Method and apparatus for adjusting font size in an electronic program guide display

• US 6,954,897 B1
• Filed: 10/17/1997
• Issued: 10/11/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Saturn Licensing LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Noguchi, Fujio, Mugura, Kazuto
• Primary Examiner(s): PAULA, CESAR B
• Application Number:
  US08/953,707
• Time in Patent Office: 2,916 Days
• Field of Search: 707/542, 707/526, 707/517, 707/508, 345/113, 345/115, 345/116, 345/127, 345/128, 345/810, 345/815, 345/851, 345/800, 715/542, 715/526, 715/517, 715/508
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/109 Font handling; Temporal or kinetic typography
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/44504 Circuit details of the additional information generator, e.g. details of the character or graphics signal generator, overlay mixing circuits

Abstract

A method and apparatus for adjusting font size in an electronic program guide display are provided. A multiple channel broadcasting system generates an electronic program guide identifying channels and corresponding programs in a broadcasting system. The broadcast system determines a number of characters to be displayed in an area of an electronic program guide. The broadcast system determines a number of display pixels available for display of the characters. The broadcast system adjusts the font size of the characters to display the number of characters within the number of pixels available.

Claims

1. A method for a display, the method comprising:

displaying a program along with an electronic program guide (EPG) on the display;

automatically resizing text describing the displayed program to fit in a fixed sized window on the display, the resizing of the text is dictated by the amount of text; and

displaying the text within the fixed sized window.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatically resizing text includes:

determining an amount of characters of the text be displayed within the fixed sized window;

determining an amount of display pixels available within the fixed sized window, the display pixels being used to display characters of the text within the fixed sized window of the display; and

adjusting a font size of the characters to be displayed within the fixed sized window of the display dictated by the determined amount of characters of the text to be displayed within the fixed sized window and the determined amount of display pixels available within the fixed sized window such that the determined amount of characters is displayed within the fixed sized window of the display using the determined amount of display pixels available.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the font size is optimized for the fixed sized window, the optimized font size causes a maximum number of characters to be displayed within the fixed sized window.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the maximum number of characters to be displayed within the fixed sized window is 256.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein multiple font sizes are available for displaying the characters of the text within the fixed sized window of the display.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the adjusting the font size includes adjusting the font size to a largest font size among three different font sizes if the determined amount of characters to be displayed is less than 180 characters.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the adjusting the font size includes adjusting the font size to a font size that is in between a largest font size and a smallest font size among three different font sizes if the determined amount of characters to be displayed is more than 180 characters and less than 220 characters.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the adjusting the font size includes adjusting the font size to a smallest font size among three different font sizes if the determined amount of characters to be displayed is greater than 220 characters.

9. A broadcast system comprising:

a memory to store text describing a program; and

a processor coupled to a display and to control display of an electronic program guide (EPG) and the program, to resize automatically the text to fit in a fixed sized window on the display, the resizing of the text is dictated by the amount of text, and to control display of the text within the fixed sized window.

10. The broadcast system of claim 9, wherein the processor is to determine an amount of characters of the text be displayed within the fixed sized window, to determine an amount of display pixels available within the fixed sized window, the display pixels being used to display characters within the fixed sized window of the display, and to adjust a font size of the characters to be displayed within the fixed sized window of the display dictated by the determined amount of characters of the text to be displayed within the area and the determined amount of display pixels available within the fixed sized window such that the determined amount of characters is displayed within the fixed sized window of the display using the determined amount of display pixels available.

11. The broadcast system of claim 10, wherein the processor is to control the font size to be optimized for the fixed sized window and to cause the maximum number of characters to be displayed within the fixed sized window using the optimized font size.

12. The broadcast system of claim 10, wherein the processor is to control the maximum number of characters to be displayed within the fixed sized window to be 256.

13. The broadcast system of claim 10, wherein the processor is to control availability of multiple font sizes for displaying the characters within the fixed sized window.

14. The broadcast system of claim 13, wherein the processor is to adjust the font size to be a largest font size among three different font sizes if the determined amount of characters to be displayed is less than 180 characters.

15. The broadcast system of claim 13, wherein the processor is to adjust the font size to be a font size that is in between a largest font size and a smallest font size among three different font sizes if the determined amount of characters to be displayed is more than 180 characters and less than 220 characters.

16. The broadcast system of claim 13, wherein the processor is to adjust the font size to be a smallest font size among three different font sizes if the determined amount of characters to be displayed is greater than 220 characters.

17. A machine-readable medium providing instructions, which if executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform an operation comprising:

displaying a program along with an electronic program guide (EPG) on the display;

automatically resizing text describing the displayed program to fit in a fixed sized window on the display, the resizing of the text is dictated by the amount of text; and

displaying the text within the fixed sized window.

18. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, further providing instructions, which if executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform an operation comprising:

determining an amount of characters of the text be displayed within the fixed sized window;

determining an amount of display pixels available within the fixed sized window, the display pixels being used to display characters of the text within the fixed sized window of the display; and

adjusting a font size of the characters to be displayed within the fixed sized window of the display dictated by the determined amount of characters of the text to be displayed within the fixed sized window and the determined amount of display pixels available within the fixed sized window such that the determined amount of characters is displayed within the fixed sized window of the display using the determined amount of display pixels available.

19. The machine-readable medium of claim 18, further providing instructions, which if executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform an operation comprising:

optimizing the font size for the fixed sized window, the optimized font size causes a maximum number of characters to be displayed within the fixed sized window.

20. The machine-readable medium of claim 18, further providing instructions, which if executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform an operation comprising:

displaying a maximum number of characters of 256 within the fixed sized window.

21. The machine-readable medium of claim 18, further providing instructions, which if executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform an operation comprising:

displaying the characters with multiple font sizes within the fixed sized window.

22. The machine-readable medium of claim 21, further providing instructions, which if executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform an operation comprising:

adjusting the font size to a largest font size among three different font sizes if the determined amount of characters to be displayed is less than 180 characters.

23. The machine-readable medium of claim 21, further providing instructions, which if executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform an operation comprising:

adjusting the font size to a font size that is in between a largest font size and a smallest font size among three different font sizes if the determined amount of characters to be displayed is more than 180 characters and less than 220 characters.

24. The machine-readable medium of claim 21, further providing instructions, which if executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform an operation comprising:

adjusting the font size to a smallest font size among three different font sizes if the determined amount of characters to be displayed is greater than 220 characters.