Specialized media presentation via an electronic program guide (EPG)
First Claim
1. A client device comprising:
- one or more processors;
a memory;
a search effectuator, maintained in the memory and executable on the one or more processors, to formulate a search request in response to selection of a link that is visually displayed in an electronic program guide (EPG) generated by an EPG application stored in the memory and implemented by the one or more processors of the client device, the search effectuator sending the search request to a search service;
a link target monitor, maintained in the memory and executable on the one or more processors, to monitor a selector of the EPG to detect when the link visually displayed in the EPG is selected based on input from a user; and
a search results scrubber, maintained in the memory and executable on the one or more processors, to scrub search results received in response to the search request by extracting images from the search results to provide a slideshow of the images extracted from the search results for presentation on an associated display screen.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic program guide (EPG) is enhanced to have entries that enable access to one or more images. When an image-related entry is selected by a user, a television-based device presents the one or more images that are associated with the selected entry. In a described search-related implementation, portions of the EPG, such as actors and actresses names, are presented as links. Selection of a link effectuates a search of a group of files and is followed by the visual presentation of a slide show of images resulting from the search. In a described email-related implementation, a third party can email images to an email address that is associated with the television-based device. In response to the emailed images, an image entry is added to the channel lineup of the EPG. Selection of the image entry causes the device to visually present the emailed images in a slide show.
-
Citations
26 Claims
-
1. A client device comprising:
-
one or more processors; a memory; a search effectuator, maintained in the memory and executable on the one or more processors, to formulate a search request in response to selection of a link that is visually displayed in an electronic program guide (EPG) generated by an EPG application stored in the memory and implemented by the one or more processors of the client device, the search effectuator sending the search request to a search service; a link target monitor, maintained in the memory and executable on the one or more processors, to monitor a selector of the EPG to detect when the link visually displayed in the EPG is selected based on input from a user; and a search results scrubber, maintained in the memory and executable on the one or more processors, to scrub search results received in response to the search request by extracting images from the search results to provide a slideshow of the images extracted from the search results for presentation on an associated display screen. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. An arrangement for media access via an electronic program guide (EPG) in conjunction with a search, the arrangement comprising:
-
effectuation means, stored in memory and executable on one or more processors, for formulating a search request in response to selection of a link that is visually displayed in the EPG, the effectuation means transmitting the search request to a search service; monitor means, stored in memory and executable on one or more processors, for monitoring link targets of the EPG to detect when the link visually displayed in the EPG is selected by user input; and scrub means, stored in the memory and executable on the one or more processors, for extracting images from search results resulting from the search to produce scrubbed search results in an accessible format by extracting the images from the search results to provide a slideshow of the images extracted from the search results for presentation on an associated display screen. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. One or more processor-accessible storage media wherein the storage media is not transmission media, comprising processor-executable instructions that, when executed, direct a client device to perform actions comprising:
-
generating, by the client device, an electronic program guide (EPG) displaying a plurality of television channel entries, the EPG comprising at least one link that is visually displayed in association with one of the television channel entries; receiving a selection of the at least one link; effectuating a search of a group of files responsive to the selection of the at least one link; receiving search results from the effectuated search, the search results in a first format; and scrubbing the search results in the first format to identify images or links to images in the search results to produce scrubbed search results in a second format by extracting the images from the search results to provide a slideshow of the images extracted from the search results for presentation on an associated display screens. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
-
-
23. A method comprising:
-
displaying an electronic program guide (EPG) having at least one linked name that is visually displayed within the EPG; monitoring a selector of the EPG to detect if the at least one linked name that is visually displayed is selected; if the at least one linked name is selected; effectuating a search with a search service using a search request, the search request comprising at least part of the at least one linked name as a search term for the search and an indication that an image search is requested; receiving search results in a first format as a result of effectuating the image search; identifying images in the search results in the first format to produce search results in a second format, the second format providing the images as a slideshow; and presenting the search results in the second format as the slideshow of the images on a display screen in response to selection of the at least one linked name. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
-
-
26. A television-based client device comprising:
-
one or more processors; a memory; an electronic program guide (EPG) application, stored in the memory and executed on the one or more processors of the television-based client device, to generate an EPG to display a plurality of channel entries, the channel entries listing programs available for viewing through the television-based client device, the EPG visually displaying at least one selectable link in at least one channel entry; a search effectuator, stored in the memory and executable on the one or more processors, to effectuate an image search in response to selection by a user of the at least one selectable link visually displayed in at least one channel entry as part of the EPG, the search effectuator formulating a search request based on the link selected by the user and sending the search request over a network to a search service, the search request comprising at least a portion of the selected link used as a keyword in the search request and an indication that an image search is requested; a link target monitor, stored in the memory and executable on the one or more processors, to monitor a selector of the EPG to detect when the link that is visually displayed in the individual channel entry of the EPG is being selected based on input from the user; a search results scrubber, stored in the memory and executable on the one or more processors, to scrub search results received in response to the search by extracting images from the search results based on image tags in the search results to provide a slideshow of the images extracted from the search results for presentation on an associated display screen; and a scrubbed results presenter for presenting the images extracted from the search results as the slideshow on the display screen in response to the link being selected.
-
Specification