An interactive television program guide system is provided. An interactive television program guide provides users with an opportunity to select programs for recording on a remote media server. Programs may also be recorded on a local media server. The program guide provides users with VCR-like control over programs that are played back from the media servers and over real-time cached copies of the programs. The program guide also provides users with an opportunity to designate gift recipients for whom programs may be recorded.

Client-server based interactive television program guide system with remote server recording

This is a method provided for performing focus detection, ambiguity resolution and mood classification (815) in accordance with multi-modal input data, in varying operating conditions, in order to provide an effective conversational computing environment (418, 422) for one or more users (812).

System and method for multi-modal focus detection, referential ambiguity resolution and mood classification using multi-modal input

A system and method may be provided that allows users to store, retrieve, and manipulate on-demand media content and data stored on a remote server network in an on-demand media delivery system. More particularly, the system may allow a user to access his or her on-demand media account from user equipment in different locations as long as the current user equipment can communicate with a remote server that stores user-specific information. The system upon user selection may freeze the delivery of on-demand media at a particular point and allow the user to resume the media at a later time from some other network location in system. Users may upload personal images or files to an on-demand delivery server for later retrieval and display. Users may be permitted to assign access rights to the uploaded files.

Systems and methods for providing storage of data on servers in an on-demand media delivery system

The invention provides a method and system for receiving incoming information from multiple information sources, both interactive and passive, and for engagingly presenting that information to a recipient on a presentation interface. The system includes a “background” element, which interacts with interactive information sources and receives from passive information sources, and determines whether information from those sources is likely to be interesting to the recipient, possibly using one information source to determine priority for another. The system also includes a “foreground” element, which presents information to the recipient when active, but not when inactive. The background is operative even when the foreground element is inactive, and when the background detects new information of interest to the recipient (for example, exceeding a selected threshold of interest or satisfying a selected criterion for interest), it causes the foreground to become active and engage the recipient to select and view that new information. The threshold or criterion may be adaptively responsive to recipient preferences, whether explicitly expressed or implied, but may also be relatively fixed, such as a scheduled time of day.

Information retrieval system using an internet multiplexer to focus user selection

An interactive television system is provided in which an interactive television application is used to support network-based or local personal video recorder capabilities. A user may use this application to view lists of program listings. The user may select a program listing of interest. The interactive television application may allow the user to set a reminder for the selected program at the scheduled broadcast time. This application may also allow the user to set a reminder for the selected program at a later time at which the program is not scheduled to be broadcast. The user may be provided with a reminder at this later time. In response, the user may direct the network-based or local personal video recorder to play back the program or may defer the reminder again. The interactive television application may collect information on program usage and popularity to determine how long to retain certain programming.

Interactive television systems with digital video recording and adjustable reminders

The system comprises a store 11 having several disc drives for storing multiple video frames in random access order. The store 11 also has at least two ports 15, 16 each capable of transferring data relating to a respective video clip at video rate. The system further comprises processors 27, 28 for processing frame data associated with at least two video clips and a monitor for displaying selected ones of said multiple video frames. In a preview mode of operation video clips can be read from the store 11, combined and displayed on the monitor at video rate, and changes can be made to the clips and the manner in which they are combined without committing the combination to the store.

An electronic video processing system

A video processing system 1 comprises a video tape recorder 2 which serves as a bulk store for storing video clips, a video disc store for storing video data relating to one or more video clips from the recorder 2 and an image processor 6 for processing video data from the video store 7 to produce an edited video clip. Set-up data identifying video frame locations and defining the manner in which the processor 6 processes data from the video store 7 to produce the edited video clip is stored in an editing memory 12. During or after editing, data can be archived for future use. The system 1 further comprises a magneto-optical disc store 35 for storing the set-up data from the editing memory 12. For the purpose of archiving, the video tape and an associated magneto-optical disc are assigned a common archive identity. Each frame of data from the video disc store 7 used in an edit is stored only once on the video tape and set-up data for the edit is stored on the associated magneto-optical disc. This minimises the amount of data that needs to be saved in and retrieved from the archived tape.

Video processing system with random access framestore for video editing

Electronic video system with simultaneous real-time processing

A system for processing video signals to produce slow motion television pictures is disclosed. A sequence is produced of output frames at broadcast rate by combining a decreasing proportion of pixel values of a first frame (i) stored in a first frame store with an increasing proportion of fixed valves of a second frame (i+1) stored in a second frame store. On completing a cycle the second frame (i+1) is treated as the first frame and a new second frame (i+2) is provided from a third frame store.

Method and apparatus for producing slow motion television pictures

of EP0858216The system comprises a store 11 having several disc drives for storing multiple video frames in random access order. The store 11 also has at least two ports 15, 16 each capable of transferring data relating to a respective video clip at video rate. The system further comprises processors 27, 28 for processing frame data associated with at least two video clips and a monitor for displaying selected ones of said multiple video frames. In a preview mode of operation video clips can be read from the store 11, combined and displayed on the monitor at video rate, and changes can be made to the clips and the manner in which they are combined without committing the combination to the store.

Ian Malcolm Stewart

Papers

An electronic video processing system

Video processing system with random access framestore for video editing

Electronic video system with simultaneous real-time processing

Method and apparatus for producing slow motion television pictures

An electronic video store