Mechanism and apparatus for construction of modular-based interactive programming guides and TV portals

• US 20020129369A1
• Filed: 01/28/2002
• Published: 09/12/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: JLB Ventures, LLC
• Original Assignee: JLB Ventures, LLC
• Inventors: Kamen, Yakov
• Granted Patent: US 7,701,468 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/47
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4312 involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4314 for fitting data in a restricted space on the screen, e.g. EPG data in a rectangular grid
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A method to separately assign and modify multiple attributes of information and structure to an individual block or to a larger unitary whole comprised of multiple blocks is disclosed. A number of block instances of a block is determined. Each block instance is associated with one or more structure attributes. A number of data elements is determined. Each data element is associated with one or more information attributes. The data elements are mapped to the block instances. The mapped block instances are displayed contiguously.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determinining a number of block instances available to a viewer in an interactive programming guide (IPG);

determining a number of available information attribute sets to be presented to the viewer;

mapping the available information attribute sets to the number of available block instances to generate mapped block instances; and

displaying the mapped block instances contiguously.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the mapped block instances is associated with one or more structure attributes.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein when the number of available information attributes is less than the number of block instances, two or more block instances are mapped with the same information attributes.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein when the number of available information attributes is less than the number of block instances, one or more block instances is not visible to the viewer.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein when the number of available information attributes is less than the number of block instances, the number of displayed mapped block instances is less than the number of available block instances.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each displayed mapped block instance is manipulated independently of the other displayed mapped block instances.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein each displayed mapped block instance is manipulated by modifying the associated one or more structure attributes.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein each displayed mapped block instance is manipulated by modifying the associated one or more information attributes.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein each displayed mapped block instance is manipulated by modifying the associated one or more structure attributes and the associated one or more information attributes.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the mapped block instances are displayed contiguously on a surface.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the surfarce is a bar.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the surface is associated with one or more surface attributes.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein each of the mapped block instances is associated with one or more structure attributes.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein when the number of available information attributes is less than the number of block instances, two or more block instances are mapped with the same information attributes.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein when the number of available information attributes is less than the number of block instances, one or more block instances is not visible.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein when the number of available information attributes is less than the number of block instances, the number of contiguously displayed mapped block instances is less than the number of available block instances.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein each displayed mapped block instance is manipulated independently of the other displayed mapped block instances.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein each displayed mapped block intance is manipulated by modifying the associated one or more structure attributes.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein each displayed mapped block intance is manipulated by modifying the associated one or more information attributes.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein each displayed mapped block intance is manipulated by modifying the associated one or more structure attributes and the associated one or more information attributes.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the mapped block instances are displayed contiguously on a surface.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 22, wherein the surfarce is a bar.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 22, wherein the surface is associated with one or more surface attributes.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein each block instance is associated with one or more structure attributes.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein each data element is associated with one or more information attributes.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the visible block instances are displayed contiguously.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the visible block instances are displayed contiguously on a surface.

30. The system of claim 25, wherein an inactive data element is displayed in a visible block instance by moving the inactive data element from the inactive queue to the active queue.

31. The system of claim 25, wherein an inactive data element is displayed in the visible block instance by swapping the inactive data element with an active data element being displayed in the visible block instance.

13. A computer readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions which are executable by a system, and which, when executed by the system, cause the system to perform a method, comprising:

determinining a number of block instances available to a viewer in an interactive programming guide (IPG);

determining a number of available information attribute sets to be presented to the viewer;

mapping the available information attribute sets to the number of available block instances to generate mapped block instances; and

displaying the mapped block instances contiguously.

25. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled with the processor, the memory operable to include a first queue to store active data elements and a second queue to store inactive data elements, wherein the active data elements are displayed in visible block instances in an interactive programming guide (IPG), and wherein the visible block instances are displayed contiguously.