O T Actv was issued a patent today for enhanced interactive computing.
To: +Steve Hausser (4058 )
From: +art slott Wednesday, Jan 20 1999 6:02PM ET
Reply # of 4078
Here's more.
Memory
The interactive computer also has the advantage of remembering
subscriber responses and using these responses in choosing
a video/audio response, and/or graphics interrogatory message, to
present to the student. Memory branching is a technique of
the present invention where the algorithm assembles video/audio
responses and graphics interrogatory messages according to
the current and previous user inputs. Memory branching is accomplished
by linking video/audio streams and/or successive
graphics interrogatory messages together in a logical relationship, as
described in U.S. application Ser. No. 08/228,355,
herein incorporated by references. In this scheme, the interactive
computer processor contains logic (preferably, in the
software algorithm) and memory to store previous subscriber selections
and to process these previous responses in the
algorithm to control future video/audio stream selection, as well as
future graphics message selection.
User Profiles
In a preferred embodiment, the interactive computer can have stored in
its memory a "user profile." The "user profile"
preferably contains characteristics of the particular viewer at that
subscriber location, such as sex, hobbies, interests, etc.
This user profile is created by having the user respond to a series of
questions. Alternatively, the user profiles could be
created at a host and sent to the interactive computer over a network.
This information is then used by the interactive
computer software to create a compendium of the viewer's interests and
preferences--i.e., a user profile. The stored user
profile would be used in place of the question/answer format, and thus,
dictate the branches to interactive segments of
interest to the viewer.
Alternatively, the interactive computer 6 can be programmed to create a
user profile of each viewer based on the selections
made during one of the interactive programs. Furthermore, such a user
profile could be modified or enriched over time based
on selections made during future interactive programs. For example, the
'memory' technique described above can be used to
modify the user profile based on user response over time.
Once the profile is created, the programming choices or interactive
responses can be triggered based on the content of the
user profile itself. For example, if the user profile suggests that the
viewer is particularly interested in sports cars, a sports
car commercial could be played for the viewer at a predetermined point
in the program. As another application, if a viewer's
user profile indicates that the viewer is interested in cooking,
whenever the viewer watches such a program, the user profile
would trigger the interactive program to download recipes and either
display such recipes on the screen or send the recipes
to an attached printer 302.
Applications
The embodiments, described above, allow for several possible
applications. For example, in a live sports event, one channel
could carry the standard video channel, with other channels carrying
different camera angles and/or close-ups of particular
players.
Audio interactive applications include the recording of audio clips for
each player in the game. In this application, the
viewer may access a pull-down menu, where he can choose a name of a
particular player in the game. When this selection is
made, the appropriate audio segment is called from memory and played for
the viewer. In a similar manner, statistics in the
form of text and graphics can be displayed for a selected player.
Internet Applications
Interactive programs of the present invention can be created using the
Internet. Interactive program authors can access a
particular Internet site and download graphics, audio and video clips
and suggested interactions. The author can then use
these elements in the authoring tools to create an interactive program.
Furthermore, viewers can watch interactive programs from the Internet
itself using the systems of the present invention. From
an Internet site, viewers can access a single channel interactive
program, such as described above. The viewer would watch
the video on his or her computer, while the audio and/or text/graphics
from Web site locations, for example,would be
presented as a function of his or her specific choices via interactive
commands.
In addition, viewers can choose between multiple video streams
originating from a site on the Internet. The seamless
branching between different video streams would occur through
interactive commands resident in the viewer's computer.
Using the foregoing embodiments, methods and processes, the interactive
multimedia computer maximizes personalized
attention and interactivity to subscribers in their homes in real time.
Although the present invention has been described in
detail with respect to certain embodiments and examples, variations and
modifications exist which are within the scope of
the present invention as defined in the following claims.
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