Interactive video distribution systems – Operator interface – To facilitate tuning or selection of video signal
Reexamination Certificate
1997-12-12
2002-04-02
Miller, John W. (Department: 2611)
Interactive video distribution systems
Operator interface
To facilitate tuning or selection of video signal
C348S734000, C725S038000, C725S045000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06367078
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to an electronic program-guide (EPG) system that enables a television viewer of a program in a particular category to “sideways surf” to the next channel carrying another program in the same category.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The capacity of television-distribution systems is beginning to exceed the decision-making capability of the average viewer. Currently, over 60 million households in the United States subscribe to one of over 10,000 cable-television systems, and more than 45% of those subscribers receive 54 or more channels. In addition, over 5 million US households subscribe to satellite-television services that use digital-compression technology allowing up to 200 channels. In the future, high-bandwidth cable systems using digital compression will be able to offer more than 500 channels of standard quality, although this number will be reduced if some of the channels carry high-definition programming.
A. Television-Distribution Systems
FIG. 1
depicts a typical prior-art system in which a television-distribution network
10
delivers television signals in channels to a simple user-interface unit
12
that functions as a channel selector. The television-distribution network may be a cable-television system as described by Walter S. Ciciorca in “Cable Television in the United States—An Overview,” which was published by Cable Television Labs in 1995. In a cable-television system, a network interface
11
such as a multitap allows for splitting the signals off a distribution cable of the network for transmission along a drop cable into the subscriber's premises. The television-distribution network could also be a direct-broadcast satellite (DBS) system. A DBS system delivers television signals in channels on a microwave carrier to a subscriber's user-interface unit. A third type of distribution system called “wireless cable” or MMDS (for Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Services) also uses a microwave carrier, but the transmitters are on the ground. Multiple transmitters are used to extend the range of a system from the 30-40 mile line-of-sight range of a single transmitter. Both DBS and MMDS distribution systems use a stationary dish antenna as the network interface
11
to acquire the microwave carrier at the subscriber's premises. The television distribution network may also be traditional broadcast television, wherein the network interface may be a roof-mounted antenna or rabbit-ears.
B. Channel Selector
In the typical prior-art system of
FIG. 1
, a viewer controls a user-interface unit
12
at a remote control
123
, which is typically an infrared transmitter. The viewer can enter a channel number on a numeric keypad of the remote control, and a receiver
124
will forward the number to a controller
125
. In a simple system, the controller accepts two numbers at a time, so if the viewer wants channel
2
, he or she presses the 0 key before pressing the 2 key. The controller causes a tuner
121
to pass a video signal
131
of the selected channel to a video-display generator
122
. The video-display generator also receives the selected channel number directly from the controller and overlays a graphical representation of the channel number
132
on the video of the selected channel. Typically the controller presents a newly selected channel number to the video-display generator only for a few seconds, to allow the viewer to confirm the selection that he or she made. The selected video is remodulated at a modulator
126
so that it may be received by the TV receiver
13
at a fixed channel, usually channel
3
or
4
. The viewer may also press up and down-arrow keys on the remote control to cause the user-interface to select the next higher or lower channel number. When the network is a cable-television network, the user-interface unit
12
may be incorporated in a cable-ready VCR or television receiver. Satellite-ready television receivers have been produced also, but it is more common to use a separate user-interface unit with a DBS or MMDS distribution network, because a relatively expensive tuner is used to receive channels from the microwave carrier of those systems.
C. Non-Interactive Program Guides
A viewer who is interested in a particular type of program can consult television listings provided in magazines and newspapers. However, these sources list program titles by channel and time slot, so the viewer must read the titles of all the programs offered at the time of interest. TV Listings published in newspapers and magazines fail to reflect schedule changes caused by special broadcasts or by the unpredictable timing of live events. Printed listings are also incomplete as to which channel number a viewer should select, especially for cable channels.
If the viewer subscribes to a television-distribution service, he or she can also usually select a special channel that is dedicated to a program guide
20
as depicted in FIG.
2
. Program-guide channels are also inconvenient because standard-quality television can display only a limited amount of readable text. Therefore only a few channel listings are shown at a time and slowly scroll the program-guide information through the displayed video
21
. In the example shown in
FIG. 2
, a viewer who wants to watch a sitcom will have to remember that there is such a program on channel
2
until the listing for channel
61
appears on the screen. Thereafter, the viewer will have to remember which programs are showing on both channels
2
and
61
while many other listings scroll onto the screen. This takes some effort and intensifies the impatience viewers feel while waiting for the program-guide channel to return to where it was when they started watching it. Very often, viewers ignore the program-guide channel instead, preferring to “surf” up or down through the channels instead, watching a few seconds of each program to see if it looks interesting.
D. Interactive Electronic Program-Guide System
Interactive electronic program-guide systems are also known in the art. An electronic program-guide system comprises data and software that reside in a user-interface unit that is commonly referred to as a set-top box. For example, a system for controlling a television receiver to allow user selection of broadcast programs from schedule information is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,121 issued to Patrick Young on Nov. 10, 1987.
FIG. 3
depicts an illustrative user-interface unit
30
that receives television signals in channels from the television-distribution network
10
at a tuner
31
. The user-interface unit also receives a program guide at a data decoder
32
. The program guide may be thought as a spread sheet with rows labeled by channel numbers, columns labeled by time slots, and titles of scheduled programs filled into cells that may occupy one or more half-hour time slots. A data processor
34
moves the program guide into a memory
33
for later use.
User-interface unit
30
allows a viewer to choose a program-guide (PG) mode and a television (TV) mode. The viewer can toggle back and forth between these modes by pressing a PG/TV key
351
at a remote control
35
. In TV mode, a numeric-key array
352
and up and down-arrow keys
353
and
354
, respectively, allow the viewer to select programs in the same way as described above in connection with the channel selector shown in FIG.
1
. The data processor also causes the video-display generator
37
to superimpose the channel number
132
on the video
131
of the channel just selected for a few seconds.
When the electronic program guide is in TV mode and the viewer presses the PG/TV button, a signal is received at a receiver
36
, where it is accessible to the data processor
34
. The data processor responds by retrieving a portion of the program guide from the memory and sending it to a video-display generator
37
. The video-display generator shows a portion of the program-guide spreadsheet
41
on the television receiver
13
as illustrated in FIG.
4
. There is a current cell (cha
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