Communication infrastructure including simultaneous video pathways for multi-viewer support

摘要

A communication system is described that allows co-located viewers to simultaneously consume different media content, such as different video content, via the same display screen, wherein video content delivered to at least one co-located viewer is not visible to the other co-located viewer(s). The communication system comprises an infrastructure that includes multiple pathways for delivering media content from one or more media sources to the eyes of each of the co-located viewers, wherein each pathway passes through the pixels of a pixel array included in the shared display screen. The pathways also include distributed or non-distributed processing circuitry that manages certain resources that are shared among the multiple pathways, wherein such shared resources may include shared display resources (e.g., pixels of the pixel array and light generated thereby) and shared data communication resources (e.g., bandwidth on data communication links and processing resources of nodes located on such links).

主权项

1. A communication infrastructure used to support visual presentations based on media content observable by both a first viewer and a second viewer, the communication infrastructure comprising:
a shared display screen having a pixel array; one or more media sources that store the media content, the media source(s) being external to the shared display screen; processing circuitry; a first pathway from the one or more media sources and through both the processing circuitry and the shared display screen, the first pathway supporting delivery of a first visual experience, the first visual experience being based on at least a first part of the media content, and at least a portion of the first visual experience being observable by the first viewer but not by the second viewer; a second pathway from the one or more media sources and through both the processing circuitry and the shared display screen, the second pathway supporting delivery of a second visual experience, the second visual experience being based on at least a second part of the media content, and at least a portion of the second visual experience being observable by the second viewer, the first pathway and the second pathway operating to simultaneously deliver via the shared display screen both the first visual experience and the second visual experience; and the processing circuitry at least assists in managing at least one shared data communication resource that is shared between the first pathway and the second pathway, the at least one shared data communication resource including at least one of processing power of a node located along the first pathway and the second pathway or bandwidth on a link located along the first pathway and the second pathway, managing the at least one shared data communication resource including managing an amount of the at least one shared data communication resource that is allocated to the first pathway and an amount of the at least one shared data communication resource that is allocated to the second pathway.