ORGANIZING AND SORTING MEDIA MENU ITEMS

• US 20080065638A1
• Filed: 09/11/2006
• Published: 03/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Pacurariu, Mihnea Calin, Ma, Jeffrey, Brodersen, Rainer, Goldeen, Rachel Clare, Jobs, Steven
• Granted Patent: US 8,099,665 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4143 embedded in a Personal Computer [PC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42222 Additional components integrated in the remote control device, e.g. timer, speaker, sensors for detecting position, direction or movement of the remote control, microphone or battery charging device
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42224 Touch pad or touch panel provided on the remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4312 involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4858 for modifying screen layout parameters, e.g. fonts, size of the windows
• 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

Abstract

A method of organizing episodic content includes identifying a list of items associated with episodic content and sorting the list of items based on at least episode order upon a prompt.

Claims

1. A user interface, comprising:

a menu arranged in an interface environment, the menu comprising a list of menu items associated with episodic content; and

a sort interface arranged in the interface environment, the sort interface being configured to receive a selection and to sort the list of menu items based upon the selection, the selection being operable to request sorting based upon at least an episode order.

2. The user interface of claim 1, wherein the selection is further operable to request sorting based upon a purchase date associated with the episodic content.

3. The user interface of claim 1, wherein the selection is further operable to request sorting based upon a title associated with the episodic content.

4. The user interface of claim 1, wherein the selection is further operable to request sorting based upon metadata associated with the episodic content.

5. The user interface of claim 1, further comprising a first episodic abstraction arranged within the interface environment.

6. The user interface of claim 5, wherein the episodic abstraction comprises art associated with the episodic content.

7. The user interface of claim 6, wherein the art comprises a digital representation of promotional media associated with the episodic content.

8. The user interface of claim 7, wherein the promotional media is further associated with a highlighted menu item.

9. The user interface of claim 6, further comprising a second episodic abstraction arranged within the interface environment.

10. The user interface of claim 9, wherein the second episodic abstraction comprises metadata associated with the episodic content.

11. The user interface of claim 10, wherein the metadata is further associated with a highlighted menu item.

12. The user interface of claim 1, wherein the list of menu items comprises a selectable list of episode titles.

13. The user interface of claim 12, wherein the episode titles comprise metadata associated with portions of the episodic content.

14. The user interface of claim 13, wherein the menu receives metadata from a metadata provider.

15. The user interface of claim 14, wherein the menu receives the episode order from the metadata provider.

16. The user interface of claim 13, wherein the menu receives metadata from a data store.

17. The user interface of claim 16, wherein the menu receives the series order from the data store.

18. The user interface of claim 1, wherein the menu is configured to receive a selection of a menu item from the list of menu items, and request presentation of the selection.

19. One or more computer readable media storing instructions that are executable by a processing device, and upon such execution cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:

generating a choice of sort options for a plurality of menu items associated with episodic content, the sort options comprising at least an episode order sort option;

receiving a selection of the episode order sort option;

sorting the menu items based upon an episode order in response to receipt of the selection of the episode order sort option;

generating a menu comprising a list of menu items based upon the sorting of the menu items;

presenting the menu arranged within an interface environment.

20. The computer readable media of claim 19, wherein the sort options comprise an option to sort based upon a purchase date associated with portions of the episodic content.

21. The computer readable media of claim 19, wherein the sort options comprise an option to sort based upon a title associated with the episodic content.

22. The computer readable media of claim 19, wherein the sort options comprise an option to sort based upon metadata associated with the episodic content.

23. The computer readable media of claim 19, further comprising presenting a first episodic abstraction arranged within the interface environment.

24. The computer readable media of claim 23, wherein the episodic abstraction comprises art associated with the episodic content.

25. The computer readable media of claim 24, wherein the art comprises a digital representation of promotional media associated with the episodic content.

26. The computer readable media of claim 25, wherein the promotional media is further associated with a highlighted menu item.

27. The computer readable media of claim 24, further comprising presenting a second episodic abstraction arranged within the interface environment.

28. The computer readable media of claim 27, wherein the second episodic abstraction comprises metadata associated with the episodic content.

29. The computer readable media of claim 28, wherein the metadata is further associated with a highlighted menu item.

30. The computer readable media of claim 19, wherein the list of menu items comprises a selectable list of episode titles respectively associated with portions of the episodic content.

31. The computer readable media of claim 30, further comprising receiving the list of episode titles from a metadata provider.

32. The computer readable media of claim 31, further comprising receiving episode order from the metadata provider.

33. The computer readable media of claim 19, further comprising:

receiving a content selection of a menu item from the list of menu items; and

requesting presentation of episodic content based upon the content selection.

34. A media system comprising:

a user interface module configured to provide a plurality of menus for display to a user;

a data store configured to store episodic metadata associated with episodic content, the episodic metadata including an episode order;

a episodic menu generator configured to retrieve episodic metadata from the data store and to generate an episodic menu comprising a list of menu items, the list of menu items being ordered based upon the episodic order;

wherein upon selection of a selected menu item from the list of menu items, the media system retrieves content associated with the selected menu item.

35. A method comprising:

identifying a list of items associated with episodic content; and

sorting the list of items based on at least episode order upon a prompt.