On screen VCR programming guide

• US 6,567,606 B2
• Filed: 07/05/1996
• Issued: 05/20/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/05/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Rovi Guides, Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Starsight Telecast Incorporated (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: Schein, Steven, Milnes, Kenneth A.
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, HUY THANH
• Application Number:
  US08/675,884
• Publication Number:
  US 20010033738A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,510 Days
• Field of Search: H04/N.576, 386/83, 386/46, 386/95, 348/906, 348/5.5, 348/563, 725/13
• US Class Current: 386/291
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/782 on tape

Abstract

An apparatus and method for programming a VCR is provided. The system, utilizing a programming controller, presents a display on the viewer'"'"'s television which contains a pattern representing a plurality of time intervals. The user programs the controller by indicating what time intervals on what week and on what channel are to be recorded. The controller then continually compares the current time with the programmed time until a match is found. When a match is found the controller activates the VCR, tunes the VCR to the desired channel, and initiates recording. When the controller determines that the VCR has recorded for the desired length of time, it stops the VCR from further recording and turns off the power to the VCR.

Claims

1. A method of programming a VCR using a programming controller coupled with the VCR and a television monitor, the method comprising:

activating the programming controller;

selecting a programming instruction from among a set of programming instructions entered but unexecuted;

simultaneously displaying on a single display screen a plurality of patterns representative of a plurality of days;

simultaneously displaying on the single display screen a plurality of successive equal-length time segments with each of the plurality of patterns displayed, the plurality of successive equal-length time segments representative of a plurality of time periods of one entire day;

selecting a first one of the plurality of successive equal-length time segments displayed from a first one of the plurality of patterns to designate a start time that represents one day of the plurality of days and one time period;

selecting a second one of the plurality of successive equal-length time segments displayed from the first one of the plurality of patterns to designate a stop time that represents one day of the plurality of days and one time period;

selecting a channel of interest for viewing and recording and to be switched to by the VCR at the appropriate time;

storing in memory a programming instruction including the start time, the stop time, the day of the week, and the channel;

continuously monitoring the current time and day;

comparing the current time and current day of the week to the start time and the day of the week within each programming instruction among the set of programming instructions;

tuning the VCR to a channel corresponding to the channel within the programming instruction and starting a recording function on the VCR with the programming controller, when the current time and current day of the week equals the start time and the day of the week within one of the programming instructions; and

stopping the recording function on the VCR with the programming controller, when the current time is greater than or equals the stop time within the programming instruction.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

erasing the programming instruction from the memory.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

inputting a program designator into the programming controller;

associating the program designator to indicate a specific set of programming instructions from a plurality of sets of programming instructions; and

chronologically ordering the plurality of sets of programming instructions.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein each of said plurality of successive equal-length time segments represents a 30 minute durational time period.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said selecting step is further comprised of the step of displaying and moving a cursor on the monitor to highlight the time segments selected.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the designated start and stop times are identical.

7. A method of programming a video receiver, the method comprising:

simultaneously displaying on a single display screen a plurality of patterns representative of a plurality of days;

simultaneously displaying on the single display screen a plurality of successive time segments with each of the plurality of patterns displayed, the plurality of successive time segments representative of a plurality of time periods of one entire day;

selecting a first one of the plurality of successive time segments displayed from a first one of the plurality of patterns to designate a start time that represents one day of the plurality of days and one time period;

selecting a second one of the plurality of successive time segments displayed from the first one of the plurality of patterns to designate a stop time that represents one day of the plurality of days and one time period;

selecting a channel of interest for viewing and recording and to be switched to by the video receiver at the appropriate time;

storing in memory a programming instruction including the start time, the stop time, the day of the week, and the channel;

tuning the video receiver to a channel corresponding to the channel within the programming instruction, when current time and current day of a week corresponds to the start time and the day of the week within one of the programming instructions; and

tuning the video receiver to back to a previous channel before the video receiver was tuned to the channel corresponding to the channel within the programming instruction, when current time and current day corresponds to the stop time and the one entire day within one of the programming instructions.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the designated start and stop times are identical.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the video receiver is one of a VCR and a television monitor.

10. A method of programming a video receiver, the method comprising:

simultaneously displaying on a single display screen a plurality of successive time segments in a plurality of rows, the plurality of rows representing days and the plurality of successive time segments in each of the plurality of rows representing a plurality of time periods for an entire day;

selecting a first one of the plurality of successive time segments displayed to designate a start time that represents a day and one time period;

selecting a second one of the plurality of successive time segments displayed to designate a stop time that represents a day and one time period;

selecting a channel to be switched to by the video receiver;

storing in memory a programming instruction including the start time, the stop time, the day and the channel;

tuning the video receiver to a channel corresponding to the channel within the programming instruction, when current time and current day corresponds to the start time and the day within one of a plurality of programming instructions; and

tuning the video receiver to back to a previous channel before the video receiver was tuned to the channel corresponding to the channel within the programming instruction, when current time and current day corresponds to the stop time and the day within one of a plurality of programming instructions.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the designated start and stop times are identical.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising displaying vertically and adjacent to the plurality of successive time segments in the plurality of rows, a legend comprising a plurality of identifiers to identify the days.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the video receiver is one of a VCR and a television monitor.

14. A method of programming a video receiver, the method comprising:

simultaneously displaying on a single display screen a plurality of successive time segments in a plurality of rows, the plurality of rows representing large time periods that represent days and the plurality of successive time segments in each of the plurality of rows representing a plurality of small time periods within the large time periods;

selecting a first one of the plurality of successive time segments displayed to designate a start time that represents a large time period and a small time period;

selecting a second one of the plurality of successive time segments displayed to designate a stop time that represents a large time period and a small time period;

selecting a channel to be switched to by the video receiver;

storing in memory a programming instruction including the start time, the stop time, a day and the channel;

tuning the video receiver to a channel corresponding to the channel within the programming instruction, when current time and current day corresponds to the start time and the day within one of a plurality of programming instructions; and

tuning the video receiver to back to a previous channel before the video receiver was tuned to the channel corresponding to the channel within the programming instruction, when current time and current day corresponds to the stop time and the day within one of a plurality of programming instructions.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising displaying vertically and adjacent to the plurality of successive time segments in the plurality of rows, a legend comprising a plurality of identifiers to identify the large time periods.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein each of the plurality of successive time segments in at least one of the plurality of rows have equal-lengths.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein each of the plurality of successive time segments in each of the plurality of rows have a predetermined length based on each of the large time periods represented by each of the plurality of rows.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein the video receiver is one of a VCR and a television monitor.