Television – Basic receiver with additional function – For display of additional information
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-28
2002-11-19
Miller, John (Department: 2614)
Television
Basic receiver with additional function
For display of additional information
C348S563000, C348S569000, C348S901000, C725S039000, C725S049000, C725S059000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06483548
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to methods of displaying data, and more particularly to methods of displaying electronic program guide (EPG) data in a grid format.
DEFINITIONS
Generally, as used in this application, “content” refers to the substance or material being viewed or heard, such as an actual TV program, movie, etc. The content is typically identified intuitively by title, such as
Seinfeld, Gone With The Wind,
etc., and this type of identifying information is referred to as “title-based” information. This is to be distinguished from information that identifies the physical hardware characteristics of the location or source of the information, including but not limited to channel, frequency, track, CD slot, etc. Though the two types of information (title-based versus source-based) are generally mutually exclusive, there are situations where they may overlap. For example, phrases such as “FOX News” or “Channel 11 News” do in fact contain source-based information, but the phrases are generally considered title-based, because a viewer would use such a phrase when referring to the content of the program, to distinguish the program from other news broadcasts. Basically, the identifying information in the title of news programs is generally an indication of the actual source or channel of the news, because “news” would not in and of itself convey to a user which news broadcast the title “news” would be referring to.
The concept of title-based information, along with associated benefits of its use such as “title-based direct access control”, are discussed in more detail in the above-referenced related applications, and particularly in the '873 application. For ease of reference, however, “title-based direct access control” may be briefly described as the ability of a viewer to choose entertainment content by directly selecting the title of the desired content, as opposed to having to select based on source-based criteria such as channel.
Also as used in this application, the terms “user”, “viewer”, and “consumer” are used interchangeably depending on the context, to refer to a person using the methods and devices described herein. A “logical user” may be a single user, or a group of users having shared or aggregated program preferences. For example, “kids” may be a logical user, for which program preferences are determined by a parent. Or “critics' choice” may be a logical user, for which program preferences are determined by a group of program critics. Or “default” may be a logical user, for which program preferences are determined by a predetermined or random algorithm.
“Program” is used to refer to a television broadcast program, satellite broadcast program, cable broadcast program, or any other program that is generally scheduled to begin airing at a predetermined time, and air for a predetermined time, as determined by the program content provider. A program is said to air substantially continuously for a period if it airs during that period without interruption by any other scheduled program. This is despite interruptions in the program due to commercials, news flashes, or other temporary and/or unscheduled events.
“Displayed period” is used to refer to the time that is represented on the axis of a given display. For example, if the given display showed program content airing from 11 am to 1 pm, then the displayed period is 11 am to 1 pm.
“Cell” refers to a logical space in a logical grid. Thus, a logical grid merely defines the logical boundaries that separate the logical cells. It is common in the art to physically represent a logical grid by a series of intersecting vertical and horizontal lines, which delineate columns and rows. Typically, the physical representations of the horizontal lines, which typically delineate channels, are complete, while the physical representations of the vertical lines, which typically delineate time boundaries, may be discontinuous due to programs that span across more than one continuous cell within a single row. A cell holds program description or program content information such as a title. The program description or program content information may comprise a title, a graphic representation of the program content, or any other descriptive information to convey at a glance the actual program content referred to. A single cell, or a group of continuous cells within a row, is also referred to sometimes as a “time slot” within the given row, because generally the horizontal axis on the display grid represents time.
BACKGROUND
The traditional method of displaying TV program information for multiple TV channels is to show a grid with the time of program on one axis (typically the X-axis), and the program's channel on the other axis (typically the Y-axis), with program content displayed in the associated cells that represent the intersection of a time's column and a channel's row. This is a natural way to organize this information for the traditional control procedure, wherein the user presses numbers on a TV remote controller that correspond to the channel for the desired program, or changes through neighboring channels sequentially using the channel “up” and “down” buttons until arriving at the desired channel. Thus, identification of the TV channel carrying a desired program is necessary to locate the desired program for viewing, whether from broadcast, cable, satellite, internet video, video on demand, or other distribution mechanism.
However, channel numbers are not the most intuitive decision criterion in determining what to watch on TV. That is, viewers typically do not determine that they want to watch channel 87, and then tune to channel 87 and watch whatever is there. Instead, viewers typically determine the content of what they want to watch, usually based on title such as
Seinfeld, Gone With The Wind, Wheel of Fortune,
etc., or at least they choose a category of entertainment such as drama, comedy, suspense, etc. The primary and most intuitive criterion for deciding what to watch is thus program content, and only after viewers decide which program content they want to watch, does it become important to know on what channel that content is available. Knowledge of the channel is needed to view the desired content because viewers must send commands to the TV or other device indicating on what channel the desired content can be found, so that the tuner can tune to the desired channel.
Thus, it is more intuitive for viewers to see, browse, select, and perform other functions using title-based information, than to do the same functions using source-based information. Additionally, it is beneficial for the title-based information to be sorted by category or other similar factor, so that the overall view of information identifies the content of each program, and also groups programs of a similar category together. In general, the grid format can be used to present information such as EPG data in this manner, allowing the viewer to see information about multiple programs simultaneously in a manner that is intuitive and easy to work with.
Websites are available that present TV schedule information, and include the content category information in some way. For example, http://www.excite.com (“EXCITE”) shows grid listings with programs in different categories shown in different colors. EXCITE, however, displays the program information using traditional time/channel axes.
Complete application programs downloadable to a PC are also available, which present TV schedule data in the traditional grid format (plus colors for categories as with the website grids), and which further allow sophisticated user searching for specific programs, actors, etc. For example, http://www.tvhost.com (“TVHOST”) allows the user to see programs listed in very specific categories (e.g. subcategories of sports such as “Gymnastics”, “Live Horse Event”, “Motor Sports” etc.). TVHOST, however, also displays the program information based on channel, and merely provides simple vertical lists of programs giving ti
Masaki Keiji
Research Investment Network, Inc.
Tran Trang U.
Wong Steve A.
LandOfFree
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