Abstract:
In a content distribution system, in which broadcast content is distributed and provided to a television viewer, a method and apparatus for providing a compact guide display of a plurality of television show or program recommendations, optionally with descriptions, which are available and selectable for viewing by a viewer without interrupting the presently-viewed content.

Description:
PRIORITY CLAIM  
       [0001]    The present application claims priority to co-pending Provisional Patent Application No. 60/359,930 entitled Methods and Systems for Displaying Recommended Content Alternatives, filed on Feb. 25, 2002, and having a common inventive entity. 
     
    
     
       INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE  
         [0002]    The present application for United States Patent incorporates by reference the following commonly-owned patent applications, as if set forth in their entirety herein, for all purposes:  
           [0003]    WO 0120481A2 {Predictive Network PCT application};  
           [0004]    U.S. Patent Application No. 60/338,398 filed Dec. 7, 2001;  
           [0005]    U.S. patent application entitled: “Television Program Navigation Guide” filed Dec. 5, 2001;  
           [0006]    U.S. patent application entitled: “Method and System for Selective Initial Television Channel Display” filed Oct. 22, 2001;  
           [0007]    U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/969,911 filed Oct. 3, 2001;  
           [0008]    U.S. patent application entitled: “Method and System for Parsing Purchase Information from Web Pages filed Aug. 29, 2001;  
           [0009]    U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/928,493 filed Aug. 13, 2001;  
           [0010]    U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/877,974 filed Jun. 7, 2001;  
           [0011]    U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/558,755 filed Apr. 21, 2001;  
           [0012]    U.S. Patent Application No. 60/282,028 filed Apr. 6, 2001;  
           [0013]    U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/798,337 filed Mar. 2, 2001;  
           [0014]    U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/777,807 filed Feb. 5, 2001;  
           [0015]    U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/767,693 filed Jan. 23, 2001; and  
           [0016]    U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/766,377 filed Jan. 19, 2001.  
         FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0017]    The present invention relates generally to interfaces for use in television and other content distribution systems, which provide program selection information to a viewer, and in particular, to a method and system for displaying recommended content alternatives.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0018]    With hundreds of TV channels and scheduled programs from which to choose, together with personal video recorder (PVR)-recorded shows, pay-per-view (PPV), video-on-demand (VOD) and other content, TV viewers and other content users are faced with a nearly overwhelming choice of entertainment and other content options.  
           [0019]    In response, various electronic or interactive programming guide (EPG/IPG) systems have been proposed or developed to enhance TV viewers&#39; ability to navigate through and select programming. Examples of such systems are set forth in the following U.S. and foreign patent documents, among others, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference as if set forth in their entirety here:  
                                                       U.S. Pat. No. 6,177,931   Alexander et al.           U.S. Pat. No. 6,163,316   Killian           U.S. Pat. No. 6,005,597   Barrett et al.           WO 0049801A1   Yuen et al.           WO 0033224A1   Yuen                      
 
           [0020]    Most EPG systems are capable of generating on-screen displays of content, some in a time- and channel-based grid format. While such displays have utility, they generally do not enable users to quickly and easily find content of interest. If a viewer decides, during viewing of a first television show, that he or she is interested in alternatives, the viewer must use the remote control buttons to leave the show he or she is presently viewing and direct the system to display a list of alternatives. The viewer must therefore interrupt his or her enjoyment of the presently viewed content in order to see (or even become generally aware of) one or more alternatives.  
           [0021]    In addition, since alternatives are not presented during viewing of the television show, the viewer must actively decide that he or she is interested in alternatives (even without knowing what alternatives are available), in order to see even a listing of alternatives.  
           [0022]    Finally, many on-screen displays typical of the prior art (such as that shown in FIG. 2 herein) are relatively complex and potentially daunting to many viewers—and if not generated with reference to a recommendation process, populated by content of little or no interest to the viewer.  
           [0023]    It is therefore desirable to provide methods, devices and systems that enable viewers to see descriptions of alternative content without leaving their currently-viewed television shows, and without the necessity of additional button pushes or other user interaction.  
           [0024]    It is also desirable to provide such methods, devices and systems that constantly display a relatively simple and compact selection of alternative content, wherein the user can obtain additional information quickly and easily.  
           [0025]    It is also desirable to provide such displays based on top recommendations of content likely to be of greatest interest to the current viewer.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0026]    In view of the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art, one aspect of the present invention provides methods, devices and systems for enabling a compact overlay display of a number of top recommendations (optionally with descriptions) that a viewer can see, and from which the viewer can select, without leaving his or her presently-viewed content. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES  
       [0027]    Features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the description below, with reference to the following drawing figures, in which:  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a prior art content distribution system.  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 2 is a drawing showing a typical screen display generated by a prior art EPG system.  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 3 depicts a screen display generated by the system embodying the present invention.  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 4 depicts a screen display, as taught in the present invention, in which the choice of a content alternative displays more detailed information about the content alternative; and  
         [0032]    [0032]FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a content distribution system incorporating the compact guide display engine and process of the present invention. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0033]    Prior Art Systems: The structure and operation of conventional EPG and IPG systems, as well as associated television systems, Internet systems, and subscriber devices, including set-top boxes (STBs), monitors, pointing devices, TV remote controls, and other control devices, are well-known in the art. Examples are set forth in the U.S. and foreign patent documents listed above, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference as if set forth herein in their entirety.  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional content delivery system  100 . The content delivery system  100  includes a server  102  for providing program content to a client platform  104 . The client platform  104  includes a television monitor  106  for viewing program content, a remote control unit  108  for selecting and controlling program content, and an electronic program guide (EPG) or interactive program guide (IPG) system  110 . Within the EPG system  110 , there is shown a profile engine  112 , a recommendation engine  114 , and a user interface (UI)  116 .  
         [0035]    In a conventional EPG or IPG  110  like that shown in FIG. 1, the recommendation engine  114  rates each television show or other content available for viewing, using known methods described in the U.S. and foreign patent documents incorporated herein by reference. In particular, the recommendation engine  114  may use profile information made available by profile engine  112  to generate the ratings or recommendations. One or more user interfaces  116  make use of these ratings to assist the viewer in finding desired programming, often by generating ordered, ranked lists of shows and giving preferred placement within such lists to shows with higher ratings. The lists are then displayed to viewers using known user methods and devices in the UI layer  116 . Many viewers rely on the ordered, ranked lists generated by such EPGs to select programs to be viewed. By way of example, using some prior art systems, a viewer might select an option such as “show highest ranked Sports program” for his or her next one-hour segment of viewing.  
         [0036]    One drawback of on-screen displays typical of the prior art, however, is that if a viewer decides, during viewing of a first television show, that he or she is interested in alternatives, the viewer must use the remote control buttons to leave the show he or she is presently viewing and direct the system to display a list of alternatives. The viewer must therefore interrupt his or her enjoyment of the presently-viewed content in order to see (or even be generally aware of) one or more alternatives. In addition, since alternatives are not presented during viewing of the television show, the viewer must actively decide that he or she is interested in alternatives in order to see them at all. Viewers might therefore miss a program of greater interest than the currently viewed program.  
         [0037]    [0037]FIG. 2 shows a typical on-screen display  120  as found in the prior art. The on-screen display presents program information is a grid format  122 , which is relatively complex and potentially daunting to may viewers, and if not generated with reference to a recommendation process, such as by the recommendation engine  114  in FIG. 1, the on-screen display  120 , may be populated by content of little or no interest to the viewer.  
         [0038]    Present Invention: Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 3, one embodiment of the present invention takes the form of a compact guide display  134  that allows viewers to see listings of a number of names and descriptions of top recommendations without leaving the show they are currently viewing. In FIG. 3, a display unit  130  is displaying content  132  to a viewer. In this case, the viewer is watching a basketball game. A compact guide display  134  is illustrated as a screen overlay, which displays five recommendations ( 136 ,  138 ,  140 ,  142 ,  144 ) for available alternative viewing.  
         [0039]    Using the remote control unit  108 , a user may click on any of the recommendations ( 136 ,  138 ,  140 ,  142 ,  144 ) to either instantly begin viewing the selected content or view additional information about the alternatives. FIG. 4 illustrates the latter instance, where a user has selected one of the program recommendations ( 136 ,  138 ,  140 ,  142 ,  144 ) and the system has responded by displaying additional information  146  about the selected program. Alternatively, users can hover the cursor over a listing to obtain additional information  146 . In another practice of the invention, clicking or hovering can open a picture-in-picture window providing instant viewing of the alternative content while allowing the viewer to continue to view current content.  
         [0040]    The compact guide display  134  could be displayed at all times during program viewing as a translucent or opaque overlay; it could be placed at the top, bottom or side of the screen; it could be set to toggle on or off in response to pressing of a remote control button; or it could be set to be displayed from time-to-time or periodically during a viewing session.  
         [0041]    The compact guide display  134  could show top recommendations across all content, or across a single genre. It could receive its recommendations from a conventional rating or recommendation engine  114 . The recommendation engine  114  could use user profiles to determine appropriate recommendations for the user.  
         [0042]    In addition, the compact guide  134  could present recommendations in preference order, either based on other users&#39; top selections (across all users or across users with similar profiles or viewing histories), or based on profiles stored for the current user.  
         [0043]    The recommendations ( 136 ,  138 ,  140 ,  142 ,  144 ) can be ranked in accordance with viewer preferences, rather than channel numbers, and the recommendations can be across all media and content available to the content distribution system, including terrestrial television, cable, satellite, personal video recorder (PVR)-recorded shows, pay-per-view (PPV), video-on-demand (VOD), local PC-stored and others.  
         [0044]    The alternatives presented could be for content items available immediately, or content available in the near future.  
         [0045]    In one embodiment of the invention, as shown in FIG. 5, the compact guide display  134  is generated by a compact guide display engine  118 , as shown in the content distribution system  100  of FIG. 5, which communicates with the recommendation engine  114  and user interface  116  of the otherwise conventional content distribution system  100 .  
         [0046]    Alternatively, the compact guide display  134  could be operated without the use of a recommendation engine  114 , using various alternative selection criteria to select content items to be listed.  
         [0047]    Having described the illustrated embodiments of the present invention, it will be apparent that modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.