Interactive program summary panel

• US 5,907,323 A
• Filed: 11/13/1997
• Issued: 05/25/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Matthews, Joseph H. III, Lawler, Frank A.
• Primary Examiner(s): FLYNN, NATHAN J
• Application Number:
  US08/969,979
• Time in Patent Office: 558 Days
• Field of Search: 455/5.1, 455/4.2, 455/4.1, 345/327, 348/6, 348/7, 348/10, 348/11, 348/12, 348/13
• US Class Current: 725/41
• 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 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4332 by placing content in organized collections, e.g. local EPG data repository interfaces, Database management systems or updating for information retrieval G06F16/23; details of retrieval of video data and associated meta data in video database G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8133 specifically related to the content, e.g. biography of the actors in a movie, detailed information about an article seen in a video program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8153 comprising still images, e.g. texture, background image
• 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 21/8549 Creating video summaries, e.g. movie trailer retrieval in video databases by using presentations in form of a video summary G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/45 Picture in picture , e.g. displaying simultaneously another television channel in a region of the screen
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/173 with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal

Abstract

The present invention includes a method of displaying for a viewer summary information relating to programming available on an interactive television or televideo system. In a preferred embodiment, the method includes obtaining a user selection indication corresponding to a scheduled program selected by the viewer from a programming guide. Based on the user selection indication, the interactive television system accesses summary information relating specifically to the program selected by the viewer. The summary information preferably includes a text description of the programming and display imagery relating to the programming. The display imagery may include a multiframe video sequence of or relating to the programming or a still video image.

Claims

1. In an interactive video system having a central control node in bidirectional communication with plural viewer stations that include video display sets operably coupled to interactive station controllers, the central control node delivering video programming over multiple channels to the plural viewer stations and receiving information from the interactive station controllers, the system including a programming guide which identifies a plurality of current programs which are currently being broadcast for viewing and a plurality of future programs which will be available for viewing in the future, the program guide allowing the viewer to navigate through the program guide to focus on and select a program included within the guide, a method of displaying for a viewer a video segment relating to programming included in the programming guide, comprising:

storing in a memory associated with the central control node of the interactive video system a plurality of video segments, each video segment being associated with at least one of said plurality of future programs available to a viewer from the interactive video system;

obtaining an indication at a viewer station of the selected program in response to the viewer focusing on the selected program;

whenever the selected program is one of the plurality of future programs, transmitting the indication of the selected program to the central control node, retrieving from the memory at the central control node in response to the transmitted indication the video segment associated with the selected program, transmitting the video segment from the central control node to the viewer station, and displaying the video segment for the viewer on a video display set simultaneously with the programming guide; and

whenever the selected program is one of the plurality of current programs, forming the video segment associated with the selected program from the broadcasted programming and displaying the video segment for the viewer on the video display set simultaneously with the programming guide.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising;

storing in the memory associated with the interactive video system a text description relating to the programming available to a viewer; and

retrieving from the memory in response to the viewer focussing on the selected program the text description corresponding to the selected program by the viewer from the programming guide and displaying the text description with the video segment for the viewer on the video display set.

3. The method of claim 2 in which the text description and video segment are displayed in, respectively, a text description window and a preview display window that are displayed adjacent each other.

4. The method of claim 2 in which the text description displayed for the viewer includes an icon indicating a predetermined characteristic of the selected programming.

5. The method of claim 4 in which the predetermined characteristic of the selected programming is selectively cued by the viewer.

6. In an interactive video system having a central control node in bidirectional communication with plural viewer stations that include video display sets operably coupled to interactive station controllers, the central control node delivering video programming over multiple channels to the plural viewer stations and receiving information from the interactive station controllers, the system including a programming guide which lists a plurality of current programs which are currently being broadcast for viewing and a plurality of future programs which will be available for viewing in the future, the program guide allowing the viewer to navigate through the program guide and focus on a selected program included within the program guide, a memory associated with the interactive video system, comprising:

programming summary information maintained at the central control node that relates to the selected program and for at least the plurality of future programs includes multi-frame video segments relating to the selected program;

processor control instructions in response to the user focusing on the selected program which cause the interactive video system to obtain a user selection indication corresponding to selected program;

processor control instructions in response to the user selection indication which cause the interactive video system to determine whether the selected program is one of the plurality of future programs;

processor control instructions in response to a determination that the selected program is one of the plurality of future programs which cause the interactive video system to access at the central control node in accordance with the user selection indication summary information relating to the selected program

processor control instructions in reponse to the user selection indication which cause the interactive video system to determine whether the selected program is one of the plurality of current programs;

processor control instructions in response to a determination that the selected program is one of the plurality of current programs which cause the interactive video system to generate a video segment associated with the selected program from the broadcast program and associate the generated video segment with the summary information for the selected program;

processor control instructions in response to which the interactive video system displays the summary information and associated video segments for the viewer on the video display set at the viewer station in a program summary window adjacent the programming guide.

7. The memory of claim 6 in which the programming summary information further includes a text description relating to the programming available to the viewer.

8. The memory of claim 6 in which the programming summary information further includes a still image relating to at least one of the plurality of future programs available to the viewer.

9. The memory of claim 6 in which the programming summary information includes multiple icons corresponding to predetermined characteristics of the programming available to the viewer.