Television channel selection canvas

• US 20050235312A1
• Filed: 04/19/2004
• Published: 10/20/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bennett, James, Karaoguz, Jeyhan
• Granted Patent: US 7,639,308 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/38
• 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 21/4383 Accessing a communication channel
• 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 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4821 using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4858 for modifying screen layout parameters, e.g. fonts, size of the windows

Abstract

A channel selection canvas for display on a video display device is disclosed. The video display device can be a television, a laptop computer, or personal digital assistant device. The channel selection canvas allows a user to preview and choose video signals to be watched. The channel selection canvas displays a set of television channel video thumbnails, which can be full motion video, slow motion video or sampled video snapshots. A channel selection canvas can also display video thumbnails for security cameras, baby monitors, video phones and the like. A channel selection canvas generator that generates channel selection canvases is also disclosed. The channel selection canvas generator can reside within a television, set top box or similar video processing device.

Claims

1. A channel selection canvas for display on a video display device, comprising

a channel selection field for displaying a plurality of television channel video thumbnails;

a plurality of optional video selection fields for displaying ancillary video thumbnails; and

a header field for displaying general information.

2. The channel selection canvas of claim 1, further comprising:

a news streaming field for displaying streaming news data.

3. The channel selection canvas of claim 1, further comprising:

a video phone field for providing video phone capabilities.

4. The channel selection canvas of claim 1, further comprising:

an advertising field for displaying video advertisements.

5. The channel selection canvas of claim 1, wherein the video thumbnails are full motion video.

6. The channel selection canvas of claim 1, wherein the video thumbnails are snapshots of the video being transmitted on a channel.

7. The channel selection canvas of claim 1, wherein the video display device is a television.

8. The channel selection canvas of claim 1, wherein the video display device is a personal digital assistant.

9. The channel selection canvas of claim 1, wherein the video display device is a laptop computer.

10. The channel selection canvas of claim 1, wherein said channel selection field displays the channel number, network, and show name for each television channel video thumbnail.

11. The channel selection canvas of claim 1, wherein said channel selection field displays the video standard for each television channel video thumbnail.

12. The channel selection canvas of claim 1, wherein said header selection field identifies the user name.

13. The channel selection canvas of claim 1, wherein an ancillary video thumbnail is generated from security camera video.

14. The channel selection canvas of claim 1, wherein an ancillary video thumbnail is generated from baby monitor video.

15. The channel selection canvas of claim 2, wherein said news streaming field displays streaming stock ticker information.

16. The channel selection canvas of claim 2, wherein said news streaming field displays streaming news headlines.

17. The channel selection canvas of claim 3, wherein said video phone field includes video from a video phone connection and controls for the ability to place and receive a telephone call.

18. A channel selection canvas generator, comprising:

a video selection engine for selecting video streams to be displayed on a channel selection canvas;

a video integration engine for integrating the display of video streams selected by said video selection engine;

a user formatting engine for providing instructions to obtain user formatting information;

a composite engine for receiving inputs from said video integration engine and user formatting engine to create a channel selection canvas;

an interface engine for supporting interface to a video display device for displaying a channel selection canvas; and

an administrative engine for storing user preferences and controlling the overall operation of the channel selection canvas generator.

19. The channel selection canvas generator of claim 18, wherein said interface engine continuously monitors for a wireless request for a channel selection canvas to be displayed.

20. The channel selection canvas generator of claim 19, wherein said interface engine wirelessly transmits a channel selection canvas to a remote video display device.

21. A method for providing a channel selection canvas to video display device, comprising:

(a) receiving a request from a user to display the channel selection canvas;

(b) gathering user preference information related to the channel selection canvas;

(c) sampling a plurality of video input streams, wherein video input stream samples form thumbnails that are included within the channel selection canvas;

(d) formatting the channel selection canvas based on the user preference information and the video input stream samples; and

(e) transmitting the channel selection canvas.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein step (e) includes wirelessly transmitting the channel selection canvas to a remote device.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein said plurality of video input streams includes one or any combination of broadcast television, cable television, satellite, security monitor, baby monitor, or video phone video streams.