Interactive multimedia presentation and communications system

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An interactive multimedia presentation and communications system concurrently accessible to a plurality of subscribers wherein each of said plurality of subscribers may input his choice of a particular multimedia presentation for viewing on a television set from a plurality of such presentations available on the system, each of said plurality of presentations generally including a sequence of video images, accompanying audio, and a menu of options related to said presentation, and in response to viewing said presentation, may input at least one option to perform transactions related to said presentation or may choose another particular presentation for viewing on said television set comprising:

a) computing means for preparing, storing, processing and transmitting digital data related to said plurality of multimedia presentations and to the performance of said transactions, and which, in response to input from the subscriber performs said transactions or retrieves and processes digital data related to said particular multimedia presentation;

b) input means available to each of said plurality of subscribers for communicating with said computing means;

c) signal processing means for receiving, storing and processing digital data related to said particular multimedia presentations that have been chosen and for converting said digital data into analog TV signals and transmitting said analog TV signals to said television set of each of said plurality of subscribers who have chosen said particular multimedia presentations; and

d) signal transmission means for transmitting digital data from said computing means to said signal processing means.

2. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 1 wherein said input means comprises a telephone.

3. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 2 wherein said input means further comprises in addition to said telephone a local access point at which signals from a plurality of telephones are combined and transmitted to said computing means along a telephone line.

4. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 1 wherein said computing means comprises a plurality of computers to form a distributed processing architecture.

5. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 1 wherein said signal transmission means comprises a transmitter capable of transmitting said digital data along a CATV cable network.

6. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 1 wherein said signal processing means comprises a transmitter capable of transmitting said analog TV signals along a CATV cable network.

7. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 1 wherein said computing means further comprises a plurality of local operating centers which can communicate with each other, each of which includes a plurality of computers to form a distributed processing architecture.

8. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 7 which further comprises a regional operating center including a plurality of computers to form a distributed processing architecture, said regional operating center capable of storing all data pertaining to its geographical region and capable of communicating with said plurality of local operating centers.

9. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 7 wherein data which is not present at one of said plurality of local operating centers may be imported, upon demand by said subscribers, from others of said plurality of local operating centers.

10. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 8 wherein data which is not present at said plurality of local operating centers may be imported from said regional operating center upon demand from said subscribers.

11. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 1 wherein said sequence of video images includes still frame video, predetermined images for displaying fixed motion video, and real time live motion video.

12. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 1 which further comprises a consumer service center capable of communicating with said computing means and said plurality of subscribers, from which each of said subscribers may be provided assistance.

13. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 1 which further comprises a client network services facility capable of communicating with said computing means to permit interchange of information between said computing means and commercial clients who have placed said multimedia presentations on said system.

14. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 1 which further comprises a store manager facility capable of communicating with said computing means, and including a production facility which permits commercial clients to prepare, store and edit said multimedia presentations on said system.

15. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 1 wherein said multimedia presentations are tailored to particular markets based upon market and demographic data supplied to the system, and wherein said computing means utilizes said demographic and market data to determine which of said plurality of multimedia presentations may be selected by one of said plurality of subscribers.

16. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 1 wherein said plurality of multimedia presentations relate to products and services available from commercial clients, and wherein viewing of said selected multimedia presentations and performance of said transactions permits each of said plurality of subscribers to individually shop for, select, and purchase said products and services.

17. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 1 wherein said input communicated to said computing means via said input means are transmitted from said computing means to said television of said subscriber who has entered said input, to provide a feedback indication that said input has been properly received by said computing means.

18. An interactive multimedia presentation and communications system accessible to a plurality of subscribers wherein each of said plurality of subscribers may input a selection of a particular multimedia presentation for viewing on a television set from a plurality of such presentations available on the system, each of said plurality of presentations generally including a sequence of video images, accompanying audio, and a menu of choices related to said presentation, and in response to viewing said presentation, may input at least one of said choices to perform transactions related to said presentation and to select another particular presentation for viewing on said television set comprising:

a) one or more local operating centers for preparing, storing and processing digital data related to said plurality of multimedia presentations and to the performance of said transactions, each of said local operating centers including a plurality of computers, a bus system for interconnecting said computers to form a distributed processing architecture, a plurality of processes executable by said computers which implement said transactions and enable said preparing, storing and processing of said digital data and which are capable of being executed by said computers in response to said input;

b) a telephone input means available to each of said subscribers for communicating with one of said local operating centers;

c) a plurality of presentation players, each presentation player connected to one of said operating centers and to a group of subscribers, and including means capable of receiving, storing and further processing digital data into analog TV signals and means for transmitting said analog TV signals to said television set of said one of said group of subscribers who has selected said particular presentation; and

d) signal transmission means for transmitting digital data from each of said local operating centers to said plurality of presentation players connected thereto.

19. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 18 wherein said telephone input means comprises a Touch-Tone telephone keypad.

20. The interactive multimedia presentation and communication system of claim 19 wherein said telephone input means further comprises, in addition to said Touch-Tone telephone keypad, a local access point at which signals from a plurality of telephones are combined and transmitted to said local operating center along a telephone line.

21. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 18 wherein said plurality of computers comprises a plurality of single-board computers.

22. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 18 wherein said signal transmission means comprises a transmitter capable of transmitting said digital data along a CATV cable network.

23. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 18 wherein each of said plurality of presentation players is capable of transmitting said analog TV signals along a CATV cable network to said television set of said one of said group of subscribers connected thereto who has selected said particular presentation.

24. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 18 wherein each of said local operating centers is capable of communicating with others of said local operating centers, and can import data demanded by subscribers from said others of said local operating centers.

25. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 18 which further comprises a regional operating center including a plurality of computers, to form a distributed processing architecture, said regional operating center capable of storing in digital format all data pertaining to its geographical region, and being further capable of communicating with each of said local operating centers, and transferring data which has been demanded by subscribers to ones of said local operating centers who request said data.

26. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 18 wherein each of said local operating centers further comprises a plurality of chassis, each of said chassis including a plurality of slots which accommodate said computers.

27. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 18, wherein said plurality of processes are dynamically distributed among said plurality of computers for execution on said plurality of computers in response to varying computing demands placed on said local operating center.

28. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 18 wherein one of said processes that may be executed on said plurality of computers comprising one of said local operating centers is a log-on server process wherein said log-on server process executing on said plurality of computers provides each of said subscribers with access to said local operating center.

29. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 18 wherein one of said processes that may be executed on said computers is a session server said session server process executing on said computers is assigned to each of said subscribers who log into said system, and which, in response to said subscriber's selections, provides means for said subscriber to navigate through said system to obtain desired multimedia presentations, retrieve digital data representative of said presentations, and obtain the services of others of said processes as required by said subscriber.

30. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 18 wherein said sequence of video images includes still-frame video, predetermined images for displaying fixed-motion video, and real-time live-motion video.

31. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 18 wherein said plurality of multimedia presentations relate to products and services available from commercial clients, and wherein viewing of said selected multimedia presentations and performance of said transactions permits each of said plurality of subscribers to individually shop for, select, and purchase said products and services.

32. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 21 in which each of said local operating centers further comprises at least one modem, each of said modems connected to one of said single board computers to provide a telephone communications link.

33. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 21 wherein each of said local operating centers further comprises at least one gateway device, each gateway device interfaced to one of said single-board computers to provide an external communications link to other computing systems.

34. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 21 wherein each of said local operating centers further comprise a digital data storage facility including at least one first set of peripherals having a disk drive and a disk drive controller, each first set of peripherals interfaced to one of said plurality of single-board computers.

35. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 21 wherein each of said local operating centers further comprises at least one second set of peripherals including a multiplexer and a modulator, each second set of peripherals interfaced to one of said plurality of single-board computers and to said signal transmission means.

36. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 26 wherein each of said chassis provides an industry standard system bus for transferring data between said computers on the same chassis.

37. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 36 wherein the industry standard system bus further comprises an industry standard Multibus II system bus.

38. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 26 wherein communications between each of said plurality of computers comprised within said plurality of chassis is provided by a second industry standard system bus.

39. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 38 wherein said second industry standard system bus comprises an industry standard Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) bus to provide communications between each of said plurality of computers comprised within said plurality of chassis.

40. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 26 wherein each of said local operating centers further comprises a plurality of communications interfaces connected between ones of said plurality of single-board computers which are on different chassis, to provide communications between said plurality of single board computers comprised within a plurality of said chassis.

41. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 32 wherein one of said processes which said single-board computers interfaced to said modem are capable of executing a voice network server process, said single board computers executing said voice network server process communicating via said modem with said telephone input means available to each of said subscribers whereby said single board computers executing said voice network server process can acquire and process said selections entered via said telephone input means.

42. The interactive multimedia presentation and communication system of claim 34 wherein one of said processes which said single-board computers that comprise said digital data storage facility are capable of executing is a volume manager server, whereby said single board computers executing said volume manager server process provide read and write access to all of said digital data stored in said digital data storage facility to others of said processes which request said data.

43. The interactive multimedia presentation and communications system of claim 35 wherein one said processes which said single-board computers that are interfaced to said second set of peripherals are capable of executing is a channel server whereby said single board computers executing said channel server process provide data related to said multimedia presentations to said signal transmission means for transmission to a CATV headend which transmits said data along its CATV distribution network to said plurality of presentation players connected thereto.

44. An interactive shopping system accessible to a plurality of subscribers on a CATV cable network, wherein each of said plurality of subscribers may input a selection for viewing on a television set a particular multimedia presentation from a plurality of such presentations available on the system, each of said plurality of presentations depicting products or services and generally including a sequence of video images, accompanying audio, and a menu of choices related to said products or services, and in response to viewing said presentation, may input at least one of said choices to perform shopping transactions related to the purchase of said products or services, and to select another particular presentation depicting other products or services for viewing on said television set comprising:

a) one or more local operating centers each of which includes means for preparing, storing and processing digital data related to said plurality of multimedia presentations and to the performance of said shopping transactions, each of said local operating centers further having a plurality of computers, a bus system for interconnecting said computers to form a distributed processing architecture, a plurality of processes executable by said computers which implement said transactions and enable said preparing, storing and processing of said digital data to simulate the environment of an electronic mall and which are capable of being executed by said computers in response to said selections;

b) an input means available to each of said subscribers for communicating with one of said local operating centers;

c) a plurality of presentation players, each presentation player connected along a CATV cable network to one of said operating centers and to a group of subscribers, and including means capable of receiving, storing and further processing digital data related to said particular multimedia presentation that has been selected by one of said group of subscribers, and further means for converting said digital data into analog TV signals and means for transmitting said analog TV signals along said cable distribution network to said television set of said one of said group of subscribers who has selected said particular presentation; and

d) signal transmission means for transmitting digital data from each of said local operating centers along said CATV distribution network to said plurality of presentation players connected thereto.

45. The interactive shopping system of claim 44 wherein said multimedia presentations are tailored to particular markets, and wherein demographic information available to said local operating center about each of said subscribers is used to define and limit the plurality of multimedia presentations which each of said subscribers may select.

46. The interactive shopping system of claim 44 wherein said sequence of video images includes still-frame video, predetermined images for displaying fixed-motion video, and real-time live-motion video.

47. The interactive shopping system of claim 44 which further comprises a consumer service center capable of communicating with said local operating centers and said plurality of subscribers, from which subscribers may request assistance.

48. The interactive shopping system of claim 47 wherein a consumer service representative at said consumer service center can view the same multimedia presentation that is being viewed by one of said subscribers requesting assistance.

49. The interactive shopping system of claim 48 wherein said subscriber requesting assistance can view a real-time live-motion video of said consumer service representative.

50. The interactive shopping system of claim 44 which further comprises a client network services facility capable of communicating with said local operating centers to permit interchange of information between said local operating centers and commericial clients who have placed said multimedia presentations on said system.

51. The interactive shopping system of claim 44 which further comprises a store manager facility capable of communicating with said local operating centers, and including a production facility which permits commercial clients to prepare, store and edit said multimedia presentations on said system.

52. The interactive shopping system of claim 44 wherein each of said local operating centers is capable of communicating with others of said local operating centers, and can import data demanded by subscribers from said others of said local operating centers.

53. The interactive shopping system of claim 44 which further comprises a regional operating center including a plurality of computers to form a distributive processing architecture, said regional operating center capable of storing in digital format all data pertaining to its geographical region, and being further capable of communicating with each of said local operating centers and transferring upon demand by subscribers to ones of said local operating centers who request said data.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an interactive multimedia presentation and communications system which can deliver to a subscriber's television set particular video images depicting information about items of interest which the subscriber has requested, along with accompanying audio commentary or music. In broad terms, a subscriber who uses the system (generally transmitted on cable TV) tunes his TV set to a predetermined channel, telephones a local number, follows log-on instructions given over the telephone, and then uses the Touch-Tone keypad of his telephone to navigate through an electronic information system which displays multimedia presentations in the form of video images and accompanying audio on various items selected by the subscriber. The invention relates to the apparatus and means by which these presentations are selectively transmitted to particular subscribers, and not with the specific subject matter described in the presentations.

In particular, this type of interactive multimedia presentation and communications system is well suited, though not at all limited, to providing the functions and capabilities of an electronic shopping mall. In this context, a subscriber generally sees video images and hears an audio commentary about shopping products he has chosen to look at and possibly purchase. In addition to audio commentary, background music and other general information may be available. Limited forms of motion video which may include short sequences of panning, zooming, and live motion are also provided. Thus, the system permits a shopper, in the comfort of his home, to browse through an "electronic mall" of different shops, obtain detailed information on particular items, and make purchases. More particularly, this invention relates to and describes an interactive multimedia presentation and communications system ("IMPACS"), in which all the video and audio information is stored, processed and transmitted to the locality of the subscriber in digital form.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Home shopping by use of the television has been growing in popularity in recent years. Generally, home shopping channels are transmitted on a community antenna television (CATV) facility. The CATV facility, which has the capacity for transmitting a large number of commercial and public television signals, is usually connected to homes via a network of coaxial cables. In most of the home shopping systems being offered to date, subscribers passively view the home shopping channel, watch items and pricing being presented by television sales people, and if interested in a particular item, place an order over the telephone or by mail. Similarly, televised real estate offerings which present still-video pictures and information about homes for sale in a particular area are also becoming a popular method of communicating such information to a mass audience. These systems are non-interactive, in the sense that a viewer may passively watch items as they are presented on the television screen, but cannot control the course of the presentation.

More advanced interactive systems have been designed and implemented, wherein viewers are able to request a display of particular items in which they have an interest, and can control their information retrieval or perform individualized shopping as they proceed. A system of this sort is described in U S. Pat. No. 4,734,764, entitled "Cable Television System Selectively Distributing Pre Recorded Video and Audio Messages". This prior art invention describes a system which conveys still frame television quality video with overlaid graphics information and an audio message (when appropriate), to a multiplicity of CATV subscribers who tune to a specific cable channel. The subscriber, by use of a Touch-Tone telephone, transmits particular codes in response to message prompts which are displayed in menu form on the TV screen, and is able to request video displays and information on specific products as well as make purchases. The user of this system requires no additional equipment at his location other than a Touch-Tone telephone and a television set.

In order to interactively operate this type of prior art system, a subscriber tunes to the CATV channel which is being used for transmission, and dials a telephone number to gain access to the system. Each subscriber is given a particular identification number upon subscribing to the service. When this identifying number is entered via the Touch-Tone telephone keypad, the system recognizes the subscriber and his location. Graphic overlays which depict menus and directories of "electronic stores" that are on the system are then displayed, and by responding to these menus with a sequence of keystrokes on the Touch-Tone telephone keypad, the subscriber may, by means of selected video images, enter and browse through a particular store of his choice (or follow other shopping paradigms such as going down a particular aisle in a supermarket), select a particular product of interest, make purchases or request additional information or help. By selecting from a list of menu prompts which are displayed on the television screen, and which the subscriber enters on the Touch-Tone keypad, his television screen displays still-frame video, having overlaid graphics where appropriate, and possibly accompanied by a sound track that presents information about the requested item.

This prior art system uses a CATV cable network to transmit the requested video presentations and accompanying audio messages to its subscribers. In conventional television transmission, video images are transmitted at the rate of 30 frames per second (the North American or Japanese standard), or 25 frames per second (the European standard). A video frame is an interleaved composition of two video fields, with each video field being further composed of a plurality of scan lines which contain the video image information and a smaller plurality of scan lines referred to as the "vertical blanking interval". The interactive system described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,764 makes use of the vertical blanking interval (which consists of the first 21 lines of the video field) to store information which identifies the particular subscriber's reception device to which the requested video images and audio commentary are addressed. The control center of the CATV system (the CATV headend) transmits the frames of video and audio data, with this addressing information encoded in the vertical blanking interval, along the main "trunk" coaxial cables of the system in analog form. In order to compensate for signal losses which naturally occur as a result of transmission, CATV cable systems utilize amplifiers positioned at various locations downstream from the control center. At each of these locations, the signals from the control center are amplified and further transmitted down a plurality of secondary distribution cables. At points along the secondary distribution cables are "taps", at which the signals are split into a plurality of "drop" cables which terminate at subscribers' television sets.

To accommodate a large number of concurrent subscribers, the interactive system described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,764 utilizes a reception device known as a frame store unit, or "frame grabber", typically located near each amplifier of the distribution system. Each frame store unit services a small number of cable drops, and functions to capture the information that is destined for a subscriber whose particular identification code, encoded in the vertical blanking interval, matches an identification code associated with the frame store unit. The video and audio information is transmitted to the frame store unit on two separate channels. The frame store unit captures the analog video and audio information which has the appropriate address encoded in the vertical blanking interval of the frames and stores the information into its memory. The frame store unit then replays the stored video information 30 times per second (according to the U.S. National Television Standards Committee (NTSC) requirement), and transmits the video along with any accompanying audio message to the particular subscriber that it is servicing.

In the prior art system of U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,764, which has been briefly described above, the video and audio presentation which comprises a particular merchandise offering by a commercial client, must first be prepared and encoded onto conventional laser video discs. A plurality of conventional video disc players at the central system site comprise the data storage and playback portion of a subsystem which transmits the appropriate video and audio information in analog form, under control of a central processing unit. The video information is time-multiplexed in the proper sequence, and the audio is appropriately modulated and frequency-division multiplexed for transmission down the CATV cable network.

Numerous problems and limitations are associated with this type of "analog" interactive system, even though the small amount of data that is generated may be transmitted with a link having much less bandwidth. First, a large number of video disc players are required, making the cost and physical size of the electronics for this prior art system exorbitant. Adding to this cost is the utilization of a full bandwidth telephone link for each connection between a subscriber and the host computer of the system, even though the small amount of data that is generated may be transmitted with a link having much less bandwidth. Second, the response time between a subscriber entering a particular code on the telephone keypad and the appearance of a display in response to that code is too slow to establish a comfortable interactive session. The response time in the analog system is limited primarily by the time it takes the video disc player to access a particular location on the disc and can be on the order of three to ten seconds. The slow response time is exacerbated by the graphics overlay process, in which a graphics decoder receives graphics information that is associated with a particular video frame from the central processing unit, generates the appropriate graphics display data and routes this data to a video combiner. The video combiner must first receive the video frame from the video player and then overlay the graphics information onto the frame.

Further, in the prior art analog system, the audio information is stored on the video disc in the electronic format of a video frame. This imposes a maximum limit of ten seconds for the duration of the audio portion associated with a particular frame. In many cases, this time limitation is too restrictive for practical use. In other cases it is wasteful of space.

An additional limitation arises from the choice of a laser disc as the storage medium for the video and audio data. A commercial client who desires to market his merchandise or services on the interactive system of the prior art must undertake a lengthy premastering procedure, required to convert his advertising material (possibly in the format of catalog photographs, video tape information, etc.) into a format which can be encoded onto a video disc master. Multiple copies of the master disc must then be made so that each video disc player in the system can have a copy of the information when it is called upon to deliver a particular presentation to a subscriber. This premastering and duplication process is a time-consuming, linear and batch oriented procedure, generally taking up to 10 weeks from initial setup to final product. The process provides no mechanism for making minor modifications to audio or video images at a later date. If changes are required, a new video disc must be mastered and reproduced. Thus, no reusable archiving is possible.

The prior art analog system is structured with an overly complicated pathway between the subscriber and host computer system which does not generate adequate feedback to either the subscriber or the system. For example, when a subscriber enters a particular sequence of keystrokes, he has no acknowledgment that the sequence has been properly received by the system. Similarly, the system has no feedback that a subscriber has received whatever was transmitted to him. Further, when help from a consumer service representative is requested by a subscriber, the consumer service representative can hear what the subscriber is saying over the telephone, but cannot see what is being displayed on the subscriber's TV screen.

Another important drawback of the prior art system is the manner in which the analog data is distributed from the system to the CATV center and the subscrib