Navigational user interface for interactive television

• US 6,678,891 B1
• Filed: 11/19/1998
• Issued: 01/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: NDS Limited (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: PRASARA Technologies, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: McDonald, Thomas, Wilcox, Scott, Montgomery, Robert A, Spencer, Deborah A, Roa, Praveen
• Primary Examiner(s): Faile, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): SALCE, JASON P
• Application Number:
  US09/195,167
• Time in Patent Office: 1,881 Days
• Field of Search: 725/39, 725/40, 725/42, 725/43, 725/44, 725/52, 725/60, 725/61, 348/14.07, 345/767, 345/854, 345/720, 345/721, 715/501.1
• US Class Current: 725/42
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• 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 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/478 Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47815 Electronic shopping payment schemes, payment architectures or payment protocols for electronic shopping systems G06Q20/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• 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

Abstract

The present invention is a navigational user interface for interactive television. The invention uses an intuitive interactive interface for navigating through service options preferably offered by a cable television service. Services offered such as video on demand, purchasing delivery foods, restaurant selection, banking and community events is all navigated using the present invention.

Claims

1. A navigational user interface system for interactive television, comprising:

(a) means for displaying pages, the pages being displayed individually and in consecutive order, and the pages having cells from which a selection can be made;

(b) first stationary means for focusing on a selected page and displaying related cells containing a series of choices; and

(c) second stationary means for focusing on a selected cell and displaying a drawable containing information about the cell,

wherein the cells rotate into and out of the second stationary focus means, and wherein the cells are contained within a grid of cells having rows and columns, each row of,cells being scrollable to the left and to the right, and each scroll giving focus to a different cell in the row until the last cell in the row in the direction of scrolling receives focus, at which point further scrolling in the same direction causing focus to remain with the last cell.

2. The navigational user interface system of claim 1, further comprising a user input means for movement control and choice selection.

3. The navigational user interface system of claim 2, wherein the pages contain cells representing various retailers and items of merchandise for purchase, the user input means focusing on a desired cell for selection and selecting the desired cell, and the item of merchandise being displayed for viewer purchasing.

4. The navigational user interface system of claim 1, wherein the cells are contained within a grid of cells having rows and columns, each column of cells being scrollable up and down, and each scroll giving focus to a different cell in the column until the last cell in the column in the direction of scrolling receives focus, at which point further scrolling in the same direction causing focus to remain with the last cell.

5. A navigational user interface system for interactive television, comprising:

(a) a display;

(b) an interface generation means coupled to the display for displaying a first axis and a second axis, the interface generation means also displaying a drawable,

(c) a category item contained and displayed within the first axis;

(d) a menu item contained and displayed within the second axis;

(e) a user input means coupled to the interface generation means, the user input means including movement control for focusing on a desired display element for selection, the user input means focusing on selected ones of the category item and the interface generation means displaying related menu items corresponding to the selected category item, and the user input means focusing on selected ones of the menu items and the interface generation means displaying related drawables corresponding to the selected menu item; and

(f) a pruning means for eliminating options from a list for presenting a choice of options having user defined characteristics, wherein the pruning means presents a choice of restaurants having user defined first and second characteristics,

wherein focusing on the category item is accomplished by rotating category item nodes into and out of focus on the first axis, and wherein focusing on the menu item is accomplished by rotating the menu item nodes into and out of focus on the second axis, and

wherein the category items are category icons representing various first level characteristics of a restaurant, and the menu items are menu icons representing various second level characteristics of a restaurant corresponding to the various first level characteristics of the category icons.

6. The navigational user interface system of claim 5, wherein the input generation means also displaying related drawables corresponding to the selected category item.

7. The navigational user interface system of claim 5, wherein the user input means having a selecting means for selecting an option.

8. The navigational user interface system of claim 5, wherein the category items are category icons representing various show genres, and the menu items are menu icons representing shows corresponding to the various show genres of the category icons.

9. The navigational user interface system of claim 8, wherein the user input means focusing on selected category icons and the interface generation means displaying related menu icons representing shows corresponding to the selected category icon representing a desired show genre, and the user input means focusing on the selected menu icon and the interface generation means displaying a related drawable corresponding to the selected menu icon.

10. The navigational user interface system of claim 9, wherein the drawable contains previews of the show corresponding to the selected menu icon.

11. The navigational user interface system of claim 9, wherein the interface generation means displaying a select icon when a selected menu icon is in focus.

12. The navigational user interface system of claim 9, wherein the user input means selects a show corresponding to the focused menu icon for viewing, and the selected show is delivered to the display.

13. The navigational user interface system of claim 5, further comprising cells containing choices.

14. The navigational user interface system of claim 13, wherein the user input means focusing on a desired cell, the selecting means for selecting the focused cell.

15. The navigational user interface system of claim 13, wherein the interface generation means displaying a page corresponding to the selected focused cell.

16. The navigational user interface system of claim 5, further comprising pages, the pages are generated and displayed by the interface generation means.

17. The navigational user interface system of claim 16, wherein the pages are displayed individually and in consecutive order, and the pages having cells from which a selection can be made.

18. A navigational user interface method for interactive television, comprising:

(a) displaying a first axis and a second axis;

(b) displaying a drawable;

(c) displaying a category item contained and displayed within the first axis;

(d) displaying a menu item contained and displayed within the second axis;

(e) focusing on selected ones of the category item and displaying related menu items corresponding to the selected category item;

(f) focusing on selected ones of the menu items displaying related drawables corresponding to the selected menu item; and

(g) eliminating options from a list and presenting a choice of options having user defined characteristics,

wherein the category items are category icons representing various first level characteristics of a restaurant, and the menu items are menu icons representing various second level characteristics of a restaurant corresponding to the various first level characteristics of the category icons, and

wherein focusing on the category item is accomplished by rotating category item nodes into and out of focus on the first axis, and wherein focusing on the menu item is accomplished by rotating the menu item nodes into and out of focus on the second axis.

19. The navigational user interface method of claim 18, wherein focusing on selected ones of the category item also displays related drawables corresponding to the selected category item.

20. The navigational user interface method of claim 18, further comprising selecting a presented option.

21. The navigational user interface method of claim 18, wherein focusing on the category item indicates a particular choice of show genre, and focusing on the menu item indicates a particular choice of show.

22. The navigational user interface method of claim 21, wherein focusing on selected category item generates menu items having shows corresponding to the selected category item'"'"'s show genre, and focusing on the selected menu item and generating the drawable corresponding to the selected menu item.

23. The navigational user interface method of claim 22, further comprising previewing the show corresponding to the selected menu icon in the drawable.

24. The navigational user interface method of claim 22, further comprising generating and displaying a select icon when a selected menu icon is in focus.

25. The navigational user interface method of claim 22, further comprising selecting a show corresponding to the focused menu icon for viewing, and delivering the selected show to a display.

26. The navigational user interface method of claim 18, further comprising presenting a choice of restaurants having user defined first and second characteristics.

27. The navigational user interface method of claim 18, further comprising displaying cells containing choices.

28. The navigational user interface method of claim 27, further comprising focusing on a desired cell, and selecting the focused cell.

29. The navigational user interface method of claim 27, further comprising displaying a page corresponding to the selected focused cell.

30. The navigational user interface method of claim 18, further comprising displaying pages.

31. The navigational user interface method of claim 30, wherein the pages are displayed individually and in consecutive order, and the pages having cells from which a selection can be made.