KR20050016969A - Mobile terminal interactivity with multimedia programming - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for allowing a user of a mobile terminal to participate in an interactive service relating to multimedia programming is disclosed. The software application is stored on the mobile terminal. The software application is launched to prepare to receive information about the interactive service from the server. Upon receiving this information, the software application uses the stored user interface to prompt the user of the mobile terminal. The software application uses previously received information about the user so that when the information is received a user interface prompting the user is automatically provided without the need for user approval.

Description

Mobile terminal interactivity with multimedia programming

The present invention relates generally to the field of communications. In particular, the present invention relates to mobile terminal interaction with multimedia programming.

Interactive multimedia programming was previously limited to telephone calls to or from television broadcasting studios. For example, viewers can call a specific phone number displayed on a television show to purchase a product that advertises or features the show, orally provide opinions or votes to someone who answers the call, or prerecorded interactive voice. You can listen to an interactive voice response (IVR) message and press the number that corresponds to the desired vote. In the automated voting method, the viewer can vote by calling the appropriate one of a plurality of predefined numbers displayed on the television screen for the scheduled voting. In other words, "VOTE NOW !! 1-888-555-1111 phone to vote YES or 1-888-555-2222 phone to vote NO". Either way, television shows usually count the number of votes and announce or announce the results.

More modern voting methods use text messages sent by fax or by short message service (SMS) via mobile phone. A problem with text message voting that viewers type in a text message and send it to a predefined number is that multiple votes may be discarded due to misspelling mistakes.

Another modern interactive way is to direct viewers to some Internet website rather than a phone number. ("Vote now !! Simply log on to www.televisionshow.com "). The website works in conjunction with the browser on the viewer's computer or set-top box and only requires the viewer to check the boxes using a cursor pointing device, such as a computer mouse (e.g., Sun Microsystems, Santa Clara, California You can make text messages unnecessary by running a shopping or voting application (developed using Microsoft's Java programming language).

However, the interactive website does not adequately and completely solve the problem of viewer interaction with shopping, advertising, voting or other types of video programming. Although the interactive website allows different types of viewer interactions to be performed without entering text, it has the disadvantage of being annoying for at least the following reasons. The interactive website requires the user to have a computer or set-top box, access the Internet from the computer or set-top box, be near or available to the computer or set-top box at the time to vote, and if necessary It requires preliminary steps to perform or vote on any other type of viewer interaction, ie, to launch a browser software application and to log on to the website. Such interactive websites are also slow, and the viewer's emotional response to multimedia programming is a major drawback of the lack of immediacy in an environment in which the viewer wants to immediately purchase a product, respond to an advertisement, vote, and the like.

There are now a number of networks and inter-network protocols that carry various types and combinations of multimedia content such as voice, video, web content, graphics and text. As used herein, the term "multimedia" refers to any content that has a visual element. Mobile terminals in wireless communication networks, particularly telephones in cellular networks, can now transmit data including multimedia data. Many types of mobile terminals are used, such as cellular phones, cordless phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), palm-held computers, and laptop computers. A strong push in the development of current wireless technologies is the use of mobile terminals for a variety of applications and the users of such devices, while maintaining adequate communication power to receive and transmit all data and information to the mobile terminals. Allows you to integrate with events.

Moreover, most people have certain preferences for video programming and interaction with other types of multimedia content. There is currently no system or method for setting the preference with a mobile terminal. Such systems and methods will greatly simplify and improve a user's viewing habits and make it extremely easy for such habits to be used, classified and influenced by providers of multimedia programming.

Unfortunately, wireless communication networks (i.e., so-called third generations) that support mobile terminals with improved duration and manner of procedures required to acquire multimedia content and enable users to subscribe and access a variety of different multimedia communication services 3G) and fourth generation (4G) networks) may vary and change unpredictably. Improved mobile terminals supported by such networks and utilizing recent innovations in computers, software, displays, and other techniques can access and receive many different multimedia formats. Such multimedia services may be provided by different information sources in different networks and may be generated based on various data transmission techniques. This introduces more delay and instability in mobile terminal interaction with multimedia programming.

For at least this reason, current methods of interaction with multimedia programming have disadvantages. Accordingly, there is a need for an efficient solution that allows for mobile terminal interaction with easy and substantially instant multimedia programming.

1 is a block diagram of a system for providing mobile terminal interaction with video programming in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a high level flow diagram illustrating an exemplary scenario in which the system of FIG. 1 is deployed to perform interaction with video programming.

3 is a diagram of a voting application and a chat application on a mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 illustrates an embodiment of a software structure for the voting application and the chat application shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is an end-to-end diagram of an example system implementing the software architecture of FIG. 4.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a registration and voting application method in a mobile terminal according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram illustrating information transferred between elements in the voting method of FIG. 6.

In order to overcome the limitations of the prior art mentioned above and to overcome other limitations apparent in reading and understanding the present specification, it is an object of the preferred and exemplary embodiments described below to overcome the above disadvantages. In particular, it is an object of the preferred and exemplary embodiments to provide a solution that facilitates substantially instantaneous mobile terminal interaction with multimedia programming.

In a preferred and exemplary embodiment, a Java enabled mobile terminal in a wireless communication network facilitates substantially instant user interaction with video programming. The software application provides the display of the mobile terminal with the ability to prompt the user to facilitate voting or engage in other types of interaction without requiring text or excessive input.

Certain aspects of the preferred and exemplary embodiments include a voting application of a mobile terminal, wherein information about voting is downloaded and provided to the user substantially immediately without being initiated by the user in accordance with the voting application. Preferably, the user can respond by simply clicking once to select from the available choices based on the information provided.

These and other features of the preferred and exemplary embodiments of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated in the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and drawings are provided for illustrative purposes only and not as a limitation of the present invention. Reference should be made to the appended claims for the definition of limitations of the invention.

In the drawings, like reference numerals refer to similar elements throughout the several views.

In the following description of various preferred embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration various preferred embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural and functional modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Reference is now made to FIG. 1, which shows a block diagram of a preferred and exemplary system for mobile terminal interaction with video programming according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It will be appreciated that the present invention is also applicable to customizing other multimedia content such as radios, jukeboxes, and other media.

There are a plurality of users that are not specified, and each user has each mobile terminal 10 and each video system 80. The mobile terminal 10 can be any mobile terminal that can communicate via the Internet. Preferably, the mobile terminal 10 can continue to connect to the Internet (as in General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)) and can be used, for example, by Sun Microsystems, Inc. of Santa Clara, California. Java enabled using Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME). However, embodiments of the present invention can be used with new types of mobile terminals devised in the future using technologies different from GPRS and J2ME. Mobile terminal 10 may typically, but not necessarily, bi-directionally communicate with the Internet 30 via wireless telephone network 20. The mobile terminal 10 may also use an alternate access network and proxy server, especially when roaming.

The user's video system 80 may be just a conventional television set that receives television signals in one or more of various ways such as broadcast, cable, or satellite. Or a system capable of receiving and displaying one or more of various streaming video formats. In the case of a conventional television set, the television set is typically associated with a set top box 84 that can interact with the incoming signal for channel selection or the like as is known in the art. Alternatively, the broadcast signal may be transmitted over a terrestrial digital video broadcasting terrestrial (DVB-T) network, cable network, satellite, or over a wireless local access network (WLAN). . In practice, video programming can also be broadcast directly to the mobile terminal (s), thus advantageously eliminating the need for the viewer to be close to the television set.

In either case, video system 80 may preferably display additional text or other material in a small window 82 (ie, text or other material in addition to normal video programming for one channel), and thus The normal video programming can be viewed substantially while additional material is displayed in the window 82. An example of such a system is a picture-in-picture known in the art. Alternatively, additional text or other material may be displayed in a superimposed manner with video programming in the same manner as movie subtitles, and also with a transparent overlay.

Superimposing of text or other material on video programming can be generated, for example, in the following. a) at a broadcasting site where each viewer sees the same content that cannot be turned off; b) in a local television set (in a manner similar to current teletext systems); Although broadcast in a central location, text or other material (such as other languages) is selectable by the viewer; Or c) in a set-top box that provides personalization possibilities to local end users. For example, a set-top box (with Bluetooth) can adjust overlapping local content if it identifies that a Bluetooth enabled mobile phone is nearby.

The user of mobile terminal 10 communicates with interactive server (IS) 40 via, for example, the Internet 30. An accounts database 42 for storing user account information and a registration database 44 for storing user registration information are coupled with the interactive server (IS) 40. In general, account information may include persistent information such as the user's name, gender, age / birthdate, address, credit card number, general likes and dislikes, hobbies, and the like. The registration information may include more volatile types of information, such as what the user is currently watching a particular program, the user wants to participate in a special offer or current vote mentioned in a television program, or something of that kind. have.

The interactive server (IS) 40 receives a video programming 50 which is delivered for transmission to, for example, a conventional TV transmission network 70 for distribution to a plurality of respective video systems 80. . Although not shown in FIG. 1, the interactive server (IS) 40 may also be connected to mobile terminals via a second broadcast channel to allow the terminals to participate in an available interactive service relating to video programming in the first channel. Information can be provided. The second channel may be in a digital television broadcasting network. The second signal may be sent directly to the mobile terminals or indirectly through a similar video device or set top box such as a Nokia media terminal in communication with the mobile terminal via a suitable connection (eg Bluetooth).

As discussed below, interactive server (IS) 40 may modify or augment video programming 50 prior to transmission in accordance with the above-described embodiments of the present invention. Alternatively, interactive server (IS) 40 may not receive video programming 50 at all, or instead provide only information for modifying or augmenting video programming 50. The modification or augmentation is performed in the TV transmission network 70 or in some other element associated with the TV transmission network 70.

Prior to describing a preferred implementation in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a general method of interactive voting within the capability of receiving broadcast TV is shown in FIG. Line A indicates that the user is watching a particular program (called "program A"). In program A, the viewer is guided to vote for the viewing of several topics provided in program A (perhaps by the person hosting the video programming). The user can then register to vote on polls (line B). Registration generally refers to the actions performed by the user to indicate interest in participating in voting or other interactive functions. (As further described below, registration may be performed in a particular embodiment by having a user request a Java applet, for example by sending an SMS message in a defined number. In response to the request, the user may specify a specified interactive Will have an applet to perform the function)

At some later time (permissible time for all viewers who wish to register to do so), interactive server (IS) 40 causes each user's video system to generate an actual vote, as shown in line C of FIG. Add content to the video programming that causes the display to begin (for example, while Program A can actually be seen) indicating that it has started. (All viewers see this through the broadcast of program A, whether they register to vote or not.) The length of time the description remains is a design option. Only users who have registered to vote (determined by performing voting registration in registration database 42) from their mobile terminal 10 from the interactive server (IS) 40 over the Internet, as indicated in line D of FIG. Receive a vote menu. Receipt of the menu can be performed in many different ways. For example, the reception of a menu may be performed locally by an application or the menu contents may be sent at activation time. The user performs the selection and sends a message containing the selection to the interactive server (IS) 40.

After a reasonable time period during which voting is conducted, the interactive server (IS) 40 (optionally notified by a description added to video programming, such as 'ending the vote after n minutes') tabulates the results. . Interactive server (IS) 40 and / or application may have safeguards to ensure that a user cannot vote more than once. For example, if a user of mobile terminal 10 registers to vote, interactive server (IS) 40 may provide the user with a unique identifier. If a unique identifier is provided at some other time or in some other way or a midlet is provided to the mobile terminal 10, the user's unique identifier may be combined or attached to the voting middlelet. The mobile terminal 10 may be required to combine or append the unique identifier to the user's vote and provide the interactive server (IS) 40 with the vote and combination of the identifier. Interactive server (IS) 40 may refuse to recognize the vote if the vote is not accompanied by a valid unique identifier, and once received by the unique identifier, upon receipt of a vote accompanied by a unique identifier. You can refuse to recognize any other vote you have made. As shown in lines E and F of FIG. 2, respectively, the voting results are sent to video system 80 (shown to everyone watching program A) and to the mobile terminal 10 only for users registered to vote. do.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention relates to improving the interaction of the mobile terminal 10 in lines B and D of the general method shown in FIG. To do this, the software application is stored in the mobile terminal 10. Residing the application in the mobile terminal 10 reduces the amount of information that must be transmitted to the mobile terminal 10, increases the speed of the interactive service, and allows the user interface for voting to provide the mobile terminal ( It allows to be well designed with suitable graphic elements for 10).

4 shows a preferred general structure of the mobile terminal 10. In this preferred architecture, the mobile terminal is a J2ME enabled mobile phone 10 that includes a configuration such as a Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC) that defines the minimum Java platform functionality for the mobile phone. In particular, the configuration defines a security specification, a minimum number of Java libraries, and VM capabilities that control the operation of a Java application running on a given device or group of devices.

Mobile phone 10 also includes a Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) 10-1, which supplements the CLDC configuration that provides the capability for a particular mobile phone. Is a set of Java APIs. The Java MIDP 10-1 provides a display toolkit API and input method, HTTP-based networking using a generic connection framework found in CLDC, and a persistent data storage API. The voting application 10-2 provides a quick and easy voter interface of the mobile phone 10 by the instruction of the voting application 40-1 of the interactive server (IS) 40. Java middlelet that uses the elements of JAVA MIDP 10-1 to provide.

Preferred and exemplary embodiments also enable chatting interactivity by viewers of video programming on mobile terminals 10. For example, users watching a particular video program may enter a comment about the program in their mobile terminal 10. This comment is sent by the interactive server (IS) 40 for display on the terminals 10 of other users registered to watch the program, for example, as determined from the registration database 44. In addition, the chat application 40-2 of the interactive server (IS) 40 may cause the comment to appear in the window 82 of the video system 80 of users watching the program via a suitable set-top box.

Preferably, the user can choose between different interactive applications, for example voting application and chat application. 3 shows a simple example of a user's ability to switch between user interface for voting application (voting UI) and user interface for chat application (chat UI) and user interfaces. Although not shown in FIG. 3, there may be a menu that provides various service options. In addition, the user interface is shown in FIG. 3 as simpler, and the user interface may take various forms and may be any number and combination of multimedia formats (video, audio, graphics, animation, etc.). The content may serve various information purposes in addition to or in addition to voting. For example, text, audio, video or graphics can be used to inform the source or identity of video programming.

FIG. 5 is an end-to-end diagram similar in some respects to the general diagram of FIG. 1 but showing a system using a Java configuration. In the left end of FIG. 5, the system software of the mobile terminal 10 includes an operating system and a Java MIDP environment. The voting application resides on a mobile terminal and utilizes the system software of the mobile terminal. Mobile network 20 preferably provides conventional functions such as authentication and connection of users in the network using standard protocols. (The mobile network 20 also provides billing support.) The interactive server 40 includes an application runtime environment, multiple name registration and login, and voting result checking and reporting and loaded on the server. It may include an application platform that supports voting applications. Interactive server (IS) 40 may further include point-to-point application delivery, delivery security and completeness' consistency checks and delivery reporting.

There are several general ways in which a user can control what is displayed on his video system 80 by registering with the interactive server (IS) 40 via the user's mobile terminal 10. A simpler method includes the method of a TV set for receiving TV programming via broadcast. The TV set must display everything contained in the signal received on the selected channel. In contrast, a TV set 80 that receives satellite or cable signals processes satellite or cable signals in a set top box 84 that allows selection to be extracted from the received signals on the selected channel.

Preferred embodiments of the registration and voting steps are shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. As shown, a user watching a particular video program, here referred to as “program A” by reference, may be interested (FIG. 6, step 601) and may want to register for an interactive service. A user may use his mobile terminal 10 to communicate with an interactive server (IS) 40 to indicate interest in receiving an interactive service related to program A. This may be done, for example, by sending an SMS message to the service number (step 602) to "register" for program A.

Other identifying information that may be included in the registration message sent by the mobile terminal 10, such as a wireless telephone number or email address, may be used to identify the user's account in the database 42, and the database 42 Demographic information (e.g., gender and age) may be extracted. (In an alternative embodiment, the demographic information may be part of a message sent by the mobile terminal 10 from a template.) Registration (including demographic information) is performed by a registration database 44. ) Can be stored. The timing of deleting a registration entry from the registration database 44 is a design option. For example, a registration where a user starts watching a particular program may be removed when the program ends. The registration indicating that the user wants to participate in the voting may be removed after some predetermined time that the participant can review the voting results once the voting is completed.

A user who wants to watch video programming in a different language can register while watching the program and request subtitles in another language. If such subtitles are not available, the user is informed as such. If such subtitles are available, interactive server (IS) 40 may add subtitles to the satellite or cable transmission of the program for extraction by the user's video system 80 and for subsequent display to the user. Alternatively, an audio soundtrack in the requested language may be provided to the user's mobile terminal 10. The user may be charged for this service through the account determined by the account database 42.

When registering, the mobile terminal 10 receives the Java application and is stored in the mobile terminal (step 603). If the mobile terminal has previously registered for other video programming, a Java application may be pushed or automatically downloaded over the Internet. Preferably, but not necessarily, a marker or flag may be set to indicate that a user has registered and received an application. The marker or flag may be retrieved through WAP, SMS, MMS, and the like.

Mobile terminal 10 may have one of a variety of different software application managers for managing software residing on the mobile terminal. Preferably, the software manager depends on the terminal and the configuration. In step 604, the software application manager requests the user to authenticate the storage of the Java application to the mobile terminal. If the answer is no, the Java application is not stored in the mobile terminal 10 and registration will fail (step 605). If the answer is yes, the Java application is saved and registration will succeed (step 606).

Once the Java application is stored in the mobile terminal 10, the Java application may always be launched when the connection is active, such as in General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) (step 607). The launch can be user activated, activated by the IS server 40, or activated simultaneously with the application being retrieved and stored on the terminal. When the application is launched, the user is connected to the IS server 40. However, the user does not need to be present because the connection can be completely stateless and / or sessionless. If the application is active, wait until the voting service is activated (step 608). Preferably, the user does not have to respond to the inquiry ("OK to start voting?"). This can be avoided, for example, by using the J2ME API developed by the Java Community Process, which allows Java middlelets to directly send and receive SMS messages. Voting activation is preferably performed by the server, but can also be performed by the user, by SMS / WAP push, by direct GPRS connection (IP or similar), or by a separate broadcasted video program. Alternatively, the voting application may be a radio data system (RDS) of analog radio broadcasts (see eg www.rds.org.uk/rds98/rds98.htm) or GSM or third generation (3G) networks. Can be activated using the cell broadcast service of (the application can wait for this to occur if there is a MIDP application programming interface providing this information).

Once voting is activated, a prompt is automatically provided to the user without the user having to take any action or confirmation on the voting (step 609). It is particularly desirable that the prompt be performed substantially immediately after the event in the associated video programming. The prompt includes at least a display that is presented to the user on the display of the mobile terminal, but may also consist of a tactile notification such as a unique ringing tone or vibration of the mobile terminal. The user can then respond to the prompt by pressing a voting button or taking another action indicative of his or her vote (step 610). It is a feature of the preferred embodiment that the software application utilizes previously obtained information (as in the registration process) and requires only one single action by the user in response to the prompt. The software application preferably transmits the voting information without any further action required by the user. If the user's voting information is pushed to IS server 40 with Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), then IS server 40 does not need to store information about the user and / or the user's session in advance. The software application may send the information in any number of ways, for example by GPRS or SMS. Also, depending on the capacity of the server and the network, the transmission of the information may be slightly delayed.

The interactive server (IS) 40 may also include customizing information that may include advertisements, candidate lists for polls and public opinion polls, product information, special offers, lottery statistics, lottery results, and the like ( 60). As a design option, the customization information 60 can be generated directly from some source in proximity to the interactive server (IS) 40, remotely via the Internet 30 (as from a remote web server), or a combination thereof. It may be provided to an interactive server (IS) 40.

Periodically, the functionality of the interactive server (IS) 40 re-examines the registration 44 to reduce the demographic pattern. For example, it may be known that more women aged 17 to 30 are watching Program A than any other single demographic group. The interactive server (IS) 40 may then choose to replace the advertisement included in the corresponding channel in the video programming 50 with an advertisement that is more suitable for women aged 17-30. This other more suitable advertisement would have been obtained by the interactive server (IS) 40 as part of the customization information 60. Thus, everyone watching program A will see the replaced advertisement instead of being provided in the video programming 50 stream, whether or not it is received via broadcast, cable, or satellite.

A scenario is now described which may have different results depending on whether the user receives video programming via broadcast or via a set top box from a cable or satellite. The user watches a particular program (program B) and registers by watching program B. The user may be interested in the product advertised during program B, and may perform input through the user's mobile terminal 10 requesting additional information about the product. One simple response would be to obtain a user email or postal mail address from the account database 42 and mail the user with more information about the product. It is not possible to provide additional information directly through the user's video system 80 since the additional information attached to the broadcast TV signal will be viewed by all viewers of program B when the user receives via broadcast. However, when a user receives via set top box 84 via cable or satellite, it is advisable to attach additional information to video programming in such a way that only the intended user's set top box extracts additional information from the signal and displays it to the user. It may be possible (depending on the nature of the cable or satellite transmission method as known in the art). Or if several users request additional information about the same advertised product, users who have not requested the additional information may not receive the additional information but the several users may receive to view the additional information at the same time.

The ability of the set top box 84 to extract signals for specific users can be used in the present invention to tailor ads to users of demographic groups. While a basic set of advertisements in one channel may be set according to the viewers of a major demographic group as described above, user account data 42 and user registration data 44 may be used to determine other important areas of interest among users. Are inquired. Thus, advertisements or special offers targeting specific groups are attached to the signal with set-top boxes 84 with sufficient destination information showing alternatives or special offers to targeted users.

While advertising, product information, special offers, or other such kinds of things are being provided to the user, the user may enter a BUY instruction into his mobile terminal 10. Interactive server (IS) 40 then determines what the user is looking at (other users may be looking at other products). The interactive server (IS) 40 then retrieves the user's shipping information and, for example, a credit card number from the account database 42 and prepares to deliver the advertised or ordered item to the user.

Customizing information 60 may introduce special suggestions in relation to advertising as well as video programming. For example, while registered to watch a drama program, a user wears "Melanie" to his mobile terminal 10 (along with an audio signal such as a beep to attract the user's attention). Purchase a dress-only $ 99 "(Melani is one of the characters in the drama program) and receives a message from interactive server (IS) 40.

Lotteries are another possible area of interaction. The user indicates to his mobile terminal 10 that he wants to participate in the lottery (perhaps in response to a prompt or advertisement for the lottery included in video programming). If it is possible to participate in more than one lottery, the interactive server (IS) 40 sends a menu to the user's mobile terminal 10 for the selection of one lottery. The user is then prompted to enter a selection of lottery numbers.

The user's lottery number selection is sent to an interactive server (IS) 40, which registers the user as participating in the registration database 44, and the interactive server (IS) 40. 40 may determine the user's financial account number from the account database 42. The management of the lottery may be performed on an interactive server (IS) 40, but more typically on any other web server (not shown) accessible via the Internet 30. The interactive server (IS) 40 transmits the lottery number selected by the user to the lottery management function, confirms the participation in the lottery, and displays a display message indicating debiting in the user's account. 10) to transmit.

Later, after the time when the winning lottery number is selected, the winning number may appear attached to the video programming, and each user who participated in the lottery (as determined from registration database 44) has his or her own personal outcome (e.g., , “Winning $ 50,000,000” or “matching two numbers-no winning”, etc.) may receive a personalized message from the interactive server (IS) 40 to its mobile terminal 10.

Most of the users participating in the lottery can send a request to view commonly selected numbers. (This function may be a menu item in the display described above provided to prompt the user to enter a lottery number.) When the interactive server (IS) 40 receives the request, it contacts the lottery management function and impersonates it. A message is sent to display to the mobile terminal 10 of all users who have requested to view a number that has been selected. Such displays are typically in the form of a line associated with each of several numbers, and the relative line length in the form of a histogram indicating the popularity of the number. If the interactive server (IS) 40 detects that a large number (i.e., beyond some predetermined threshold) has requested viewing of the most commonly selected number, the interactive server (IS) 40 Will attach the display of the number to video programming.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, the above description is exemplary and is not to be construed as limiting the invention. In particular, various references to mobile terminal and Java refer to the terminology used in connection with the preferred embodiment and mean that the method according to the exemplary embodiments should only be used with some type of mobile terminals or implementation technology. It is not.

Claims (41)

In the method for providing an interactive service related to a video program in a mobile terminal, Launching a software application stored in the mobile terminal, the software application being prepared to receive information about the video program from a server when the software application is launched; Activating the software application when receiving information about the video program from the server, the activation comprising an invocation of a user interface defined by the software application; Prompting the user to provide input to the interactive service, the prompt prompting the user to automatically provide the prompt upon receipt of information about the video program without the need for prior action by the user. Using previous information regarding; And Receiving the prompted user input and transmitting information indicating the prompted user input to the server. The method of claim 1, Wherein the prompt requires the user to perform only one single action to provide the prompted user input. The method of claim 2, And the mobile terminal is Java enabled. The method of claim 3, And the software application is a Java midlet. The method of claim 4, wherein The application is launched by the server. The method of claim 4, wherein The application is launched by a user of the mobile terminal. The method of claim 4, wherein The application is provided to the mobile terminal in response to user registration and is launched concurrently with the user registration. The method of claim 7, wherein The wireless communication network is a third generation (3G) network providing a plurality of different multimedia services. A mobile terminal in a wireless communication network suitable for supporting an interactive service relating to a video program, the mobile terminal comprising: System software including an operating system and a Java profile; And Include at least one Java midlet, The Java middlelet When launched, receive information about the video program from a server; When receiving information about the video program from the server, invoking a user interface defined by the Java middlelet; The prompt prompts the user to provide input to the interactive service and the prompt is automatically provided upon receipt of information about the video program without the need for prior action by the user. Uses previous information; Receiving the prompted user input and transmitting information indicating the prompted user input to the server. The method of claim 9, The Java middlelet supports a voting service and the Java middlelet prompts the user to vote. The method of claim 10, The Java middlelet allows a user to vote by performing a single input operation. The method of claim 10, And the mobile terminal includes at least a second java middlelet in addition to the java middlelet supporting a video service. The method of claim 11, And the second Java middlelet supports a second interactive service relating to a video program. The method of claim 13, And the second interactive service comprises a chat room. The method of claim 9, And the mobile terminal comprises a mobile phone. A server in a communication network, the server performing an interactive service method related to a video program, the server comprising: The interactive service method Providing a client software application to a mobile terminal, the client software application including a user interface for the mobile terminal and supporting the interactive service method; Transmitting video program information related to the interactive service method to the mobile terminal, the video program information adapted to be provided to a user of the mobile terminal by the client software application; And Receiving user information from the client software application, the user information including a user response to the provided video program information. The method of claim 15, The client software application is provided in response to a registration request by a user of the mobile terminal. The method of claim 16, And the server comprises a registration database. The method of claim 17, And the server comprises an account database. The method of claim 15, The interactive service includes a voting service for the video program, wherein the server performs a voting among the selected plurality of users and based on a user response received from the plurality of users, voting results related to the video program. A server, characterized in that the calculation. The method of claim 16, And the server selectively transmits the video program information to the selected plurality of users based on the information included in the registration database. The method of claim 20, And the server maintains a plurality of multimedia communication services and provides them to the mobile terminal. The method of claim 21, The interactive service includes a push service. The method of claim 22, And the server comprises a software application suitable for controlling an interactive service with the mobile terminal. The method of claim 23, wherein And the server communicates with a mobile terminal located in a wireless communication network. The method of claim 1, The software application is activated by sending activation information in a cell broadcast service. The method of claim 1, The software application is activated by transmitting activation information using a wireless data system of analog radio broadcast. The method of claim 1, Information indicative of the prompted user input is packaged by the software application and transmitted to the server via a message service. The method of claim 28, Transmission of the information indicative of the prompted user input is slightly delayed depending on the capacity of the server and network. The method of claim 9, And the information indicative of the prompted user input is packaged by the software application and transmitted to the server via a message service. The method of claim 30, The transmission of the information indicative of the prompted user input is slightly delayed depending on the capacity of the server and network. A mobile terminal suitable for carrying out the method recited in claim 1. The method of claim 2, The prompt is related to an event in the video program and occurs substantially immediately after the event in the video program. The method of claim 2, Wherein the prompt comprises a tactile notification. The method of claim 33, wherein And wherein the notification of haptic includes vibration of the mobile terminal. The method of claim 2, And the prompt includes a distinctive ringing tone. The method of claim 28, And said message service is SMS. The method of claim 28, The message service is MMS. The method of claim 30, And said message service is SMS. The method of claim 30, The message service is MMS. A mobile terminal for providing a user with an interactive service related to a video program, Means for launching a software application stored on the mobile terminal, wherein the software application is prepared to receive information about the video program from a server when the software application is launched; Means for activating the software application when receiving information about the video program from the server, the activation comprising means for invoking a user interface defined by the software application; Means for prompting a user to provide input to the interactive service, the prompt prompting the user to automatically provide the prompt upon receipt of information about the video program without the need for prior action by the user. Means for using previous information regarding; And Means for receiving the prompted user input and transmitting information indicative of the prompted user input to the server.