SYSTEM FOR CONFIGURING SOFT KEYS IN A MEDIA COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

• US 20090210922A1
• Filed: 02/19/2008
• Published: 08/20/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Anderson, Brett, WHITE, SCOTT, Cansler, James L.
• Granted Patent: US 8,863,189 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/151
• 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 21/42227 the keys being reprogrammable, e.g. soft keys
• 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 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/485 End-user interface for client configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6581 Reference data, e.g. a movie identifier for ordering a movie or a product identifier in a home shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/854 Content authoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17354 in an intermediate station common to a plurality of user terminals

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, set top box (STB) having a controller to record one or more soft key preferences associated with a user of the STB for each of a plurality of media presentation states of a media communication system, receive a request for presentation of a graphical user interface (GUI) associated with one of the media presentation states, select one or more soft keys according to the one or more soft key preferences assigned to the requested media presentation state, and present the selected one or more soft keys in the GUI. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A set top box (STB), comprising a controller to:

record one or more soft key preferences associated with a user of the STB for each of a plurality of media presentation states of a media communication system;

receive a request for presentation of a graphical user interface (GUI) associated with one of the media presentation states;

select one or more soft keys according to the one or more soft key preferences assigned to the requested media presentation state; and

present the selected one or more soft keys in the GUI.

2. The STB of claim 1, wherein the controller is adapted to receive the one or more soft key preferences for each of the plurality of media presentation states from the user of the STB.

3. The STB of claim 2, wherein the one or more soft key preferences correspond to one or more soft key macros defined by the user of the STB.

4. The STB of claim 1, wherein the controller is adapted to:

monitor navigation activity associated with each of the plurality of media presentation states of the media communication system;

determine from the navigation activity a usage pattern; and

determine the one or more soft key preferences for each of the plurality of media presentation states according to the usage pattern.

5. The STB of claim 4, wherein the controller is adapted to perform at least one among:

relocating to one or more primary soft key positions one or more soft keys identified by the one or more soft key preferences for each of the plurality of media presentation states;

relocating other soft keys not identified by the one or more soft key preferences to secondary soft key positions, wherein primary soft key positions are more prominent in GUIs presented by the STB than the secondary soft key positions; and

removing from the GUIs presented by the STB at least one of the other soft keys not identified by the one or more soft key preferences.

6. The STB of claim 4, wherein the usage pattern defines at least one among a frequency of use of soft keys and a contextual use of soft keys.

7. The STB of claim 1, wherein a media presentation state comprises a GUI with one or more selectable soft keys for managing in whole or in part at least one among an electronic programming guide, a media program supplied by the media communication system, a catalog of selectable media content, a user'"'"'s guide for managing operations of the STB or media content supplied by the media communication system, a media content library of the user of the STB, a menu of a digital video recorder, a portal associated with the STB, and combinations thereof, and wherein the media communication system corresponds to at least one among an Internet Protocol Television (TV) communication system, a cable TV communication system, a satellite TV communication system, a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a Voice over IP (VoIP) communication system, and an IP Multimedia Subsystem combining the PSTN and VoIP communication systems.

8. The STB of claim 1, wherein the controller is adapted to transmit the selected one or more soft keys to a remote controller that manages operations of the STB over a wireless interface.

9. The STB of claim 8, wherein the remote controller presents the selected one or more soft keys in a display, and wherein the wireless interface corresponds to one among an infrared communication medium, and a radio frequency communication medium.

10. A computer-readable storage medium in a media processor, comprising computer instructions to:

receive a request for presentation of a graphical user interface (GUI) associated with one of a plurality of media presentation states of a media communication system;

select one or more soft keys according to one or more soft key preferences associated with a user of the media processor and assigned to the requested media presentation state; and

present the selected one or more soft keys in the GUI.

11. The storage medium of claim 10, wherein the media processor corresponds to a set top box, and wherein the media communication system corresponds to at least one among an Internet Protocol Television (TV) communication system, a cable TV communication system, a satellite TV communication system, a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a Voice over IP (VoIP) communication system, and an IP Multimedia Subsystem combining the PSTN and VoIP communication systems.

12. The storage medium of claim 10, comprising computer instructions to present the user of the media processor a customization GUI to define the one or more soft key preferences for the requested media presentation state.

13. The storage medium of claim 10, comprising computer instructions to define one or more soft key macros corresponding to the one or more soft key preferences.

14. The storage medium of claim 10, comprising computer instructions to:

monitor navigation activity associated with each of the plurality of media presentation states of the media communication system;

determine from the navigation activity a usage pattern; and

determine the one or more soft key preferences for each of the plurality of media presentation states according to the usage pattern.

15. The storage medium of claim 14, comprising computer instructions to perform at least one among:

relocating to one or more primary soft key positions one or more soft keys identified by the one or more soft key preferences for each of the plurality of media presentation states;

relocating other soft keys not identified by the one or more soft key preferences to secondary soft key positions, wherein primary soft key positions are more prominent in GUIs presented by the media processor than the secondary soft key positions; and

removing from the GUIs presented by the media processor at least one of the other soft keys not identified by the one or more soft key preferences.

16. The storage medium of claim 14, wherein the usage pattern defines at least one among a frequency of use of soft keys and a contextual use of soft keys.

17. The storage medium of claim 10, comprising computer instructions to transmit the selected one or more soft keys to a remote controller that manages operations of the media processor over a wireless interface

18. The storage medium of claim 17, wherein the remote controller presents the selected one or more soft keys in a display, and wherein the wireless interface corresponds to one among an infrared communication medium, and a radio frequency communication medium.

19. A remote controller that manages operations of a media processor, comprising a controller to present one or more soft keys selected according to one or more soft key preferences associated with a user of the media processor and assigned to each of a plurality of media presentation states of a media communication system.

20. The remote controller of claim 19, wherein the media processor corresponds to a set top box, and wherein the media communication system corresponds to at least one among an Internet Protocol Television (TV) communication system, a cable TV communication system, a satellite TV communication system, a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a Voice over IP (VoIP) communication system, and an IP Multimedia Subsystem combining the PSTN and VoIP communication systems.

21. The remote controller of claim 19, wherein at least one among the controller of the remote controller and the media processor is adapted to:

monitor navigation activity associated with each of the plurality of media presentation states of the media communication system;

determine from the navigation activity a usage pattern; and

determine the one or more soft key preferences for each of the plurality of media presentation states according to the usage pattern.

22. The remote controller of claim 21, wherein the usage pattern defines at least one among a frequency of use of soft keys and a contextual use of soft keys.

23. The remote controller of claim 19, wherein the controller is adapted to receive the selected one or more soft keys from the media processor over a wireless interface.

24. The remote controller of claim 23, wherein the controller is adapted to present the selected one or more soft keys in a display, and wherein the wireless interface corresponds to one among an infrared communication medium, and a radio frequency communication medium.

25. The remote controller of claim 19, wherein the controller is adapted to receive the one or more soft key preferences for each of the plurality of media presentation states from a user of the media processor, and wherein the one or more soft key preferences correspond to one or more soft key macros defined by the user.