Displaying Enhanced Content Information on a Remote Control Unit

Abstract

A remote control unit for a video receiver may be utilized to display information about enhanced content available in conjunction with a video broadcast. The information displayed on the remote control unit display may provide information about available enhanced content, advertising, or even the status of connected devices, such as telephones, computer systems, digital video disk players, and video cassette recorders. By transmitting the data from the video receiver to the remote control unit, the information is available to the user without interrupting the display on the user's video receiver.

1 . A method comprising:
 receiving video information and at least two enhancements;   analyzing said enhancements to determine whether said enhancements are advertising or non-advertising content;   if an enhancement is advertising content, automatically displaying the advertising content on a first of at least two displays; and   if an enhancement is non-advertising content, automatically displaying said non-advertising content on a second of two displays.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  including recognizing code indicative of an advertising content and automatically displaying the advertising content on the first display. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  including automatically displaying the advertising content on a remote control display. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  including displaying information on said selected display to enable the user to purchase an item advertised in said advertising content. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2  including parsing an enhancement from the video information and parsing the code from said enhancement. 
     
     
         6 . A method comprising:
 receiving video information and at least two enhancements, said video information including content selectively displayable on either of two displays, one of said enhancements being an advertisement and the other enhancement not being an advertisement, said advertising enhancement further including a code indicative that the enhancement is an advertisement, said code further designating one of said two displays for said advertisement;   recognizing from said code that the enhancement is an advertisement and recognizing the code designating which of the two displays to display the advertisement on; and   based on said code, automatically displaying the advertising enhancement on the display indicated by the code.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  including automatically displaying the advertisement on a remote control display. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  including always displaying advertisements on said remote control.