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System and method for providing television services
| Details |
Inventors: Howe, Wayne R.; Danner, III, Fred Thomas; Mauney, John R.;
Assignee:
Primary Examiner: Kostak; Victor R.
Assistant Examiner: Brown; Reuben M.
Attorney, Agent or Firm:
A system and method are described for providing interactive television services and for switching between television programs, such as to an interactive program session from another program. An interactive server, capable of providing requested interactive video services to a set of subscribers in a given geographic area, is coupled to a network to which subscriber set top boxes are also coupled. Television programming, which may be furnished by any number of sources, is accompanied by a signal that indicates the availability of other programming, such as interactive television service related to the program being viewed, as well as information to be used in requesting such service. The user, when notified by this signal, may input to the set top box a request for a second program, such as an interactive program or application. The identity of the original program channel is stored, and a session with the video service provider is established over the network. When the session is terminated, the set top box re-tunes the television signal to the original program channel. |
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention provides an approach for viewer-friendly and virtually instantaneous transitioning from a first analog based television program to a second program, particularly an interactive application program, and further permits a similarly rapid and easily accomplished return to viewing the first program.
To accomplish this convenient and virtually instantaneous transition between programs such as a broadcast program and an interactive application or program, the present invention provides a system for permitting a provider of program content to furnish a video service provider with content, such as an interactive program or application, and for permitting the video service provider to transmit to the Content Provider an identifying code or address, such as an interactive callback address.
The video service provider associates this identifying code or address with a location at which the program or application will be stored.
The identifying code or callback address may be a program-specific code that can be used by subscribers to invoke the program from the video services provider directly.
Alternatively, the identifying code may be a common identifying code or callback address (which might be called a "well-known callback address"), used by all subscribing viewers to access a program- or application-specific identifying code or callback address, which is in turn used to invoke the program.
According to the present invention, Content Providers may transmit the identifying code or callback address for a second program in coordination with a first program, so that viewers of the first program, who have access to systems operated by the video service provider, may invoke the second program, which may be an interactive program or application, using that identifying code or callback address.
Also according to the present invention, the Content Provider may transmit the identifying code or callback address in the first program signal, for example, in the vertical blanking interval of the video stream for that program
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I/O Systems 
