Television calendar and method for creating same
First Claim
1. A television calendar page for combined visual selection of programs for direct viewing and for use in automatic recording of programs for future viewing, the television calendar page comprising:
- a page;
a day section on the page for each of a plurality of calendar days and, positioned in a predetermined relation with each day section, an associated unique day visual identifier;
a time-of-day section on the page for each of a plurality of program starting times within each day section and, positioned in a predetermined relation with each time-of-day section, an associated unique time-of-day visual identifier;
a plurality of unique channel visual identifiers on the page and corresponding to each such channel visual identifier, a program identifier on the page within each time-of-day section for such program that starts at the time of such time-of-day section and that is associated with the day section and time-of-day section within which it is positioned; and
an additional unique coded indication for each said program positioned on the page in a predetermined relation to each said channel visual identifier, the coded indication for each such program representing the channel, the time-of-day, the calendar day, and the length of time for the associated program in the calendar wherein at least one of the unique coded indications comprises a plurality of digits.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Encoded video recorder/player timer preprogramming information listed in a television calendar allows a timer preprogramming feature on a video cassette recorder VCR to be programmed using a compressed code of as few as 1 to 8 digits, which are decoded by a decoder built into either the video cassette recorder or a remote controller to convert the compressed code into channel, date, time and length information. The channel, date, time and length information is communicated to a VCR and used to automatically activate the VCR to record a given television program with the corresponding channel, date, time and length. Alternately, the channel, date, time and length information is decoded directly in a remote controller and only start record, stop record and channel selection commands are sent to the VCR at the appropriate times. The compressed code indications associated with each television program can be printed in a television program calendar in advance and used with a VCR or remote controller with the decoding means. The compressed codes for timer preprogramming can be utilized for just one program or repeatedly for daily or weekly use. Algorithms for decoding the compressed codes can be a function of time to ensure security of the decoding method. A method is included for use of the compressed codes with cable channels and a method and apparatus is described for timer preprogramming for a large number of programs.
261 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A television calendar page for combined visual selection of programs for direct viewing and for use in automatic recording of programs for future viewing, the television calendar page comprising:
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a page; a day section on the page for each of a plurality of calendar days and, positioned in a predetermined relation with each day section, an associated unique day visual identifier; a time-of-day section on the page for each of a plurality of program starting times within each day section and, positioned in a predetermined relation with each time-of-day section, an associated unique time-of-day visual identifier; a plurality of unique channel visual identifiers on the page and corresponding to each such channel visual identifier, a program identifier on the page within each time-of-day section for such program that starts at the time of such time-of-day section and that is associated with the day section and time-of-day section within which it is positioned; and an additional unique coded indication for each said program positioned on the page in a predetermined relation to each said channel visual identifier, the coded indication for each such program representing the channel, the time-of-day, the calendar day, and the length of time for the associated program in the calendar wherein at least one of the unique coded indications comprises a plurality of digits. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A method of creating a television calendar page for combined visual selection of programs for direct viewing and for use in automatic recording of programs for future viewing, comprising the steps of:
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creating a day section and an associated unique day visual identifier on the page for each of a plurality of calendar days; positioning, on the page, in relation to each of the day sections the associated day visual identifier; creating a time-of-day section for each day section on the page, for each of a plurality of television program starting times and an associated unique time-of-day visual identifier; positioning on the page, in relation to each of the time-of-day sections, the corresponding associated unique time-of-day visual identifier; creating a plurality of unique channel visual identifiers and a corresponding program identifier for each such channel visual identifier on the page, within each time-of-day section for such program that starts at the time of such time-of-day section, and that is associated with the day section and time-of-day section within which it is positioned; creating a unique coded indication for at least one of the programs, the coded indication representing the channel, the calendar day, the time-of-day, and the length of time for said program;
wherein said unique coded indication is created to have a length that is less than the length of the concatenation of said represented channel, calendar day, time-of-day and length of time for said program; andpositioning in a predetermined relation to each program identifier, the unique coded indication on the page for at lease one of the programs. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An electronic display device that displays a television calendar for combined visual selection of programs for direct viewing and for use in automatic recording of programs for future viewing, the displayed calendar comprising:
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a day section for each of a plurality of calendar days and, positioned in a predetermined relation with each day section, a unique day visual identifier on the electronic display device; a time-of-day section for each of a plurality of program starting times within each day section and, positioned in a predetermined relation with each time-of-day section, a unique time-of-day visual identifier on the electronic display device; a plurality of unique channel visual identifiers on the electronic display device and corresponding to each such channel visual identifier a program identifier within each time-of-day section for such program that starts at the time of such time-of-day section and that is associated with the day section and time-of-day section within which it is positioned; and an additional unique coded indication for each said program positioned on the electronic display device in a predetermined relation to each said channel visual identifier, the coded indication representing the channel, the time-of-day, the calendar day and the length of time for the associated program in the calendar wherein at least one of the unique coded indications comprises a plurality of digits. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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15. A method of creating a television calendar on an electronic display device for combined visual selection of programs for direct viewing and for use in automatic recording of programs for future viewing, comprising the steps of:
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creating on the electronic display device a day section and an associated unique day visual identifier for each of a plurality of calendar days; positioning on the electronic display device in relation to the day section the associated day visual identifier; creating on the electronic display device a time-of-day section and an associated unique time-of-day visual identifier, within each day section, for each of a plurality of television program starting times; positioning on the electronic display device in relation to the time-of-day section the associated unique time-of-day visual identifier; creating on the electronic display device a plurality of unique channel visual identifiers and a corresponding program identifier to each such channel visual identifier, within each time-of-day section for such program that starts at the time of such time-of-day section, and that is associated with the day section and time-of-day section within which it is positioned; creating on the electronic display device a unique coded indication for each said program, the coded indication representing the channel, the calendar day, the time-of-day, and the length of time for said program; and positioning in a predetermined relation to each said channel visual identifier, the unique coded indication for each said program. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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19. A television calendar page for combined visual selection of programs for direct viewing and for use in automatic recording of programs for future viewing, the television calendar page comprising:
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one or more pages; at least one day section on the one or more pages for at least one calendar day and, positioned on the pages, in a predetermined relation with each day section, an associated unique day visual identifier; a time-of-day section on the pages for each of a plurality of program starting times within each of the at least one day section and, positioned on the pages in a predetermined relation with each time-of-day section, an associated unique time-of-day visual identifier; a plurality of unique channel visual identifiers and a program identifier corresponding to each of a plurality of such channel visual identifier, positioned on the pages within each of a plurality of time-of-day sections for corresponding programs that start at the time of such time-of-day section and that are associated with the day section and time-of-day section within which they are positioned; and an additional unique coded indication corresponding to each of a plurality of the programs positioned in a predetermined relation to the programs'"'"' corresponding channel visual identifiers, each coded indication representing the channel, the time-of-day, the calendar day, and the length of time for the corresponding program in the calendar wherein each of the day, time-of-day and channel identifiers is represented by one or more digits and wherein the sum of the number of digits of the unique coded indication is less than the number of digits in all of the identifiers plus the number of digits representing the length of time for the corresponding program. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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21. An electronic display device that displays a television calendar for combined visual selection of programs for direct viewing and for use in automatic recording of programs for future viewing, the displayed calendar comprising:
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a day section for each of a plurality of calendar days and, positioned in a predetermined relation with each day section, a unique day visual identifier on the electronic display device; a time-of-day section for each of a plurality of program starting times within each day section and, positioned in a predetermined relation with each time-of-day section, a unique time-of-day visual identifier on the electronic display device; a plurality of unique channel visual identifiers on the electronic display device and corresponding to each such channel visual identifier a program identifier within each time-of-day section for such program that starts at the time of such time-of-day section and that is associated with the day section and time-of-day section within which it is positioned; and an additional unique coded indication for each said program positioned on the electronic display device in a predetermined relation to each said channel visual identifier;
the coded indication representing the channel, the time-of-day, the calendar day and the length of time for the associated program in the calendar wherein each of the day, time-of-day and channel identifiers is represented by one or more digits and wherein the number of digits of the unique coded indication is less than the sum of the number of digits in all of the identifiers plus the number of digits representing the length of time for the associated program. - View Dependent Claims (22)
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23. A television calendar page for combined visual selection of programs for direct viewing and for use in automatic recording of programs for future viewing made using the method comprising the steps of:
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creating a day section on a page and an associated unique day visual identifier for each of a plurality of calendar days; positioning on the page, in relation to each of the day sections, the associated day visual identifier; creating a time-of-day section for each day section on the page, for each of a plurality of television program starting times and an associated unique time-of-day visual identifier; positioning on the page, in relation to each of the time-of-day sections, the corresponding associated unique time-of-day visual identifier; creating a plurality of unique channel visual identifiers and a corresponding program identifier for each channel visual identifier, within each time-of-day section on the page for such program that starts at the time of such time-of-day section, and that is associated with the day section and time-of-day section within which it is positioned; creating a unique coded indication for each said program, the coded indication representing the channel, the calendar day, the time-of-day, and the length of time for said program; wherein said unique coded indication is created to have a length that is less than the length of the concatenation of said represented channel, calendar day, time-of-day and length of time for said program; and positioning on the page, in a predetermined relation to each program identifier, the unique coded indication for each said program. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification