TV USER INTERFACE FOR VIEWING SELECTED SUB-GROUPS OF CHANNELS

• US 20090260034A1
• Filed: 04/10/2008
• Published: 10/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Nishikawa, Yuko, Yeh, Sabrina, Friedlander, Steven, Ho, Tracy
• Granted Patent: US 8,024,756 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/44
• 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 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• 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 21/4668 for recommending content, e.g. movies
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/478 Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4826 using recommendation lists, e.g. of programs or channels sorted out according to their score

Abstract

Intuitive user interfaces are disclosed for a TV showing a favorites channel pane that can transition to a channel history pane, etc. in response to remote control commands.

Claims

1. A TV system, comprising:

a TV display; and

at least one processor executing logic to present user interfaces (UI) on the display, wherein;

a first UI is presented next to a pane presenting video from a currently tuned-to channel, the first UI presenting a list of only a subset of available channels, the first UI including at least one selector selectable to cause a second UI to appear next to the pane.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the list includes channel number and program description.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein channels in the list are presented in a single column for only one time slot.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the list is a favorite channel list defined by at least one viewer.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the list is a history channel list showing the most recent “

N”

channels tuned to for longer than a predetermined period.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the list is a favorite channel list defined by at least one viewer and the second UI includes a history channel list showing the most recent “

N”

channels tuned to for longer than a predetermined period.

7. The system of claim 3, wherein the list presents all channels available to the TV for only one time slot.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the second UI is an EPG showing program information for at least two time slots.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the first UI is depicted to graphically swing back and then forward to a front view showing the second UI.

10. A method, comprising:

displaying a current channel on a TV monitor;

displaying a first user interface (UI) on the monitor next to the current channel;

receiving a signal from a remote control device to change to a second UI; and

using motion graphics, transitioning from the first UI to the second UI.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first UI presents a list including channel number and program description.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein channels in the list are presented in a single column for only one time slot.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the list is a favorite channel list defined by at least one viewer.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the list is a history channel list showing the most recent “

N”

channels tuned to for longer than a predetermined period.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the list is a favorite channel list defined by at least one viewer and the second UI includes a history channel list showing the most recent “

N”

channels tuned to for longer than a predetermined period.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the list presents all channels available to the TV for only one time slot.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the second UI is an EPG showing program information for at least two time slots.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein the first UI is depicted to graphically swing back and then forward to a front view showing the second UI.

20. A system, comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one TV display communicating with the processor; and

means accessible to the processor to;

display a current channel pane on the display showing video from a tuned-to channel from a set of available channels;

display a first UI next to the current channel pane showing a scrollable list of only a subset of the available channels, the first UI showing program information for only a single time slot.