A United States Patent 11 01) Patent Number: 5,325,423 wis (45] Date of Patent: Jun. 28, Lewit Date of Patent: Jun. 28, 1994 184) INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA Se recesrons s ‘ The article “Multimedia: The Next Frontier For Busi- US) vento Seat W Lewis Sartogs Cait TRCAGHG Mune: Ts Nes on Da ee [73] Assignee: Multimedia Systems Corporation, 151-192, San Jose, Calf pes amir Cortex imary Examiner—Curtis Kuntz {21} Appl. Nox 975,824 ‘Assstant Examiner—iason Chan (22) Filed: Nov, 13,1992 “4Attorney, Agent. of Firm-Benman Collins & Sawyer (1) mas OAM 11/00; HOAN 7/00; 157] ABSTRACT THOAN 7/10, HON 7/14 4 system and device is provi 2) US.a., 39/90; 379/93; feretity of malin information aon 8 om se 348/12; 348/14 aunications network or in combination with other net- [58] Field of a 379/90, 93, 96, 98, works including telecommunication and cable broad- 399710, 38784 85,86, 90, ag, M3) SAT, Mine prem nls» plurality of mained is4 peterenes Cet s call processing system, an interactive call procesing US. PATENT DOCUMENTS system, and a plurality of interactive multimedia de- vices (IMDs). This system has the advantage of provid- ing compression and/or transmission algorithms 10 303. 5/1990 Brandon eta 358/143 : 3/1990 Brandon etal. 386/143. pgximize enhancement of the multimedia information. S/i981 Bal etal asec $7993. Graceyk ela wo 3887908 17 Claims, 10 Drawing Sheets 1 # a eo — 2— a [1 _ obs SSR ance» |" TT S“ernacsaneraron _}——— | mamenn | Sears | 1} ] ewory | ——3) Edna acs. | oEERESSEN Ns. 2 | Saar ee | | w verone,|£|_—_ | samen Lee, + tse seo i comin nF = | ay te | sh | remo5,325,423 Sheet 1 of 10 Tune 28, 1994 US. Patent | aYynol Lav Yord or WALLSAS UaAAISORY Meee mere YWAGNAS5,325,423 Sheet 2 of 10 June 28, 1994 USS. Patent +S suog Areppeny samog at MN IWINI- BIS Suyoysoyy BIPIUIIIRA, anew ant SdOW was 3 Buyssso03g [PD w TapeUNT aut " — ¢@ FUND ws 0g soupeg wesBorg5,325,423 Sheet 3 of 10 June 28, 1994 US. Patent € FAN Avidsid vor r x za xn ag Ko unsnve fe agoona fe SSIUENOD ssauawooga a | JF a a 7 BLL ot ol vl XuvaNOoaS HOLVEINID “BOON UINSNVIL e—] SQOONT fe] SSRINOS. epg —] OLMEVERE DON 901 sor 7 zl vol5,325,423 US, Patent NOLLVuvdas THON WVvuoOudJune 28, 1994 Sheet 5 of 10 5,325,423 U.S, Patent $ AWN NIGOD AA YOLVYANAD NOISSaUdWOD ONIGOD ADA YOLVuWdaS YOLVYENAD NOISSHYdNOD- ‘TagcOn, Wwudo0udUS. Patent Tune 28, 1994 Sheet 6 of 10 5,325,423 300 > moa co O° 302 ° O° O° FIGURE 6 HEADER HEADER IMAGE FILE MIDI FILE FIGURE 7a FIGURE 7bTune 28, 1994 Sheet 7 of 10 5,325,423 U.S. Patent ‘wi apou quoy) Z 2pou quay 90S 90S & 9poN, saang y0s 8 FYNOL aos! ja? EA mapou way [<—> 906, a 9pou wat}, ke, 2 905 Ms | siog le? 7 Zepou ray /K—> 905} Zepouwayy kK—> {90S RY aoe x 7 J 1 pours [ES ogc! vepouwany ES 2 905 hy I | Hog Z PON 1 2pON sparag maaag vs 0s 2PON REY JSNUSHLa UE5,325,423 Sheet 8 of 10 June 28, 1994 U.S, PatentU.S. Patent Tune 28, 1994 Sheet 9 of 10 5,325,423 540 52B Cc y ‘TELEPHONE >) ND PRINTER FIGURE 10 501 540 52C J ‘TELEPHONE >) MD FACSIMILE FIGURE 11 700 53 540 52D 5 5 a TELEPHONE [>| a || Tv | L FACSIMILE 700 FIGURE 12U.S. Patent Sune 28, 1994 Sheet 10 of 10 5,325,423 FIGURE 135,325,423 1 INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA ‘(COMMUNICATION SYSTEM FIELD OF THE INVENTION ‘The present invention relates to a method and system for the production, transmission and reception of multi- ‘media information over a communication network and ‘more particularly to the production, transmission and reception of multimedia information with enhanced interactivity over such a network. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Multimedia information can be transmitted in a vari- ety of applications over a network. What is meant by ‘multimedia information is information that has several parameters which can be enhanced or diminished de- pending upon the importance ofthe particular informa- tion being conveyed. For example, in a video environ- ment there may be foreground and background infor- tation that isto be provided toa screen. The screen can typically be a video sereen or a computer screen. The most common example of that type of system is an interactive vdeo system such as sen on cable television networks (ie, QVC or Home Shopping Network). ‘These types of systems allow fora viewer to Took atthe screen and pick the type of product that he/she may ‘want based on reviewing the information on the screen and then calling a particular telephone number to pur- chase the product. Multimedia information can also be audio informa- in which news, weather, music and like could be ‘transmitted with the use of background information such as white noise, background music or other infor- ‘ation to complete the transmission. Multimedia infor. ation can aso be a combination of graphics, video and ‘music in an entertainment form such as Karaoke. As has ‘been above mentioned, there are interactive systems presently available that allow for individuals to access Certain video, audio and graphics information on a net~ work. All presently known systems have the problem of requiring a significant amount of bandwidth to allow for the quality transmission of the multimedia informa- tion. Ttis known that multimedia information can require a significant amount of bandwidth, In the case of video information as much as 30 MB/sec. bandwidth is re- quired to send a quality video image along a transmis- sion path. In the case of audio information, as much as 10 MB/sec. bandwidth is required to allow for high ‘quality audio signal to be produced accurately. ‘What is meant by limited bandwidth can be viewed in two different ways. One way is to view the total avail- able bandwidth at any instant in time. Another way of Seciding what the particular bandwidth requirement is by determining the bandwidth tha is available over a specified time period. ‘The available bandwidth therefor can be limited in ‘wo ways; first, the overall bandwidth ofthe network is, limited such asin telephone networks where the band- ‘width is approximately ten (10) klohertz. However in ‘this example, the available bandwidth over a specified period of time could be very high because a particular {telephone set is not utilized constantly. On the other hand, in looking at a large bandwidth network such a8 cable television, although the band- ‘Width is significant, most of the avaiable bandwidth is utilized for providing the network signals. Im such an 20 “0 4“ 58 © 6 2 example, the available bandwidth over a specified per fod of time might be much less than the above-men- tioned telephone system, Telephone networks have traditionally been used 10 transmit data or voice information. There are telephone sets that can also transmit video information over tele- phone lines, For example, American Telephone & Tele- graph (AT&T) has introduced a phone called the Vid- cophone which can transmit video images across the telephone network. Itis becoming readily apparent that the telephone networks can be used for interactive ml- timedia information also. However, as has been men- tioned above a typical telephone network has a limited ‘bandwidth to transmit certain information. Particularly ‘when attempting to transmit video information which right require significant bandwidth the telephone lines are inadequate to provide quick transmission of a high ‘quality video image. In addition, in such systems the communication net- work, such as a telephone network itself, will not pro- Vide the enhancement capabilities required to provide the psychographic information that will enhance in- teractivty. Finally, in a typical telephone network ‘any of the technologies required for sucha system has not entered the home. For example, although there are many known video enhancing capabilities, audio en- hhancing, printing, telephone call processing, control systems, and the lke in commercial use, those tech- niques are not typically part of the home environment. Hence, what is needed is an interactive multimedia system that provides high quality information over a telephone network. What is also required is a system that will allow for the production, transmission, and reception of interactive multimedia information that includes enhanced interactivity. What is also needed is a device that can be utilized within the home that can receive and transmit enhanced multimedia information and control a number of other devices for useful pur- poses It is important that such a device be inexpensive to install in the home environment. Furthermore, it is important tha the interactive multimedia device be one that when installed does not require the modification of the existing network. ‘The present invention provides such a system and device to be utilized in conjunction with « communica- tion network such as a telephone network or the like. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION ‘An interactive multimedia communication system is disclosed that can be utilized with a telephone network, a similar switched network or in combination with a broadcast network such as satellite or cable. The interactive multimedia communication system comprises interactive multimedia mastering system ‘means for receiving program materials from a program source; multimedia call processing system responsive to interactive multimedia mastering system program mate- rials for providing information; means interactively responsive to the interactive multimedia mastering sys- tem means and the multimedia call processing system for controlling the flow of multimedia information 10 the multimedia call processing system; and a plurality of interactive multimedia devices for receiving and trans- mitting multimedia information to and from the multi- ‘media call processing system.