Display of enhanced content

摘要

A television broadcasting system is described in which a transmission unit controls the presentation of items of enhanced content during a running program. The presentation of the items of enhanced content is triggered in response to receipt by the transmission unit of periodic indications embedded in the running program. For each periodic indication, a criterion indicative of the quality of that periodic indication is measured and stored by the transmission unit as quality data. During the running program, if no indication is received by the transmission unit for a predetermined time, the transmission unit accesses the quality data to determine an expected indication quality. If the expected indication quality is above a threshold quality level, the triggering of enhanced content is suspended. On the other hand, if the expected indication quality is below the threshold, the presentation of enhanced content continues to be triggered.

主权项

1. A method in a television broadcasting system in which a transmission unit controls a presentation of items of enhanced content during a running program and the presentation of the items of enhanced content is triggered in response to receipt by the transmission unit of periodic indications embedded in the running program, the method comprising:
measuring, for each periodic indication, a criterion indicative of the quality of that periodic indication; storing the measured criteria as quality data; and, during the running program, if no periodic indication is detected by the transmission unit for a predetermined time, accessing the quality data to determine an expected indication quality, and: if the expected indication quality is above a threshold quality level, suspending the triggering of items of enhanced content whilst the running program remains running, and if the expected indication quality is below the threshold, triggering the presentation of items of enhanced content, wherein the items of enhanced content are additional content capable of being displayed at the direct or indirect request of a user; and wherein the items of enhanced content are capable of being presented in addition to a basic content of the running program.