Abstract:
A contextual navigational control for digital television is described. An apparatus, comprises a contextual navigation control interface (CNCI). The CNCI includes a first area that represents a plurality of cable television programs having a first level of relevance. A second area represents a first group of the plurality of programs having a second level of relevance. A third area represents a first subgroup of the first group having a third level of relevance. A fourth area represents a second subgroup of the first group having a fourth level of relevance. There may be additional areas representing additional sub-groups of relevance to the current viewing context.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The present application is a Continuation-in-Part, claims the priority benefit of and incorporates by reference U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/664,275, filed Sep. 16, 2003, entitled: System and Method For Construction, Delivery and Display of iTV Applications that Blend Programming Information of On-Demand and Broadcast Service Offerings, assigned to the assignee of the present application. Additionally, the present application claims the priority benefit of and incorporates by reference U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/552,998, filed Mar. 11, 2004, entitled: Contextual Navigational Control for Digital Television, also assigned to the assignee of the present application. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to systems and methods for presenting navigation and control of television viewing services. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Interactive television (iTV) is currently available in varying forms. At the core of iTV applications are the navigation applications provided to subscribers to assist in the discovery and selection of television programming. Currently available methods and systems for browsing and selecting broadcast (linear television) are known as interactive program guides (IPGs)—or electronic program guides (EPGs). Current IPGs allow the subscriber to browse and select linear broadcast programming. These IPGs also include the ability to subset the broadcast linear program listing data by subject or type of programming. 
     In addition to linear broadcast television, subscribers may now also be given opportunities to select from a list of programs that are not linear, but instead are provided on demand. Such technology is generally referred to as Video on Demand (VOD). The current schemes for browsing and selecting VOD programs include the ability to select such programming from categories of programming. 
     Due to advances in technologies such as data compression, system operators such as cable multiple system operators (MSOs) and satellite operators are able to send more and more broadcast channels and on-demand content over their systems. This in turn has prompted broadcast content providers and programmers to develop more and more channels and on-demand content offerings. Also, the addition of digital video recorder (DVR) technology to set-top boxes (STBs) now provide additional options for time-shifted viewing of broadcast TV and increasing options for the storage of VOD titles that have been purchased for viewing, or likely-to-purchase. 
     The current television navigational structure is predicated on the numeric channel lineup where a channel&#39;s position is determined arbitrarily for each MSO system and without regard for clustering content type or brand. To the TV viewer, this is also manifested in the grid-based navigational tools as they are generally structured in a time-by-channel grid format. As a navigational model, this has become outdated with the increasing number of channels (500+). The problem is further exacerbated with the addition of non-linear (non time-based) On-Demand and time-shifted (DVR) content and other interactive applications such as games. 
     With these increasing number of TV viewing options comes a complexity of navigating the options to find something to watch. There are generally two types of viewers. One type of viewer knows the type of content they want to watch and are searching for an instance of that type of content. This is exemplified by a viewer who, wanting to watch an action film, wishes to browse available action films. The second type of viewer is one that has no specific notion of what they want to watch—they just want to find something interesting to them in a more impulse oriented manner. 
     The current state of technology for browsing for TV content includes searching lists of content underneath category heading or browsing large lists or grids of data to find content, or typing in search criteria. Each of these browse methods are referred to in this document as content search points. Content search points include IPG&#39;s and EPG&#39;s, Movies-On-Demand applications, text search, DVR recorded shows listings, and Category Applications as specified in the above-cited patent application. Current technology also consists of menus and toolbars that allow one to jump to the various content search points. The problem with current technology is that due to the large amount of content on the Digital TV service, the menus and toolbars themselves are becoming either long lists of specific content that are difficult to search, or short lists of general categories that do not provide quick access to specific needs. Thus, the new features of digital television, new content types and the sheer volume of viewing options warrant a new navigational model for viewing television. 
     SUMMARY 
     A contextual navigational control for digital television is described. In one embodiment a contextual navigation control interface (CNCI) includes a first area that represents a plurality of cable television programs having a first level of relevance. A second area represents a first group of the plurality of programs having a second level of relevance. A third area represents a first subgroup of the first group having a third level of relevance. A fourth area represents a second subgroup of the first group having a fourth level of relevance. There may be additional areas representing additional sub-groups of relevance to the current viewing context. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention will be understood and appreciated more fully from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary two-way cable television system that provides contextual navigational control for digital television, according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates four dimensions of programming contextual relevance, according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates an exemplary user interface for selecting the contextual navigation control mode, according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  illustrates an exemplary user interface  400  for selecting category related links, according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  illustrates an exemplary user interface  505  for selecting channel/provider related links, according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  illustrates an exemplary network architecture, according to one embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 7  illustrates an exemplary computer architecture, according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The present invention provides, in various embodiments, systems and methods by which subscribers are presented with a dynamic navigational interface for linking to content. This dynamic navigational interface speeds access to content by providing a minimal graphical interface and by first presenting contextual options to the viewer that are relevant to the currently viewed program, channel, provider or genre of same. The contextual options are further divided in the user presentation along multiple levels or dimensions from general to more specific relative to the currently viewed content. 
     Described herein are systems and methods by which subscribers are presented with dynamic iTV navigational hierarchies that first present navigational options based on relevance to the available content on television, and to the currently viewed program, channel, provider or genre of program, channel or provider. In current navigational systems users are provided menus from which they can select a target content search point. These menus are either presented as long lists of options or as very short lists. The long lists provide greater subdivision of content but create a navigational obstacle in that the lists must be scanned to find a link to a specific content of interest. The short lists provide content search points that are much too general such that if the link is selected, the viewer is taken to yet another page for further categorization or the viewer is presented with a large set of content that must be browsed. The present invention enables the quick access to multiple levels of granularity of content categorization on a single menu, by using the context of the currently viewed program to set the state of the navigational control when displayed. 
     In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be evident, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. As one example, the terms subscriber, user, viewer are used interchangeably throughout this description. In some instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form, rather than in detail, in order to avoid obscuring the present invention. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that logical, mechanical, electrical, and other changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. 
     Some portions of the detailed descriptions that follow are presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of acts leading to a desired result. The acts are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, signals, datum, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like. 
     It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizing terms such as “processing” or “computing” or “calculating” or “determining” or “displaying” or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system&#39;s registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices. 
     The present invention can be implemented by an apparatus for performing the operations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise a general-purpose computer, selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, such as, but not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, and each coupled to a computer system bus. 
     The algorithms and processes presented herein are not inherently related to any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general-purpose systems may be used with programs in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove convenient to construct more specialized apparatus to perform the required method. For example, any of the methods according to the present invention can be implemented in hard-wired circuitry, by programming a general-purpose processor or by any combination of hardware and software. One of skill in the art will immediately appreciate that the invention can be practiced with computer system configurations other than those described below, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, DSP devices, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. The invention can also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. The required structure for a variety of these systems will appear from the description below. 
     The methods of the invention may be implemented using computer software. If written in a programming language conforming to a recognized standard, sequences of instructions designed to implement the methods can be compiled for execution on a variety of hardware platforms and for interface to a variety of operating systems. In addition, the present invention is not described with reference to any particular programming language. It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachings of the invention as described herein. Furthermore, it is common in the art to speak of software, in one form or another (e.g., program, procedure, application, etc.), as taking an action or causing a result. Such expressions are merely a shorthand way of saying that execution of the software by a computer causes the processor of the computer to perform an action or produce a result. 
     An Exemplary Cable Television System 
       FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary two-way cable television system that provides contextual navigational control for digital television, according to one embodiment of the present invention. Generally, cable television system (CATV)  100  provides video and data services through a network of high bandwidth coaxial cables and fibers. The cable system includes a head-end amplifier  110  that combines the broadcast and data signals for transmission to the subscribers. The head-end  110  is connected to fiber or coax trunks  111  that carry the signals into the neighborhoods  120  where they are tapped off to provide service to the residence  130 . 
     The head-end  110  is the initial distribution center for a CATV system  100 . The head-end  110  is where incoming video and television signal sources (e.g., video tape, satellites, local studios) are received, amplified and modulated onto TV carrier channels for transmission on the CATV cabling system. The cable distribution system is a cable (fiber or coax) that is used to transfer signals from the head-end  110  to the end-users. The cable is attached to the television  131  through a set-top box  132 . The set-top box  132  adapts the signals from the head-end  110  to a format suitable for the television  131 . Additionally, the set-top box  132  renders a user interface through which the end-user navigates through menus to select programming to view. 
     CATV system  100  allows two-way data transmission. Data is provided by a cable modem  133  in the residence  130  and data gateway (cable modem termination system (CMTS))  111  at the head-end  110 . The CMTS  111  also provides an interface to other networks such as the Internet  140 . Furthermore, CATV system  100  allows cable telephony to initiate, process and receive voice communications. Telephony is provided by a voice gateway  112  at the head-end  110  that converts communication signals between data networks and telephone networks (e.g., PSTN)  150 . The data and telephony attributes of CATV system  100  described above, are for the reader&#39;s benefit to appreciate the entire CATV system  100 . However, the present system for contextual navigational control may be mainly associated with the digital television content delivery aspects of CATV system  100 . 
     To further understand the present invention consider that all content has descriptive attributes. For example, the show “Sopranos” could be described by the following four attributes: HBO, Drama, Primetime, Crime. These attribute dimensions, namely Provider, Genre, Time of Day and Content are chosen purely for illustration, and additional categories or dimension could easily be identified. The type and number of attributes is variable and may be unique to an article of content. In the navigational model described by this invention, these attributes are the doorways to other content of interest based on the notion that what the viewer is watching has some basic attributes that are of interest to the viewer and can be predictive of where the viewer may wish to navigate. 
     In one embodiment, the present contextual navigational control has four selection dimensions, or levels, with increasing contextual relevance to the currently broadcast program.  FIG. 2  illustrates four dimensions of programming contextual relevance, according to one embodiment of the present invention. The four dimensions  200  or levels of navigation begin with the most general and proceed to the most content specific navigation that link context to the current content being viewed. These dimensions are:
         a All Listings (non-filtered) Related Links  210     b Category Related Links  220     c Channel/Provider Related Links  230     d Snow/Content Related Links  240         

       FIG. 2  illustrates how programming choices available to the viewer range from the most general or all programming choices, to filtered selections by content type (e.g. Sports), provider (e.g. ESPN), down to programming choices related to specific programming (e.g. a football game). Each contextual level of navigation from the most general to the most specific with respect to the current content, will now be described in detail. 
     Level one (All Listings  210 ) represents the links to general system functions, in particular, it allows the user to select how he/she wishes to interact with the present contextual navigation control.  FIG. 3  illustrates an exemplary user interface for selecting the contextual navigation control mode, according to one embodiment of the present invention. The control mode interface  300  includes the following viewing
         1 Full Guide  310 : Full Screen Guide of linear programming choices (either blocking video or with video inset)   2 Mini-Guide  320 : Overscreen guide to linear programming to allow for content selection with continued viewing of current programming   3 On-Demand Guide  330 : Guide to On-Demand programming. In some embodiments, this may be combined with the other guides.   4 Favorites (not shown): list of content selections for user&#39;s favorite categories   5 My VOD (not shown): list of On-Demand content according to selection rules provided by user   6 My DVR Shows (not shown): list of previously recorded programs       

     Returning to  FIG. 2 , level two (category related links  220 ) represents a contextual level of navigation where programming content is ordered according to relevance by content category. The category related links level  220  consists of content categories where the category contextually presented is the one most relevant to the category of content currently being viewed. In one embodiment, the category related links level link  220  navigates the viewer to the ‘category application’. The present contextual navigation control provides a method for quickly jumping to the most relevant catagory based on the currently viewed program. For example,  FIG. 4  illustrates an exemplary user interface  400  for selecting category related links, according to one embodiment of the present invention. In this example, if the viewer is currently watching a football game then the ‘Sports’ category link  420  would be the item shown in the initial state of the contextual navigation control. As a further example, in situations where a viewer is watching a movie, the initial state of the second level  220  of the present contextual navigation control would be ‘Movies’  430 . Further examples are illustrated Table 1 below. 
     
       
         
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
                 TABLE 1 
               
               
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Currently viewed program 
                   
               
               
                   
                 type 
                 Initial Category Link 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
             
               
                   
                 Football 
                 Sports 420 
               
               
                   
                 Movie 
                 Movies 430 
               
               
                   
                 Sesame Street 
                 Kids 410 
               
               
                   
                 HD program 
                 HD (not shown) 
               
               
                   
                 Headline News 
                 News (not shown) 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     In this manner, the contextual display and dynamic positioning of the relevant links related to a current program, provider, category or genre of same, will assist the viewer to more quickly navigate to the programming they desire. The possible links are also navigable by the viewer once the selection is moved to highlight an element of the present contextual navigation control, as illustrated by  FIG. 4 . In other words, a viewer may navigate to and select the Kids link  410  or the Movies link  430  upon highlighting the Sports link  420  and in so doing expose further category selections. 
     Returning to  FIG. 2 , level three (Channel/Provider Related link  230 ) represents an additional order of relevance. This level consists of channel specific links where the channel category link contextually presented is the one most relevant to the category of content currently being viewed. This ‘programmer category application’ can be implemented as a category application or can be any content provided for the current channel or channel family to which this channel belongs. For example, in the examples of  FIGS. 3 and 4 , the viewer has selected a football game that sets the second level link  220  state to ‘Sports’  420  initially. 
     For the purpose of illustrating the third level&#39;s relevance (Channel/Provider Related link  230 ),  FIG. 5  illustrates an exemplary user interface  505  for selecting channel/provider related links, according to one embodiment of the present invention. Continuing with the examples shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 ,  FIG. 5  illustrates that the football game is on ESPN. Given that the viewer is watching the football game on ESPN, when the navigation control  505  is launched, the initial state of third level (Channel/Provider Related link  230 ) will be ‘ESPN’  501 . This permits the viewer to jump directly to a sports category  501  to see what other sports programming is available on other networks, such as NBC  502 , or AMC  503 . Additionally, the viewer can jump to a provider category by selecting ESPN  501  to see what other programming and information ESPN is providing. Further examples of relationships between currently viewed channel and the initial option display for the channel/provider link level  230  are shown in Table 2 below. 
     
       
         
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
                 TABLE 2 
               
               
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Currently viewed channel 
                 The Initial Channel Link 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
             
               
                   
                 ESPN 
                 ESPN 
               
               
                   
                 Discovery 
                 Discovery 
               
               
                   
                 Discovery Wings 
                 Discovery 
               
               
                   
                 TLC 
                 Discovery 
               
               
                   
                 Headline News 
                 News 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     The ‘Discovery’ example is provided to illustrate that multiple channels may link to a single channel-family content application. All of the possible links are also navigable by the viewer once the selection is moved to highlight this element of the contextual navigation control. 
     Returning to  FIG. 2 , level four (Show/Content Related links  240 ) represents an additional order of relevance. The show/content level  240  consists of program or show specific links where the channel program link (contextually) presented is the one most relevant to the content currently being viewed. For example, if the current program being viewed is the ESPN show “Pardon the Interruption”, this link could in one embodiment be an interactive application for “Pardon the Interruption”. In one embodiment, the other links available in this level could be interactive applications for programs or shows that share some attribute in common with the current program being viewed. 
     It will also be apparent that the relationships to categories may be specified in any manner and may contain additional levels of relevance. For instance, in the example of a viewer watching football on ESPN, the first order of relevance was content category (sports), the second order of relevance was the current channel (ESPN), a third order of relevance can be added to be specific to the program. For example if the game were a college game between LSU and Florida then an additional order of relevance might be a link to an application for ‘College football’ or for ‘South-Eastern Conference’. 
     An Exemplary Network Architecture 
     Elements of the present invention may be included within a client-server based system  500  such as that illustrated in  FIG. 6 . According to the embodiment depicted in  FIG. 6 , one or more servers  510  communicate with a plurality of clients  530 - 535  and set-top boxes  570 - 575 . The clients and set-top boxes  530 - 535  and set-top boxes  570 - 575  may transmit and receive data from servers  510  over a variety of communication media including (but not limited to) a local area network (“LAN”)  540  and/or a wide area network (“WAN”)  525  (e.g., the Internet). Alternative communication channels such as cable RF and wireless communication via GSM, TDMA, CDMA or satellite broadcast (not shown) are also contemplated within the scope of the present invention. 
     Servers  510  may include a database for storing various types of data. This may include, for example, specific client data (e.g., user account information and user preferences) and/or more general data. The database on servers  510  in one embodiment runs an instance of a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS), such as Microsoft™ SQL-Server, Oracle™ or the like. A user/client may interact with and receive feedback from servers  510  using various different communication devices and/or protocols. According to one embodiment, a user connects to servers  510  via client software. The client software may include a browser application such as Netscape Navigator™ or Microsoft Internet Explorer™ on the user&#39;s personal computer, which communicates to servers  510  via the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (hereinafter “HTTP”). In other embodiments included within the scope of the invention, clients may communicate with servers  510  via cellular phones and pagers (e.g., in which the necessary transaction software is electronic in a microchip), handheld computing devices, and/or touch-tone telephones (or video phones). According to another embodiment, set-top boxes  570 - 575  connects to servers  510  via a TV application. 
     Servers  510  may also communicate over a larger network (e.g., network  525 ) with other servers  550 - 552 . This may include, for example, servers maintained by businesses to host their Web sites—e.g., content servers such as “yahoo.com.” Network  525  may include router  520 . Router  520  forwards data packets from one local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN) to another. Based on routing tables and routing protocols, router  520  reads the network address in each IP packet and makes a decision on how to send if based on the most expedient route. Router  520  works at layer  3  in the protocol stack. 
     An Exemplary Computer Architecture 
     Having briefly described an exemplary network architecture which employs various elements of the present invention, a computer system  600  representing exemplary clients  530 - 535 , set-top boxes  570 - 575  (e.g., set-top box  130 ) and/or servers (e.g., servers  510 ), in which elements of the present invention may be implemented will now be described with reference to  FIG. 7 . 
     One embodiment of computer system  600  comprises a system bus  620  for communicating information, and a processor  610  coupled to bus  620  for processing information. Computer system  600  further comprises a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device  625  (referred to herein as main memory), coupled to bus  620  for storing information and instructions to be executed by processor  610 . Main memory  625  also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions by processor  610 . Computer system  600  also may include a read only memory (ROM) and/or other static storage device  626  coupled to bus  620  for storing static information and instructions used by processor  610 . 
     A data storage device  627  such as a magnetic disk or optical disc and its corresponding drive may also be coupled to computer system  600  for storing information and instructions. Computer system  600  can also be coupled to a second I/O bus  650  via an I/O interface  630 . Multiple I/O devices may be coupled to I/O bus  650 , including a display device  643 , an input device (e.g., an alphanumeric input device  642  and/or a cursor control device  641 ). For example, video news clips and related information may be presented to the user on the display device  643 . 
     The communication device  640  is for accessing other computers (servers or clients) via a network  525 ,  540 . The communication device  640  may comprise a modem, a network interface card, or other well-known interface device, such as those used for coupling to Ethernet, token ring, or other types of networks. 
     A contextual navigational control for digital television has been described. It will be appreciated that the embodiments described above are cited by way of example, and that the present invention is not limited to what has been particularly shown and described hereinabove. Rather, the scope of the present invention includes both combinations and subcombinations of the various features described hereinabove, as well as variations and modifications thereof which would occur to persons skilled in the art upon reading the foregoing description and which are not disclosed in the prior art.