Methods and systems for point-to-multipoint delivery of independently-controllable interactive media content

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9990775-B2
Application number	US-201615087891-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 31, 2016
Priority date	Mar 31, 2016
Publication date	Jun 5, 2018
Grant date	Jun 5, 2018

Abstract

An exemplary interactive media content provider system generates overall data representative of interactive media content. The exemplary interactive media content provider system concurrently provides the overall data to both a first media player device associated with a first user and a second media player device associated with a second user by way of a point-to-multipoint media delivery protocol. The first media player device and the second media player device may each be configured to render different portions of the overall data to respective display screens of the media player devices at a particular point in time based on different user input from the first user and the second user, respectively, as the first user and the second user independently interact with the interactive media content. Corresponding methods and systems are also described.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
generating, by an interactive media content provider system, overall data representative of an immersive virtual reality world, the overall data including a plurality of different content files each including data representative of content of the immersive virtual reality world, the plurality of different content files comprising at least one of:
a plurality of uniform-resolution content files that are each encoded in a uniform resolution, are each associated with a different respective center point within the immersive virtual reality world, and each comprise data representative of a different view of the immersive virtual reality world corresponding to the respective center point of each uniform-resolution content file, and
a plurality of mixed-resolution content files that each correspond to one respective content sector of a plurality of partially overlapping content sectors that together form a view of the immersive virtual reality world corresponding to a single center point, and that each comprise data representative of the plurality of partially overlapping content sectors in which the one respective content sector is encoded in a high resolution and in which a remainder of the content sectors are encoded in a low resolution lower than the high resolution; and

concurrently providing, by the interactive media content provider system by way of a point-to-multipoint media delivery protocol, the overall data to both:
a first media player device associated with a first user, the first media player device configured to render a first portion of the overall data within a first field of view presented on a display screen of the first media player device, the first field of view including content of a first observed area of the immersive virtual reality world to which the first user directs the first field of view, and
a second media player device associated with a second user, the second media player device configured to render a second portion of the overall data within a second field of view presented on a display screen of the second media player device, the second field of view including content of a second observed area of the immersive virtual reality world to which the second user directs the second field of view;

wherein the first portion of the overall data dynamically changes to continually correspond to the first observed area as the first user experiences the immersive virtual reality world, the second portion of the overall data dynamically changes to continually correspond to the second observed area as the second user experiences the immersive virtual reality world, and the first field of view and the second field of view are independently directed by the first user and the second user, respectively, such that, at a particular point in time, the first portion of the overall data rendered within the first field of view is included within a first content file within the plurality of different content files and is different from the second portion of the overall data rendered within the second field of view and included within a second content file within the plurality of different content files.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, by the interactive media content provider system, data representative of camera-captured real-world scenery, the data representative of the camera-captured real-world scenery captured by a video camera arranged to capture a 360-degree image of the real-world scenery around a center point corresponding to the video camera;
wherein the overall data is generated based on the received data representative of the camera-captured real-world scenery.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the first field of view is directed to the first observed area of the immersive virtual reality world based on an alignment of a spatial orientation of the display screen of the first media player device with the first observed area; and
the second field of view is directed to the second observed area of the immersive virtual reality world based on an alignment of a spatial orientation of the display screen of the second media player device with the second observed area.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of different content files included in the overall data includes the plurality of uniform-resolution content files.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein:
the first content file that includes the first portion of the overall data rendered within the first field of view at the particular point in time comprises a first uniform-resolution content file associated with a first center point within the immersive virtual reality world; and
the second content file that includes the second portion of the overall data rendered within the second field of view at the particular point in time comprises a second uniform-resolution content file associated with a second center point within the immersive virtual reality world.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the plurality of different content files included in the overall data includes the plurality of mixed-resolution content files;
the first content file that includes the first portion of the overall data rendered within the first field of view at the particular point in time comprises a first mixed-resolution content file corresponding to a first content sector of the plurality of partially overlapping content sectors; and
the second content file that includes the second portion of the overall data rendered within the second field of view at the particular point in time comprises a second mixed-resolution content file corresponding to a second content sector of the plurality of partially overlapping content sectors.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein at least one content sector from the remainder of the content sectors is encoded in a first low resolution lower than the high resolution and at least one other content sector from the remainder of the content sectors is encoded in a second low resolution lower than the high resolution and lower than the first low resolution.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein:
the view of the immersive virtual reality world is represented as a spherical structure around the single center point within the plurality of mixed-resolution content files included within the overall data; and
each content sector in the plurality of partially overlapping content sectors is a circular image depicting content from a sector of the immersive virtual reality world.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the point-to-multipoint media delivery protocol is a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service protocol performed using a Long-Term Evolution wireless platform.

10. The method of claim 1 , embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium.

11. A method comprising:
generating, by an interactive media content provider system, overall data representative of an immersive virtual reality world and including a plurality of mixed-resolution content files that
each correspond to one respective content sector of a plurality of partially overlapping content sectors that together form a view of the immersive virtual reality world corresponding to a single center point, and
each comprise data representative of the plurality of partially overlapping content sectors in which the one respective content sector is encoded in a high resolution and in which a remainder of the content sectors are encoded in a low resolution lower than the high resolution; and

concurrently providing, by the interactive media content provider system by way of a point-to-multipoint media delivery protocol, the overall data to both:

Assignees

• Verizon Patent & Licensing Inc

Inventors

• Khalid Mohammad Raheel
• Jaafar Ali
• Sun Dan
• Egeler Christian
• Gu John
• Kachroo Jyotsna
• Lui Danny C

Classifications

• H04N21/6131

  involving transmission via a mobile phone network (wireless downlink channel access H04W74/006) · CPC title

• H04N21/41407

  embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop (constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57) · CPC title

• G06T15/20

  Perspective computation · CPC title

• H04N21/4223

  Cameras (H04N23/00 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04N23/661

  Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet · CPC title