Internet television system and method with user selectable genres and schedule
First Claim
1. An Internet television system, comprising:
- one or more servers storing a plurality of television programs which are categorized into a plurality of program genres; and
a Web page stored on said one or more servers for being accessible to a user with a client computer through the Internet, wherein said Web page includes a scheduler for enabling said user to arrange delivery of said programs to said client computer according to a personalized schedule, wherein said scheduler is comprised of;
a plurality of timeslots for each day of the week arranged in a grid; and
a plurality of program genre icons arranged adjacent said grid and corresponding to respective program genres;
wherein when a selected genre icon is dragged and dropped into a selected timeslot by said user, one of said programs in a corresponding program genre is adapted to be automatically delivered to said client computer through the Internet for display at a time defined by said selected timeslot.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An Internet television system and method are comprised of defining different program types or genres, and categorizing television programs into different genres. Each program is associated with a description which includes the assigned genre. The programs are encoded for streaming over the Internet. A Web site is provided for users to access the programs. A scheduler on a Web page is comprised of a plurality of timeslots arranged into a grid. Program genre icons corresponding to the genres are arranged adjacent the grid. A user can build a schedule by dragging the genre icons into selected timeslots, and save the schedule to a database. Programs which have not been watched, or least watched and long ago by the user are automatically selected for the scheduled genres and streamed to the client computer. The programs are allocated to the time available for each genre. Ads are interspersed between the programs.
180 Citations
31 Claims
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1. An Internet television system, comprising:
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one or more servers storing a plurality of television programs which are categorized into a plurality of program genres; and
a Web page stored on said one or more servers for being accessible to a user with a client computer through the Internet, wherein said Web page includes a scheduler for enabling said user to arrange delivery of said programs to said client computer according to a personalized schedule, wherein said scheduler is comprised of;
a plurality of timeslots for each day of the week arranged in a grid; and
a plurality of program genre icons arranged adjacent said grid and corresponding to respective program genres;
wherein when a selected genre icon is dragged and dropped into a selected timeslot by said user, one of said programs in a corresponding program genre is adapted to be automatically delivered to said client computer through the Internet for display at a time defined by said selected timeslot. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for delivering television programs through the Internet to a client computer, comprising:
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categorizing said programs into a plurality of program genres;
providing a scheduler on a Web page which is accessible to a user through the Internet using said client computer, wherein said scheduler is comprised of a plurality of timeslots for each day of the week arranged in a grid, and a plurality of program genre icons corresponding to said genres arranged adjacent said grid;
enabling said user to drag and drop a selected genre icon corresponding to a selected genre into a selected timeslot in said grid;
selecting one of said programs within said selected genre after said selected genre icon is dropped into said selected timeslot; and
delivering said one of said programs to said client computer through the Internet at a time defined by said selected timeslot. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A method for a user to schedule television programs for delivery to a client computer through the Internet, comprising:
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accessing a Web page through the Internet with said client computer, wherein said Web page includes a scheduler comprised of a plurality of timeslots for each day of the week arranged in a grid, and a plurality of program genre icons corresponding to a plurality of program genres arranged adjacent said grid;
dragging and dropping a selected genre icon corresponding to a selected genre into a selected timeslot in said grid; and
receiving on said client computer one of said programs within said selected genre at a time defined by said selected timeslot. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31)
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Specification