Content interaction methods and systems employing portable devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9788043-B2
Application number	US-27177208-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 14, 2008
Priority date	Nov 7, 2008
Publication date	Oct 10, 2017
Grant date	Oct 10, 2017

Abstract

A portable device, such as a cell phone, is used to “forage” media content from a user's environment. For example, it may listen to a television viewed by a traveler in an airport lounge. By reference to digital watermark or other data extracted from the content, the device can identify the television program, and enable a variety of actions. For example, the device may instruct a DVR to record the remainder of the television program—or determine when the program will be rebroadcast, and instruct the DVR to record the program in its entirety at that later time. The device may also identify content that preceded (or follows) the foraged content. Thus, a user who tunes-in just at the end of an exciting sporting event can capture one of the following commercials, identify the preceding program, and download same for later viewing. In other aspects, a cell phone can be used as a “second screen,” through which a user can interact with ambient content—such as reviewing electronic program guide data, or enjoying interactive television features. A great variety of other functions and arrangements are also detailed.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for remotely programming a video recorder, comprising the acts:
with a user-carried, microphone-equipped portable device, capturing ambient audio;
decoding plural-bit auxiliary information added to the audio as a steganographic digital watermark prior to its capture;
querying a data structure with at least part of the decoded information;
as a result of said querying, receiving information identifying an audio-visual program to which the captured audio corresponds;
with a user interface associated with the portable device, presenting information to the user identifying the audio-visual program, based on the received information; and
determining whether said audio-visual program is scheduled for availability at some point in the future on a content distribution system to which the video recorder has access; presenting information about upcoming availability via the user interface; and programming the video recorder to record the audio-visual program at said point in the future;
the method further including sending data corresponding to the captured ambient audio to a remote server, and decoding the plural-bit auxiliary information at the remote server.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the decoding comprises decoding using a processor in the portable device.

3. The method of claim 1 that further includes receiving a user command entered through the user interface, and programming the video recorder to record the audio-visual program at said point in the future in accordance with the received user command.

4. A method comprising the acts:
with a user-carried, microphone-equipped portable device, capturing ambient audio;
decoding plural-bit auxiliary information added to the audio as a steganographic digital watermark prior to its capture;
querying a first data structure with at least part of the decoded information;
as a result of querying the first data structure, identifying metadata associated with content to which the captured audio corresponds;
querying a second data structure using certain of the identified metadata, the first and second data structures comprising the same data structure;
as a result of querying the second data structure, receiving information about availability of an audio-visual program to which the captured ambient audio relates;
with a user interface associated with the portable device, presenting information to the user based on at least some of the received information; and
arranging for the audio-visual program to be made available to the user;
wherein the method further includes presenting information to the user indicating that the audio-visual program is or will be available for delivery to the user on a physical medium, and the arranging comprises requesting such delivery.

5. The method of claim 4 that includes capturing the ambient audio from a promo for the audio-visual content.

6. The method of claim 4 that includes capturing the ambient audio from a rendering of the audio-visual content.

7. The method of claim 4 that includes presenting information to the user indicating that the audio-visual program will, at a future point, be available on a content distribution system to which a digital video recorder has access, and the arranging comprises programming the digital video recorder to record the program at said future point.

8. The method of claim 4 that includes presenting information to the user indicating that the audio-visual program is or will be available for delivery to the user, and the arranging comprises requesting such delivery.

9. A method comprising the acts:
with a user-carried, microphone-equipped portable device, capturing ambient audio;
decoding plural-bit auxiliary information added to the audio as a steganographic digital watermark prior to its capture;
querying a data structure with at least part of the decoded information;
as a result of said querying, receiving information identifying an audio-visual program to which the captured audio corresponds;
with a user interface associated with the portable device, presenting information to the user identifying the audio-visual program, based on the received information;
identifying a source from which at least a portion of the audio-visual program is, or will be, available;
presenting an index of the audio-visual program to the user as a series of informational panes, displayed in cover-flow fashion.

10. The method of claim 9 that further includes the user navigating to a desired point in the program using the series of informational panes, and selecting same; and delivering the program to the user starting at the selected point.

11. A method involving a television, a laptop computer, and a mobile communications device, the method comprising the acts:
with the mobile communications device, capturing an excerpt of a program being rendered by the television;
processing the excerpt to derive a corresponding identifier;
querying a database with the derived identifier to identify a program identifier associated with the program being rendered by the television; and
by reference to the identified program identifier, presenting on the laptop a display of information related to the program being rendered by the television;
wherein the communications device helps to identify the television program, and thus cooperates with the laptop computer to display information related to the program.

12. The method of claim 11 that includes:
receiving the program identifier at the communications device;
transferring the program identifier from the communications device to the laptop computer;
sending a request for information from the laptop computer, the sent request including the program identifier; and
as a consequence of the sent request, receiving information at the laptop, and presenting said display based thereon.

13. A method involving a television, a first mobile communications device, and a second mobile communications device, the method comprising the acts:
with the first mobile communications device, capturing an excerpt of a program being rendered by the television;
processing the excerpt to derive a corresponding identifier;
querying a database with the derived identifier to identify a program identifier associated with the program being rendered by the television; and
by reference to the identified program identifier, presenting on the first device a first display of information related to the program being rendered by the television;
with the second mobile communications device, capturing an excerpt of the same program being rendered by the television;
processing the excerpt to derive a corresponding identifier;
querying a database with the derived identifier to identify a program identifier associated with the program being rendered by the television; and
by reference to the identified program identifier, presenting on the second device a second, different display of information related to the program being rendered by the television;
wherein users of the first and second devices are presented different information related to the program being rendered by the television.

14. A method involving a television system and a first mobile communications device, the television system and the device each including a screen, the method comprising the acts:
with the first mobile communications device, capturing audio or video data from the television system;
by reference to the captured data, determining an identifier; and
by reference to the identifier, presenting information to a user on a screen other than the television system screen, the presented information rela

Assignees

• Davis Bruce L
• Rodriguez Tony F
• Macintosh Brian T
• Conwell William Y
• Digimarc Corp

Inventors

• Davis Bruce L
• Rodriguez Tony F
• Macintosh Brian T
• Conwell William Y

Classifications

• H04N21/4227

  {Providing} Remote input by a user located remotely from the client device, e.g. at work · CPC title

• H04H60/27

  Arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information · CPC title

• H04N21/23892

  involving embedding information at multiplex stream level, e.g. embedding a watermark at packet level · CPC title

• H04H60/91

  Mobile communication networks (for accessing the Internet H04H60/85) · CPC title

• H04N21/4394

  involving operations for analysing the audio stream, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in audio streams (arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of audio in broadcast systems H04H60/58) · CPC title