Methods and systems for providing multi-source content in electronic program guides

• US 7,546,623 B2
• Filed: 01/05/2005
• Issued: 06/09/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Fatehpuria, Pradip K., Ramraz, Amit, Brown, Joerg Raymond, Yust, Stacy L., Rajagopal, Deepa, Sahgal, Sanjay Dhanraj, Ramakrishnan, Sampathkumar, Tecot, Edward M., Hegg, Shannon C., Muthurajan, Anand, Gottlieb, Gabriel
• Primary Examiner(s): Pendleton; Brian T
• Assistant Examiner(s): Alcon; Fernando
• Application Number:
  US11/029,907
• Publication Number:
  US 20060150214A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,616 Days
• Field of Search: 725/48, 725/49
• US Class Current: 725/48
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4345 Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream
• 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 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/488 Data services, e.g. news ticker systems specially adapted for using meteorological information in broadcast systems H04H60/71

Abstract

Various embodiments pertain to methods and systems for providing multi-source content in electronic program guides (EPGs). In at least some embodiments, various techniques can present the viewer with a user interface, such as a grid, that is efficiently and intelligently assembled and managed to foster a desirable user experience.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

accessing a list of all lineups available on one or more inputs of one or more tuners;

removing any duplicate lineups;

sorting channels of the lineups based on the channel number and retaining occurrences of the same channel number from different sources;

for any channels with the same channel number, sorting the same channel numbers as a function of the source associated with the channel number effective to provide a merged lineup;

receiving a viewer channel selection independent of presentation of an electronic program guide associated with the merged lineup;

determining whether a next channel being transitioned to by the channel selection shares a channel number and call letters with a current channel being transitioned from by the channel selection; and

in response to determining that the next channel shares the channel number and call letters of the current channel, skipping the next channel and transitioning to another channel following or preceding the next channel in the merged lineup.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising, in an event that lineups are available from both an analog cable source and a digital cable source, retaining only the lineup associated with the digital cable source.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of sorting the same channel number comprises arranging the same channel numbers in the following source order:

cable, antenna and satellite.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising presenting an electronic program guide that embodies the merged lineup.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising presenting an electronic program guide that embodies the merged lineup, wherein the act of presenting comprises presenting indicia of the source associated with individual services of the merged lineup.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising presenting an electronic program guide that embodies the merged lineup, and further comprising:

receiving a viewer channel selection from the electronic program guide;

iterating through tuner inputs associated with the viewer channel selection; and

attempting to tune to the viewer channel selection.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising presenting an electronic program guide that embodies the merged lineup, and further comprising presenting, in the electronic program guide, one or more entries associated with one or more generic video sources.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising, responsive to receiving the channel selection, attempting to tune to the channel using a predefined tuning source order.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising, responsive to receiving the channel selection, attempting to tune to the channel using a predefined tuning source order, wherein the tuning source order is as follows:

analog cable source, digital cable source, antenna source and satellite source.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising, in an event the viewer channel selection is a channel up, attempting to tune to the next higher channel with a different service.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising, in an event the viewer channel selection is a channel down, then attempting to tune to a next lower channel with a different service.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising, in an event the viewer channel selection is a channel down, then:

ascertaining whether a service associated with the next lower channel is different and if so, and if there are no multiples of this service, attempting to tune to the next lower channel; and

if there are multiples of this service, attempting to tune to an associated channel using a predefined tuning source order.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising, in an event the viewer channel selection is a channel down, then:

ascertaining whether a service associated with the next lower channel is different and if so, and if there are no multiples of this service, attempting to tune to the next lower channel; and

if there are multiples of this service, attempting to tune to an associated channel using a predefined tuning source order wherein the tuning source order is as follows;

analog cable source, digital cable source, antenna source and satellite source.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising, ascertaining whether a first lineup is a subset of a second lineup and, if so, downloading only the second lineup.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising, prior to accessing the list, presenting a user interface that queries a user as to which tuner inputs are connected to which sources and, responsively, selecting a default lineup based on which tuner inputs are connected to which sources.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said acts are performed in connection with a single tuner environment.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein said acts are performed in connection with a multiple tuner environment.

18. One or more computer-readable storage media having computer-readable instructions thereon which, when executed, implement a method comprising:

accessing a list of all lineups available on one or more inputs of one or more tuners;

removing any duplicate lineups;

sorting channels of the lineups based on the channel number and retaining occurrences of the same channel number from different sources;

for any channels with the same channel number, sorting the same channel numbers as a function of the source associated with the channel number effective to provide a merged lineup, wherein the act of sorting the same channel number comprises arranging the same channel numbers in the following source order;

cable, antenna and satellite;

presenting an electronic program guide that embodies the merged lineup;

receiving a viewer channel selection independent of presentation of the electronic program guide associated with the merged lineup;

determining whether a next channel being transitioned to by the channel selection shares a channel number and call letters with a current channel being transitioned from by the channel selection; and

in response to determining that the next channel shares the channel number and call letters of the current channel, skipping the next channel and transitioning to another channel following or preceding the next channel in the merged lineup.

19. A client device embodying the one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 18.