Apparatus, systems, and methods for selecting and presenting information about program content
AssigneeDISH Technologies L.L.C.
InventorDale Llewelyn Mountain
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Information may be presented on a display device about program content substantially concurrently, substantially contemporaneously, or otherwise in conjunction with the presented program, or with portions of the presented program. This presentation of information about program content may occur dynamically in response to a voice query or other query from a user while the presented program is playing or paused on the same or different presentation device on which the information about the program content is being presented.
Claims16
A method for providing information about program content, comprising:
- receiving, by a receiving device, a signal including a program, first program content metadata generally related to the program as a whole, second program content metadata specifically associated with one or more particular points of the program, and one or more interactive programs associated with the second program content metadata;
- presenting the program on a user device;
- receiving, by the receiving device, data representing a voice query that was made by a user at a first particular time during presentation of the program on the user device;
- in response to the receiving the data representing the voice query that was made by the user at the first particular time during presentation of the program on the user device, associating the first particular time with when the voice query was made;
- accessing, by the receiving device, second program content metadata received in the same signal including the program related to a particular portion of the program that was presented substantially at the first particular time, the first particular time associated with the voice query and indicating when the voice query was made;
- and
- in response to the receiving the data representing the voice query, providing in a same signal, for presentation on a presentation device, the program, a response to the query based on the second program content metadata, and a user selectable element providing access to an interactive program, from among the one or more interactive programs, associated with the second program content metadata related to the particular portion of the program presented substantially at the first particular time indicating when the voice query was made;
- wherein providing the response to the voice query includes:
- correlating the particular portion of the program with the first particular time indicating when the voice query was made by the user or with a second particular time when the data representing the voice query was received;
- and
- based on the correlation, obtaining the second program content metadata related to the particular portion of the program presented on the user device substantially at the first particular time when the voice query was made by the user;
- determining that the second program content metadata received in the same signal including the program is related to the particular portion of the program presented on the user device by determining that a point in the program associated with the second program content metadata substantially corresponds to a same point in the program at which the voice query was made by the user while the program was being presented on the user device;
- determining that the second program content metadata received in the same signal including the program is related to at least one particular person, object or situation to which the voice query pertains;
- and
- based on the correlation and the determination that that the second program content metadata received in the same signal including the program is related to the at least one particular person, object or situation to which the voice query pertains, using the second program content metadata in forming the response.
A system for providing information about program content, comprising:
- at least one processor;
- and
- at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
- receive a signal including a program, first program content metadata related to the program, second program content metadata specifically associated with one or more particular points of the program, and one or more interactive programs associated with the second program content metadata;
- receive data representing a voice query made by a user at a first particular time during presentation of the program;
- access second program content metadata related to a particular portion of the program presented substantially at the first particular time;
- and
- provide in a same signal, for presentation on a presentation device, the program, the second program content metadata that is related to the particular portion of the program presented substantially at the first particular time, and a user selectable element providing access to an interactive program, from among the one or more interactive programs, associated with the second program content metadata related to the portion of the program presented substantially at the first particular time;
- wherein providing the second program content metadata that is related to the particular portion of the program includes:
- correlating a time the query was received during presentation of the program with the particular portion of the program;
- correlating the particular portion of the program with the second program content metadata;
- determining that the second program content metadata is applicable to use in forming the response to the query based on the correlations by:
- determining that the second program content metadata received in the same signal including the program is related to the particular portion of the program presented substantially at the first particular time by determining that a point in the program associated with the second program content metadata substantially corresponds to a same point in the program at which the voice query was made by the user while the program was being presented;
- and
- determining that the second program content metadata received in the same signal including the program is related to at least one particular person, object or situation to which the voice query pertains;
- forming the response including the second program content metadata received in the same signal including the program;
- and
- communicating the response including the second program content metadata received in the same signal including the program to be presented to a user.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.