Systems and methods for providing transport control

• US 9,055,325 B2
• Filed: 11/11/2009
• Issued: 06/09/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rovi Guides, Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rovi Guides, Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: Gaydou, Danny R., Reichardt, M. Scott, Ellis, Michael D., Day, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Pendleton, Brian T
• Assistant Examiner(s): STRONCZER, RYAN S
• Application Number:
  US12/616,309
• Publication Number:
  US 20100175086A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,036 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/20 Disc-shaped record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D
• 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 21/4314 for fitting data in a restricted space on the screen, e.g. EPG data in a rectangular grid
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4333 Processing operations in response to a pause request
• 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 21/47 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 21/4821 using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time
• 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 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A transport control interface may be provided by an interactive television program guide application to provide information, control or both for live and recorded video programming. The transport control interface may indicate to the user the time duration of a live or recorded program and any time segments of the program that have been recorded. The transport control interface may automatically adjust the start and end time shown to accommodate various factors such as continuous viewing on a particular channel, multiple recorded segments, buffer size, etc. Various information associated with the live or recorded video programming may be displayed in the transport control interface.

Claims

1. A method for providing information about a currently broadcasting program, the method comprising:

generating, using control circuitry, a display of the currently broadcasting program;

receiving a scheduled start time and a scheduled end time associated with the currently broadcasting program;

generating a display of a transport control interface that indicates a first time length of the currently broadcasting program based on the scheduled start time and on the scheduled end time;

receiving an adjusted start time based on at least one change in a running time of the currently broadcasting program;

storing the received adjusted start time in a memory; and

while the currently broadcasting program is being broadcast, modifying the transport control interface to display the adjusted start time, wherein the modified transport control interface indicates;

a second time length of the currently broadcasting program based on the adjusted start time, and

at least one recorded time segment of the second time length of the currently broadcasting program,

wherein the at least one recorded time segment is visually distinguished from a different recorded time segment of the currently broadcasting program, and

wherein the at least one time recorded segment is visually distinguished from the different recorded time segment based on whether the at least one time segment was recorded in response to a specific user command or automatically recorded into buffer memory.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the display of the transport control interface comprises generating the display of a transport control bar.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein generating the display of the transport control bar comprises generating the display of the adjusted start time on one end of the transport control bar.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the at least one recorded time segment is represented by at least one region of the transport control bar.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the at least one region of the transport control bar is visually distinguishable from at least one other region of the transport control bar that is associated with non-recorded content.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one recorded time segment represents at least one portion of the currently broadcasting program that has been automatically recorded into buffer memory.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one recorded time segment represents at least one portion of the currently broadcasting program that has been recorded in response to a specific user command to record the currently broadcasting program.

8. A system for providing information about a currently broadcasting program, the system comprising:

a user input interface; and

control circuitry configured to;

generate a display of the currently broadcasting program;

receive a scheduled start time and a scheduled end time associated with the currently broadcasting program;

generate a display of a transport control interface that indicates a first time length of the currently broadcasting program based on the scheduled start time and on the scheduled end time;

receive an adjusted start time based on at least one change in a running time of the currently broadcasting program;

store the received adjusted start time in a memory; and

modify the transport control interface to display the adjusted start time, wherein the modified transport control interface indicates;

a second time length of the currently broadcasting program based on the adjusted start time, and

at least one recorded time segment of the second time length of the currently broadcasting program,

wherein the at least one recorded time segment is visually distinguished from a different recorded time segment of the currently broadcasting program, and

wherein the at least one time recorded segment is visually distinguished from the different recorded time segment based on whether the at least one time segment was recorded in response to a specific user command or automatically recorded into buffer memory.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the control circuitry is further configured to display a transport control bar.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein generating the display of the transport control bar comprises generating the display of the adjusted start time on one end of the transport control bar.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein the at least one recorded time segment is represented by at least one region of the transport control bar.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the at least one region of the transport control bar is visually distinguishable from at least one other region of the transport control bar that is associated with non-recorded content.

13. The system of claim 8 wherein the at least one recorded time segment represents at least one portion of the currently broadcasting program that has been automatically recorded into buffer memory.

14. The system of claim 8 wherein the at least one recorded time segment represents at least one portion of the currently broadcasting program that has been recorded in response to a specific user command to record the currently broadcasting program.

15. A method for providing information about a currently broadcasting program, the method comprising:

generating, using control circuitry, a display of the currently broadcasting program;

receiving a scheduled start time and a scheduled end time associated with the currently broadcasting program;

generating a display of a transport control interface that indicates a first time length of the currently broadcasting program based on the scheduled start time and on the scheduled end time;

receiving an adjusted end time based on at least one change in a running time of the currently broadcasting program;

storing the received adjusted end time in a memory; and

while the currently broadcasting program is being broadcast, modifying the transport control interface to display the adjusted end time, wherein the modified transport control interface indicates;

a second time length of the currently broadcasting program based on the adjusted end time, and

at least one recorded time segment of the second time length of the currently broadcasting program, wherein the at least one recorded time segment is visually distinguished from a different recorded time segment of the currently broadcasting program, and

wherein the at least one time recorded segment is visually distinguished from the different recorded time segment based on whether the at least one time segment was recorded in response to a specific user command or automatically recorded into buffer memory.

16. A system for providing information about a currently broadcasting program, the system comprising:

a user input interface; and

control circuitry configured to;

generate a display of the currently broadcasting program;

receive a scheduled start time and a scheduled end time associated with the currently broadcasting program;

generate a display of a transport control interface that indicates a first time length of the currently broadcasting program based on the scheduled start time and on the scheduled end time;

receive an adjusted end time based on at least one change in a running time of the currently broadcasting program;

store the received adjusted end time in a memory; and

modify the transport control interface to display the adjusted end time, wherein the modified transport control interface indicates;

a second time length of the currently broadcasting program based on the adjusted end time, and

at least one recorded time segment of the second time length of the currently broadcasting program, wherein the at least one recorded time segment is visually distinguished from a different recorded time segment of the currently broadcasting program, and

wherein the at least one time recorded segment is visually distinguished from the different recorded time segment based on whether the at least one time segment was recorded in response to a specific user command or automatically recorded into buffer memory.