ADVERTISEMENT BY METADATA EXTRACTION

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to provide method and apparatus for replacement of advertisement by metadata extraction, comprising of metadata processing device for acquiring metadata associated with live data stream to determine advertisement status by applying various techniques such as Cinemascope technique, Scene change Detector technique, Text analysis using OCR technique and Text content ratio technique and transmitting the said advertisement status to digital decision Maker (DDM) to determine the final advertisement status and rendering on the live data stream the animated video replacement based on final advertisement status. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In any of methodologies for distributing television programming events to television receivers, common network programming media content such as commercials or advertisements are being pushed to a mass of viewers. Viewers are presented with the advertisements which may or may not be appropriate for them. Research findings showed that consumers generally have a negative view of TV advertising, with many viewing it as misleading, boring, irritating, silly, offensive and trivial. Most consumers perceive advertising to have adverse effects, including the promotion of unwholesome values and the increased costs of goods. Follow-up studies of preschool children indicate that watching educational television programs may enhance school readiness and school performance in adolescence. However, these benefits appear to be related to watching specific educational programs rather than total viewing time.

Many research articles have proved that media in particular advertising has an extremely lasting impact on teenagers psychosocial development. Furthermore it is equally important to increase the positive effects of advertising such as gender awareness, political knowledge etc. There is an increasing need for the parents to be more aware of the content of advertising that their children are being exposed to. A means to replace the advertisements with content at source, which user can control and replace the advertisements with informative and rich in quality content has been lacking. A better television viewing experience to reduce negative impact of advertising that can take advantage of modern technology era is needed. US7631327B2 discloses system and method for combining television broadcast programming content with customized or personalized information and educational or entertainment content. The system includes a set-top box capable of receiving data transmissions and locally rendering video animation for display with, instead of and/or synchronized with television broadcast programs in a way that the television viewer sees a coherent seamless merging of the television program content and Supplemental content sources in an indistinguishable format. Preferably, the viewer may interact in real-time with the enhanced television programming to provide a higher level of engagement and customization potential. US7266832B2 discloses an aggregator provided in connection with advertisement swapping. The aggregator can be implemented in an interactive television system so as to perform real-time aggregation of trigger information for advertisement swapping through cooperation with content providers or third-party entities. The aggregated information can then be made available to set top boxes and/or ancillary devices of subscribers. Advertisement swapping may be performed via use of the trigger information to perform channel switching to a channel that broadcasts substitute advertisements or via use of the trigger information to retrieve substitute advertisements from a storage unit. The advertisement swapping may be performed by devices of opted-in subscribers, or by devices at a broadcast center. The advertisement swapping can also include replacement of original links in the advertisements with substitute links, so that the viewer can experience interactivity and/or receive substitute interactive content associated with the substitute links.

US 2004/0117822 Al discloses method and system for producing and delivering media content for establishing a personal television channel, modifying media content to produce a media program, and associating the produced media program with the established personal television channel. Metadata Such as program metadata and/or primitive metadata associated with the media content may be acquired and edited. Accordingly, the acquired metadata associated with media content may be updated to reflect changes associated with modifying the media content. At least a portion of the produced media content may be displayed within the personal television channel.

In all the prior art available components such as set-top box and media processor used in television display system must have sufficient image processing, graphics capability and memory storage for swapping. The present invention contemplates simpler and cheaper device or method without changing the existing conventional arrangements of television receivers. Further present invention provides accurate detection and replacement of advertisements that were lacking in prior art.

The present specification details a diversity of technologies, assembled over an extended period of time, to serve a variety of different obj ectives. Yet they relate together in various ways, and can be used in conjunction, and so are presented collectively in this single document.

This varied, interrelated subject matter does not lend itself to a straightforward presentation. Thus, the reader's indulgence is solicited as this narrative occasionally proceeds in nonlinear fashion among the assorted topics and technologies. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The principal object of this invention is to provide method and apparatus for replacement of advertisement by metadata extraction comprising of metadata processing device for acquiring metadata associated with live data stream to determine advertisement status by applying various techniques such as Cinemascope technique, Scene change Detector technique, Text analysis using OCR technique and Text content ratio technique and transmitting the said advertisement status to digital decision Maker (DDM) to determine the final advertisement status and rendering on the live data stream the animated video replacement based on final advertisement status.

Another object of this invention is to design metadata processing device by applying cinemascope technique to determine advertisement status as TRUE or FALSE for replacement of advertisement by metadata extraction. In said cinemascope technique first gray scale image is generated from acquired metadata within live data stream and detection of black band region by measuring input image signal level in a unit frame period is done.

Another object of this invention is to design metadata processing device by applying scene change detector technique to determine advertisement status as TRUE or FALSE for replacement of advertisement by metadata extraction. In said scene change detector technique first normalization of acquired metadata within live data stream is done by compensating the intensity variations in at least some of the captured frame of image data. Then normalized metadata frame and acquired metadata frame are compared to analyze the changes by calculating SSFM (Structural Similarity Index Matrix) and MSE (Means Square Error). Further techniques such as Histogram Information, Similarity Matrix, Edge Ratio using canny edge detector are applied to calculate SSFM and MSE. Confirmation of scene change is done if SSFM is less than threshold value and MSE is greater than threshold value wherein threshold value is predetermined value otherwise scene change detection is denied.

Another object of this invention is to design metadata processing device by applying Text analysis using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technique to determine advertisement status as TRUE or FALSE for replacement of advertisement by metadata extraction. Said OCR technique is used to evaluate text information by selecting and overlaying the particular quadrant in converted gray scale image frame wherein particular quadrant is generated depending on the frequency of specific words. Physical observations are done to find specific words which are repeated many times to identify starting point of advertisement. One or many particular quadrant are generated based on pure observation and then scanning of the same quadrants are done on one by one basis in extracted live stream frame. If matched quadrant is found in extracted live stream frame then presence of text is confirmed. According to presence of text status of advertisement is sent to DDM. Another obj ect of this invention is to design metadata processing device by applying Text content ratio technique to evaluate bulkiness of the text content in extracted live stream frame and to determine advertisement status as TRUE or FALSE for replacement of advertisement by metadata extraction. First conversion into gray scale image frame is done and then canny edge detection is applied. Here canny edge detection is applied to calculate edges of objects in extracted live data stream frame. If calculated value of bulkiness is greater than threshold value wherein threshold value is predetermined value then advertisement status is transmitted as TRUE otherwise as FALSE to DDM for further processing.

Another object of this invention is to design metadata processing device by applying all the above said techniques at the same time to determine advertisement status as TRUE or FALSE for replacement of advertisement by metadata extraction. Another object of this invention is to design metadata processing device to determine advertisement status as TRUE or FALSE for replacement of advertisement by metadata extraction and transmitting all the outcomes of all the applied techniques to DDM.

Another object of this invention is to determine the final advertisement status in DDM means making a decision by means of comparing all the acquired advertisement status at particular time segment T. At particular time segment T if all the acquired advertisement status from metadata processing device are TRUE then the final advertisement status in DDM is considered as TRUE. Another object of this invention is to determine the final advertisement status in DDM means making a decision by means of comparing all the acquired advertisement status at particular time segment T. At particular time segment T if any of the acquired advertisement status from metadata processing device is FALSE then the final advertisement status in DDM is considered as FALSE.

Another object of this invention is to determine the final advertisement status as TRUE or FALSE in DDM is based on particular time segment T, (T-t) and (T+t) wherein t is predetermined number of image frames of acquired metadata within live data stream. Further acquired advertisement status at T is compared with acquired advertisement status at (T-t), which shows previously stored advertisement status by DDM. Further acquired advertisement status at T is compared with acquired advertisement status at (T+t), which shows next predicted advertisement status by DDM. t is predetermined number of image frames of acquired metadata within live data stream means value of extracted image frames are previously defined in such a way that viewer cannot see any difference between displayed data stream and live data stream.

Another object of this invention is to determine the final advertisement status in DDM as TRUE or FALSE in predetermined time wherein predetermined time is not more than 10 sec. Predetermined time can be vary from 4 sec to 10 sec.

Another object of this invention is to provide method and apparatus for replacement of advertisement by metadata extraction comprising of rendering on the live data stream the animated video replacement based on final advertisement status is executed only when final advertisement status is decided as TRUE by DDM.

Another object of this invention is to replace the live data stream content with the animated video replacement content only when final advertisement status is decided as TRUE by DDM.

Another object of this invention is to provide method and apparatus for replacement of advertisement by metadata extraction wherein live data stream can be selected and not limited to group consisting of any output from a digital antenna, a set-top box (STB) for cable, satellite, Internet Protocol Television (TPTV), a digital video recorder (DVR), an entertainment-oriented device (EOD), an Over The Top device (OTT).

Another object of this invention is to provide method and apparatus for replacement of advertisement by metadata extraction wherein live data stream can be displayed on the displaying device selected and not limited from a group consisting of Television, CRT TV, Plasma TV, Projection TV, Computer, Computer display, LCD Display, LED Display, OLED Display.

Another object of this invention is to replace the live data stream content with the animated video replacement content wherein the animated video replacement content can be any of the content selected and not limited to a group comprising of customized, personalized information, educational, entertainment content based on television viewer's criteria. Educational content which is to be replaceable is designed by experts and according to NCERT books. Another object of this invention is to provide method and apparatus for replacement of advertisement by metadata extraction in a cyclic manner and repeated at regular interval of time in seamless manner wherein seamless means viewer sees a coherent seamless merging of the live data stream with designed animated video data stream without any disturbance in viewing experience. Cyclic manner means it is a continuous extraction of metadata within live data stream by taking some of the image frame in such a way that viewer cannot see any difference between displayed data stream and live data stream.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings constitute a part of this invention and include exemplary embodiments of the present invention illustrating various obj ects and features thereof.

Figure 100: A general system diagram depicting a general purpose computing device constituting an exemplary system of metadata processing device

Figure 200: A high level flow diagram depicting an exemplary system for Cinemascope technique

Figure 300: A high level flow diagram depicting an exemplary system for Scene change

Detector technique

Figure 400: A high level flow diagram depicting an exemplary system for OCR technique to perform Text analysis

Figure 500: A high level flow diagram depicting an exemplary system for Text content ratio technique

Figure 600: A high level flow diagram depicting a general purpose computing device constituting an exemplary system of Digital Decision Maker (DDM)

Figure 700: A general system diagram depicting schematic of one embodiment constituting an exemplary of a method and apparatus for replacement of advertisement by metadata extraction

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In distribution of television programing events to television receivers, advertisements are being pushed to a mass of viewers irrespective of viewer's interest. A better television viewing experience to reduce adverse impact of advertising that can take advantage of modern technology era is required. In all the prior art available components such as set- top box and media processor used in television display system must have sufficient image processing, graphics capability and memory storage for swapping. The present invention contemplates simpler and cheaper device or method without changing the existing conventional arrangements of television receivers. Further present invention provides accurate detection and replacement of advertisements that were lacking in prior art.

The principal object of this invention is to provide method and apparatus for replacement of advertisement by metadata extraction comprising of metadata processing device for acquiring metadata associated with live data stream to determine advertisement status by applying various techniques such as Cinemascope technique, Scene change Detector technique, Text analysis using OCR technique and Text content ratio technique and transmitting the said advertisement status to digital decision Maker (DDM) to determine the final advertisement status and rendering on the live data stream the animated video replacement based on final advertisement status. The essential function of this invention is advertisement detection by means of extracting metadata from live TV stream, 'metadata' hereafter defined as other data which provides information about a certain item's content. In context of present invention metadata is associated with image or audio or video to identify certain factors such as size of picture, color depth, image resolution, time of image created, and other related data. Metadata processing device has been designed based on various techniques of computer vision and image processing.

Referring to figures wherein like reference characters refer to like and corresponding parts throughout the several views, Metadata processing device 100 according to the invention comprising of Cinemascope 200, Scene change Detector 300, Text analysis using OCR (Object Character Recognition) 400 and Text content ratio 500 extracts metadata from block TV Stream 101 and stores all the results in block Advertisement Status 106 as TRUE or FALSE. In present invention Metadata processing device 100 is a general purpose computing device which is responsible for applying basic image processing techniques to detect various modes of display such as Cinemascope, Scene change, OCR (Optical Character recognition) and Text to content ratio. 'Cinemascope' means an anamorphic lens series used for shooting widescreen movies and here active image region is surrounded by additional dark portions means black bands are present above and below the displayed image frame. ' Scene change' means a process to analyze two images of the same scene but taken at different time for identifying the changes that have occurred between the two images. In present embodiment scene change means comparing the consecutive TV stream frames. 'OCR (Optical Character recognition)' means a process of classification of optical patterns contained in a digital image corresponding to alphanumeric or other characters. 'Text to content ratio' means finding the bulkiness of the text content in the current frame and compare it with the specified threshold of text bulkiness.

Cinemascope is an anamorphic lens series used for shooting widescreen movies. The anamorphic lenses theoretically allowed the process to create an image of up to a 2.66:1 aspect ratio. Normal standard channel does not follow this aspect ratio but the advertisements are following the aspect ratio. So one of the embodiment of the invention is to achieve separation of the advertisement from standard TV program on some specified channels based on above said fact. Referring to Figure 200 an exemplary system for Cinemascope technique using high level flow diagram can be understood. Generation of the substantially gray scale image frame is done in TV Stream 101. Further detection of a black band region by measuring input image signal level in a unit frame period is done in consecutive Define Cinemascope Window 202 and Window Scanning 203. One of the embodiment of present invention is to transmit advertisement status as TRUE as per branch 204' if black band is detected and to transmit advertisement status as FALSE as per branch 204" if black band is not detected in Is Cinemascope 204.

In present invention 'a unit frame' may mean one or a few image frames or one or a few image fields. 'TV Stream' means metadata extracted from group comprising and not limited to any output from a digital antenna, a set-top box (STB) for cable, satellite, Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), a digital video recorder (DVR), an entertainment- oriented device (EOD), an Over The Top device (OTT). 'Define cinemascope window' means defining the black band region based on signal level of each pixel in comparison with the luminance signal. 'Window scanning' means checking signal level of all the pixels. 'Is cinemascope' means detecting presence of black bands in extracted metadata. According to present invention Consecutive Define cinemascope window 202 and window scanning 203 perform combine role of comparing each incoming frame window pixel by pixel.

Transition from one scene to other generate many differences, one of the embodiment of present invention uses this differences by applying scene change detector technique to determine advertisement status as TRUE or FALSE for replacement of advertisement by metadata extraction. Here referring to Figure 300 an exemplary system for scene change detector technique using high level flow diagram can be understood. Normalize the frames 301 is used to normalize the acquired metadata from TV Stream 101 within live data stream. 'Normalize the frames' means compensating the intensity variations in at least some of the captured frame of image data as per Equation 1. Then normalized metadata frame and acquired metadata frame are compared to analyze the changes by calculating SSFM (Structural Similarity Index Matrix) and MSE (Means Square Error) in 302. SSFM and MSE can be calculated as per Equation 2 and Equation 3.

,-r , _% newMax— newMra

iw— [I— Mini h ne Miii

Mas - Mia

E uation 1

Equation 2

Equation 3

Further techniques Generate Histogram 305 and Canny Edge Detector 308 are applied to calculate SSFM and MSE 302. Advertisement Status: True 311 decided as TRUE 303' if SSFM < THRESHOLD and MSE > THRESHOLD 303 otherwise FALSE 303". 'THRESHOLD' according to present invention is predetermined value based on observations. Scene change detector is used to compare all the consecutive TV stream frames by normalizing the frames and detecting the changes by comparing both the frame. 'Generate Histogram' means calculating the histogram difference between Scene Change Detected 304 and TV Stream 101. 'Canny Edge Detector' means computing the edges of the frames. According to present embodiment of the invention similarity and dissimilarity between Scene Change Detected 304 and TV Stream 101 are calculated. 'M' according to present invention means Mixer circuit used to combine, route, and change the dynamics, equalization and other properties of multiple inputs. For example according to present embodiment of the invention M may be used to take Scene Change Detected image frames as one of the input and consecutive TV stream frames as another input to enable comparison between them. There are a number of well-known techniques for locating and identifying text content in video frames. Therefore, such techniques will only be summarized herein, rather than described in detail. Generally, most TV channel displays what come next after the advertisement break with the title like, "Age Dekhiye", "Upcoming", "Next" Etc. Referring to Figure 400 one of the embodiment of the invention is to mark presence of text in TV Stream 101, Load OCR Model 401 is used. Is Model Loaded 402 has two branches TRUE 402' and FALSE 402". If condition TRUE 402' is satisfied TV StreamlOl is converted into substantial gray image frame using Gray Scale Conversion 201. Quadrant Selection 403 and Quadrant Scanning 404 are applied to generated gray scale image from Gray Scale Conversion 201. 'Quadrant Selection' means selecting the particular quadrant which is constructed on the basis of words like "Age Dekhiye", "Upcoming", "Next" which are repeated many times in TV STREAM 101 whenever there is high probability of advertisement. 'Quadrant Scanning' means overlaying the constructed quadrant in generated gray scale image. Result of Is Text Found 405 comprising of two branches YES 405' and NO 405" is stored in Advertisement Status: True 406. 'Is Text Found' means comparing the selected quadrant of pixels with all the pixels in incoming window frame.

Advertisement are meant to promote the product. Therefore, it contains more textual content to give information about the product. If comparison between TV program and TV advertisement is done then it is found that advertisement are bulky in term of text by pure observations. Referring to Figure 500, one of the embodiment of the invention is to find the bulkiness of text in incoming TV frame by applying Text Content Ratio 500. First Gray Scale Conversion 201 is used to generate substantial gray image from TV Stream 101. Then Canny Edge Detector 308 is used to compute edge of the object and Compute Bulkiness 501 is used to compute bulkiness. Result of Is Bulkiness > Threshold 502 comprising of branches YES 502' and NO 502" is stored in Advertisement Status: True 503. 'Is Bulkiness > Threshold' means computed edges of the object falls in text edge range which is predetermined range decided by observations.

Referring to Figure 600, one of the embodiment of the invention is to determine the final advertisement status in DDM 600 by means of comparing Advertisement Detection Counter value with stored predetermined value. 'Advertisement Detection Counter' means a digital sequential logic device that will go through certain predefined states for counting up according to present embodiment of invention. Here stored predetermined value is two as total four techniques are applied to detect advertisement status. This Stored predetermined value may be increased based on the number of applied techniques. For example if number of applied techniques are increased to five in place of four then stored predetermined value will be three instead of two. Set Advertisement Detection Counter to 0 601 is initial state of DDM 600. Start 101 and TV Stream 101 are used interchangeably in present embodiment of invention. From Text Analysis using OCR 400 If Advertisement Status: True 406 is taken to Increment Advertisement Detection Counter by 1 and Set Text Analysis using OCR to False 602 via branch TRUE 406'. Branch FALSE 406" is used to omit the step Increment Advertisement Detection Counter by 1 and Set Text Analysis using OCR to False 602 and is directly fed to M. 'M' according to present invention means Mixer circuit used to combine, route, and change the dynamics, equalization and other properties of multiple inputs. For example according to present embodiment of invention M may be used to combine output from branches FALSE 406", FALSE 205", FALSE 311", FALSE 503" and FALSE 606" as multiple inputs. From Cinemascope 200 If Advertisement Status: True 205 is taken to Increment Advertisement Detection Counter by 1 and Set Cinemascope to False 603 via branch TRUE 205'. Branch FALSE 205" is used to omit the step Increment Advertisement Detection Counter by 1 and Set Cinemascope to False 603 and is directly fed to M. From Scene Change Detector 300 If Advertisement Status: True 311 is taken to Increment Advertisement Detection Counter by 1 and Set Scene Change Detector to False 604 via branch TRUE 311'. Branch FALSE 311" is used to omit the step Increment Advertisement Detection Counter by 1 and Set Scene Change Detector to False 604 and is directly fed to M. From Text Content Ratio 500 If Advertisement Status: True 503 is taken to Increment Advertisement Detection Counter by 1 and Set Text Content Ratio to False 605 via branch TRUE 503'. Branch FALSE 503" is used to omit the step Increment Advertisement Detection Counter by 1 and Set Text Content Ratio to False 605 and is directly fed to M. If Advertisement Detection Counter >= 2 606 is used to compare Advertisement Detection Counter value with stored predetermined value which is two according to present embodiment of the invention. TRUE 606' is responsible for Replace Advertisement 607. Resultant output of M is used to Set Advertisement Detection Counter to 0 601 in initial state again. According to present embodiment of invention 'If Advertisement Detection Counter >= 2' and 'Final Advertisement Status' are used interchangeably and gives the same meaning and result.

The process of replacing advertisement by means of obtaining final advertisement status using DDM 600 is continuous process. 'Continuous process' means it is repeated at regular interval of time. One of the embodiment of present invention is to determine the final advertisement status is based on particular time segment T, (T-t) and (T+t). 't' represents predetermined number of image frames of acquired metadata within live TV stream 101. '(T-t)' represents previously stored advertisement status by DDM 600 and '(T+t)' represents next predicted advertisement status by DDM 600. Value of 't' is selected in such a way that viewer cannot see any difference between displayed data stream and live data stream. For example in broadcast, setting a specific frame rate such as 24 or 29.97 fps can be done.

One of the embodiment of present invention is to determine the final advertisement status 601 in DDM 600 is done within predetermined time wherein predetermined time is not more than 10 sec. Predetermined time can be vary from 4 sec to 10 sec. According to one of the embodiment of present invention 'TRUE' means detecting incoming TV frame as advertisement instead of TV program according to highest probability. And 'FALSE' means detecting incoming TV frame as TV program rather than advertisement according to lowest probability. 'Highest Probability' can be defined as accuracy of applied technique falls into range of 90 to 100%. 'Lowest Probability' means there is no probability of detecting advertisement within incoming TV stream and accuracy of applied technique does not fall into range of 90 to 100 %. For example each applied technique Cinemascope 200, Scene change Detector 300, Text analysis using OCR (Object Character Recognition) 400 and Text content ratio 500 is giving Advertisement status as true or false. So total 2 ⁴ =16 combinations of true and false are possible at particular time segment T. If we denote true as T and false as '0' then table

[0000 0001 0010 0100 1000 0011 0111 1111] can be constructed. So probability will fall in range 90 to 100 % when 2 or more advertisement status are 1 at time segment T. Otherwise advertisement status does not fall in said range. Same combinations as explained above are taken at time segment (T-t) and at time segment (T+t). Comparison of combinational output table at all time segments are done and based on that Advertisement Replacement is done. One of the embodiment of present invention is to replace the live data stream content with the animated video replacement content wherein the animated video replacement content can be any of the content selected and not limited to a group comprising of customized, personalized information, educational, entertainment content based on television viewer's criteria. Educational content which is to be replaceable is designed by experts and according to NCERT books.

Figure 700 refers to a general system diagram depicting schematic of one embodiment constituting an exemplary of a method and apparatus for replacement of advertisement by metadata extraction. Input stream 701 may be any output from a digital antenna, a set- top box (STB) for cable, satellite, Internet Protocol Television (TPTV), a digital video recorder (DVR), an entertainment-oriented device (EOD), an Over The Top device (OTT). Display Device 702 may be selected and not limited from a group consisting of Television, CRT TV, Plasma TV, Projection TV, Computer, Computer display, LCD Display, LED Display, OLED Display. Link 701' and link 702' may be RCA or HDMI cable according to conventional system. For example, Such a system may include a set- top box to get input TV stream having an Intel Pentium ΠΙ processor with 256 MB RAM memory, a graphics card chip, a DVD optical drive, a television (or a SVGA computer monitor) and a keyboard in communication with the set-top box. The incoming television broadcast program may be digitized and stored as a MPEG4 format file on a 40GB hard drive memory storage. The Supplemental video content may be an executable instruction set written in Visual C++ and using Microsoft DirectX8 SKD. The system is capable to transmit to the monitor for display the television broadcast program, the rendered Supplemental video image content, or a combination of the Supplemental video on top of and/or synchronized with the television broadcast program. The systems and methods disclosed herein can be implemented as general or special purpose servers or other programmable hardware devices programmed through software, or as hardware or equipment "programmed" through hard wiring, or a combination of the two. A method and apparatus for replacement of advertisement by metadata extraction can comprise a single processor, processor core, or machine or can comprise multiple interacting processors, processor cores, or machines (located at a single location or at multiple locations remote from one another). A computer memory or computer-readable medium can be encoded with a computer program, so that execution of that program by one or more computers causes the one or more computers to perform one or more of the methods disclosed herein. Suitable media can include temporary or permanent storage or replaceable media, such as network-based or Internet-based or otherwise distributed storage of software modules that operate together, RAM, ROM, CD ROM, CD-R, CD- RAN, DVD ROM, DVD±R, DVD±R/W, hard drives, thumb drives, flash memory, optical media, magnetic media, semiconductor media, or any future storage alternatives. Such encoded media can be preinstalled already encoded in present invention during its manufacture, can be encoded after installation of the same with smart TV, or can be encoded with "client" or "application" software. For example, client software can be downloaded to the smart TV as part of occasional or periodic software updates received by the smart TV, typically via its network connection.

While this invention has been shown and described in connection with the preferred embodiments, it is apparent that certain changes and modifications in addition to those mentioned above may be made from the basic features of this invention.

Numerous details are described herein in order to provide a thorough understanding of the example implementations illustrated in the accompanying drawings. However, the invention may be practiced without these specific details. And, well-known methods, procedures, components, and circuits have not been described in exhaustive detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure more pertinent aspects of the example implementations.