System and method for interacting with a program guide displayed on a portable electronic device

• US 20030117427A1
• Filed: 11/04/2002
• Published: 06/26/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Universal Electronics, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Universal Electronics, Inc.
• Inventors: Huang, Steve LanPing, Hayes, Patrick H., Klein, Sandro David, Haughawout, Joseph Lee, Yuh, Han-Sheng, Wang, Weidong William, Dresti, Mauro, Louie, Alex
• Application Number:
  US10/287,389
• Publication Number:
  US 20030117427A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/710
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3682 output of POI information on a road map G01C21/3614, G01C21/3685 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/92 Universal remote control
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/102 using electrical means
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/202 by remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41265 having a remote control device for bidirectional communication between the remote control device and client device unidirectional remote control device H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42204 User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42209 for displaying non-command information, e.g. electronic program guide [EPG], e-mail, messages or a second television channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4222 Remote control device emulator integrated into a non-television apparatus, e.g. a PDA, media center or smart toy remote control device for a television receiver integrated into a mobile phone H04M1/72415
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42224 Touch pad or touch panel provided on the remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42227 the keys being reprogrammable, e.g. soft keys
• 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 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4383 Accessing a communication channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47214 for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 : for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 : End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4821 : using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4823 : using a channel name
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/485 : End-user interface for client configuration

Abstract

An electronic program guide system. A program schedule is presentable in a display as a grid of two-dimensionally arranged cells with a program identifier being displayed in each of the cells, the grid having a plurality of channels listed in a first dimension and time listed in a second dimension of which a portion of the entirety of the grid is displayable in the display. A user may interact with the electronic program guide to change the program schedule information that is displayed and/or to transmit one or more command codes to a target appliance.

Claims

1. In a hand-held device, a computer-readable media having instructions for displaying programming information, the instructions performing steps comprising:

displaying within a display of the hand-held device at least a portion of a program guide having programming information for a plurality of channels over periods of time;

accepting user input indicating a desire to enlarge a subset of the programming information for viewing within the display; and

in response to the input, enlarging the subset of the programming information and displaying the enlarged subset of the programming information within the display.

2. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the program guide comprises a set of cells arranged in a plurality of rows corresponding to channels and a plurality of columns corresponding to periods of time.

3. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 2, wherein the subset of the programming information that is enlarged is predetermined as a function of the portion of the program guide displayed within the display at the time the user input is received.

4. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 3, wherein the subset of programming information that is enlarged is contained within program guide cells starting with a predetermined channel and a predetermined period of time.

5. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 4, wherein the predetermined channel is the channel corresponding to the top most row of cells displayed as part of the portion of the program guide.

6. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 4, wherein the predetermined period of time is the period of time corresponding to the left most column of cells displayed as part of the portion of the program guide.

7. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 2, further comprising the step of displaying a soft key by which the user inputs the desire to enlarge the subset of the programming information.

8. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 7, wherein interaction with the soft key causes the display to toggle between the display of the enlarged subset of the programming information and the display of the program guide.

9. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 8, wherein the appearance of the soft-key changes to represent the current toggle state.

10. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 2, wherein the user input comprises a selection of a cell within the program guide and the subset of the programming information that is enlarged is contained within cells starting with a channel corresponding to the channel row of the cell selected and a period of time corresponding to the period of time column of the cell selected.

11. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 10, wherein the programming information that is enlarged encompasses a predetermined number of channels and predetermined periods of time.

12. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 2, wherein the programming information that is enlarged is displayed in a window that at least partially overlays the display of at least a portion of the program guide.

13. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of accepting user input to change the subset of programming information displayed as the enlarged subset of programming information.

14. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 13, wherein the programming information displayed as the enlarged subset of programming information is changed to follow a direction of movement input by the user on the hand-held device.

15. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 14, wherein the direction of movement is input by the user dragging an object across the display of the hand-held device.

16. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the subset of the programming information is user-defined.

17. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 16, wherein the user-defined subset of the programming information comprises a list of user-defined favorite channels.

18. A method for controlling the operation of a consumer electronic device, comprising:

displaying program schedule information received via a network comprised of broadcast channel identifiers and programming information for each broadcast channel identifier;

accepting input designating a broadcast channel identifier from the program schedule information; and

using the designated broadcast channel identifier to transmit a wireless signal to the consumer electronic device to cause the consumer electronic device to tune to the broadcast channel corresponding to the designated broadcast channel identifier.

19. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the wireless signal is an IR signal.

20. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the wireless signal is an RF signal.

21. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the program schedule information is displayed in a touch screen of a device having a remote control application.

22. The method as recited in claim 21, wherein the program schedule information is displayed in a grid of rows and columns in which each of the broadcast channel identifiers occupy a row in a first column in the grid and the programming information occupy further columns in the grid in the same row as their corresponding broadcast channel identifier and further arranged as a function of time.

23. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein input designating a broadcast channel identifier comprises a user interacting with the touch screen to select a row in the first column.

24. The method as recited in claim 23, wherein the broadcast channel identifiers comprise a channel number and a designator of programming origin.

25. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the wireless signal is constructed according to a user preference.

26. The method as recited in claim 25, wherein the user preference comprises requesting a transmission of an enter command as a part of the wireless signal.

27. The method as recited in claim 25, wherein the user preference comprises specifying a minimum number of digit indicators to be included as a part of the wireless signal.

28. The method as recited in claim 18, further comprising accepting user input that specifies the consumer electronic device as an intended target of the wireless signal.

29. The method as recited in claim 28, wherein the consumer electronic device is associated with a room via the user input.

30. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the consumer electronic appliance to which the wireless signal is transmitted is selected as a function of a source of the programming corresponding to the designated broadcast channel identifier.

31. A readable media having instructions for controlling the operation of a consumer electronic device, the instructions performing steps comprising:

displaying program schedule information received via a network comprised of broadcast channel identifiers and programming information for each broadcast channel identifier;

accepting input designating a broadcast channel identifier from the program schedule information; and

using the designated broadcast channel identifier to transmit a wireless signal to the consumer electronic device to cause the consumer electronic device to tune to the broadcast channel corresponding to the designated broadcast channel identifier.

32. The readable media as recited in claim 31, wherein the program schedule information is displayed in a touch screen of a device having a remote control application.

33. The readable media as recited in claim 32, wherein the program schedule information is displayed in a grid of rows and columns in which each of the broadcast channel identifiers occupy a row in a first column in the grid and the programming information occupy further columns in the grid in the same row as their corresponding broadcast channel identifier and further arranged as a function of time.

34. The readable media as recited in claim 33, wherein input designating a broadcast channel identifier comprises a user interacting with the touch screen to select a row in the first column.

35. The readable media as recited in claim 34, wherein the broadcast channel identifiers comprise a channel number and a designator of programming origin.

36. The readable media as recited in claim 31, wherein the wireless signal is transmitted using an IR protocol.

37. The readable media as recited in claim 31, wherein the wireless signal is transmitted using an RF protocol.

38. The readable media as recited in claim 31, wherein the wireless signal is transmitted using a channel digit setting specified by a user.

39. The readable media as recited in claim 31, wherein the wireless signal is transmitted using an enter command if specified by the user.

40. An electronic program guide system, comprising:

a display;

a schedule presented in the display as a grid of two-dimensionally arranged cells with a program identifier being displayed in each of the cells, the grid having a plurality of channels listed in a first dimension and time listed in a second dimension of which a portion of the entirety of the grid is displayable in the display;

a first scroll bar associated with the schedule having a first slider for indicating a position of the displayed portion of the grid relative to the entirety of the grid in one of the dimensions;

a user input device coupled to the display, wherein a first user input is used to change the position of the first slider and a second user input is used to cause the displayed portion of the grid to change;

wherein display of the portion of the grid is not changed until the second user input is received and wherein, as the first slider is moved with the first user input, an indication of the position of the portion of the grid relative to the entirety of the grid in the one of the dimensions corresponding to the current position of the moving slider is displayed.

41. The system as set forth in claim 40, wherein the first scroll bar indicates a position of the displayed portion of the grid relative to the entirety of the grid in the first dimension and further comprising a second scroll bar associated with the schedule having a second slider for indicating a position of the displayed portion of the grid relative to the entirety of the grid in the second dimensions and wherein the user input device is used to change the position of the first or second slider and, as either the first or second slider is moved with the first user input, an indication of the position of the portion of the grid relative to the entirety of the grid in the dimension corresponding to the current position of the moving first or second slider is displayed.

42. The system as set forth in claim 41, wherein the entirety of the grid includes twenty-four hours in the second dimension.

43. The system as set forth in claim 41, further comprising activatable soft keys for changing the position of the first or second sliders and the portion of the grid being displayed by a predetermined amount.

44. The system as set forth in claim 40, wherein moving the first slider with the first user input displays a channel designation that changes as the position of the first slider changes so as to provide an indication of the portion of the entirety of the grid that would be displayable in the display in response to receipt of the second input.

45. The system as set forth in claim 41, wherein moving the second slider with the first user input displays a time designation that changes as the position of the second slider changes so as to provide an indication of the portion of the entirety of the grid that would be displayable in the display in response to receipt of the second input.

48. The system as recited in claim 40, wherein the first user input comprises the user engaging the first slider and the second user input comprises the user releasing the first slider.

46. An electronic program guide system, comprising:

a display;

an updatable schedule presentable in the display as a grid of two-dimensionally arranged cells with a program identifier being displayed in each of the cells, the grid having a plurality of channels listed in a first dimension and time listed in a second dimension, wherein the schedule maintains information for a given period of days; and

a graphical user interface element shown in the display that functions to indicate when the schedule must be updated with grids for additional day periods.

47. An electronic program guide system, comprising:

a display;

a calendar shown in the display having a plurality of days; and

a graphical user interface input device for use in selecting one of the days in the calendar whereupon the selection results in the display of a schedule for the selected day presented in the display as a grid of two-dimensionally arranged cells with a program identifier being displayed in each of the cells, the grid having a plurality of channels listed in a first dimension and time listed in a second dimension.