Surfacing On-Demand Television Content

• US 20110239249A1
• Filed: 03/24/2011
• Published: 09/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: British Broadcasting Corporation
• Original Assignee: British Broadcasting Corporation
• Inventors: Greenham, Andrew, Murison, Jane, Still, Amelia, Gammon, Ben
• Application Number:
  US13/071,341
• Publication Number:
  US 20110239249A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/39
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• 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 21/4325 by playing back content from the storage medium reproduction of recorded television signals H04N5/76; reproduction of recorded television signals H04N9/79
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47214 for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A television receiver apparatus is described. The television receiver apparatus comprises an input interface arranged to receive commands from a user, a communication interface arranged to send and receive data over a one-to-one communication network, a broadcast receiver arranged to receive data sent over a broadcast network, a display interface arranged to connect to a display device, and a processor. The processor controls the display device to display an electronic programme guide comprising a schedule of programmes being broadcast and to be broadcast. The processor receives a selection of a programme displayed in the electronic programme guide and a command to find additional episodes of the programme, generates a list of additional episodes of the programme comprising at least one episode available on-demand via the communication interface, and controls the display device to display the list of additional episodes.

Claims

1. A television receiver apparatus, comprising:

an input interface arranged to receive commands from a user;

a communication interface arranged to send and receive data over a one-to-one communication network;

a broadcast receiver arranged to receive data sent over a broadcast network;

a display interface arranged to connect to a display device; and

a processor arranged to;

control the display device using the display interface to display an electronic programme guide comprising a schedule of programmes being broadcast and to be broadcast;

receive via the input interface a selection of a programme displayed in the electronic programme guide and a command to find additional episodes of the programme;

generate a list of additional episodes of the programme comprising at least one episode available on-demand via the communication interface; and

control the display device using the display interface to display the list of additional episodes.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further arranged to receive via the user input interface a request to view a selected episode displayed in the list.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the processor is further arranged to:

determine whether the selected episode is one of the at least one episodes available on-demand and, if so, retrieve the selected episode from the communication network using the communication interface; and

control the display device using the display interface to display the selected episode.

4. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the apparatus further comprises a data storage device, and the processor is further arranged to:

determine whether the selected episode is stored on the data storage device and, if so, retrieve the selected episode from the data storage device; and

control the display device using the display interface to display the selected episode.

5. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the processor is further arranged to:

determine whether the selected episode is currently being broadcast and, if so, retrieve the selected episode from the broadcast network using the broadcast receiver; and

control the display device using the display interface to display the selected episode.

6. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the processor is further arranged to:

determine whether the selected episode is to be broadcast after the current time and is not available on-demand, and, if so, record the selected episode from the broadcast network using the broadcast receiver at its time of broadcast.

7. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the processor is further arranged to:

determine whether the selected episode is to be broadcast after the current time and not is available on-demand, and, if so, display a reminder message to the user at the time of broadcast of the selected episode.

8. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor is arranged to generate the list of additional episodes by searching metadata for at least one of:

programmes available on-demand via the communication interface, programmes shown in the electronic programme guide, and programmes stored locally to the television receiver apparatus.

9. An apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the metadata for programmes available on-demand is retrieved from the communication network using the communication interface.

10. An apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the metadata for programmes shown in the electronic programme guide is received periodically via the broadcast interface and stored at the television receiver apparatus.

11. A set-top box comprising the receiver apparatus of claim 1.

12. A television set comprising the receiver apparatus of claim 1.

13. A method of accessing a television programme at a television receiver arranged to receive data sent over a broadcast network and send and receive data over a one-to-one communication network, comprising:

controlling a display device connected to the television receiver to display an electronic programme guide comprising a schedule of programmes being broadcast and to be broadcast;

receiving a user selection of a programme displayed in the electronic programme guide and a command to find additional episodes of the programme;

generating a list of additional episodes of the programme comprising at least one episode available on-demand via the communication network; and

controlling the display device to display the list of additional episodes.

14. A method according to claim 13, further comprising the step of receiving a user request to view a selected episode displayed in the list.

15. A method according to claim 14, further comprising the steps of:

determining whether the selected episode is one of the at least one episodes available on-demand and, if so, retrieving the selected episode from the communication network; and

controlling the display device to display the selected episode.

16. A method according to claim 14, further comprising the steps of:

determining whether the selected episode is stored on a data storage device at the television receiver and, if so, retrieving the selected episode from the data storage device; and

controlling the display device to display the selected episode.

17. A method according to claim 14, further comprising the steps of:

determining whether the selected episode is currently being broadcast and, if so, retrieving the selected episode from the broadcast network; and

controlling the display device to display the selected episode.

18. A method according to claim 14, further comprising the steps of:

determining whether the selected episode is to be broadcast after the current time and is not available on-demand, and, if so, recording the selected episode from the broadcast network at its time of broadcast.

19. A method according to claim 14, further comprising the steps of:

determining whether the selected episode is to be broadcast after the current time and not is available on-demand, and, if so, displaying a reminder message to the user at the time of broadcast of the selected episode.

20. A method according to claim 13, wherein the step of generating the list of additional episodes comprises searching metadata for at least one of:

programmes available on-demand via the communication network, programmes shown in the electronic programme guide, and programmes stored locally to the television receiver.