Rotary menu wheel interface

• US 6,411,307 B1
• Filed: 02/04/2000
• Issued: 06/25/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Nakano, Hiroaki, Rosin, Robert, Sonoda, Yumie, Niijima, Makoto
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Cao H.
• Application Number:
  US09/498,191
• Time in Patent Office: 872 Days
• Field of Search: 345/327, 345/328, 345/355, 345/357, 345/352, 345/716, 345/723, 345/848, 345/853, 345/810, 345/854, 348/8, 348/9, 348/10, 348/12, 348/13
• US Class Current: 715/716
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2385 Channel allocation H04N21/266 takes precedence; Bandwidth allocation H04N21/24 takes precedence ; allocation of channels according to the instantaneous demands of the users in time-division multiplex systems H04J3/1682; admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896; negotiating bandwidth in wireless networks H04W28/16
• 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 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• 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 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4755 for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4786 e-mailing message switching systems, e.g. electronic mail systems H04L51/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

An internet on-demand system for television presents internet content and traditional television programming as part of a single coherent interface. The user can select a channel from a rotary menu wheel. The system includes a server and a client capable of providing a dynamic graphical user interface. The system can display an internet gateway interface which actively scrolls through and highlights links to selected web pages which are organized according to templates corresponding to their content. The web pages are presented on the graphical user interface as channels as part of the same milieu as channels of traditional television programming. An intelligent agent passively filters selected web pages for a user to explore based on the user'"'"'s past pattern of usage of the client. The server queries the client regarding its available data stream connections, including telephone modems, cable modems, and digital satellite broadcasting, in order to determine the most efficient delivery of different types of data through all of the available bandwidth connections. The efficient delivery of data allows the client to present text, graphics, video, audio and other multimedia information from a web page over the internet as a coordinated presentation.

Claims

1. A system for selectively displaying internet content and television programming on a display, the system comprising:

a client, including a display, and channels separately representing individual television content and individual internet content wherein the internet content channels comprise links to selected web pages organized according to templates corresponding to web page content;

means for selecting between the channels, wherein when an individual television content channel or an individual internet content channel is selected the client presents the content associated with the selected channel on the display, comprising a rotary wheel menu for enabling the user to select a channel;

means for presenting on the display an internet gateway interface which selectively scrolls through the internet content channels; and

a server, including means for establishing a data connection with the client and downloading data along the data connection to the client.

2. A method of selectively displaying internet content and television programming on a display, in a system which comprises a client, including a display, and channels separately representing individual television content and individual internet content wherein the internet content channels comprise links to selected web pages organized according to templates corresponding to web page content, means for selecting between the channels, wherein when an individual television content channel or an individual internet content channel is selected the client presents the content associated with the selected channel on the display, comprising a rotary wheel menu for enabling the user to select a channel, means for presenting on the display an internet gateway interface which selectively scrolls through the internet content channels, and a server, including means for establishing a data connection with the client and downloading data along the data connection to the client, wherein the method comprises the steps of:

establishing a connection between the client and the server for downloading data from the server along a data connection to the client;

displaying the internet gateway interface which actively scrolls through the internet content channels; and

selecting on a rotary wheel menu between channels separately representing individual television content and individual internet content, in the client display, wherein when an individual television content channel or an individual internet content channel is selected the client presents the content associated with the selected channel on the display.

3. A system for selectively displaying internet content and television programming on a display, the system comprising:

a client, including a display, and channels separately representing individual television content and individual internet content;

means for selecting between the channels, wherein when an individual television content channel or an individual internet content channel is selected the client presents the content associated with the selected channel on the display, comprising a rotary wheel menu for enabling the user to select a channel;

means for presenting on the display an internet gateway interface which selectively scrolls through links to selected web pages organized according to templates corresponding to web page content displayed on internet content channels; and

a server, including means for establishing a data connection with the client and downloading data along the data connection to the client.