SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY DISPLAYING VIDEO CONTENT FROM MULTIPLE PROGRAMMING SOURCES
A method for viewing video content includes displaying, within a first display region, first video content from a first content source, and receiving a request to display second video content, wherein the second video content comprises only a portion of video content from a second content source (such as a news ticker or “scroll”). The second video content is then simultaneously displayed within a second display region adjacent to the first display region.
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This application is a continuation of the parent U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/445,255 filed on Feb. 28, 2017, and claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/440,787, filed Dec. 30, 2016, the contents of both applications are hereby incorporated by reference.
TECHNICAL FIELDThe present invention generally relates to media playing devices, and more particularly relates to systems and methods for simultaneously displaying, on a single monitor, video content from multiple programming sources.
BACKGROUNDMost television viewers now receive their television signals through a content aggregator such as a cable or satellite television provider. For subscribers to a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service, for example, television programming is received via a broadcast that is sent via a satellite to an antenna that is generally located on the exterior of a home or other structure. Other customers receive television programming through conventional television broadcasts, or through cable, wireless or other media. Programming is typically received at a receiver such as a “set top box” (STB) or other receiver that demodulates the received signals and converts the demodulated content into a format that can be presented to the viewer on a television or other display. In addition to receiving and demodulating television programming, many television receivers are able to provide additional features. Examples of features available in many modern television receivers include electronic program guides (EPGs), digital or other personal video recorders, “place-shifting” features for streaming received content over a network or other medium, providing customer service information and/or the like.
It is often the case that two separate users—each having their own unique preference in television programming—will be simultaneously viewing content on a television display. In such contexts, one user might, for example, prefer to view the nightly news, while the other might prefer to watch a sit-corn or other such content. While conventional picture-in-picture (PIP) and split-screen systems allow two shows to be watched simultaneously, the size of the resulting windows are such that the PIP display (or the split screen display) results in a smaller portion of the display used for the main programming and/or portions of one program display being occluded by the other. Accordingly, conventional prior art PIP displays are an unsatisfactory way for two users to simultaneously watch content from multiple programming sources.
It is therefore desirable to create systems and methods for improving the viewer experience by allocating most of the display to one programming source, and a small portion of the display to a portion of another programming source—such as a news ticker, scroll, score box, or the like. These and other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background section.
Exemplary embodiments will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the following drawing figures, wherein like numerals denote like elements, and
The following detailed description of the invention is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the invention or the application and uses of the invention. Furthermore, there is no intention to be bound by any theory presented in the preceding background or the following detailed description.
Generally speaking, systems and methods in accordance with the present subject matter allow one user to view a portion of content from a first programming source (e.g., a news ticker displayed at the bottom of the screen) while another user is simultaneously viewing another programming source. The user may specify preferred news ticker sources from a list of channels that provide such a source.
Turning now to the drawing figures and with initial reference to
Receiver 108 may be any component, device or logic capable of receiving and decoding video signals 105. In various embodiments, receiver 108 is a set-top box (STB) or the like capable of receiving satellite, cable, broadcast and/or other signals encoding audio/visual content. Receiver 108 may further demodulate or otherwise decode the received signals 105 to extract programming that can be locally viewed on display 102 as desired. Receiver 108 may also include a content database stored on a hard disk drive, memory, or other storage medium to support a digital or other personal video recorder (DVR/PVR) feature as appropriate. Receiver 108 may also provide place shifting, electronic program guide, multi-stream viewing and/or other features as appropriate.
In the exemplary embodiment illustrated in
Display 102 is any device capable of presenting imagery to a viewer. In various embodiments, display 102 is a conventional television set, such as any sort of television operating in accordance with any digital or analog protocols, standards or other formats. Display 102 may be a conventional NTSC or PAL television receiver, for example. In other embodiments, display 102 is a monitor or other device that may not include built-in receiver functionality, but that is nevertheless capable of presenting imagery in response to signal 107 received from receiver 108. In various embodiments, receiver 108 and display 102 may be physically combined or interconnected in any manner. A receiver card, for example, could be inserted into a slot or other interface in a conventional television, or the functionality of receiver 108 may be provided within a conventional television display 102. In other embodiments, signals 107 are transferred between receiver 108 and display 102 using any sort of cable or other interface (including a wireless interface). Examples of common interfaces include, without limitation, component video, S-video, High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), Digital Visual Interface (DVI), IEEE 1394, and/or any other formats as desired.
Remote control 112 is any sort of control device capable providing signals 125 to receiver 108 that represent inputs received from one or more viewers. Typically, remote control 112 is an infrared, radio frequency (RF) or other wireless remote that includes any number of buttons or other features for receiving viewer inputs. In an exemplary embodiment, remote control 112 communicates with receiver 108 using the IEEE 802.15.4 (“ZIGBEE”) protocol, the RF for consumer electronics (e.g., “RF4CE” or “EC Net”) protocols, and/or any other standard or non-standard technique for implementing wireless personal area networks (WPANs). Other embodiments may instead communicate using IEEE 802.15.1 (“BLUETOOTH”), IEEE 802.11 (“WI-FI”), conventional infrared, and/or any other wireless techniques. Further, various embodiments of remote control 112 may support multiple communications schemes such both as RF and infrared, or the like.
Remote control 112 generally includes various buttons, sliders, rocker switches and/or other features for receiving physical inputs from the viewer. As the user depresses or otherwise interacts with the features, remote control 112 suitably produces wireless signals 125 in response.
In operation, then, receiver 108 suitably receives television signals 105 from a satellite, cable, network 135, broadcast or other source. In a satellite based embodiment, for example, one or more channels can be extracted from a conventional satellite feed; the video content on the selected channel can be demodulated, extracted and otherwise processed as appropriate to display the desired content to the viewer. One or more cable or broadcast channels may be similarly obtained in any manner. In some embodiments, receiver 108 may obtain multiple channel signals 105 from different sources (e.g., one channel from a cable or satellite source and another channel from a terrestrial broadcast, DVD or other source).
Receiver 108 suitably obtains the desired content from the channel(s) indicated by the viewer (e.g., via remote control 112), and presents the content on display 102. In various embodiments, channel changing is facilitated by presenting first content 110 while simultaneously displaying second content 111, wherein second content 111 is a scroll window, news ticker, etc. extracted from second content (i.e., from a channel that is different from that used for first content 110).
Receiver 108 may be physically and logically implemented in any manner.
Various embodiments of receiver 108 therefore include any number of appropriate modules for obtaining and processing media content as desired for the particular embodiment. Each of these modules may be implemented in any combination of hardware and/or software using logic executed within any number of semiconductor chips or other processing logic.
Various embodiments of control logic 205 can include any circuitry, components, hardware, software and/or firmware logic capable of controlling the various components of receiver 108. Various routines, methods and processes executed within receiver 108 are typically carried out under control of control logic 205 and stored as software instructions 242, as described more fully below. Generally speaking, control logic 205 receives user input signals 125 (
As noted above, receiver 108 suitably includes a receiver interface 208, which includes any hardware, software, firmware and/or other logic capable of receiving media content via one or more content sources 105. In various embodiments, content sources 105 may include cable television, DBS, broadcast and/or other programming sources as appropriate. Receiver interface 208 appropriately selects a desired input source and provides the received content to an appropriate destination for further processing. In various embodiments, received programming may be provided in real-time (or near real-time) to a transport stream select module 212 or other component for immediate decoding and presentation to the user. Alternatively, receiver interface 208 may provide content received from any source to a disk or other storage medium in embodiments that provide DVR functionality. In such embodiments, receiver 108 may also include a disk controller module 206 that interacts with an internal or external hard disk, memory and/or other device that stores content in a database 110, as described above.
In the embodiment shown in
Transport stream select module 212 is any hardware and/or software logic capable of selecting a desired media stream from the available sources. In the embodiment shown in
Receiver 108 may include any number of decoder modules 214A-B for decoding, decompressing and/or otherwise processing received/stored content as desired. Generally speaking, decoder modules 214A-B decompress, decode and/or otherwise process received content from transport select module 212 to extract an MPEG or other media stream encoded within the stream. The decoded content can then be processed by one or more display processor modules 218 to create a presentation on display 102 (
Display processor module 218 includes any appropriate hardware, software and/or other logic to create desired screen displays via display interface 228 as desired. Such displays may include combining signals received from one or more decoder modules 214 to facilitate viewing of one or more channels. In various embodiments, display processing module 218 is also able to produce on screen displays (OSDs) for electronic program guide, setup and control, input/output facilitation and/or other features that may vary from embodiment to embodiment. Such displays are not typically contained within the received or stored broadcast stream, but are nevertheless useful to users in interacting with receiver 108 or the like. The generated displays, including received/stored content and any other displays may then be presented to one or more output interfaces 228 in any desired format. The various interface features described herein, for example, may be generated by display processor module 218 operating alone or in conjunction with control logic 205.
Display processor 218 produces an output signal encoded in any standard format (e.g., ITU656 format for standard definition television signals or any format for high definition television signals) that can be readily converted to standard and/or high definition television signals at interface 228. In other embodiments, the functionality of display processor 218 and interface 228 may be combined in any manner.
Similarly,
In accordance with the present subject matter, a display such as that shown in
In accordance with various embodiments, a user may toggle video content 402 on/off, and might also change the news ticker displayed using remote control 112 and/or another remote device (such as an application provided on a smartphone). In other embodiments, module 108 and/or a peripheral device communicatively coupled thereto is able to receive and interpret voice commands from a user and thereby control the display of the news ticker.
While
As mentioned above, module 108 of
As illustrated in the example shown in
Subsequently, at step 903, the system receives a user request to display the news ticker information. At this point, the system might select a default channel to extract the news ticker (e.g., a channel specified by the user), or might select the most-recently displayed news ticker. Finally, in step 904, the news ticker is displayed simultaneously with the first video content. This is shown, for example, in
While the foregoing detailed description will provide those skilled in the art with a convenient road map for implementing various embodiments of the invention, it should be appreciated that the particular embodiments described above are only examples, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the invention in any way. As used herein, the word “exemplary” means “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any implementation described herein as exemplary is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other implementations. Various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements described without departing from the scope of the invention.
Claims
1. A method for viewing video content, comprising: changing the displaying of the second video content within the second display region which is adjacent to the first display region by a manual toggling action that sends a request for enabling the displaying of the second video content and another request to no longer enabling the displaying of the second video content.
- displaying, within a first display region, first video content from a first content source;
- receiving a request to display second video content, wherein the second video content comprises only a portion of video content from a second content source;
- simultaneously displaying the second video content within a second display region adjacent to the first display region; and
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
- changing the displaying of the second video content by using a remote control device to select content displayed from a group comprising a news ticker, a stock ticker, and a sports score ticker.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the second video content comprises less than 10% of video content received from the second content source.
4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:
- configuring a module to communicate with the remote control device capable of receiving and interpreting voice commands originating from the remote control device for controlling the display of the second video content.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first video content is scaled to fit within the first display region and wherein the second display region is displayed below the first display region.
6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:
- occluding, by the second display region, a portion of the first video content which is horizontally and vertically scaled so that first video content is almost completely displayed.
7. A media device comprising:
- a processor;
- a memory storing a set of machine-readable software instructions wherein the processor is programmed by the set of the machine-readable software instructions to:
- display, within a first display region, first video content from a first content source;
- receive a request to display second video content, wherein the second video content comprises only a portion of video content from a second content source;
- simultaneously display the second video content within a second display region adjacent to the first display region; and
- change the display of the second video content within the second display region which is adjacent to the first display region by a manual toggling action that sends a request for enabling the displaying of the second video content and another request to no longer enabling the displaying of the second video content.
8. The media device of claim 7, further comprising:
- the processor programmed to:
- change the display of the second video content by using a remote control device to select content displayed from a group comprising a news ticker, a stock ticker, and a sports score ticker.
9. The media device of claim 8, wherein the second video content comprises less than ten percent of video content received from the second content source.
10. The media device of claim 9, further comprising:
- the processor programmed to:
- communicate with the remote control device to receive capable and interpret voice commands that originate from the remote control device to control the display of the second video content.
11. The media device of claim 10, further comprising:
- the processor programmed to:
- scale the first video content to fit within the first display region and the second display region to display below the first display region.
12. The media device of claim 11, further comprising:
- the processor programmed to:
- enable the second display region to occlude a portion of the first video content and to horizontally and vertically scale the first video content in a manner that allows for the first video content displayed almost completely.
13. The media device of claim 12, further comprising:
- the processor programmed to:
- in a default configuration, enable all available content tickers that comprise the second display region selected; and
- scroll, through all enabled available content tickers in the second display region in a manner that allows for the first video content displayed almost completely.
14. A method performed utilizing a media device deployed with a memory with a display processor, and coupled to a display device, the display processor configured to execute machine readable software instructions to perform the steps to display content from multiple channels simultaneously, comprising:
- displaying, within a first display region, first video content from a first content source;
- receiving a request to display second video content, wherein the second video content comprises only a portion of video content from a second content source;
- simultaneously displaying the second video content within a second display region adjacent to the first display region; and
- changing the displaying of the second video content within the second display region which is adjacent to the first display region by a manual toggling action that sends a request for enabling the displaying of the second video content and another request to no longer enabling the displaying of the second video content.
15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:
- changing, on the display device, the displaying of the second video content by using a remote control device to select content displayed from a group comprising a news ticker, a stock ticker, and a sports score ticker.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the second video content comprises less than ten percent of video content received from the second content source.
17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:
- configuring a module to communicate with the remote control device capable of receiving and interpreting voice commands originating from the remote control device for controlling the display of the second video content.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the first video content is scaled to fit within the first display region on the display device and wherein the second display region is displayed below the first display region on the display device.
19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:
- occluding, by the second display region, a portion of the first video content which is horizontally and vertically scaled so that first video content is almost completely displayed on the display device.
20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:
- in a default configuration, selecting all available content tickers that comprise the second display region for display on the display device; and
- scrolling through all enabled available content tickers in the second display region in a manner that allows for displaying of the first video content almost completely on the display device.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 22, 2020
Publication Date: Nov 5, 2020
Applicant: DISH Technologies L.L.C. (Englewood, CO)
Inventor: Alan CRUZ (AURORA, CO)
Application Number: 16/936,193