Method and apparatus for displaying an electronic program guide

• US 6,577,350 B1
• Filed: 12/21/1998
• Issued: 06/10/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Servan-Schreiber, Franklin, Proehl, Andrew M., Kim, Anne
• Primary Examiner(s): Miller, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): DESIR, JEAN WICEL
• Application Number:
  US09/217,671
• Time in Patent Office: 1,632 Days
• Field of Search: 348/569, 348/564, 348/563, 348/561, 348/460, 348/461, 348/906, 348/704, 348/240, 348/239, 348/578, 348/581, 348/584, 348/586, 725/39, 725/40, 725/43, 725/57, 725/59, 345/719, 345/718, 345/726
• US Class Current: 348/564
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2665 Gathering content from different sources, e.g. Internet and satellite
• 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 21/84 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

Abstract

A method and apparatus for adjusting font size in an electronic program guide display are provided. A multiple channel broadcasting system generates an electronic program guide identifying channels and corresponding programs in a broadcasting system. The broadcast system determines a number of characters to be displayed in an area of an electronic program guide. The broadcast system determines a number of display pixels available for display of the characters. The broadcast system adjusts the font size of the characters to display the number of characters within the number of pixels available.

Claims

1. A method for transitioning between an image and an information guide, said method comprising the steps of:

displaying an image;

receiving a first control signal indicating that the information guide is to be displayed;

generating a display of an oversized representation of the information guide, said display comprising a first area corresponding to the image displayed;

displaying the image in the first area;

performing a zoom from the oversized representation to a second representation of a second size, the size of the displayed image changing with a change in size of the first area; and

when the zoom is complete, removing the displayed image from the first area and blending a full screen size of the displayed image as background to the information guide.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the step of blending comprises alpha-blending the full screen image as background to a full screen display of the information guide.

3. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the oversized representation is of a size such that the first area spans a majority of a full screen display.

4. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the zoom is an animated zoom.

5. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the image comprises video images received from a broadcast system and the information guide comprises an electronic program guide.

6. The method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a second control signal indicating a change in a level of detail of the information guide; and

performing a zoom from a display of a first level of detail of the information guide to a second level of detail of the information guide.

7. The method as set forth in claim 6, further comprising the step of switching representations of determined portions of the information guide from a first format to a second format at a determined point during the zoom.

8. The method as set forth in claim 7, wherein the step of switching comprises performing a cross-fade function.

9. The method as set forth in claim 7, wherein the first format comprises logos and a second format comprises alphabetical representations of determined portions.

10. The method as set forth in claim 6, wherein a portion of the information guide comprises a time bar spanning an identified period of time, said step of zooming comprising changing the duration of the period of time by compressing or expanding time ticks during the zoom.

11. The method as set forth in claim 6, wherein the image is a broadcast image and the information guide comprises an electronic program guide.

12. A method for transitioning between an information guide and an image, said method comprising the steps of:

displaying on a screen display a first representation of the information guide of a first size;

receiving a first control signal indicating that the image is to be displayed;

generating a display of the information guide comprising a first area corresponding to the image to be displayed and displaying the image in the first area;

performing a zoom from the first representation to a second representation of a second size, the size of the displayed image changing with a change in size of the first area, the second size of a size such that the first area covers a substantial portion of the screen display; and

when the zoom is complete, removing the information display and displaying a full screen size of the displayed image.

13. The method as set forth in claim 12, wherein the image is a broadcast image and the information guide comprises an electronic program guide.

14. The method as set forth in claim 12, wherein the first representation comprises the image blended as background to the information guide and the method further comprising the step of removing the background image from display when the first control signal is received.

15. A system comprising:

a first receiver configured to receive an image;

a second receiver configured to for receive a first control signal;

a controller configured to display the image and when a first control signal is received, generating a display of an oversized representation of the information guide, said display comprising a first area corresponding to the image displayed, displaying the image in the first area, performing a zoom from the oversized representation to a second representation of a second size, the size of the displayed image changing with a change in size of the first area, and when the zoom is complete, removing the displayed image from the first area and blending a full screen size of the displayed image as background to the information guide.

16. The system as set forth in claim 15, wherein the first receiver is a broadcast system receiver and the image comprises a video image.

17. The system as set forth in claim 15, wherein the second receiver receives the first control signal from a remote control device.

18. The system as set forth in claim 15, wherein the image comprises a broadcast image and the information guide comprises an electronic program guide.

19. The system as set forth in claim 15, wherein the controller is configured to blend using an alpha-blending function.

20. The system as set forth in claim 15, wherein the oversized representation is of a size such that the first area spans a majority of a full screen display.

21. The system as set forth in claim 15, wherein the controller is configured to zoom using an animated zoom function.

22. The system as set forth in claim 15, wherein:

said second receiver further configured to receive a second control signal indicating a change in a level of detail of the information guide; and

said controller further configured to perform a zoom from a display of a first level of detail of the information guide to a second level of detail of the information guide.

23. The system as set forth in claim 22, wherein the controller is further configured to switch representations of determined portions of the information guide from a first format to a second format at a determined point during the zoom.

24. The system as set forth in claim 23, wherein the controller is configured to switch using a cross-fade function.

25. The system as set forth in claim 23, wherein the first format of determined portions comprises logos and a second format of determined portions comprises alphabetical representations.

26. The system as set forth in claim 22, wherein the image comprises a broadcast image and the information guide comprises an electronic program guide.

27. The system as set forth in claim 22, wherein a portion of the information guide comprises a time bar spanning an identified period of time, and said controller is configured to zoom to change the duration of the period of time by compressing or expanding time ticks during the zoom.

28. The system as set forth in claim 15, wherein the controller is further configured to, when a third control signal is received, remove the background display of the image, display the image in the first area of the information guide, performing a zoom from the second representation of the second size to a representation of a third size such that the first area spans a substantial portion of the screen display, and when the zoom is complete, remove the information display and display a full screen display of the image.

29. A computer readable medium containing executable instructions which, when executed in a processing system, causes the system to perform the steps for transitioning between an image and an information guide comprising:

displaying an image;

receiving a first control signal indicating that the information guide is to be displayed;

generating a display of an oversized representation of the information guide, said display comprising a first area corresponding to the image displayed;

displaying the image in the first area;

performing a zoom from the oversized representation to a second representation of a second size, the size of the displayed image changing with a change in size of the first area; and

when the zoom is complete, removing the displayed image from the first area and blending a full screen size of the displayed image as background to the information guide.

30. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 29, further comprising instructions, which when executed blend by alpha-blending the full screen image as background to a full screen display of the information guide.

31. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 29, wherein the oversized representation is of a size such that the first area spans a majority of a full screen display.

32. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 29, wherein the zoom is an animated zoom.

33. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 29, wherein the image comprises video images received from a broadcast system and the information guide comprises an electronic program guide.

34. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 29, further comprising instructions which when executed perform the steps of:

receiving a second control signal indicating a change in a level of detail of the information guide; and

performing a zoom from a display of a first level of detail of the information guide to a second level of detail of the information guide.

35. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 34, further comprising instructions which when executed perform the step of switching representations of determined portions of the information guide from a first format to a second format at a determined point during the zoom.

36. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 35, wherein the step of switching comprises performing a cross-fade function.

37. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 35, wherein the first format comprises logos and a second format comprises alphabetical representations of determined portions.

38. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 34, wherein a portion of the information guide comprises a time bar spanning an identified period of time, said instructions for performing the step of zooming comprises instructions that change the duration of the period of time and compress or expand time ticks during the zoom.

39. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 34, wherein the image is a broadcast image and the information guide comprises an electronic program guide.

40. A computer readable medium containing executable instructions which, when executed in a processing system, causes the system to perform the steps for transitioning between an image and an information guide comprising:

displaying on a screen display a first representation of the information guide of a first size;

receiving a first control signal indicating that the image is to be displayed;

generating a display of the information guide comprising a first area corresponding to the image to be displayed and displaying the image in the first area;

performing a zoom from the first representation to a second representation of a second size, the size of the displayed image changing with a change in size of the first area, the second size of a size such that the first area covers a substantial portion of the screen display; and

when the zoom is complete, removing the information display and displaying a full screen size of the displayed image.

41. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 40, wherein the image is a broadcast image and the information guide comprises an electronic program guide.

42. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 40, wherein the first representation comprises the image blended as background to the information guide and further comprising instructions, which when executed perform the step of removing the background image from display when the first control signal is received.