Program schedule user interface

• US 5,886,690 A
• Filed: 10/31/1996
• Issued: 03/23/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Uniden America Corporation (Cornwall Capital Management LP)
• Original Assignee: Uniden America Corporation (Cornwall Capital Management LP)
• Inventors: Pond, Russell L., Langford, James K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bayerl, Raymond J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, CAO H
• Application Number:
  US08/744,709
• Time in Patent Office: 873 Days
• Field of Search: 345/327, 345/328, 345/339, 345/333, 345/341, 345/342, 345/346, 345/353, 345/354, 345/357, 345/352, 345/334, 348/7, 348/10, 348/12, 348/13
• US Class Current: 715/720
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4135 external recorder interface circuits between an apparatus for recording television signals and a television receiver H04N5/775
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4221 Dedicated function buttons, e.g. for the control of an EPG, subtitles, aspect ratio, picture-in-picture or teletext
• 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 21/4314 for fitting data in a restricted space on the screen, e.g. EPG data in a rectangular grid
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• 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 21/4823 using a channel name

Abstract

A program schedule user interface for use in television applications, such as cable or satellite broadcast programming. The interface allows for display of program scheduled information in full screen or minimized mode and provides additional useful configurations of the program schedule information.

Claims

1. An interactive television schedule system, comprising:

a display for displaying at least one selected channel,

a controller coupled to the display for displaying program schedule information in the form of a multiply configurable program screen guide and for configuring the multiply configurable program screen guide, said multiply configurable program screen guide comprising a channel bar for identifying a plurality of selectable program channels with an alphanumeric identification for each of said channels and for identifying a currently selected channel, and

a user input coupled to the controller for providing user input control signals,

said controller being responsive to a first user input control signal to configure the multiply configurable program screen guide to include only the channel bar, and being responsive to a second user input control signal to configure the multiply configurable program screen guide to include the channel bar in combination with a program information grid of two-dimensionally arranged information slots, each row of information slots corresponding to a channel identified in the channel bar and including an information slot for at least a current program.

2. The interactive television schedule system of claim 1 in which the user input comprises left and right movement control arrow keys and the controller is responsive to the movement control arrow keys to highlight an information slot in the program information grid, wherein the first user input control signal comprises an activation of the left movement control arrow key when an information slot for a current program is highlighted.

3. The interactive television schedule system of claim 2 wherein the second user input control signal comprises an activation of the right movement control arrow key when the multiply configurable program screen guide is configured to display only the channel bar.

4. The interactive television schedule system of claim 1 in which the controller is responsive to a third user input control signal to configure the channel bar to identify each of the plurality of selectable program channels by channel name and identify the currently selected channel by channel number, and is responsive to a fourth user input control signal to configure the channel bar to identify each of the plurality of selectable program channels by channel number and identify the currently selected channel by channel name.

5. The interactive television schedule system of claim 1 in which the controller is responsive to a page mode control signal from the user input to configure the multiply configurable program screen guide to further include a page bar for identifying the presence of any program channel information that is not present on the currently displayed multiply configurable program screen guide.

6. A television screen display control device for displaying on a television screen at least one selected channel and for displaying program schedule information, said control device comprising:

a display controller for displaying program schedule information in the form of a multiply configurable program screen guide and for configuring the multiply configurable program screen guide, said multiply configurable program screen guide comprising a program bar for identifying a plurality of selectable program channels with an alphanumeric identification for each of said channels,

said display controller being responsive to a first user control signal to configure the multiply configurable program screen guide to include only the program bar so that substantially all of the television screen is available for viewing the selected channel on the television screen, and being responsive to a second user input control signal to configure the multiply configurable program screen guide to include the program bar in combination with a program information grid of two-dimensionally arranged information slots, each row of information slots corresponding to a channel identified in the program bar and including an information slot for at least a current program.

7. The television screen display control device of claim 6 further comprising a user input coupled to the control device in which the user input comprises left and right movement control arrow keys and the control device is responsive to the movement control arrow keys to highlight an information slot in the program information grid, wherein the first user input control signal comprises an activation of the left movement control arrow key when an information slot for a current program is highlighted.

8. The television screen display control device of claim 7 wherein the second user input control signal comprises an activation of the right movement control arrow key when the multiply configurable program screen guide is configured to display only the program bar.

9. The television screen display control device of claim 6 in which the control device is responsive to a third user input control signal to configure the program bar to identify each of the plurality of selectable program channels by channel name and identify the currently selected channel by channel number, and is responsive to a fourth user input control signal to configure the program bar to identify each of the plurality of selectable program channels by channel number and identify the currently selected channel by channel name.

10. The television screen display control device of claim 6 in which the control device is responsive to a page mode control signal to configure the multiply configurable program screen guide to further include a page bar for identifying the presence of any selectable program channels that are not present on the currently displayed program bar.

11. A method for providing a program schedule user interface on a television screen comprising the steps of:

displaying a selected channel on the television screen;

displaying a multiply configurable program schedule information screen guide comprising

a channel bar for identifying a plurality of selectable program channels including the selected channel to be displayed on the television screen with an alphanumeric identification for each of said channels, and

a program information grid of two-dimensionally arranged information slots, each row of information slots corresponding to a channel identified in the channel bar and including an information slot for at least a current program; and

minimizing the appearance on the television screen of the multiply configurable program schedule information screen guide in response to a first user input control signal to display only the channel bar so that the selected channel is displayed substantially in its entirety on the television screen to permit user previewing of the selected channel.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of configuring the multiply configurable program schedule information screen guide to include a page bar for identifying the presence of any selectable program channels that are not present on the currently displayed channel bar.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the channel bar of the multiply configurable program schedule information screen guide is configured to identify each of the plurality of selectable program channels by channel name and identify the currently selected channel by channel number, said method further comprising the step of:

reconfiguring the channel bar in response to a user input control signal to identify each of the plurality of selectable program channels by channel number and identify the currently selected channel by channel name.

14. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of displaying a single channel screen guide for the selected channel in response to a single channel guide input signal, said single channel screen guide comprising a listing of programs to be shown on the selected channel.

15. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of selecting a first available channel from a range of channels in response to a channel range selection signal input which specifies the range of channels, said selecting step comprising identifying which channel in the range of channels is not available for broadcasting and displaying the next available channel in the range of channels.

16. An interactive television schedule system, comprising:

a television display,

a receiver coupled to the television display for displaying program schedule information in the form of a configurable program screen guide, and

a user input coupled to the receiver for providing user input control signals and for identifying a selected channel,

said receiver being responsive to a first user input control signal to configure the configurable program screen guide to comprise a channel bar for identifying a plurality of selectable program channels by channel name and identifying the currently selected channel by channel number, and being responsive to a second user input control signal to configure the channel bar to identify the plurality of selectable program channels by channel number and identify the currently selected channel by channel name.

17. The interactive television schedule system of claim 16 wherein:

the receiver is responsive to a third user input control signal to configure the configurable program screen guide to include only the channel bar, and is responsive to a fourth user input control signal to configure the configurable program screen guide to include the channel bar in combination with a program information grid of two-dimensionally arranged information slots, each row of information slots corresponding to a channel identified in the channel bar and including an information slot for at least a current program;

the user input comprises left and right movement control arrow keys; and

the receiver is responsive to the movement control arrow keys to highlight an information slot in the program information grid, wherein the third user input control signal comprises an activation of the left movement control arrow key when an information slot for a current program is highlighted.

18. The interactive television schedule system of claim 17 wherein the fourth user input control signal comprises an activation of the right movement control arrow key when the configurable program screen guide is configured to display only the channel bar.

19. The interactive television schedule system of claim 16 in which the receiver is responsive to a fifth user input control signal to configure the configurable program screen guide to comprise a single channel screen guide comprising a listing of programs to be shown on the selected channel.

20. The interactive television schedule system of claim 16 in which the receiver is responsive to a page mode control signal from the user input to configure the configurable program screen guide to further include a page bar for identifying the presence of any selectable program channels that are not present on the currently displayed channel bar.