CA2433170A1

CA2433170A1 - Method for presenting categorised information

Info

Publication number: CA2433170A1
Application number: CA002433170A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Marian Trinkel; Lutz Bertram
Original assignee: Deutsche Telekom AG
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2001-01-20
Filing date: 2001-10-31
Publication date: 2002-07-25
Also published as: EP1356614A2; DE10102591A1; WO2002058291A2; WO2002058291A3; JP2004517584A

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for presenting information, including entertainment, which is diffused by a content provider, especially a radio transmitter, a television transmitter, a publisher for printed media or an internet provider, via a medium. According to the inventive method, the information is categorised according to content, the categories presented to an addressee in a presentation which can be received by a receiving device can be individually selected by the addressee, the information is grouped into blocks, and the temporal sequence of said blocks of information can be chosen by the addressee.

Description

WEB RADIO
[2345/195]
The present invention is directed to a method for presenting information, including entertainment, which is disseminated by a provider, in particular by a radio station, a television station, or an Internet service provider, over a medium, the information being categorized by content, and the categories offered to an addressee in a presentation that is receivable via a receiver, being individually selectable by the addressee. The present invention is also directed to a system for implementing the method.
It is generally known that broadcasts are disseminated over radio and television, and also, recently, over the Internet as well. The content of these broadcasts is compiled by an editorial staff. A customer, as an addressee, can make use of this content. For the most part, however, addressees are interested in only some aspects of the particular program and perceive the remaining program segments to be more or less of a nuisance. The problem associated with the known information-type broadcasts is that the customer is not able to influence the program himself/herself, but is only able to look for another station (provider).
Systems are known which provide the addressee with a certain limited freedom in configuring the broadcasts. In this context, he/she can inform the station via the Internet which content he/she would like for a specific category. For example, for a one-hour radio broadcast, he/she can, at least to a certain extent, select the order in which the titles are played, similarly to a juke-box. However, helshe is not able to listen to this compiled sequence of titles outside of the time-frame scheduled by the station. Thus, this "individualized" broadcast is discontinued at a time preset by the station when, for example, a news or advertising block is scheduled.
It is, therefore, the object of the present invention to devise a method which will provide an addressee with a convenient way for generating individual information-type programs in a simple and cost-effective implementation.
NY01 594492 v t This objective is achieved by a method having the distinguishing features set forth in Claim 1.
The essential idea underlying the present inventive is for information made available by a station (provider), in particular as sound, text, and/or video information, to be compiled individually, as desired, and requested, as needed. This idea is implemented in that the available information is offered by the content provider in informational blocks, and the chronological sequence of the broadcast informational blocks is able to be freely selected by the addressee. In practice, this may work as follows. In a "play list" configured as a batch file, the addressee indicates that he/she first Wants to receive an up-dated block of news, which is then to be followed by a weather report for the area of interest to him/her, before current topics in a magazine (which may also be individually selectable) are to be highlighted.
The addressee would then finally like to hear an entertaining music broadcast of thirty minutes in length. This is how an addressee could configure the play list of a broadcast to begin the day with when turning on his/her radio. Thus, the content and chronological sequence of the broadcast are able to be freely designed.
The advantages of the present invention are obvious. This capability of being able to interactively define, oneself, the content of a broadcast represents, first of all, a new service which is easily marketed because of the advantages it offers to the customer. The customer derives the benefit of no longer being dependent on the preset program schemata used to receive an interesting broadcast. Instead, the customer determines himself/herself when the broadcast will begin and, as a result, does not miss out on anything. Besides being able to act independently of the established broadcast time-frames, the customer is also no longer dependent on the program color offered. The present invention is also advantageously suited for applications involving interactive training, continuing education, language training, and tutorials. A special benefit is derived in that, for the most part, the present invention is able to be implemented using existing technology, so that no incalculable costs arise.
NY01 594492 v 1 It is especially advantageous when the addressee is not only able to preset the chronological sequence, but, as already indicated, the starting time of the program sequence, as well, through a specific start instruction. Thus, it is advantageous when the start instruction is activated in response to the receiver being turned on.
However, the start instruction may also be transmitted via a communications medium that is independent of the receiver, by the push of a button or by voice. In this context, besides the start instruction, it is advantageous to provide the customer with other control instructions that he/she may use to navigate within the presentation offered. For example, he/she may use such a control instruction to repeat the informational block or a segment thereof.
Although the present invention is able to be realized within the framework of any media at all, for example even in the print media ("every reader gets his/her own individual newspaper"), it offers a special convenience when used in conjunction with radio or television. In spite of the Internet, these media continue to be important day-to-day sources of information. The radio, in particular, is not dependent on the addressee's (listener's) undivided attention, and can be taken in casually, for example, in the morning when brushing one's teeth, or when driving the car. An individually controlled radio program which fits into a listener's special daily routine, offers the greatest convenience.
The play lists and the control commands may be predefined in different ways.
In any case, besides the medium disseminating the information, (another) medium is needed that the addressee may use to transmit information to the station. In the special case that the Internet is the medium disseminating the information, as a bidirectional medium, it is able to simultaneously send back information, such as play lists or control commands. In the case of a radio or television transmitter, the Internet or a telephone network may be used as a medium that is directed to the transmitter. Since the tendency toward global cabling is continually advancing, it is conceivable, moreover, that the receiving terminal equipment, such as radios, mobile cellular phones or televisions, function at the same time as transmitting equipment, which sends information to the transmitter via cable, optical fibers or air interfaces. In that case, it is easily implemented that an instruction such as the start NY01 594492 v 1 instruction is initiated in response to the receiver being turned on.
An especially convenient option provides for transmitting the instructions per voice input via a communications medium, for example via the (mobile) telephone network or, however, via the cabling of the terminal equipment. In this case, the addressee could request the station's current offering by entering the command "news".
In one special specific embodiment, to simplify the voice analysis and to improve the transmission quality, it may be provided, during a broadcast, for example during the news, to open an "input window" for a certain period of time, to permit the voice input of only certain words of an otherwise universal voice-recognition system. Thus, for example, in the context of the news that "Chancellor Schroder is traveling to Japan", the words "Chancellor", "Schroder", and "Japan" would be active for a certain time, so that, when selected, other background information pertaining to these terms appears. Because of its enhanced recognition rate, this method, which limits all possible words to a few just spoken words, greatly improves the voice recognition. Thus, the ruggedness, i.e., the voice recognition performance of the system is improved. In this context, the application of this method is in no way limited to the present invention described here, rather, it may be generally employed in voice-recognition systems.
One specific embodiment of the present invention is shown in the figure and is described in greater detail in the following.
A system is shown in the figure where the box denoted by 1 is a content provider, thus, for example, a radio station, which is linked via radio or, as in the present example, via a network 2 to its listeners (addressees) 3. In this context, addressees 3 are connected via a modal interface 4, for example via a radio, to the network.
At this point, an addressee 3 may design his/her individual program by creating, in a first step, a play list 5 containing a sequence of informational blocks or a reference to such a sequence. Each informational block corresponds then to a content (for example, to the current news). This play list 5 is then transmitted via a communications medium (in this case, via a telephone network 6), together with an NY01 594492 v 1 individualized identification, to content provider 1. On the basis of play list 5, the provider creates a program that is assigned to the addressee and enters the information in a database 8 assigned to a computer 7, computer 7 being integrated in netv~rork 2. In response to radio 4 being turned on, the computer accesses database 7 and extracts from it the content of the broadcasts designated for the addressee.
NY01 594492 v 1

Claims

What Is Claimed Is:

1. A method for presenting information, including entertainment, which is broadcast by a provider ("content provider"), in particular by a radio station, a television station, a publisher of print media, or an Internet service provider, over a medium, the information being categorized by content, and the categories offered to an addressee in a presentation that is received via a receiver, being individually selectable by the addressee, wherein the information is compiled into informational blocks whose chronological sequence is able to be freely selected by the addressee.

2. The method as recited in Claim 1, wherein the time the sequence starts is able to be preset by the addressee through a start instruction.

3. The method as recited in Claim 1 or 2, wherein the informational blocks or references to the informational blocks are compiled in a batch file (play list), the informational blocks associated therewith being retrievable by the addressee via an output device.

4. The method as recited in one of the preceding claims, wherein the medium is radio broadcasting, and the output device is a radio.

5. The method as recited in one of the preceding claims, wherein the medium is a cable transmission ("audio stream"), and the output device is a loudspeaker or a printer.

6. The method as recited in one of the preceding claims, wherein the informational blocks are selected via a voice input.

7. The method as recited in Claim 6, wherein the voice input is transmitted via a communications medium, for example a network.

8. The method as recited in one of the preceding claims, wherein the informational blocks are selected via the Internet.

9. The method as recited in one of the preceding claims, wherein a computer is used to generate the batch file, and the transmission takes place via the Internet.

10. The method as recited in one of the preceding claims, wherein - ~in a first step, an addressee creates a play list which includes at least one informational block or a reference to an informational block;
- ~in a further step, the play list is transmitted together with an individualized identification, via a communications medium, to the content provider;
- ~on the basis of the play list, the provider creates a program assigned to the addressee; and - ~the addressee starts the program with a start instruction.

11. The method as recited in Claim 10, wherein the start instruction is initiated by turning on the receiver.

12. The method as recited in Claim 10, wherein the addressee navigates within the presentation compiled for him/her using control instructions.

13. A system for carrying out the method as recited in one of Claims 1 through 12.