US 6,018,768 · Granted 2000-01-25

The 2000 Patent That Tried to Merge TV and Web Before Streaming Existed

Imagine watching a TV show where clickable links pop up on your screen, letting you instantly jump to a website with more info about what you're watching. This patent describes exactly that: a system that embeds internet addresses into video programs so your computer can automatically grab related web pages and display them alongside the show, all synchronized perfectly in time.

Curated and verified by the IsItPatented Editorial team

The plain-English version

What it protects

The claim covers a computer-based system that detects embedded web addresses (URLs) within video content, automatically retrieves the corresponding web pages, and displays them synchronized with the video on screen. What's protected here is the combination of receiving video with embedded URLs, interpreting those addresses, fetching the web content, time-stamping it, and showing the video and web pages together—either on a PC or during live TV broadcast.

Why it matters

This patent represents an early attempt to merge television and interactive internet content, filed in 1998 when most homes still had dial-up connections. It anticipated the concept of second-screen experiences and companion content that later became standard practice with streaming services and social media. While the technology was ahead of its time, the patent laid intellectual groundwork for how video and web information could be synchronized—a pattern that eventually became commonplace.

Real-world use

When you watch a cooking show today and see links to recipe ingredients, or a sports broadcast with live stats overlaid, you're using descendants of this technology.

Original USPTO abstract

A system for integrating video programming with the vast information resources of the Internet. A computer-based system receives a video program with embedded uniform resource locators (URLs). The URLs, the effective addresses of locations or Web sites on the Internet, are interpreted by the system and direct the system to the Web site locations to retrieve related Web pages. Upon receipt of the Web pages by the system, the Web pages are synchronized to the video content for display. The video program signal can be displayed on a video window on a conventional personal computer screen. The actual retrieved Web pages are time stamped to also be displayed, on another portion of the display screen, when predetermined related video content is displayed in the video window. As an alternative, the computer-based system receives the URLs directly through an Internet connection, at times specified by TV broadcasters in advance. The system interprets the URLs and retrieves the appropriate Web pages. The Web pages are synchronized to the video content for display in conjunction with a television program being broadcast to the user at that time. This alternative system allows the URLs to be entered for live transmission to the user.

Patent details

Publication number: US 6,018,768
Filing date: 1998-07-06
Grant date: 2000-01-25
Assignee: Actv, Inc.
Inventor(s): ULLMAN; CRAIG, HIDARY; JACK D., SPIVACK; NOVA T.
CPC class: H04N7/08

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