System and method for displaying and searching multimedia events scheduling information

• US 8,640,167 B2
• Filed: 06/13/2012
• Issued: 01/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Gossweiler, Richard Carl III, Bauer, Marisa, Blackburn, John Wayne, Brown, David A., Gupta, Neha, Heilman, Timothy Dharma, Patel, Manish Gordhan, Reiss, David Scott, Sahami, Mehran, Scott, Maricia, Taylor, Thomas H., Tull, Alice, Wagner, Mark, Zhang, Lucy Congyun, Zigmond, Daniel John
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, KIM T
• Application Number:
  US13/496,000
• Publication Number:
  US 20120254159A1
• Time in Patent Office: 594 Days
• Field of Search: 725/39
• US Class Current: 725/39
• 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 21/4586 Content update operation triggered locally, e.g. by comparing the version of software modules in a DVB carousel to the version stored locally deployment, distribution, installation, update of software G06F8/65; error detection or correction of the data by redundancy during software upgrading G06F11/1433; arrangements for updating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/25
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4821 using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6547 comprising parameters, e.g. for client setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A system for displaying information may include memory, one or more processors, and one or more modules stored in memory. The one or more modules are configured for execution by the one or more processors and may include instructions for: presenting a subset of a collection of data on a first grid having a first axis corresponding to units of time and a second axis, the collection of data comprising data representing time-bounded events; presenting a second grid having, first and second axes corresponding to the first and second axes of the first grid, the second grid corresponding to a larger portion of the collection of data than the subset presented on the first grid; and presenting a user moveable window for selecting a portion of the second grid, and selecting the subset presented on the first grid in accordance with a current position of the window.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method, performed by a computer system having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors, the method comprising:

obtaining search results responsive to a search query, wherein the search results include information representing a plurality of time-bounded events; and

presenting the search results in (i) a first grid and (ii) a second grid, wherein

(A) the first grid has a first size, and

the first grid represents a first set of time-bounded events in the plurality of time-bounded events, and

(B) the second grid has a second size smaller than the first size,

the second grid represents a second set of time-bounded events in the plurality of time-bounded events,

the second set of time-bounded events includes a greater number of time-bounded events than the first set of time-bounded events,

the second set of time-bounded events is presented in accordance with a predefined scheme that visually distinguishes time-bounded events in the second set of time-bounded events in accordance with relevance of a respective time-bounded event in the second set of time-bounded event to the search query, and

the first set of time-bounded events is presented in the first grid also in accordance with the predefined scheme.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined scheme is a color scheme for displaying different sets of time-bounded events using different colors.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined scheme is a highlighting scheme for displaying different sets of time-bounded events using highlighting methods.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined scheme includes visual distinctions between time-bounded events having different levels of relevance.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of time-bounded events comprises scheduled presentations of multimedia content.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of time-bounded events comprises television shows scheduled for broadcast in a predefined time period.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a second axis of the first grid corresponds to television channels and a second axis of the second grid corresponds to time.

8. A system, comprising:

memory;

one or more processors; and

one or more modules stored in memory and configured for execution by the one or more processors, the modules comprising instructions for;

obtaining search results responsive to a search query, wherein the search results include information representing a plurality of time-bounded events; and

presenting the search results in (i) a first grid and (ii) a second grid, wherein

(A) the first grid has a first size, and

the first grid represents a first set of time-bounded events in the plurality of time-bounded events, and

(B) the second grid has a second size smaller than the first size,

the second grid represents a second set of time-bounded events in the plurality of time-bounded events,

the second set of time-bounded events includes a greater number of time-bounded events than the first set of time-bounded events,

the second set of time-bounded events is presented in accordance with a predefined scheme that visually distinguishes time-bounded events in the second set of time-bounded events in accordance with relevance of a respective time-bounded event in the second set of time-bounded event to the search query, and

the first set of time-bounded events is presented in the first grid also in accordance with the predefined scheme.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the predefined scheme includes visual distinctions between time-bounded events having different levels of relevance.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the plurality of time-bounded events comprises scheduled presentations of multimedia content.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the plurality of time-bounded events comprises television shows scheduled for broadcast in a predefined time period.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein a second axis of the first grid corresponds to television channels and a second axis of the second grid corresponds to time.

13. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs for execution by one or more processors of a computer system, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:

obtaining search results responsive to a search query, wherein the search results include information representing a plurality of time-bounded events; and

presenting the search results in (i) a first grid and (ii) a second grid, wherein

(A) the first grid has a first size, and

the first grid represents a first set of time-bounded events in the plurality of time-bounded events, and

(B) the second grid has a second size smaller than the first size,

the second grid represents a second set of time-bounded events in the plurality of time-bounded events,

the second set of time-bounded events includes a greater number of time-bounded events than the first set of time-bounded events,

the second set of time-bounded events is presented in accordance with a predefined scheme that visually distinguishes time-bounded events in the second set of time-bounded events in accordance with relevance of a respective time-bounded event in the second set of time-bounded event to the search query, and

the first set of time-bounded events is presented in the first grid also in accordance with the predefined scheme.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the predefined scheme includes visual distinctions between time-bounded events having different levels of relevance.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein a second axis of the first grid corresponds to television channels and a second axis of the second grid corresponds to time.