US007614066B2
(12) United States Patent
(10) Patent N0.2
Urdang et a].
(45) Date of Patent:
(54)
USE OF MULTIPLE EMBEDDED MESSAGES IN PROGRAM SIGNAL STREAMS
(75)
Inventors: Erik G. Urdang, Boulder, CO (US);
5,253,066 A
_
(Commued) FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
(73) Assignee: Time Warner Interactive Video Group IIlC., Stamford, CT (US)
Notice:
Nov. 3, 2009
10/1993 Vogel
John B. Carlucci, Boulder, CO (US)
(*)
US 7,614,066 B2
W0
WO 01/56285
8/2001
Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35
U.S.C. 154(1)) by 1021 days.
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
_
Society of Cable Telecommunication Engineers, “Digital Program
(21) Appl' NO" 10/428’676
Insertion Cueing Message for Cable,” ANSI/SCTE 35, Dec. 14,
(22) Filed:
2001'
May 1, 2003
(65)
Prior Publication Data Us 2004/0010807 A1
(
Continued
)
Primary Examinerilason P Salce (74) Attorney, Agent, or FirmiStraub & Pokotylo; Michael
Jan‘ 15’ 2004
Related US. Application Data
P' Straub; Abbas H' Zaldl
(63) Continuation-in-part of application No. 10/263,015,
(57)
ABSTRACT
?led on Oct. 2, 2002.
(60) 52832011211 application NO‘ 60/377963’ ?led on May ’
'
creating a sequence of serial programs that include a ?rst
(51) IntCl 52
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(2006 01)
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(200601)
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secon ,
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occurnn
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event an
a
plurahty of messages 1n the sequence of ser1al programs, betWeen the ?rst event and the second event. The messages
' 725/34 725/32 725/35
may be indicative ofa time to the second event, as measured
14_ 7’25/116_ ’725/138f
from each respective message of an elapsed time since the
725/1’44_ 725;146_ 386;46_ 386/8’3_ 386/95’
?rst event, to each respective message. Alternatively or in
'
_
(58)
.d a
event an
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)
A method of generating a program signal stream comprises
_
’_
’
’
’
addition, the messages may be at equal time intervals betWeen
Field of Classi?cation Search ................. .. 725/58,
the ?rst event and Second events The ?rst and Second events
725/32’ 34’36’ 114’ 116’ 138’ 144’ 146;
may be the start and end ofa program or a program portion,
_
_
386/46’ 83’ 95
such as a chapter, an advertisement, unscheduled content or
See apphcanon ?le for Complete Search hlstory'
an entire program, for example. At least one message indica
References Cited
tive of the time' to the second 'event may be inserted in the
(56)
sequence of ser1al programs prior to the ?rst event.
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
4,476,488 A
10/1984 Merrell
34 Claims, 13 Drawing Sheets
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US 7,614,066 B2 Page 2 U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
5,335,277 5,357,276 5,371,551 5,377,051 5,436,917 5,479,303 5,543,927 5,550,640 5,579,183 5,606,359 5,625,406 5,659,350 5,671,386 5,687,275 5,699,360 5,727,113 5,729,648 5,748,254 5,771,335 5,805,762 5,805,763 5,822,018 5,822,493 5,850,218 5,915,068 6,005,603 6,046,760 6,052,588 6,055,358 6,065,050 6,108,002 6,115,532 6,118,922 6,172,712 6,177,931 6,233,389 6,314,572 6,324,338 6,327,275 6,351,596 6,370,319 6,378,130 6,389,218 6,442,328 6,510,554 6,515,680 6,549,718 6,721,794 6,771,317 6,853,728 6,938,268 7,024,678 B2
>i D
2001/0021926 2002/0016970 2002/0042924 2002/0059621 2002/0075402 2002/0107940 2002/0138831 2002/0174438 2003/0048671 2003/0093800 2003/0149988 2003/0159151 2003/0172376 2004/0010807 2004/0015999 2004/0040035
A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1
8/1994 10/1994 12/1994 12/1994 7/1995 12/1995 8/1996 8/1996 11/1996 2/1997 4/1997 8/1997 9/1997 11/1997 12/1997 3/1998 3/1998 5/1998 6/1998 9/1998 9/1998 10/1998 10/1998 12/1998 6/1999 12/1999 4/2000 4/2000 4/2000 5/2000 8/2000 9/2000 9/2000 1/2001 1/2001 5/2001 11/2001 11/2001 12/2001 2/2002 4/2002 4/2002 5/2002 8/2002 1/2003 2/2003 4/2003 4/2004 8/2004 2/2005 8/2005 4/2006 9/2001 2/2002 4/2002 5/2002 6/2002 8/2002 9/2002 11/2002 3/2003 5/2003 8/2003 8/2003 9/2003 1/2004 1/2004 2/2004
2004/0078817 A1
Harvey et al.
4/2004 Horowitz et al.
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Banker et al.
Logan et al. Lane et al. Karasawa Suzuki et al. HerZ Tsuboi et al. Van Gestel et al. Youden et al.
Newberry et al. Hendricks et al. Blair et al. Lane et al. Nishida et al. Shimoda
Consumer Electronics Association, “CEA Standard, Line 21 Data Services,” CEA-608-B, Oct. 2000.
Society of Cable Telecommunication Engineers, “Digital Program Insertion Cueing Message for Cable,” SCTE/DVS 253, Sep. 27, 1999.
US. Appl. No. 10/428,900, ?led May 1, 2003, Carlucci et al. US. Appl. No. 10/428,719, ?led May 1, 2003, Carlucci et al. “PVR copyright concerns raised”, Audio Week, Aug. 23, 1999, sec tion: This Week’s News, 1999 Warren Publishing, Inc., pp. 1-3. Society of Cable Telecommunication Engineers, Inc., “Digital Pro gram Insertion Cueing Message for Cable,” SCTE/DVS 253, Sep. 27, 1999, pp. 1-26. Roy Furchgott, Don’t people want to control their T.V.’s?, The New York Times, Aug. 24, 2000, Section G, p. 1, col. 2, Circuits, 2000 The New York Times Company, pp. 1-5. Consumer Electonics Association, “CEA Standard,Line 21 Data Ser vices,” CEA-608-B, Oct. 2000, 152 total pages.
Boyce et al. Harrison et al. Lee
Society of Cable Telecommunication Engineers, “Digital Program Insertion Cueing Message for Cable,” ANSI/SCTE 35, Dec. 14,
Boyce et al. Lawler et al. Farmer Uehara et al. LaJoie et al. Levine Flavin Jun Mo et al.
2001, 25 pages total.
Dale Buss, “Ultra TV”, Brandmarketing, Sep. 1999, vol.VI, No. 9, p. 74, ISSN 1091-6962, Fairchild Publications, 6 pages total. Brian Lowry, “Television, as you like it; Today’s gadgetry is smart enough to let viewers choose camera angles, or kick back and rewind as the action unfolds live. Watch it, and it watches back”. Los Angeles
Times, Feb. 13, 2000, section: Calender, p. 8, Calendar Desk, 2000 Times Mirror Company, 4 pages total. Christoper Grimes and Peter Thal Larsen, “Inside Track: TV viewers can box clever: TechnologyVideo Recorders: personal video record
Traxlmayr DeMoney IshiZaki Saeki
ers will be a godsend for viewers. But what about the schedulers”,
Van Gestel et al. Beard Alexander et al. Barton et al. LaRocca et al. Wood et al. Gardner et al. Ostrover Matsumoto et al. Adams Gordon et al. Elliott et al. Gordon et al. Hendricks et al. Grooters et al. ............. .. 386/83
Financial Times Lone Ed., Jun. 23, 2000, p. 18, ISSN 0307-1766, pp. 1-2.
Patricia Sabga; Charles Molineaux, “TiVo4CEO, CNNfn”, tran script #0090110FN-107, interview Michael Ramsay, The NEW. show, Sep. 1, 2000, Friday 5:18 pm. EST, 2000 Cable News Net work, pp. 1-2.
Mary Kathleen Flynn; Steve Young, “Interactive TV, CNNfn”, transript #00081407FN-111, interview Josh Bernoff, Digital Jam, Aug. 14, 2000, Monday 8:08pm. EST, 2000 Cable News Network, pp. 3-5.
“More ‘convergence’ digital video recorders emerge”, Video Week, Jun. 19, 2000, section: This Week’s News, 2000 Warren Publishing, Inc, pp. 57-60. “TiVo and replay sign cable deals to boost PVR distribution”, Warren Cable Regulation Monitor, Aug. 21, 2000, section This Week’ s News, 2000 Warren Publishing, Inc, 4 pages total.
Taylor et al.
Future VOD rule of studios vs. other companies debated:, Video
Ellis et al. Kahn et al.
Week, Apr. 10, 2000, section: This Week’s News, 2000 Warren Pub lishing, Inc, pp. 36-38. Raymond Snoddy, “The TiVoiTV’ s nemesis?”, Times Newspapers Ltd., Sep. 1, 2000, section: Features, 2000 Times Newspapers Lim ited (The Times London), pp. 1-2. Marc Gunther; Irene Gashurov, “When technology attacksl; Your
Hodge Gordon et al. Schneck et al.
Negishi et al.
TV. is looking weird Network executives are getting ?ustered. View
Adams Thomas et al. Robson et al.
ing choices are exploding. That’s what happens . . . ”, Fortune, Mar.
6, 2000, section: Features/Television, p. 152, 2000 Time Inc, 2 pages ............ .. 348/460
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Brassil Wachtfo gel et al. Cleary et al.
“Independent study shows TiVo service increases enjoyment and changes people’s attitudes towards T.V.”, PR Newswire, May 2, 2000, 2000 FT Asia Intelligence Wire; 200 PR Newswire, pp. 1-2.
Yo shikawa et al. Demas et al. Ellis et al. Ikeda
“Personal video recorders (PVRs) and HDTV are Keys”, Warren
Urdang Carlucci Carlucci
Cable Regulation Monitor, Jan. 20, 2003, WLNR 7301805, Warren Publishing Inc., pp. 1-2. Amendment dated Sep. 9, 2008 from US. Appl. No. 10/428,900, ?led May 1, 2003, pp. 1-15. Amendment dated Sep. 9, 2008 from US. Appl. No. 10/428,719, ?led May 1, 2003, pp. 1-31. U.S. Appl. No. 10/428,676, ?led May 1, 2003, Erik G. Urdang.
US 7,614,066 B2 Page 3 Of?ce Action Dated Jan. 22, 2009 from US. Appl. No. 10/428,719, ?led May 1, 2003, 1-43 pages. Of?ce Action Dated Dec. 23, 2008 from US. Appl. No. 10/428,900, ?led May 1, 2003, 1-15 pages.
Of?ce Action Dated May 22, 2009 from US. Appl. No. 10/428,900, ?led May 1, 2003, 1-15 pages.
* cited by examiner
US. Patent
Nov. 3, 2009
Sheet 1 0f 13
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Sheet 3 0f 13
US 7,614,066 B2
FIG. 2b
100
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PROGRAM STREAM
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US. Patent
Nov. 3, 2009
Sheet 4 0f 13
US 7,614,066 B2
FIG. 4
G4 IDENTIFY EVENT
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US. Patent
Nov. 3, 2009
Sheet 5 0f 13
FIG. 6
/
SCAN PROGRAM STREAM INCLUDING SEGMENTATION MESSAGES I
DERIVE ENCODED INFORMATION 206 IS THERE RIGHT TO STORE PROGRAM ?
DERIVE ADDITIONAL ENCODED INFORMATION 7
SEGMENT AND STORE PROGRAM BASED ON SEGMENTATION MESSAGES PROGRAM IS AVAILABLE FOR RETRIEVAL I
COMPARE START AND END TIMES TO PROGRAM GUIDE DATA V
UPDATE PROGRAM GUIDE DATA IF NECESSARY
US 7,614,066 B2
200
US. Patent
Nov. 3, 2009
Sheet 6 6f 13
US 7,614,066 B2
FIG. 7
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Nov. 3, 2009
Sheet 7 0f 13
US 7,614,066 B2
FIG. 8
RECEIVE REQUEST EoR PROGRAMMING
w 302
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308
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w 310
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INTERFACE
» 272
PROCESSOR PVR
MEMORY
278 " 274
J‘ 276
US. Patent
Nov. 3, 2009
US 7,614,066 B2
Sheet 8 0f 13
FIG.
10a
/ 35D BROADCASTING A PROGRAM SIGNAL STREAM TO A TERMINAL II
IDENTIFYING AN ADVERTISING INSERTIDN POINT IN THE PROGRAM SIGNAL STREAM II
INSERTING ADVERTISING AT THE IDENTIFIED INSERTIDN POINT II
IDENTIFYING AN END OF ADVERTISING POINT IN THE PROGRAM SIGNAL STREAM I
PROVIDING THE PROGRAM SIGNAL STREAM FROM THE SET-TOP TERMINAL TO DISPLAY
w 358
US. Patent
Nov. 3, 2009
Sheet 9 0f 13
US 7,614,066 B2
FIG. 10b RECEIVE PROGRAM STREAM INCLUDING SEGMENTATION MESSAGES
[280 v“ 282
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w 284
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w 294
AND COMPARE TO RECORDING END TIME I;
ADJUST RECORDING END TIME IF NECESSARY J‘ 296 ‘I
END RECORDING
J‘ 298
US. Patent
Nov. 3, 2009
Sheet 11 0f 13
FIG.
11b
US 7,614,066 B2
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US. Patent
Nov. 3, 2009
Sheet 12 0f 13
US 7,614,066 B2
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US 7,614,066 B2 1
2
USE OF MULTIPLE EMBEDDED MESSAGES IN PROGRAM SIGNAL STREAMS
tain shoW or commercial segments may be skipped and therefore not broadcast). Thus, in the example above, if a user records through an EPG a particular shoW Which Was sched uled to broadcast from 11:00 PM to 1 1 :30 PM, but it actually broadcast from 1 1 : 1 5 PM to 11:45 PM because of a prolonged baseball game, the user Would not record the desired pro
The present application is a continuation-in-part of US. application Ser. No. 10/263,015, ?led on Oct. 2, 2002, Which is incorporated by reference herein. US. application Ser. No. 10/263,015 claims the bene?t of US. Provisional Application No. 60/377,963, ?led on May 3, 2002, under 35 USC 119
gramming content. Instead, in this instance, the user’s PVR Would record the last ?fteen minutes of the baseball game and
only the ?rst ?fteen (out of thirty) minutes of that particular
(e)
shoW. PVRs have other disadvantages. For example, like a VCR, a PVR is a standalone device Which requires yet another remote control to operate the device, in addition to those remote controls for a TV set, set-top box, DVD player, VCR, etc., Which may already be confusing to a user. Another
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to communications systems and methods, and more particularly, to a system and method using multiple embedded messages in program signal streams.
disadvantage is that a prior art PVR only records (a) the last X BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Personal video recorders (PVRs), also knoWn as digital video recorders (DVRs), such as TiVO and ReplayTV
20
devices, are popular noWadays for their enhanced capacities in recording television programming. They may offer such
rial other than (a) or (b) is not recorded by a PVR, thereby limiting the materials that a user can revieW. For example, the PVR user cannot revieW any unrecorded program after its
functions as “one-touch programming” for automatically recording every episode of a shoW for an entire season, “com
mercial advance” for automatically skipping through com
minute program material played on the channel to Which the user actually tunes, Where X represents a limited value, and (b) desired programs Which need to be identi?ed to or by the PVR in advance of their broadcast. Thus, any program mate
broadcast. Still another disadvantage is that limited by the 25
number of tuners therein, a prior art PVR is not capable of
mercials While Watching a recorded broadcast, an “on-screen
recording programs in their entirety Which have overlapping
guide” for looking up recorded programs to vieW, etc. The
broadcast times and the number of Which is greater than the number of tuners, thereby further limiting the materials that a
PVRs may also suggest programs for recording based on a
user’s vieWing habit. These devices also enable the “paus ing”, “reWinding” and “fast-forwarding” of a live television (“TV”) broadcast While it is being recorded. PVRs typically use electronic program guides (EPGs) to facilitate the selection of programming content for recording,
user can revieW. 30
storing broadcasted programs for later retrieval by customers. TV programs may be acquired and stored in real time, from
multiple origination points. Typically, entire program streams
Without having to set a timer. EPGs are also used to manage,
identify, select and record programming content on program
35
channels made available by cable television (TV) netWorks. A
program times in an EPG and transmit the program to the 40
the actual broadcast start or end time of a program is different
than the EPG start or end time, programming content is often recorded that the user did not Want, or all of the programming content that the user intended to record is not actually recorded. The actual start and end times for a given broadcast pro gram may be different than the EPG start and end times for various reasons. For example, suppose a sports event, such as a baseball game, is scheduled to broadcast on a given evening from 7:30 PM to 10:30 PM, but because of extra innings or a
for each broadcast channel are stored each day. When a cus
tomer requests a particular program that has already been broadcast and stored, the VOD service system may fetch the content of the requested program from storage based on the
user’ s ability to accurately record a broadcast program With a
PVR may be contingent upon the accuracy of the broadcast start and end times of the program prescribed by EPG data (hereinafter “EPG start and end times”). In instances Where
Video on demand (“VOD”) services, such as a subscription
VOD service, address at least some of these disadvantages by
customer. HoWever, EPG data does not provide program start and end times accurately enough to ensure that content is cleanly de?ned betWeen elements. Advertising before or after a program, Which may have to be shoWn along With a
requested program due to contractual obligations, may be 45
clipped. Portions of programs before or after the shoW may
also be provided, Which may violate copyrights and contrac tual obligations With respect to those other programs. In addi tion, the EPG data does not take into consideration deviations betWeen the scheduled start and end times and the actual start
user Would miss the last 45 minutes of the game (i.e., from
and end times due to unscheduled program overruns or unscheduled special programs, as discussed above. If a pro gram has been delayed, retrieval of a stored program based on EPG data Will typically not enable retrieval of all or even part of the requested program. A user may therefore expect a program that they do not receive in Whole or in part. EPG data also only indicates program start and end times. It does not
10:30 PM to 1 1 :15 PM). Other examples of programs ending later than expected include a Presidential Address, a special
provide any information about the location of logical blocks or chapters Within the program, such as monologs, skits,
50
rain delay, the game continues until 11:15 PM. Although the actual time of the game is from 7:30 PM to 1 1 :15 PM, the start
and end times listed and provided by the EPG Will be 7:30 PM and 10:30 PM, respectively. Accordingly, if a user selects to
record the baseball game using the EPG in this instance, the
55
musical performances, guest appearances, sports highlights,
neWs shoW or an aWards ceremony. Certain Presidential
Addresses or special neWs shoWs may not be scheduled at all.
60
intervieWs, Weather reports, etc., or advertising and advertis
Technical dif?culties causing the content provider to broad
ing insertion points.
cast a program at a time other than that Which is scheduled may also cause such a variance.
many TV broadcast streams are transmitted in digital formats.
With the advent of digital communications technology,
For example, Digital Satellite System (DSS), Digital Broad
In addition, When the time of one program provided on a
speci?c channel is off schedule, subsequent programs pro vided by the channel may also be affected, unless the sched uled programming content is manipulated (for example, cer
65
cast Services (DBS), and Advanced Television Standards Committee (ATSC) broadcast streams are digitally formatted
pursuant to the Well knoWn Moving Pictures Experts Group 2
US 7,614,066 B2 3
4
(MPEG-2) standard. The MPEG-2 standard speci?es, among others, the methodologies for video and audio data compres sions Which alloW multiple programs, With different video and audio feeds, multiplexed in a transport stream traversing
stream. The splice information table and cue messages may be sent multiple times. For example, a cue message may be
sent 8, 5, 4 and 2 seconds prior to the splice event. Unautho riZed parties may intercept the splice information and use it to avoid the vieWing of advertising or for other commercially deleterious purposes. The splice information may be encrypted to interfere With such interception.
a single broadcast channel. A digital TV receiver may be used to decode an MPEG-2 encoded transport stream and extract
the desired program therefrom. The prior art PVRs take
advantage of MPEG-2 compression of video and audio data SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
to maximiZe use of their limited storage capacity. In accordance With the MPEG-2 standard, video data is compressed based on a sequence of groups of pictures
In accordance With one embodiment of the invention, a
(“GOPs”), in Which each GOP typically begins With an intra coded picture frame (also knoWn as an “I-frame”), Which is
method of generating a program signal stream is disclosed comprising creating a sequence of serial programs that
obtained by spatially compressing a complete picture using
include a ?rst event and a second event occurring after the ?rst
discrete cosine transform (DCT). As a result, if an error or a
event. The method further comprises inserting a plurality of
channel sWitch occurs, it is possible to resume correct decod ing at the next I-frame.
messages in the sequence of serial programs, betWeen the ?rst
The GOP may represent up to 15 additional frames by providing a much smaller block of digital data that indicates hoW small portions of the I-frame, referred to as macroblocks, move over time. Thus, MPEG-2 achieves its compression by
time to the second event, as measured from each respective message, and an elapsed time since the ?rst event, to each respective message. The messages may be at equal time inter vals betWeen the ?rst event and the second event. The ?rst
event and the second event. The messages are indicative of a
20
assuming that only small portions of an image change over time, making the representation of these additional frames extremely compact. Although GOPs have no relationship betWeen themselves, the frames Within a GOP have a speci?c
event may be a start of a program portion, the second event may be an end of a program portion and the messages may be 25
relationship Which builds off the initial I-frame. The compressed video and audio data are carried by con tinuous elementary streams, respectively, Which are broken
ter, an advertisement, unscheduled content or an entire pro
into packets, resulting in packetiZed elementary streams (PESs). These packets are identi?ed by headers that contain
inserted betWeen the start of the program portion and the end of the program portion. The program portion may be a chap
30
time stamps for synchronization, and are used to form
gram, for example. At least one mes sage indicative of the time to the second event may be inserted in the sequence of serial programs prior to the ?rst event. The time to the second event may be undetermined. For example, the second event may be the end of overtime in a
sporting event. In that case, a plurality of messages may be inserted in the sequence of serial programs, each being
MPEG-2 transport streams. For digital broadcasting, multiple programs and their associated PESs are multiplexed into a 35
indicative of an anticipated time to the second event. The sequence of programs may be provided to a cable system or to
multiple programs encoded With different clocks can be car
a receiving device coupled to a display device. An example of
ried. A transport stream not only comprises a multiplex of
40
a receiving device is a set top terminal. In accordance With an aspect of this embodiment, a system is disclosed comprising a processor programmed to create a sequence of serial programs including a ?rst event and a
single transport stream. A transport stream has PES packets further subdivided into short ?xed-siZe data packets, in Which audio and video PESs, but also other data such as MPEG-2
program speci?c information (“PSI”) describing the transport stream. The MPEG-2 PSI includes a program associated table
(“PAT”) that lists every program in the transport stream. Each entry in the PAT points to a program map table (PMT) that lists the elementary streams making up each program. Some
second event occurring after the ?rst event, and insert a plu rality of messages in the sequence, betWeen the ?rst and
programs are open, but some programs may be subject to
second event, as measured from each respective message, and an elapsed time since the ?rst event, to each respective mes sage. The system includes an interface coupled to the proces sor, to receive the sequence of serial programs and to send the sequence to another device. In accordance With another embodiment of the invention, a method of generating a program signal stream is disclosed
conditional access (encryption) and this information is also carried in the MPEG-2 PSI. The aforementioned ?xed-siZe data packets in a transport stream each carry a packet identi?er (“PID”) code. Packets in
second events. The messages are indicative of a time to the 45
the same elementary streams all have the same PID, so that a
decoder can select the elementary stream(s) it needs and reject the remainder. Packet-continuity counts are imple
50
comprising creating a sequence of serial programs including a ?rst event and a later occurring second event and inserting a
mented to ensure that every packet that is needed to decode a stream is received.
plurality of messages in the sequence, betWeen the ?rst and second events, at equal time intervals. The messages may be
Cue tones have been inserted into analog program streams
by content providers to indicate insertion points for advertise ments by cable systems. Cue tones are often missed, hoWever,
55
resulting in lost opportunities to insert advertising or clipping of inserted advertising, adversely impacting advertising rev
method of operating a system for presenting programming
enue.
American National Standard ANSI/SCTE 35 2001 (For
60
merly DVS 253), Digital Program Insertion Cueing Messages for Cable (May 8, 2001) referred to herein as the DVS 253
Standard, Which is incorporated by reference herein, supports the splicing of MPEG-2 digital streams for the insertion of advertising and other content. Splice information may be
indicative of a time to the second event, as measured from
each respective message and an elapsed time since the ?rst event, to each respective message. In accordance With another embodiment of the invention, a
65
content is disclosed comprising receiving a sequence of serial programs including a ?rst event and a later occurring second event and receiving a plurality of messages in the sequence, betWeen the ?rst and second events The messages may be indicative of a time to the second event, as measured from each respective message, and a time since the ?rst event, to
provided in a splice information table associated With a par
each respective message. The plurality of messages may be
ticular program and/or in a cue message in the program
received at equal time intervals betWeen the ?rst event and the
US 7,614,066 B2 5
6
second event. The ?rst event may be a start of a program
FIG. 11a is another example of an origination system of a source of FIG. 1, that may provide segmentation messages in an analog program signal stream in accordance With an
portion and the second event may be an end of a program portion. The program portion may be a chapter or an adver
tising portion, for example.
embodiment of the invention; FIG. 11b is another example of an analog origination sys tem, Which provides program signal streams both With and Without segmentation messages;
If the ?rst event is the start of an advertising portion and the second event is an end of the advertising portion, the method
may comprise inserting advertising starting at the start of the advertising portion and ending the insertion of advertising at the end of the advertising portion. The method may also comprise receiving a plurality of
FIG. 12 is an example of a headend of the cable system of
FIG. 1, for reception of analog program signal streams; and FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a video signal marked
With segmentation messages in accordance With another embodiment of the invention.
messages in the sequence of serial programs betWeen a third event prior to the ?rst event and the second event by a receiv
ing device, such as a set top terminal, coupled to a display device. In accordance With an aspect of this embodiment, a system is disclosed comprising a processor programmed to create a
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
A method of generating a program signal stream comprises creating a sequence of serial programs that include a ?rst event and a second, later occurring event and inserting a
sequence of serial programs including a ?rst event and a
second event occurring after the ?rst event, and insert a plu rality of messages in the sequence, betWeen the ?rst and second events, in equal time intervals. The system includes an interface coupled to the processor, to receive the sequence of
plurality of messages in the sequence of serial programs, 20
from each respective message and of an elapsed time since the ?rst event, to each respective message. Alternatively or in addition, the messages may be at equal time intervals betWeen
serial programs and to send the sequence to another device. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 25
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of certain components of a
broadband communications system embodying principles of an embodiment of the invention, including sources of pro gramming, a cable system and set-top terminals at customers
premises;
30
FIG. 2a is a schematic representation of a program stream, such as a video stream, segmented With segmentation mes sages in accordance With an embodiment of the invention; FIG. 2b is an example of a content related segmentation message in a program signal stream; FIG. 20 is an example of a rights related segmentation message in a signal program stream; FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example of an origination system of a source of programming of FIG. 1, for uplinking
35
video transport streams With segmentation messages, in
40
Prior to discussing these embodiments of the present implement the invention, are discussed. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of certain components of a
sources 12, cable system 14 and a plurality of service area nodes 16-1 through 16-m in a neighborhood. Service area 45
FIG. 5b shoWs certain components of an example of an 50
system 14 through an origination system 20. Sources 12 include analog and digital satellite sources that typically pro vide the traditional forms of television broadcast programs and information services. Sources 12 also include terrestrial
FIG. 7 is an example of a portion of memory storing a program and program portions as assets in respective memory
broadcasters, such as broadcast netWorks (CBS, NBC, ABC, etc., for example), Which typically transmit content from one 55
FIG. 8 is a ?owchart describing a method of retrieving stored assets for transmittal to customers upon request, in accordance With another embodiment of the invention; FIG. 9 is an example of a con?guration of a set-top terminal
ground antenna to another ground antenna and/or via cable. Sources 12 may also include application servers, Which typi
cally provide executable code and data for application spe ci?c services such as database services, netWork management services, transactional electronic commerce services, system 60
FIG. 10a is an example of a method of operating a cable system, Where the set-top terminal of FIG. 9 can insert adver
administration console services, application speci?c services (such as stock ticker, sports ticker, Weather and interactive program guide data), resource management service, connec tion management services, subscriber cares services, billing
tising;
messages;
node 16-1, for example, is coupled to set-top terminals 18-1 through 18-n, at customer’s TV’s. Cable system 14 delivers information and entertainment services to set-top terminals 18-1 through 18-n. Sources 12 create and broadcast programming to cable
invention;
FIG. 10b is an example of a method of operating the set-top terminal of FIG. 9, to adjust recording times of a personal video recorder (PVR), if necessary, based on segmentation
broadband communications system 10 embodying principles of the invention. The system includes one or more program
acquisition/ staging (A/S) processor of FIG. 5a;
of the cable system of FIG. 1;
insertion of advertising, for example. invention, examples of communications systems that may
headend of the cable system of FIG. 1;
locations;
tive of the time to the second event may be inserted in the sequence of serial programs prior to the ?rst event. Methods of receiving such program streams and systems are disclosed
response to the message, at an appropriate time, such as the
signal stream for delivery by the origination system of FIG. 3,
FIG. 6 is an example of a method of operation of the cable system FIG. 1, in accordance With an embodiment of the
the ?rst event and second events. The ?rst and second events may be the start and end of a program or a program portion, such as a chapter, an advertisement, unscheduled content or an entire program, for example. At least one message indica
as Well. The plurality of messages provide redundancy that improves receiving equipment’s ability to take action in
accordance With an embodiment of the invention; FIG. 4 is an example of a method of preparing a program
in accordance With one embodiment of the invention; FIG. 5a shoWs certain components of an example of a
betWeen the ?rst event and the second event. The messages may be indicative of a time to the second event, as measured
services, operation system services, and object management 65
services; and media servers, Which provide time-critical media assets such as Moving Pictures Experts Group 2 (“MPEG-2”) standard encoded video and audio, MPEG-2
US 7,614,066 B2 7
8
encoded still images, bit-mapped graphic images, PCM digi tal audio, three dimensional graphic objects, application pro grams, application data ?les, etc. Although speci?c examples
vieW, Weather report, and innings of a baseball game, for example. Chapter 108 starts at point 108a and ends at point 10819. A netWork commercial 110 and a local commercial 112 are also included Within the expanse of program 102, With
of programs and services Which may be provided by the aforementioned sources are given herein, other programs and services may also be provided by these or other sources
respective start and end points 11011, 110b, 112a, 1121). Unscheduled content 132 is indicated, With start and end times 132a, 132b, respectively, to represent an overrun of a program, such as overtime in a sports event, for example.
Without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. An example of an origination system 20 that inserts segmen tation messages into a program signal stream to facilitate
Unscheduled content 132 could also be neWs bulletin. Unscheduled content 132 may or may not be present in a particular program or program stream. A TV program may contain more or feWer chapters 108, netWork commercials
storage, retrieval and management of programming by cable system 14, is discussed in more detail With respect to FIG. 3, beloW. Cable system 14 includes headend 22, Which processes program materials, such as TV program streams, for example,
110 and local commercials 112. Content-related segmenta
from sources 12 in digital and analog forms. Digital TV streams may be formatted according to Motorola Digicipher
tionmessages 114,116,118,120,122,124,126,128,134 and
System, Scienti?c Atlanta PoWervieW Systems, the Digital Satellite System (DSS), Digital Broadcast Services (DBS), or
also indicated. Segmentation message 114, Which may be referred to as a program start message, indicates that TV program 102 Will start in A seconds from the time of the appearance of that
Advanced Television Standards Committee (ATSC) stan dards, for example. Analog TV program streams may be formatted according to the National Television Standards
136 in accordance With an embodiment of the invention are
20
message. The time period may be de?ned in segmentation
Committee (NTSC) or Phase Alternating Line (PAL) broad
message 114. Segmentation message 114 may also include a
cast standard. Headend 22 extracts program content in the
program identi?cation code (“PIC”) that uniquely identi?es
analog and digital TV streams and reformats the content to form one or more MPEG-2 encoded transport streams for 25
transmission to users at set-top terminals 18-1 through 18-n.
Such reformatting may be applied to those received streams already in an MPEG-2 format. This stems from the fact that the digital content in the received MPEG-2 streams are typi cally encoded at a variable bit rate (VBR). To avoid data burstiness, headend 22 may re-encode such digital content at
mation, such as rights-related information, may be provided in segmentation message 114, as Well. For example, the rights information may indicate Whether there is a right to store program 102 for later retrieval. FIG. 2b is an example of a 30
a constant bit rate (CBR) to form transport streams in a conventional manner. Headend 22 is discussed in more detail
beloW, With respect to FIGS. 5a and 5b. The generated program signal transport streams are typi cally transmitted from headend 22 to hub 24 via Internet
Instead of including rights information in segmentation message 114, it may be provided in a separate message 115, as shoWn in FIG. 2a. Rights message 115 may have a similar
nal streams may also be transmitted as intermediate fre
con?guration as segmentation message 114 of FIG. 2b,
quency signals that have been amplitude modulated (“AM”) 40
interface (ASI) that has also been AM modulated. Hub 24 includes modulator bank 26, among other components. Modulator bank 26 includes multiple modulators, each of
except that time to event ?eld 156 is not needed. PIC ?eld 158, and tWo rights ?elds 160, 162 are shoWn. More or feWer rights
?elds may be provided, depending on the number of rights that need to be de?ned.
Content and rights-related segmentation messages may be
Which is used to modulate transport streams onto different
carriers. Hub 24 is connected to hybrid ?ber/coax (HFC)
segmentation message, such as segmentation message 114, in program stream 100. Segmentation message 114 includes PIC ?eld 152, rights-related information ?eld 154 and time until event ?eld 156, Which here indicates the time until the start of program 102.
35
Protocol (“IP”) transport over optical ?ber. The program sig or as a digital video broadcast (DVB) a synchronous serial
the program. Other PICs may be used to identify other pro gram segments, such as chapters or advertising. Other infor
45
formatted in accordance With the DVS 253 Standard, dis
cable netWork 28, Which is connected to service area nodes
cussed above, for example. A segmentation message may be
16-1 through 16-m. The transport streams may be recorded in
in the form of a packet delineated by a sync byte, Which is a
headend 22 so that the users at the set-top terminals may
byte that is unlikely to be replicated in the program stream. The ?elds discussed above may folloW the sync byte, sepa rated by commas. Segmentation messages may be provided
manipulate (e.g., pause, fast-forWard or reWind) the program ming content in the recorded streams in a manner described in
50
over a single channel for all programs in the multiplex.
co-pending, commonly assigned application Ser. No. 10/ 263,
Returning to FIG. 2a, another rights-related segmentation
015 (“the ’01 5 application”), ?led Oct. 2, 2002, for example, Which is incorporated by reference herein. In addition, in accordance With an embodiment of the invention, the pro gram signal streams are processed and stored by headend 22 based, at least in part, on the segmentation messages, as described further beloW. FIG. 2a is a schematic representation of a program signal stream 100, such as a video stream, segmented With segmen tation messages in accordance With an embodiment of the invention. Program stream 100 includes a plurality of TV programs, including TV program 102. Portions of TV pro gram 104 preceding TV program 102 and TV program 106 folloWing TV program 102 are shoWn, as Well. TV program 102 starts at point 107a and ends at point 1071). TV program 102 may include chapter 108, such as a monolog, skit, musi
cal performance, guest appearance, sports highlight, inter
55
message 117 is provided after start 10711 of program 102. It may be useful to provide a rights message Within the expanse of the program or program portion to Which the right relates, in addition to or instead of providing rights-related segmen tation message 115 prior to the start of program 102. If both rights-related segmentation message 115 and 117 are pro
vided, different types of rights information may be provided 60
in each. For example, the right to copy program 102 may be included in segmentation message 115, so that headend 22 Will knoW prior to the arrival of program 102 Whether or not
program 102 may be processed for storage. Other types of 65
rights, such as the right to store the program for a particular period of time, Which is useful information to have access to
after program 102 is stored, may be provided Within the expanse of program 102, in rights segmentation message 117.
