EP0682452A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Method and system for providing efficient selection of television programs
Assignee: Microsoft Corp
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Filing: 1995-05-10
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2015-05-10
Abstract
Abstract A computer method and system for providing a user with efficient selection of a television program to view or record. The method provides concurrent display of a television schedule with a graphic description and a textual description of the television program currently selected by the user from the displayed television schedule. The displayed television schedule comprises a schedule layout displayed to the user on a screen display. The schedule layout includes a number of program names arranged in an adaptively learned order based on the frequency of the user's previous selections. Each time a program name is selected by the user, the graphic description and the textual description of the television program represented by the selected program name are displayed concurrently with the adaptively ordered schedule layout. Thus, the user can select a television program perceptively and without delay.
Inventors
- 👤 Adam Christopher Rauch
- 👤 Gregory Riker
- 👤 Nathan Paul Myhrvold
- 👤 Edwin Thorne Iii
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-24 21:59
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N21/00; H04N21/40; H04N21/47; H04N21/472; H04N21/47214; H04N5/00; H04N5/44; H04N5/50; G; G11; G11B; G11B27/00; G11B27/02; G11B27/022; G11B27/028; G11B33/00; G11B33/10; H04N21/41; H04N21/4104; H04N21/4135; H04N21/414; H04N21/4143; H04N21/426; H04N21/42692; H04N21/43; H04N21/431; H04N21/4312; H04N21/433; H04N21/4334; H04N21/442; H04N21/44213; H04N21/44222; H04N21/45; H04N21/4508; H04N21/4532; H04N21/466; H04N21/4667; H04N21/482; H04N21/4821; H04N21/80; H04N21/81; H04N21/8146; H04N21/83; H04N21/84; H04N5/76; H04N5/78; H04N5/782; H04N5/765; H04N5/775; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S348/00; Y10S348/903
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 21
Claim 1
Independent Claim
131 words
A method, performed by a computer, of obtaining from a user a selected program from among a plurality of television programs, the method comprising the steps of: (a) storing, for each of the television programs, a program name, a time of broadcast and a textual description of the television program; (b) providing to a display device, for each of the television programs, the program name and the time of broadcast for display in a schedule layout which visually associates the program name with the time of broadcast; (c) obtaining from the user a designation of the selected program; and (d) providing to the display device the textual description of the selected program and a graphic description or the television program for concurrent display with the schedule layout in a separate location.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
67 words
The method of claim 1 wherein step (a) further comprises storing a channel indicator associated with the program name and the time of broadcast for each of the television programs, and step (b) comprises providing the channel indicator to the display device for display in the schedule layout so as to be visually associated with the channel indicator with the program name and the time of broadcast.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
56 words
The method of claim 2 wherein the schedule layout comprises a grid containing the program name of each of the television programs and having a channel axis which references the channel indicator associated with each of the television programs and a time axis which references the time of broadcast of each associated with the television programs.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
67 words
The method of claim 3, further comprising: for each channel indicator, determining the number of times that an attribute associated with the channel indicator has been designated by the user; and arranging the channel indicators on the channel axis in order from the channel indicator with the attribute designated the most number of times to the channel indicator with the attribute designated the least number of times.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
71 words
The method of claim 3, further comprising: for each channel indicator, determining the number of times that program names associated with the channel indicator have been designated by the user; and arranging the channel indicators on the channel axis in order from the channel indicator with the highest frequency of program names designated by the user to the channel indicator with the lowest frequency of program names designated by the user.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
70 words
The method of claim 3, further comprising: for each channel indicator, determining the number of times that a program name displayed on the time axis has been designated by the user; and arranging the channel indicators on the channel axis in order from the channel indicator with the program name designated the highest number of times to the channel indicator with the program name designated the lowest number of times.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
67 words
The method of claim 1 wherein step (a) comprises storing a set of topics, each topic having one or more programs classified according to the topic, and wherein step (c) comprises obtaining a topic selected by the user, displaying a list of the television programs classified according to the selected topic and obtaining from the user a designated program from the program list as the selected program.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
57 words
The method of claim 7 wherein step (c) further comprises providing the user with a list of topics and obtaining from the user a designated topic from the topic list as the selected topic, the list of topics being provided in an order corresponding to the number of times each of the topics has been previously selected.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
33 words
The method of claim 7 wherein step (c) further comprises displaying the list of television programs classified according to the topic in an order based on program use criteria related to the topic.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method of claim 7 wherein step (c) further comprises displaying the list of television programs classified according to the topic in an order based on the frequency of selection of television programs displayed on a same channel.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
36 words
The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of (e) obtaining from the user a request to view the selected program, and (f) displaying the requested program on a full screen of the display device.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
34 words
The method of claim 11, further comprising the step or displaying program information superimposed on the display of the requested program when a channel is changed by the user to display the requested program.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
17 words
The method of claim 12 wherein the program information includes the textual description of the requested program.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
17 words
The method of claim 12 wherein the program information includes the program name of the requested program.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
53 words
The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of: (e) obtaining from the user a request to record the selected program; and (f) providing an instruction to a recording device to record the selected program at the corresponding time of broadcast stored for the selected program in response to obtaining the request.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
78 words
The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of: (e) obtaining from the user a request to record the selected program; (f) providing an instruction to a recording device to record the indicated program at the corresponding time stored for the indicated program; and (g) providing an instruction to the recording device to record the textual description for a predetermined time just prior to performing the step (f) of providing the instruction to record the indicated program.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
32 words
The method of claim 1 wherein step (d) comprises providing to the display device a broadcast of the selected program in a picture-in-graphics display window for concurrent display with the schedule layout.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method of claim 1 wherein the step (a) of storing comprises storing a bitmap describing the selected program and step (d) comprises providing the bitmap to the display device for concurrent display with the schedule layout.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
140 words
A computer system providing a user with selection of a selected television program from among a plurality of television programs provided by a cable source, comprising: a display; an input device through which the selected television program is obtained from the user; and a computer coupled to the display and to the input device, comprising an input/output unit obtaining the selected television program from the input device, a memory storing a program name, a time of broadcast and a description of each of the plurality of television programs, and a processor obtaining the selected television program from the input/output device, reading the description of the selected television program from the memory and providing the description of the selected television program to the display for concurrent display with the program name and time of broadcast of the plurality of television programs.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
68 words
The computer system or claim 19, further comprising a tuner connected to the input device, to the display and to the input/output unit, and wherein the display comprises a television, and wherein the processor controls the tuner to display the selected television program on the television upon obtaining from the input/output unit a request provided by the user via the input device to display the selected television program.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
56 words
The computer system of claim 19, further comprising a video recorder coupled to the computer and coupled to the display, and wherein the processor controls the video recorder to record the selected television program upon obtaining from the input/output unit a request provided by the user via the input device to record the selected television program.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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