Method and apparatus for searching a guide using program characteristics
First Claim
1. A method of determining potentially desirable programs in a television system, said method comprising the steps of:
- selecting a specific program listing from a electronic program guide, said program guide containing a plurality of program listings, wherein said program guide is displayed to a user;
designating said specific program listing as a favorite program to set the specific program listing to be a first selection criterion;
identifying at least one selection criterion used in selecting said specific program from said program guide to determine a second selection criterion in response to setting the first selection criterion; and
applying the determined second selection criterion to said plurality of program listings within said program guide to determine potentially desirable programs.
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for obtaining information from an electronic program guide is provided. The electronic program guide can be provided by a television system, a set-top box, a VCR, or a computer system. The interactive system allows the user to quickly identify programs which may be of particular interest, thereby avoiding the necessity of searching through the entire program guide. In one embodiment, after the user identifies a specific program as a favorite, the system asks the user a series of questions in order to identify the particular characteristics of the program which makes it a favorite. Based upon the user'"'"'s responses, the system identifies all programs which contain the desired characteristics. In another embodiment, whenever the user watches a program the interactive system, operating in the background, searches for and marks all programs which may be of interest to the user. In another embodiment, the user can directly employ the interactive system to search for programs containing desirable characteristics. In this embodiment the user enters certain attributes into the system, for example, particular actors or directors. The system then identifies programs within the available electronic program guide which may meet the user'"'"'s requirements.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. A method of determining potentially desirable programs in a television system, said method comprising the steps of:
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selecting a specific program listing from a electronic program guide, said program guide containing a plurality of program listings, wherein said program guide is displayed to a user; designating said specific program listing as a favorite program to set the specific program listing to be a first selection criterion; identifying at least one selection criterion used in selecting said specific program from said program guide to determine a second selection criterion in response to setting the first selection criterion; and applying the determined second selection criterion to said plurality of program listings within said program guide to determine potentially desirable programs. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of identifying potentially desirable programs in a television system, said method comprising the steps of:
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selecting a specific program listing from an electronic program guide, said program guide containing a plurality of program listings, wherein said program guide is displayed on a screen coupled to said television system, and wherein each listing of said program guide is characterized by an independent set of program features; designating said specific program listing as a favorite program to set said specific program listing to be a first selection criterion; identifying a specific set of program features associated with said favorite program to determine a second selection criterion in response to setting the first selection criterion; comparing each set of program features associated with each program listing in said program guide to the determined second selection criterion; and identifying each program listing as representing one of said potentially desirable programs in which a set of program features corresponding to a program listing of the plurality of program listings is equivalent to the determined second selection criterion. - View Dependent Claims (16)
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17. A method of searching an electronic program guide coupled to a television system, wherein said program guide contains a plurality of program listings, and wherein each program listing of said program guide is characterized by an independent set of program features, said method comprising the steps of:
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setting a program listing from the plurality of program listings to be a first selection criterion; determining a second selection criterion based on and in response to the first selection criterion being set; entering at least one desired program feature from the second selection criterion including the group consisting of performer, director, producer, title, film location, and year of release; comparing each program feature associated with each program listing in said program guide to the at least one desired program feature; and identifying each program listing as a potentially desirable program in which at least one program feature associated with each program listing is equivalent to the at least one desired program feature. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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21. A television system comprising:
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a data processor coupled to said television system; a database coupled to said data processor, said database containing a program guide, said program guide containing a plurality of program listings; a screen coupled to said television system capable of display said program guide; a user input device coupled to said data processor for setting a specific program listing to be a favorite program as a first selection criterion; wherein said data processor is configured to generate a displayable list of selection criteria in response to the specific program listing being set to be the favorite program and to allow at least one specific selection criterion to be identified and determined to be a second selection criterion based on the setting of the favorite program as the first selection criterion; and wherein said data processor is configured to compare the at least one specific selection criteria to said plurality of program listings to determine potentially desirable programs, said potentially desirable programs meeting the identified at least one specific selection criterion. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A television system comprising:
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a data processor coupled to said television system; a database coupled to said data processor, said database containing a program guide, said program guide containing a plurality of program listings, wherein each program listing of said program guide is characterized by an independent set of program features, said program features stored in said database; a screen coupled to said television system capable of displaying said program guide; and a user input device coupled to said data processor for designating a specific program listing as a favorite program to set the specific program listing to a first selection criterion, wherein said data processor, in response to the designation of the favorite program and setting the first selection criterion, is configured to compare said set of program features corresponding to the favorite program as a second selection criterion with said set of program features corresponding to each of said program listings in said program guide to determine potentially desirable programs, said potentially desirable programs having at least one program feature of said set of program features in common with at least one program feature of said set of program features corresponding to the favorite program.
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30. A television system comprising:
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a data processor coupled to said television system; a data base coupled to said data processor, said database containing a program guide, said program guide containing a plurality of program listings, wherein each program listing of said program guide is characterized by an independent set of program features, the program features stored in said database; a screen coupled to said television system capable of displaying said program guide; and a user input device coupled to said data processor, the user input device capable of setting a program listing from the plurality of program listings to be a first selection criterion; wherein the data processor, in response to the setting of the first selection criterion, determines a second selection criterion and the user input device capable of inputting at least one program feature from the second selection criterion; wherein the second selection criterion is from the group consisting of performer, director, producer, title, film location, and year of release; wherein the data processor is configured to compare the at least one program feature with the set of program features corresponding to each of the program listings in the program guide to determine potentially desirable programs, said potentially desirable programs having at least one program feature of the set of program features in common with the at least one program feature. - View Dependent Claims (31)
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Specification