System and method for displaying multimedia events scheduling information

• US 20080158229A1
• Filed: 12/29/2006
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Gossweiler III, Richard Carl, Taylor, Thomas H., Brown, David A., Sahami, Mehran, Gupta, Neha, Wagner, Mark, Reiss, David Scott, Scott, Maricia, Tull, Alice, Heilman, Timothy Dharma, Zigmond, Daniel John, Bauer, Marisa, Patel, Manish Gordhan, Blackburn, John Wayne, Zhang, Lucy Congyun
• Granted Patent: US 8,544,040 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/440
• 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 21/4438 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 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• 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 21/8453 by locking or enabling a set of features, e.g. optional functionalities in an executable program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A system for displaying information may include memory, one or more processors, and one or more modules stored in memory. The one or more modules are configured for execution by the one or more processors and may include instructions for: presenting a subset of a collection of data on a first grid having a first axis corresponding to units of time and a second axis, the collection of data comprising data representing time-bounded events; presenting a second grid having, first and second axes corresponding to the first and second axes of the first grid, the second grid corresponding to a larger portion of the collection of data than the subset presented on the first grid; and presenting a user moveable window for selecting a portion of the second grid, and selecting the subset presented on the first grid in accordance with a current position of the window.

Claims

1. A method of displaying information, comprising:

presenting a subset of a collection of data on a first grid having a first axis corresponding to units of time and a second axis, the collection of data comprising data representing time-bounded events;

presenting a second grid having first and second axes corresponding to the first and second axes of the first grid, the second grid corresponding to a larger portion of the collection of data than the subset presented on the first grid; and

presenting a user moveable window for selecting a portion of the second grid, and selecting the subset presented on the first grid in accordance with a current position of the window.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the time-bounded events comprise scheduled presentations of multimedia content.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the collection of data corresponds to television shows scheduled for broadcast in a predefined time period.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the second axis of the first and second grids corresponds to content groupings.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the second axis of the first and second grids corresponds to television channels.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the second axis of the first and second grids corresponds to content genres.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the collection of data comprises data resulting from a search of a database in accordance with a search query.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the search query is a user specified search query.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the search query comprises a predefined search query.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the second grid includes highlighted regions corresponding to items in the collection of data corresponding to a search query.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first grid includes highlighted data corresponding to items in the collection of data corresponding to a search query and corresponding to a current position of the window.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first grid occupies a display region larger than a display region of the second grid.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responding to a user action of repositioning the window by changing the subset presented on the first grid in accordance with the repositioned window; and

acquiring additional data from a server corresponding to the changed subset presented on the first grid.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the additional data comprises additional information associated with the time-bounded events;

the method including responding to user selection a respective time-bounded event by displaying information included in the additional information.

15. A system for displaying information, comprising:

memory;

one or more processors; and

one or more modules stored in memory and configured for execution by the one or more processors, the modules comprising;

instructions for presenting a subset of a collection of data on a first grid having a first axis corresponding to units of time and a second axis, the collection of data comprising data representing time-bounded events;

instructions for presenting a second grid having, first and second axes corresponding to the first and second axes of the first grid, the second grid corresponding to a larger portion of the collection of data than the subset presented on the first grid; and

instructions for presenting a user moveable window for selecting a portion of the second grid, and selecting the subset presented on the first grid in accordance with a current position of the window.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the time-bounded events comprise scheduled presentations of multimedia content.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the collection of data comprises data resulting from a search of a database in accordance with a search query.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the search query is a user specified search query.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the search query comprises a predefined search query.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the second grid includes highlighted regions corresponding to items in the collection of data corresponding to a search query.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the modules further comprise:

instructions for responding to a user action of repositioning the window by changing the subset presented on the first grid in accordance with the repositioned window; and

instructions for acquiring additional data from a server corresponding to the changed subset presented on the first grid.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the additional information includes information to be displayed when the user selects a respective time-bounded event of the first grid.

23. A computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism comprising instructions for:

presenting a subset of a collection of data on a first grid having a first axis corresponding to units of time and a second axis, the collection of data comprising data representing time-bounded events;

presenting a second grid having first and second axes corresponding to the first and second axes of the first grid, the second grid corresponding to a larger portion of the collection of data than the subset presented on the first grid; and

presenting a user moveable window for selecting a portion of the second grid, and selecting the subset presented on the first grid in accordance with a current position of the window.