System and Method for Managing, Converting and Displaying Consumer-
`Generated Content for Interactive Television Use
`
`Summary Description:
`
`A system and process to allow for the management, conversion, presentation and
`reporting of consumer-generated content such as classified listings and bulletin-board
`announcements for interactive television use on digital cable television systems.
`
`General Characteristics of the system include:
`• Web-based content management system that allows consumers to create and
`manage their interactive television content, as well as pay for the distribution of
`their content within the digital cable television system.
`• An automated screening system that scans consumer-generated content for
`objectionable material and alerts system administration personnel of possible
`objectionable material.
`• An automated feed system that delivers the consumer-generated content into the
`content conversion system.
`• An automated conversion system that converts the consumer-generated content
`into formats compatible with the interactive television system.
`• The interactive television system that delivers the properly formatted consumer-
`generated content to the digital set-top box for display on television.
`• An automated reporting system that collects the viewing data regarding
`consumer-generated content from the interactive television system. The reporting
`data is made available in summary form to the authors of content through the
`web-based content management system.
`
`Description:
`
`The principal object of this invention is to provide a system for allowing persons to create
`and manage content for display on an interactive television system on a digital cable
`television system. A specific object is to allow content authors to create and manage
`their content using a web-based content management system, allowing the process of
`content creation to be performed using Internet browsers operating on personal
`computers instead of proprietary content management systems associated with specific
`interactive television systems.
`
`In accordance with this objective, a system for allowing the web-based creation and
`management of consumer-generated interactive television content comprises: (a) web-
`based content management system for the creation and management of consumer-
`generated content; (b) content screening system for the automatic search for
`objectionable text and images; (c) content feed system for the automatic transfer of
`consumer-generated content from the web-based content management system to the
`content conversion system; (d) content conversion system for the transformation of the
`consumer-generated content into formats compatible with the specific interactive
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`television system; (e) interactive television system for the transmission of the consumer-
`generated content to the digital set-top boxes using the digital cable television system and
`the display and interaction of this same content on the digital set-top box; and (f) usage
`reporting system for collecting, summarizing and reporting the usage data regarding the
`viewing of consumer-generated content from the interactive television system.
`
`The web-based content management system provides the web-based services required for
`the creation and management of consumer-generated content. Significant systems within
`the web-based content management system consist of: (a) Account Management for the
`management of user accounts on the web-based content management system; (b)
`Classified Content Management for the creation and management of consumer-generated
`content related to the promotion of goods and services and organized as individual list
`items within categories; (c) Bulletin Board Content Management for the creation and
`management of consumer-generated content related to announcements and other items of
`general interest and organized by groups, organizations or topics; and (d) Transaction
`Processing for the processing of fees for use of the system.
`
`The Account Management system controls the access by persons to the web-based
`content management system. The Account Management system identifies persons
`accessing the system for the first time and allows these persons to register and create an
`account by providing an account name, password and credit card information for the
`payment of fees. The Account Management system controls the access by registered
`users to their accounts and manages the privileges and security associated to all accounts.
`Persons may create accounts for the creation and management of Classified Content.
`Accounts capable of accessing the Bulletin Board Content Management system may be
`assigned by a system administrator in the Account Management system. Any account
`capable of accessing the Bulletin Board Management system is able to create and manage
`bulletin board content for specific, assigned bulletin boards.
`
`The Classified Content Management system provides the users of the web-based content
`management system with content creation and management tools for the creation and
`maintenance of consumer-generated content related to the promotion of goods and
`services. Classified content is displayed on the interactive television system as list items
`organized within categories; selection of a list item results in the display of an interactive
`television screen containing or providing access to the descriptive data, text, images,
`video and audio regarding the item. Authors of classified content will pay fees
`determined by the operator of the system for the distribution of the classified content to
`the interactive television system for display on the digital cable television system.
`Significant features of the Classified Content Management system consist of: (a) the
`ability to enter descriptive data and text regarding the item; (b) upload digital images of
`the item to the content management system; (c) upload digital video of the item to the
`content management system; (d) upload digital audio regarding the item to the content
`management system; (e) automated size and resolution processing of digital images
`uploaded to the system; (f) automated size and digital format conversion of digital video
`uploaded to the system; (g) automated digital format conversion of digital audio uploaded
`to the system; (h) ability for users to select an interactive television screen design
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`(template) from a catalog of available templates; (i) ability to view on a web browser the
`interactive television template containing the consumer-provided content; (j) ability to
`save classified content in persistent memory or storage for subsequent modification; (k)
`ability to mark specific classified content as completed and ready for submission to the
`interactive television system; (1) ability to specify the date and time when a classified
`content item is to become accessible by users of the interactive television system and the
`data and time when a classified content item is to be removed from display on the
`interactive television system; (m) ability to notify the user through email or other
`communication system that a specific content item is scheduled to be removed from the
`interactive television system; (n) ability to modify and resubmit previously created
`classified content for display on the interactive television system; (o) ability to access
`viewing data generated by the Reporting system regarding access and use of specific
`consumer-generated content by users of the interactive television system; and, (p) ability
`to calculate fees for classified content and submit payment of the fees in conjunction with
`the Transaction Processing system. As noted in (i) above, the Classified Content
`Management system allows the user to view the content they have composed using the
`template system. The templates are designed specifically for use on interactive television
`systems and the user is able to view on the web-interface their content as composed for
`presentation on television. As noted in (j) above, the Classified Content Management
`system allows the persistent storage of classified content; although the user is composing
`interactive television pages using a template system, the content is persistently stored as
`individual elements to simplify changes by the user and to allow the conversion of the
`content to different formats as required by different interactive television systems.
`
`The Bulletin Board Content Management system provides the users of the web-based
`content management system with content creation and management tools for the creation
`and maintenance of consumer-generated content related to announcements and other
`informational items of general interest. Bulletin Board content is displayed on the
`interactive television system as dedicated interactive television screens (bulletin boards),
`where approved groups, organizations or topics are each assigned a bulletin board for the
`display of their information. Bulletin Board content is displayed as list items organized
`within a bulletin board; selection of a list item results in the display of an interactive
`television screen containing descriptive data and text, images and links to video-on-
`demand regarding the item. An alternative implementation of a bulletin board will
`display the content as scrolling text, where the user scrolls through the text, or the text
`scrolls automatically. Bulletin Boards accounts will pay fees determined by the operator
`of the system for the distribution of the bulletin board content on the interactive television
`system for display on the digital cable television system. Significant features of the
`Bulletin Board Content Management system consist of: (a) the ability to enter descriptive
`data and text regarding the item; (b) upload digital images to the content management; (c)
`upload digital video to the content management system; (d) upload digital audio
`regarding the item to the content management system; (e) automated size and resolution
`processing of digital images uploaded to the system; (f) automated size and digital format
`conversion of digital video uploaded to the system; (g) automated digital format
`conversion of digital audio uploaded to the system; (h) ability for users to select an
`interactive television screen design (template) from a catalog of available templates; (i)
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`ability to view on a web browser the interactive television template containing the
`consumer-provided bulletin board content; (j) ability to save bulletin board content in
`persistent memory or storage for subsequent modification; (k) ability to mark specific
`bulletin board content as completed and ready for submission to the interactive television
`system; (1) ability to specify the date and time when specific bulletin board content is to
`become accessible by users of the interactive television system and the data and time
`when specific bulletin board content is to be removed from display on the interactive
`television system; (m) ability to notify the user through email or other communication
`system that a specific bulletin board content is scheduled to be removed from the
`interactive television system; (n) ability to modify and resubmit previously created
`bulletin board content for display on the interactive television system; (o) ability to
`access viewing data generated by the Reporting system regarding access and use of
`specific bulletin board content by users of the interactive television system; and (p)
`ability to calculate fees for bulletin board content and submit payment of the fees in
`conjunction with the Transaction Processing system.
`
`The Transaction Processing system allows users of the Classified Content Management
`system and Bulletin Board Content Management system to pay for any fees resulting
`from their use of these systems. The Transaction Processing system will allow users to
`pay for fees using credit cards or other supported payment methods. Significant features
`of the Transaction Processing system consist of: (a) ability to maintain business rules for
`use by the Transaction system to determine fees based on user and content types; (b)
`ability to maintain business rules for one or more payment methods for use by the
`Transaction system in handling the settlement of fees; (c) ability to maintain business
`rules for user account and payment settlement conditions such as delinquency and lack-
`of-credit for use by the Transaction system in determining user account priviledges and
`content status; and, (d) ability to process payment of fees in real-time for payment
`methods that support real-time settlement.
`
`The Content Screening system performs automated screening of text, image and video
`content in order to identify objectionable or illegal content. Significant features of the
`Content Screening system consist of: (a) ability to maintain a library of objectionable or
`illegal words and phrases for use in the screening of text; (b) ability to perform automated
`analysis of user content text using the text library as an input and alert system
`administration personnel to the use of objectionable or illegal content and the use of
`unknown and suspect words or phrases; (c) ability to maintain a library of objectionable
`or illegal image elements for use in the screening of images; (d) ability to perform
`automated image recognition analysis against user content images using the library of
`image elements as an input in order to alert system administration personnel to the use of
`objectionable or illegal content; (e) ability to maintain a library of objectionable or illegal
`image elements for use in the screening of video; (f) ability to perform automated image
`recognition analysis against user content video using the library of image elements as an
`input in order to alert system administration personnel to the use of objectionable or
`illegal content; and (g) ability to save screened content in persistent memory or storage
`for subsequent processing. Content Screening may be performed within the Content
`Management system during the user process of submitting and creating consumer-
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`generated content or may be performed as a process subsequent to the creation of content
`by the user.
`
`The Content Feed system provides for the transfer of user content from the Content
`Screening system to the Content Conversion system. Significant features of the Content
`Feed system consist of: (a) ability to select user content for submission to the Content
`Conversion system through the testing of date and time information contained in the user
`content; (b) ability to appropriately package the elements of the user content to permit the
`efficient transfer of these content elements to the Content Conversion system through the
`use of an Application Program Interface or other interface; (c) ability to create, maintain
`and execute a schedule for when the Content Feed system will execute on an automatic
`basis for the automatic transfer of consumer-generated content to the Content Conversion
`system; and, (d) ability to execute the functions of the Content Feed system on a manual
`basis in the presence or absence of a schedule. The Content Feed system may be able to
`package and distribute content to single or multiple Content Conversion systems.
`
`The Content Conversion system provides for the conversion of consumer-generated
`content from the content elements managed and stored by the Content Management
`system into formats compatible for distribution and display on the Interactive Television
`system. In particular, the Content Conversion system converts consumer-generated
`content elements that were viewable on a web-based system and converts those elements
`into formats compatible with display on television through and Interactive Television
`system. Significant features of the Content Conversion system consist of: (a) ability to
`receive and disassemble content packages delivered by the Content Feed system through
`an Application Program Interface or other interface; (b) ability to process the elements of
`consumer-generated content into data, text, graphic, video and audio elements that are
`compatible with the Interactive Television system and maintain the content presentation
`created by the user on the web-based Content Management system; (c) ability to save
`reformatted content in persistent memory or storage for subsequent distribution and use
`by the Interactive Television system; and, (d) ability to inform the Interactive Television
`system that consumer-generated content is available for distribution and use by the
`Interactive Television system. The Content Conversion system may be a component
`system of the Interactive Television system or it may be implemented as a wholly
`separate system that connects to the Interactive Television system through an Application
`Program Interface or other interface. When implemented as a system that is separate
`from the Interactive Television system, it is possible to support multiple, different
`Interactive Television systems by either (a) incorporating multiple formatting
`requirements into a single instance of the Content Conversion system or (b) creating
`multiple Content Conversion systems, each supporting the formatting requirements for a
`specific Interactive Television system. Either implementation allows for a single instance
`of consumer-generated content that is created and maintained using the web-based
`Content Management system to be distributed and displayed on multiple, different
`Interactive Television systems with different formatting requirements.
`
`The Interactive Television system provides for the distribution of properly formatted
`consumer-generated content to user televisions, typically through the use of digital set-
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`top boxes connected to a digital cable television system capable of supporting real-time
`two-way data transfer between the set-top box and the Interactive Television system.
`Significant features of the Interactive Television system consist of: (a) ability to receive
`properly formatted content from the Content Conversion system; (b) ability to distribute
`said content over a digital cable system and display this content on television as an
`interactive television presentation; (c) ability to receive user commands generated by an
`infrared remote control device, keyboard or other device; (d) ability to respond to the user
`commands by displaying appropriate content or executing desired functionality; and, (e)
`ability to generate and collect data regarding the user sessions and the viewing data
`regarding consumer-generated content on the Interactive Television system and make this
`data accessible to the Reporting system.
`
`The Reporting system provides for the generation of reports regarding the use and
`performance of user content on the Interactive Television system. The Reporting system
`makes this information available to users of the Content Management system as well as
`administrative personnel performing general analysis of the Interactive Television and
`associated content. Significant features of the Reporting system consist of: (a) ability to
`access and process the data generated and collected by the Interactive Television system;
`(b) ability to make the data accessible by users of the web-based Content Management
`system, restricting the data accessible by any specific user to data regarding the content
`created by that user account on the Content Management system; (c) ability to
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`The system consists of four major interconnected subsystems:
`• Video management and distribution system
`• User Interface system
`• Reporting and tracking system
`• Profiling system
`
`The core services and functions of the video management and distribution system
`include:
`• Encode — converts videos to proper digital format for playback on cable video-on-
`demand systems, currently MPEG2 format
`• Metadata Input — allows for the input of descriptive data regarding each video
`• Packaging — Prepares a data package for transport consisting of the encoded video
`file and the metadata
`• Scheduling — Establishes the schedule when packages are to be delivered to cable
`video-on-demand systems via the transport system
`• Transport — Digital broadcast medium through which the packages are migrated
`from the central processing facility to the cable video-on-demand systems
`
`The core services and functions of the User Interface system include:
`• Development of UI "pages" — an Internet-based system is used for the
`composition, coding and quality assurance of the User Interface images ("pages")
`that are presented to the user on an interactive basis
`• Category and List Presentation — The category lists and title lists presented to the
`user for navigation and selection can be generated and rendered real-time using
`database queries against the video metadata database. These lists can also be
`incorporated in the fully rendered graphics if real-time queries are not required or
`desired.
`• Distribution — The UI system supports a scheduling and transport subsystem
`separate from the video distribution system for the distribution of the UI assets
`and related set-top box software components to local UI servers installed at the
`cable headends.
`• User Input Device — The UI system receives user input and commands from the
`Infrared Device system incorporated into the digital set-top box. The UI system
`uses the handheld infrared remote control for the set-top box as the primary input
`device.
`• User Database — The UI system maintains a database of set-top box addresses that
`is used to identify the users of the system. This database is the seed for the
`Profiling Database system described below.
`• Targeting — The UI system is capable of changing the UI presentation to a specific
`user based on the information contained in the User Database and the Profiling
`Database.
`
`The core services and functions of the Reporting and Tracking system include:
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`• Consolidation of Video-On-Demand Data — The Reporting and Tracking system
`is capable of ingesting and consolidating usage data provided by the cable video-
`on-demand systems. This may be performed through automated interfaces or
`"feeds", or it may be performed through the batch processing of data files
`delivered by the cable operators.
`• Consolidation of UI Data - The Reporting and Tracking system is capable on an
`automated basis of gathering and consolidating data from the UI system. The UI
`system can provide data describing the user commands, behaviors, responses and
`requests generated by each user while using the User Interface system.
`• Reporting — The Reporting and Tracking system is capable of generating reports
`and analysis against the Video-On-Demand data and the UI data.
`• Web Interface — The Reporting and Tracking system supports an Internet-based
`system for providing authorized users such as advertisers with access to specific
`reports.
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`The core services and functions of the Profiling system include:
`• Consolidation of Profiling Data - The Profiling system is capable of consolidating
`on a continuing, automated basis all user-related data requested by advertisers or
`by the system operator.
`• Interface to Targeting System — The Profiling system is capable of providing
`pertinent data as required by the Targeting system within the UI system. This
`data is used to reformat UI presentations based on the data values.
`• Interface to Reporting and Tracking System — The Profiling system data can be
`accessed and incorporated into the Reporting and Tracking system.
`• Support of Private and Public Data — The Profiling system is capable of
`segregating and maintaining private any data that gathered specifically for an
`advertiser that is gathered only for the use of that advertisers.
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