Background

• The following is just one possible scenario, highlighting services based on existing TV programs, a simple search interface such as Google's, and open Web content from various Web services such as IMDb.  (No relationship or cooperation with any of these companies is implied – they are merely used as familiar examples to illustrate what might be done.) 
• Alternatively, the CoTV service might have Web content that is limited to a walled garden.
• This example is for full two-screen CoTV, but similar use of link-and-pause and bookmarks can be provided in a one-screen version that presents Web-like content on the TV screen (or video on the PC).
• Additional background on the service setup, platform options, and content options is provided below. 
• Indicates key opportunities for e-commerce and advertising revenue (click fees, etc.).

A sample PC/Web screen design:  (click to enlarge)

Coactive viewing scenario – Multitasking activity timeline

Read down for TV and PC/Web tasks sequence   -   Read across for coactivity

Basic viewing  

• Joe and Alice begin watching TV, and tune to Casablanca on TMC.

(No interaction.)

• The laptop PC is on an end-table, plugged in and active. The toolbar receives the channel number for TMC, and requests a CoTV page.
• The linked page is shown in the mini-viewer, with the IMDb, RottenTomatoes, Amazon, and TVGuide links for Casablanca, followed by other search hits specific to that movie, weighted for relevance to a user who is actually viewing the movie. The linked IMDb page for Casablanca is also opened in the browser.

• Joe sees Captain Renault in the movie, and wants to be reminded who he is, and where else he has seen him.
• (Casablanca continues, with no interference with the TV screen–which his wife is also watching, undisturbed.)

• Joe picks up his laptop and sees in the linked IMDb page that Captain Renault is Claude Rains.
• He then clicks on his name and sees that he was in many films, including Notorious.

• Peter Lorre appears and Joe and Alice get into a discussion about him and need to find out who is right about his other roles.

• They "link-and-pause," linking to the IMDb Casablanca page, and pausing the TV.

(The TV is paused.)

• They both surf through Peter Lorre's IMDb filmography and to various other pages, and view some video clips from the movie M, and then to pages about Fritz Lang and Metropolis.
• When they finish that tangent, they un-pause the movie, and put the laptop back on the end-table.

• (Casablanca continues from where it was paused.)

(No interaction.)

• (Casablanca continues)

• Alice finishes some work and indicates she does not want to watch Casablanca. She takes the laptop and browses the current TVGuide listings. 
• It being near Christmas, she wants to see the classic A Christmas Carol with Alastair Sim that is starting on ABC.
• She Ctrl-clicks on the listing in the TVGuide grid on the PC, which changes the TV channel.

• The TV is simultaneously tuned to A Christmas Carol

• The mini-viewer changes accordingly, and the linked IMDb page for that particular movie opens (even though there are many versions of A Christmas Carol, and this one is actually listed under its original British release title, Scrooge, not the American release title shown in the TV listing).

Advertising and sales (providing context-specific value to the user as well as the advertiser)

• (Joe continues to view A Christmas Carol without obstruction)

• Alice decides that A Christmas Carol would be a nice present for her niece, and clicks the Amazon link to order the DVD of it (getting directly to that item page in one click).

• A Christmas Carol is interrupted by a TV ad for Disneyworld.

• Within seconds, a synchronously linked Google ad for Disneyworld also appears on the PC. Google could have allowed this ad to pop a browser window or show a banner, but has restricted it to its usual text ad in the upper right of the mini-viewer screen, using red text (or a CoTV icon) to indicate that it relates to the current TV viewing.
• Joe is tempted and clicks the Google PC ad , linking to a Disney mini-site that is specific to the attractions and travel specials offered in the TV ad (based on a TV ad-ID code in the URL).

• The ad completes and A Christmas Carol continues (both unobstructed by Joe's interaction)

• Joe continues his ad-related interaction checks out hotel and flight availability, checks his mileage account on an airline site, and his calendar. Alice is watching the movie, unaware of his activity until he tells her he wants that to be the Christmas present to the family, and that she should check her calendar.
• She agrees, and pauses the movie (using either the PC or the remote control).

(The TV is paused.)

• Alice takes the notebook to check her calendar.
• Alice passes the PC back to Joe to confirm the reservation , while she un-pauses and continues watching the movie.

• A Christmas Carol continues from where it was paused (unobstructed by Joe's interaction).

• Joe completes the reservation

• A Christmas Carol continues.

(No interaction.)

• Alice gets a phone call and must leave, so they pause A Christmas Carol, and set it to be recorded.

(No interaction.)

• Joe uses the remote control to tune to TMC, returning to Casablanca, in progress as it continues in real time.

• The PC screens respond to that channel change, showing the linked IMDb page and other links for Casablanca.
• Joe links to a copy of the script for Casablanca, so he can follow it as the movie plays.

• Audio: “Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” 

• Script:  “Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

Richard Reisman -- Bio
Consulting/About