Providing Interactivity Options For Television Broadcast Content

Abstract

Methods and system for providing interactive media for broadcast content includes receiving navigation input to a first channel that presents content of the television broadcast. Identity of the content is determined by generating an audio fingerprint using an audio signal of the content. Types of interactive media available during the presentation of the content from the first channel and a predetermined input for accessing the graphical notification are identified and used to generate a graphical notification. Access to interactive media presented within the graphical notification is enabled during rendering of the graphical notification and at any time during rendering of the content from the first channel, upon providing the predefined input. When the predefined input is detected, the types of interactive media available for the content are rendered, and content for the select one of the interactive media is presented, during presentation of the content from the first channel.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for presenting interactivity options for a television broadcast, comprising:
 receiving selection of content of a first channel for the television broadcast;   identifying the content using an audio fingerprint generated for a portion of the content using an audio signal of the content;   identifying types of interactive media available for the content of the first channel and a predefined input for accessing each type of interactive media; and   generating a graphical notification for presenting the types of interactive media during rendering of the content of the first channel, the types and content of interactive media dynamically adjusted in the graphical notification based on changes detected in the content of the first channel due to progression of the television broadcast, such that the graphical notification includes the types and content of interactive media that are relevant to the content of the television broadcast currently rendering,   wherein operations of the method are performed by one or more processors of a server computing device.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the changes to the content are determined using audio fingerprints generated for different portions of the audio signal of the content. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the graphical notification generated for the content provides selectable descriptive data to enable identification of each of the types of interactive media available for the content. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining identity of the content further includes,
 matching the audio fingerprint generated for the portion of the content to a specific one of a plurality of pre-computed audio fingerprints available for the content.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the pre-computed audio fingerprints are stored in a local cache and retrieved during rendering of the content for comparing and matching. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the types of interactive media available for the content are identified upon verifying user engagement in the content of the first channel selected for the television broadcast meets a pre-defined threshold of time. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the types of interactive media further includes,
 querying a plurality of content sources to identify the interactive media available for the content; and   categorizing the interactive media identified for the content in accordance to content type.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein generating the graphical notification further includes,
 identifying a notification configuration associated with a user selecting the content for television broadcast, the notification configuration specifying the types of interactive media to include in the graphical notification for presenting to the user; and   selecting the types and content of interactive media for including in the graphical notification in accordance to the notification configuration of the user.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further includes,
 presenting the graphical notification generated for the user at periodic intervals during the presentation of the content of the first channel, the periodic intervals defined by a predefined notification frequency.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further includes,
 detecting a switch in content from the first channel to a second channel; and   in response, dynamically updating the graphical notification presented to a user selecting the content to include the types of interactive media available for content from the second channel, the types and content of interactive media for the second channel presented in the graphical notification changing over time as the content of the second channel changes based on progression of the television broadcast, such that the graphical notification includes the types and content of the interactive media that are relevant to the content of the second channel currently rendering.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the dynamic updating of the graphical notification is performed after verifying that an amount of time of user engagement with the content of the second channel meets the pre-defined threshold of time. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the dynamic updating of the graphical notification is in accordance to a notification configuration associated with the user selecting the content. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the graphical notification is presented for a limited duration upon initial verification of the content of the first channel and at specific time frames defined by predefined notification frequency, the updating of the graphical notification continuing as long as the content of the first channel continues to be selected. 
     
     
         14 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium having program instructions, which when executed by a processor of a computing device performs a method for presenting interactivity options for a television broadcast, the program instructions including:
 program instructions for receiving selection of content of a first channel for the television broadcast;   program instructions for identifying the content using an audio fingerprint generated for a portion of the content using an audio signal of the content;   program instructions for identifying types of interactive media available for the content of the first channel and a predefined input for accessing each type of interactive media; and   program instructions for generating a graphical notification for presenting the types of interactive media during rendering of the content of the first channel, the types and content of interactive media dynamically adjusted in the graphical notification based on changes detected in the content of the first channel due to progression of the television broadcast, such that the graphical notification includes the types and content of the interactive media that are relevant to the content of the television broadcast currently rendering.   
     
     
         15 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein program instructions for identifying the content further includes program instructions for matching the audio fingerprint generated for the portion of the content to a specific one of a plurality of pre-computed audio fingerprints available for the content. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein program instructions for identifying the types of interactive media further includes,
 program instructions for querying a plurality of content sources to identify the interactive media available for the content; and   program instructions for categorizing the interactive media identified for the content in accordance to content type.   
     
     
         17 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein program instructions for generating the graphical notification further includes,
 program instructions for identifying a notification configuration associated with a user selecting the content for television broadcast, the notification configuration specifying the types of interactive media to include in the graphical notification when presenting to the user; and   program instructions for selecting the types and content of interactive media for including in the graphical notification in accordance to the notification configuration of the user.   
     
     
         18 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , further includes,
 program instructions for detecting a switch in content from the first channel to a second channel; and   program instructions for dynamically updating the graphical notification presented to a user selecting the content to include the types of interactive media available for content from the second channel, in response to detecting the switch, the types and content of interactive media for the second channel presented in the graphical notification changing over time as the content of the second channel changes based on progression of the television broadcast, such that the graphical notification includes the types and content of the interactive media that are relevant to the content of the second channel currently rendering.