Synchronization of user interactive events with on-screen events during playback of multimedia stream

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9043829-B2
Application number	US-57501709-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 7, 2009
Priority date	Oct 7, 2009
Publication date	May 26, 2015
Grant date	May 26, 2015

Abstract

A method includes receiving, at a multimedia device, a data stream representing multimedia content, the data stream comprising first timing information for the multimedia content, and metadata representing interactive event information associated with the multimedia content, the metadata comprising second timing information for the interactive event information. During the playback of the multimedia content, a first user interactive event is identified that is associated with a first time point in the playback of the multimedia content based on the interactive event information, and the first user interactive event is performed concurrent with the first time point in the playback of the multimedia content.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, at a multimedia device, a data stream representing multimedia content, the data stream comprising a first plurality of timing indicators for the multimedia content embedded within and distributed throughout the data stream;
receiving, at the multimedia device, metadata representing interactive event information associated with the multimedia content, the metadata comprising a second plurality of timing indicators for the interactive event information;
processing, at the multimedia device, the data stream to provide playback of the multimedia content to a user; and
during the playback of the multimedia content:
providing, at the multimedia device, progress of the playback of the multimedia content, wherein the progress of the playback of the multimedia content comprises timing indicators of the first plurality of timing indicators;
identifying, at the multimedia device, a first user interactive event that is associated with a first time point in the playback of the multimedia content based on the interactive event information;
determining, from the progress of the playback of the multimedia content, when the playback of the multimedia content is approaching the first time point;
determining, at the multimedia device, a subset of the interactive event information that is associated with the first time point based on timing indicators of the second plurality of timing indicators in response to determining, based on the first plurality of timing indicators, that the playback of the multimedia content is approaching the first time point; and
performing, at the multimedia device, the first user interactive event concurrent with the first time point in the playback of the multimedia content,

wherein synchronization of the first user interactive event and the playback of the multimedia content is maintained when a tuning event or a trickplay event occurs.

2. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the identifying comprises identifying the first user interactive event from the subset of the interactive event information, and
wherein the trickplay event includes a pause, a resume, a fast-forward, a reverse, or a combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first plurality of timing indicators comprises a first set of time stamps interspersed substantially equally throughout the data stream and the second plurality of timing indicators comprises a second set of time stamps interspersed within the metadata.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the metadata is received while receiving the data stream, and wherein the first plurality of timing indicators distributed throughout the data stream comprises the first plurality of timing indicators equally interspersed throughout the data stream.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the metadata at the multimedia device comprises accessing, at the multimedia device, the metadata from a portable storage medium.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing, via the multimedia device, a video game application concurrent with the playback of the multimedia content, the video game application providing a video game experience emulating a situation presented in the playback of the multimedia content; and
wherein:
the interactive event information comprises game context information for use by the video game application, the game context information associated with multimedia content presented at the first time point; and
the first user interactive event comprises a gaming action of the video game application based on the game context information.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
presenting, via the multimedia device, an on-screen display that overlies the playback of the multimedia content, the on-screen display presenting scoring information associated with the multimedia content; and
wherein:
the interactive event information comprises updated scoring information associated with the multimedia content presented at the first time point; and
the first user interactive event comprises updating the on-screen display to reflect the updated scoring information.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
during the playback of the multimedia content:
identifying, at the multimedia device, a second user interactive event based on the interactive event information that is associated with a second time point in the playback of the multimedia content;
determining, from the progress of playback of the multimedia content, when playback of the multimedia content is approaching the first time point; and
performing, at the multimedia device, the second user interactive event concurrent with the second time point in the playback of the multimedia content.

9. The method of claim 3 , wherein the time stamps of the first set and the second set comprise time stamps synchronized to coordinated universal time.

10. The method of claim 4 , wherein the metadata is embedded in the data stream.

11. The method of claim 4 , wherein receiving the metadata at the multimedia device comprises accessing the metadata from an external source via a network responsive to initiation of the playback of the multimedia content at the multimedia device.

12. A multimedia device comprising:
a first interface to receive a data stream representing multimedia content, the data stream comprising a first plurality of timing indicators for the multimedia content embedded within and distributed by the data stream, timing indicators of the first plurality of timing indicators providing an indication of playback progress of the multimedia content;
a second interface to receive metadata representing interactive event information associated with the multimedia content, the metadata comprising a second plurality of timing indicators for the interactive event information;
a display controller to process the data stream to provide playback of the multimedia content to a user and to provide progress of the playback of the multimedia content as determined from timing indicators of the first plurality of timing indicators; and
a user interaction controller to identify, during the playback of the multimedia content, a first user interactive event that is associated with a first time point in the playback of the multimedia content based on the interactive event information, the user interaction controller to detect progress of playback of the multimedia content approaching the first time point, the user interaction controller to determine a subset of the interactive event information that is associated with the first time point based on timing indicators of the second plurality of timing indicators in response to determining, based on the first plurality of timing indicators, that the playback of the multimedia content is approaching the first time point, and the user interaction controller to control a performance of the first user interactive event concurrent with the first time point in the playback of the multimedia content,
wherein synchronization of the first user interactive event and the playback of the multimedia content is maintained when a tuning event or a trickplay event occurs.

13. The multimedia device of claim 12 , wherein the user interaction controller identifies the first user interactive event from the subset of the interactive event information, and wherein the trickplay event includes a pause, a resume, a fast-forward, a reverse, or a combination thereof.

14. The multimedia device of claim 12 , wherein the first plurality of timing indicators comprises a first set of time stamps interspersed substantially equally througho

Assignees

• Klein Craig Arthur
• Harp Gregory O
• Rushing James D
• At & T Ip I Lp

Inventors

• Klein Craig Arthur
• Harp Gregory O
• Rushing James D

Classifications

• H04N21/47205 Primary

  for manipulating displayed content, e.g. interacting with MPEG-4 objects, editing locally · CPC title

• H04N21/8455

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

• H04N21/8173

  End-user applications, e.g. Web browser, game · CPC title

• A63F2300/409

  Data transfer via television network · CPC title

• A63F13/12 Primary

  Human Necessities · mapped topic