Program guide controller

• US 6,128,009 A
• Filed: 05/04/1998
• Issued: 10/03/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Saturn Licensing LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Kohno, Tetsuya, Yuzawa, Keiji, Akaike, Kazuhiro, Kishitaka, Yuriko, Ohkura, Yukiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Faile, Andrew I.
• Assistant Examiner(s): BROWN, RUEBEN M
• Application Number:
  US09/011,256
• Time in Patent Office: 883 Days
• Field of Search: 348/906, 348/503, 348/7, 348/12, 348/473, 348/6, 348/10, 348/13, 455/5.1, 345/327, 345/352
• US Class Current: 725/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44222 Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programs or purchase activity monitoring of user selections in data processing systems G06F11/34; arrangements for monitoring the user's behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/454 Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
• 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

Abstract

A program table guide control apparatus according to this invention generates program table picture including date and hour information, program title information and genre information to display only title of the program relating to broadcasting channel being received in connection with the title information, and to permit user to arbitrarily register genre information displayed. In addition, programs of high viewing frequency of user are automatically registered, thus permitting registered programs to be included in genre information. Thus, Electronic Program Guide (EPG) extremely easy for user to use can be provided.

Claims

1. A program guide control apparatus for controlling the display of a program table picture which indicates the scheduling of respective programs of available broadcasting channels on a display unit, the apparatus comprising:

means for generating a program table picture including date information indicating a plurality of entries of broadcasting dates, hour information indicating a plurality of entries of broadcasting hours of respective programs, title information indicating titles of the respective programs and genre information classifying the respective programs of the available broadcasting channels by genre, with separate areas of said program table picture being respectively allocated for each of said hour information, date information, title information and genre information;

output means for outputting the program table picture to the display unit;

command receiving means for receiving a cursor control signal for moving the display position of at least an active one of multiple cursors superimposed on the program table picture for selectively designating any one of all of the date information, the hour information, the title information and the genre information, and for receiving a determination control signal; and

control means for controlling the program table picture on the basis of the cursor control signal and the determination control signal,

wherein the program table picture generating means generates information relating to the broadcasting channel as part of the genre information, and

wherein the control means controls the program table picture generating means so that when the command receiving means receives the determination control signal in a state where a genre information cursor designates an item relating to the broadcasting channel information, the titles of only the programs relating to the broadcasting channel are displayed in connection with the title information.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising broadcasting channel receiving means for receiving a broadcast channel corresponding to the channel selected by operation of a user from the available broadcasting channels,

wherein the program table picture generating means generates information relating to the broadcasting channel being received by the broadcasting channel receiving means as the broadcasting channel information.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, which further comprises broadcasting channel setting means for setting at least one channel of the available broadcasting channels as a favorite broadcasting channel,

wherein the program table picture generating means generates information relating to the broadcasting channel set by the broadcasting channel setting means as the broadcasting channel information.

4. A program guide control apparatus for controlling the display of a program table picture which indicates the scheduling of respective programs of available broadcasting channels on a display unit, the apparatus comprising:

means for generating a program table picture including date information indicating a plurality of entries of broadcasting dates of the respective programs, hour information indicating a plurality of entries of broadcasting hours of the respective programs, title information indicating titles of the respective programs and genre information classifying the respective programs by genre, with separate areas of said program, table picture being respectively allocated for each of said hour information, date information, title information and genre information;

command receiving means for receiving a cursor control signal and a determination control signal,

said cursor signal for moving the display position of at least an active one of multiple cursors superimposed on the program table picture for selectively designating any one of all of the date information, the hour information, the title information and the genre information;

means for setting the genre information; and

control means for controlling the program table picture on the basis of the cursor control signal and the determination control signal,

wherein the control means controls the program table picture generating means so that when the receiving means receives the determination control signal in the state where a genre information cursor designates one of pictures relating to the plural genre information, the titles of only the programs relating to the genre where the genre information cursor is positioned are displayed in connection with the title information.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, which further comprises detecting means for receiving past records of respective programs, and

memory means for storing past records information detected by the detecting means,

wherein the control means controls the program table picture generating means so as to generate genre information including a program selected on the basis of the past record information as one of the available genres.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the control means allows the means for generating a program table picture to generate a program table picture such that the titles are displayed in descending order of the number of received titles on the basis of the past record information when the command receiving means receives the determination control signal in the state where cursor is positioned at the genre based on the past record information.