Multi-option sourcing of content

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10009656-B2
Application number	US-201615040586-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 10, 2016
Priority date	Mar 15, 2013
Publication date	Jun 26, 2018
Grant date	Jun 26, 2018

Abstract

A content manager initiates play back of corresponding content on a display screen. The corresponding content is received on a primary broadcast channel selected amongst multiple available channels. During play back of the corresponding content, the content manager receives selection of over-the-top content available over a secondary channel with respect to the primary broadcast channel. The over-the-top content includes supplemental content associated with the corresponding content. In response to receiving the selection of over-the-top content, the content manager: i) retrieves the over-the-top content, and ii) initiates play back of the over-the-top content on the display screen. Accordingly, the user can selectively retrieve and play back supplemental content associated with a primary broadcast channel.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method comprising:
via computer processor hardware, executing operations of:
at a playback device, tuning to a primary broadcast channel;
on a display screen controlled by the playback device, initiating playback of corresponding content received over the primary broadcast channel;
receiving selection of a portion of over-the-top content available over a secondary channel with respect to the primary broadcast channel, the portion of over-the-top content being supplemental content produced for play back along with a segment of the corresponding content received over the primary broadcast channel, the portion of the over-the-top content being pre-recorded content scheduled for availability during playback of the segment of the corresponding content;
in response to receiving the selection during the playback: i) retrieving the portion of over-the-top content, and ii) initiating play back of the portion of over-the-top content on the display screen; and
wherein retrieval of the portion of over-the-top content includes use of a map to map the segment of the corresponding content to the portion of the over-the-top content, the map providing a correlation between segments of the corresponding content and portions of the over-the-top content, the portion of the over-the-top content capturing matter pertinent to the segment of the corresponding content received over the primary broadcast channel.

2. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the portion of over-the-top content is scheduled for on-demand distribution over a web channel in a respective time slot in which the segment of the corresponding content is scheduled for broadcast over the primary broadcast channel.

3. The method as in claim 1 , wherein retrieving the portion of over-the-top content includes:
obtaining timing information indicating a current playback location of the corresponding content played back on the display screen; and
utilizing the timing information to identify the portion of the over-the-top content to retrieve and playback on the display screen.

4. The method as in claim 1 , wherein retrieving the portion of over-the-top content includes:
obtaining a network address of a server resource from which the portion of over-the-top content is retrievable; and
communicating with the server resource to retrieve the portion of over-the-top content.

5. The method as in claim 4 further comprising:
utilizing timing information to identify the portion of over-the-top content to retrieve from the server resource, the timing information indicating a current playback location of the corresponding content played back on the display screen.

6. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the over-the-top content is a data stream including multiple portions, the multiple portions of the over-the-top content being synchronized for distribution at different times with respect to the corresponding content received over the primary broadcast channel.

7. The method as in claim 1 , wherein availability of portions of the over-the-top content for play back on the display screen from the secondary channel varies depending on which particular segment of the corresponding content is being broadcasted to subscribers over the primary broadcast channel.

8. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the primary broadcast channel is a linear channel in which the corresponding content is scheduled for broadcast in a respective time slot in the primary broadcast channel; and
wherein the portion of over-the-top content received on the secondary channel is linear scheduled content in which the over-the-top content is scheduled for distribution in the respective time slot, a first portion of the over-the-top content synchronized for playback at a time of playing back a first segment of the corresponding content, a second portion of the over-the-top content synchronized for playback at a time of playing back a second segment of the corresponding content.

9. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:
in response to receiving the selection:
discontinuing playback of the corresponding content on the display screen; and
storing a pointer value, the pointer value specifying a location in the corresponding content where play back of the corresponding content was discontinued.

10. The method as in claim 9 further comprising:
subsequent to playing back the portion of over-the-top content:
receiving a command to resume play back of the corresponding content on the display screen; and
initiating play back of the corresponding content at the location specified by the pointer value.

11. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:
initiating display of a notification on the display screen during play back of a rendition of the corresponding content on the display screen, the notification indicating availability of the over-the-top content.

12. The method as in claim 1 , wherein initiating play back of the portion of over-the-top content on the display screen includes:
initiating play back of the over-the-top content at a beginning location of the over-the-top content regardless of a current location of playing back the corresponding content on the display screen.

13. The method as in claim 1 , wherein initiating play back of the portion of over-the-top content on the display screen includes:
initiating play back of the over-the-top content at a location in a data stream including the over-the-top content, the location in the data stream corresponding to a current location of playing back the corresponding content on the display screen.

14. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:
storing the over-the-top content and the corresponding content in a digital video recorder accessible to a subscriber controlling play back of video on the display screen; and
initiating display of a notification indicating that both the over-the-top content and the corresponding content have been stored in the digital video recorder.

15. The method as in claim 1 , wherein availability of the portion of over-the-top content is synchronized with respect to the corresponding content in the primary broadcast channel, the method further comprising:
playing back the corresponding content as a background image on the display screen; and
initiating display of the portion of over-the-top content as an overlay with respect to the background image.

16. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the portion of over-the-top content received on the secondary channel includes a content navigation guide from which a user viewing the display screen manually selects from the content navigation guide to retrieve selected content over the secondary channel.

17. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the portion of over-the-top content includes supplemental images associated with images in the segment of the corresponding content; and
wherein initiating display of the over-the-top content includes initiating display of the supplemental images, the supplemental images pertinent to a same subject matter as the images in the segment of the corresponding content.

18. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:
during the play back of the corresponding content, initiating display of a display notification on the display screen, the display notification encoded in the segment of the corresponding content, display of the display notification indicating availability of the over-the-top content for retrieval.

19. The method as in claim 18 , wherein initiating display of the over-the-top content on the display screen further comprises:

Assignees

• Time Warner Cable Entpr Llc

Inventors

• Stern Peter
• Zelesko Matthew

Classifications

• H04N21/482

  End-user interface for programme selection · CPC title

• H04N21/6118

  involving cable transmission, e.g. using a cable modem · CPC title

• H04N21/4622

  Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet (web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859) · CPC title

• H04N21/6125

  involving transmission via Internet (transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82) · CPC title

• H04N21/8455

  involving pointers to the content, e.g. pointers to the I-frames of the video stream · CPC title