Method and system for providing on-demand viewing

• US 20050235316A1
• Filed: 04/14/2004
• Published: 10/20/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TiVo Corporation (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Comcast Cable Holdings LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Ahmad-Taylor, Ty O.
• Granted Patent: US 8,418,202 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/44
• 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 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• 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 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A method and system relating to an on-demand listings guide which is easy to use and that provides true on-demand viewing capabilities. One aspect of the method and system relates to electronically displaying an on-demand listings guide which includes information relating to at least one series and information relating to a plurality of episodes available on-demand from the series.

Claims

1. A method for electronically displaying an on-demand listings guide, the method comprising:

simultaneously displaying information for at least one series and information for a plurality of episodes for the at least one series on the same screen, at least one of the episodes being selectable for on-demand viewing.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising simultaneously displaying a plurality of series, wherein each displayed series can be selected to display the plurality of episodes available on-demand for the selected series.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein displaying the on-demand listings guide includes magnifying one of the plurality of displayed episodes in a window.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising displaying in the window an episode title and an episode description for the selected episode.

5. The method of claim 3 further comprising displaying a number of actuatable buttons in the window, at least one of the buttons being a PREVIEW button to preview the selected episode.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein previewing the episode includes displaying the preview in the window.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein displaying the actuatable buttons includes at least displaying a GO TO SHOW button to order the selected episode.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein displaying the actuatable buttons includes displaying an ADULT LOCK button to prevent ordering of the selected episode.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein displaying the actuatable buttons includes displaying a RATE IT button to rate the selected episode.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising ordering a selected episode for viewing, and further displaying a control panel during viewing of the selected episode, the control panel having actuatable buttons for executing operations relating to the selected episode.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein displaying the control panel includes displaying a button to enter a chat related to the selected episode.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein displaying the control panel includes displaying a button to record the selected episode.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing navigation capability through the listings guide which includes scrolling the series and episode information into a fixed window to select an episode.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein scrolling includes scrolling in a first direction to change the displayed series and scrolling in a second direction to change the selected episode.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the series and episode information is scrolled into the window without any re-loading or refreshing.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein displaying the episode information includes displaying an episode title adjoined to other episode information for ease of association.

17. A method for electronically displaying an on-demand listings guide on a screen, the method comprising:

simultaneously displaying information for at least one series and information for a plurality of episodes from the at least one series in a flip menu overlaying only a portion of the screen, at least one of the episodes being selectable for on-demand viewing.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein displaying the plurality of episodes includes magnifying episode information for one of the episodes in a window, the magnified episode information including an episode title and an episode description.

19. A system for providing on-demand viewing, the system comprising:

a transceiver in communication with a media source for receiving program signals, the program signals including an on-demand listings guide which simultaneously displays information for at least one series and information for a plurality of episodes from the at least one series, at least one of the episodes being selectable for on-demand viewing.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the guide includes a window for selecting one of the plurality of episodes for ordering.

21. The system of claim 19 wherein the window displays an episode title and additional episode information.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the episode title and the episode information are adjoined to ease association of the information with the title.

23. The system of claim 21 wherein the episode title shown in the window is magnified relative to the other displayed episodes.

24. The system of claim 19 wherein the media source is a cable service provider.

25. The system of claim 19 wherein the media source is a satellite service provider.

26. The system of claim 19 wherein the guide includes a window for selecting one of the episodes, the window including a number of actuatable buttons for manipulating content displayed in the window.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein one of the buttons is a PREVIEW button to preview the selected episode.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the preview is shown in the same window as the selected episode.

29. The system of claim 26 wherein one of the buttons is a GO TO SHOW button to order the selected episode.

30. The system of claim 26 wherein one of the buttons is an ADULT LOCK button to prevent ordering the selected show.

31. The system of claim 26 wherein one of the buttons is a RATE IT button to rate the selected show.

32. The system of claim 19 wherein the transceiver is further configured to generate an audio signal in response to one or more signals received for operating the guide.

33. A system for providing an on-demand viewing on a screen, the system comprising:

a transceiver in communication with a media source for receiving program signals, the program signals including an on-demand listings guide which simultaneously displays information for at least one series and information for a plurality of episodes from the at least one series in a flip menu overlaying only a portion of the screen, at least one of the episodes being selectable for on-demand viewing.

34. The system of claim 33 wherein the selected episode is displayed in a window, the window including the episode information which includes an episode title and an episode description.

35. The system of claim 34 wherein the transceiver is further configured to display a control panel having actuatable buttons for executing operations relating to the selected episode.

36. The system of claim 35 wherein the control panel buttons include a CHAT button to enter a chat environment.

37. The system of claim 35 wherein the control panel buttons include a SAVE button to save the ordered episode.