TV planner for DSS

• US 6,481,010 B2
• Filed: 03/01/1999
• Issued: 11/12/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• 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: Mugura, Kazuto, Nishikawa, Yuko S., Mingo, Kim, Chow, Jenny S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Grant, Chris
• Application Number:
  US09/260,716
• Publication Number:
  US 20010016947A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,352 Days
• Field of Search: 348/569, 348/906, 348/327, 348/13, 348/7, 345/327, 345/340, 345/969, 725/37, 725/39, 725/40, 725/41, 725/43, 725/44, 725/46, 725/47, 725/45, 725/110, 725/68, 386/83
• US Class Current: 725/44
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4135 external recorder interface circuits between an apparatus for recording television signals and a television receiver H04N5/775
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4312 involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• 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 21/4622 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 21/47211 for requesting pay-per-view content payment schemes payment architectures or payment protocols G06Q20/00, G07F
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47214 for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224
• 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 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/485 End-user interface for client configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73

Abstract

An integrated DSS/WebTV receiver is communicatively connected to an Internet service provider, a DSS service provider, and (optionally) a local broadcast station to provide a display of DSS programs, Internet web sites, and local broadcast channels in a seamless fashion. The DSS/WebTV receiver generates a graphical user interface (GUI), displayed on a television screen, for facilitating a user'"'"'s navigation through the DSS, Internet, and local broadcast data. The GUI includes a TV Planner icon which, if selected by the user, causes the televison to display a monthly calender (or recording/reminder list) that indicates which programs are purchased and/or selected for recording by a VCR. A “Purchase” icon appears adjacent purchased programs and a “Record” icon appears adjacent programs to be recorded. If the user selects “Purchase” icon, the user is visually presented (e.g., via a pull-down screen) with the cost, date, and time of the program purchased or to be purchased. If the user selects “Record” icon, the user is visually presented (e.g., via a pull-down screen) with the title, date, and time of the program to be recorded. The TV Planner screen also includes a “Timer & Rec.” icon and a “Review Purchases” icon. If the user selects “Timer & Rec.” icon, the user is presented with a “Timer & Rec.” screen that lists the programs that the user selected to view or record. If the user selects “Review Purchases” icon, the user is presented with a “Review Purchases” screen that lists all the programs purchased (e.g., PPV programs) by the user in a given time period (e.g., one month). The user can modify selected data (e.g., delete or add programs ) when the user is in the “Timer &Rec” or “Review Purchases” screens. The user may also scroll from time period to time period (e.g., month to month) within TV Planner screen by selecting “forward” and “backward” arrow icons.

Claims

1. An apparatus for displaying information on a television, comprising:

a first circuit that receives wireless television communication signals, the wireless television communication signals including channels of informational content data, that includes video data and audio data and program content data related to the informational content data, wherein the first circuit causes to be displayed on the television, in addition to the received wireless television communication signals, a graphic user interface (GUI that includes a TV planner display icon, and wherein the first circuit, in response to the user'"'"'s selection of TV planner icon, generates a display on the television of a calendar that indicates only those programs that have been selected for recording, viewing and purchasing;

a second circuit that receives computer network communication signals; and

wherein

the first circuit and the second circuit together process the received wireless television communication signals and the received computer network communication signals such that the received wireless television communication signals and the received computer network communication signals can be selectively displayed on the television.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first circuit includes a circuit that activates the display of selected video signals on the television corresponding to the information content data in response to a user'"'"'s selection of an icon displayed in the graphic user interface.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the calendar display is a full screen display of a monthly calendar.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the first circuit, in response to the user'"'"'s selection of the TV planner display icon, additionally causes the television to display a plurality of additional user selectable icons, including one or more of a purchase icon, a record icon, a review purchases icon, and a timer and recording icon.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein purchase icon appears adjacent purchased programs and a record icon appears adjacent programs to be recorded.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the first circuit, in response to the user'"'"'s selection of the purchase icon, causes the television to display a pop-up screen that lists the cost, date, and time of the purchased program.

7. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the first circuit, in response to the user'"'"'s selection of the record icon, causes the television to display a pop-up record screen that lists the title, date, and time of the program to be recorded.

8. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the first circuit, in response to the user'"'"'s selection of the record icon, causes the television to display a pop-up screen that lists the title, date, and time of one or more programs already recorded.

9. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the first circuit, in response to the user'"'"'s selection of the timer and recording icon, causes the television to display a pull-down timer and recording screen that lists the programs that the user has selected to view and/or record.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the user can modify selected data in the timer and recording screen.

11. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the first circuit, in response to the user'"'"'s selection of the review purchases icon, causes the television to display a pull-down review purchases screen that lists all the programs, including any pay per view (PPV) programs, purchased by the user in a given time period.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the user can modify selected data in the review purchases screen.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the calendar display further includes user selectable forward and backward icons for causing the first circuit to scroll from time period to time period within TV planner screen.

14. An method for displaying information on a television, comprising the steps of:

receiving wireless television communication signals, the wireless television communication signals including channels of informational content data, that includes video data and audio data, and program content data related to the informational content data, causing to be displayed on the television, in addition to the received wireless television communication signals, a graphic user interface (GUI) that includes a TV planner display icon, and wherein the first circuit, in response to the user'"'"'s selection of TV planner icon, generates a display on the television of a calendar that indicates only those programs that have been selected for recording, viewing and purchasing;

receiving computer network communication signals; and

processing the received wireless television communication signals and the received computer network communication signals such that the received wireless television communication signals and the received computer network communication signals can be selectively displayed on the television.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of displaying selected video signals on the television corresponding to the information content data in response to a user'"'"'s selection of an icon displayed in the graphic user interface.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the step, in response to the user'"'"'s selection of TV planner icon, generates a full screen display on the television of a monthly calendar.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step, in response to the user'"'"'s selection of the TV planner display icon, of additionally causing the television to display a plurality of additional user selectable icons, including one or more of a purchase icon, a record icon, a review purchases icon, and a timer and recording icon.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the purchase icon appears adjacent purchased programs and a record icon appears adjacent programs to be recorded.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step, in response to the user'"'"'s selection of the purchase icon, of causing the television to display a pop-up screen that lists the cost, date, and time of the purchased program.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step, in response to the user'"'"'s selection of the record icon, of causing the television to display a pop-up record screen that lists the title, date, and time of the program to be recorded.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step, in response to the user'"'"'s selection of the record icon, of causing the television to display a pop-up screen that lists the title, date, and time of one or more programs already recorded.

22. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step, in response to the user'"'"'s selection of the timer and recording icon, of causing the television to display a pull-down timer and recording screen that lists the programs that the user has selected to view and/or record.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the user can modify selected data in the timer and recording screen.

24. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step, in response to the user'"'"'s selection of the review purchases icon, of causing the television to display a pull-down review purchases screen that lists all the programs, including any pay per view (PPV) programs, purchased by the user in a given time period.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the user can modify selected data in the review purchases screen.

26. The method of claim 14, wherein the calendar display further includes user selectable forward and backward icons and further comprising the step of causing the first circuit to scroll from time period to time period within TV planner screen in response to the user'"'"'s selection of the forward or backward icons.