Method and apparatus for real-time viewer interaction with a media presentation

1. A system for real-time participation within a media presentation, comprising:

a compositing processor programmed to

a) generate a participant overlay by preprocessing said media presentation to extract a time-variant metadata stream associated with one or more interactive regions depicted in said media presentation, wherein said participant overlay includes simulated physics, wherein said simulated physics include boundaries of said one or more interactive regions defined in accordance with one or more content elements in said media presentation;

b) provide a range of actions with which a participant can augment the media presentation by adding one or more interactive elements to said media presentation;

c) capture a participant's interaction with said media presentation through said one or more interactive regions of said overlay and said one or more interactive elements; and

d) combine said overlay with said media presentation for display to said participant on a display.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein said participant's interaction comprises any of a user action upon said one or more content elements in said media presentation, a user action expressed in said media presentation through an avatar, or a user action in said media presentation in connection with a game element.

3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a display for simultaneously displaying said media presentation and said participant overlay.

4. The system of claim 3 , further comprising a controller configured to facilitate the participant's interaction within said media presentation in real time.

5. The system of claim 4 , said controller comprising:

any of a game controller, joystick, mouse, touchpad, ultrasonic motion detector, microphone, and video camera.

6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

a plurality of participant locations, each participant location supporting at least one participant; and

a network for interconnecting each participant location;

wherein said compositing processor is configured to simultaneously capture interaction of each participant at each of said plurality of participant locations and add the interaction of each participant to said overlay in real time for display at a display at each of said participant locations.

7. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a participant location comprising a facility that supports a plurality of participants and a display configured to display said media presentation and said participant overlay simultaneously to each of said plurality of participants.

8. The system of claim 7 , further comprising means for each participant in said plurality of participants to interact with said media presentation in real time.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein said compositing processor comprises:

a local processor at said participant location.

10. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

a game processor programmed to provide at least one game play element to said media presentation via said participant overlay.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein said game processor and said compositing processor comprise:

one or more local processor at said participant location.

12. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

a media processor programmed to provide said media presentation to said compositing processor.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein said compositing processor is further programmed to synchronize captured participant interaction with said media presentation.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein said compositing processor is further programmed to map said media presentation on a predetermined basis, to add interactive elements to said media presentation in accordance with said map, and to track participant interaction with said interactive elements based upon said map.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein said compositing processor is programmed to use said map to track participant movement of said interactive and to maintain accurate registration between said participant overlay and said media presentation.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein said participant overlay comprises:

an avatar representation of said participant, wherein the avatar representation is configured to interact with one or more of the interactive elements.

17. The system of claim 1 , wherein said participant overlay comprises:

interactions of said participant with any of said media presentation and interactive elements within said participant overlay.

18. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one element of said media presentation is extracted therefrom and re-rendered into an interactive feature.

19. A method for real-time participation within a media presentation, comprising:

a) generating a participant overlay by preprocessing said media presentation to extract a time-variant metadata stream associated with one or more interactive regions depicted in said media presentation, wherein said participant overlay includes simulated physics, wherein said simulated physics include boundaries of said one or more interactive regions defined in accordance with one or more content elements in said media presentation;

b) providing a range of actions with which a participant can augment the media presentation by adding one or more interactive elements to said media presentation;

c) capturing a participant's interaction with said media presentation through said one or more interactive regions of said overlay and said one or more interactive elements; and

d) combining said overlay with said media presentation for display to said participant on a display, said interaction comprising any of a user action upon said one or more content elements in said media presentation, a user action expressed in said media presentation through an avatar, or a user action in said media presentation in connection with a game element; and

e) simultaneously displaying said media presentation and said overlay on the display.

20. A game system comprising:

a display; and

a processor coupled to the display, wherein the processor is configured to combine pre-existing video content with an interactive overlay that permits user interaction with one or more virtual objects overlaid onto a scene of the pre-existing video content, wherein said overlay includes simulated physics, wherein said simulated physics include boundaries defined in accordance with one or more content elements in said video content, and wherein the processor is configured to provide a range of actions with which a participant can augment a media presentation by adding one or more interactive elements to said video content.