Apple patent is for convergence-enabled DVD and web system
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Dec 26, 2007 at 1:02pm
Apple has been granted a patent (number 7313809) for a convergence-enabled DVD and web system by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. First filed in 2000, it’s directed to interactive multimedia systems.
More particularly, the invention is directed to DVD systems which are able to selectively control the processing of content from the web and the like, and to web-based systems which are able to selectively access DVD systems and the like. Apple says it’s for a system that integrates a DVD system and a WWW web browser. Universal Resource Locator (URL) information corresponding to sites accessible by the browser are stored in fields within the DVD data.
When a user actuates a DVD element that has a corresponding URL, the web browser displays information from that site. When the user actuates an HTML menu or other browser-implemented feature, the DVD system accesses a portion of the DVD data specified in the menu. This arrangement provides for two-way communication, i.e., HTML in the browser is able to control DVD content and vice-versa. Having the WWW information embedded in the DVD brings a number of benefits, the foremost of which is the ability to write a “one size fits all” template web page that can interrogate the DVD for URL information and present WWW content corresponding to the URL synchronized with the DVD information.
Here’s Apple’s background and summary on the invention: “Digital Versatile Discs (or variously Digital Video Discs or DVDs) and the World Wide Web (WWW) are extremely powerful interactive multimedia tools. However, they both have their drawbacks. Although DVDs are capable of storing large amounts of high-quality video and audio data, once they are manufactured their content is essentially static; it cannot be changed, updated or personalized. Also, the limited interactivity does not meet the demands of many of today’s computer-literate users. Further, although the WWW is dynamic and rapidly changing, it is not capable of providing high-quality multimedia content in real time for many users due to limited bandwidth.
“The present invention has been made with the above problems of the prior art in mind, and a first object of the present invention is to provide a system for integrating static and interactive multimedia delivery systems such as DVD systems and the WWW. It is another object of the present invention to provide a multimedia delivery system which is interactive and easily modifiable. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a highly interactive and dynamic multimedia system which is capable of providing high-quality multimedia content.”
The above objects are achieved according to an aspect of the present invention by providing a system which integrates a DVD system and WWW content or similarly presented information, such as HTML-formatted material. Universal Resource Locator (URL) information corresponding to sites or media streams accessible via the WWW or another content delivery system are stored in fields within the DVD data. When a user actuates a DVD element that has a corresponding URL the information from that site is displayed in a web browser to enhance the DVD viewing experience. Conversely, the DVD system can be controlled when the user actuates HTML information from a web page or the like. This arrangement provides for two-way control, i.e., HTML is able to control DVD content and vice-versa. Having the WWW information embedded in the DVD brings a number of benefits, perhaps the foremost of which is the ability to write a “one size fits all” template web page that can interrogate the DVD for URL information and present WWW content corresponding to the URL information and synchronized with the DVD content.”
The inventors are John Fergal Mohan and Rainer Brodersen. The graphic below is an example screen showing DVD and WWW playback according to the preferred embodiment.
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
