U.S. patent application number 09/060343 was filed with the patent office on 2003-02-20 for multiple database, user-choice-compiled program and event guide.
Invention is credited to LEFTWICH, JAMES J..
Application Number | 20030037336 09/060343 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 26720190 |
Filed Date | 2003-02-20 |
United States Patent
Application |
20030037336 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
LEFTWICH, JAMES J. |
February 20, 2003 |
MULTIPLE DATABASE, USER-CHOICE-COMPILED PROGRAM AND EVENT GUIDE
Abstract
An electronic programming guide generator utilizes filters to
select only programming filtered to display in an electronic
programming guide display.
Inventors: |
LEFTWICH, JAMES J.; (PALO
ALTO, CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
CHRISTIE, PARKER & HALE, LLP
350 WEST COLORADO BOULEVARD
SUITE 500
PASADENA
CA
91105
US
|
Family ID: |
26720190 |
Appl. No.: |
09/060343 |
Filed: |
April 14, 1998 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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60043248 |
Apr 16, 1997 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
725/91 ;
348/E5.105; 348/E7.06 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04N 21/4351 20130101;
H04N 5/782 20130101; H04N 21/47 20130101; H04N 21/4826 20130101;
H04N 21/4332 20130101; H04N 5/76 20130101; H04N 21/4622 20130101;
H04N 7/162 20130101; H04N 21/84 20130101; H04N 21/431 20130101;
H04N 21/4821 20130101; H04N 21/4532 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
725/91 |
International
Class: |
H04N 007/173 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method for managing programming comprising: storing a database
of available programming; utilizing a first filter, which selects a
first subset of programs according to some criteria, to generate an
electronic program guide displaying programming includes in said
first subset.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of: utilizing
said first filter and a second filter, with the second filter
selecting a second subset of programs according to another
criteria, to generate an electronic programming including all
programs included in either said first or second subsets.
3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of: utilizing
said first filter and a second filter, with the second filter
selecting a second subset of programs according to another criteria
and having a higher priority than said first filter, to generate an
electronic programming including only programs included in both
said first and second subsets.
4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of: creating a
filter utilizing program/event entries in the programming database.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention generally relates to television
schedule information, and more particularly to a system and method
for providing previews of scheduled programming to assist a viewer
in making scheduling decisions.
[0002] As the number of television stations in a metropolitan area
or on a cable network has increased, the number of programs of
potential interest that are presented to a viewer has risen
dramatically. With the use of dish antennas capable of receiving
direct satellite signals, the multitude of programs available to
the viewer has further increased.
[0003] Additionally, television faces a digital future that will
see the merger of television and PC technology. The television set
of the future will include a micro-computer, a modem of
interconnectivity with other computers over networks, intranets,
and the internet, and be connectable to computer peripherals such
as printers. Such capabilities as near "video on demand" (NVOD),
"video on demand," "access to the world wide web," "audio on
demand," etc., will present the viewer with a plethora of
information and bandwidth.
[0004] As has become increasingly evident, information overload can
actually reduce the usefulness of the information delivered.
Accordingly, a great challenge exists to provide an interface that
manages and provides an intelligent, user-friendly interface to the
information available.
[0005] Consequently, television schedule systems that are provided
directly on the viewer's television screen have been developed to
assist the viewer in sorting through these various programs and
determining which programs to watch or record. One such television
schedule system is disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No.
5,353,121 (Young et al.), the complete disclosure of which is
hereby incorporated by reference. In one embodiment of Young, the
television schedule includes a series of menu screens having an
array of cells corresponding to different television programs. The
viewer may scroll through the cells to view which television
programs are being presented on various channels at various times.
In addition, the viewer may select certain cells to obtain more
information on the associated program or to pull up other submenus
with additional options.
[0006] The recent development of television schedule systems, such
as the above described patent to Young, have created many new
challenges. Today's guides have only a single source listing, with
all available programming presented in a time-based schedule grid.
There is also no current ability to allow third parties with
different finding/filtering criteria to create useful listings
and/or access for viewers.
[0007] Also, there is an increasingly important dual need among
users to both screen out unwanted programming and find desired
programming. As the number of programs/events accessible increases,
these issues will become even more important and current strategies
such as simple program ratings will not be effective or efficient
enough to handle these interrelated user needs.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] The present invention is related to the complementary
aspects of Finding Programming and Blocking Programming. The model
assumes that certain channels are available to a viewer and other
channels are accessible.
[0009] According to one aspect of the invention, Editable Filters
(EFs) are created based on a standardized program database. These
EFs include a basic menu supplied upon startup and optional menus
which could be included in the SS database or be downloadable from
the WWW. Third party editors will be able to build an EF by
utilizing entries which are used to interact with the DB.
[0010] According to another concept of the invention, the editable
filters are ordered in a hierarchy. Channel select and parental
control filters will supersede all other filters. Thus, even if a
selected EF allows a program, parental control will override the
selection.
[0011] According to another aspect of the invention, the viewer
will register to use a list.
[0012] Other features and advantages will be apparent in view of
the detailed description filed herewith and the following
claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0013] FIG. 1A is a schematic drawing of a television system;
[0014] FIG. 1B is schematic diagram depicting of an implementation
of a filter;
[0015] FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram depicting source provider
guide listings and third-party edited listings;
[0016] FIG. 2B is a schematic diagram depicting alternative formats
of an EPG display;
[0017] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a system of selecting
filters; and
[0018] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram depicting program/event
sources for a PCTV utilizing a filter system.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0019] Electronic programming guides (EPGs) are well-known in the
art. One type of programming guide is provided by the assignee of
the present invention, StarSight and described in U.S. Pat. No.
5,169,274, is displayed as a grid of program entries with the
vertical axis of the grid being the channels or program sources of
program entries and the horizontal axis being starting times of
programming entries. Other EPGs are provides by satellite
services.
[0020] An EPG is generated from a data base based on programming
provided by a local service provider. Existing EPG services include
some program blocking features and also provide for selecting
favorite channels and ordering the channels in a preferred
manner.
[0021] In a preferred embodiment, the electronic program guide of
the invention may be implemented either on a personal computer, a
PCTV, a television connected to a set-top box, or a television
including a custom board. However, the invention is not limited to
any particular hardware configuration and will have increased
utility as new combinations of computers and television systems are
developed. In the following, any of the above will sometimes be
referred to as a "TV system." Block diagrams of representative TV
systems are depicted in FIG. 1A. Details of implementation are not
depicted because the invention is not limited to any particular TV
system.
[0022] As is well-known, the picture to be displayed may be
transmitted as an analog signal, for example according to the NTSC
standard utilized in the United States, or as a digital signal
modulated onto an analog carrier. The signals may be received over
a cable or via an antenna or satellite dish.
[0023] Typically, television sets are designed to receive analog
signals and computer display devices are designed to display
pictures encoded in a digital format. However, the decoder system
converts the digital data to an analog signal for display on a
television set and TV modems can format analog TV signals for
display on a monitor.
[0024] In FIG. 1A, analog or digital TV signals, received via cable
30, antenna 32, or satellite dish 34, are provided to a television
system. If the signal is from a digital broadcast service, then a
decoder 36 converts the signal to baseband video and audio or
channel 3/4 RF. If the signal is an analog signal it is passed
through as a live video output.
[0025] The television system 38, depending on its configuration,
receives selected ones of the outputs and displays the received
program.
[0026] A PCTV includes a TV card 42, connected to either live
video, baseband video, or channel 3/4 output, digitizes the video
image and displays the video image in a resizable window on the
computer monitor. The PCTV is also coupled to land telephone lines
by a modem 44.
[0027] If the received signal is an analog TV signal, the TV card
of the PCTV digitizes the analog signal and extracts included
information from the vertical blanking intervals. On the other
hand, if the signal is a digital signal, separate audio, video, VBI
(vertical blanking information such as closed caption, teletext,
and program related information), program guide, and conditional
access information are provided as separate bitstreams. The video
and audio bitstreams for programs are converted to a format for
display and the program guide information is processed to form a
program guide database. The processor, executing software stored in
memory, generates interactive electronic program guide images and
images of received programs. The guide can be used to interact with
and control programs displayed in the window.
[0028] In a preferred embodiment of the invention, filters are
utilized to select and screen programming displayed by an EPG. In
this context, a filter is a mechanism for selecting programs based
on a selected criteria.
[0029] However, for a filter to be useful in the present context,
it is in the form of a list of programs or event entries where the
entries must be in a format usable by the EPG generating
system.
[0030] An example of a usable format for filters is depicted in
FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, a filter 100 is a list of program or event
entries 102. The filter entitled "The Sci-Fi Fan's Guide" is a list
of programs selected according to a criteria that selects programs
of interest to sci-fi fans.
[0031] The format for a program or event entry is depicted in the
table 104. The information in the table is used by the EPG
generating system to generate an EPG display as described below.
The table could be formatted in HTML so that the filter entries 102
could be displayed in a user friendly format 106.
[0032] In a preferred embodiment both service provider guide
listings and third-party edited guide listings are utilized to
select programming displayed in the EPG.
[0033] Examples of Subscription-based, Filtering Program/Event
Services; live or archived
[0034] e.g.: The Family-Friendly subscription service (delivering a
described/understood mix of general audience programs/events, some
of which may be custom-selected according to a subscriber's viewing
history/preferences.)
[0035] e.g.: The Science Source subscription service (delivering a
described/understood mix of science-related programs/events, some
of which may be custom-selected according to a subscriber's viewing
history/preferences.)
[0036] e.g.: Bob Smith's Cult Film Access Listing (allowing a
Starsight user to incorporate a third party's list into the Guide)
(providing access links to a described/understood mix of cult
film-related programs/events.)
[0037] FIG. 2 illustrates the use of third-party edited guide
listings. The entire universe of available programming is indicated
by the list of all programs/events provided by the local service
provider 200.
[0038] As depicted in FIG. 2A, some of the programs listed in the
Sci-Fi Fan's Guide are either not available (light gray bar) or
available/not accessible (dark gray bar). A program available but
not accessible is a premium program not subscribed to by the
user.
[0039] The EPG generator utilizes to filter to display those
programs available/accessible in the EPG. Alternatively, programs
available/not accessible might also be displayed as an incentive to
the viewer to subscribe to the premium program which meets a
selected filter's criteria. This could be a powerful revenue
generator for the service provider.
[0040] FIG. 2B depicts alternate ways of formatting an EPG. For
programs events which are available only at prescribed times the
show listings are displayed in a grid 250. Those programs/events
which are randomly accessible, e.g., archives, libraries, file
libraries, etc., appear in a list section of the EPG.
[0041] In a preferred embodiment, the actual filtering of the
programs to be displayed in an EPG is performed utilizing the
Program Event ID in the entry table 104 (FIG. 1).
[0042] In the present embodiment, the EPG generator provides an
interactive filter selective mechanism. In FIG. 3, a user
configuration screen 300 lists both service provider filters 302
and third-party filters 304. Each time a new filter is added it is
registered with the EPG generator and added to the list in the user
configuration screen 300. Only those programs filtered by the
selected filters will be displayed on the EPG screen 306.
[0043] In a preferred embodiment, the filters may be prioritized.
For example, in a family with small children the most important
criteria might be that a program be included in the Family Friendly
Viewing filter. This filter is assigned the highest priority. Then,
for example, a program included in the Sci-Fi Fan's filter but not
included in the Family Friendly Viewing filter would not be
displayed in the guide. Further, the filters could be prioritized
by time. Family Friendly Viewing would have the highest priority
during the hours when children are viewing and then automatically
drop to a later priority during late hours.
[0044] In the example described above with reference to FIG. 2A,
the filters were applied to programming provided by the local
service provider over a cable. However, as depicted in FIG. 4, the
filters may also be applied to programs and events delivered by
non-cable sources such as wireless, Internet, and satellite. These
non-cable sources 400 supply program guide data to the EPG
generator 402 which is stored in a data base. The filters can then
be applied to program data stored in the data base to generate a
filtered EPG for cable and non-cable programming.
[0045] Another use of non-cable supplied information is to use the
internet to provide offers for premium cable-supplied subscription
services. The subscription is initiated through the internet and
premium subscription service is made available to the user.
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