SYSTEM FOR SMS VALUE ADDED SERVICE FOR ACTIVE TELEVISION SHOWS RECEIVED VIA A SET TOP BOX

摘要

An interactive device interfaced between a set top box and at least one display device, said device comprising: ° blending means co-operating with said set top box to receive video content, said blending means adapted to blend pre determined textual content with said video content to form blended content; ° graphical interface cooperating with blending means to receive said blended content, said graphical interface further adapted to output the received blended content on to said display device; ° a user interface adapted to enable a user to interact with said interactive device; ° a machine vision unit cooperating with blending means to receive said blended content, said machine vision unit adapted to detect the coordinates of a frame of an active page containing said blended content; ° storage means adapted to store the coordinates of said frame of an active page; ° pre processing means adapted to recognize the active page displayed on said display device, said pre processing means cooperating with storage means to receive the coordinates of said frame of the active page, said preprocessing means adapted to separate the background image and foreground image of said frame and enhance said foreground image; ° character recognition means cooperating with preprocessing means to receive said enhanced foreground image, said character recognition means further adapted to extract the alpha numeric character set embedded in said enhanced foreground image; ° communication means cooperating with character recognition means, said communication means further adapted to formulate the message text and address and transmit the text message to said address over a computer network; ° receiving means cooperating with user interface to receive the signals.