A METHOD FOR OPERATING AN INTERACTIVE TV
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present invention relates to a method for operating an interactive TV, in particular, to an operating method in time-shifted TV Service and on-demand Program Service.
BACKGROUND
[0002] As the increasing spreading of cable digital TV in China, the digital TV has attracted increasing users because of its higher resolution than traditional analog TV, revolutionary time-shifted TV service, as well as service of playing movie and television programs on demand. The prevalence percentage of the digital TV among TV users keeps increasing.
[0003] However, with development of interactive TV services, new forms of TV services appear gradually, for example, a TV time-shifted service, which supports forward and backward operations like that for DVD programs. With such time-shifted service, the user may view a TV program which has been played, so that a TV audience can be liberated in the terms of time and brought into unprecedented visual perception.
[0004] Furthermore, the current domestic digital TV provides a powerful time-shifted TV service. However, with the development of TV time-shifted service, the original forward and backward operation modes cannot satisfy users' demand. Specifically, common forward and backward methods are conventionally conducted based on a multiplication of a play speed such as a multiple accounted by 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x, or 32x, or based on an absolute period. Provided turning back to one hour before at the highest speed, almost two minutes are required. As a matter of course, the user may input a time to be located, but the user should have the knowledge of the desired exact time, and then inputs the time for skipping to, thus, making the operations complex. It can be seen that such circumstance requires two preconditions, one being
the knowledge of the exact time, the other being that a remote controller of a set- top box needs to have a function key for searching on the basis of time. Therefore, an operation method that reduces requirements for a remote controller device, reduces operation time, and facilitates operation is desired for the current interactive TV.
SUMMARY
[0005] Due to the above defects, the present invention provides a method for operating an interactive TV which rapidly locates video without complex operations or high latency.
[0006] In the method for operating an interactive TV according to the present invention, an operation command is inputted by a user via an input device to a set-top box, said set-top box transmits said operation command to a video server, said video server reads requested video according to said operation command and transmits the read video back to said set-top box, the method is characterized in that said operation command consists of a function description portion and an operation amount description portion, wherein, said function description portion is a character for describing the implementation of forward or backward to the video, said operation amount description portion is a numeric code for describing a time offset of the implementation of forward or backward.
[0007] Preferably, the operation amount description portion indicates a required time offset, from current time of video play, of the forward or backward with respect to the current time of video play.
[0008] Preferably, a character is inputted as said function description portion by pressing a particular key in said input device, and a numeric code is inputted as said operation amount description portion by pressing numeral keys in the input device.
[0009] Preferably, said particular key is any one of keys "*", "#" and "0", which are generally contained in all kinds of remote controllers.
[0010] Preferably, said operation amount description portion is a 5-digit numeral, each digit being one of 0 to 9, wherein, in a sequence of inputting, the 1st and 2nd digits indicate the number of minutes, the 3rd and 4th digits indicate the number of hours, and the 5th digit indicates the number of days; or in a sequence of inputting, the 1st digit indicates the number of days, the 2nd and 3rd digits indicate the number of hours, and the 4th and 5th digits indicate the number of minutes.
[0011] Preferably, said set-top box verifies validity of said operation command after said operation command is inputted by the user to said set-top box.
[0012] Preferably, if said inputted operation command is invalid, said set-top box prompts an inputting format error to the user and automatically clears the current input.
[0013] Preferably, said video server locates a start position of the requested video according to said operation command, reads the video from the start position, and transmits the read video back to said set-top box.
[0014] Preferably, if the value of the digits indicating the number of minutes is larger than 59, a remainder of the value by 60 is obtained, and if the value of the digits indicating the number of hours is larger than 23, a remainder of the value by 24 is obtained.
[0015] Preferably, the current operation is canceled if the values of all the digits are each zero.
[0016] According to the present invention, in interactive TV systems provided by TV operators, a user, when using time-shifted TV service or watching on-demand programs, inputs an operation command consisting of a function description portion and an operation amount description portion, and a set-top box transmits the operation command to a video server which can rapidly locate video, thus enabling the user to watch the program on-demand quickly.
[0017] It can be seen that, with the present invention, the video can be rapidly located by inputting the above operation command without complex operations and
high latency, thus achieving the purposes of reducing operation duration, and improving user's operation perception.
[0018] Further, at the time of inputting the above operation command, the user only needs to input time shift amount for the forward or backward directly without having the knowledge of the desired exact time of the video, thus reducing the difficulty of operations as well as improving the convenience of usage.
[0019] Further, keys possessed by the input device per se, such as "*", "#" and "0", etc, may serve as input keys for the function description portion regarding forward or backward operation, and numeral keys from 0 to 9 possessed by the input device per se may serve as input keys for indicating a forward or backward time offset. Thus, the keys possessed by the input device per se can be directly utilized, instead of special keys arranged on the input device, such as time search key.
[0020] The present invention can be applied to plural types of interactive digital TV systems such as iTV (interactive TV) and IPTV (interactive TV over IP).
[0021] Embodiments are described below with reference with figures.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0022] These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood when the following detailed description is read with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like characters represent like parts throughout the drawings, wherein:
[0023] Fig. 1 shows a flow of video switching with the method for operating an interactive TV, according to the present invention; and
[0024] Fig. 2 shows a diagram of a remote controller 10' possessed by a set-top box 10.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS
[0025] Embodiments of the present invention are described below. Although circumstances in the embodiments are preferable, the embodiments disclosed herein cannot be construed or used as definitions for the scope as disclosed. Furthermore, it can be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that, the following description has wide applications, and the description of any embodiment is only intended to be illustrative embodiment, rather than to limit the claimed scope.
[0026] Hereinafter, a method for operating an interactive TV according to the present invention is explained with references to Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 1 shows a flow of video switching with the method for operating an interactive TV according to the present invention. Fig. 2 shows a diagram of a remote controller 10' of a set-top box 10.
[0027] In an interactive TV system provided by a TV operator, a user receives time-shifted TV services or watches programs on-demand provided by a video server 20 of a TV operator through a set-top box 10. Furthermore, the user may transmit various commands to the set-top box by pressing keys on the remote controller 10' of the set- top box 10 as shown in Fig. 2, and the commands are transmitted to the video server 20 via the set-top box 10.
[0028] Firstly, concepts of the method for operating an interactive TV according to the present invention are explained. In the method for operating an interactive TV according to the present invention, operation commands can be defined as including two portions, the first portion thereof being a function description portion for describing, for example, forward and backward operations, the second portion thereof is an operation amount description portion for describing time shift amount of the forward or backward operation, e.g., forward for one minute or one hour. If backward for one hour, it indicates going backward for one hour since current time of video; if forward for one hour, it indicates going backward for one hour since the current time of video.
[0029] Here, the current time of video refers to a marked time of the video, instead of the original recording time of the video or a standard time of the broadcasting region. When using a time-shifted service, the current time of video refers to an actual time of the current playing of the video, and when playing a program on demand, the current time of video refers to an absolute time of the current playing of the video with respect to a start time 00:00:00.
[0030] The above operation amount description portion is a 5-digit numeral, each digit is one of 0 to 9. In a sequence of inputting, the 1st and 2nd digits indicate the number of minutes, the 3rd and 4th indicate the number of hours, and the 5th digit indicates the number of days, as shown in Table 1.
Table 1

(Table Removed)
[0031] Wherein, when a numeral of the Is and 2n digits indicating the number of minutes is larger than 59, a remainder operation is automatically performed, i.e., a remainder by 60 is obtained; when a numeral of the 3rd and 4th digits indicating the number of hours is larger than 23, a remainder operation is automatically obtained, i.e., a remainder by 24 is obtained. For example, if "70" is input by the user as the 1st and 2nd digits, the 1st and 2nd digits are automatically set to "10"; if "30" is input by the user as the 3rd and 4th digits, the 3rd and 4th digits are automatically set to "6".
[0032] The above remainder operation can be implemented with various well-known methods. For example, in an example of implementing the above remainder operation by C Language, a formula A=B%C is used, where A is a remainder, B is a dividend and C is a divisor. If "27" is input at the digits indicating the number of hours, then B=27, C=24, i.e., 3=27%24, then A=3. As a matter of course, other languages can be used to obtain the same result.
[0033] Furthermore, it can be defined that, if what are inputted at any one of the 1st to 5th digits is not one of 0 to 9, the digit is automatically set as "0". It can be further
defined that, the user is allowed to incompletely input 5 digits, if it is the case, then only the time indicated by valid digits is calculated.
[0034] Furthermore, it can be defined that, if each of all the digits is 0, the system will automatically cancel the current operation, and the video will not be skipped.
[0035] Here, the input device is utilized to input operation commands to the set-top box 10, wherein said input device can be a remote controller 10' possessed by the set-top box 10, or an input button (not shown) on the set-top box 10 per se.
[0036] Hereinafter, a circumstance in which the remote controller 10' possessed by the set-top box 10 serves as the input device for inputting the operation command is explained.
[0037] Firstly, as for the function description portion, a particular key of the keys on the remote controller 10' serves as its character. For example, "*" (key 200 as shown in Fig. 2), "#" (key 220 as shown in Fig. 2) and numeral "0" (key 210 as shown in Fig. 2) on the remote controller 10' can be utilized as a character indicating the above function description portion, i.e., a starting operator of the operation command.
[0038] Secondly, as for the operation amount description portion, numeral keys 0 to 9 on the remote controller 10' serves as input keys thereof.
[0039] For example, as for the function description portion, in case where "*" serves as the character indicating forward and "#" serves as the character indicating backward, if the above operation amount description portion is 10, 101, then according to the above definitions, the operation command of * 10 indicates going forward for 10 minutes, the operation command of #10 indicates going backward for 10 minutes, the operation command of* 101 indicates going forward for one hour and 10 minutes, and the operation command of #101 indicates going backward for one hour and 10 minutes.
[0040] At a matter of course, the positional relationship between the function description portion and the operation amount description portion may be set inversely. For example, in case where "*" serves as the character indicating forward and "#"
serves as the character indicating backward, if the corresponding operation amount description portion is 10, 101, then it may be defined that the operation command of 10* indicates going forward for 10 minutes, the operation command of 10# indicates going backward for 10 minutes. Under such circumstance, it can be set that once the function description portion "*" or "#" is inputted, the validity thereof is verified and the operation command is submitted to the server (this process is described below).
[0041] After the user inputs the above operation command to the set-top box 10 through the remote controller 10', the set-top box 10 waits for a specified duration, such as several seconds, if there is no other input after the duration, the operation command is automatically submitted to the video server 20. As a matter of course, the operation command may also be submitted to the video server 20 by pressing an acknowledgement key 230 on the remote controller 10'.
[0042] Hereafter, the video server 20 verifies validity of the operation command and locates a start address of the requested video (i.e., a start position of the video after the implementation of forward or backward). The video server 20 reads the video and transmits it back to the set-top box 10.
[0043] Hereinafter, the above flow is explained in detail with reference to Figs.l and 2.
[0044] As shown in Fig. 1, the above flow is as follows in turn:
a. generally, the user interacts with the video server 20 through the set-top box
10 so as to obtain video, as shown in flow 100;
b. when the user inputs an operation command through the remote controller 10'
of the set- top box 10, as shown in flow 110, the operation command is transmitted to
the set-top box 10 after waiting for a specified duration or the user pressing the
acknowledgement key 230, and the set-top box 10 verifies validity of the inputted
operation command;
c. the set-top box 10 transmits the operation command inputted by the user to the
video server 20, as shown in flow 120;
d. the video server 20 receives and analyzes the operation command transmitted
from the set-top box 10, and then locates a start address of the requested video and
reads the video, as shown in flow 130;
e. the video server 20 transmits the requested video back to the set- top box 10,
and the flow ends, as shown in flow 140.
[0045] In the above flow, said verifying of validity mainly verifies the format of the operation command. If the user inputs #10101, the format is correct, if the user inputs #10#01, the format is incorrect. In the case of incorrect format, an input format error is prompted to the user, and the current input is automatically cleared.
[0046] Furthermore, the above locating method is as follows: the video server 20 records video and address information thereof in a specified time sequence, when the user requests a time-shifted video, the video server 20 per se has the knowledge of current time of the video service provided to the set- top box 10 firstly, a time offset is obtained then based on the operation command submitted from the set-top box 10, video of the corresponding address is read according to results calculated on the basis of the time offset, hereafter, the read video is sent back to the set-top box 10.
[0047] As described above, with the method for operating an interactive TV according to the present invention, at the time of receiving TV services by the user, if a forward or backward operation is desired, in order to switching to a desired video, the user only needs to input the above operation command, for example, if "*" can serve as forward and "#" can serve as backward, with offsets 10 and 101 added, a command of *10 results in going forward for 10 minutes, a command of #10 results in going backward for 10 minutes, a command of * 101 results in going forward for one hour and 10 minutes, and a command of #101 results in going backward for one hour and 10 minutes.
[0048] It can be seen that, the method for operating an interactive TV according to the present invention enables the user to rapidly locate the requested video, thus reducing user's waiting time and improving practical convenience.
[0049] The specific embodiments of the present invention have been explained above in detail with reference to the figures. However, it can be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that, variations to the circumstances listed in the above embodiments may be made, without departing from the spirit of the present invention and the scope defined by claims. For example, as for the numeral of the operation amount description portion, a 5-digit numeral has been listed above, as a matter of course, a 6-digit numeral can be set (for example, a 2-digit numeral indicating the number of days). Further, in case where the operation amount description portion is a 5-digit numeral, its sequence is not limited to that as shown in Table 1, but also may be a sequence as shown in following Table 2. Therefore, descriptions for specific embodiments in the present invention with reference to the above figures shall not be viewed as definitions for the present invention.
Table 2
(Table Removed)

WE CLAIMS:
1. A method for operating an interactive TV, wherein an operation
command is inputted by a user via an input device to a set-top box (10), said set-top
box (10) transmits said operation command to a video server (20), said video server
(20) reads requested video according to said operation command and transmits the
read video back to said set-top box (10), the method is characterized in:
said operation command consists of a function description portion and an operation amount description portion, wherein, said function description portion is a character for describing the implementation of forward or backward to video, said operation amount description portion is a numeric code for describing a time offset of the implementation of forward or backward.
2. A method for operating an interactive TV according to claim 1,
characterized in:
said operation amount description portion indicates a required time offset, from current time of video play, of the forward or backward with respect to the current time of video play.
3. A method for operating an interactive TV according to claim 1,
characterized in:
a character is inputted as said function description portion by pressing a particular key in said input device, and a numeric code is inputted as said operation amount description portion by pressing numeral keys in the input device.
4. A method for operating an interactive TV according to claim 3,
characterized in:
said particular key is any one of keys "*", "#" and "0".
5. A method for operating an interactive TV according to claim 2,
characterized in:
said operation amount description portion is a 5-digit numeral, each digit being one of 0 to 9, wherein, in a sequence of inputting, the 1st and 2nd digits indicate the number of minutes, the 3rd and 4th digits indicate the number of hours, and the 5th digit indicates the number of days; or in a sequence of inputting, the 1st digit indicates the number of days, the 2nd and 3rd digits indicate the number of hours, and the 4th and 5th digits indicate the number of minutes.
6. A method for operating an interactive TV according to claim 1,
characterized in:
said set-top box (10) verifies validity of said operation command after said operation command is inputted by the user to said set-top box (10).
7. A method for operating an interactive TV according to claim 6,
characterized in:
if said inputted operation command is invalid, said set-top box (10) prompts an inputting format error to the user and automatically clears the current input.
8. A method for operating an interactive TV according to claim 1,
characterized in:
said video server (20) locates a start position of the requested video according to said operation command, reads the video from the start position, and transmits the read video back to said set-top box (10).
9. A method for operating an interactive TV according to claim 5,
characterized in:
if the value of the digits indicating the number of minutes is larger than 59, a remainder of the value by 60 is obtained, and if the value of the digits indicating the number of hours is larger than 23, a remainder of value by 24 is obtained.
10. A method for operating an interactive TV according to claim 5,
characterized in:
the current operation is canceled if the values of all the digits are each zero.