System and method for capturing video frames for focused navigation within a user interface

• US 20030074662A1
• Filed: 08/29/2002
• Published: 04/17/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ARRIS Enterprises LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Digeo Incorporated (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Billmaier, James A., Istvan, Anthony F., Rogan, Philip, Reid, Dewey, Kellum, John M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,080,394 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/38
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4438 Window management, e.g. event handling following interaction with the user interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/4448 for frame-grabbing

Abstract

A video frame is captured from a television broadcast on each of a plurality of channels. The captured video frames are provided to a display interface, which successively displays the captured video frames within a focus area of a user interface in response to an initiating action by a user. The display interface then discontinues the successive display of video frames to show a particular video frame corresponding to a selected channel in response to a terminating action by the user.

Claims

1. A method for enabling access to a plurality of channels within a user interface, the method comprising:

capturing a video frame from a broadcast on each of a plurality of channels, each captured video frame representing a different channel;

successively displaying the captured video frames within a focus area of a user interface in response to an initiating action by a user; and

discontinuing the successive display of video frames to show a particular video frame corresponding to a selected channel in response to a terminating action by the user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

repeating the capturing of video frames for the plurality of channels after an established time interval.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the interval comprises an hour.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the interval comprises a half-hour.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

delaying the capture of a video frame for a particular channel until after a commercial break being broadcast on that channel.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein capturing comprises capturing at least one video frame for a particular channel in response to a tag being embedded within the broadcast on that channel.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein capturing comprises asynchronously capturing at least two video frames from different channels in response to tags being embedded within the respective broadcasts at different times.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein capturing comprises:

receiving a schedule for capturing a video frame for a particular channel; and

capturing the video frame for the channel at a time specified in the schedule.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the video frames are captured within a broadcast center, and wherein capturing comprises:

packaging the video frames within an update package; and

transmitting the update package to at least one entertainment system associated with the broadcast center.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein capturing comprises successively tuning to each of the plurality of channels using a plurality of tuners.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the video frames are captured within an entertainment system.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the entertainment system comprises a primary tuner and a secondary tuner, and wherein capturing comprises successively tuning to each of the plurality of channels using the secondary tuner.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the initiating action comprises activating a first control on a remote control.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the terminating action is one of activating a second control on the remote control, releasing the first control, and re-activating the first control.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

tuning to and displaying the selected channel in response to a selection action by the user.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating at least one captured video frame with a card object for representing a channel.

17. A method for enabling access to a plurality of channels within a user interface, the method comprising:

capturing a video frame from a broadcast on each of a plurality of channels, each captured video frame representing a different channel;

organizing the captured video frames into a sequence;

displaying at least a subset of the sequence of video frames along an axis of a user interface, one video frame being displayed within a focus area of the user interface;

scrolling the video frames along the axis to progressively change the video frame within the focus area to a next video frame in the sequence in response to an initiating action by a user

discontinuing the scrolling of video frames to show a particular video frame within the focus area corresponding to a selected channel in response to a terminating action by the user.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

repeating the capturing of video frames for the plurality of channels after an established time interval.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

delaying the capture of a video frame for a particular channel until after a commercial break being broadcast on that channel.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the video frames are captured within a broadcast center, and wherein capturing comprises:

packaging the video frames within an update package; and

transmitting the update package to at least one entertainment system associated with the broadcast center.

21. A system for enabling access to a plurality of channels within a user interface, the system comprising:

a frame capture device to capture a video frame from a broadcast on each of a plurality of channels, each captured video frame representing a different channel; and

a transmission component to provide the captured video frames to a display interface, wherein the display interface is to successively display the captured video frames within a focus area of a user interface in response to an initiating action by a user, and wherein the display interface is to discontinue the successive display of video frames to show a particular video frame corresponding to a selected channel in response to a terminating action by the user.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the frame capture device is to repeat the capture of video frames for the plurality of channels after an established time interval.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein an interval comprises a half hour.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein an interval comprises an hour.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the frame capture device is to delay the capture of a video frame for a particular channel until after a commercial break being broadcast on that channel.

26. The system of claim 21, wherein the frame capture device is to capture at least one video frame for a particular channel in response to a tag being embedded within the broadcast on that channel.

27. The system of claim 21, wherein the frame capture device is to asynchronously capture at least two video frames from different channels in response to tags being embedded within the respective broadcasts at different times.

28. The system of claim 21, wherein the frame capture device is to receive a schedule for capturing a video frame for a particular channel and wherein the frame capture device is to capture the video frame for the channel at a time specified in the schedule.

29. The system of claim 21, wherein the frame capture device and transmission components are components of a broadcast center, and wherein the transmission component comprises:

an image cache to store the captured video frames; and

a packaging component to package the video frames in the image cache into an update package and to transmit the update package to at least one entertainment system associated with the broadcast center.

30. The system of claim 29, further comprising:

a plurality of tuners to successively tune to each of the plurality of channels during the capture of the video frames.

31. The system of claim 21, wherein the frame capture device and transmission component are components of an entertainment system of a user, and wherein the transmission component comprises:

an image cache to store the captured video frames.

32. The system of claim 31, further comprising:

a primary tuner and a secondary tuner, wherein the secondary tuner is to successively tune to each of the plurality of channels during capture of the video frames.

33. The system of claim 21, wherein the initiating action comprises activating a first control on a remote control.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the terminating action is selected from the group consisting of activating a second control on the remote control, releasing the first control, and re-activating the first control.

35. The system of claim 21, further comprising a tuner for tuning to the selected channel in response to a selection action by the user.

36. The system of claim 21, further comprising a computer-readable medium for associating at least one captured video frame with a card object for representing a channel.

37. A system for enabling access to a plurality of channels within a user interface, the system comprising:

a frame capture device to capture a video frame from a broadcast on each of a plurality of channels, each captured video frame representing a different channel; and

a transmission component to provide the captured video frames to a display interface, wherein the display interface is to organize the captured video frames into a sequence, display at least a subset of the sequence of video frames along an axis of a user interface, a single video frame in the sequence being displayed within a focus area of the user interface, scroll the video frames along the axis to progressively change the video frame within the focus area to a next video frame in the sequence in response to an initiating action by a user, and discontinue the scrolling of video frames to show a particular video frame within the focus area corresponding to a selected channel in response to a terminating action by the user.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein the frame capture device is to repeat the capturing of a video frame for each of the plurality of channels at established time intervals.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein the frame capture device is to delay the capture of a video frame for a particular channel until after a commercial break being broadcast on that channel.

40. The method of claim 37, wherein the frame capture device and transmission component are components of a broadcast center, and wherein the transmission component comprises a packaging component to package the video frames within an update package and to transmit the update package to at least one entertainment system associated with the broadcast center.

41. A system for enabling access to a plurality of channels within a user interface, the system comprising:

a scheduler to initiate the capture of a video frame from a broadcast on each of a plurality of channels, each captured video frame representing a different channel;

a tuner to tune to each channel in response to a signal from the scheduler;

a frame capture device to capture each video frame in response to the tuner tuning to the respective channel;

an image cache to store the captured video frames; and

a transmission component to transmit the captured video frames in the image cache to an entertainment system, wherein the entertainment system comprises a display interface to successively display the captured video frames within a focus area of the user interface in response to an initiating action by a user, and wherein the display interface is to discontinue the successive display of video frames to show a particular video frame corresponding to a selected channel in response to a terminating action by the user.

42. The system of claim 41, wherein the scheduler is to periodically initiate the capture of video frames at an established time interval.

43. A system for enabling access to a plurality of channels within a user interface, the system comprising:

means for capturing a video frame from a broadcast on each of a plurality of channels, each captured video frame representing a different channel;

means for successively displaying the captured video frames within a focus area of a user interface in response to an initiating action by a user; and

means for discontinuing the successive display of video frames to show a particular video frame corresponding to a selected channel in response to a terminating action by the user.

44. A system for enabling access to a plurality of channels within a user interface, the system comprising:

means for capturing a video frame from a broadcast on each of a plurality of channels, each captured video frame representing a different channel;

means for organizing the captured video frames into a sequence;

means for displaying at least a subset of the sequence of video frames along an axis of the user interface, one video frame being displayed within a focus area of the user interface;

means for scrolling the video frames along the axis to progressively change the video frame within the focus area to a next video frame in the sequence in response to an initiating action by a user

means for discontinuing the scrolling of video frames to show a particular video frame within the focus area corresponding to a selected channel in response to a terminating action by the user.

45. A computer program product comprising program code for performing a method for enabling access to a plurality of channels within a user interface, the method comprising:

capturing a video frame from a broadcast on each of a plurality of channels, each captured video frame representing a different channel;

successively displaying the captured video frames within a focus area of a user interface in response to an initiating action by a user; and

discontinuing the successive display of video frames to show a particular video frame corresponding to a selected channel in response to a terminating action by the user.

46. A computer program product comprising program code for performing a method for enabling access to a plurality of channels within a user interface, the method comprising:

capturing a video frame from a broadcast on each of a plurality of channels, each captured video frame representing a different channel;

organizing the captured video frames into a sequence;

displaying at least a subset of the sequence of video frames along an axis of the user interface, one video frame being displayed within a focus area of the user interface;

scrolling the video frames along the axis to progressively change the video frame within the focus area to a next video frame in the sequence in response to an initiating action by a user; and

discontinuing the scrolling of video frames to show a particular video frame within the focus area corresponding to a selected channel in response to a terminating action by the user.