Data structure and methods for providing an interactive program guide

• US 8,739,218 B2
• Filed: 10/28/2003
• Issued: 05/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: TiVo Corporation (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Comcast IP Holdings I LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Gordon, Donald F., Ludvig, Edward A., Osborn, Nathan W., Edmonds, Jeremy S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar, Pankaj
• Assistant Examiner(s): BROWN, RUEBEN M
• Application Number:
  US10/694,658
• Publication Number:
  US 20040133910A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,864 Days
• Field of Search: 725/39, 725/52, 725/56, 725/45, 725/38, 725/44, 715/746, 715/823, 715/824, 715/853, 715/866, 715/766, 715/768, 715/794, 348/586, 348/589
• US Class Current: 725/44
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4314 for fitting data in a restricted space on the screen, e.g. EPG data in a rectangular grid
• 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 21/47 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 21/4821 using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6547 comprising parameters, e.g. for client setup
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/45 Picture in picture , e.g. displaying simultaneously another television channel in a region of the screen
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309

Abstract

A program guide in which a video layer includes a plurality of video objects including title objects, each title object having associated with it a channel and at least one time slot, the video layer being formed in response to a received video stream; and a graphics layer comprising a plurality of graphics objects including title overlay objects, each of the title overlay objects selectively imparting at least a visual de-emphasis to a respective title object in the video layer, the visual de-emphasis being imparted to title objects not being associated with a desired time slot.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating by a server, for a plurality of channels, a program guide identifying programming offered by each of the plurality of channels during a predetermined time period and the program guide comprising video objects corresponding to interactive elements of the program guide;

generating auxiliary data that comprises overlay information defining a plurality of graphic objects, each of the plurality of graphic objects having a predefined display position visually cooperative with a display position of a respective one of the video objects, and each of the graphic objects configured to be modified in response to a user selection without modifying the respective video object, the modification selectively emphasizing or deemphasizing the corresponding video object; and

transmitting, to a terminal, the program guide and the auxiliary data, the server being located remotely from the terminal.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

continuously repeating the generating of the program guide, the generating of the auxiliary data, and the transmitting of the program guide for each of a plurality of predefined time periods.

3. The method of claim 1, the transmitting comprising:

encoding each of the program guide and the auxiliary data as single logical streams;

combining the plurality of the logical streams into a single physical stream; and

transmitting, to the terminal, the single physical stream.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a second program guide identifying programming offered by each of a second plurality of channels during the predetermined time period; and

transmitting, to the terminal, the second program guide, the program guide and the second program guide being temporally aligned according to the predetermined time period, the transmitting of the second program guide to the terminal being responsive to an input received from the terminal.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a second program guide identifying programming offered by each of a second plurality of channels during the predetermined time period; and

transmitting, to the terminal, the second program guide, the program guide and the second program guide being temporally aligned according to the predetermined time period, the second plurality of channels comprising at least one channel different from the channels included in the plurality of channels.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the terminal comprises a set-top box.

7. A method comprising:

receiving, by a terminal, a user selection of a first time period of interest;

identifying a first physical channel comprising program guide information associated with the first time period of interest, the program guide information being received from a server located remotely from the terminal;

decoding, by the terminal, a first logical stream within the identified first physical channel, the first logical stream comprising a first program guide video stream, the first program guide video stream comprising a plurality of video frames comprising images of a first program guide screen comprising programming offered by each of a first plurality of channels during a first predetermined time period comprising the first time period of interest, the first program guide video stream further comprising a plurality of video objects corresponding to interactive elements of the first program guide screen;

retrieving, from a memory of the terminal, a graphic overlay comprising a plurality of graphic objects, each of the plurality of graphic objects having a predefined display position visually cooperative with a display position of a corresponding video object of the plurality of video objects included in the first program guide video stream, each of the graphic objects being user interactive to selectively emphasize or deemphasize the corresponding video object;

displaying the first program guide video stream and the graphic overlay, the graphic overlay overlaying the images of the first program guide screen of the first program guide video stream;

detecting a first user interaction with one of the video objects of the first program guide video stream; and

in response to the first user interaction, modifying, by the terminal, the graphic object corresponding to the one of the video objects with which the first user interaction is detected without modifying the one of the video objects and the first program guide video stream.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

determining that the first user interaction corresponds to a selection of a video object associated with one of a second plurality of channels; and

in response to the determination;

decoding a second logical stream within the identified first physical channel, the second logical stream comprising a second program guide video stream, the second program guide video stream comprising a second plurality of video frames comprising images of a second program guide screen comprising programming offered by each of the second plurality of channels during the first predetermined time period, the second program guide video stream comprising a second plurality of video objects representing interactive elements of the second program guide screen, each of the second plurality of video objects visually cooperating with a corresponding one of the graphic objects; and

displaying the second program guide video stream and the graphic overlay.

9. The method of claim 7, the displaying comprising:

displaying, as a video layer, the first program guide video stream comprising one or more of the video objects included in the first program guide video stream, each of the one or more of the video objects comprising one of a moving image and a still image;

selectively emphasizing or de-emphasizing, in response to the first user interaction, the graphic object corresponding to the one of the video objects with which the first user interaction is detected without modifying the one of the video objects;

selecting, in response to a second user interaction, the emphasized or de-emphasized graphic object; and

transmitting, to the server, indicia of the selected graphic object.

10. The method of claim 9,

each of the graphic objects comprising a bitmap image stored in the terminal;

each of the stored bitmap images comprising a shape parameter and a position parameter, the shape parameter defining a shape of the bitmap image, the position parameter defining the predefined display position; and

the shape and position parameters of each graphic object cooperating with shape and position parameters of the corresponding video object.

11. The method of claim 10,

the bitmap image comprised in at least one of the graphic objects having shape and position parameters that are predefined.

12. The method of claim 10,

the bitmap image comprised in at least one of the graphic objects having shape and position parameters that are defined by the server.

13. The method of claim 10,

at least one of the shape parameters of the graphic objects comprising a rectilinear shape parameter, and at least one of the position parameters of the graphic objects comprising an X-Y grid border parameter.

14. The method of claim 10,

at least one of the shape parameters of the graphic objects comprising a non-rectilinear shape parameter, and at least one of the position parameters of the graphic objects comprising an X-Y grid border parameter.

15. The method of claim 10,

the emphasized or de-emphasized graphic object corresponding to the one of the video objects being selectively emphasized or de-emphasized by adapting at least one of a chrominance and a luminance parameter of the corresponding bitmap image.

16. The method of claim 10,

the emphasized or de-emphasized graphic object being selectively emphasized or de-emphasized by adapting at least one of the shape parameter and the position parameter of the corresponding bitmap image.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining an appropriate graphic layer for overlaying a display of the images of the first program guide screen of the first program guide video stream; and

displaying the appropriate graphic layer.

18. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

determining that a user has sequenced beyond a threshold portion of the first plurality of channels as displayed on a display device; and

responsive to determining that the user has sequenced beyond the threshold portion of the first plurality of channels, transmitting a request for a program guide information stream comprising a second video stream, the second video stream comprising a second plurality of video frames having images of a second program guide screen comprising programming offered by each of a second plurality of channels during the first predetermined time period.

29. The method of claim 7, wherein the terminal comprises a set-top box.

19. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to;

generate by a server, for a plurality of channels, a program guide identifying programming offered by each of the plurality of channels during a predetermined time period and the program guide comprising video objects corresponding to interactive elements of the program guide;

generate auxiliary data that comprises overlay information defining a plurality of graphic objects, each of the plurality of graphic objects having a predefined display position visually cooperative with a display position of a respective one of the video objects, and each of the graphic objects configured to be modified in response to a user selection without modifying the respective video object, the modification selectively emphasizing or deemphasizing the corresponding video object; and

transmit, to a terminal, the program guide and the auxiliary data wherein the apparatus is configured to transmit the program guide and the auxiliary data to the terminal remotely located from the apparatus.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the apparatus to:

encode each of the program guide and the auxiliary data as single logical streams;

combine each of the single logical streams into a single physical stream; and

transmit, to the terminal, the single physical stream.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the apparatus to:

generate a second program guide identifying programming offered by each of a second plurality of channels during the predetermined time period; and

transmit, to the terminal, the second program guide, the program guide and the second program guide being temporally aligned according to the predetermined time period, wherein the transmitting of the second program guide to the terminal is responsive to an input received from the terminal.

22. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the terminal comprises a set-top box.

23. A method comprising:

receiving, at a terminal from a server located remotely from the terminal, a video comprising pre-generated images of a program guide, the program guide identifying programming offered by each of a plurality of channels during a predetermined time period, and the program guide comprising a plurality of video objects;

retrieving, from a memory of the terminal, overlay information defining a plurality of graphic objects, each graphic object of the plurality of graphic objects having a predefined display position visually cooperative with a display position of a respective one of the video objects;

outputting for display on a display device the program guide overlayed with one or more of the plurality of the graphic objects; and

emphasizing or deemphasizing, in response to a user interaction with the terminal, one of the video objects of the program guide by modifying the respective overlayed graphic object without modifying the respective video object.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising receiving the program guide and the overlay information in a single physical stream.

25. The method of claim 23, the terminal comprising a set-top box.

26. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

memory operatively coupled to the processor and storing instructions that, when executed, cause the apparatus to;

receive, from a server located remotely from the apparatus, a program guide comprising video objects and identifying programming offered by each of a plurality of channels during a predetermined time period;

retrieve, from the memory, overlay information defining a plurality of graphic objects, each graphic object of the plurality of graphic objects having a predefined display position visually cooperative with a display position of a respective one of the video objects;

output for display on a display device the program guide overlayed with one or more of the plurality of the graphic objects; and

emphasize or deemphasize, in response to a user interaction with the apparatus, one of the video objects of the program guide by modifying the respective overlayed graphic object without modifying the respective video object.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the apparatus to receive the program guide and the overlay information in a single physical stream.

28. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the apparatus comprises a set-top box.