Electronic television program guide schedule system and method
First Claim
1. An electronic program schedule system for providing a user with an opportunity to view multiple air times for a program, comprising:
- means for providing program schedule information including a plurality of air times for at least one program;
means for receiving the program schedule information with an electronic program schedule system;
means for providing the user with an opportunity to select the at least one program; and
means for simultaneously displaying the plurality of air times of the selected at least one program with the electronic program schedule system.
12 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic program schedule system which includes a receiver for receiving broadcast, satellite or cablecast television programs for a plurality of television channels and a tuner for tuning a television receiver to a selected one of the plurality of channels. A data processor receives and stores in a memory television program schedule information for a plurality of television programs to appear on the plurality of television channels. A user control apparatus, such as a remote controller, is utilized by a viewer to choose user control commands and transmit signals in response to the data processor which receives the signals in response to user control commands. A television receiver is used to display the television programs and television program schedule information. A video display generator receives video control commands from the data processor and program schedule information from the memory and displays a portion of the program schedule information in overlaying relationship with a television program appearing on a television channel in at least one mode of operation of the television programming guide. The data processor controls the video display generator with video control commands, issued in response to the user control commands, to display program schedule information for any chosen one of the plurality of television programs in overlaying relationship with at least one television program then appearing on any chosen one of the plurality of channels on the television receiver.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. An electronic program schedule system for providing a user with an opportunity to view multiple air times for a program, comprising:
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means for providing program schedule information including a plurality of air times for at least one program;
means for receiving the program schedule information with an electronic program schedule system;
means for providing the user with an opportunity to select the at least one program; and
means for simultaneously displaying the plurality of air times of the selected at least one program with the electronic program schedule system. - View Dependent Claims (2)
the means for providing program schedule information including a plurality of air times for at least one program comprises means for providing program schedule information including a plurality of air times for at least one pay-per-view program; and
the means for simultaneously displaying the plurality of air times with the electronic program schedule system comprises means for simultaneously displaying the plurality of air times for the at least one pay-per-view program with the electronic program schedule system.
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3. An electronic program schedule system for providing a user with an opportunity to select a particular air time of a program to perform a function associated with the program, comprising:
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a video display generator;
a remote controller;
a microcontroller programmed to (1) direct the video display generator to simultaneously display multiple air times for a program, (2) provide the user with an opportunity to select at least one of the multiple air times for the program with the remote controller, and (3) perform the function associated with the selected at least one of the multiple air times. - View Dependent Claims (4)
the program is a pay-per-view program; and
the microcontroller is further programmed to order the pay-per-view program.
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5. An electronic program schedule system for providing a user with an opportunity to view multiple air times for a program, comprising:
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a receiver configured to receive program schedule information including a plurality of air times for at least one program;
a video display generator;
a remote controller;
a microcontroller programmed to (1) provide the user with an opportunity to select the at least one program with the remote controller, and (2) to direct the video display generator to simultaneously display the plurality of air times of the selected at least one program. - View Dependent Claims (6)
the program schedule information includes a plurality of air times for at least one pay-per-view program; and
the microcontroller is programmed to direct the video display generator to simultaneously display the plurality of air times for the at least one pay-per-view program.
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7. A method for use in an electronic program schedule system comprising:
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receiving program schedule information including a plurality of air times for at least one program;
providing a user with an opportunity to select the at least one program; and
simultaneously displaying the plurality of air times for the selected at least one program. - View Dependent Claims (8)
receiving program schedule information including a plurality of air times for at least one program comprises receiving program schedule information including a plurality of air times for at least one pay-per-view program;
providing a user with an opportunity to select the at least one program comprises providing a user with an opportunity to select the at least one pay-per-view program; and
simultaneously displaying the plurality of air times for the selected at least one program comprises simultaneously displaying the plurality of air times for the selected at least one pay-per-view program.
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9. An electronic program schedule system comprising:
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means for receiving program schedule information including a plurality of air times for at least one program;
means for providing a user with an opportunity to select the at least one program; and
means for simultaneously displaying the plurality of air times for the selected at least one program. - View Dependent Claims (10)
the means for receiving program schedule information including a plurality of air times for at least one program comprises means for receiving program schedule information including a plurality of air times for at least one pay-per-view program;
the means for providing a user with an opportunity to select the at least one program comprises means for providing a user with an opportunity to select the at least one pay-per-view program; and
the means for simultaneously displaying the plurality of air times for the selected at least one program comprises means for simultaneously displaying the plurality of air times for the selected at least one pay-per-view program.
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11. An electronic program schedule system comprising:
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a receiver configured to receive program schedule information including a plurality of air times for at least one program;
a remote controller;
a video display generator; and
a microcontroller programmed to (1) provide a user with an opportunity to select the at least one program with the remote controller, and (2) direct the video display generator to simultaneously displaying the plurality of air times for the selected at least one program. - View Dependent Claims (12)
the program schedule information includes a plurality of air times for at least one pay-per-view program; and
the microcontroller is programmed to (1) provide a user with an opportunity to select the at least one pay-per-view program, and (2) direct the video display generator to simultaneously display the plurality of air times for the selected at least one pay-per-view program.
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13. A method for providing a user with an opportunity to select a particular air time of a program to perform a function associated with the program, comprising:
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providing the user with an opportunity to simultaneously view multiple air times for a program;
providing the user with an opportunity to select at least one of the multiple air times for the program; and
performing the function associated with the selected at least one of the multiple air times. - View Dependent Claims (14)
providing the user with an opportunity to simultaneously view multiple air times for a program comprises providing the user with an opportunity to simultaneously view multiple air times for a pay-per-view program;
providing the user with an opportunity to select at least one of the multiple air times for program comprises providing the user with an opportunity to select at least one of the multiple air times for the pay-per-view program; and
performing the function associated with the selected at least one of the multiple air times comprises ordering the pay-per-view program.
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15. A method for providing a user with an opportunity to view multiple air times for a program, comprising:
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providing program schedule information including a plurality of air times for at least one program;
receiving the program schedule information with an electronic program schedule system;
providing the user with an opportunity to select the at least one program; and
simultaneously displaying the plurality of air times of the selected at least one program with the electronic program schedule system. - View Dependent Claims (16)
providing program schedule information including a plurality of air times for at least one program comprises providing program schedule information including a plurality of air times for at least one pay-per-view program; and
simultaneously displaying the plurality of air times with the electronic program schedule system comprises simultaneously displaying the plurality of air times for the at least one pay-per-view program with the electronic program schedule system.
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17. An electronic program schedule system for providing a user with an opportunity to select a particular air time of a program to perform a function associated with the program, comprising:
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means for providing the user with an opportunity to simultaneouly view multiple air times for a program;
means for providing the user with an opportunity to select at least one of the multiple air times for the program; and
means for performing the function associated with the selected at least one of the multiple air times. - View Dependent Claims (18)
the means for providing the user with an opportunity to simultaneously view multiple air times for a program comprises means for providing the user with an opportunity to simultaneously view multiple air times for a pay-per-view program;
the means for providing the user with an opportunity to select at least one of the multiple air times for the program comprises means for providing the user with an opportunity to select at least one of the multiple air times for the pay-per-view program; and
the means for performing the function associated with the selected at least one of the multiple air times comprises means for ordering the pay-per-view program.
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Specification