Abstract:
A method for providing an electronic program guide is disclosed. The method comprises receiving subscription data indicating channels for which a subscription exists; and displaying a list of available channels wherein currently unsubscribed channels and currently subscribed channels are distinguished from each other.

Description:
PRIORITY  
       [0001]    This application is related to, and hereby claims the benefit of, provisional application No. 60/299,532, which was filed Jun. 19, 2001 and is hereby incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    This invention relates to electronic program guides. In particular it relates to a method for displaying channel listings in an electronic program guide.  
         BACKGROUND  
         [0003]    Television electronic programming guide (EPG) systems now in use offer one view of a programming space that shows programs on all the channels in the system, including video-on-demand, pay-per-view, and recorded programs. These EPGs also offer an alternative view which includes some variation of a favorites or most-viewed listing, which is composed by a viewer who selects channels for inclusion therein.  
           [0004]    In some cases, even when a viewer has assembled a list of favorites, which is typically a small number of channels, the viewer may wish to view other channel listings on the EPG, but may not remember the channels, out of all the listed channels, for which subscriptions exist.  
           [0005]    Because current EPGs show all channels including subscribed and unsubscribed channels, it is only after the viewer specifically selects a channel that the viewer may discover that a subscription for the channel does not exist. Part of the reason for showing all channels whether subscribed or unsubscribed is to promote programs on these channels. By making the listing available, the viewer has an incentive to subscribe to a channel if the viewer so chooses.  
           [0006]    With the recent advent of personal video recorders (PVRs) and digital video recorders (DVRs), in combination with EPGs or IPGs, it can become extremely annoying for a viewer who may choose to record a program at some future time, only to discover, after the recording has occurred, that e.g. for two hours a message to call an 800 number because the user has not subscribed to the channel on which the program was aired.  
           [0007]    There is thus a need for a system that lets a viewer discern whether a subscription for a channel exists at the time of viewing the EPG to select programs for viewing and/or recording, or a system that lets the viewer view an EPG mode where the EPG displays only the subscribed channels instead of all the channels in the system. At the very least, the EPG should give the viewer a warning at the time of selecting a program for future recording, that the channel is not subscribed.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]    [0008]FIG. 1 shows a prior art technique for selecting channels to display in a favorites listing;  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 2 shows a method for selecting channels for display in a favorites listing in accordance with one case;  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 3 shows a method for selecting channels to display in a favorites listing in accordance with another case;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 4 shows a high-level block diagram of a head-end system in accordance with one case;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 5 shows a flow chart of operations performed by a set-top box in accordance with one case; and  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 6 shows a high-level block diagram of a set-top box in accordance with one case.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0014]    In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the invention can be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the invention.  
         [0015]    Reference in this specification to “one case” or “a case” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the case is included in at least one case of the invention. The appearances of the phrase “in one case” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same case, nor are separate or alternative cases mutually exclusive of other cases. Moreover, various features are described which may be exhibited by some cases and not by others. Similarly, various requirements are described which may be requirements for some cases but not other cases.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 1 of the drawings illustrates a method for composing a “favorites” or most-viewed listing known to the inventor. Referring to FIG. 1 an “all” channel listing space  100  includes all available channels whether subscribed, unsubscribed available, or unavailable. Typically, a user performs a selection process  102  whereby certain channels are selected from all channel space  100  for inclusion in a “favorites” channel listing  104 . In the example, shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings, the all channel space  100  is shown to include 11 channels. Of these 11 channels, channels  1 ,  4 ,  8 ,  9  and  10  are subscribed, i.e. a subscription exists for these channels. Channels  5  and  6  are unavailable and the remaining channels are unsubscribed. In the favorites listing space  104  the channels are presented to the user without any differentiation indicating which channels are subscribed, unsubscribed, available, or unavailable. Thus, with the method illustrated in FIG. 1 of the drawings, it is possible that the user may waste a lot of time reading the channels in the favorites listing  104 , and may not be able to view or record these channels. As mentioned earlier, the user may even have the experience of trying to record unavailable or unsubscribed channels without any notification that recording these channels would not be possible.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 2 of the drawings illustrates one case of a method for displaying channel listings in accordance with the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, reference numeral  100  indicates the all channel space already described with reference to FIG. 1.  
         [0018]    One difference between the methods shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 1 is that in the case of the method shown in FIG. 2, a process  202  is executed wherein channels from the all channel space  100  are classified as subscribed, unsubscribed, available, or unavailable, as the case may be. The classification of the channels is shown at  204  and enables the user to distinguish between subscribed, unsubscribed, available and unavailable channels. Thus, for example, in this case of channels  1 ,  4 ,  8 ,  9  and  10 , in one case, selective highlighting may be used to indicate to the user that these channels are subscribed. Selective highlighting may also be used to indicate what channels saved and are unavailable. This allows the user to execute a selection process  206  whereby only subscribed and available channels may be selected for listing in a favorites listing space  208 . It will be appreciated that by using the methods shown in FIG. 2 of the drawings the stated problem of the prior is avoided in that a user now has the ability to distinguish between subscribed and unsubscribed channels.  
         [0019]    Referring now to FIG. 3 of the drawings, a variation of the technique shown in FIG. 2 of the drawings is illustrated. In FIG. 3, certain reference numerals used in FIG. 2 have been retained to illustrate like or similar features or steps already described with reference to FIG. 2. The main difference between the techniques shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 2 of the drawings is that in the technique shown in FIG. 3, a process  202   a  is executed wherein channels from the all channel space  100  are classified as being subscribed, unsubscribed, and unavailable in a manner that all subscribed channels appear at one location  204   b , or unsubscribed channels appear at another location  204   c , and all unavailable channels at a location  204   d . Each of the locations  204   b - d  are locations within a channel listing space  204   a . Thus, a user may execute a process  206  to select certain channels from the subscribed channel location  204   b  for inclusion in a favorite listing  208 . The advantage of having the listing space  204   a  is that all unsubscribed and unavailable channels may be respectively collapsed into locations  204   c  and  204   d  thus making it easier for a view to occur to the subscribed channels which are conveniently located within locations  204   b.    
         [0020]    In order to implement the method shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawings, at a head-end of a television station, subscription data indicating which channels a particular user has subscribed to is retrieved and thereafter distributed to the user, based on an ID of the user&#39;s set-top box(es). In some cases a user may have different subscriptions in different rooms on different boxes. The distribution may be over-the-air and, in some cases, may include a link which can be used by the set-top box to determine which channels the user has a subscription for based on predefined packages which are stored locally within the set-top box. In other cases, distribution of the subscription data may include transmitting, over the air, the channel subscriptions for each set-top box. In yet another case, a link which identifies a predefined subscription package to which a user has subscribed is broadcast to a particular set-top box which then uses the link together with broadcast subscription data including additions and deletions to the predefined subscription package to determine which channels are currently subscribed and to display same in accordance with the systems described above.  
         [0021]    Accordingly, in one case, a head-end system  400  (see FIG. 4) of a television system may include a processor  402 , a memory  404  which includes the subscription data, and a transmission circuit  406  for transmitting the subscription data. The system  400  includes instructions in memory  404  to perform the methods described above.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 5 of the drawings shows one case how techniques described above with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 may be implemented by a set-top box in accordance with the invention. According to FIG. 5 at block  500  the set-top box receives subscription data from a head-end of a television system. The subscription data may include individual channels for which a subscription exists or may include a link identifying a predetermined subscription package which is stored in the set-top box. Thus, at block  502 , the set-top box uses the subscription data (link) to identify a current subscription package based on the subscription data (link). Once the current subscription package has been identified, then the set-top box retrieves, at  504 , the subscription package data from a memory. At  506 , the set-top box determines if any modifications i.e. additions or deletions are to be made to the current subscription package based on the subscription data. For example, the subscription data, in addition to the link identifying the predefined subscription package, may include data indicating that certain channels are to be added to the subscription package or certain channels may have to be deleted from the subscription package. At block  508 , if modifications are determined then control is passed to block  510  wherein the modifications are made, in other words the channel deletions or additions are made. At block  512  the channels are displayed in a manner such that the subscribed channels are differentiated as described above. This allows the user to make selections of subscribed channels for listing in a favorite space as described.  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 6 of the drawings shows a block diagram of an EPG system  600  in accordance with one case of the invention. The system includes a processor  602  and a read-only memory storage  604  which stores a sequence of instructions which when executed by a processor  602  causes processor  602  to perform a method for implementing an EPG as described. The components of system  600  include a random access memory  606  wherein a database storing programming information are described above is stored. A command receiver  608  is coupled to processor  602  and includes circuitry to receive user input command to control operation of system  600 . Such user input commands are typically input via a remote control  610 . System  600  also includes input and output circuitry  612  which is coupled to processor  602 , via which programming information from a head-end may be received. Circuitry program  602  may be used to perform the methods described above. The design integration of blocks  602 ,  604 ,  606 ,  608  and  612  are well known and therefore not further described.  
         [0024]    For the purposes of this specification, a computer-readable medium includes any mechanism that provides (i.e. stores and/or transmits) information in a form readable by a machine (e.g. computer) for example, a computer-readable medium includes read-only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media; flash memory devices; electrical, optical, acoustical or other form of propagated signals (e.g. carrier waves, infra red signals, digital signals, etc.); etc.  
         [0025]    Although the present invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary cases, it will be evident that the various modification and changes can be made to these cases without departing from the broader spirit of the invention as set forth in the claims. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than in a restrictive sense.