Interactive television program guide system with pay program package promotion
First Claim
1. A program guide system that allows a user to purchase pay programs, comprising user television equipment on which an interactive television program guide application is implemented, wherein the interactive television program guide application is configured to:
- provide the user with an opportunity to select a program for purchase from a set of program listings;
determine whether the selected program is part of a package that contains different pay programs that share a common theme; and
present the user with an opportunity to purchase the package of which the selected program is a part when it is determined that the selected program is part of the package that contains different pay programs that share the common theme.
14 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system is provided that allows a user to select a pay program for purchase from a program guide. The program guide determines whether the selected program is part of a package of pay programs. If the selected program is part of a package, information regarding the package is provided to the user so that the user may decide whether to purchase the package. If the selected program is part of several packages, information for all packages is provided. The system automatically sets reminders for packages containing repetitive programming. The system monitors whether the user has watched any of the programs in such packages. When the user watches a program from the package, the remaining reminders are cancelled. If a user does not watch any programs in a package of any type, purchase of the package is cancelled and the user is provided with the opportunity to reschedule.
100 Citations
36 Claims
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1. A program guide system that allows a user to purchase pay programs, comprising user television equipment on which an interactive television program guide application is implemented, wherein the interactive television program guide application is configured to:
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provide the user with an opportunity to select a program for purchase from a set of program listings;
determine whether the selected program is part of a package that contains different pay programs that share a common theme; and
present the user with an opportunity to purchase the package of which the selected program is a part when it is determined that the selected program is part of the package that contains different pay programs that share the common theme. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for allowing a user to purchase pay programs using an interactive television program guide application implemented on user television equipment, the method comprising:
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providing the user with an opportunity to select a program for purchase from a set of program listings;
determining whether the selected program is part of a package that contains different pay programs that share a common theme; and
presenting the user with an opportunity to purchase the package of which the selected program is a part when it is determined that the selected program is part of the package that contains different pay programs that share the common theme. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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Specification