WO2009038366A1

WO2009038366A1 - Station and method for internet broadcasting interaction type-content and record media recoded program realizing the same

Info

Publication number: WO2009038366A1
Application number: PCT/KR2008/005520
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hyeon-Su Lee; Sang-Ho Lee; Ghi-Beom Kim; Sung-Yun Kim; Kew-Jin Paik; Yong-Soo Eun
Original assignee: On Game Network Inc.
Priority date: 2007-09-18
Filing date: 2008-09-18
Publication date: 2009-03-26
Also published as: KR100874024B1

Abstract

A method of broadcasting an interactive content to a client via a communication network that is performed by a broadcasting station is disclosed. The method in accordance with the present invention includes: (a) receiving content summary information corresponding to the interactive content from each of a plurality of ICUE (Interactive Content User Equipment); (b) receiving commentary information on the interactive content; (c) receiving a selection signal that selects content summary information corresponding to the commentary information; (d) receiving a full content information corresponding to the selected content summary information from the ICEU which has transmitted the selected content summary information; and (e) receiving broadcasting information, which has combined the commentary information and the full content information, to the client via the communication network.

Description

[Description] [Invention Title]

STATION AND METHOD FOR INTERNET BROADCASTING INTERACTION TYPE-CONTENT AND RECORD MEDIA RECODED PROGRAM REALIZING THE SAME

[Technical Field]

The present invention is related to a broadcasting station and a method of broadcasting, more specifically to a broadcasting station and a method of broadcasting by selectively receiving full content information and broadcasting broadcasting information including the full content information and commentary information.

[Background Art]

Recently, the development of network environment and various kinds of contents has allowed individual persons to enjoy game, watch sport events and movies using a mobile phone, a PDA and so on. For one person to enjoy these contents, the conventional network structure, which consists of servers and clients, could simply increase the bandwidth and develop good quality contents to provide satisfactory service. However, there exist interactive contents in which more than one user participate. For example, a fighting game such as an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Role Playing Game), an internet game or a console game can be the interactive content. An interactive property of a fighting game or a sport game creates a new area of sports, called "e-sports," which has become a new business model. To keep an e-sports business successful, "watching the game," which is an essential element of sport, should be possible. However, the conventional system only has broadcast the game image on a few computers in same and limited space, image recording game players and commentary image that are switching in a predetermined order. This kind of conventional method was merely benchmarked from a general sports broadcasting method, in which the broadcaster has recorded a baseball, soccer game or a commentator and edited those images and transmitted them via a television network.

For these reasons, the unique property of the e-sports, in which the sport can be played back without limitation of time, space and number of players, could not have been used. Even though the game is played on equipment that is able to transmit data, the property of allowing clients to watch the game on their own terminal via an IP network if the game data is transmitted to their terminal is not used.

This is because a bandwidth of the IP network could not afford to receive, edit or transmit all of game playing images, player recording images, audio sounds and commentary information to the client in real time despite a conventional development of IP network environment.

[Disclosure] [Technical Problem] Contrived to solve the aforementioned problems, the present invention provides a decreased requirement bandwidth by receiving only a content summary information from a plurality of user equipment, selecting a part of them and receiving a full content information and providing broadcasting information to a client.

Additional aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent through some embodiments described below.

[Technical Solution]

An aspect of the present invention features a method of broadcasting an interactive content. An embodiment of the present invention provides a method of broadcasting an interactive content to a client via a communication network. The method, which is performed by a broadcasting station, can include: (a) receiving content summary information corresponding to the interactive content from each of a plurality of ICUE (Interactive Content User Equipment); (b) receiving commentary information on the interactive content; (c) receiving a selection signal selecting content summary information corresponding to the commentary information; (d) receiving full content information corresponding to the content summary information from the ICEU that has transmitted the selected content summary information; and (e) transmitting broadcasting information to client via the communication network, the broadcasting information having combined the commentary information and the full content information. The interactive content can be a game content.

The full content information can include at least one from the group consisting of an image displayed on the ICUE and an image having recorded a user by the ICUE, and the content summary information can include at least one from the group consisting of an image having reduced the displayed image and an image having reduced the recoded image.

The content summary information can be a reduced image of the displayed image or the recorded image by use of at least one from the group consisting of a sub- sampling method, an averaging value filter method and an intermediate filter method. The full content information can include at least one from the group consisting of an audio sound being played back on the ICUE and an audio sound having recorded the voice of the ICUE user, and the content summary information can include an audio sound having summarized at least one from the group consisting of the played-back audio sound and the recorded audio sound. The content summary information can be a digital audio sound converted by a Vocoding method from the audio sound being played back or the audio sound having recorded the voice.

The content summary information can include a time stamp, and the method of broadcasting the interactive content can also include, after the step of (a), synchronizing the content summary information by using the time stamp.

The commentary information can include ICUE information, and the step of (c) can receive the selection signal using the ICUE information.

The step of (e) can transmit the commentary information and the full content information to the client through a streaming server located in the communication network.

Another aspect of the present invention features a method of transmitting content information.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a method of transmitting content information from ICUE (Interactive Content User Equipment) to a broadcasting station broadcasting an interactive content to a client. The method can include: (a) producing content summary information corresponding to the interactive content; (b) transmitting the content summary information to the broadcasting station; (c) receiving a selection signal from the broadcasting station; and (d) receiving full content information corresponding to the content summary information in accordance with the selection signal. The full content information can be transmitted from the broadcasting station to the client together with commentary information on the interactive content.

The full content information can include at least one from the group consisting of an image displayed on the ICUE and an image having recoded a user by the ICUE, and the content summary information can include at least one from the group consisting of an image having reduced the displayed image and an image having reduced the recorded image.

The step of (a) can also include reducing the displayed image or the recorded image by using at least one from the group consisting of a sub-sampling method, an averaging value filter method and an intermediate filter method.

The full content information can include at least one from the group consisting of an audio sound being played back on the ICUE and an audio sound having recorded a user of the ICUE, and the content summary information can include having summarized at least one from the group consisting of the played-back audio sound and the recorded audio sound.

The content summary information can be a digital audio sound converted by a Vocoding method from the audio sound being playing back or the audio sound having recorded the voice.

Another aspect of the present invention features a broadcasting station. An embodiment of the present invention provides a broadcasting station for broadcasting an interactive content to a client via a communication network, which includes: a receiving part, receiving content summary information corresponding to the interactive content from ICUE(Interactive Content User Equipment); a commentary infoπnation input part, receiving commentary information on the interactive content; a selecting part, selecting the content summary information by being inputted with a selection signal of the content summary information corresponding to the commentary information; a broadcasting information producing part, producing broadcasting information by combining the commentary information with full content information transmitted from the ICUE; and a transmission part, transmitting the broadcasting information to the client.

The broadcasting station can also include: a display part, playing back an image signal; and a decoder, decoding and inputting in the display part the content summary information or the full content information.

Another aspect of the present invention features ICUE.

The ICUE (Interactive Content User Equipment) in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention can include: a content summary information producing part, producing summary content information corresponding to an interactive type content; and a transmission controller, transmitting the content summary information to an interactive type content broadcasting station. The transmission controller can transmit full content information corresponding to the interactive type content to the broadcasting station if a selection signal is received from the broadcasting station. The content summary information producing part can include at least one from the group consisting of: an image reduction part, producing a reduced image by reducing an image displayed on the ICUE or an image having recorded a user of the ICUE; and an audio summarization part, producing a summarized audio sound by summarizing an audio sound played back on the ICUE or an audio sound having recorded the user of the ICUE.

The image reduction part can reduce the displayed image or the recorded image by using at least one from the group consisting of a sub-sampling method, an averaging value filter method and an intermediate filter method, and the audio summarization part can summarize the audio sound being played back or the audio sound having recorded the voice by using a Vocoding method.

Another aspect of the present invention features a recorded medium. The recorded medium in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention tangibly embodies a program of instructions executable by a broadcasting station to execute a method of broadcasting an interactive content to a client via a communication network. The method performed by a broadcasting station can include: (a) receiving content summary information corresponding to the interactive content from each of a plurality of ICUE (Interactive Content User Equipment); (b) receiving commentary information on the interactive content; (c) receiving a selection signal selecting content summary information corresponding to the commentary information; (d) receiving full content information corresponding to the content summary information from the ICUE having transmitted the selected content summary information; and (e) transmitting broadcasting information to the client via the communication network, the broadcasting information having combined the commentary information and the full content information. The interactive type content can be a game content.

The content summary information can be a reduced image of the displayed image or the recorded image by use of at least one from the group consisting of a sub- sampling method, an averaging value filter method and an intermediate filter method. The full content information can include at least one from the group consisting of an audio sound being played back on the ICUE and an audio sound having recorded the voice of the ICUE user, and the content summary information can include an audio sound having summarized at least one from the group consisting of the played-back audio sound and the recorded audio sound.

The content summary information can be a digital audio sound converted by a Vocoding method from the audio sound being played back or the audio sound having recorded the voice.

The recorded medium in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention tangibly embodies a program of instructions executable by ICUE to execute a method of transmitting content information to a broadcasting station broadcasting an interactive content to a client. The method can include: (a) producing content summary information corresponding to the interactive content; (b) transmitting the content summary information to the broadcasting station; (c) receiving a selection signal from the broadcasting station; and (d) receiving full content information corresponding to the content summary information. The full content information can be transmitted from the broadcasting station to the client together with commentary information.

The full content information can include at least one from the group consisting of an audio sound being played back on the ICUE and an audio sound having recorded the voice of the ICUE user, and the content summary information can include an audio sound having summarized at least one from the group consisting of the played-back audio sound and the recorded audio sound.

The content summary information can be a digital audio sound converted by a Vocoding method from the audio sound being played back or the audio sound having recorded the voice. The content summary information can include a time stamp, and the method of broadcasting the interactive content can also include, after the step of (a), synchronizing the content summary information by using the time stamp.

[Description of Drawings]

Fig. 1 illustrates a structure of a communication network for broadcasting an interactive type content in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a procedure of the method of broadcasting the interactive type content according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 3 illustrates the internal structure of an ICUE according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 illustrates the relation of a pixel image extracted from a display image extraction part and an image reduced by an image reduction part.

Fig. 5 illustrates the structure of a broadcasting station according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6 illustrates a display part of a broadcasting station according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Mode for Invention] Since there can be a variety of permutations and embodiments of the present invention, specific embodiments will be illustrated and described with reference to the accompanying drawings. This, however, is by no means to restrict the present invention to specific embodiments, and shall be construed as including all permutations, equivalents and substitutes covered by the spirit and scope of the present invention. In describing drawings, similar elements use similar figure number.

Terms such as "first" and "second" can be used in describing various elements, but the above elements shall not be restricted to the above terms. The above terms are used only to distinguish one element from the other. For instance, the first element can be named the second element, and vice versa, without departing the scope of claims of the present invention. The term "and/or" shall include the combination of a plurality of listed items or any of the plurality of listed items.

When one element is described as being "connected" or "accessed" to another element, it shall be construed as being connected or accessed to the other element directly but also as possibly having another element in between. On the other hand, if one element is described as being "directly connected" or "directly accessed" to another element, it shall be construed that there is no other element in between.

The terms used in the description are intended to describe certain embodiments only, and shall by no means restrict the present invention. Unless clearly stated otherwise, expressions in the singular include the plural meaning. In the present description, an expression such as "including", "comprising" or "having" is intended to designate a characteristic, a number, a step, an operation, an element, a part or combinations thereof, and shall not be construed to preclude any presence or possibility of one or more other characteristics, numbers, steps, operations, elements, parts or combinations thereof. Unless otherwise defined specifically, all teπns, including technical terms and scientific terms, used herein have the same meaning as how they are generally understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the invention pertains. Any term that is defined in a general dictionary shall be construed to have the same meaning in the context of the relevant art, and, unless otherwise defined explicitly, shall not be interpreted to have an idealistic or excessively formalistic meaning.

Hereinafter, certain embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Identical or corresponding elements will be given the same reference numerals, regardless of the figure number, and any redundant description of the identical or corresponding elements will not be repeated.

Fig. 1 illustrates a structure of a communication network for broadcasting an interactive type content in accordance with the present invention.

Referring to Fig. 1 , a network comprises a plurality of ICUE (Interaction type

Content User Equipment) 11 Oa, HOb, HOc, 11 Od, ...and 11 On, a broadcasting station 160, a streaming server 170 and a plurality of clients 180a, 180b,... and 180n. The interactive type content, which the broadcasting station in accordance with the present invention broadcasts, means content in which a plurality of user can participate, such as a strategy simulation game, on-line soccer game, which are played in real time in response to signals inputted by a plurality of users. The ICUE HOa, HOb, 110c, 11 Od,... and 11 On in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention can have an application that plays the interactive type content and transmits a content summary information to the broadcasting station 160, receive a selection signal from the broadcasting station 160 and transmit a full content information to the broadcasting station 160. The reason why the content summary information is transmitted first before the full content information is transmitted is to prevent any transmission delay or errpr due to the limitation of communication network bandwidth. The ICUE HOa, 110b, HOc, 11 Od,..., and HOn in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention is a digital device, such as a PC (Personal Computer), a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), and a mobile phone. In case that the interactive type content is a game content, ICUE 110a, 110b, 11 Oc, 11 Od, ... and 11 On can be game playing equipment of a game player.

The ICUE 110a, 110b, 110c, 11 Od,..., and 11 On in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention can transmit the image and audio sound to another point in a communication network. When an application captures a displayed image on a display part of the ICUE and records audio sound on a speaker of the ICUE, the digital signal comprising image or sound can be transmitted to another point in the communication network. Therefore, the content information being played on the ICUE HOa, HOb, 110c, 11 Od,..., and 11 On also can be transmitted to another point in the communication network such as the broadcasting station 160. However, the ICUE HOa, 110b, HOc, 11 Od,..., and 11 On in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention transmits only the content summary information, in which the image or audio sound of an interactive type content is reduced or summarized, to the broadcasting station 160, at first. The ICUE 110a, 110b, 110c, HOd,..., and 11 On has an application, which can reduce or summarize the image or audio sound, and the function of the application will be described in detail with reference to Fig. 3.

Therefore, the ICUE HOa, 110b, 110c, HOd,..., and 11 On in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention transmits the content summary information to the broadcasting station 160 and, after receiving the selection signal from the broadcasting station 160, transmits the full content information so that the bandwidth of the communication network can be utilized effectively.

The ICUE 110a, 110b, 110c, 11 Od,..., and 11 On in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention can include a PC camera or be connected to a separate camera. Therefore, a users image of the ICUE 110a, 110b, 110c, 11 Od,..., and 11 On can be recorded by the camera. Also, in case that a sound recorder is connected to the ICUE 110a, 110b, 110c, 11 Od,..., and 11 On, the user's voice can be recored. The recorded image or sound by the aforementioned camera or sound recorder can be stored as digital data in a storing part (memory) of the ICUE, and, like the image or sound of the interactive type content, can be transmitted to another point in the communication network, such the as broadcasting station 160. Also, the image or sound by the aforementioned camera or sound recorder can be reduced or summarized by an image reduction part or sound summarizing part, and the summarized information can be transmitted to the broadcasting station 160 at first. After that, in response to the selection signal, a full image or sound by the aforementioned camera or sound recorder can be transmitted to the broadcasting station 160.

The broadcasting station 160 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention broadcasts the interactive type content being played among the ICUE HOa, HOb, 110c, 11 Od,..., and 11 On to the client 180a, 180b,..., and 180n. Therefore, the client 180a, 180b,..., and 180n can watch the played interactive type content without participating in the playing of the interactive type content. When the broadcasting station 160 receives the full content image containing the user's recorded image and voice from the ICUE 110a, HOb, 110c, 11 Od,..., and 11 On, transmission delay can occur because of the limitation of bandwidth in the communication network such as an IP network. Therefore, the broadcasting station 160 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention receives the content summary information only, not the full content information, from the ICUE HOa, HOb, HOc, HOd,..., and 11 On, so as for a commentator to recognize the playing of the interactive type content.

Since the commentator who comments on the interactive type content through the broadcasting station 160 is not the client 180a, 180b,..., and 180n, the commentator does not need to watch a high quality image, and the content summary information is enough for the commentator to comment on the interactive type content. The broadcasting station 160 can select certain content summary information transmitted from a certain ICUE in accordance with the commentator's commentary information. Selection can be made by a signal input from a pointer, connected to the broadcasting station 160, used by the commentator. Also, the broadcasting station manager can input the signal in accordance with the comments, and the content summary information can be selected. The broadcasting station 160 makes a request to transmit the full content information to the ICUE, which transmits the selected content summary information. For example, if the commentator comments, "Player at ICUE 1 is using plan A", the broadcasting station manger can input the signal that identifies the content summary information from ICUE 1 110a, and then the broadcasting station 160 sends the selection signal to ICUE 1 110a requesting to transmit the full content information.

The broadcasting station 160, which receives selectively the full content information from ICUE 1 110a in response to the selection signal can transmit the full content information, can transmit high quality image and sound to the clients 180a, 180b,..., and 180n, so that high quality broadcasting service is possible. In this case, the broadcasting station 160 transmits broadcasting information including the full content information and the commentary information. The streaming server 170 relays the broadcasting information from the broadcasting station 160 to the clients 180a, 180b,..., and 180n through RTP (Real time Transport Protocol)/RTCP (Real time Transportation Control Protocol). However, the broadcasting station 160 can transmit the broadcasting information directly to the clients 180a, 180b,..., and 180n if the broadcasting station 160 can make RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol) SETUP with the clients 180a, 180b,..., and 180n.

The client 180 can be a digital apparatus, such as a PC, a PDA, a mobile phone, which receives the broadcasting information directly from the broadcasting station 160 or from the streaming server 170. The client program can be installed in the client 180 and request the broadcasting station 160 or the streaming server 170 to send the broadcasting information.

A player, which is a kind of application playing the received moving image and sound, has to be installed in the client 180, and the player can make a request to transmit the broadcasting information through RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol) when the streaming server 170 transmits the broadcasting information. Compared to the method of broadcasting the interactive type content in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the conventional broadcasting method makes an intranet connection between the ICUE HOa, HOb,..., and 11 On and a separate ICUE for observing, and constructs the image and broadcasts it via a TV network, using the separate ICUE for observing. However, the conventional broadcasting method is not suitable for the interactive type content broadcasting because the ICUE 110a, 110b, 110c, 11 Od,..., and 11 On are connected not via the Intranet but via the Internet. Therefore, it is rare that every ICUE 110a, 110b, 110c, 11 Od,..., and 11 On is closely located, and in fact, it is nearly impossible to place the TV broadcasting equipment at every ICUE HOa, 110b, 11 Oc, 11 Od, ... , and 11 On, which is separated far from each other.

Therefore, it is necessary that the interactive type content broadcasting is through a communication network such as the IP network, and the broadcasting stations can simultaneously comment and broadcast the interactive type content, which is played by the ICUE 110a, 110b, 110c, 11 Od,..., and 11 On, which is separated far from each other. Also, for the function of selecting a certain image and sound, the broadcasting station 160 must receive every image and sound from each ICUE 110a, 110b, 110c, 11 Od,..., and 11 On all the time. However, it is not suitable for the present network environment that the broadcasting station 160 receives every image and sound from each ICUE 110a, 11 Ob, 11 Oc, 11 Od, ..., and 11 On all the time. In accordance with the broadcasting method and apparatus of the present invention, the broadcasting station 160 does not need to receive every image and sound from each ICUE HOa, HOb, 110c, 11 Od,..., and 11 On all the time. The broadcasting station 160, at first, only receives the content summary information, which is reduced or summarized by the image reduction part or the audio summarization part in every ICUE 110a, 110b, HOc, 11 Od,..., and 11 On. From this situation, the commentator can recognize the playing of the interactive type content without any transmission delay, and the broadcasting station 160 requests only one or a few ICUEs to transmit the full content information to the broadcasting station 160.

Therefore, the broadcasting station 160 can transmit the high quality, full content information to the clients 180a, 180b,..., and 180n.

Fig. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the procedure of the method of broadcasting the interactive type content according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to Fig. 2, ICUEl 110a and ICUE2 110b are using the same interactive type content and chatting with each other, and the interactive type content can be a strategic simulation game.

ICUEl 110a and ICUE2 110b are connected via the Internet, and the game, which reflects each strategy, is played. In Fig. 2, only ICUEl 110a and ICUE2 110b are playing the interactive type content, which can be a game content, but this situation is for description of an embodiment of the present invention, and it shall be evident that other ICUEs can participate in the interactive type content.

As mentioned above, the method according to the present invention broadcasts the interactive type content being played between ICUEl 110a and ICUE2 HOb, and the broadcasting station 160 should receive and comment on the image and sound of ICUEl 11 Oa and ICUE2 110b.

In this case, since receiving the content summary information from both ICUEl HOa and ICUE2 HOb can be a problem for the bandwidth of the network, ICUEl 110a and ICUE2 110b according to the present invention produce and transmit the content summary information in steps S210 and S211. The content summary information is sized-down data of the full content information, which is being played on ICUEl 110a and ICUE2 110b, and is not provided for the client. The content summary information is summarized just for the commentator's recognition and comments.

Through the content summary information, the broadcasting station 160 can recognize the progress of the content on ICUEl 110a and ICUE2 HOb. For example, in order for the commentator at the broadcasting station 160 to comment "ICUE 2 is using plan A", the content summary information received from ICUE 2 110b is enough.

Therefore, in step S220, the broadcasting station 160 can produce the commentary information by recording the commentator's voice and image. However, the commentary information can be produced not only by the broadcasting station 160 but also by the commentator's own PC when the broadcasting station 160 transmits the content summary information to the commentator's own PC, PC camera and voice recorder.

If the commentator says "ICUE 2 is using plan A", the broadcasting station 160 selects the content summary information from ICUE2 HOb in step S230. In this case, the commentator inputs a signal identifying the content summary information from

ICUE 2 11 Ob using a pointer, such as a mouse device, so that the broadcasting station

160 can select the content summary information.

In step S240, the broadcasting station 160 requests the ICUE 2 HOb to transmit the full content information to the broadcasting station 160.

In step S250, ICUE 2 HOb, which is requested to transmits the full content information, transmits the full content information to the broadcasting station 160. The full content information can include the interactive type content itself and/or the user's recoding information. The broadcasting station 160 can combine the full content information and the commentary information, in step S260.

The full content information and the commentary information can be combined by the method of inserting the commentary information into a part of the full content information. The combined information of the full content information and the commentary information is the broadcasting information, which is provided to the client. Therefore, the broadcasting station 160 transmits the broadcasting information to the client 180a in step S270.

The client 180a can play back the broadcasting information including the full content information and the commentary information. In accordance with the aforementioned example, as the complete image and sound of the interactive type content are played back on ICUE 2 HOb, the client 180a can play back the commentary information including the commentator's statement of "ICUE 2 is using plan A" simultaneously. Although Fig. 2 has illustrated that the broadcasting station 160 has a function of a server and transmits the broadcasting information directly to the client 180a, it shall be evident that the broadcasting station 160 can transmit the broadcasting information to the client 180 via a streaming server or content server.

In this case, the broadcasting station 160 and the streaming server can be connected to a high speed data line using dedicated lines or fiber-optic cables.

Fig. 3 illustrates the internal structure of the ICUE according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As mentioned above, ICUE HOa is a digital device such as a PC, a PDA or a mobile phone. Therefore, a part of elements described in Fig. 3 can be an element of the digital apparatus, and a program, which has a function of the ICUE according to an embodiment of the present invention, can be also installed in the digital apparatus.

Referring to Fig. 3, ICUE HOa includes a display part 300, a display image extraction part 310, a camera module 315, a bufferl 320, an image reduction part 325, an audio playing part 330, an audio recorder 335, a buffer2 340, an audio summarization part 345, a transmission controller 360 and a timer 370.

ICUE HOa can be a PC, a PDA or a mobile phone and can be connected to a peripheral device, such s a keyboard and/or a mouse, and can further have a memory, a power supply and the like, which are not described in Fig 3. On the display part 300, the interactive type content is displayed. In the case of a strategic simulation game, reflected on the interactive type content can be not only an input from ICUEl 110a but also an input from ICUE2 110a connected to ICUEl 110a.

However, the displayed interactive type content is usually different between ICUEl 110a and ICUE2 110b because the point of view of the interactive type content of the strategic simulation game can be different when ICUEl 110a and ICUE2 110b are enemy sides of each other.

Therefore, the displayed interactive type content image can be its own image of ICUEl 110a. The displayed interactive type content image on the display part 300 is captured by the display image extraction part 310. The display image extraction part 310 intercepts the signal from the controller to the display part 300 and duplicates the signal for extracting.

As mentioned above, the information extracted by the display image extraction part 310 and the image recorded by the camera module 315 are provided to the image reduction part 325, which uses a sub-sampling method, an averaging value filter method or an intermediate filter method to reduce the size of the full content image. Referring to

Fig. 4, the relation of the 720 x 480 pixel image 400 extracted from the display image extraction part 310 and the 120 x 80 410 pixel image reduced by the image reduction part 325 are illustrated. Therefore, the image 400 that has 345,600 pixels per frame is converted to the image 400, which has 10,800 pixels per frame, so that the data size can be 1/36 times of the full content image.

The sub-sampling method, which is used to reduce the image size, repeats

"skip and take" by the reduction rate. In the case of the aforementioned example, the image is reduced to 1/6 times horizontally and 1/6 times vertically, and the sub- sampling method takes every sixth pixel row and every sixth pixel column so that the image is reduced to 1/36 times.

Also, the averaging value filter method, which is one of the methods for reducing image, groups 36 pixels to one group and filters them by taking an average pixel value of 36 pixels. According to the averaging value filter method, just one pixel out of 36 pixels is filtered so that the image is reduced by 1/36 times. The extracted information by the display image extraction part 310 and the recorded image by the camera module 315 are reduced by the above methods for reducing the image and temporarily stored in the bufferl 320. The full content information is stored standing by in the buffer 1 320 before receiving the selection signal from the broadcasting station 160. The audio playing part 330 has a function of playing sound effects of music of the interactive type content being played by ICUE 1 110a. For example, in the case of the strategic simulation game, narration of the strategy and sound effects, such as a movement effect sound of soldier characters and a roar of the soldier characters, are played back by the audio playing part 330. The audio playing part 330 inputs the sound effects or execution sounds into the audio summarization part 345. Also, the audio recorder 335 records the user's voice and sends it to the audio summarization part 345.

The audio summarization part 345 in ICUE 1 HOa according to an embodiment of the present invention is a kind of A/D converter, which converts the analog audio signal to the digital audio information, and samples the analog audio signal with a sampling rate of at least 8Khz and a quantization level of 8 bits. The fundamental frequency of a human voice is 4Khz, and therefore in accordance with Nyquist's Theorem, any voice recorded in the sampling rate of 8Khz or above can be restored to the original voice. In this case, the required transmission bandwidth is 64Kbps.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, the audio summarization part 345 summarizes or compresses and transmits the data converted by a PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) method by using a vocoding (voice coding) method. In accordance with the vocoding method, which finds the essential parameter included in the voice, the natural frequency of the vocal cords can be filtered and played back by the filtered parameter so that transmission bandwidth of between 8Kbps and 16Kbps is needed. This reduces the required bandwidth for data transmission to 1/88.2 times, compared to the CD quality bandwidth of 1411.2Kbps. In the case of CD quality bandwidth, which is 14411.2Kbps, it needs the sampling rate of 44.1 Khz and the quantization level of 16 bits.

As mentioned above, the image reduced by the image reduction part 325 is reduced to 1/32 times, and the voice summarized by the audio summarization part 345 is summarized to 1/88.2 times, compared to the CD quality, and thus the size of the data becomes tremendously smaller. Therefore, the bandwidth of the communication network is not a problem for receiving every content summary information from the ICUE HOa, HOb,..., and 11 On. Also, although the content summary information is not suitable for the client 180 to composite the display image, it is enough for the broadcasting station 160 to recognize the process of the interactive type content and produce the commentary information. For the commentator, the image reduced to 1/32 times and the sound summarized to 1/88.3 times are not a problem for making comments on what plan is used by a particular ICUE and the interactive type content. Therefore, the transmission controller 360 transmits the reduced image and summarized audio sound to the broadcasting station 160. Also, for synchronizing the reduced image and the summarized audio sound, the timer inserts a time stamp into the image and audio. Therefore, the broadcasting station 160 receives the reduced image and the summarized audio sound and synchronizes them with the content summary information from other ICUE.

However, the transmission controller 360 transmits the full content information stored in the buffer 1 320 and buffer 2 340 when receiving the selection signal from the broadcasting station 160. This is because the content summary information selected by the broadcasting station 160 is not suitable for the client. The selection signal will be later described with reference to Fig 5.

Fig. 5 illustrates a structure of the broadcasting station according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to Fig. 5, the broadcasting station 160 includes a display part 500, a receiving part 510, a selection signal transmission part 520, a controller 530, a synchronizing part 535, a content summary information decoder 540, a full content information decoder 550, a selecting part 560, a content and commentary information combiner 570, a commentary information input part 580 and a transmission part 590.

The receiving part 510 receives the content summary information or full content information from the ICUE and hands it over to the controller. However, the full content information is received only from an ICUE that transmits the content summary information selected by the broadcasting station 160. The handling of the full content information will be described later. From the plurality of ICUEs, the broadcasting station 160 receives the content summary information, and each of the content summary information is inputted into the synchronizing part 535 for synchronization. Each of the content summary information can be synchronized by the inserted time stamp.

Each of the synchronized content summary information is inputted into the content summary information decoder 540 and is decoded and displayed on the display part 500. Therefore, on the display part 500, each of the content summary information from the plurality of ICUEs is displayed. Referring to Fig. 6, in the left upper side of the display part 500, the reduced images 600, 601,..., and 605 are arranged. The number of the reduced images of 6 can mean 6 of the ICUEs are participating in the interactive type content, such as an internet game, which can be a 3-against-3 strategic simulation game. Therefore, the commentator watching the display part 500 of the broadcasting station 160 can recognize the process of the interactive type content and input the comment with the commentary information input part 580. The commentary information can be an image of the commentator recorded by the camera, which is connected to or included in the broadcasting station 160 or a voice of the commentator recorded by the microphone, which is connected to or included in the broadcasting station 160. In this case, the image or the voice of the commentator is included in the broadcasting information to be transmitted to the client 180a, and it is not necessary that they are reproduced by the sub-sampling, Vocoding or any summarization or compression method. The commentary information is inputted into the selecting part 560 and the content and commentary information combiner 570, which is the broadcasting information producing part. The commentary information can include equipment information about the ICUE. If the commentator says "ICUE 1 is using plan A", the voice "ICUE 1" can be converted to the textual information by a speech recognition technology. In this case, the selection part 560 can select the content summary information from ICUE 1 and make the selection signal transmission part 520 transmit the selection signal to the ICUE 1 HOa. The commentator inputs a signal that selects the content summary information through the pointer, such as a mouse as described above.

The selection signal includes the requesting signal, which requests transmission of at least one of the full display image, audio sound, full recorded image and voice from ICUE 1 HOa. Therefore, ICUE 1 HOa sends the full content information stored in buffer 1 320 and buffer 2 340 to the broadcasting station 160 because the size of the full content information is much bigger than that of the content summary information and the broadcasting station 160 can use the bandwidth by selection procedure. The full content information received from ICUE 1 is transferred to and decoded in the full content information decoder 550. That is because the format of the full content information can be different from that of the content summary information.

The content and commentary information combiner 570 combines the full content information and the commentary information, which are the broadcasting information, and the transmission part 590 sends the broadcasting information to the client 180a. Finally, an audience using the client 180 can watch the ICUE 1 HOa playing the interactive type content or the image recoded by the ICUE 1 HOa user, together with the comment information.

Fig. 6 illustrates the display part of the broadcasting station according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to Fig. 6, in the upper left side of the display part 500, the reduced images 600, 601,..., and 605 are arranged.

Displayed in the middle of the display part 500 is a screen, in which the broadcasting information 610 combining the commentary information and transmitting the commentary information to the clients. Therefore, the manager of the broadcasting station 160 can check which image is currently being transmitted to the client 180a.

Also, in the lower area of the display part 500, an audio control menu 620, a script editing window 630, a comment input menu 640 and on the like can be displayed. The comment input menu 640 can have a sub menu that has a function of converting voice to text, and the script editing window 630 is a window that recognizes and inserts an interactive type content quiz or an event notice and the like into the broadcasting information.

The audio control menu 620 is a menu for controlling the volume of the commentator's voice and other sounds and creates a kind of sound effects, such as a game start sound. Also, other additional controls of the broadcasting information can be made through the additional control menu 670 on the lower left part. Also, displayed on the right side of the display part 500 is the list of the clients 180a, 180b,..., and 180n, which receive the current broadcasting information from the broadcasting station 160.

The client chatting window 660, which shows the request made by the client, can be located on the lower side.

The aforementioned method of the present invention can be embodied in a program and stored in a recorded medium (e.g. a CD-ROM, a RAM, a ROM, a floppy disc, a hard disc, and an optical magnetic disc) that can be accessed by a computer.

It is to be appreciated that the present invention is not limited to the foregoing embodiments and that various permutations may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the ideas of the invention.

[Industrial Applicability] In accordance with the present invention, the broadcasting station receives only the content summary information from a plurality of interactive type user equipment, and the amount of data to receive and transmit can be reduced so that the broadcasting station can select some of the content summary information only and receives the full content information selectively to provide the interactive type content to the client.

Claims

[CLAIMS]

[Claim 1]

A method of broadcasting an interactive content to a client via a communication network, the method performed by a broadcasting station, the method comprising:

(a) receiving content summary information corresponding to the interactive content from each of a plurality of ICUE (Interactive Content User Equipment);

(b) receiving commentary information on the interactive content; (c) receiving a selection signal selecting content summary information corresponding to the commentary information;

(d) receiving full content information corresponding to the content summary information from the ICEU that has transmitted the selected content summary information; and (e) transmitting broadcasting information to client via the communication network, the broadcasting information having combined the commentary information and the full content information.

[Claim 2] The method of claim 1, wherein the interactive content is a game content.

[Claim 3]

The method of claim 1, wherein: the full content information comprises at least one from the group consisting of an image displayed on the ICUE and an image having recorded a user by the ICUE; and the content summary information comprises at least one from the group consisting of an image having reduced the displayed image and an image having reduced the recoded image.

[Claim 4]

The method of claim 3, wherein the content summary information is a reduced image of the displayed image or the recorded image by use of at least one from the group consisting of a sub-sampling method, an averaging value filter method and an intermediate filter method.

[Claim 5]

The method of claim 1, wherein: the full content information comprises at least one from the group consisting of an audio sound being played back on the ICUE and an audio sound having recorded the voice of the ICUE user; and the content summary information comprises an audio sound having summarized at least one from the group consisting of the played-back audio sound and the recorded audio sound.

[Claim 6]

The method of claim 5, wherein the content summary information is a digital audio sound converted by a Vocoding method from the audio sound being played back or the audio sound having recorded the voice.

[Claim 7]

The method of claim 1, wherein: the content summary information comprises a time stamp; and the method of broadcasting the interactive content further comprises, after the step of (a), synchronizing the content summary information by using the time stamp.

[Claim 8]

The method of claim 1, wherein: the commentary information comprises ICUE information; and the step of (c) receives the selection signal using the ICUE information.

[Claim 9]

The method of claim 1, wherein the step of (e) transmits the commentary information and the full content information to the client through a streaming server located in the communication network.

[Claim 10]

A method of transmitting content information from ICUE (Interactive Content User Equipment) to a broadcasting station broadcasting an interactive content to a client, the method comprising: (a) producing content summary information corresponding to the interactive content;

(b) transmitting the content summary information to the broadcasting station;

(c) receiving a selection signal from the broadcasting station; and

(d) receiving full content information corresponding to the content summary information in accordance with the selection signal, wherein the full content information is transmitted from the broadcasting station to the client together with commentary information on the interactive content.

[Claim 11] The method of claim 10, wherein: the full content information comprises at least one from the group consisting of an image displayed on the ICUE and an image having recoded a user by the ICUE; and the content summary information comprises at least one from the group consisting of an image having reduced the displayed image and an image having reduced the recorded image.

[Claim 12]

The method of claim 11 , wherein the step of (a) further comprises reducing the displayed image or the recorded image by using at least one from the group consisting of a sub-sampling method, an averaging value filter method and an intermediate filter method.

[Claim 13]

The method of claim 10, wherein: the full content information comprises at least one from the group consisting of an audio sound being played back on the ICUE and an audio sound having recorded a user of the ICUE; and the content summary information comprises having summarized at least one from the group consisting of the played-back audio sound and the recorded audio sound.

[Claim 14]

The method of claim 13, wherein the content summary information is a digital audio sound converted by a Vocoding method from the audio sound being playing back or the audio sound having recorded the voice.

[Claim 15]

A broadcasting station for broadcasting an interactive content to a client via a communication network, the broadcasting station comprising: a receiving part, receiving content summary information corresponding to the interactive content from ICUE(Interactive Content User Equipment); a commentary information input part, receiving commentary information on the interactive content; a selecting part, selecting the content summary information by being inputted with a selection signal of the content summary information corresponding to the commentary information; a broadcasting information producing part, producing broadcasting information by combining the commentary information with full content information transmitted from the ICUE; and a transmission part, transmitting the broadcasting information to the client.

[Claim 16]

The broadcasting station of claim 15, further comprising: a display part, playing back an image signal; and a decoder, decoding and inputting in the display part the content summary information or the full content information.

[Claim 17}

ICUE (Interactive Content User Equipment), comprising: a content summary information producing part, producing summary content information corresponding to an interactive type content; and a transmission controller, transmitting the content summary information to an interactive type content broadcasting station, wherein the transmission controller transmits full content information corresponding to the interactive type content to the broadcasting station if a selection signal is received from the broadcasting station.

[Claim 18]

The ICUE of claim 17, wherein the content summary information producing part comprises at least one from the group consisting of: an image reduction part, producing a reduced image by reducing an image displayed on the ICUE or an image having recorded a user of the ICUE; and an audio summarization part, producing a summarized audio sound by summarizing an audio sound played back on the ICUE or an audio sound having recorded the user of the ICUE.

[Claim 19]

The ICUE of claim 18, wherein the image reduction part reduces the displayed image or the recorded image by using at least one from the group consisting of a sub- sampling method, an averaging value filter method and an intermediate filter method, and the audio summarization part summarizes the audio sound being played back or the audio sound having recorded the voice by using a Vocoding method.

[Claim 20]

A recorded medium tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by a broadcasting station to execute a method of broadcasting an interactive content to a client via a communication network, the method performed by a broadcasting station, the method comprising:

(a) receiving content summary information corresponding to the interactive content from each of a plurality of ICUE (Interactive Content User Equipment); (b) receiving commentary information on the interactive content; (c) receiving a selection signal selecting content summary information corresponding to the commentary information;

(d) receiving full content information corresponding to the content summary information from the ICUE having transmitted the selected content summary information; and

(e) transmitting broadcasting information to the client via the communication network, the broadcasting information having combined the commentary information and the full content information.

[Claim 21]

A recorded medium tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by ICUE to execute a method of transmitting content information to a broadcasting station broadcasting an interactive content to a client, the method comprising:

(a) producing content summary information corresponding to the interactive content;

(b) transmitting the content summary information to the broadcasting station;

(c) receiving a selection signal from the broadcasting station; and

(d) receiving full content information corresponding to the content summary information, wherein the full content information is transmitted from the broadcasting station to the client together with commentary information.