The present invention relates generally to interactive television systems, and more particularly, to a system and method of presenting navigation icons that are context sensitive to screen content being broadcast in an interactive television system.

Interactive television systems provide a means to deliver interactive content as well as ordinary television audio and video to a large number of subscribers. Programs broadcast by these systems may incorporate television audio and video, still images, text, interactive graphics and applications, and many other components. They may also provide a number of services, such as commerce via the television, electronic program guides (EPGs), video-on-demand, and other interactive applications to viewers. The interactive content of the interactive television signal may therefore include application code, data associated with the audio and video, control signals, raw data and many other types of information. This information can be combined into a single signal or several signals for transmission to a receiver connected to the viewer's television or the provider can include only a subset of the information.

A common interactive TV application is the super teletext application, sometimes referred to as an 'information browser'. Super teletext is a term borrowed from the DVB- MHP to denote applications that present information alongside broadcast programming. A super teletext display typically includes icons which allow end users to access one or more interactive services via a remote control. The number of navigation keys provided in such browsers is limited. For example, in an interactive TV application that operates in accordance with the MHP broadcast protocol, four navigation keys are provided, color coded as red, white, blue and green, corresponding to the navigation functions "exit",

"main", "back" and "help". The MHP interactive application also includes 4 arrow keys, a "TXT" button for activating/deactivating the interactive service and an "OK" button to facilitated generic selections or otherwise serve as a confirmation key. "

The inventor has recognized that it would be desirable to display content related icons for use with the navigation keys as a powerful visual cue to an end user in locating the correct navigation key on the remote control.

A system and method is provided, in an interactive television system for providing content related navigation icons of an interactive television application. More particularly, the content related navigation icons assume a visual characteristic that corresponds to content being displayed to end users of the television system. For example, the navigation icons may display on the display screen visual representations of soccer balls to represent certain navigation icons for an application or application page whose content is soccer related. As another example, the navigation icons may display on the display screen visual representations of musical notes to represent certain navigation icons for an application or application page whose content is music related. Each navigation icon corresponds to a button on a remote control of the end user.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a system is provided for use in an interactive television system for providing content related navigation icons, comprising (1) a articles repository storing so-called 'raw' articles written by editors affiliated with the television broadcast system, (2) a converter module configured to convert the so-called 'raw' articles to a format suitable for display to end users, wherein conversion preferably includes adding graphical styling, navigation and page templates to the so-called 'raw' articles, (3) a page template repository for storing the page templates, and (4) an icons repository for storing an icon for each article category from among the plurality of 'raw' articles stored in the articles repository, each icon assuming a visual characteristic corresponding to the context of the associated 'raw' article

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a method for use in an interactive television (iTV) system for providing content related navigation icons comprises the acts of: (1) determining a category type of a retrieved article, (2) retrieving an icon suitable for the determined category type, (3) formatting the retrieved article to derive a formatted article, (4) combining the retrieved icon with the formatted article, (5) transmitting the combined retrieved icon and formatted article over a network to a plurality of end users of the iTV system, and (6) executing a broadcast application to display to display page content of the article and the at least one copy of navigation icons to the plurality of end users of the iTV system.

In certain embodiments, the content related navigation icons could include an audio component that is correlated to the content being displayed. For example, in the case of a musical application where musical content is being displayed, the content related navigation icons (musical notes) could emit different musical tones. The tones would be emitted upon selection of the navigation icon by an end user via a remote control or similar selection device. As a further example, in the case of a sports application where soccer content is being displayed, the content related navigation icons (soccer balls) could emit fan sounds or the sound of a soccer ball being kicked or the sound of a goal being scored. The audible tones thus providing the viewer with an audible indication of which navigation icon, among a plurality of navigation icons being displayed on the screen, is currently selected.

The foregoing features of the present invention will become more readily apparent and may be understood by referring to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment of the present invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, where

FIG. 1 is an overview of a broadcast system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is there is shown an overview of operational steps in flow diagram form, of a method for use in an interactive television system for providing content related navigation icons; and

FIGS 3&4 are examples of content related navigation icons.

Although the following detailed description contains many specifics for the purpose of illustration, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that many variations and alterations to the following description are within the scope of the invention.

Accordingly, the following preferred embodiment of the invention is set forth without any loss of Components and operation of a network are described below in terms of the

UPnP protocol. However, generality to, and without imposing limitations upon, the claimed invention

FIG. 1 is an overview of a broadcast system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The broadcast system 100 operates, by way of example in this embodiment, in accordance with the MHP broadcast protocol. It should be understood, however, that the embodiments described herein are not limited to a particular broadcast protocol, such as the MHP broadcast protocol.

The broadcast system 100 comprises, in this embodiment, a broadcast station 101, for broadcasting a DVB-MHP broadcast stream over a unidirectional broadcast network 107 to a plurality of receivers 103, one of which is shown.

I. Broadcast Station 101

The broadcast station 101 comprises: an articles content management system 113, a converter module 115, a page template repository 117, an icons repository 119, an MHP application 121 and an MHP generator.

Each of the respective modules of the Server/broadcaster 101 are described as follows.

Articles content management system 113

The articles content management system 113 is shown having an input coupled to the editors/writers 180 who supply so-called 'raw' articles to the articles content management system 113 on various topics of interest to end users of the television broadcast system 100. The articles content management system 113 is shown having an output coupled to the converter module 115.

The articles content management system 113 is configured to receive and store the so-called 'raw' articles written by the various editors/writers 180, two of which are shown. The 'raw' articles, written by the editors/writers 180 and stored within the system 113 are 'raw' in the sense that they are not written in a format that is suitable for display to end users of the broadcast system. That is, they lack graphical styling, navigation and page templates.

The 'raw' articles stored in system 113 include articles that have already been broadcast in the past, articles that are being broadcast at the present time and articles that will be broadcast at a future time.

Each of the so-called 'raw' articles include the following fields: (1) a header field, (2) the body text, (3) a timestamp corresponding to the time at which the broadcast is intended to be activated, (4) a timestamp corresponding to the time at which the broadcast is intended to be deactivated, (5) the article's category used to determine which chapter and section the article is stored in. Categories could include, for example, science fiction, sports, news, film, etc.. Other optional fields that may be defined for the so-called raw articles include, (6) any images related to the article, (7) the author's name, and (8) the source of the article.

By way of example, for an article pertaining to the popularity of soccer around the world, the 'raw' article may contain the following fields:

(1) Header - "Soccers Popularity around the globe"

(2) Body Text - [ Article goes here ]

(3) Timestamp activation broadcast - September 15, 2004 (4) Timestamp deactivation broadcast - September 17, 2004

(5) Category - News -^ Sports -^ Soccer

(6) Images - soccerstadiumjpg, braziliansoccerteam.jpg

(7) Writer - Seth B. Hutchinson

(8) Source - N. Y. Times magazine

Converter module 115

The converter module 115 is shown having an input coupled to the output of the articles content management system 113 and an output coupled to one input of the MHP generator 116. The converter module 115 is configured to convert the so-called 'raw' articles, output from the articles content management system 113, to a format suitable for display to end users, i.e., to a converted article format. The process of converting the 'raw' articles includes preferably adding graphical styling, navigation and page templates to the so-called 'raw' articles The converter module 115 is also configured to determine which icon to retrieve from the icons repository 119 to represent the navigation keys on the formatted page. This is done by extracting the category index from the so-called 'raw' article and using the article's category as an index into the icons repository 119 to select the icon corresponding to the article's category.

Page template repository 117

The page template repository 117 stores page templates for use by the converter module 115 to transform the so-called 'raw' articles into a format suitable for display to end users.

The icons repository 119

The icons repository stores a plurality of icons. An icon is a small picture that typically represents an object or program within a GUI. A unique icon is stored in the icon repository 119 for each article category. Table I illustrates, by way of example, a snapshot of the organization of the icons repository 119.

Table I

As shown in table I, the icons are selected to reflect the article's content in accordance with the principles of the invention. That is, the icon provides a visual cu the end user regarding the content of the article. In one embodiment, for articles that concern individual people, the person's face could be used as the icon.

Icons stored in the icon repository 119 may be stored in various standard formats, such as bitmaps, JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) images, GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) images, TIFF (Tagged Interchange File Format) images, etc. The icon repository 119 may be implemented using any suitable data structure, such aass aann array, linked list, stack, queue, disk file, or the like. The icon repository 119 mmaayy iimnclude an index (not shown) to provide faster storage and retrieval of icons within the icon repository 119.

MHP application 121

The MHP application is a software module such that when it is executed on the end user/receiver 103 side it displays the converted article format including the content related navigation icons. The MHP application is provided as one input to the MHP generator.

MHP Generator 123

The MHP generator 116 is a device well-known in the art, configured to construct and broadcast a DVB/MHP broadcast stream incorporating the chat content. The generated broadcast stream includes application code and data with the chat content representing at least a portion of the transmitted data. The DVB-MHP stream is transmitted across a communication medium, such as network 107 to the MHP End user/Receivers 103. Network 107 may comprise a cable, terrestrial or antenna network or combinations thereof.

II. MHP End user/Receivers 103

The MHP End user/Receivers 103 may comprise set- top boxes, personal computers, interactive televisions, or other equipment operable to process television signals and other information, such as control information and program guides. Display unit 144 may comprise a television, computer monitor, or other device operable to display video images and text.

Generally, the MHP End user/Receivers 103 receive a DVB/MHP signal including the MHP application 121 and the formatted page content 122 broadcast by the

MHP generator 123. The MHP receivers 131 extracts the MHP application 121 and the formatted page content 122. An end user may execute the extracted MHP application

121 at any time to display the formatted page content 122 including the content related navigation icons.

Flow Diagram Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown an overview of operational steps in flow

diagram form, of a method for use in an interactive television system for providing content related navigation icons.

Act 205 - at least one raw article is retrieved from the articles content management system 113 for distribution to a plurality of MHP End user/Receivers 103 of the interactive television system,

Act 210 - extracting a category identifier from the at least one raw article retrieved at act 205. For example, a news article about soccer has an associated category field defined as: News -> Sports -> Soccer

The converter 115 extracts the "soccer" tag from the category field.

Act 215 - a content related navigation icon corresponding to the category identifier of the at least one raw article, extracted at act 210, is retrieved from the icon repository 119 using "soccer" as a search index. In the instant example, upon querying the data repository, the "soccer ball" icon is determined to be associated with the "soccer" category field.

Act 220 - The converter module 115 converts the raw article to a formatted article suitable for display to end users of the interactive television system. Conversion comprises, in a preferred embodiment, adding graphical styling, navigation and page templates to the so-called 'raw' articles

Act 225 - The converter module 115 is then tasked with incorporating the content related navigation icon, retrieved at act 215, into the formatted article. Act 230 - the formatted article is transmitted across network 107 to the plurality of end user/receivers 103 of the interactive television system.

Act 235 - the formatted article may be displayed on display device 144 upon executing the MHP application 121 at the end user/receivers 103.

Examples

FIGS. 3 and 4 are examples of what is displayed to end users when the MHP application is executed at the end user/receivers 103.

FIG. 3 illustrates, by way of example, four "race car" icons 303 that are displayed on display 144 as content related navigation icons for an article on Car Racing. The four "race car" icons are displayed in the four colors used by MHP applications for displaying the navigation icons. In certain embodiments, the four "race car" icons could emit various engine sounds when selected by an end user via remote control means.

FIG. 4 illustrates, by way of example, four "soccer ball" icons 403 that are displayed on display 144 as content related navigation icons for an article on soccer. The four "soccer ball" icons are displayed in the four colors used by MHP applications for displaying the navigation icons. In certain embodiments, the four "soccer bal" icons could emit various stadium sounds (e.g., crowd noise, sound of ball being kicked, etc.) when selected by an end user via remote control means. In sum, the icons provide a powerful visual cue to end users for locating and selecting the navigation icons.

Although this invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it will be appreciated that many variations will be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention as set forth in the appended claims. The specification and drawings are accordingly to be regarded in an illustrative manner and are not intended to limit the scope of the appended claims.

In interpreting the appended claims, it should be understood that: a) the word "comprising" does not exclude the presence of other elements or acts than those listed in a given claim; b) the word "a" or "an" preceding an element does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements; c) any reference signs in the claims do not limit their scope; d) several "means" may be represented by the same item or hardware or software implemented structure or function;

e) any of the disclosed elements may be comprised of hardware portions (e.g., including discrete and integrated electronic circuitry), software portions (e.g., computer programming), and any combination thereof; f) hardware portions may be comprised of one or both of analog and digital portions; g) any of the disclosed devices or portions thereof may be combined together or separated into further portions unless specifically stated otherwise; and h) no specific sequence of acts is intended to be required unless specifically indicated.