Patent ID: 7150031
Filing Date: 2006-12-12
Classification: G06F,G06Q,H04L,H04N

Abstract:
1. A method implemented by a television set-top terminal (“STT”) comprising steps of: providing a list of currently viewable video-on-demand presentations listed by their respective titles, wherein the currently viewable list identifies video-on-demand presentations that are currently available for on-demand viewing; presenting an option to a viewer for selecting a particular currently viewable video-on-demand presentation listed on the currently viewable video-on-demand presentations list to be added to a reminder list, wherein a viewer is provided a mechanism for indicating interest in being reminded at a future time about a particular currently viewable video-on-demand presentation that is currently available for on-demand viewing; receiving viewer input selecting a particular currently viewable video-on-demand presentation listed on the currently viewable video-on-demand presentations list to be added to the reminder list in response to the option provided for selecting a particular currently viewable video-on-demand presentation listed on the currently viewable video-on-demand presentations list to be added to the reminder list; providing a list of coming soon video-on-demand presentations listed by their respective titles, wherein the coming soon list identifies video-on-demand presentations that are scheduled to be available for on-demand viewing on a future release date and are not currently available for on-demand viewing; presenting an option to a viewer for selecting a particular coming soon video-on-demand presentation listed on the coming soon video-on-demand presentations list to be added to the reminder list, wherein a viewer is provided a mechanism for indicating interest in being reminded at a future time about a particular coming soon video-on-demand presentation that is not currently available for on-demand viewing; receiving viewer input selecting a particular coming soon video-on-demand presentation listed on the coming soon video-on-demand presentations list to be added to the reminder list in response to the option provided for selecting a particular coming soon video-on-demand presentation listed on the coming soon video-on-demand presentations list to be added to the reminder list; responsive to receiving viewer input requesting display of the reminder list, displaying the reminder list, including displaying on a single screen a plurality of titles, including titles of the selected currently viewable video-on-demand presentation and the selected coming soon video-on-demand presentation as entries in the displayed reminder list, wherein the displayed reminder list is distinct from the list of currently viewable video-on-demand presentations and the list of coming soon video-on-demand presentations, and wherein the future release date of the coming soon video-on-demand presentation is displayable through viewer selection of the title of the coming soon video-on-demand presentation in the reminder list; subsequent to the displaying of the reminder list, determining whether the release date previously displayed as the future release date for the video-on-demand presentation previously listed as the coming soon video-on-demand presentation is no longer a date in the future; and responsive to both determining that the release date is no longer a date in the future and receiving additional viewer input requesting display of the list of currently viewable video-on-demand presentations, providing to the viewer a message separate from the reminder list that the video-on-demand presentation previously listed as the coming soon video-on-demand presentation is now available for renting, wherein the message includes an option for the viewer to rent the video-on-demand presentation.