Watching TV and chatting at the same time

A patent filed by Microsoft has recently been approved by the United States Patent Office (USPTO). The patent describes a "multimode interactive television chat" system, where the user can view television while simultaneously selecting links available from the show, which may include chat forums revolving around said program.

The TV display and chat interfaces are designed to appear on a single screen at the same time, each in their own frame:

"displaying the video signal and the one or more chat communications on the display in a first display mode, such that the video signal is displayed in a first frame that has a corresponding size and position on the display, and such that the one or more chat communications are displayed in a second frame that has a corresponding size and position on the display."

The practical upshot of this, I suppose, is that you can continue watching Gilmore Girls while simultaneously texting on your remote control "OMG LORELAI IS SO HOT" to the delight of other viewers. While the merging of these media may seem silly to some, it has already started happening. Canadian music station Muchmusic often devotes a full third of the picture display to scrolling fans' inane cell phone text messages, and there have been times when I've turned on CNN and inexplicably seen a TV camera's view of a computer screen displaying somebody's blog. Read more...