FR2876241A1 - Audio visual contents distribution system for e.g. television, has units for restitution and temporal navigation of contents selected by content provider according to planned sequence based on consultation schedule and date of consumers - Google Patents

Abstract

The system has reception units (300) for receiving and storing units collected audio visual contents and management data associated to the contents. Restitution units restitute audio visual contents selected previously by a content provider according to a planned sequence based on consultation schedule and date of consumers. Temporal navigation units provide temporal navigation in the previously selected audio visual contents.

Description

The present invention relates to a time navigation system in

  audiovisual content previously selected by the provider of said content. It is more particularly intended to provide consumers with a selection of audiovisual content previously selected by the supplier.

  said contents, according to a sequence scheduled according to the time and date of consultation of said consumers, said selection allowing said consumers to perform a time navigation in a configurable time window of said selection.

  The present invention thus relates to television or radio systems, and o more generally to programmed audiovisual content distribution systems: all types of services offering readable content in audible form, which can be viewed or mixed together, subject to a selection at the initiative of the service provider, transmitted by all applicable technical means, and made available to consumers according to a sequence planned according to the consultation schedule.

  It also relates to the field of techniques generally used to capture, store and return audiovisual content to consumers.

  Despite the intensive digitization of content and distribution networks of audiovisual content, the flow distribution distribution logic has remained the only one to guarantee the supply of a massive audience. Thus, the concept of television has not changed much since its creation.

  In this field, the technological evolutions allow today the constitution of extremely rich offers. The television industry, in particular, sees the emergence of video recorders on hard disks, sometimes coupled with decoders, or the emergence of services offering access to video on demand. Consumers thus have greater freedom of access to audiovisual content. However, these innovations do not escape a major disadvantage: the complexity. The interfaces offered to consumers generally incorporate computer concepts and, as a result, require a minimal culture in this field. A good understanding of signal processing techniques is often useful, especially to plan recording periods or simply to consume the services offered. In addition, the notion of anticipation is at the heart of some of these recent concepts, resulting in increased consumer demand. As a result, these services are primarily aimed at active consumers. Beyond these disadvantages, recent developments in the field of television in particular, give little consideration to the concept of passivity. The old concept of content distribution that gives a lot of space to this notion, such as radio or television, nevertheless generates daily consumption behaviors lasting several hours, even though the most recent concepts, when they are adopted, do not manage to generate only weekly or monthly uses, then approaching modes of use closer to the video rental than the television itself.

  The consumption analyzes of the available offers also show that consumer habits relating to this type of service are concentrated on a limited number of services (or channels) regardless of the richness of the offers on offer. On the other hand, it is interesting to note that the consumers plebiscite the plethoric offers at least when they are subjected to an act of purchase. This apparent opposition is explicable by the need to satisfy the will of users to have an offer of content accessible at any time. Provision of content distribution services is a reflection of this antinomism: the only possibility is for service providers to increase the amount of services offered. In doing so, the perceived value of services has been diminished, lost in offers that have become more complex and more pronounced for high value-added service offerings.

  The aim of the invention is to propose a system enabling the construction of programmed content distribution offers combining two qualities hitherto regarded as irreconcilable by the actors of the field: simplicity and accessibility: - simplicity, through respect consumer habits, changing only imperceptibly the ergonomics of the services offered, in particular by respecting a potential passivity, - accessibility, by a temporal navigation within the services of programmed distribution of contents.

  It proposes for this purpose a time navigation system in audiovisual content previously selected by the provider of said content, implementing multimedia communication means that can use the currently available communication networks, such as the wired telephone network, the telephone networks cellular, Internet and Intranet networks, satellite or terrestrial communication networks, to enable consumers to choose audiovisual content previously selected by the provider of said content, according to a sequence planned according to the schedule and the date of consulting said consumers, and to perform time navigation in a configurable time window of said selections.

  According to the invention, this system essentially involves: - means for collecting said audiovisual content and management data associated with said content, provided in advance or directly, - means for sending said audiovisual content and management data collected. before the period of scheduled provision of said content, or just in time for the live content, means for receiving and storing said audiovisual content and management data, means for restitution of said audiovisual content previously selected by the provider of said contents, according to a sequence scheduled according to the time and date of consultation of consumers, - time navigation means in the aforesaid audiovisual content previously selected.

  The system according to the invention allows temporal navigation in one or more centrally-programmed distribution services of audible contents, visible or mixing the two. The system essentially comprises transmission means, controlled by the service provider (s), and reception means, present in the consumer.

  The different contents and associated data are collected and then broadcast by the transmitting means before the scheduled provisioning period, or just in time for the content elements taking place at the time of their (direct) retransmission. To achieve this, the sources of content are collected as well as the associated management rules according to the programming of each of the service providers considered. The elements available in advance, such as the direct contents, are recorded in the storage space associated with the transmission means, in variable qualities related to the nature of the contents. Then all the collected content (all or part) as well as data necessary for reproduction by the reception means of each of the programmed sequences of these contents, before the period of scheduled provision of these contents, or just in time for live content, are shipped. The forwarding of said contents and said associated data takes into account in particular the management rules of each of the services, such as the programming grids, the parameterized time navigation windows or any other necessary information. The data shipment also conforms to the technical constraints of formatting and transporting the outgoing stream that encapsulate them.

  The reception means captures, decrypts and stores all the data transmitted by the transmission means. The network, supporting the transfer of data and respecting capacity criteria in terms of speed and quality, can be of any order: symmetrical or asymmetric, centralized or distributed. The reception means reproduce from the received data the content services, while respecting the management constraints transmitted, which allows a temporal navigation in and between the chained contents, within the limits of a defined window of time by each of the service providers. The restitution of the contents is carried out from means linked together by the data they handle: first, means allowing the recording of the transmitted data on the storage space associated with the reception means, then means managing the life cycle of the recorded data and more particularly their accessibility, and finally the means generating the reproduction of the contents according to their accessibility, the management rules assimilated, and the actions of the consumer.

  When activated, the consultation of the service is based on the reproduction of the maximum definition of the contents: this definition corresponds to the maximum capacities of the associated platform (for example in full screen for a television service, or in "HDTV" if the content is available in the format and the connected display device allows it). The reception means ensure the restitution of the sequence planned by the service provider of the selected contents: according to the date and the consultation schedule if no action other than the activation of the consultation of the service concerned is formulated by the consumer; or as a function of time offsets caused by the temporal browsing actions of consumers.

  As indicated, the means of restitution of the contents take into account the actions of the consumers: the possibility of triggering the consultation of the services, by the action start / stop: the possibility of navigating of service in service, either sequentially by the use of actions such as next service or previous service, either by references, via the use of 10 keys numbered from 0 to 9. To these basic actions, are added features specific to time navigation, namely: the following actions, previous as well as actions dedicated to change the speed of viewing contents: back fast return, or forward fast forward, or by stopping the content flow: pause / play. The experience experienced by the consumer, if he produces no action is strictly identical to a traditional service of distribution of scheduled content, such as television or radio, the content is linked seamlessly according to the planned schedule. When the consumer navigates in o the time of the services offered, the offset caused in relation to the planned consultation time of the contents is memorized for the services concerned for a configurable duration during which the navigation between services takes into account this offset, that it is reset (rendered null) at the end of this period.

  The restitution of the contents is embellished with graphic or sound elements associated with the realized actions, which graphic or sound elements constitute the consumer interface / means of reception. The insertion of these is temporary and represents the last action generated.

  The advantage of this invention is to be able to offer a service that does not change anything, at first glance, to the habits of consumers of content services that can be restored in audible form, which can be viewed or mixed together, and which are the subject of a selection at initiative of the service provider, made available to consumers according to a sequence planned according to the consultation schedule, and transmitted by any applicable technical means while offering greater accessibility to these contents.

  An embodiment of the invention will be described below, by way of nonlimiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a television distribution infrastructure, Figure 2 is a schematic representation of the transmission means, FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of a programming grid, FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of the outgoing flow emitted by the transmission means respecting the programming grid according to FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic representation of the reception means, FIG. 6 represents the life cycle of the contents stored in the reception means, FIG. 7a represents a sequence of exemplary actions, illustrating the navigation possibilities within services offered, and - Figure 7b illustrates the actual consumption of the different contents according to the sequence shown in Figure 7a.

  In advance of a detailed presentation, certain terms used must be specified: the term or is here inclusive and considered as assimilable to and / or; terms associated with and their derivatives shall be understood to mean, included within, interconnected with, containing, contained within, connected to or with, coupled to or with, capable of establishing communication with, cooperating with, nested within or with, juxtaposed with , related to or with, having, having the property of, and their derivatives; the term controller should be understood as meaning all types of devices, all or part controlling at least one operation, this device can be implemented in "hardware", software package or software or any combination of at least two of these types, each of the functions associated with a controller that can be centralized or distributed, locally or remotely. In particular, a controller may include one or more data processors associated with interfaces and memory executing one or more applications, or operating systems; content or its derivatives means any data that can be interpreted to reproduce a composition of audible or visible signals or a combination thereof, content that may consist of more than one content; the term meta data is understood as meaning all information on the contents, excluding the contents themselves; the term service provider means the structure in charge of the scheduled distribution of all types of content, audio, video or audiovisual content, subject to selection at the initiative of the distributor, and made available to consumers in a sequence planned of these contents, according to the schedule of consultation via all applicable technical means; the term services, denoting each programmed sequence of contents accessible under a single technical reference or marketing, controlled by a service provider.

  In the example shown in FIG. 1, the content distribution television infrastructure 100 comprises transmission means 200 and reception means 300, the latter being associated with a remote control 400. The distribution infrastructure is typically composed of equipment specific to the service provider 111, associated with the equipment of one or more distributors 112 in turn associated with the equipment of one or more network managers 113, all of these actors aiming to reach as efficiently as possible as many consumers as possible 114.

  The service provider, as part of a television system, manages one or more sources of content. This content can be routed through wireless networks, such as terrestrial radio networks 104 or satellites 108, or through wired connections, such as cable networks, telephone networks 106 or any other type of network. These contents can also o be directly created, by direct capture on a plate for example 110. These contents are captured either when they occur (direct), or after a delay (deferred) which corresponds to editing manipulations or control for example. Inasmuch as these sources are not all transmitted to the consumers at the time they are received, most of them are interfaced with recording means 103, 105, 107, 109. These recording means respect the format the sources with which they are associated and store the contents received in accordance with the handling format (s) selected by the service provider. Moreover, these pre-recorded contents in themselves constitute the first source of content: these contents are handled in the form of archived cassettes, accessible via storage robots 101, or in the form of computer files available in the dedicated storage spaces 102. The content management system 115 manages the referencing of all these sources by the various local networks 108 (computer or audiovisual networks). The traffic management system (or information management and programming system) 116 manages the service scheduling grid 117, as well as the management rules 118 related thereto. It is generally associated with the network controller 119 and the content management system 115, which makes it possible to control all sources or combinations of sources, while having all the information describing these sources. The transmission means 200 are associated with the network controller 119 and the content management system 115, from which they receive the necessary data, and to which they return information relating to the tasks acknowledged. In this embodiment, the transmission means 200 format a data stream supported by the transmission controller 120 so that the product data stream is integrated with the normalized standard transport stream (s). The rest of the infrastructure is operated under the same conditions as for sending standard television streams: the equipment of the distributor (s) 112 take care of the access control, by encoding the signal through a coding controller 121 associated with the corresponding conditional access management system 122. The network manager (s) 113 ensures the dispatch of the coded stream 124 via all the necessary controllers 123. The network that supports the Data transfer meets capacity criteria in terms of speed and quality: it can be indifferently symmetrical or asymmetric, centralized or distributed. The reception means 300 comprise a decoder made available to the consumer of the services and having a remote control 400. This decoder is connected to display means 125 by means of standardized interfaces (standard audio and video cables within the scope of FIG. a connection to a television set). The decoder is permanently powered and connected to the network pickup device carrying the signal sent by the transmitting means (antenna, cable plug, dish).

  In the example shown in FIG. 2, the transmission means 200 are responsible for transforming the content streams into content file broadcasting within one or more transport streams.

  The transmission means 200 comprise management and interfacing controllers 201 associated with a storage space 202, as well as data flow management controllers 203.

  The main controller 210, in charge of managing the proper synchronization of all the functionalities, is interfaced to the local traffic controller 211, itself associated with the traffic management system (s) 126 of the provider (s) of services, collecting the information required for the outgoing flow generation management, in particular: the content programming grid 212, and the service management rules 213 (formalizing, for example, bandwidth or control constraints access at the content level). The local traffic controller 211 also ensures, through its interfacing with the service provider's system, the referencing of all the processed contents by creating meta data, producing synchronous references (in the case composite content formed from several contents), and asynchronous references (several episodes of a TV series for example).

  The generation of the output stream follows three steps, synchronized only in the case of provision of live content: - in a first step, when content streams are captured (live or delayed), the data sources Correspondents 127 are 2876241 9 converted into computer files, by one or more encoding controllers 214, in the consumer target formats, these formats being able to depend on each element of contents (high definition for a film element, 16/9 for another , different sound encodings, etc.). The contents made available in the form of files 128, are subject to processing by the controller (s) of format 215, which (if necessary) impose their transformation by the controller (s) ( s) respective transcoding 129; in a second step, the captured contents are associated with the information describing them from the local traffic controller (meta data) via the data formatting controller 216, which ensures their storage in the target format in the storage space 217. This controller formatting 216 also provides the formalization of messages or internal system management flows to control the evolution of management constraints (absolute time, schedule of services, management rules update or parameter updates) conditional access, for example); in a third step, the main management controller 210 manages the lifecycle of the data stored in application of management and optimization rules. This same main management controller 210 assures the correct data forwarding, through the data trough controller 218 as well as the data flow composition controller 219, ensuring the proper formatting of the outgoing data stream 220, integrating all the constraints captured by the local traffic controller as well as the technical constraints inherent in the export format (MPEG2-TS, DVB-T, etc.).

  In the example shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the contents are represented by blocks, from P1 to Pn + 1, corresponding for example to television programs, and to time references, from t-1 to t5.

  The time is indicated on the abscissa, the bandwidth 221 associated with the content is indicated in Figure 4, ordinate.

  P2 content, for example, occurs at the time of its distribution, it is live content.

  This representation shows that the bandwidth can be variable or even zero, either by constraint (because of the unavailability of a network during certain time ranges for example), or because of the process of generating the flow itself. (if all the scheduled contents have already been sent for a given time range, for example).

  Depending on the programming of each service, the contents available in advance are sent before the period during which they become available to consumers (P1, P3, P4, P5, Pn and Pn + 1). Depending on the load they represent, and the technical resources available at any time (bandwidth), the contents sent can be simultaneously (P3 and P4), all or part, by block, non-continuously, or in a different order of the planned sequence of the service (s).

  The internal management messages 222, associated with said contents, are dispatched in the same way as the other contents, without continuity constraint. The live elements (P2, planned from t1 to t2) are formatted and sent as and when they are captured: available from the beginning of their retransmission (t1), becoming fully available at their conclusion (t2), they are searchable as they are captured, with the exception of a buffer portion corresponding to the data being memorized. Mention should be made that the illustration does not highlight the delay necessarily caused by all processing suffered by the live content, even if these treatments are minimized to the maximum. However, in view of existing offers, this period should not have a significant impact on the end-user. For example, a user starting a consultation session between t1 and t2 would have, with regard to the hypotheses illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4: the possibility of doing nothing, that is to say consulting P2 live, and then seeing if sequencing, as planned, P3, P4, P5, and so on, in total ignorance of the operations leading to this result; the possibility to watch delayed P2 from the beginning, without having anticipated this wish, from the first element consulted of this content, having only to press a button; the possibility of seeing the P1 program that he had just missed, again without anticipation, by pressing twice the same button as before; the possibility of not having to support P2 to directly access P3 or even P4 if the time window, defining the limits of temporal navigation being accessible to him, allowed it again, by simply pressing another button; it would also have the ability to navigate at varying speeds across all available programs, including going back and forth in P2 to view events too fleeting for example and then return to the upper limit of this program, namely the time of its actual progress (in permanent slip); or the ability to suspend the flow of content without time limit, and resume the progress of this content suspended at any time.

  Thus, the reception means store all the transmitted information, and provide, from these elements (contents, meta data, or messages and internal flows to the system), a service offering readable contents in audible form, which can be viewed or mixed together. two, selected on the initiative of the service provider, and made available to consumers in accordance with a planned sequence of such content according to the consultation schedule, that is to say a service strictly identical to the services offered by streaming broadcast enriched with time navigation in and between the chained contents, within the limits of a time window defined by the service provider.

  In the example shown in FIG. 5, the reception means 300 comprise three functionalities: storing the data transmitted on the storage space associated with the decoder, the management of the cycle deviates stored data and more particularly their accessibility, and the generation of the expected signal based on the data collected and the actions of the consumer.

  Only the return of live content involves a synchronization of these features.

  The recording method respects the following steps: the stream coming from the transmission means 301 is picked up by a connection, such as a cable socket, a dish, an antenna, or any other device making it possible to capture the signal sent via the used network . The signal controller 302 provides the parameterization of this capture, according to the instructions of the associated recording controller 310. The signal input is decoded by the decoding controller 303, the acknowledgment of access rights to the (x) flow being ensured. by the associated conditional access controller 304, by means of identifying elements associated with the decoder itself. The decoded signal is submitted to the analysis controller 305, composed in particular of a content filtering controller 306 associated with a buffer zone manager 307.

  The analysis of the incoming data is ensured according to the instructions of the recording controller 310, managing the consideration of management rules, variables (such as the management of a conditional access associated with the contents themselves, or changes data transfer management for example), according to the instructions of the associated main controller 309, which manages, at all times, the correct synchronization of all the processes. The internal messages or streams stored by the buffer management controller are supported by the primary controller components: the data management controller 311 provides the associated management rule controller 312 with provision for remote controlled updates. These updates may concern parameters (time, programming, public key, etc.) or methods of the device (parameters of the recording controller, applications, etc.) The data management controller 311 also ensures the storage of the data. content and meta data as and when they are decoded in the dedicated storage space (s) 308, holding at any time a catalog of all the contents (all or part) and associated data available.

  The contents and meta data stored in the reception means are managed automatically, the consumers can not intervene directly on the presence of the contents.

  In the example represented in FIG. 6, the stored contents and meta data have a life cycle according to the management of the contents. This management, provided by the data management controller, regulates the presence and, therefore, the destruction of these contents and meta data, as well as their accessibility by the consumers. The regulation of this accessibility is ensured by the management of the state of several dedicated parameters associated with each of the contents concerned (visibility, or an access control key associated with the content for example), according to the instructions modeled within the associated management rule controller.

  Indeed, each content M1 to M5 + n is recorded (401) and stored in the logical category of non-accessible contents 402. According to the dates, times, and the services to which they correspond, their status is changed 403. These searchable contents ( all or part as figured for M1), are paid to the logical category accessible elements 404. The content and associated data captured live M2, directly enjoy the accessibility status, without going through the previous step.

  Obviously, only the parts already recorded live content 405 can be consumed. At the end of the time window provided for each content concerned, because of the management rules applicable to the service concerned, these contents expire 141 (all or part). The time window that conditions their expiration can be expressed either in time (n hours before, n hours after the time of consumption of the services concerned), or in number of searchable elements (n content before, n contents after, according to l sequence of content planned in the programming grid of the services concerned), in every way perceptible by the consumer (n time marks before, n time marks after, according to the sequence of contents planned in the programming grid of services concerned). The temporary status of the expired elements 406 is examined 407 in view of the applicable management rules (including the optimization of the storage space), these contents are then transferred to the status of inaccessible 402, or erased. Content that can be referenced in several services, is at the end of the expiry of all of its associated accessibility attributes that can be examined its destruction. Finally, if a content is being consulted at the end of the planned life cycle, its lifetime (of accessibility) is extended from the time corresponding to the finalization of its consumption, until it has been completely visualized, if the consumer For example, wanted to stop and resume several times the course of a content.

  The means generating the signal intended for consumers, as indicated in FIG. 5, are initiated by the interaction controller 313, component of the main controller 309, which processes the actions of the consumer on the remote control 400, picked up by the interface controller. associated 318.

  The steps are as follows: the interaction controller 313, associated with the decoding management 314 and display 317 controllers causes the generation of the output stream corresponding to the set of constraints modeled within the main controller 309, taking into account This includes the previous status, the actions received, the content, the schedule, the date and time, and the service. It relies, to ensure the proper generation of the output signal on the buffer zone controller 315 and the associated flow creation and conversion controller (s) 316. The generated stream restores the maximum definition of the output signals. content, definition corresponding to the maximum capacity of playback of the connected platform (in full screen on a television, but also, if the content is stored in 16/9 and if the television allows, in 16/9, for example). This flow can also be enriched with graphic or sound elements associated with the action performed, the insertion of these being temporary; the maximum capacities of the rendering platform are parameterized by the consumer.

  As mentioned above, the means of restoring a signal to consumers takes into account the actions of consumers. These actions, formalized by the use of the remote control, are the same as those generally offered for the consultation of services offering readable content in audible form, viewable or mixing the two, subject to selection at the initiative of the service provider, and made available to consumers according to a sequence of these contents planned according to the consultation schedule, namely mainly: the possibility of triggering the visualization, by means of a start / stop button; the possibility of navigating from service to service (or from chain to chain), or sequentially by the use of buttons of the following service type or previous service, or by references, through the use of 10 keys numbered 0 to 9. Other actions are generally available, but their object being to modify one of the attributes of the signal produced, the present invention does not affect the operating logic (audible or visualizable attributes, such as stronger, less strong, without sound, etc.). To these basic actions are added features specific to time navigation, which consumers already practice on other platforms, namely: the following keys, previous; and keys dedicated to changing the playback speed of the contents, back fast rewinding, or forward fast forward, or stopping or replaying the unwinding of the content pause / play.

  In the example shown in Figures 7a, 7b, a sequence of navigation actions in the various services offered is shown.

  FIG. 7a illustrates the sequence of the actions a to m, the time of their realization TO to T12, and the navigation between the services CHa, CHb and CHc, consequences of these actions.

  Figure 7b, taking the same time scale, represents blocks of the contents which are chained for each of the services CHa, CHb and CHc, and takes the notations a to m of the actions. The contents actually consumed (all or part), according to the sequence of actions given as examples, are reported by hatched areas 408.

  The scenario of the actions illustrated in FIGS. 7a and 7b is as follows: at TO, the consumer presses the start / stop button, accessing the service CHa (a); at T1, the consumer presses the next service button, accessing the service CHb (b); at T2, the consumer presses the previous service button, accessing the service CHa (c); at T3, the consumer presses the fast forward button and then releases it, while he consults the service CHa (d); at T4, the consumer presses the next button, while he consults the CHa (e) service; at T5, the consumer presses the next service button, accessing the service CHb (f); g (a), is an alternative hypothesis according to which the consumer presses the previous service button accessing the service CHa, at T6a; at T6b, the consumer presses the previous service button accessing the service CHa (g (b)); at T7, the consumer presses the next service button accessing the service CHb (h); at T8, the consumer presses the next service button accessing the service CHc (i); at T9, the consumer presses the previous button, while he consults the service Chc (j); at T1O, the consumer presses the previous button, while he consults the service CHc (k); I (a), is an alternative hypothesis according to which at T11a, the consumer presses the next service button accessing the service CHb; at T11b, the consumer presses the next service button accessing the service CHb (1 (b)); at T12, the consumer presses the start / stop button (m).

  The management of actions, conditioning the generation of the signal intended for consumers, is based on the storage of the last consultation parameters of each of the services for a configurable duration. In particular for each service, the temporal offset resulting from the time navigations in this service is stored, namely: on the time scale established by the sequence of programmed contents, the difference between the theoretical time corresponding to the consultation time and the time of the content actually accessed when leaving the service. At the end of the flow of the mentioned duration, this offset is considered as zero (reset). Respecting this logic, the scenario illustrated in 7a and 7b respects this process. A TO content playback is enabled at, and offers the corresponding content of CHa. At T1, the stored time offset is zero: there was no time navigation on the source service (CHa). The destination service is offered in turn b, this mechanism occurring during the action c. At T3, and T4 the consumer triggers actions of time navigation: by pressing fast forward (d) the reproduction of the content is preserved and is accelerated, by pressing according to (e) the reproduced content corresponds to the next programming time mark (f ) (it may or may not be related to a piece of content) As a result of the preceding actions, when the consumer again leaves the service CHa, the navigation method stores the accumulated time offset. Thus the actions modeled in Figure 7b for g (a) or g (b) illustrate two hypotheses of behavior, only differentiated by the duration of consultation of other contents before returning to the service CHa (in both cases the consumer simply pressed next service, ignoring everything of the process).

  g (a) is the assumption that the duration of consultation of other contents did not exceed the duration of storage of the parameters of CHa: in this hypothesis the action causes the taking into account of the stored shift (previously caused by actions d and e), plus the time elapsed between the two navigation actions f and g (a), in accordance with the normal management mode of the service-to-service navigation (this assumption is shown in dotted lines). The action g (b), taken into account in the illustrated effective navigation, assumes the storage duration of the expired CHa parameters, the memorized offset being canceled the navigation simply leads to reproducing a simple service service navigation g (b) . The navigation method therefore considers the concepts of source service and destination service in the service-to-service navigation, these navigations being conditioned by the storage of the state of the destination service (previously shifted in time or not). Actions h and i are service navigation actions at service without time offset. Actions j and k illustrate the backward navigation (displaying contents, all or part of which the programmed reproduction time is exceeded): by pressing previous to T9, the reproduced content corresponds to the previous programming time mark (this mark may to be related or not to the beginning of a content). By pressing a second time at T10, T10 - T9 being less than a configurable duration, it is the beginning of the content planned in the programming grid preceding that which is consulted at the time of the second action which is reproduced. In the following actions, the two hypotheses plotted I (a) and I (b) highlight that, in the service change from CHc to CHb, the destination service CHb has not been previously navigated in its temporal dimension, the displayed content simply respects the planned schedule or, to be more precise, the point of the content previously reproduced, incremented by the time elapsed between the last action causing the reproduction of this service (T8) to be abandoned and the action provoking again its reproduction (T11a or T11b). The action m, the reproduction of content being activated, stops any reproduction of content. Having not been reached, the notion of a navigation time window was not mentioned during the scenario, but it is one of the parameters managed during the time navigation in the services, making this navigation inactive to its limits.

  The exemplary embodiment of the system according to the invention, previously described, thus allows time navigation in a service offering readable content in audible form, viewable or mixing the two, of variable quality, subject to selection at the initiative of the service provider, and made available to consumers according to a sequence planned according to the schedule and the date of consultation, as well as adapted navigation within a plurality of these offered services, such as as television or subscription radio services.

  Of course, the invention is not limited to the embodiment described and shown in the accompanying drawings. Modifications are possible, particularly from the point of view of the constitution of the various devices, or by substitution of technical equivalents, without departing from the scope of protection of the invention.

Claims (1)

18 Claims   1. Time navigation system in audiovisual content previously selected by the provider of said content, implementing multimedia communication means that can use the communication networks currently available, such as the wired telephone network, cellular networks, networks Internet and Intranet, satellite or terrestrial communication networks, to enable consumers to choose audiovisual content previously selected by the supplier of said content, according to a sequence planned according to the schedule and the date of consultation of said consumers, and to perform a time navigation in a parameterizable time window of said selections, characterized by what it comprises: - means for collecting said audiovisual content and management data associated with said content, provided in advance or directly, - means for sending said audiovisual contents and management data collected, before the period of scheduled provision of said contents, or just in time for the live content, means for receiving and memorizing said audiovisual contents and management data means for restoring said audiovisual content previously selected by the provider of said content, according to a sequence scheduled according to the time and date of consultation of the consumers, - time navigation means in the aforementioned audiovisual content previously selected.   2. System according to claim 1, characterized in that the aforesaid means for collecting said audiovisual content and management data associated with said content, provided in advance or directly, comprise at least one traffic manager (116) associated with a manager. content (115), which is associated with a network controller (119) in connection with local area networks (108).   3. System according to claim 1, characterized in that the aforesaid means of sending said audiovisual content and management data collected, before the period of scheduled provision of said content, or just in time for the live content, include at least one management and interfacing controller (201) associated with a storage space (202) and a data flow management controller (203).   4. System according to claim 1, characterized in that the said means for receiving and storing said audiovisual contents and management data, comprise at least one main controller (309) associated with a storage space (308) by the intermediate of an analysis controller (305), which analysis controller (305) is connected to a signal controller (302), a decoding controller (303), a conditional access controller (304), and a recording controller (310).   5. System according to claim 1, characterized in that said means for restitution of said audiovisual content previously selected by the provider of said content, according to a sequence scheduled according to the time and date of consultation of consumers, include minus the aforesaid main controller (309), the aforesaid storage space (308), a remote control interface controller (318), a decoder management controller (314) and a display management controller (317).   6. System according to claim 1, characterized in that the aforesaid temporal navigation means in the aforesaid audiovisual content previously selected comprise at least: a remote control (400) comprising at least the following functionalities: start / stop, service next / previous service, - fast forwarding / fast rewinding, pause / reading, - display means (125), - means allowing graphic or sound elements associated with the 35 actions performed, - means for taking account of the offset time resulting from temporal browsing carried out by the consumer of said audiovisual contents, - means allowing the resumption of the planned sequences of said audiovisual contents at the end of temporal navigations carried out by the consumer between said audiovisual contents 7. System according to claim 3, characterized in that that the aforesaid management and interfacing controller (201) comprises at least one main controller (210), a local traffic controller (211) and a formatting controller (216), said local traffic controller (211), itself associated with the (s) management system (s). traffic (126) of the service provider (s), collects the information required for the outgoing flow generation management, including: the content scheduling grid (212), and the service management rules (213) , and ensures the referencing of all processed content by creating meta data, producing synchronous references (in the case of composite content formed from several contents), and asynchronous references (several episodes of A TV series).   8. System according to claim 3, characterized in that the aforesaid management and interfacing controller (201) comprises at least, associated with the formatting controller (216), a format controller (215), associated with a controller of transcoding (129) and receiving the contents as files, and an encoding controller (214) receiving the data sources corresponding to the contents as files.   9. System according to claim 4, characterized in that the aforesaid main controller (309) comprises at least one data management controller (311), a management rules controller (312) and an interaction controller (313). .   10. System according to claim 4, characterized in that the above analysis controller (305) comprises at least one content filtering controller (306) and a buffer zone manager (307).   The system of claim 5, characterized in that the aforesaid decoding management controller (314) comprises at least one buffer zone controller (315) and a decoder management controller (316).   12. System according to claim 2, characterized in that the aforesaid local networks (108) comprise at least archived cassettes accessible via storage robots (101), computer files available in storage spaces (102), contents routed by terrestrial (104), and / or satellite (108), and / or wired (106) radio networks, and / or contents created by direct capture on a platter (110), which contents are stored in storage means , (103), (107), (105), (109).