Maintaining a graphical user interface state that is based on a selected piece of content

• US 20060026636A1
• Filed: 05/02/2005
• Published: 02/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vulcan SA (Ampco-Pittsburgh Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Vulcan SA (Ampco-Pittsburgh Corporation)
• Inventors: Stark, Korina J. B., Sterling, Daniel R., Stacie, Michael, Tanumihardja, Marcellino
• Granted Patent: US 7,900,228 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/37
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4112 having fewer capabilities than the client, e.g. thin client having less processing power or no tuning capabilities
• 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 21/4131 home appliance, e.g. lighting, air conditioning system, metering devices home automation data switching networks exchanging configuration information on appliance services H04L12/2807
• 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 21/4227 Providing Remote input by a user located remotely from the client device, e.g. at work
• 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 21/4381 Recovering the multiplex stream from a specific network, e.g. recovering MPEG packets from ATM cells transmission of MPEG streams over ATM H04L12/5601
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4433 Implementing client middleware, e.g. Multimedia Home Platform [MHP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• 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 21/478 Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• 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 21/4858 for modifying screen layout parameters, e.g. fonts, size of the windows
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64707 for transferring content from a first network to a second network, e.g. between IP and wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 : Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/782 : on tape
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 : by receiver means only
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/173 : with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal

Abstract

A graphical user interface (“GUI”) for a content management system is provided, such as to present television program information and/or information associated with other forms of multimedia content. In some situations, the GUI displays various types of information about multiple pieces of content that are currently appropriate for display, and one or more users may make various types of selections that affect the information being displayed. In addition, in some situations various techniques are employed to maintain a state of the GUI that is focused on one or more current selections as changes occur, such as to coordinate information display between multiple distinct information panes or other view areas of the GUI, to alter the information to be displayed in the GUI based on a selected piece of content, and/or to enable identification of a selected piece of content from within a large number of pieces of content.

Claims

1. A method for a computing device to present information about television programs via a graphical user interface, the method comprising:

receiving metadata information for a plurality of television programs;

identifying a group of the television programs for a graphical user interface such that received metadata information for those television programs will be included in the graphical user interface, the group including a plurality of television programs;

displaying to a user of the computing device a graphical window that includes the graphical user interface, the graphical user interface having a state based at least in part on the identified group such that metadata information for the television programs in the identified group is included in the displayed graphical user interface;

receiving an indication of a selection by the user of one of the television programs having displayed metadata information in the graphical user interface, and updating the state of the displayed graphical user interface to reflect the selection; and

automatically maintaining the state of the graphical user interface so as to reflect the selection of the one television program by, when a new group of the television programs is identified for the graphical user interface such that the new group does not include the selected one television program, automatically updating the displayed graphical user interface to include metadata information for the television programs in the identified new group and to include one or more indications of the selected one television program,

so that a state of the graphical user interface that is based at least in part on a selected television program is maintained when information in the graphical user interface is updated.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of television programs include programs on multiple channels with multiple scheduled start times, wherein the received metadata information includes electronic programming guide information for each of the television programs, wherein the identified group of the television programs includes a plurality of television programs on the multiple channels whose start times are within a period of time, wherein the displayed graphical user interface has a plurality of distinct display areas that include a view display area with indications of multiple channels and with one or more indications of the period of time, wherein the metadata information for the television programs in the identified group that is included in the displayed graphical user interface is displayed in a grid format within the view display area and includes detail information for each of the television programs in the identified group, wherein the updating of the state of the displayed graphical user interface to reflect the selection of the one television program includes displaying in a coordinated manner in one or more other display areas of the displayed graphical user interface additional detail information for the selected one television program and one or more other indications of the selected one television program, and wherein the maintaining of the state of the graphical user interface so as to reflect the selection of the one television program includes maintaining coordination of information displayed in the plurality of distinct display areas regarding the selected one television program.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the metadata information for the television programs in the identified group that is included in the displayed graphical user interface is displayed in a view area of the displayed graphical user interface in the displayed graphical window, and wherein the updating of the state of the graphical user interface to reflect the selection of the one television program includes displaying additional information about the selected one television program in a distinct area of the displayed graphical user interface in the displayed graphical window.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the updating of the state of the graphical user interface to reflect the selection of the one television program includes displaying distinct information about the selected one television program in a coordinated manner in a plurality of distinct display areas of the displayed graphical user interface in the displayed graphical window, and wherein the maintaining of the state of the graphical user interface so as to reflect the selection of the one television program includes maintaining coordination of information displayed in the plurality of distinct display areas.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the updating of the displayed graphical user interface to include the one or more indications of the selected one television program includes modifying the identified new group to include the selected one television program, so that the updated displayed graphical user interface includes metadata information for the selected one television program.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the updating of the displayed graphical user interface to include the one or more indications of the selected one television program includes providing in the displayed graphical user interface a user-selectable control that when selected updates the displayed graphical user interface to include metadata information for the selected one television program.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the identifying of the group of the television programs for the graphical user interface is based at least in part on selecting television programs associated with a time period for use with the graphical user interface that corresponds to a current time, and including identifying the new group of the television programs based at least in part on a change in the time period for use with the graphical user interface.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the identifying of the group of the television programs for the graphical user interface is based at least in part on an amount of information capable of being displayed in a display area of the displayed graphical user interface using an initial information size and/or based at least in part on an initial size of the display area of the displayed graphical user interface, and including identifying the new group of the television programs based at least in part on a change in the information size at which information will be displayed in the display area of the displayed graphical user interface and/or based at least in part on a change in the size of the display area of the displayed graphical user interface.

9. The method of claim 1 including, after the maintaining of the state of the graphical user interface so as to reflect the selection of the one television program, receiving an indication of a selection by the user of one or more other of the television programs and modifying the state of the displayed graphical user interface to reflect the selection of the one or more other television programs.

10. The method of claim 1 including, after the maintaining of the state of the graphical user interface so as to reflect the selection of the one television program, receiving an instruction from the user based on use of the one or more included indications of the selected one television program, the instruction being to initiate current presentation of the selected one television program on at least one television display device, and initiating the current presentation of the selected one television program on the at least one television display device in response to the instruction.

11. A computer-readable medium whose contents enable a computing device to present information about television programming-related content via a user interface, by performing a method comprising:

receiving information related to a plurality of pieces of television programming-related content;

presenting a user interface that includes the received information for at least some of the pieces of television programming-related content;

receiving an indication of a selection of one of the pieces of television programming-related content whose information is included in the user interface; and

when information included in the user interface is updated, maintaining a state of the user interface so as to reflect the selection of the one piece of television programming-related content.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein the selection of the one piece of television programming-related content is based on an indication from a user of the information included in the presented user interface for that one piece of television programming-related content, wherein the presented user interface is a graphical user interface that supports a plurality of types of views of information for pieces of content, and wherein updating of the information included in the user interface is based on a change in the type of view of the included information.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein updating of the information included in the user interface includes displaying information about one or more pieces of television programming-related content that do not include the selected one piece of television programming-related content, and wherein the maintaining of the state of the user interface so as to reflect the selection of the one piece of television programming-related content includes providing a user-selectable control in the user interface that when selected updates the user interface to include information about the selected one piece of television programming-related content.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein the computer-readable medium is a memory of the computing device and/or is a data transmission medium transmitting to the computing device a generated data signal containing the contents.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein the contents are instructions that when executed cause the computing device to perform the method.

16. A computing system configured to present information about pieces of television programming content via a graphical user interface, comprising:

a display; and

a content management system configured to present on the display a graphical user interface whose information reflects a state that is based at least in part on one or more selected pieces of content and to automatically maintain the state of the information of the graphical user interface as being based at least in part on those selected pieces of content when the graphical user interface is updated.

17. The computing system of claim 16 wherein the one or more selected pieces of content are each a television program, wherein the graphical user interface includes metadata information for a plurality of television programs and includes one or more indications related to the selected television programs, and wherein updating of the graphical user interface includes modifying the television programs whose metadata information is included in the displayed graphical user interface.

18. The computing system of claim 17 wherein the computing system further comprises a device for controlling presentation of television programs on one or more television display devices, and wherein the presented graphical user interface further includes user-selectable controls to allow a user to control the presentation of the television programs on the one or more television display devices via instructions sent to the device, the device being one of a group of devices that includes a set-top box, a digital video recorder device and a media center device.

19. The computing system of claim 16 wherein the content management system includes software executing in memory of the computing system.

20. The computing system of claim 16 wherein the content management system consists of a means for presenting on the display a graphical user interface whose information reflects a state that is based at least in part on one or more selected pieces of content and for automatically maintaining the state of the information of the graphical user interface as being based at least in part on those selected pieces of content when the graphical user interface is updated.