WO2017020956A1

WO2017020956A1 - Image display device with electronic program guide data importing function

Info

Publication number: WO2017020956A1
Application number: PCT/EP2015/068144
Authority: WO
Inventors: Dogan BAHAROZU; Mumun AKSAKAL; Ozgur OZEN; Ahmet ARAS; Alkim Onur BETTEMIR
Original assignee: Arcelik Anonim Sirketi
Priority date: 2015-08-06
Filing date: 2015-08-06
Publication date: 2017-02-09

Abstract

The present invention relates to an image display device having an electronic program guide data importing function such that users are delivered real-time electronic program guide data in the form of subtitle sets. The present invention more particularly relates to an image display device receiving a plurality of broadcasting services and comprising a control unit effecting operation of the image display device, the control unit being configured to continuously process electronic program guide information to locate broadcast program contents that are set to start in a certain period of time duration on secondary channels other than a primary channel being actually viewed.

Description

IMAGE DISPLAY DEVICE WITH ELECTRONIC PROGRAM GUIDE DATA IMPORTING FUNCTION

The present invention relates to an image display device having an electronic program guide data importing function such that users are delivered real-time electronic program guide data in the form of subtitle sets.

Digital and interactive TV systems provide a significant amount of TV channels and programs leading to the general outcome that conventional methods for reaching a program content corresponding to the personal viewing preferences of a user from among a plurality of alternatives may become inefficient to the extent it is unperformable in a time-saving manner. Assuming that a TV service may have hundreds of channels, channel surfing might take one hour before every single channel is glanced at least once. It is to be noted that a plurality of channels from different countries may be broadcasted in a multitude of categories and an electronic program guide although proving in this respect more efficient, still involves the evident disadvantage of processing time inefficiency for a user in order for examining all the electronic program guide pages.

Therefore, as the image display devices today offer a versatile and wide range of functions, services as well as connectivity to the Internet, a plurality of services and applications retrieve information from various sources such as broadcast service providers and Internet, it is desirable to combine the retrieved information to be displayable on the TV screen.

Accordingly, in accordance with the present invention, users can be offered interested broadcast program information in a manner to be overlaid on a program content being displayed on their screen.

Among others, one of the prior art disclosures in the technical field of the present invention can be referred to as WO2005050626, which discloses a personalized subtitle system. The personalized subtitle system includes a display device, such as a Heads Up Display (HUD) device, worn or carried by a user in a public venue such as a movie theatre, playhouse, or stadium. The user utilizes the display device to select and read captioning or subtitle information for a public event such as a movie, play, or sporting event. In this way, subtitles in a variety of languages are supplied for the public event. In another embodiment, the display device is used in conjunction with a conventional subtitle display system, such as a DVD player for home use. In either embodiment, the user can operate a control panel to select a desired language. Subtitles in the selected language are then displayed to a viewer wearing or using the display device. In this way, a viewer desiring subtitles may have subtitles displayed without disrupting another viewer's enjoyment of a public venue.

The present invention provides a system and method by which an image display device is operated such that users are delivered information in relation to broadcast programs on channels other than a currently viewed channel in the form of real-time textual information, such information being displayed in the form of subtitles. The present invention therefore provides that information as to broadcast program contents on other channels are delivered to the users without interrupting the actual TV viewing experience.

The present invention provides a system and method by which an image display device is operable to display the EPG information in the form of dynamic textual information as subtitles in a manner to be overlaid on a program content being currently displayed on the screen, as provided by the characterizing features defined in Claim 1.

Primary object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for operating an image display device by which the EPG information is retrieved and displayed in the form of real-time and dynamically updated subtitles in a manner to be overlaid on a program content being currently viewed.

The present invention proposes a system and method by which subtitles in association with the content information of a broadcast program content as retrieved from the electronic program guide are displayed on the actually viewed channel.

A control unit converts the electronic program guide information in association with a broadcast program content on a currently non viewed channel into subtitles to be displayed on the currently viewed channel. Either only a number of preselected secondary currently non viewed channels are monitored or secondary channels with real-time broadcast program contents in predetermined program categories are determined.

Alternatively, user defined keywords are used as search queries within the electronic program guide information and if a part of the electronic program guide information matches at least one user-defined information tag, the associated program content is dynamically notified.

Alternatively, the control unit further performs the step of retrieving additional information (in addition to the information retrieved from the electronic program guide) in relation to a secondary channel program content from a remote source via a network connection.

Accompanying drawings are given solely for the purpose of exemplifying a system and method by which an image display device is operable, whose advantages over prior art were outlined above and will be explained in brief hereinafter.

The drawings are not meant to delimit the scope of protection as identified in the claims nor should they be referred to alone in an effort to interpret the scope identified in the claims without recourse to the technical disclosure in the description of the present invention.

Fig. 1 demonstrates a general flow diagram according to which the image display device of the invention executes the method of automatic EPG data importation according to the present invention.

The present invention provides a system and method by which an image display device is operable to automatically process and display the information obtained from broadcast service providers in the form of electronic program guide (EPG) data. It is known that digital broadcasting services generally provide information in regards to the genre and other particulars of the programs being watched. Such information may typically define a certain number of categories characterizing the content of a program. A content identifier therefore describes the contextual category of the digital program so as to let users obtain information as to the classification of an event or a program. As such, a significant amount of data in the form of metadata information containing a multitude of attribute names, types and parameter descriptions is receivable as primary information by way of using the electronic program guide from the broadcaster.

According to the present invention, the EPG data is processed to be converted into textual blocks or subtitles in a manner to be overlaid on a program content being currently displayed on the screen. According to the invention, the user can therefore continue his TV viewing experience by viewing a specific TV channel of interest while at the same reviewing the desired information as to other broadcast programs in the form of subtitles.

The image display device continuously process TV channels other than the currently viewed TV channel to locate broadcast programs that will shortly start, such broadcast programs being preferably selected based on predetermined criteria set by the user, such as for instance based on the genre of the broadcast program or on a channel-specific manner. The information as to program contents on secondary channels, i.e. on channels other than the currently viewed one (primary channel), as retrieved through the electronic program guide is transformed into textual blocks of information and these textual information strings are displayed in a manner to be overlaid on the actually viewed program content.

In this regard, it is possible to generate subtitles based on the retrieved EPG data, which are conventionally displayed in the form of a horizontal band flowing on a lower part of the screen. To this end, the user first determines a desired number of program categories as defined for different program contents in the electronic program guide. The user alternatively selects a number of target channels (secondary channels) to be monitored. A control unit of the image display device then continuously analyzes the electronic program guide data to locate program contents in the desired categories or notifies any program broadcast on a secondary channel by generating real-time subtitle notifications of broadcast programs that are expected to start shortly according to the EPG data. In other words, the information in relation to a broadcast program on a secondary channel as provided by the electronic program guide is displayed on the primary channel in subtitle format shortly before the expected starting time of the program.

As an alternative embodiment according to the invention, the user can determine a desired number of information tags such as actor names or any topic or keyword of interest. The EPG data is then processed as searchable metadata records so that any matching keyword will allow the user to be notified of an associated program content, which is likely to be of interest to the user.

In a more specific manner, in a documentary program presenting architectural background of a city in a certain geographic region of a country, the genre of the program can be already retrieved from the electronic program guide. But if the user did not set the documentary category as one of his favorite categories, the broadcast program content that is about to start can still be notified to the user if the name of the city as given in the title or program description as retrieved from the electronic program guide contains a matching title or keyword such as Rome, being previously defined by the user as an information tag or keyword of interest. Therefore, when at least one keyword in a list of keywords as determined by the user matches a part of the information in the electronic program guide, the name and particulars (Name, category, channel, duration etc.) of the broadcast program content is shown on the primary channel so that the user may consider switching to the suggested channel. Therefore, the electronic program guide information is processed as searchable metadata records and the generated subtitle lines containing the name and particulars of the potentially interested program content are presented to the user. Therefore the core information is intended to be automatically delivered without intrusively interrupting the current viewing experience of the user, which would be inevitable if the user did himself review the electronic program guide pages.

As another practical example, the electronic program guide data of sport programs mostly contains certain indications such as for instance the name of a football team, which may be already determined by the user as a favorite information tag. The image display device will hence notify the user each time a sport program of interest is aired by which the associated subtitle lines will be timely displayed on the primary channel viewed by the user before the potentially interested program starts.

Therefore, either all secondary channels are monitored to detect presence of a program in an interested category in the favorite list of the user or only certain channels are monitored as determined by the user. In other words, categorical or channel-specific monitoring is possible. The user additionally defines interested information tags to be searched within the indexable electronic program guide information. Therefore, relevant information in the form of subtitles is automatically generated to be viewed by the user on the primary channel.

In accordance with an alternative embodiment of the invention, the image display devices having Internet connectivity may also alternatively advantageously retrieve additional information in relation to a program content in the electronic program guide from a remote source or database and analyse the additional information to determine whether the program content is relevant to the user’s interested information tags. This is especially advantageous if the EPG data of a specific program content is not rich enough but only ensures accurate identification of the program content. In this case, an internal or external database or any third party Internet resource can be used to reach the full description of the program content and this information can be used to explore the relevance of the program in view of the user-defined information tags or keywords.

The TV front panel or the remote control can be provided with a dedicated button such that the user can anytime trigger viewing of real-time program information (programs expected to start shortly) on secondary channels in subtitle format. The time duration for generating automatic notifications before an interested program content starts can be set by the user.

In summary, the present invention proposes an image display device receiving a plurality of broadcasting services and comprising a control unit effecting operation of the image display device. The control unit is configured to continuously process electronic program guide information to locate broadcast program contents that are set to start in a certain period of time duration on secondary channels other than a primary channel being actually viewed.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the control unit is configured to transform the electronic program guide information in association with a broadcast program content on a secondary channel into textual blocks of information in the form of subtitles to be displayed in a manner to be overlaid on the primary channel.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, the control unit is configured to monitor a number of preselected secondary channels or secondary channels with real-time broadcast program contents in predetermined program categories.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, subtitles overlaid on the primary channel are displayed in the form of a horizontal band flowing on the screen.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, the electronic program guide information in relation to secondary channels is processed as searchable metadata records in the manner that when a part of the electronic program guide information in association with a secondary channel broadcast program content matches at least one information tag in a list of predetermined keywords, the associated program content is dynamically notifiable.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, subtitles overlaid on the primary channel at least contains information as to name, specific channel, category and duration of a secondary channel broadcast program content.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, the control unit further performs the step of retrieving additional information in relation to a secondary channel program content from a remote source via a network connection.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, additional information retrieved from a remote source or database in relation to the secondary channel broadcast program content is processed as searchable metadata records to determine whether the program content is relevant to the predetermined information tags.

In this regard, the present invention ensures that an image display device is operable to selectively import relevant information in relation to real-time broadcast program contents to be displayed during viewing of a program broadcast. Users are delivered real-time subtitles containing EPG data in a genre-specific manner. The main advantage of the invention therefore lies in that the users are not required to frequently use their remote control to navigate through the electronic program guide pages which is an impractical solution.

Accordingly, users can continue their TV viewing experience while at the same time obtaining the desired information. The information is delivered in a non-intrusive manner without interrupting the TV viewing experience of the users.

Claims

An image display device receiving a plurality of broadcasting services and comprising a control unit effecting operation of the image display device, characterized in that the control unit is configured:

- to continuously process electronic program guide information to locate broadcast program contents that are set to start in a certain period of time duration on secondary channels other than a primary channel being actually viewed and

- to transform the electronic program guide information in association with a broadcast program content on a secondary channel into textual blocks of information in the form of subtitles to be displayed in a manner to be overlaid on the primary channel.
An image display device as in Claim 1, characterized in that the control unit is configured to monitor a number of preselected secondary channels or secondary channels with real-time broadcast program contents in predetermined program categories.
An image display device as in Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that subtitles overlaid on the primary channel are displayed in the form of a horizontal band flowing on the screen.
An image display device as in Claim 3, characterized in that the electronic program guide information in relation to secondary channels is processed as searchable metadata records in the manner that when a part of the electronic program guide information in association with a secondary channel broadcast program content matches at least one information tag in a list of predetermined keywords, the associated program content is dynamically notifiable.
An image display device as in Claim 4, characterized in that subtitles overlaid on the primary channel at least contains information as to name, specific channel, category and duration of a secondary channel broadcast program content.
An image display device as in Claim 5, characterized in that the control unit further performs the step of retrieving additional information in relation to a secondary channel program content from a remote source via a network connection.
An image display device as in Claim 4 or 6, characterized in that additional information retrieved from a remote source or database in relation to the secondary channel broadcast program content is processed as searchable metadata records to determine whether the program content is relevant to the predetermined information tags.