Information display method

• US 6,344,880 B1
• Filed: 05/14/1998
• Issued: 02/05/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Saturn Licensing LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Yoshida, Kimiyoshi, Takahashi, Yasushi, Fujiwara, Yoshihito
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Michael
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lo, Linus H.
• Application Number:
  US09/079,026
• Time in Patent Office: 1,363 Days
• Field of Search: H04/N.710, H04/N.714, 348/563, 348/906, 348/564, 348/569, 725/13, 725/56
• US Class Current: 348/563
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42204 User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• 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 21/47 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 21/4821 using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time

Abstract

An information display method comprises a first display step of displaying information icons EY for guiding respective information on a part of a display screen as the base units of an information guide; a second display step of displaying the summaries of information corresponding to the information icons EY in the forms of titles TY at display positions corresponding to the information icons EY; and a third display step of displaying the explanation of the contents of the information which corresponds to the information icons EY at positions respectively corresponding to the information icons EY and the displays of the titles TY. The respective display steps can be switched or changed by a viewer or a user, so that desired information can be more readily and understandably retrieved.

Claims

1. A method of displaying an electronic program guide on a display screen, comprising the steps of:

setting said display screen to an information guide mode for displaying said electronic program guide;

displaying an icon table comprised of a plurality of channel icons arranged in rows and columns on said display screen;

each channel icon corresponding to a programming channel for display on said display screen;

selecting one of said plurality of channel icons displayed on said display screen;

displaying a title bar corresponding to the selected channel icon horizontally across the row of said icon table containing the selected channel icon;

said title bar comprising said channel icon, a title part, and a return icon;

said title part comprising a program title and a program summary sentence for a program broadcast by said programming channel corresponding to said channel icon;

selecting said title bar; and

displaying an explanation part by shifting the selected title bar and displaying said explanation part over said icon table;

said explanation part containing explanatory information about the program indicated by said title bar.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said information guide mode is set by operation of a guide button on a remote commander.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the selected channel icon is selected by positioning a cursor over a desired channel icon using a cursor control and selecting the desired channel icon using an explanation button;

said cursor control and said explanation button being located on a remote commander.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein said title bar is selected using said explanation button.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of selecting said return icon and returning to the icon table display step.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said icon table display step further displays a scrolling indicator for scrolling said icon table when the icon table is larger than said display screen.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein said icon table display step divides said icon table into pages and displays the icon table one page at a time when the icon table is larger than said display screen.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein each channel icon indicates the genre of the corresponding programming channel.

9. A method of displaying an electronic program guide on a display screen, comprising the steps of:

setting said display screen to an information guide mode for displaying said electronic program guide;

displaying an icon table comprised of a plurality of channel icons arranged in rows and columns on said display screen;

each channel icon corresponding to a programming channel for display on said display screen;

said plurality of channel icons being grouped into columns corresponding to programming channels of the same genre;

displaying a plurality of genre retrieving icons;

each genre retrieving icon corresponding to a column of genre grouped channel icons;

selecting one of said plurality of genre retrieving icons;

displaying a title bar for each channel icon in the column corresponding to the selected genre retrieving icon horizontally across the row of said icon table containing the respective channel icon;

each said title bar comprising said channel icon, a title part, and a return icon;

said title part comprising a program title and a program summary for a program broadcast by said programing channel corresponding to said channel icon;

selecting one of said title bars; and

displaying an explanation part by shifting the selected title bar and displaying said explanation part over said icon table;

said explanation part containing explanatory information about the program indicated by said title bar.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein each of said plurality of channel icons indicates the genre of the corresponding programming channel.

11. An apparatus for displaying an electronic program guide on a display screen, comprising:

setting means for setting said display screen to an information guide mode for displaying said electronic program guide;

icon table display means for displaying an icon table comprised of a plurality of channel icons arranged in rows and columns on said display screen;

each channel icon corresponding to a programming channel for display on said display screen;

selecting means for selecting one of said plurality of channel icons displayed on said display screen;

title bar display means for displaying a title bar corresponding to the selected channel icon horizontally across the row of said icon table containing the selected channel icon;

said title bar comprising said channel icon, a title part, and a return icon;

said title part comprising a program title and a program summary sentence for a program broadcast by said programming channel corresponding to said channel icon;

said selecting means further selecting said title bar; and

explanation display means for displaying an explanation part by shifting the selected title bar and displaying said explanation part over said icon table;

said explanation part containing explanatory information about the program indicated by said title bar.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said setting means for said information guide mode is a guide button on a remote commander.

13. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said selecting means selects the selected channel icon by positioning a cursor over a desired channel icon using a cursor control and selects the desired channel icon using an explanation button;

said cursor control and said explanation button being located on a remote commander.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said title bar is selected using said explanation button.

15. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said return icon is selected by said selecting means and said icon table display means again displays said icon table.

16. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said icon table display means further displays a scrolling indicator for scrolling said icon table when the icon table is larger than said display screen.

17. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said icon table display means divides said icon table into pages and displays the icon table one page at a time when the icon table is larger than said display screen.

18. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein each channel icon indicates the genre of the corresponding programming channel.