Abstract:
A viewer who is consulting a television programming guide with additional information that involves a comprehensive set of visual images. Preferably, the set of sequential images are stills or snapshots representative of portions of the television program.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to computer controlled television programming and, particularly, to the presentation of program guides listing subsequent television programs from which viewers may select subsequent or future television for viewing or recording under computer control, usually in the form of a television set top box. 
       BACKGROUND OF RELATED ART 
       [0002]    The computer controlled set top box is usually connected to a provider/subscriber television system. The box contains the computer resources necessary to control the television program presentation on a typical television set or personal computer. Of course, all of the computer resources needed to control the television or personal computer display may be integrated into the television set, the personal computer or mobile device, such as a cellular telephone or personal digital assistant (PDA). 
         [0003]    Television programming provided by the service provider often run into the hundreds of television programs available from hundreds of channels for any given time period. On-screen program guides have provided reasonable organization for the hundreds of television programs being offered. As shown in  FIG. 1 , these programming guides have a scrollable vertical list of channels, each having a row of sequential time segments with each segment representing a television program scheduled for the time segment. Should the viewer desire more information about the television program in a particular time segment, the viewer may select or “click” on the listing for the television program and receive more information in the form of a synopsis, e.g. item  12 ,  FIG. 1 . This synopsis gives very limited information to the viewer. Often, this synopsis provides insufficient information to help the viewer decide between what may be several television program offerings that are of interest. 
       SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
       [0004]    The present invention provides the viewer, who is consulting the programming guide, with additional information that involves a comprehensive set of visual images. Preferably, the set of sequential images are stills or snapshots representative of portions of the television program. 
         [0005]    Accordingly, the present invention provides a method for selecting segments of listed television programs in a displayed television scrollable program guide that comprises displaying a scrollable program guide having a vertical list of channels, each having a row of sequential future time segments, each segment representing a television program scheduled for the future time segment and enabling a viewer to select a segment in a channel sequence, wherein the television program represented by said segment will be shown at the scheduled future time. 
         [0006]    In this environment, this invention provides for the display of one or more of said future time segments wherein each includes a sequence of still images in the represented television program with each still image representing a sequential point in the television program. The viewer is, thus, enabled to select one of the still images in the sequence of still images, wherein the television portion at the sequential point represented by the still image will be shown at the scheduled future time of the sequential point. The still images may be stills of video scenes in the portions of the programs represented by the stills. 
         [0007]    In accordance with an aspect of the invention, a viewer will be enabled to select a portion of the television program for recording at said scheduled future time of said sequential point. 
         [0008]    Provision may be made for enabling the viewer to select a still image to get further advance information about the program portion represented by the still image. This information may be in the same form as a conventional textual synopsis provided for the whole television program, but will just cover the portion represented by the still image. 
         [0009]    In accordance with a significant aspect of the invention, the sequence of still images is in the form of a film strip of the video. The images in the strip may vary in length relative to the variations in length of the portions represented&#39; by the images or frames in the strip. 
     
    
     
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is a generalized view of a displayed program guide illustrating a standard textual synopsis of a listed television program upon viewer selection for more information; 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is the same generalized view of  FIG. 1  with the addition of the video film strip in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  is the view of  FIG. 2  wherein three (3) stills in the strip have been selected for future viewing or recording; 
           [0013]      FIG. 4  is a generalized view of the computer controlled system of the present invention organized wherein the service provider provides the film strip of the television program content; 
           [0014]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart describing how the implementation system of the present invention provides and implements the film strip of the television program content; and 
           [0015]      FIG. 6  is a diagrammatic illustration of an aspect of the present invention wherein there is displayed a sub-strip having a sequence of sub-images within the portion of the television program represented by a selected image in an initial film strip. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0016]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , there is shown a generalized diagrammatic view of a displayed program guide  10  that may be presented on a television set or any personal computer display on which a television program may be viewed. The standard guide is a matrix wherein the scheduled television programs are shown in horizontal rows  11  representative of television channels. When a viewer wishes more information about a particular program, the viewer scrolls to the program scheduled at a particular time and usually clicks on an information button resulting in the display of textual synopsis  12 . 
         [0017]    In the present invention, as shown in  FIG. 2 , there is provided a film frame strip  13  of sequential still images from the television program content at sequential points in the program. Each frame  14  or  16  represents a portion of the television program at the frame point in the television program sequence. The viewer is, thus, provided with visual information that supplements the synopsis  12 . The viewer then has the option of selecting the entire television program for subsequent viewing or recording, or he may only select one or more of the television program portions represented by any of the frames in the film strips for future viewing or recording. As will be hereinafter described in greater detail, these film strips may conveniently be provided by the television service provider. 
         [0018]    By way of example, for a typical one hour television program, a film strip of eight (8) snapshots or frames may be used. Thus, each frame may represent 7.5 minutes of the hour. This gives the viewer the option of selecting only some of the frames for subsequent viewing or recording. In  FIG. 3 , the viewer has selected frames  15 ,  17  and  18  in film strip  13  for such subsequent viewing or recording. Accordingly, the portion or segment of the television program represented by frames  15 ,  17  and  18  will be subsequently viewed or recorded. It should be noted that while in this example, the television program segments represented by the frames in the strip have been of equal length, the segments need not be equal. This may be determined by the service provider sending the representative film strips to the viewers. 
         [0019]    In a further aspect of the present invention, reference is made to  FIG. 6 , which is a diagrammatic illustration of an aspect of the present invention wherein there is displayed a sub-strip having a sequence of sub-images within the portion of the television program represented by a selected image in an initial film strip. It may be the case, particularly with television programming that runs for several hours that each frame  17  in the initial film strip  13  may be set up so as to be further dividable into a sub film strip  19  wherein each frame  20  represents a segment of the portion of the television program represented by frame  17 . Like the initial film strips  13 , the sub film strips are set up and stored in the server of the service provider and are made available by the service provider as required by the viewer. It should also be noted that the service provider may provide a textual synopsis for each frame  17 , and sub frame  20 . 
         [0020]    Now, with reference to  FIG. 4  it will be described how the present invention may be implemented on any apparatus providing computer control of a television set so that the control programs of this invention may be operated with the equipment. The receiver  45  at the viewer&#39;s site receives the content input  46  from the service provider  48 . The service provider also provides the above-described film strips  50 . The apparatus shown connected to receiver  45  may be conveniently housed in a television set top box or integrated within a unitary television set. 
         [0021]    The operations involved in the present invention are controlled by a data processing system under the control of a central processing unit  40 , which, in turn, is interconnected to various other components by system bus  42 . An operating system (OS)  22  that runs on processor  40  provides control and is used to coordinate the functions of the various components of the control system. The OS  22  is stored in Random Access Memory (RAM)  41 . The control programs for the functions, including those for displaying film strips and sub-scripts, and enabling the viewer to select the portions and segments represented by the frames of film scripts and sub-scripts for future viewing on the television sets of the present invention may be permanently stored in Read Only Memory (ROM)  13  and moved into and out of RAM to perform their respective functions. In the normal operation for real-time television program playing, the integrated incoming data stream, under CPU control, is applied to broadcast channel extractor  47  that extracts the data representative of the television program scheduled for the channel that the user has selected on a tuner (not shown) and applies the extracted data to a conventional television display adapter  28  to be displayed on the user&#39;s television set  29 . 
         [0022]    When the incoming unitary data stream is to be recorded on a DVR, the signal is processed through a disk drive adapter  21  and stored on disk drives  20 . In the conventional operation of a DVR, the television program scheduled for a given channel at a given time is extracted by extractor  17 , in response to interrupt sensor and then stored on a disk drive  20  provided on the DVR. This individual program would be recorded and, thus, stored on the disk drive either in response to advance scheduling by the user for such a recording in accordance with the present invention based upon the selection of frames in the film strips and sub-strips. 
         [0023]    Now, with reference to the programming shown in  FIG. 4  there will be described how the system and programs of the present invention are set up. There is provided a scrollable standard program guide presented on a TV display of horizontal time segments and vertical programs listed channel by channel so that the viewer may choose programs for subsequent viewing or recording, step  60 . Provision is then made for the display of a video “film strip” of sequential still images each representing a portion of one of one of the listed television programs, step  61 . Provision is made for the viewer to select one of the still images to thereby select the television program portion represented by the still image for future viewing or recording, step  62 . Provision is also made for enabling the viewer to select a still image to access further information about the program segment represented by the selected still image, step  63 . Further provision is made for enabling the viewer to select a secondary film strip of still images, each of which is representative of a secondary portion of the program segment, step  64 . In addition, provision may be made for varying the length of still images within the original or secondary films strips, step  65 . 
         [0024]    As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the present invention may be embodied as a system, method or computer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment, including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.; or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit”, “module” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer readable mediums having computer readable program code embodied thereon. 
         [0025]    Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may be utilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared or semiconductor system, apparatus or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (“RAM”), a Read Only Memory (“ROM”), an Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (“EPROM” or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read only memory (“CD-ROM”), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus or device. 
         [0026]    A computer readable medium may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may take any of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, electromagnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus or device. 
         [0027]    Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including, but not limited to, wireless, wire line, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination the foregoing. 
         [0028]    Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language, such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ and the like, and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user&#39;s computer, partly on the user&#39;s computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user&#39;s computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the later scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user&#39;s computer through any type of network, including a local area network (“LAN”) or a wide area network (“WAN”), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet, using an Internet Service Provider). 
         [0029]    Aspects of the present invention are described below with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
         [0030]    These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
         [0031]    The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus or other devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
         [0032]    The flowchart and block diagram in the Figures illustrate the architecture, functionality and operations of possible implementations of systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions. 
         [0033]    Although certain preferred embodiments have been shown and described, it will be understood that many changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the scope and intent of the appended claims.