US 5,557,724 AGranted

User interface, method, and apparatus selecting and playing channels having video, audio, and/or text streams

AssigneeIntel Corporation

InventorsKetan Sampat, John Kembel

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Abstract

A user interface is displayed on a computer system capable of processing one or more data streams. The user interface has one or more displayed representations, where each of the displayed representations corresponds to one of the data streams. A user of the computer system selectively adjusts the processing of each of the data streams using the corresponding displayed representation of the user interface. In a preferred embodiment, in which the computer system is a system for multicasting audio, video, and/or text data streams, the user interface has a video window for displaying the video stream, a set of audio controls for controlling the play of the audio stream, and a text reader bar for displaying the text stream.

Claims30

Dependent claims

A user interface for display on a computer-based multicasting system, comprising:

a multicast window for playing one or more data streams of a multicast channel selected by a user from a plurality of available multicast channels, wherein:
the selected multicast channel comprises any combination of a video stream, an audio stream, and a text stream;
and
the multicast window comprises any combination of:
(a) a video subwindow for displaying the video stream;
(b) an audio subwindow for displaying audio control functions for controlling the play of the audio stream;
and
(c) a text subwindow for displaying the text stream, wherein:
the computer-based multicasting system automatically determines which data streams are part of the selected multicast channel and generates the multicast window accordingly, such that:
if there is no video stream in the selected multicast channel, then the multicast window does not include the video subwindow;
if there is no audio stream in the selected multicast channel, then the multicast window does not include the audio subwindow;
and
if there is no text stream in the selected multicast channel, then the multicast window does not include the text subwindow.

10 more elements

A computer-implemented method for processing multicast channels in a computer-based multicasting system, comprising the steps of:

(1) receiving a multicast channel selection from a user using a user interface displayed on a computer monitor to select a multicast channel from a plurality of multicast channels;
and
(2) generating a multicast window for playing one or more data streams of the selected multicast channel, wherein:
the selected multicast channel comprises any combination of a video stream, an audio stream, and a text stream;
and
the multicast window comprises any combination of:
(a) a video subwindow for displaying the video stream;
(b) an audio subwindow for displaying audio control functions for controlling the play of the audio stream;
and
(c) a text subwindow for displaying the text stream, wherein:
the computer-based multicasting system automatically determines which data streams are part of the selected multicast channel and generates the multicast window accordingly, such that:
if there is no video stream in the selected multicast channel, then the multicast window does not include the video subwindow;
if there is no audio stream in the selected multicast channel, then the multicast window does not include the audio subwindow;
and
if there is no text stream in the selected multicast channel, then the multicast window does not include the text subwindow.

12 more elements

An apparatus for processing multicast channels in a computer-based multicasting system, comprising:

(1) means for receiving a multicast channel selection from a user using a user interface displayed on a computer monitor to select a multicast channel from a plurality of multicast channels;
and
(2) means for generating a multicast window for playing one or more data streams of the selected multicast channel, wherein:
the selected multicast channel comprises any combination of a video stream, an audio stream, and a text stream;
and
the multicast window comprises any combination of:
(a) a video subwindow for displaying the video stream;
(b) an audio subwindow for displaying audio control functions for controlling the play of the audio stream;
and
(c) a text subwindow for displaying the text stream, wherein:
the computer-based multicasting system automatically determines which data streams are part of the selected multicast channel and generates the multicast window accordingly, such that:
if there is no video stream in the selected multicast channel, then the multicast window does not include the video subwindow;
if there is no audio stream in the selected multicast channel, then the multicast window does not include the audio subwindow;
and
if there is no text stream in the selected multicast channel, then the multicast window does not include the text subwindow.

12 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.