Viewer interface for broadcast image content

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9787627-B2
Application number	US-201214128085-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 6, 2012
Priority date	Jun 29, 2011
Publication date	Oct 10, 2017
Grant date	Oct 10, 2017

Abstract

An information processing apparatus according to embodiments includes: a comment acquisition unit for acquiring a comment of a viewer for a program from an external posting site to which a comment, which is feedback on the content of a program, is instantly posted; and a comment displaying unit for displaying the comment acquired by the comment acquisition unit in a live information display area located below an image display screen for displaying an image of the program. The comment displaying unit scroll-displays, in a horizontal direction, a comment acquired by the comment acquisition unit in either a first lane or a second lane of the live information display area.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An information processing apparatus comprising:
an image information acquisition unit configured to acquire image content in the form of a program broadcast by a tuner;
an image displaying unit configured to display said program on a predetermined display device;
a viewer tally unit configured to acquire a program ID of the program from each of a plurality of devices on which said program is being viewed and add up the number of viewers viewing said program;
a programmed recording tally unit configured to acquire the program ID of the program from each of a plurality of devices on which said program is set to be recorded and add up the number of recordings programmed;
a tally result storage unit in which the total number of viewers and total number of recordings programmed is stored;
an indicator providing unit configured to supply said information processing apparatus with a live indicator that indicates the current number of viewers viewing the program and a programmed recording indicator that indicates the current number of viewers that have programmed recordings of the program, wherein said live indicator is displayed on said display device in proximity to said broadcast program;
a popularity determination unit configured to determine the relative popularity rank of said program relative to other programs in the same time zone in accordance with at least one of the live indicator and the programmed recording indicator;
a recording processing unit configured to record said program, such that when a live broadcasted portion of the program is ranked at or higher than a predetermined rank, the recording processing unit indicates the higher ranking in the recorded program by inserting a chapter into the recorded program that corresponds to the higher ranked broadcasted portion, wherein the chapter is a marker that identifies the higher ranked broadcasted portion in the recorded program and allows a user to search for and identify the portion of the recorded program that is popular to viewers when playing back the recorded program;
a comment acquisition unit configured to acquire a viewer comment about said program from an external posting website; and
a comment displaying unit configured to display the comment while said program is being displayed, in a comment display area adjacent to said displayed program on the display device, said comment display area corresponds to a specific broadcasting station and includes a plurality of lanes for scrolling and displaying the comment in a horizontal direction, wherein said comment displaying unit displays the comment in any one of the plurality of lanes in the comment display area, each of said lanes corresponds to a different program broadcast from said broadcasting station, and wherein said live indicator is displayed in each of said lanes,
wherein, when a first comment acquired by the comment acquisition unit at a certain time is stored in the comment storage unit in an undisplayed state and the comment acquisition unit acquires a second comment, which is posted after the first comment, at a later time than the first comment, the comment displaying unit displays the second comment before the first comment,
wherein, when the comment displaying unit displays a comment on a screen of the display device while scrolling the comment and the comment is longer than a predetermined number of characters, the comment displaying unit starts displaying a subsequent comment before the earlier comment is finished being displayed, and
wherein, the displaying unit automatically displays, in a program guide mode, an image indicative of a selected one of the programs, the selected one of the programs being of a high relative popularity rank relative to the other programs in accordance with at least one of the live indicator and the programmed recording indicator, and the selected one of the programs automatically changing based on a changing relative popularity rank relative to the other programs.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising: a comment management unit configured to delete a comment that is stored in the comment storage unit and that has passed a predetermined time after the posting of the comment to the posting website without displaying the comment on the display device.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the comment displaying unit displays a comment on the screen of the display device while scrolling the comment and increases the scroll speed of the comment as the number of the characters of the comment stored in the comment storage unit becomes larger.

4. An information processing apparatus comprising:
an image information acquisition unit configured to acquire image content in the form of a program broadcast by a tuner;
an image displaying unit configured to display said content on a predetermined display device;
a programmed recording tally unit configured to acquire the program ID of the program from each of a plurality of devices on which said program is set to be recorded and add up the number of recordings programmed;
a tally result storage unit in which the total number of viewers and total number of recordings programmed is stored;
an indicator providing unit configured to supply said information processing apparatus with a live indicator that indicates the current number of viewers viewing the program and a programmed recording indicator that indicates the current number of viewers that have programmed recordings of the program, wherein said live indicator is displayed on said display device in proximity to said broadcast program;
a popularity determination unit configured to determine the relative popularity rank of said program relative to other programs in the same time zone in accordance with at least one of the live indicator and the programmed recording indicator,
a recording processing unit configured to record said program, such that when a live broadcasted portion of the program is ranked at or higher than a predetermined rank, the recording processing unit indicates the higher ranking in the recorded program by inserting a chapter into the recorded program that corresponds to the higher ranked broadcasted portion, wherein the chapter is a marker that identifies the higher ranked broadcasted portion in the recorded program and allows a user to search for and identify the portion of the recorded program that is popular to viewers when playing back the recorded program;
a comment acquisition unit configured to acquire a viewer comment about said program from an external posting website; and
a comment displaying unit configured to display the comment while said program is being displayed, in a comment display area adjacent to said displayed program on the display device, said comment display area corresponds to a specific broadcasting station and includes a plurality of lanes for scrolling and displaying the comment in a horizontal direction, wherein said comment displaying unit displays the comment in any one of the plurality of lanes in the comment display area, each of said lanes corresponds to a different program broadcast from said broadcasting station, and wherein said live indicator is displayed in each of said lanes,
wherein, when the comment to be displayed in the comment display area is longer than a predetermined number of characters, the comment displaying unit starts displaying a subsequent comment before the earlier comment is finished being displayed, and
wherein, the displaying unit automatically displays, in a program guide mode, an image indicative of a selected one of the programs, the selected one of the programs being of a high relative popularity rank relative to the other programs in accordance with at least one of the live indicator and the p

Assignees

• Nishizawa Manabu
• Hayasaka Takashi
• Ishizuka Kensaku
• Yamamoto Hiroyuki
• Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc

Inventors

• Nishizawa Manabu
• Hayasaka Takashi
• Ishizuka Kensaku
• Yamamoto Hiroyuki

Classifications

• H04N21/488

  Data services, e.g. news ticker {(systems specially adapted for using meteorological information in broadcast systems H04H60/71)} · CPC title

• H04N21/4886

  for displaying a ticker, e.g. scrolling banner for news, stock exchange, weather data · CPC title

• G06F3/0485

  Scrolling or panning · CPC title

• H04N21/4882

  for displaying messages, e.g. warnings, reminders (arrangements for providing short real-time information to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1895) · CPC title

• H04L51/32 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic