that is configured to decode the received content and convert it to audio/video format suitable for presentation to the user. 
     The mobile device  230  typically includes its own display  370  for presenting content, typically a touch-type display which thereby also functions as an input controller. 
     All modules of the device communicate with each other via one or more internal data buses  301 . 
       FIG. 4  presents a block diagram of a stationary device, such as a set top box or a set back box  250 , at which the content presentation system can be implemented, and wherein mainly the elements essential for operation of the system of the invention are shown. 
     The elements  401 ,  410 ,  440 ,  460  are equivalent to the elements  301 ,  310 ,  340 ,  360  described with reference to the mobile device  230  of  FIG. 3 . 
     In addition, the memory block  440  may further comprise a hard disk drive (HDD)  443  or another type of mass storage that can be used to store video or other data locally at the device, but is not essential for its operation. For example, trailer video clips can be stored at the HDD  443 , in order to improve their playback—for example, trailers which are most often watched by the users (as determined by the system operator according to system usage statistics) or trailers corresponding to content items of interest to the user (according to the user profile) can be downloaded to the local memory of the device, so that they are easily accessible at the device, e.g. when the Internet connection is slow or inoperative. 
     A data receiving block  420  is configured to receive downstream data, such as video content, from the broadcasting distribution interface  270  via a channel  402  ( 101 ). The data receiving block  420  (also called a front-end block) may comprise a plurality of tuners (such as satellite, cable, terrestrial or IPTV tuners), wherein one of the tuners receives content to be displayed at the television screen to which the device is directly connected (e.g. the STB  251  connected to the TV set  252 ) and another tuner receives content to be recorded at the HDD  443 . 
     External interfaces  430 , such as the Ethernet interface, are configured to communicate, via at least one transmission channel  403 , with the Ethernet (IP) network  210  or the wireless network, in order to receive applications and/or content recommendation data, as well as to transmit user or device data. 
     The device is operable by the user via a remote control unit (RCU) that communicates, typically via a wireless transmission channel  405 , with a RCU controller block  450 . 
     An audio/video block  470  is an example of a content presentation block and configured to decode the received content, convert it to an audio/video format suitable for presentation to the user, and transmit the converted content via a transmission channel  407  to a TV set to which the device is directly connected. 
       FIG. 5A  presents data stored in user device memory  340 ,  440 . Data is stored in containers, such as tables or other data types. 
     A data set  501  comprises a particular configuration, specifying a plurality of parameter types defined in data containers  510 ,  520 . That configuration can be changed by the user of the device or remotely by a system operator. The data container  510  stores trailer presentation modes concerning the way in which the trailer can be presented to the user, as explained in details with reference to  FIG. 5B . The data container  520  stores trailer presentation parameters concerning the configuration of trailer playback, as explained in details with reference to  FIG. 5C . The data container  502  stores the most recent program guide data obtained from the EPG data provider  130 . The other data space  503  can be used to store other data. 
       FIG. 5B  presents configuration of trailer presentation modes. Two modes are presented herein: an auto-preview mode  511  as explained in details with reference to  FIGS. 7A-B  and a full-screen mode  512  as explained in details with reference to  FIG. 8 . One or both modes can be active, depending on settings for the particular device or user. 
       FIG. 5C  presents configuration of trailer presentation parameters. A parental control  521  may be active to prevent presentation of trailers for content items which do not correspond with the parental settings for that device or user. A delay time parameter  522  may comprise a plurality of predefined delay times and/or a time set by the user, which determine the delay before a playback of an item begins in step  706  of the auto-preview procedure of  FIGS. 7A-B . The delay allows the user to get acquainted with the other content description elements. For example, the delay times may be predefined as 1, 3 or 5 seconds. A loop parameter  523  defines the operation in step  711  of the auto-preview procedure of  FIGS. 7A-B . The parameters may have default values predefined for all content items, but these values may be also defined specifically for particular content items in extended content information for that content item. 
       FIG. 6  presents in general a method for presenting extended content data in a form of a trailer video clip. The procedure starts in step  601  by defining trailer presentation parameters  520 , as explained with reference to  FIG. 5C . Next, in step  602 , EPG data for the time period of interest is obtained from the EPG data provider  130 . In step  603  the GUI (Graphical User interface) module is activated to present a user interface such as the one shown in  FIGS. 9-10A -B. In step  604  a content item is selected (e.g. by the user using the remote controller), for which a trailer shall be presented. The Trailer URL (Universal Resource Locator) is extracted in step  605  from the extended information available for that selected content item. Next, in step  606 , the Internet connection is established for the address defined by the Trailer URL to obtain the content of the trailer video clip. Finally, in step  607 , the trailer video clip is presented in a proper mode, as will be described below with reference to  FIGS. 7A-B  for an auto-preview mode or with reference to  FIG. 8  for a full-screen mode. 
       FIGS. 7A-7B  show a method for presentation of a trailer in an auto-preview mode. First, a GUI module for the selected content item is executed to allow presentation of data for the selected content item. Next, a plurality of conditions are checked to verify whether to play the trailer video clip. In step  702  it is checked whether the auto-preview mode  511  is enabled in the trailer presentation modes  510  configuration. In step  703  it is checked whether a URL to the trailer has been provided with the EPG data for the selected content item and whether this URL is valid and pointing to a playable video clip. In step  704  it is checked, if the parental control parameter  521  is enabled, whether the parental rating for the selected content item corresponds with the parental rating setting for the active user—if not, the trailer will not be played, as it may comprise content not appropriate to the user. Furthermore, it is checked in step  705  whether an inverted PIP (Picture-in-Picture) option is activated, and if so, the system can be configured not to play the trailer, such as not to distract the user by playing a plurality of videos at the same time. If the conditions checked are satisfactory, then the trailer playback is prepared, first by starting counting a selected delay time  522 , as specified by the presentation parameters  520 , in step  706 . One of the predefined delay times may be selected depending on the type of content. For example, shorter delay time (e.g. the 1 st  delay time, set e.g. to 0 seconds or 1 second) may be selected for content items for children (who typically do not read textual content descriptions but are more willing to watch a trailer). In contrast, longer delay time (e.g. the 3 rd  delay time, set e.g. to 5 seconds) may be selected for documentary content items (where the user typically reads textual content description first and only then would be willing to watch the trailer). Furthermore, the delay time may be selected depending on the amount of textual content description available for the content item—for content items with a short description or no description at all, a shorter delay time may be selected than for content items with a longer description. After the delay time is elapsed in step  707 , the trailer is played in step  708  until the user interrupts it in step  709  or until it finishes in step  710 . Depending on the setting of the loop parameter  523 , the trailer may be played once, a number of times or infinitely in a loop, according to a decision taken in step  711 . During the payback of the trailer, the audio that is played may correspond to the audio of the trailer or to the audio of the currently active content item on the currently active channel. 
       FIG. 8  shows a method for presentation of a trailer in a full-screen mode. In step  801  an action screen for the selected content item is executed, which lists actions that are available for that content item. An action allowing the user to watch a full-screen trailer is activated for that content item in step  806  if a plurality of conditions are confirmed: the trailer is available for that item, i.e. an URL is specified in the extended information for that item and points to a valid address (step  802 ), the Internet connection is operative (step  803 ), the parental rating for that content item corresponds with the user settings (step  804 ) and the PIP option is not activated (step  805 ). Otherwise, the action allowing the user to watch full-screen trailer is not active and the trailer is not available for that item. Once the user selects the action in step  807 , it is activated and the trailer video clip is played in full screen mode, along with corresponding audio, as shown in  FIGS. 10A-10B . 
       FIG. 9  presents one embodiment of a program guide presentation scheme that allows auto-preview mode for watching trailers. The background  902  of the screen  901  may comprise an image or a video of the currently watched content. The presented program guide has a form of a grid, but the auto-preview mode can be also applied in an equivalent manner to other types of program guide configurations. In the presented grid, a list of channels  960 ,  970  is presented vertically. For a number of channels  960 , a grid  920  is presented in the main portion  911  of the screen, listing content items  921  available on these channels in particular times, according to the timeline  890  and selected day  980  and current time  903 . For each channel of the list  960 ,  970 , a graphical icon  941  may be presented in a list  940 ,  950 , such as a logo of that channel. For channels  970  outside the grid range, only the channel number and icon may be presented in supplementary portions  910  of the screen, to facilitate browsing the list. A user may select a particular channel  961  and a content item of interest  921  on that channel. For the selected content item, extended textual information  931  and graphical information  932  (such as a preview screen) is displayed. Within the graphical window  932 , the trailer may be played. 
       FIG. 10A  presents one embodiment of a program guide presentation scheme that allows auto-preview mode for watching trailers. The background  902  of the screen  901  may comprise an image or a video of the currently watched content. The screen can be activated by selecting an item of interest in the program guide mode (e.g. such as in  FIG. 9 ) and asking for a list of actions available for that content item. Upon meeting the criteria of steps  802 - 805  of the procedure of  FIG. 8 , the “watch trailer” action  1011  becomes active in the list of actions  1012  in the screen portion  1010 . That screen  901  may further comprise content information  1003 , channel icon  1001  and graphical window  1002 , wherein a snapshot graphics can be presented or a trailer video clip can be played. 
       FIG. 10B  presents an example configuration of screen after the full-screen playback of the trailer is finished on screen of  FIG. 10A . In that case, a list of actions  1010  shows a selection enabling to start over  1013  the playback of the trailer or to cancel the full-screen playback and return to other GUI screens, e.g. the grid program guide. 
     It can be easily recognized, by one skilled in the art, that the aforementioned method for presentation of content may be performed and/or controlled by one or more computer programs. Such computer programs are typically executed by utilizing the computing resources in a computing device. Applications are stored on a non-transitory medium. An example of a non-transitory medium is a non-volatile memory, for example a flash memory while an example of a volatile memory is RAM. The computer instructions are executed by a processor. These memories are exemplary recording media for storing computer programs comprising computer-executable instructions performing all the steps of the computer-implemented method according the technical concept presented herein. 
     While the invention presented herein has been depicted, described, and has been defined with reference to particular preferred embodiments, such references and examples of implementation in the foregoing specification do not imply any limitation on the invention. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader scope of the technical concept. The presented preferred embodiments are exemplary only, and are not exhaustive of the scope of the technical concept presented herein. 
     Accordingly, the scope of protection is not limited to the preferred embodiments described in the specification, but is only limited by the claims that follow.