User managed internet links from TV

1. A method of obtaining metadata associated with television programming content, comprising:

instructing, via a digital television device that does not have direct access to the metadata, an access device to generate and communicate a signal to the digital television device suitable for driving a television display of the digital television device, where the signal contains visual metadata in a video format suitable for rendering on the television display of the digital television device in a visual representation;

receiving the signal at the digital television device and storing a representation of a video frame within a memory of the digital television device;

processing the video frame via the digital television device using optical character recognition (OCR) of the visual metadata to extract enough information to identify the television programming content from the video frame;

retrieving additional metadata associated with the identified television programming content from a television programming content source of metadata; and

displaying the retrieved additional metadata on the television display of the digital television device at a configured time other than a time at which the additional metadata is retrieved.

2. The method according to claim 1 , where at least one of a selected channel, date, time, service provider and approximate physical location is determined using the optical character recognition (OCR) processing of the video frame to identify the television programming content.

3. The method according to claim 1 , where at least one of a selected channel, date, time, service provider and approximate physical location is determined by information in at least one of an electronic program guide, a program watermark, and channel change information to identify the television programming content.

4. The method according to claim 1 , where identifying the television program content is carried out by accessing a specified web site that contains a database of the additional metadata.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the retrieving of the additional metadata is carried out over the Internet.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the method is carried out in a television remote controller.

7. The method of claim 1 , where displaying the retrieved additional metadata on the television display of the digital television device at the configured time other than the time at which the additional metadata is retrieved comprises displaying the retrieved additional metadata on the television display of the digital television device during a commercial break in television programming.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

detecting a selection via a television remote control device of a portion of the video frame; and

where processing the video frame via the digital television device using the OCR of the visual metadata to extract enough information to identify the television programming content from the video frame comprises:

identifying a search string within the selected portion of the video frame;

performing an Internet search based upon the identified search string;

receiving search results in response to the Internet search; and

displaying the search results on the television display of the digital television device.

9. A method of obtaining metadata associated with television programming content, comprising:

at a television remote controller that does not have direct access to the metadata, generating a first signal instructing an access device to generate and communicate a second signal to a digital television device suitable for driving a television display of the digital television device, where the second signal contains visual metadata in a video format suitable for rendering on the television display of the digital television device in a visual representation;

receiving the second signal at the digital television device and storing a representation of a video frame within a memory of the digital television device;

processing the video frame via the digital television device using optical character recognition (OCR) of the visual metadata to extract enough information to identify the television programming content from the video frame;

where at least one of a selected channel, date, time, service provider and approximate physical location is determined using the optical character recognition (OCR) processing of the video frame to identify the television programming content;

retrieving additional metadata associated with the identified television programming content from a television programming content source of metadata; and

displaying the retrieved additional metadata on the television display of the digital television device at a configured time other than a time at which the additional metadata is retrieved.

10. The method according to claim 9 , where the at least one of the selected channel, date, time, service provider and approximate physical location is determined by information in at least one of an electronic program guide, a program watermark, and channel change information to identify the television programming content.

11. The method according to claim 9 , where identifying the television programming content is carried out by accessing a specified web site that contains a database of the additional metadata.

12. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the retrieving of the additional metadata is carried out over the Internet.

13. The method of claim 9 , where displaying the retrieved additional metadata on the television display of the digital television device at the configured time other than the time at which the additional metadata is retrieved comprises displaying the retrieved additional metadata on the television display of the digital television device during a commercial break in television programming.

14. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

detecting a selection via the television remote controller of a portion of the video frame; and

where processing the video frame via the digital television device using the OCR of the visual metadata to extract enough information to identify the television programming content from the video frame comprises:

identifying a search string within the selected portion of the video frame;

performing an Internet search based upon the identified search string;

receiving search results in response to the Internet search; and

displaying the search results on the television display device.

15. A method of obtaining metadata associated with television programming content, comprising:

at a television remote controller that does not have direct access to the metadata, generating a first signal instructing an access device to generate and communicate a second signal to a control digital television device suitable for driving a television display of the digital television device, where the second signal contains visual metadata in a video format suitable for rendering on the television display device of the digital television in a visual representation;

receiving the second signal at the digital television device and storing a representation of a video frame within a memory of the digital television device;

processing the video frame via the digital television device using optical character recognition (OCR) of the visual metadata to extract enough information to identify the television programming content from the video frame;

where at least one of a selected channel, date, time, service provider and approximate physical location is determined using the optical character recognition (OCR) processing of the video frame to identify the television programming content, where identifying the television programming content is carried out by accessing a specified web site that contains a database of additional metadata;

retrieving the additional metadata associated with the identified television programming content from a television programming content source of metadata from the database over the Internet; and

displaying the retrieved additional metadata on the television display of the digital television device at a configured time other than a time at which the additional metadata is retrieved.

16. The method according to claim 15 , where the at least one of the selected channel, date, time, service provider and approximate physical location is determined by information in at least one of an electronic program guide, a program watermark, and channel change information to identify the television programming content.

17. The method of claim 15 , where displaying the retrieved additional metadata on the television display of the digital television device at the configured time other than the time at which the additional metadata is retrieved comprises displaying the retrieved additional metadata on the television display of the digital television device during a commercial break in television programming.

18. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

detecting a selection via the television remote controller of a portion of the video frame; and

where processing the video frame via the digital television device using the OCR of the visual metadata to extract enough information to identify the television programming content from the video frame comprises:

identifying a search string within the selected portion of the video frame;

performing an Internet search based upon the identified search string;

receiving search results in response to the Internet search; and

displaying the search results on the television display device.