Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US8522282B2/en
Timestamp: 2019-04-18 13:37:46+00:00

Document:
2011-07-13 Assigned to STARSIGHT TELECAST, INC. reassignment STARSIGHT TELECAST, INC. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: KING, MOLLY K., ALBA, THERESA A., WARDEN, DAVID P., RUSSMAN, ROBERT E., SCHEIN, STEVEN M.
2012-12-07 First worldwide family litigation filed litigation Critical https://patents.darts-ip.com/?family=24669207&utm_source=google_patent&utm_medium=platform_link&utm_campaign=public_patent_search&patent=US8522282(B2) "Global patent litigation dataset” by Darts-ip is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
2015-06-10 Assigned to ROVI GUIDES, INC. reassignment ROVI GUIDES, INC. MERGER (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: STARSIGHT TELECAST, INC.
An improved television guide system. According to one embodiment of the invention, television guide information is provided that includes multiple occurrences of a single show. The guide system of the present invention allows the user to identify a show and, thereafter, identify when the identified show will be played again. Accordingly, the user may more easily select shows for viewing or recordation.
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11/639,837 filed Dec. 15, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,543,320, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11/389,805 filed Mar. 27, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,162,729, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/762,924 filed Jan. 22, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,047,549, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/256,469, filed Sep. 27, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,701,527, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/055,533, filed Jan. 22, 2002, now abandoned, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/841,137, filed Apr. 24, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,341,374, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/344,274, filed Jun. 30, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,247,176, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/120,704, filed Jul. 22, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,959,688, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/665,216, filed Jun. 14, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,801,787.
While benefiting consumers through greater selection, the array of programming available to consumers also presented a certain dilemma. Specifically, as the number of programs available to the consumer became large, the process of selecting which program to view became increasingly onerous. For example, a consumer may have access to well over 100 cable television channels. If a particular consumer has access to not only cable programming, but also other programming (such as digital satellite service) the process of choosing a program would have been daunting.
Accordingly, new and improved methods of providing program guide information have been developed for display on the television screen of the consumer's television. Of particular note, the StarSight™ on-screen guide system has proven to be pioneering in the field of on-screen guide systems. The StarSight system provides not only television listings, but also capabilities such as theme searching, VCR programming, detailed program information, and other functionality.
Recently, additional functionality is suggested in such systems. See U.S. application Ser. No. 08/665,216, incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. In one such system, guide information from, for example, disparate sources such as satellite sources and cable sources is combined to form a unified guide.
A system according to this invention may, for example, eliminate redundant information from such sources and provide other functionality.
An improved television guide system is provided by virtue of the present invention. According to one embodiment of the invention, multiple occurrences of a single show may be identified for a user. For example, in many digital satellite systems today, a particular movie will be played on multiple channels with offset start times. The guide system of the present invention allows the user to identify a particular show and, thereafter, identify when the identified particular show will be played again. The user may therefore more easily select shows for viewing or recordation.
The present invention utilizes television schedule guide information which may be obtained from one or several sources. These sources may include an incoming cable line (e.g., on a coax cable), satellite broadcasts, a dedicated telephone line (e.g., a twisted pair), and any other medium capable of transmitting a signal, such as a computer or modem line. Although the invention will find wide use in systems with only a single source of television signals, such as a satellite system, the invention will be illustrated herein primarily in relation to a system here broadcasts are received from at least two separate sources such as (1) cable and a satellite dish, or (2) two different satellites, or (3) local cable and digital broadcast sources (DBSs), or (4) a conventional antenna and a satellite dish such as a DBS source, or (5) one of the above sources and an Internet or other computer source. The multi-source schedule information is sorted and displayed to the user in an organized fashion as described in greater detail in U.S. application Ser. No. 08/423,410, incorporated herein by reference.
FIG. 1 illustrates in simplified form an example of a multi-source television schedule guide system 10 with multiple sources connected directly or indirectly to a television 12 and/or VCR 13. In the embodiment in FIG. 1, multi-source television program and television schedule guide system 10 operates under the control of coordinator 14. Television 12 and VCR 13 are provided with inputs from cable box 16 and DBS source 18 either directly as illustrated in FIG. 1, or via coordinator 14. Other inputs 20 may also be supplied to the television and/or VCR directly or via the coordinator 14. A remote control 22 is used by a viewer to tune the television and conduct other operations. In alternative embodiments, a keyboard, such as a computer keyboard, is used for input. The keyboard may be hard-wire connected or wireless.
In this embodiment, cable is provided via cable box 16, and DBS is provided via IRD box 18. Antennae 24 may be used as additional sources of television broadcasts along with cable box 16, IRD box 18, and other inputs 20. In one typical embodiment, antenna 24 and cable box 16 would be considered “local” sources meaning that they likely contain local television broadcasts such as local news broadcasts. By contrast, DBS sources would not be considered local because they would likely not contain such local content.
Coordinator 14 includes processor (CPU) 26 and memory (typically RAM) 28 that serve as the primary devices for operating the system. In the case where the various television signal sources are provided to the coordinator, the coordinator may also contain elements such as an internal tuner, a switching device for switching between sources, and other components. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the coordinator is connected to and controls infrared (IR) emitter(s) 30. IR receiver 31 is connected to coordinator 14 and receives input from the remote or keyboard 22 to provide the necessary user input to the system. IR emitter(s) 30 can be replaced by, for example, a hard wired interface, a bus interface, or an RF transmitter. The IR emitter(s) 30 and/or direct connections (e.g., 31) control one or more of IRD box 18, television 12, VCR 13, cable box 16, and other inputs 20. IR emitter(s) 30 acts as a remote control device by emulating remote control signals of television 12, VCR 13, cable box 16, and/or other devices. Coordinator 14 can, in some embodiments, be placed in, for example, the cable box 16, VCR 13, television 12, a satellite receiver or even the keyboard/computer.
IRD box 18 receives television programs along with other information via, in one embodiment, satellite dish 32. IRD box 18 and the other sources of television signals each provide program schedule information to the system. This program schedule information (or guide) may also include a channel map that contains the channel information indicating which channels are available on that source. Information associated with the DBS guide and others is saved in the IRD box receiver's RAM or downloaded to the coordinator 14. Similarly, program guide information can be received through cable box 16, other inputs 20, antennae 24, and/or through any other transmission medium (e.g., dedicated twisted pair telephone line). Each of these sources may also be provided with television schedule data within the signal transmitted by the service provider.
FIG. 2 is a simplified example of an on-screen display of a schedule grid guide that has been assembled from the television guide information. This display may be presented on a television screen, a personal computer that conducts the overall process, or a television sensor display generated by a personal computer. In the preferred embodiment, after coordinator 14 has collected and sorted all the available program guide information, coordinator 14 generates the grid guide set forth in FIG. 2 for display on television 12 via, for example, a direct connection (not shown) to TV 12 or via an overlay on one of the sources such as cable source 16. In the preferred embodiment, the user displays grid guide 40 by pressing a guide button on remote control 22. Coordinator 14 responds to the initial pressing of the guide button by automatically tuning to the channel or device which carries grid guide 40, or overlaying a grid guide in a current broadcast. When the user is done with grid guide 40, the user presses the guide button again (or an exit button) and coordinator 14 (1) automatically returns to the channel or source last viewed by the user or (2) removes the overlay.
The grid guide, designated generally with the reference numeral 40, provides a line up of all channels or a selection of channels 42 along with a description of the shows 44 available on those channels at certain times 46. For example, the USA network is showing BATMAN beginning at 2:00 p.m. A SOAP is shown on NBC from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., followed by NEWS. The information may be sorted and/or filtered by, for example, theme(s) according to Young et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,121, incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
When multiple sources are used for receiving television channels, an overlap of channels sometimes occurs. For example, both cable and DBS may carry the network NBC, but cable may have NBC on channel 6 and DBS may have NBC on channel 7. By having the ability to delete and activate the channels displayed in grid guide 40, the user can determine whether to display one of the NBC channels, both of the NBC channels, or neither of the NBC channels. In an alternative embodiment, coordinator 14 may automatically note duplicate network names and delete one of the duplicates.
Accordingly, the user provides input to the system to indicate that the user would like to know “when-else” the show will be presented. This input may be, for example, provided by pressing a dedicated button on the remote control, or by marking a show, toggling the cursor to a “when-else” screen display button 48, and striking an “enter” button on the remote control. Of course a full keyboard will allow more versatile operation.
In either event the controller 14 searches the stored schedule information for other occurrences of that particular show. As used herein, the term “particular show” refers to a specific movie or other unique show. In the case of a series of shows (e.g., the COSBY SHOW) the term “particular show” will refer to a specific segment or episode of that show. In the example in FIG. 2 the system searches for other occurrences of GONE WITH THE WIND and indicates to the user if, when, and where GONE WITH THE WIND will be played again. The particular show may or may not be shown again on the same source of video. Of course, a “show” may also refer to, for example, an FM radio broadcast as well as a television show.
FIG. 3 illustrates one possible outcome after entering the “when-else” button. As shown, the movie GONE WITH THE WIND is being played at multiple times in the future. Specifically, it is currently being shown on HBO 1 as the user is probably already aware if the screen has been entered from a grid guide generated for the current time. In addition, the same channel is showing this movie at 11:00 p.m. on the same day. A different channel, HBO 2, is showing this movie at 11:30 p.m. on the same day. In this particular illustration, HBO 1 and HBO 2 are provided to the user over the same source of television signals (in this case a cable service provider). Accordingly, it is seen that the invention is useful even when only a single source of service is utilized. The usefulness of the invention is further expanded when multiple sources of television signals are provided. In this example, GONE WITH THE WIND is also being shown on the next Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. on a DSS channel, as well as on the next Thursday on a conventional antenna network signal, NBC. Accordingly, when a particular show is played at different times the user may make use of this information, even when the show is broadcast over different sources of television signals.
Still other sources of the particular show (or information about the show) may be indicated. For example, in FIG. 4, the guide indicates an “Internet” source. Toggling to this source may provide the user with a direct Internet connection that will, for example, provide information about the show or download the full show itself. Alternatively, advertising about the availability of the show at a video store (Blockbuster) may be provided.
After identifying when a show is to be played the user may conduct any one of several operations. In a common case the user will toggle the cursor down to a particular instance of the show, and strike a “record” button on the remote control. The system will then tune the VCR to the proper program at the designated time and record the show. In other embodiments, the user will mark the show to be placed in a reminder list. When the time for the show in the reminder list arises the system will either tune automatically to that show, or prompt the user to determine if the user wishes to have the television tuned to that particular channel. In other cases, the user may use the information for the purpose of recalling that he/she wishes to return to the television at that particular time.
FIG. 4 is an overall flowchart illustrating operation of the invention according to one particular embodiment. In most cases the operation shown in FIG. 4 will be performed under the direction of software stored on a RAM, ROM, or other computer-readable memory such as memory 28. The data may be stored locally, in an external database, or in a combination of both. In step 401 the system receives input indicating that the user wishes to identify other instances of a particular show. At step 402 the system searches for other instances of the particular show beginning at the present time. It should be recognized that the user may or may not be in a current time display in a guide when such input is provided. For example, the user may be scanning a listing of action movies that have been generated based on a theme search, and have the cursor on an instance of a particular movie one week in the future. When the user activates the “when-else” function the system will, in most embodiments, search for all instances of that particular show beginning at the actual present time, not the time one week in the future. In this manner the user may, for example, identify when a particular movie is showing in the next few hours, even though the user may have his/her interest peaked in a particular show based on a listing at a distant date.
The above description is illustrative and not restrictive. Many variations of the invention will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon review of this disclosure. Merely by way of example the invention has been illustrated primarily with regard to multiple source guide systems, but the invention is not so limited. The scope of the invention should, therefore, be determined not with reference to the above description, but instead should be determined with reference to the appended claims along with their full scope of equivalents.
responsive to determining that another instance of the particular show has been added to the stored guide information, providing an alert that identifies the another instance of the particular show.
receiving an input for selecting the particular show from the displayed guide.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first source is an Internet source or a video vendor source.
4. The method of claim 1 further comprising recording the another instance of the particular show that is added to the guide information.
5. The method of claim 1 further comprising switching an input of a user equipment device to a source device signal carrying the particular show.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the indicated particular show is provided by the first source and the another instance of the show that is added is provided by the second source.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert comprises information about the particular show represented by an instance added to the guide information.
responsive to determining that another instance of the particular show has been added to the stored guide information, provide an alert that identifies the another instance of the particular show.
wherein the control circuitry is further operable to receive a selection for the particular show from the displayed guide.
10. The system of claim 8, wherein the first source is an Internet source or a video vendor source.
11. The system of claim 8 wherein the control circuitry is further operable to record the another instance of the particular show that is added to the guide information.
12. The system of claim 8 wherein the control circuitry is further operable to switch an input of a user equipment device to a source device signal carrying the particular show.
13. The system of claim 8 wherein the indicated particular show is provided by the first source and the another instance of the show that is added is provided by the second source.
14. The system of claim 8, wherein the alert comprises information about the particular show represented by an instance added to the guide information.
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References: Application No. 08103136
 Application No. 08005467
 Application No. 08103136
 Application No. 08005468
 Application No. 07075470
 Application No. 10177836