Apparatus and method for providing and obtaining product information through a broadcast signal

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for providing and obtaining product information through a broadcast signal. In this present invention, information identifying a product item, which is in a scene to be presented from a broadcast signal, is provided together with a broadcast signal, then a signal receiving terminal stores the product information for a new product item and displays the stored information to a viewer to select one product item while or after watching an interesting broadcast program, and transmits data identifying a selected product item to a predetermined web site and receives web site address for the selected item from that site. As a result, detailed information for the selected item is acquired from a server addressed by the received web site address.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method for obtaining supplementary information on an item in a broadcast signal, comprising: 
 receiving a digital broadcast signal;    extracting information identifying an item from the received digital broadcast signal;    comparing the extracted identifying information of the item with identifying information of other items; and    storing the extracted identifying information based on the comparison result.    
     
     
         2 . The method according to    claim 1   , further comprising extracting address information of a web site providing supplementary information for the item.  
     
     
         3 . The method according to    claim 1   , further comprising displaying the stored item identifying information for a user's selection.  
     
     
         4 . The method according to    claim 3   , wherein the displaying the stored item identifying information occurs simultaneously with displaying the received digital broadcast signal.  
     
     
         5 . The method according to    claim 1   , wherein the displaying the stored item identifying information occurs after completion of displaying the received digital broadcast signal.  
     
     
         6 . The method according to    claim 3   , further comprising acquiring address information of a web site providing supplementary information for each item if said each item is selected based on the displayed item identifying information.  
     
     
         7 . The method according to    claim 6   , wherein the address information from product information is received and stored in a storing means.  
     
     
         8 . The method according to    claim 6   , wherein the address information is from a predetermined web site.  
     
     
         9 . The method according to    claim 6   , further comprising: 
 obtaining the supplementary information for a user selected item; and    displaying the obtained supplementary information.    
     
     
         10 . The method according to    claim 9   , wherein the supplementary information is displayed simultaneously with the received digital broadcast signal.  
     
     
         11 . A broadcasting enhancement system, comprising: 
 a broadcast signal receiver receiving a broadcast signal;    a decoder linked to the broadcast signal receiver that decodes and separates at least video data for display on a display device and first information for selectable items in the video data;    a frame composer coupled to the display device to provide the first information to the display device; and    a controller coupled to the decoder and the frame composer, wherein the controller displays the first information concurrently with the video data according to user commands.    
     
     
         12 . The system according to    claim 11   , further comprising a network interface for accessing second information of the selectable items for a user selected item from the displayed first information.  
     
     
         13 . The system according to    claim 12   , wherein second information is larger than the first information.  
     
     
         14 . The system according to    claim 13   , further comprising a first information storage device, wherein received first information is compared to previously stored first information in the storage device according to an identifier in the first information, wherein the stored first information is updated according to a comparison result, and wherein the first information includes address information of a web site.