System for processing program information

• US 7,047,550 B1
• Filed: 07/01/1998
• Issued: 05/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Isogawa, Takao, Yasukawa, Hideki, Ueno, Tsuyoshi, Hoshida, Masaki, Noguchi, Yoshihiro, Tomioka, Yutaka, Kato, Fumiyuki, Itou, Hayashi
• Primary Examiner(s): SALCE, JASON P
• Application Number:
  US09/108,506
• Time in Patent Office: 2,876 Days
• Field of Search: 725/13, 725/39, 725/40, 725/42, 725/44, 725 45- 47, 725/68, 725/98, 725/118, 725/139, 725/148, 725/50, 725/52, 725/91, 725/100
• US Class Current: 725/44
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/251 Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies details of learning user preferences for the retrieval of video data in a video database G06F16/739; computer systems using learning methods G06N3/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25866 Management of end-user data customer care in data networks H04L41/5077
• 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 21/4348 Demultiplexing of additional data and video streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• 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 21/466 Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies services using the results of monitoring in broadcast systems H04H60/61
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• 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 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• 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 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8133 specifically related to the content, e.g. biography of the actors in a movie, detailed information about an article seen in a video program
• 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

To provide a system for processing program information in which the display structure of a program table can be freely changed in accordance with a requirement of or the taste of an audience, the system for processing program information is structured to include program information storage means 1 for storing program information, and program table display means 4 for two-dimensionally displaying a program table employing as the two axes, two attributes 102 and 103 selected from among all of the attributes that have been given to each piece of program information, to make the program table 101. For the audience, program tables of various constructions can be displayed on the display means at will and in respective program retrieval operations, a program table that is easy to use to search for a program can be obtained. An specific desired program can be found in a short time by selecting key word(s) related to each program and extracting them from the program or the like. This is useful for an audience member to make a plan of desired broadcasts for himself.

Claims

1. A system for processing program information comprising:

program information storage means for storing program information;

program table display means comprising a display having at least two dimensions defined by designation of at least two-axes attributes, wherein the attributes are selected from among all program information attributes, and at least two such attributes are used for two axes of a program table;

attribute input means adapted to input attributes of two axes used for two dimensionally displaying the program table;

program table making means adapted to retrieve program information from program information stored in the program information storage means on the basis of said input attributes to make a program table, said program table means being adapted to display the program table created by the program table making means;

when there are plural programs in the same time zone, means for using said plural programs to check the programs of the same time zone without expanding the display area including means for displaying them overlaid one upon the other while shifting the programs rearward one at a time; and

means for displaying the programs.

2. A system for processing program information as claimed in claim 1, wherein the program table making means is adapted to use program information stored in the program information storage means and is adapted to classify said program information.

3. A system for processing program information as claimed in claim 1, further comprising means for selecting or adding another attribute to the two-axes attributes of the program table to change over the display.

4. A system for processing program information as claimed in claim 1, further comprising means to display the program table while culling a portion the data that does not need to be displayed.

5. A system for processing program information as claimed in claim 4, further comprising means adapted to restore the original program table when displaying the program table.

6. A system for processing program information as claimed in claim 1, further comprising means to select an attribute relative to the program to that are adapted to change the display.

7. A system for processing program information as claimed in claim 1, further comprising means for adding and/or deleting a new attribute from the program table in accordance with a selection of the attribute by a user or an input from another system.

8. A system for processing program information as claimed in claim 1, further comprising means to designate information registered by a user as an attribute of the program table.

9. A system for processing program information as claimed in claim 1, further comprising means to extract attribute information from program information.

10. A system for processing program information as claimed in claim 1, comprising means to display and/or play back pictures or sounds of a program.

11. A system for processing program information as claimed in claim 1, wherein, when a channel or a program is selected as an attribute of the program table, means to change the channel to the picture of the selected program and means for displaying information relative to the selected program if the program is being received, and if the selected program is not being received, means for displaying only information relative to the program.

12. A system for processing program information as claimed in claim 1 further comprising, if a channel is selected as an attribute of the program table, means for displaying advertisements and program relation information in accordance with the time schedule of programs being broadcast over the channel.

13. A system for processing program information as claimed in claim 1, further comprising means for transmitting and/or receiving program information, program relation information, program renewal information, and information registered by a user, a program, a picture, or a sound.

14. A system for processing program information as claimed in claim 1, further comprising means for transmitting and/or receiving an image sequence made by a user and means for displaying said image sequence in a portion of the program table.

15. A system for processing program information as claimed in claim 1, further comprising means for transmitting program information selected by a user, means for calculating the number of people viewing the same program, and means for displaying the result in a portion of the program table as an audience rating or the number of people in the audience.

16. A system for processing program information as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:

said program information including an index for retrieving a program;

means for transmitting and/or receiving said program information; and

means for maintaining a user attribute that is adapted to retrieve program information, including said index for retrieving a program on the basis of the user attribute, at the receiver side.

17. A system for processing program information as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:

said program information including an index for retrieving a program;

means for transit and/or receiving said program information;

means for determining whether sad program information, including an index for retrieving a program, was not received at the receiver side; and

when the program information was not received at the receiver side, means, at the transmitter side, for retrieving said program information.

18. A system for processing program information as claimed in claim 16, wherein, when a retrieval based on a user attribute was unsuccessful with program information, including an index for retrieving a program, at the receiver side, the system further comprising:

means for retrieving and automatically classifying said program information according to the user attribute at the transmitter side; and

means to transmit the result to the receiver side.

19. A system for processing program information as claimed in claim 1, further comprising means for recording, reserving for recording and playing back a designated program in accordance with a designation by a user or an input from another system.

20. A system for processing program information as claimed in claim 1, further comprising means for displaying programs that have been recorded or reserved for recording along a time line of the program table.

21. A system for processing program information as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a recorder for recording information of the program viewed by a user, means for examining a relationship with recorded program information in all programs, and means for displaying the program when it is judged that there is a strong relationship.

22. A system for processing program information as claimed in claim 1, further comprising means for determining whether a performance of the program appears on a certain day or not.