System and method for generating an information display schedule for an electronic program guide

• US 5,559,548 A
• Filed: 09/23/1994
• Issued: 09/24/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Rovi Guides, Inc. (Adeia Inc.), TCI-TVGOS INC
• Original Assignee: News America Publications Inc
• Inventors: Miller, Larry, Heydt, Michael, Gutman, James, Davis, Bruce
• Primary Examiner(s): Kostak, Victor R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): HOPKINS, MARTHA
• Application Number:
  US08/311,475
• Time in Patent Office: 732 Days
• Field of Search: 348/3, 348/7, 348/906, 348/10, 348/563, 348/460
• US Class Current: 725/40
• 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 21/47 End-user applications
• 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 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• 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 5/445 for displaying additional information H04N5/50 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/50 Tuning indicators; Automatic tuning control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/025 Systems for the transmission of digital non-picture data, e.g. of text during the active part of a television frame transmission of digital non-picture data during the vertical blanking interval only H04N7/088
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/0884 for the transmission of additional display-information, e.g. menu for programme or channel selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/10 Adaptations for transmission by electrical cable H04N7/12 takes precedence

Abstract

An electronic program schedule system which includes a receiver for receiving television program schedule information and promotional information transmitted via satellite, a digital playback system for storing the schedule and promotional information and formatting pages of said information, and a cable television channel modulator for modulating the pages of information onto a cable television system. A data processor in the playback system receives and stores in a memory television program schedule information for a plurality of television programs to appear on the plurality of television channels. A television receiver is used to display the television program schedule and promotional information by tuning the receiver or cable converter box to the designated channel upon which the signals are modulated. A multimedia generator receives control commands from the data processor and program schedule information from the memory and displays a portion of the program schedule information in either full screen grid format or partial screen grid format together with promotional information, as controlled by a schedule for display of the promotional information resident in the data processor. The data processor controls the multimedia generator with control commands, issued in response to a computer program resident on the data processor, to display program schedule information and promotional information.

Claims

1. In a system for providing an electronic program guide for transmission on a television channel, a method for generating a schedule for display of information, said method comprising the steps of:

providing a database of a plurality of pieces of information to a data processor,

selecting a time period for generation of said schedule,

assigning each said piece of information a priority factor based on the desired display frequency of said piece of information,

establishing a first time slot in said time period, said first time slot commencing concurrently with the beginning of said time period,

selecting, for said first time slot, one of said pieces of information for display from said plurality of pieces based on the priority factor of said selected piece,

scheduling said selected piece of information for display during said first time slot,

adjusting the priority factor of said selected piece of information in accordance with a user-defined post-selection priority adjustment factor, and

repeating said establishing, information selecting, scheduling, and adjusting steps for a plurality of temporally sequential time slots in said time period.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said pieces of information comprise promotional video clips.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said pieces of information are categorized and said priority factors are assigned based on said categories.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said plurality of time slots are of equal duration.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the priority factor of said selected piece of information is decreased in response to selection and scheduling of said selected piece of information.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the priority factors of said not-selected pieces of information are increased in response to selection and scheduling of said selected piece of information.

7. The method of claim 1 Wherein said selecting step further comprises determining the eligibility for display during a time slot of one or more pieces of said information prior to selecting a piece of information for display during said time slot.

8. The method of claim 3 wherein the priority factors of each of said not-selected pieces of information are increased dependent upon the category of each of said not-selected pieces of information.

9. In a system for providing an electronic program guide for transmission on a television channel, a method for generating a schedule for display of information associated with programs scheduled for transmission at predetermined times in the future, said method comprising the steps of:

providing a database of a plurality of pieces of information to a data processor wherein each said piece of information is associated with a program scheduled for transmission at a predetermined time in the future and is within a predetermined category of programs,

selecting a time period for generation of said schedule,

assigning each said piece of information a priority factor based on the category of said associated program,

establishing a first time slot in said period, said first time slot commencing concurrently with the beginning of said time period,

selecting, for said first time slot, one of said pieces of information for display from said plurality of pieces of information based on the priority factor of said selected piece,

scheduling said selected piece of information for display during said first time slot,

adjusting the priority factor of said selected piece of information in accordance with a user-defined post-selection priority adjustment factor, and

repeating said establishing, information selecting, scheduling and ad steps for a plurality of temporally sequential time slots in said time period.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein said information comprises video clips of said programs scheduled for transmission at predetermined times in the future.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the priority factor of said selected piece of information is decreased in response to selection and scheduling of said selected piece of information.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the priority factors of said not-selected pieces of information are increased in response to selection and scheduling of said selected piece of information.

13. In a system for providing an electronic program guide for transmission on a television channel, a method for generating a schedule for display of information wherein each piece of information is associated with a program scheduled for transmission in the future, the method comprising the steps of:

a) providing a database of a first plurality of pieces of information to a data processor, said database comprising, for each said piece of information, a category identification, an indication of the eligible time periods for display, and an indication of the scheduled transmission time of the program associated with said piece of information,

b) assigning each of said pieces of information a priority factor based on said category identifications,

c) selecting a time period for generation of said schedule,

d) establishing a first time slot in said period, said first time slot commencing concurrently with the beginning of said time period,

e) defining a second plurality of pieces of information for display during said first time slot based on said indicated eligible time periods for said pieces of information,

f) for each of said second plurality of pieces of information, adjusting said priority factor if said first time slot is less than a predetermined mount of time prior to the scheduled transmission time of the program associated with said piece of information,

g) selecting a piece of information for display during said first time slot based on said adjusted priorities of said second plurality of pieces of information,

h) scheduling said selected piece of information for display during said first time slot,

i) adjusting the priority factor of said selected piece of information in accordance with user-defined post-selection priority adjustment factor, and repeating steps e-i for a plurality of temporally sequential time slots in said time period.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein said adjusting step comprises increasing the priority factor if said first time slot is less than a predetermined amount of time prior to the scheduled transmission time of the program associated with said piece of information.

15. In a system for providing an electronic program guide for transmission on a television channel, a method for generating a schedule for display of information wherein each piece of information is associated with a program scheduled for transmission in the future, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a database of a plurality of pieces of information to a data processor, said database comprising, for each said piece of information, a category identification, and an indication of the eligible time periods for display,

assigning each of said pieces of information a priority factor based on said category identifications,

selecting a time period for generation of said schedule,

establishing a first time slot in said period, said first time slot commencing concurrently with the beginning of said time period,

defining a second plurality of pieces of information for display during said first time slot based on said indicated eligible time periods for said pieces of information,

selecting a piece of information for display during said first time slot from said second plurality of pieces of information based on said priorities of said second plurality of pieces of information,

scheduling said selected piece of information for display during said first time slot,

adjusting the priority factor of said selected piece of information in accordance with user-defined post-selection priority adjustment factor, and

repeating said defining, information selecting, scheduling and adjusting steps for a plurality of temporally sequential time slots in said time period.

16. In a system for providing an electronic program guide for transmission on a television channel, a method for generating a schedule for display of information wherein each piece of information is associated with a program scheduled for transmission in the future, the method comprising the steps of:

a) providing a database of a plurality of pieces of information to a data processor, said database comprising, for each said piece of information, a category identification, an indication of the eligible time periods for display, and an indication of the scheduled transmission time of the program associated with said piece of information,

b) assigning each of said pieces of information a priority factor based on said category identifications,

c) for each of said pieces of information, adjusting said priority factor if said scheduled transmission time of the program associated with said piece of information is within a predetermined time window,

d) selecting a time period for generation of said schedule,

e) establishing a first time slot in said period, said first time slot commencing concurrently with the beginning of said time period,

f) defining a second plurality of pieces of information for display during said first time slot based on said indicated eligible time periods for said pieces of information,

g) selecting a piece of information for display during said first time slot from said second plurality of pieces of information based on said adjusted priorities of said second plurality of pieces of information,

h) scheduling said selected piece of information for display during said first time slot,

i) adjusting the priority factor of said selected piece of information in accordance with a user-defined post-selection priority adjustment factor, and

j) repeating steps f-i for a plurality of temporally sequential time slots in said time period.

17. In a system for providing an electronic program guide for transmission on a television channel, a method for generating a schedule for display of information wherein each piece of information is associated with a program scheduled for transmission in the future, the method comprising the steps of:

a) providing a database of a plurality of pieces of information to a data processor, each said piece of information associated with a program scheduled for transmission at a predetermined time in the future,

b) selecting a time period for generation of said schedule,

c) assigning, for each said piece of information, a priority factor based on the desired display frequency of said piece of information,

d) establishing a first time slot in said period, said first time slot commencing concurrently with the beginning of said time period,

e) adjusting, for said first time slot, the priority factor of one or more pieces of information based on the temporal proximity of said first time slot to said predetermined transmission times of said programs associated with said one or more pieces of information,

f) selecting, for said first time slot, one of said pieces of information for display from said plurality of pieces based on the priority factors of said pieces,

g) scheduling said selected piece of information for display during said first time slot,

h) adjusting the priority factor of said selected piece of information in accordance with user-defined post-selection priority adjustment factor, and i) repeating steps e-h for a plurality of temporally sequential time slots in said time period.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein said pieces of information comprise promotional video clips.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein said pieces of information are categorized and said priority factors are assigned based on said categories.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein said time slots are of equal duration.

21. The method of claim 17 wherein the priority factor of said selected piece of information is decreased in response to selection and scheduling of said selected piece of information.

22. The method of claim 17 wherein the priority factors of said not-selected pieces of information are increased in response to selection and scheduling of said selected piece of information.

23. The method of claim 17 wherein said selecting step further comprises determining the eligibility for display during a time slot of one or more pieces of said information prior to selecting a piece of information for display during said time slot.

24. The method of claim 19 wherein the priority factors of each of said not-selected pieces of information are increased dependent upon the category of each of said not-selected pieces of information.

25. In a system for providing an electronic program guide for transmission on a television channel, apparatus for generating a schedule for display of information comprising:

means for providing a database of a plurality of pieces of information to a data processor, said data processor comprising;

means for selecting a time period for generation of said schedule;

means for establishing a first time slot in said time period, said first time slot commencing concurrently with said time period;

means for assigning each said piece of information a priority factor based on the desired display frequency of said piece of information;

means for selecting, for said first time slot, one of said pieces of information for display from said plurality of pieces based on the priority factor of said selected piece;

means for scheduling said selected piece of information for display during said first time slot;

means for adjusting the priority factor of said selected piece of information in accordance with a user-defined post-selection priority adjustment factor; and

means for repeatedly invoking said establishing, information selecting, scheduling, and a means for a plurality of temporally sequential time slots in said time period.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein said pieces of information comprise promotional video clips.

27. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein said pieces of information are categorized and said priority factors are assigned based on said categories.

28. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein said time slots are of equal duration.

29. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the priority factor of said selected piece of information is decreased in response to selection and scheduling of said selected piece of information.

30. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the priority factors of said not-selected pieces of information are increased in response to selection and scheduling of said selected piece of information.

31. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein said selecting means further comprises means for determining the eligibility for display during a time slot of one or more pieces of said information prior to selecting a piece of information for display during said time slot.

32. The apparatus of claim 27 wherein the priority factors of each of said not-selected pieces of information are increased dependent upon the category of each of said not-selected pieces of information.

33. In a system for providing an electronic program guide for transmission on a television channel, apparatus for generating a schedule for display of information associated with programs scheduled for transmission at predetermined times in the future comprising:

means for providing a database of a plurality of pieces of information to a data processor wherein each said piece of information is associated with a program scheduled for transmission at a predetermined time in the future and is within a predetermined category of programs, said data processor comprising;

means for selecting a time period for generation of said schedule;

means for assigning each said piece of information a priority factor based on the category of said associated program;

means for establishing a first time slot in said period, said first time slot commencing concurrently with the beginning of said time period;

means for selecting, for said first time slot, one of said pieces of information for display from said plurality of pieces of information based on the priority factor of said selected piece;

mean for scheduling said selected piece of information for display during said first time slot;

means for adjusting the priority factor of said selected piece of information in accordance with a user-defined post-selection priority adjustment factor; and

means for repeatedly invoking said establishing, information selecting, scheduling, and adjusting means for a plurality of temporally sequential time slots in said time period.

34. The apparatus of claim 33 wherein said information comprises video clips of said programs scheduled for transmission at predetermined times in the future.

35. The apparatus of claim 33 wherein the priority factor of said selected piece of information is decreased in response to selection and scheduling of said selected piece of information.

36. The apparatus of claim 33 wherein the priority factors of said not-selected pieces of information are increased in response to selection and scheduling of said selected piece of information.

37. In a system for providing an electronic program guide for transmission on a television channel, apparatus for generating a schedule for display of information wherein each piece of information is associated with a program scheduled for transmission in the future comprising:

means for providing a database of a first plurality of pieces of information to a data processor, said database comprising, for each said piece of information, a category identification, an indication of the eligible time periods for display, and an indication of the scheduled transmission time of the program associated with said piece of information;

said data processor comprising;

means for assigning each of said pieces of information a priority factor based on said category identifications;

means for selecting a time period for generation of said schedule;

means for establishing a first time slot in said time period, said first time slot commencing concurrently with the beginning of said time period;

means for defining a second plurality of pieces of information for display during said first time slot based on said indicated eligible time periods for said pieces of information,

for each of said second plurality of pieces of information, first means for adjusting said priority factor if said first time slot is less than a predetermined amount of time prior to the scheduled transmission time of the program associated with said piece of information;

means for selecting a piece of information for display during said first time slot based on said adjusted priorities of said second plurality of pieces of information;

means for scheduling said selected piece of information for display during said first time slot;

second means for adjusting the priority factor of said selected piece of information in accordance with a user-defined post-selection priority adjustment factor; and

means for repeatedly invoking said defining, first adjusting, information selecting, scheduling and second adjusting means for a plurality of temporally sequential time slots in said time period.

38. The method of claim 37 wherein said adjusting means comprises means for increasing the priority factor if said first time slot is less than a predetermined amount of time prior to the scheduled transmission time of the program associated with said piece of information.

39. In a system for providing an electronic program guide for transmission on a television channel, apparatus for generating a schedule for display of information wherein each piece of information is associated with a program scheduled for transmission in the future comprising:

means for providing a database of a plurality of pieces of information to a data processor, said database comprising, for each said piece of information, a category identification, and an indication of the eligible time periods for display;

said data processor comprising;

means for assigning each of said pieces of information a priority factor based on said category identifications;

means for selecting a time period for generation of said schedule;

means for establishing a first time slot in said period, said first time slot commencing concurrently with the beginning of said time period;

means for defining a second plurality of pieces of information for display during said first time slot based on said indicated eligible time periods for said pieces of information;

means for selecting a piece of information for display during said first time slot based on said priorities of said second plurality of pieces of information;

means for scheduling said selected piece of information for display during said first time slot;

means for adjusting the priority factor of said selected piece of information in accordance with a user-defined post-selection priority adjustment factor; and

means for repeatedly invoking said defining, information selecting, scheduling and adjusting means for a plurality of temporally sequential time slots in said time period.

40. In a system for providing m electronic program guide for transmission on a television channel, apparatus for generating a schedule for display of information wherein each piece of information is associated with a program scheduled for transmission in the future:

means for providing a database of a plurality of pieces of information to a data processor, said database comprising, for each said piece of information, a category identification, an indication of the eligible time periods for display, and an indication of the scheduled transmission time of the program associated with said piece of information;

said data processor comprising;

means for assigning each of said pieces of information a priority factor based on said category identifications;

for each said piece of information, first means for adjusting said priority factor if said scheduled transmission time of the program associated with said piece of information is within a predetermined time window;

means for selecting a time period for generation of said schedule;

means for establishing a first time slot in said time period, said first time slot commencing concurrently with the beginning of said time period;

means for defining a second plurality of pieces of information for display during said first time slot based on said indicated eligible time periods for said pieces of information;

means for selecting a piece of information for display during said first time slot based on said adjusted priorities of said second plurality of pieces of information;

means for scheduling said selected piece of information for display during said first time slot;

second means for adjusting the priority factor of said selected piece of information in accordance with a user-defined post-selection priority adjustment factor; and

means for repeatedly invoking said defining, information selecting, scheduling and second adjusting means for a plurality of temporally sequential time slots in said time period.

41. In a system for providing an electronic program guide for transmission on a television channel, apparatus for generating a schedule for display of information wherein each piece of information is associated with a program scheduled for transmission in the future comprising:

means for providing a database of a plurality of pieces of information to a data processor, each said piece of information associated with one or more programs scheduled for transmission at predetermined times in the future;

said data processor comprising;

means for selecting a time period for generation of said schedule;

first means for assigning, for each said piece of information, a priority factor based on the desired display frequency of said piece of information,

means for establishing a first time slot in said period, said first time slot commencing concurrently with the beginning of said time period;

first means for adjusting, for said first time slot, the priority factor of one or more pieces of information based on the temporal proximity of said first time slot to said predetermined transmission times of said programs associated with said one or more pieces of information;

means for selecting, for said first time slot, one of said pieces of information for display from said plurality of pieces based on the priority factors of said pieces;

means for scheduling said selected piece of information for display during said first time slot;

means for adjusting the priority factor of said selected piece of information in accordance with a user-defined post-selection priority adjustment factor; and

means for repeatedly invoking said first adjusting, information selecting, scheduling and second adjusting means for a plurality of temporally sequential time slots in said time period.

42. The apparatus of claim 41 wherein said pieces of information comprise promotional video clips.

43. The apparatus of claim 41 wherein said pieces of information are categorized and said priority factors are assigned based on said categories.

44. The apparatus of claim 41 wherein said time slots are of equal duration.

45. The apparatus of claim 41 wherein the priority factor of said selected piece of information is decreased in response to selection and scheduling of said selected piece of information.

46. The apparatus of claim 41 wherein the priority factors of said not-selected pieces of information are increased in response to selection and scheduling of said selected piece of information.

47. The apparatus of claim 41 wherein said selecting means further comprises means for determining the eligibility for display during a time slot of one or more pieces of said information prior to selecting a piece of information for display during said time slot.

48. The apparatus of claim 43 wherein the priority factors of each of said not-selected pieces of information are increased dependent upon the category of each of said not-selected pieces of information.

49. In a system for providing an electronic program guide for transmission on a television channel, a method for generating a schedule for display of information wherein each piece of information is associated with a program scheduled for transmission in the future, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a database of a plurality of pieces of information to a data processor, each said piece of information associated with a program scheduled for transmission at a predetermined time in the future,

selecting a time period for generation of said schedule,

selecting, within said time period, a first time slot,

assigning, for each said piece of information, a priority factor wherein the priority factor assigned to each said piece of information depends upon the temporal proximity of said time slot to said predetermined transmission time of said program associated with said piece of information,

selecting, for said first time slot, one of said pieces of information for display from said plurality of pieces based on the priority factors of said pieces,

scheduling said selected piece of information for display during said first time slot,

adjusting said priority factor of said selected piece in accordance with a user-defined post-selection priority adjustment factor, and

repeating said time slot selecting, assigning, information selecting, scheduling, and adjusting steps for a plurality of time slots within said time period.

50. In a system for providing an electronic program guide for transmission on a television channel, apparatus for generating a schedule for display of information wherein each piece of information is associated with a program scheduled for transmission in the future comprising:

means for providing a database of a plurality of pieces of information to a data processor, each said piece of information associated with a program scheduled for transmission at a predetermined time in the future;

means for selecting a time period for generation of said schedule;

means for selecting, within said time period, a first time slot;

means for assigning, for each said piece of information, a priority factor wherein the priority factor assigned to each said piece of information depends upon the temporal proximity of said time slot to said predetermined transmission time of said program associated with said piece of information;

means for selecting, for said first time slot, one of said pieces of information for display from said plurality of pieces based on the priority factors of said pieces;

means for scheduling said selected piece of information for display during said first time slot;

means for adjusting said priority factor of said selected piece in accordance with a user-defined post-selection priority adjustment factor, and

means for repeatedly invoking said time slot selecting, assigning, information selecting, scheduling, and adjusting means for a plurality of time slots within said time period.