Video enabled digital devices for embedding user data in interactive applications

Abstract

An apparatus connects viewers in the broadcasting and gaming experience for the purpose of enhancing the entertainment experience of a user. The apparatus engages the viewer in a media that is visually rich which consequently provides a new and unique form of enhancing the user experience.

I claim: 
     
         1 . An interactive media apparatus for generating a displayable edited video data stream from an original video data stream, said interactive media apparatus comprising:
 an image capture device capturing a user input video data stream;   an image display device displaying the original video stream;   a data entry device, operably coupled with the image capture device and the image display device, operated by a user to select at least one pixel in the frame of the user input video data stream to use as a second image, and further operated by the user to select at least one pixel in a frame of the original video data stream to use as the first image;   a digital processing unit operably coupled with the data entry device, said digital processing unit performing:
 identifying the selected at least one pixel in the frame of the user input video data stream; 
 digitally extracting the identified at least one pixel as the second image; 
 storing the second image in a memory device operably coupled with the interactive media apparatus; 
 receiving a selection of the first image from the original video data stream; 
 digitally extracting the first image; 
 spatially matching an area of the second image to an area of the first image in the original video data stream, wherein spatially matching the areas results in equal spatial lengths and widths between said two spatially matched areas; and 
 performing a substitution of the spatially matched first image with the spatially matched second image to generate the displayable edited video data stream from the original video data stream. 
   
     
     
         2 . The interactive media apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the data entry device is selected from a group of devices consisting of: a keyboard, a display, a wireless communication capability device, and an external memory device; 
     
     
         3 . The interactive media apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the digital processing unit is further capable of extracting the at least one pixel from the user pointing to a spatial location in a displayed video frame. 
     
     
         4 . The interactive media apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the digital processing unit is further capable of extracting the at least one pixel from the user selecting from a displayed list of items identifying content in the video. 
     
     
         5 . The interactive media apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the substitution performed by the digital processing device replaces at least a face of a first person from the original video data stream by at least a face of a second person from the user input video data stream. 
     
     
         6 . An interactive media apparatus in an internet enabled broadcast network system for generating a displayable edited video data stream from an original broadcast video data stream, wherein at least one pixel in a frame of the original broadcast video data stream is digitally extracted to form a first image, said first image is substituted by a second image resulting from a digital extraction of at least one pixel in a frame of a user input video data stream, said apparatus comprising:
 an image capture device capturing a user input video data stream;   an imaging processing device, operably coupled with the image capture device, digitally processing the captured user input video data stream;   a signal processing device receiving an original broadcast video data stream from a broadcast station;   a data entry device, operably coupled with the image capture device and the image processing device, wirelessly transmitting to the signal processing device in the interactive media apparatus user embedded instructions, wherein said user embedded instructions are used by said signal processing device for:
 identifying the first image in the original broadcast video data stream; and 
 identifying the second image in the user input video data stream; 
   a digital processing unit performing:
 detecting the second image from the user input video data stream, as identified by the user, according to the wirelessly received user embedded instructions; 
 extracting the second image from the user input video data stream; 
 storing the second image in a memory device operably coupled with the interactive media apparatus; 
 detecting the first image from the original broadcast video data stream, as identified by the user, according to the wirelessly received embedded instructions; 
 extracting the first image from the original broadcast video data stream; 
 spatially matching an area of the second image in the user input video data stream with an area of the first image in the original broadcast video data stream, wherein spatially matching results in equal spatial lengths and widths between the spatially matched areas; and 
 substituting the spatially matched first image with the spatially matched second image to generate the displayable edited video data stream from the original broadcast video data stream. 
   
     
     
         7 . The interactive media apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the user input video data stream is captured by an imaging capture device internal to the apparatus. 
     
     
         8 . The interactive media apparatus of  claim 6  comprising an audio processing unit, wherein the audio processing unit performs audio processing to replace audio corresponding to the first image in the original broadcast video stream with audio corresponding to the second image in the user input video data stream. 
     
     
         9 . The interactive media apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the signal processing device for receiving an original broadcast video data stream receives the data stream by means of a user specific internet address.