HK1162716B - Method, apparatus and system for enhancing user interface screens - Google Patents
Method, apparatus and system for enhancing user interface screens Download PDFInfo
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Description
Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to digital video recorders ("DVRs").
Background
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, any methods described in this section should not be construed as prior art, merely as included in this section.
The advent of DVRs has revolutionized the way users watch and record television programs. DVRs eliminate much of the tediousness of VCRs and the need for videotapes. DVRs record television programs on hard disk drives that are capable of storing large numbers of television programs. Because DVRs are typically box-shaped and located on top of the television set to which they are connected, DVRs generally fall into the broad category of devices now referred to as "set-top boxes". Much like a VCR, a DVR receives as input one or more television signals (which may represent television programs and/or movies) from a cable or satellite dish (or in some cases, from a broadband network connection, as opposed to a VCR) and outputs the television signals to a television or other display device.
The DVR user can instruct the DVR to schedule (for recording) specified content that may be broadcast or transmitted to the DVR at some future time. Thus, the user can schedule automatic recording of the content before the DVR is to receive the content. For example, a user can instruct the DVR to record unspecified content that is to be broadcast on a specified channel (starting at a specified date and time and ending at another specified time). As another example, the user can instruct the DVR to record a specified show (starting on a specified channel and at a specified date and time) of a specified movie, a specified event, or a specified episode of a multi-episode television. As another example, the user can instruct the DVR to record the upcoming next scene of a specified movie, a specified event, or a specified episode of a multi-episode television show without specifying the date, time, or channel on which the scene is to be aired. As another example, the user can instruct the DVR to record all (or all of the first run) episodes of a multi-episode television show on a specified channel without specifying the dates or times at which these episodes are to be shown. As another example, the user can instruct the DVR to record all (or all of the first run) scenes of a movie, event, or episode of a multi-episode television show that are related to a specified keyword, a specified actor, and/or a specified director without specifying the titles, channels, or airtimes of these scenes.
Other consumer electronic devices also allow content to be recorded and viewed without being based on traditional broadcast or cable transmissions. For example, a device may obtain content via a broadband network connection. A. theppleTVIs an example of such a device. A user may purchase content over a network and have the content delivered based on IP or any other communication protocol. A device using Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) may be used. IPTV systems deliver digital television services using internet protocols over a network infrastructure. All content is delivered only through the IP network architecture and no broadcast or cable is used. An example of such a service is an AT&TU-Verse ofThe device may also use a combination of IPTV and standard delivery. For example, Verizon FiOSTVVideo On Demand (VOD) content and interactive features are delivered over IP, but the vast majority of the content, including pay-per-view (PPV) content, is provided over standard broadcast video signals that carry both analog and digital content. Other devices may act as receivers to transmit content from a number of different transmitting devices (e.g., DVRs, DVD players, IPTV, etc. connected to the device).
Because a large amount of content is available for viewing through a DVR and any other device is capable of storing and displaying content, searching for particular media or digital content becomes increasingly important. One difficulty in performing a search is that a user cannot easily type in letters corresponding to keywords used for the search. Thus, a method for reducing the need to input letters corresponding to keywords is very important.
Furthermore, the adoption of high definition television has changed how people can watch television. High definition televisions significantly improve picture quality, introduce new image aspect ratios (aspect ratios) into the television, and have higher screen resolution. Televisions and display devices have a particular aspect ratio, or ratio of display width divided by display height. The common aspect ratio for television is 4: 3 (1.33: 1) for standard definition video formats and 16: 9 (1.78: 1) for high definition television and european digital television formats. The aspect ratio allows more space to add more features to the user interface thereon. In addition, the screen resolution of the high-definition television is higher, so that a user has a clearer picture.
Drawings
The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements and in which:
FIG. 1A illustrates an exemplary system in which a progressive search of program data may be performed, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 1B is a block diagram that illustrates a general overview of Digital Video Recorder (DVR) components, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 2 shows an example of a DVR-presented "search" screen on which a search for media content is initiated, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 3 shows an example of a DVR-presented "search" screen after entering 3 letters, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 4 shows an example of a DVR-presented "search" screen when a diversity series from one of the possible search results is highlighted, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 5 shows an example of a DVR-presented "search" screen when non-classified video programs/movies from one of the possible search results are highlighted, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 6 shows an example of a DVR-presented "search" screen when a person from one of the possible search results is highlighted, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a DVR-presented "search" screen when a third party advertisement or presentation window from one of the possible search results is highlighted, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 8 shows an example of a DVR-presented "search" screen when a song from one of the possible search results is highlighted, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 9 shows an example of a DVR-presented "search" screen when downloadable content from one of the possible search results is highlighted, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 10 shows an example of a DVR-presented "search" screen when a tab from one of the possible search results is highlighted, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 11 shows an example of a DVR-presented "search" screen when a selection of "YouTube results (Result)" from one of the possible search results is highlighted, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 12 shows an example of a DVR-presented "search" screen when a selection of "wish list" (Wishlist) from one of the possible search results is highlighted, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 13 shows an example of a DVR-presented screen that displays search options (searchlotions) that may be updated for a search, according to an embodiment of the invention;
fig. 14 shows an example of a DVR-presented screen displaying information on a diversity tv series based on seasons (season) and ensembles (epsilon), according to an embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 15 shows an example of a DVR-presented screen displaying actor (cast) data for a diversity television show, according to an embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 16 shows an example of a DVR-presented screen displaying data about the actors in a passenger string of a diversity series, according to an embodiment of the invention;
fig. 17 shows an example of a DVR-presented screen displaying data regarding relevant media content of a diversity series, according to an embodiment of the invention;
fig. 18 shows an example of a DVR-presented screen showing special listings (bonusfeatures) for a diversity tv series, according to an embodiment of the invention;
fig. 19 shows an example of a DVR-presented screen displaying tags (tags) for a diversity drama according to an embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 20 shows an example of a DVR-presented screen showing recording conflicts (recordingconflicts), according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 21 shows an example of a DVR-presented screen that shows a recording conflict where media content may be clipped, according to an embodiment of the invention;
fig. 22 shows an example of a DVR-presented screen showing a recording conflict using season pass (season pass), according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 23 shows an example of a DVR-presented screen that shows a recording conflict using season tickets, where media content may be clipped, according to an embodiment of the invention;
fig. 24A shows an example of a DVR-presented screen displaying a recording conflict using season pass, wherein all episodes of selecting to record season pass are highlighted;
FIG. 24B shows an example of a DVR-presented screen that displays recording conflicts using a wish list, according to an embodiment of the invention;
fig. 25A shows an example of a DVR-presented screen that shows a recording conflict for a single-tuner DVR in a graphical interface, according to an embodiment of the invention;
25B-C illustrate examples of DVR-presented screens that show, in a graphical interface, a recording conflict for a DVR with 2 tuners for a single epoch;
25D-F show examples of DVR-presented screens that show, in a graphical interface, recording conflicts for DVRs with 2 tuners for multiple periods, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 26 shows an example of a DVR-presented screen that shows a recording conflict using a wish list where media content may be clipped, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 27 shows an example of a DVR-presented menu screen that includes a multimedia content bar, where diversity television programs in the bar are highlighted, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 28 shows an example of a DVR-presented menu screen that includes a multimedia content bar, where diversity TV programs in the bar are highlighted, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 29 shows an example of a DVR-presented menu screen that includes a multimedia content bar where movies/non-classified video programs in the bar are highlighted, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 30 shows an example of a DVR-presented menu screen that includes a multimedia content bar where the people in the bar are highlighted, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 31 shows an example of a DVR-presented menu screen that includes a multimedia content bar with third party ads/presentations highlighted in the bar, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 32 shows an example of a DVR-presented menu screen that includes a multimedia content bar where music songs in the bar are highlighted, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 33 illustrates how pieces of multimedia content become carousels of different images and are divided into viewable groups, according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 34 shows an example of a DVR-presented menu screen that shows how a video provider may be selected in a search, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 35 illustrates an example of a DVR-presented menu screen that shows a plurality of providers that may be used to obtain a particular media program, according to an embodiment of the invention; and
FIG. 36 is a block diagram of a system upon which embodiments of the present invention may be implemented.
Detailed Description
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 may be evident, however, that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention.
Here, the embodiments are described according to the following outline:
1.0 general overview
2.0 structural overview
3.0 exemplary techniques and procedures
3.1 adaptive search results
3.2 user interface
3.3 discovery Bar for multimedia content
3.4 additional features
4.0 execution mechanism
5.0 example
1.0 general overview
The needs identified in the foregoing background, and other needs and objects that will become apparent for the following description, are achieved in the present invention, which comprises a method of performing adaptive search results and user interface enhancements.
As the amount of program content proliferates, users may wish to perform searches on DVRs for particular program content. The results that a user may search include, but are not limited to, characters, program titles, music videos, or tags. A tag as used herein may refer to a set of words, pictures, or other media used to link multiple pieces of content. One drawback to performing a search on a DVR is that entering text for keyword search entries is cumbersome and slow. Using the remote input device, the user may be provided with a screen containing an alphabet and a selection box (selectorsquare) over the alphabet. The user may position the selection box over the letters to select the letters. Once the user selects a letter, the letter will appear in the search box (searchbox).
In one embodiment, as text is entered into the search box, the DVR returns to the user the possible results that the DVR may select next. In one embodiment, the text in the search box corresponds to the text in the search results. The corresponding text may correspond to any portion of the search results, not just the starting text of the search results. For example, the user may enter the letter "HOU" into the search box. In this case, the DVR will return a result with the letter "HOU" somewhere in it. Some results may be "desperse housewives", "houseem.d.", "HouseHunter", and "houseeon hauntedhill". If the result selection is limited to the starting words of the title only, "desperse housewives" will not appear in the list of possible results. In other embodiments, corresponding words may correspond to words in related terms or concepts. For example, the letter "SPO" corresponding to "sports" may also return results for "NFLfootball" because "NFLfootball" belongs to the category of "sports". The results may also include characters, actors, tags, and music videos. Other categories may also be added or included to improve search efficiency. The data searched also includes arbitrary program metadata (e.g., program description information), as well as characters, actors, tags, and music videos.
In an embodiment, the search results presented to the user that correspond to the text in the search box are based at least in part on relevance. The relevance may be based on many different factors, such as an operation performed by a user alone or a collection of operations by many users. In one embodiment, the results are ordered in a particular search word based on previous user selections. For example, the user may enter the letter "HOU" into the search box. "housm.d." is the highest ranked program and is listed first because other users who have entered the entry "HOU" into the search box have selected "housm.d. Over time, more users may select "desperseHousewindows" after entering the search term "HOU". In this case, the system would determine that "desperse house winds" is more relevant and rank it as higher than "house m.d.".
The greater available space for displaying information thereon allows more information to be displayed without changing the screen. In one embodiment, when a user highlights particular media content of a possible search result on the search screen, additional information about the highlighted media content is displayed. If the screen display area is further limited, the user will have to select a possible search result and require a change of screen before displaying the information, making it more difficult for the user to follow the transition.
The user interface of a DVR is very important because it is the only way a user can interact with a DVR. In one embodiment, a dynamic piece of content is located on a user interface that allows additional new content that may be of interest to be presented to the user. The content bar may display any number of available media content therein, and the media content may transition from one view to the next. The displayed content may be content related to the media content the user is searching for, recommended programs, advertisements, popular content, recommendations of friends, and recommendations of trusted third parties (e.g., Netflix, new york times, etc.). The user may also position the content piece in a number of ways, such as, but not limited to, moving it directly to the left or right. The piece of content appears to move in the desired direction and new content will appear as it is moved by the user.
2.0 structural overview
FIG. 1A illustrates an exemplary system for performing adaptive search results and a user interface, according to one embodiment. The system includes at least one client device, such as DVR102, communicatively connected to network 105 through any communication interface, such as an Ethernet interface or a wireless communication port. The functionality of a DVR is described in U.S. patent 6,233,389, owned by the present applicant and incorporated herein by reference. In another embodiment, DVR102 is replaced with a device that is capable of receiving content via broadband download or streaming. The device is capable of receiving and decoding IPTV, a combination of IPTV and traditional broadcast, or any other network-based communication protocol. The system also includes a service provider 104, a content provider 106, a personal computer 108 and a portable device 110.
Personal computer 108 may be a personal computing device, such as a desktop or laptop computer, and is also connected to network 105 through any communication interface, including wireless. The portable device 110 may be any handheld computing device, cellular telephone, portable media player, or any other portable device capable of displaying multimedia content, and may also be connected to the network 105 through any communication interface, including wirelessly. DVR102, personal computer 108, and portable device 110, each communicate with service provider 104 through network 105. In another embodiment, DVR102, personal computer 108, and portable device 110 each communicate with content provider 110 through network 105.
The network 105 may be implemented by any medium or mechanism that provides for the exchange of data between devices of a communication system. Examples of network 105 include, without limitation, a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), the internet, one or more terrestrial, satellite, or wireless links, and so forth. Alternatively or additionally, any number of devices connected to the network 105 may also be directly connected to each other through a communication link.
In one embodiment, content provider 106 provides broadcast program content to DVR102 via cable, satellite, terrestrial communication, or other transmission methods. The broadcast program content may include any multimedia content such as audio, image or video content. In another embodiment, content provider 106 provides multimedia content, such as any downloadable content, to DVR102, personal computer 108, or portable device 110 through network 105.
In one embodiment, DVR102 communicates with service provider 104, and service provider 104 provides program guide data, graphical resources (e.g., fonts, pictures, etc.), service information, software, advertisements, event identifier data, and other forms of data, such that DVR102 operates independently of service provider 104 to satisfy a user's interests. In another embodiment, DVR102, personal computer 108, and portable device 110 may be capable of communicating with each other over network 105, a communication connection, or any local network to transfer content, metadata, or any other data.
In another embodiment, the content provider 106 may provide content data or any metadata, including promotional data, icons, network data, and other information to the service provider 104. Service provider 104 may then interpret the metadata and provide the content data metadata to DVR102, personal computer 108, or portable device 110.
Referring to FIG. 1B, in one embodiment, DVR102 generally comprises a plurality of components, represented by signal converter 154, that are necessary to digitize an analog television signal and convert the analog television signal into a digital data stream or to accept a digital data stream. An example of the internal structure and operation of a DVR is further described in U.S. patent 6,233,389.
DVR102 receives a broadcast signal from a cable television system, satellite receiver, or the like, from an antenna via input 152A. Input 152A may include one or more tuning modules that allow one or more signals to be received and recorded simultaneously. For example, the television input stream received by the input 152A may be in the form of a national television standards committee (national television standards committee) compliant signal or a PAL compliant broadcast signal. As another example, the television input stream received by input 152A may be in digital form, such as in the form of a Digital Satellite System (DSS) system compliant signal, a Digital Broadcast Service (DBS) system compliant signal, or an Advanced Television Standards Committee (ATSC) system compliant signal. DBS, DSS, and ATSC are based on standards known as motion Picture experts group (MPEG-2) 2 and MPEG-2 transport. MPEG-2 transport is a standard for formatting digital data streams from television source transmitters so that television receivers can decompose the input stream to find programs in a multiplexed signal.
MPEG-2 transport multiplexing supports multiple programs in the same broadcast channel with multiple video audio feeds and private data. The input 152A tunes to a particular program in a channel, extracts a specified MPEG stream from the channel, and supplies the MPEG stream to the rest of the system. Analog television signals are encoded into a similar MPEG format using separate video and audio encoders so that the rest of the system does not know how the signal was acquired. Information may be modulated into the Vertical Blanking Interval (VBI) of an analog television signal in some standard manner; for example, the north american teletext standard (NABTS) may be used to modulate information onto a particular line of an NTSC signal for which the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) grants another particular line for Closed Caption (CC) and Extended Data Service (EDS). Such signals are decoded by input 152A and passed to other modules as if the signals had been delivered via an MPEG-2 private data channel.
The recording module 160 records the incoming data stream by storing the digital data stream on at least one storage device, labeled as memory 164A/164B, designed to retain segments of the digital data stream. The memory 164A/164B may be one or more non-volatile storage devices (e.g., hard disk, solid state drive, USB external hard disk drive, USB external memory stick, USB external solid state drive, network access storage device, etc.) that may be internal 164A and/or external 164B. Signal converter 154 retrieves the segment of the data stream, converts the data stream to an analog signal, and then modulates the signal onto an RF carrier via output 152B, which is delivered to a standard television set through output 152B. Output 152B may optionally pass the digital signal to a television or video monitor. For example, DVR102 may utilize a digital video interface port (DVI) for sending digital signals to a television via a DVI cable.
DVR102 also includes a communication interface 162 through which DVR102 communicates with network 105 via an ethernet, wireless network, modem, or other communication standard. In addition, DVR102 may be integrated into a television system such that the aforementioned components are housed in a television set that is capable of performing the functions of each of the components of DVR 102.
In another embodiment, DVR102 generally comprises a plurality of components necessary to receive, record, store, transmit, and playback digital data signals from a plurality of sources (e.g., a PC, a DVR, a service provider, or a content server). DVR302 is capable of transmitting digital data signals to another DVR or PC. DVR102 may encode or decode digital signals into multiple formats for playback, storage, or transmission via encoder 156A and decoder 156B. According to one embodiment of the invention, the encoder 156A generates an MPEG stream. According to another embodiment of the present invention, encoder 156A produces streams that are encoded using different codecs. The decoder 156B decodes the stream encoded by the encoder 156A or the stream stored in the received format using an appropriate decoder. DVR102 is also capable of encrypting or decrypting digital data signals using encryptor/decryptor 158 for storage, transmission, or playback of the digital data signals.
In another embodiment, DVR102 is replaced with a device capable of storing and displaying IPTV or some other content available via download or streaming. The device comprises a number of components necessary for receiving, recording, storing, transmitting and playing back digital data signals transmitted via IP or any other communication protocol. The device may encode the digital signal into or decode the digital signal from a plurality of media formats for playback, storage or transmission. The device also encrypts or decrypts downloaded or streamed content for storage, transmission or playback.
In one embodiment, DVR102 communicates with service provider 104, which provides program guide data, graphical resources (e.g., branding icons and pictures), service information, software programs, advertisements, and other forms of data that enable DVR102 to operate independently of service provider 104 to perform autonomous recording functions. Communication between DVR102 and service provider utilizes a secure, distributed architecture to transfer data between DVR102 and service provider 104 such that both service data and user privacy are protected.
3.0 exemplary techniques and procedures
3.1 adaptive search results
In one embodiment, a user may perform a search for media content, people, tags, or any other attribute related to media content. A user begins a search when a client device (e.g., DVR102) displays a search screen. The user may browse through the search screen based on command input from the user. Fig. 2 shows an example of a search screen that allows searching for a word or phrase corresponding to program data. In fig. 2, the Search screen is labeled "Search" 202, however the label may vary depending on the implementation. The user initiates the search by submitting alphanumeric characters or symbols, which correspond to the particular search entry of interest to the user, using the soft keyboard 204. In another embodiment, user input may be accomplished through a variety of user input devices, such as, but not limited to, a keyboard (IR, external USB, or mounted on top of a DVR), a remote device, or a pointing device.
In one embodiment, the program data includes program titles, people, tags, and metadata. In another embodiment, other categories of search criteria are included or excluded based on the services provided by the service provider or its partners and the availability of searchable data. As used herein, "program title" refers to, but is not limited to, the title of a television program, a movie, downloadable content, or any other user-viewable content. This may include, but is not limited to, content available via broadcast, cable or satellite, content on demand, content that can be downloaded free of charge, content that can be purchased for download, downloadable content for rental (content that can only be viewed for a limited time), or streamed content. The term "persona" as used herein may be used to refer to any individual or character that may appear or be included in any available content work. These may include, but are not limited to, actors, authors, directors, role names, or producers. A further alternative term for replacing characters that may also be used may be "credits". The term "tag" as used herein refers to a set of words, pictures, or other media that may be related to one or more particular media content. Examples of tags may be, but are not limited to, setting the location of the content, the genre to which the content belongs, or the subject matter related to the content. The term "metadata" as used herein may refer to any program metadata including description, genre, episode, original broadcast date, or any data that may refer in any way to a program or to a description or category of a program.
To initiate a search for a program title, person or tag, the user enters alphanumeric characters or symbols about the program title, person or tag that he wishes to query in the search box 200. In one embodiment, as alphanumeric characters or symbols are entered into the search box, search results that are consistent with the entered alphanumeric characters or symbols appear, as shown in FIG. 3. For example, if the user enters alphanumeric characters "H", "O", and "W", the search application will return results that include downloading "Howcast" 302, actor/director "RowHoward" 304, series "HowIMetYourMother" 306, and non-aggregated/movie "HowtoLoseaGuyinTenDays" 310. In one embodiment, the search system distinguishes between different types of media content that are displayed by placing a graphical indication of the media content near the name of the media content. For example, near the actor/director "RowHoward" 304 is a graphical indication (outline of the person) 320 of the person. A unique graphical indication may be displayed for each type of media content. In another example, a graphic of a musical mark may be placed near the song to indicate that the media content is a song, or a download graphic may be placed near the content available via download. Other graphical indications or icons may be used to indicate that the particular content is a music video or a tag, or from a particular provider (e.g., Netflix or YouTube). As a user enters a query in a query search box, the query is transmitted from the client to the server, which returns search results for display by the client. In an embodiment, some search results from server data may be cached on the client to minimize data transmission in the event of repeated search queries. Further, if the connection between the client and the server cannot be obtained, the user may not be able to use the search application. In other embodiments, a popular set of search results from server data may be cached on the client so that searches for popular content may be performed at the client when a connection to the server is unavailable.
As more alphanumeric characters are entered, the scope of the search results narrows accordingly. For example, alphanumeric characters "[ space ]" and "I" may be added to the previously entered alphanumeric character "HOW". This forms the search query entry "HOWI". In this case, the tv series "howimeteyourmother" 306 will remain. However, the actor/director "RowHoward" 304, the download "Howcast" 302, and the movie "HowtoLoseaGuyinTenDays" 310 would be removed because each of these entries does not contain the alphanumeric character "HOWI" of the search query.
In one embodiment, the displayed results do not begin with the alphanumeric character entered by the user, but instead contain the alphanumeric character somewhere in the search results. For example, if the user enters the alphanumeric character "ERI", other results will appear that contain only the alphanumeric character "ERI" in addition to the result "ERINBROCKOVICH" that begins with "ERI". For example, another search result that may occur would be "AMERICANIDOL”。
Search results do not match the entered text
In one embodiment, the text of the entered search query entry is not included in the search results, but is related to the search results in some way. This may be done by entering an acronym for the title of the television series. For example, the user may enter the search letter "OLTL" which corresponds to the first letter of each word of the soap series "lifetime only". The alphanumeric characters entered may also not coincide exactly with the acronym for title, or may include symbols. For example, the user may input a search entry "Y & R" for the soap drama "youth with bad score". In another example, an advertisement topic sentence (advertising) may be entered. For example, the user may be searching for "terminator 2: the search text "T2" is input when the trial date (Terminator 2: Judgmentday) "is entered, and" T3 "is input for the movie" Terminator 3(Terminator3) ". In these cases, the search system can return possible search results that do not correspond to words in the title, but rather to groups of words that are related in some way to the title of the program content.
In one embodiment, the word corresponding to the number may also return the same result as if the user submitted the number in a search box. For example, the user may be interested in the movie "twelve Monkeys (12 monkey)". Whether the user enters "TWELVE" or "12", the search system will return the possible result "TWELVE monkeys". In another embodiment, numbers may also be substituted for equivalent words. For example, a user may be interested in the movie "Seven guilt (Seven)". If the user enters "7" or "SEVEN," then possible search results will be returned.
In one embodiment, a user may enter search query text corresponding to a word (the word being related to program content) and the search system returns possible search results related to the word. For example, the user may enter the search letter "ANIME" to search for a Japanese cartoon. In this case, the returned results may include a label named "animation" and thus two of the most popular japanese animations. In another embodiment, a paid search advertisement related to a search query word entered by a user or an entered word may be displayed. In this case, the advertiser may pay a fee to include the advertiser's content in the results associated with the particular word entered. The user may enter the search term "car" to find content related to the automotive type television program. If the user enters the entry "car," Toyota may pay the service provider to display a content link promoting a new car for Toyota cars.
In another embodiment, rather than displaying search results consistent with all possible categories (people, programs, and tags), the user selects a particular category in which to display the possible results. For example, a user may only define search results as people. In this way, when the search results (which correspond to the alphanumeric characters of the search query entered by the user) are displayed, the results that appear correspond to the category "people" and the alphanumeric characters entered for the search query. In other embodiments, the user may select multiple categories ("people" and "program titles") for display.
In yet another embodiment, the search may be limited to exact matches. In this case, search results that are consistent with the search query are not displayed during the course of entering the search query. Conversely, once the user has entered alphanumeric characters for the entire query, the user selects a submit button or other symbol indicating that the search term is about to be submitted, and results consistent with the search query are displayed. This may speed up the search because the results are not updated as each alphanumeric character of the search is entered.
Managing adaptive search results
On a television user interface, a user typically does not have a full keyboard available. If the user has only a standard remote control to enter characters, then the alphanumeric characters may be entered using a "soft" keyboard. As used herein, a soft keyboard is an on-screen display keyboard. Fig. 2 shows an example. The user must highlight and select each character to enter the character on the screen, which is tedious. It is important for a good user experience that the number of alphanumeric characters entered is minimized. When searching for a particular program, the user may type in the first few letters. The entered letter may not be the beginning of the title or even the beginning of any word in the title. Other users may enter alphanumeric characters of a search entry related to the media of interest.
In any case, merely listing the sorted possible search results based on the alphabet would result in the relevant search result being located at a lower position in the list of possible search results. Providing relevance-based classification among possible results may make searching more efficient when searching for results in large amounts of data. For example, the user may enter the search letter "HOW" to find the person "hotardstem". If the list of possible results is alphabetically ordered, "HOWARDSTERN" would underlie the entries "HOWIMETYOURMOTHER", "HOWTOHOLOSEAGUYIN 10 DAYS" and "RONHOWARD". To select "HOWARDSTERN", the user would have to move the cursor down through the other entries to make the selection. If many users entering "HOW" also select "hotradstem", it is more efficient to place "hotradstem" higher in the possible results. Further efficiency would be improved if "HOWARDSTERN" started to appear when the user merely entered the letters "HO" or "H".
In one embodiment, as the client receives each alphabetical request from the user, a new search request is sent from the client to the server. Thus, the search starts to be executed when "H" is input. When the user enters "O" so that "HO" appears in the search box, a new search for the query "HO" is sent from the client. In an embodiment, the search results for the "HO" are a subset of the search results for the "H", but the relevancy ranking of each search result with respect to the input query may be different. For example, a user entering "HO" will most likely find "HOWARDSTERN", while a user entering "HOW" will most likely find "HOWIMETYOURMOTHER", even though the first three characters of "HOWARDSTERN" and "HOWIMETYOURMOTHER" are the same. In an embodiment, if two entries have the same relevancy ranking, a second classification method may be used, such as alphabetically, based on the original broadcast date, or any other criteria.
As the relevance measure increases, the desired answer will appear near the top of the list of possible outcomes. The more precise association allows the user to enter fewer letters and find the desired result more quickly. In one embodiment, all searches performed by a user on the user interface are monitored and stored by the database. The correlation between the entered character or characters and the particular media content, character or tag that is ultimately selected by the user is stored. Thus, using the example above, the correlation between "HOW" (user entered letters) and "hotardstem" (user selected results) is stored. In one embodiment, "select" may mean an action or receipt of a user command input to the DVR that indicates an interest in particular media content. Multiple operations may be interpreted at different levels of interest and accordingly have different weights on the relevance feedback algorithm. For example, the DVR receives a command input to pause reading the scrolling information, indicating the lowest interest. Receipt of a command input to display program details indicates a higher interest. Receipt of a command input to schedule a program recording indicates a higher interest, while receipt of a command input to subsequently view a recorded program indicates a greater interest. By considering more detailed information on the interests a user exhibits in particular media content, a more accurate ranking for the search results may be determined.
In one embodiment, the matrix is generated using a character prefix. Each prefix contains an order of media content, people, tags, or any other data related to the media content, which is stored in a matrix, sorted according to popularity (the selection made by the user or the interest shown in a particular program when the prefix is entered by the user). The results presented to the user are sorted so that the most media content, people, or tags selected by the user appear at the top of the list. Thus, as the user selects "HOWARDSTERN" more and more frequently as the letter "HOW" is entered, the ranking of "HOWARDSTERN" in terms of the character prefix "HOW" will rise. In one embodiment, when the user selects "HOWARDSTERN" when entering the letter "HOW," the ranking of "HOWARDSTERN" in terms of the character prefixes "HO" and "H" will rise. This will cause the "HOWARDSTERN" to appear higher when the user starts entering "HOW", so that it is likely that the user may enter fewer letters.
In one embodiment, the correlation matrix stores a mapping between character prefixes of one, two, three, and more characters and user selections. In one embodiment, as the user types in, the user is presented with the most relevant match for a given prefix. When additional letters are entered, the results will be reordered. If not enough matching results occupy the screen, backup ranking based on existing search algorithms (including but not limited to word prefix matching and alphabetical sorting) will be used to fill the remainder of the result list after having as many satisfactory entries in the relevance results as possible.
In an embodiment, different schemes of item selection may affect the relevancy ranking of an item in different ways. In this example, pa (n) and pb (n) are the number of times that item a and item B were picked or selected after n characters were received. If Pa (2) > Pb (2), and Pa (2) + Pa (3) < Pb (2) + Pb (3), then entry B is ranked higher than entry A for searches of 2 and 3 characters, because more users have to enter 3 characters to select entry B, rather than selecting entry A after 2 characters.
In another option, if Pa (2) > Pb (2), Pa (3) < Pb (3), and Pa (2) + Pa (3) > Pb (2) + Pb (3), then entry a is ranked higher than entry B for a 2-character search, and entry B is ranked higher than entry a for a 3-character search, because the user selects entry a after 2 characters, and for a small number of users who enter 3 characters, they select entry B. Finally, if Pa (2) > Pb (2) and Pa (3) > Pb (3), then entry A is ranked higher in relevance than entry B for both 2 and 3 character searches. This is because the user selects the item a more regardless of the number of characters input.
In one embodiment, the correlation matrix is updated at a frequency based on selections made by the user. The correlation matrix may be updated on a specific periodic basis (e.g., weekly, daily, hourly). The correlation matrix may also be dynamically updated with each user input selection. The correlation matrix is continuously updated with the most relevant selection at the top of the list of possible results. To remove stale results, or to remove results or selections that have been made some time ago, results earlier than a specified period will be removed to account for new popular programs that cannot be seen due to the results of earlier frequent searches. For example, results 90 days ago may be removed from the matrix to preserve correlation. The specific period may vary based on the specific situation.
Generating a correlation matrix and sorting the list of possible results based on at least the correlation matrix enables a quick response to changes in user preferences. As new user data of the correlation between letters and selections is received, the correlation data is updated with the new data. When the user makes a new selection, the matrix is continually updated with new data from the user, and the associations are sorted again, the list of possible results creates a feedback loop that keeps the most relevant selections at the top of the list using the most current data.
In an embodiment, a neutral (neutral) relevancy ranking may be first provided to new available media content as a possible search result. The ranking of the media content may rise or fall when considering the selection rate of the content.
There are a number of ways by which a newly implemented system may have the relevancy ranking considered. In an embodiment, the newly implemented system may be derived from historical selection rate data prior to the implementation of the relevancy ranking. In other embodiments, each entry may be initially given the same neutral relevance score. Some time later, the user selects some items more than others and a useful ranking naturally results. In another embodiment, the relevancy ranking may be randomly specified, and the user then selects an entry to raise the ranking score. However, this approach may initially produce strange results, i.e., unpopular items may be ranked high. Over time, the ranking will improve because the randomly designated highly ranked items will decrease and the randomly designated less ranked items will increase.
In an embodiment, a measure of the rate of change of the program popularity or the recent frequency of user selection should be used to adjust the original popularity (popularity) score up or down in the relevancy ranking. By measuring the rate of change and using the rate of change as a criterion for ranking possible search results, new popular programs or media content may have a higher ranking on the results list.
In one embodiment, a set of results may be moved up or down quickly based on a change in selection rate or click rate. This indicates when a program or series is "hot" and many people begin selecting programs after the selection is relatively stable. This may occur in the annual presentation of an awards show, such as the oscar prize. Typically, the user may select the "oscar prize" just before the end of the air-time (e.g., the second or middle of March) for any given year. After a small number of users select the oscar prize, as more and more users begin selecting the oscar prize as the playout time approaches. The search result "oscar prize" is raised in position in the list due to the increase in the number of selections. As the show is shown to be "hot" and popularity increases, the change in selection rate or click rate may further increase the "oscar prize". There is a difference between the change in the selection rate or click-through rate indicating popularity and the selection rate or click-through rate indicating an increase in popularity. Popular shows, such as the naval criminal research institute (NCIS), may have a high selection or click-through rate for weeks, and the selection or click-through rate itself may not vary much. This indicates that the program is popular. However, occasionally broadcast programs may have a low selection or click rate most of the year, while in february and march show a change in selection or click rate with the arrival of oscar. This change in the selection rate or click through rate indicates an increase in popularity and may indicate that the show should rise more rapidly in the result ranking.
The opposite aspect is also present and a change in negative direction can occur once the program for the oscar prize ends. Negative changes in the selection rate and click-through rate may indicate a decrease in popularity or that the program is "cold" and the relevancy ranking is decreased more rapidly than would be the case based solely on the selection rate or click-through rate.
In one embodiment, a correlation matrix that is unique to each user is used. In the customized matrix, the prefixes are weighted to show mappings from users with similar thumb ratings (thumbrating), or people listed as friends or experts of the user are weighted more than the general population. This allows users in similar closely related groups to further refine the prefixes to display the mappings in their own groups without causing people with different interests to misinterpret. For example, the user may enter the letter "HOU" as a prefix to a search entry. In this case, one affinity group maps "desperseHouseWives" as most popular, while a different affinity group maps "HouseMD" as most popular. By subdividing the user into specific groups, more accurate and possible results will be displayed.
The affinity mapping is not limited to similar content ratings, but may be categorized in other factors. In another embodiment, affinity mappings are made based on demographic information and geographic information.
Possible search results may also be affected by the time of year, the time of day, or the day of the week. For example, if a search is conducted on friday nights, it is more likely that the user is searching for a movie for viewing. In this case, among the possible search results, the movie will appear higher than searching in the afternoon on tuesday. In another example, a search for "sports" would rank more sports programs higher in a season. Searching for "sports" in autumn, the ranking of the football is higher because professional football is playing in autumn.
In an embodiment, the relevance feedback is not limited to user feedback from the DVR user. Instead, feedback from any possible source is considered. For example, user feedback may be considered to originate from a search conducted on a website, a mobile communication device, or any other type of input device on which a search may be conducted.
In one embodiment, the service provider may sell user feedback to a third party entity that wishes to use data in the third party entity's search results. The service provider may aggregate data from all users and remove user identity data to ensure anonymity. The third party entity may present more accurate results based at least in part on data provided by the service provider. In an embodiment, the service provider may request that user feedback of the third party entity be provided to the service provider. The service provider may also provide data to the third party entity without requesting any further data feedback from the third party entity.
Grouping relevance search results
In an embodiment, the association may be applied to clusters of content sharing a common trait. This may be referred to herein as "group association". For example, all content related to "StarTrek" may be grouped together and considered a group when categorizing relevance. When any relevance group is a possible search result, all relevant content in that group is included. Thus, while the interstellar travel movies are possible results, other content in the "interstellar travel" group (old interstellar travel series, old interstellar travel movies, documentaries, etc.) is also included in the possible search results. Grouping can be done in a variety of ways and includes, but is not limited to, matching headers, matching additional metadata from third party sources, connectors (connectors) connected in a series. Furthermore, the selection or determination of a single content of interest in a particular group will be determined throughout the group. Grouping may be based on common characteristics such as, but not limited to, title, series, actor, director, author, creator, genre, or label. In one embodiment, the determination of content in a particular group may not be automatic, but rather a manual process. This may be performed based on a third party description or any other method for finding similar content.
In one embodiment, when grouping, the items placed in a group are given the same relevancy ranking as the highest ranked items in the group. Thus, for example, if a search is conducted for "star wars" (StarWars), all other entries grouped together with star wars are also given the same relevancy ranking as the highest ranked star wars. If "star wars: the empire fight (StarWars: the empire strike back) "is the highest ranked item returned, and it is a forward-transmitted" star wars characterized by plus guest: the Phantom crisis (StarWars: the Phantom Menace) "also gets a war with" Star: empire fight "same relevancy ranking. In an embodiment, the entries included in the grouping may be restricted to ensure that only high ranked entries are included in the grouping. In one embodiment, the grouping is limited to those entries that reach a threshold ranking. In one embodiment, an entry may be added to a group only if the entry has an affinity score within a predetermined threshold range of the highest ranked entry in the group. The number of qualified clusters increases the diversity of the results placed on the initial page of results. For example, a search query for "Star" may be occupied on the entire first page by an entry for "StarWars" (including less popular titles that are not relevant to most users). A user searching for "startek" would have to go to the second page of results or add more letters to the search query. Defining groupings to improve the diversity of results solves this problem.
In one embodiment, the grouping is based on an exact match of headers between entries in the grouping. In another embodiment, the matching of titles may not be an exact match, but a similar match. In another embodiment, metadata other than the title is used to group the entries together. This would occur if the sequel of a particular movie might have a different title than the predecessor. For example, a superset of the movie "mad maxma (MadMax)" is the "submachine fleet (RoadWarrior)". In this case, the movies may be collected together using other metadata, such as the lead actor melibuson (MelGibson). As another example, a superset of the movie "First Blood drop (FirstBlood)" may or may not contain the entry "First" or "Blood". These successors are "Rambo: FirstBloodPartII "," Rambo: III "and the fourth movie" Rambo ". If only the title is used to find the packets, the third and fourth movies of Rambo will not appear in the packets.
In one embodiment, the grouping is formed only by the highest ranked entry in the affinity list. In another embodiment, the group is formed by the highest ranked predetermined number of entries. In yet another embodiment, each result is grouped based on certain criteria of the entry.
In one embodiment, exactly matching titles are grouped together. This may be as a result of the identity number given to the media content by the third party. For example, a service provider may use a third party entity to provide the service provider with information about program content to be displayed in an electronic program guide (e.g., the tribune company). The third party entity may assign an identity number to each entry in the program guide for the service provider to identify a particular episode or program. The same content (one downloadable and the other available for playout in the electronic program guide) may not be put together in the result because the user's playout identity number may be different from the identity number used for downloading.
In one embodiment, any form of association of one particular media content with another media content may be used for grouping. For example, contacts that may be used to group content include, but are not limited to: matching titles, matching any type of metadata related to the content (e.g., by actor, author, producer, etc.), or connector. A connector as used herein is a connection formed between two objects. For example, a family occupant (e.g., Kardashians) may be associated with other family occupants, in another example, for example, the program "Firefly" may be associated with the movie "throw a quiet number (Serenity)", similarly, programs or works that originate from the same creator (e.g., all programs of josswhaedon), or all programs and movies of j.j.abblams (j.j.abrams) may be linked together. If a user often selects two identical programs based on a common search entry, the two programs may be combined for other searches.
In one embodiment, the user may manually select how the user wishes the search results to be grouped. For example, the user may indicate a preference to not group. The user may also indicate that grouping is based only on certain criteria, such as by matching titles only or by matching metadata based on the main act of the series only. In another embodiment, the grouping occurs automatically without input from the user. In this case, the user cannot make changes to how the packets are grouped, and the packets may be changed at any time by the service provider.
Preferences and categories in displayed search results
In one embodiment, the search results displayed are only search results for programs that are available to the user (either by download or broadcast in channels available to all subscribers). In another embodiment, the displayed search results include programs on channels that the user is not currently able to receive. For example, the results may include programming on premium channels, such as the television "hemophagia (Dexter)" showing on Showtime. In this case, the user may be shown how to order or other ordering options to gain access to the channel to view the program. In one embodiment, program results that are not currently available to the user may be placed in a separate area (section) from the program results available to the user. For example, a line may separate currently available programs from programs that are not currently available. In one embodiment, programs that are not currently available may appear at the bottom of the results screen. In another embodiment, programs that are not currently available are mixed with available programs and shown in the same order by relevance. In this case, a program that is currently unavailable may have a graphical icon to illustrate that the program is currently unavailable. In addition, program shortcuts may be established for media content that is not currently available for future retrieval of the media content. Program shortcuts are further described in U.S. patent application 12/433,831, filed on 30/4/2009, which is incorporated herein by reference.
In one embodiment, matches that are not title-based may be included in a separate section below the results of the correlation. For example, a user may not be able to recall the title of a particular program of interest, but may be able to recall terms in the program description for that program. The user can input the entry "Jack" as the beginning of the entry "JackBauer" (the character in the tv series "24"), because the user cannot recall the program name "24". Program "24" may appear in a separate and distinct area from the relevant search results. The movie "Jack" in 1996, whose role was festooned by the leading role of romantic williams (robinbwilliams) has abnormal age confusion that makes it four times faster than normal human aging, may be the first of the relevant results because its title matches the search term entered by the user. The results that match the non-titles may appear in any area below or separate from the relevant results and based on any other matching criteria, such as any type of metadata related to the program content (e.g., episode title, actor(s), character name, etc.).
In one embodiment, the selectable result sets may be categorized in any number of ways. For example, the results may be shown sorted in an alphanumeric manner. As another example, selectable results may also be categorized based on relevance or popularity. Any kind of classification technique may be used for the selectable result settings. Mixed classifications may also be used whereby the resulting settings are first classified based on relevance, while program content with the same relevance score is then classified alphanumerically. In one embodiment, the user may indicate a preference on which the user wishes to display the category.
In one embodiment, relevant videos available via broadband download or network streaming are merged with relevance search results when the results settings are displayed. For example, in searching for "star wars," a fan video (fanvideo) that may be uploaded to a website, YouTube, may appear with the broadcast "star wars" programs and movies. In one embodiment, the network video content may be merged with the program results of other related content in a variety of ways. In one embodiment, the network video content may be displayed purely based on the relevance scores and in the results of other content programs. The network video content may have a graphical indication displayed near the title of the video content to indicate that the video content was streamed or downloaded from the world wide web. In one embodiment, the network video content may be displayed separately from the associated results. In a separate result, the network video content may be categorized based on any criteria, including but not limited to alphanumeric order or popularity, which may be based on total download volume or current time period download volume.
In an embodiment, the selection to view network video content may also affect the associated play-out content. For example, if many users select a particular web video related to the television program "happy chorus (Glee)", the popularity of that web video may also be used to increase the relevance of the underlying television program. The popularity of related network videos may be considered in a number of ways. For example, the number of selections of the relevant network video may simply be viewed as a selection of the next television program. The number of selections may also be added to the selection of the underlying related playout content to increase the ranking of that playout content. In other embodiments, the selection of the network video content may have no effect on the relevance of the relevant broadcast content.
Displaying media content outside of a current playout window
In one embodiment, the media content may be shown as not containing the search results in the current play window. Many electronic program guides may only contain information that is available for a certain period of time (e.g., 14 days after a scheduled program). The user may wish to view search results (history data) for programs that have been previously aired, and also for programs or movies that will be displayed or aired in the future outside of the current air window. For example, a newly-shown movie is typically shown in the current show window some day after 14 days.
In one embodiment, the historical data is available to users nationwide. Many service providers are nationwide service providers that include unique scheduling data relative to local regions. For example, in the coastal region of san francisco, television programming may be regionally focused on napareca (napaweneaccounting), which may not be shown in other regions of the country. To maintain a database of historical data that is accessible and does not add many regional programs that will not be broadcast nationwide, the service provider may limit the historical data to television programs broadcast nationwide.
In another embodiment, the historical data may be available to the local user. In this case, the historical data is made available to the user based on the programs that have been broadcast in that particular region. Thus, a national broadcast program can be combined with a regional program specific to the regional user to provide the user with data for any program that has been previously played for. This can entail service providers tasked with handling exponentially larger amounts of data rather than just providing programs that are broadcast nationwide, but this presents a more complete picture of the overall broadcast program that the user has already viewed. For example, television programming on south carolina is not relevant to the viewer of south dacota. However, for service providers that provide nationwide complete schedule data, they will still store and maintain television programs for south carolina. In one embodiment, the service provider may define the amount of local programming stored as historical data. For example, news programs may be removed from the historical data because news programs typically do not change much in the everyday program information.
In one embodiment, not all metadata about a television program is stored as historical data. For example, stored television program data may be defined as title, broadcast date, and a brief description of a television program may also define the amount of data stored. Other combinations of maintained metadata (e.g., actors and genre labels) may also be included or excluded, as the case may be. Based on the stored data, the user may only perform a search based on the retrievable data. For example, if the service provider decides that actors do not remain in the history data with the television program, the user may search by title or program description rather than actors. Thus, the search criteria available to the user will also vary from case to case.
In one embodiment, persistent data objects are stored for media content that is to be played outside of the current play window. A third party provider of scheduling data may specify identity data for a movie or an annual sporting event before the movie or sporting event is actually broadcast. In another embodiment, the identity number may also be specified by the service provider or the content provider. For example, a movie scheduled to be shown at a theater one month later may be assigned identification data by a third party scheduling data provider, anticipating that the movie will be shown in the future. This would allow the user to watch a newly-shown movie at the theater and set a reminder or bookmark to inform the user when the newly-shown movie is set to play in the current play window. Other programs that may be applied include, but are not limited to, new fall network programs at the time of publication, future super bowls, future awards ceremonies, and posted one-time sporting events (e.g., very prospective boxing matches).
In an embodiment, the persistent data object may be stored in a database separate from the scheduling data. The separate databases enable the service provider to keep unique programs that will be played in the future. When a program or movie is scheduled and the program or movie is in the current play window, the persistent data object may be transferred from a particular database for future scheduling of data. In one embodiment, persistent data objects are maintained when information is stored as historical data.
Displaying and selecting a sub-crop
In an embodiment, the sub-genres preferred by the user are further differentiated based on the search results displayed for a particular genre. For example, a user may prefer a horror movie, but dislike a horror movie specifically about the snake spirit. In this case, when searching for "horror" for such a specific user, the search result is displayed to exclude the snake god movie. Such preferences of the user may be discovered based on viewing habits and results of previous selections. The user may also clearly indicate that he does not like a snake movie.
Giving higher relevance scores without feedback
In one embodiment, the content may be artificially awarded a high affinity score. This may occur when a new television program is set to be first aired and the television program has no chance of having any category of relevance score. By giving a high relevancy score, the user can more easily find the program for viewing. For example, a first-run television program may be artificially set to "hot" and placed on the highest relevancy ranking two weeks before the first run of that television program. In one embodiment, the service provider may initially provide an increase in the affinity score to a new television program so that the television program may be more easily found by potential users. In an embodiment, the service provider may request financial considerations from the content provider to give a high affinity score. The service provider may also increase the relevance score of any existing program or movie. For example, by having exciting passenger actors, a content provider may attempt to increase the audience of a fading program, and also attempt to increase the viewability of the program, which the content provider may sponsor to appear in a higher relevancy ranking.
In one embodiment, sponsored programming may be displayed in a separate area from the rest of the relevancy-ranked content to show that financial considerations are accepted for the programming appearing at such high locations. The service provider may also place a graphical indication near the title of the new program to indicate that the program's rank is increased due to sponsorship.
3.2 user interface
In one embodiment, the user interface may be in a three-column format, with the selection highlighted on the middle column, and then the information displayed based on the selection appears on the right-hand column. However, any terminology may be used to explicitly describe the right area of the screen. For example, when the cursor is on "howmetyormother" in the middle column, information on the program "howmetyormother" is displayed on the right-side column. The structure of the user interface varies from case to case. For example, data related to the content may be displayed on the left-hand column, and content related to the selected data may be displayed on the right-hand column. In other embodiments, there may be more than three columns of structure, with additional information about the program being contained in additional columns.
In one embodiment, the user moves a highlight bar over particular media content, and information and terms about that content may be displayed in a column in the right area of the screen. The soft keyboard and search box are located on the left side of the screen and can be changed at any time. An example of selecting particular media content is shown in fig. 4, when the cursor is positioned over the tv series "howmetyormother" 402. The right area of the screen displays information and terms about the television show "howmetyormother". Upon selection of media content, the information displayed changes based on the type of media content selected. 4-12 show examples of possible data that may be shown based on highlighting of a particular media content category.
In fig. 4a diversity series is selected. Each media content (including diversity television shows) may exhibit unique information that other kinds of media content cannot display. For the TV show "howmetyourr moter" 402, TV show genre (sitcom) and rating (TV-PG)404 are displayed. Image 406 may display the actor members of the television show. In another embodiment, the image may be an identification of an actor, a television show, or a combination of an actor and an identification for easier recognition. The names 408 of the actor members and the director, author, or author may also be displayed. A graphical prompt 412 may be displayed to indicate that the program is high definition. Availability 410 is also displayed which informs the user that the series is available for recording or purchase by download. In one embodiment, availability may include a variety of forms including, but not limited to, watch now, record, rent, purchase, subscribe, or free download. Com download by amazon, streaming by Netflix, or broadcast via network television. In another embodiment, the graphical cue indicates that the content may come from multiple sources, including broadband partners or via network television. It may also be shown that the episode is first aired (via a "new" icon), or that the episode is only available for a limited period of time (a "about to go" icon) because the download availability is about to terminate. Other types of data may also be displayed, such as, but not limited to, program metadata for the content (including program description, duration, tags, etc.). The display of the placement and selection of the data may vary from case to case. In another embodiment, the placement and selection of data may be defined by the user.
In fig. 5, a non-diversity program or movie named "HowtoLoseaGuyin 10 Days" is selected. For the movie "HowtoLoseaGuyin 10 Days", movie genre (comedy), American movie Association (MPAA) rating (PG-13)506 is shown. The image 504 may display a movie poster or movie screenplay. The names of the actor members and the director, author, or author may also be displayed. A graphical cue may be displayed indicating the high definition of the program. Availability 508 is also displayed informing the user that the series may be purchased by online download. In one embodiment, availability may include a variety of forms including, but not limited to, watch now, record, rent, purchase, subscribe, or free download. In another embodiment, the graphical cue indicates that the content may come from multiple sources, including broadband partners or via network television. Other types of data may also be displayed, such as, but not limited to, program metadata for the content (including program description, duration, tags, etc.). The display of the placement and selection of the data may vary from case to case. In another embodiment, the placement and selection of data may be defined by the user.
In fig. 6, actor/director "RonHoward" 602 is selected. A different persona 606 of the persona is shown. For RonHoward, this includes actors, authors, directors, and producers. The honor that the character has performed or exhibited is also displayed. For RonHoward, this includes "HappyDays", "TheDaVinciCode", "ABeautipulMind", "Arrestdevelop", and "CuriousGeorge". An image 604 of the person is also displayed if available. Alternatively, the media content in which the character is playing may be displayed. Other types of data may also be displayed, such as, but not limited to, date and place of birth, biographical stories, constellations, links to movie clubs, and the like. The display of the placement and selection of the data may vary from case to case. In another embodiment, the placement and selection of data may be defined by the user.
Fig. 7 shows an example of information shown when the third party's content/advertisement or presentation window is highlighted by the user. In this example, the user selects the third party's content "HowToTipsfromHomeDepot" 702. To indicate that the selection is third party content or a presentation window, a graphical prompt (asterisk to the left of the media content name) may also be displayed. If available, an image 704 provided by a third party is also displayed. A small amount of text 706 may also be included that describes what the content contains may be displayed in the right area of the screen. In other embodiments, a small video may be displayed instead of an image. In another embodiment, the graphical cue indicates that the content may come from multiple sources, including broadband partners or via network television. Other types of data may also be displayed, such as, but not limited to, metadata for the content (including program description, duration, tags, etc.). The display of the placement and selection of the data may vary from case to case. In another embodiment, the placement and selection of data may be defined by the user.
Fig. 8 shows an example of information shown when the available content about a song or music video is highlighted by the user. In this example, the user selects the content "TheFray: 'HowtoSaveaLife' 802. Image 804 displays the band if available. In another embodiment, images of bands, albums, records, etc. may be displayed instead of or in addition to the image 804. Genre (folk music) and rating (TV-PG) of the music video are displayed 806, if available. Text 808 can be included that describes the available content that can be displayed in the area to the right of the screen and the length of the content. A graphical cue (indicator) indicating that the content is a music video and a content source 810 may also be displayed. In one embodiment, availability may include a variety of forms including, but not limited to, watch now, record, rent, purchase, subscribe, or free download. In another embodiment, the graphical cue indicates that the content may come from multiple sources, including broadband partners or via network television. Other types of data may also be displayed, such as, but not limited to, metadata for the content (including program description, duration, tags, etc.). The display of the placement and selection of the data may vary from case to case. In another embodiment, the placement and selection of data may be defined by the user.
Fig. 9 shows an example of information shown when available content from a network video provider is highlighted by a user. In this example, the user selects the content "Howcast" 902. If available, an image 904 related to the content is displayed. If available, the genre (educational) and rating (TV-G) of the network video is displayed 906. Text 908 can be included that describes that available content can be displayed in the area to the right of the screen. A graphical prompt 910 indicating that the content is a web video may also be displayed. In one embodiment, availability may include a variety of forms including, but not limited to, watch now, record, rent, purchase, subscribe, or free download. In another embodiment, the graphical prompt indicates that the content may come from multiple sources, including broadband buddies. Other types of data may also be displayed, such as, but not limited to, metadata for the content (including program description, duration, tags, etc.). The display of the placement and selection of the data may vary from case to case. In another embodiment, the placement and selection of data may be defined by the user.
Fig. 10 shows an example of information shown when a tab is highlighted by a user. In this example, the user selects the label "HOW-TO" 1002. Near the name of the media content may be a graphical prompt indicating that the selection is a tag. In one embodiment, the information displayed on the right side is the content associated with the tag. The information may be displayed in the form of an image 1004 of the content, which may include a movie poster or a screenshot image of the content. In fig. 10, an image of the "ingodocompany" movie poster and a score 1006 of the movie are displayed. The images displayed may be the most media content viewed or the selection made by other criteria (most relevant, most votes, etc.). The background may contain other image media content associated with the tag. The background image may cycle to the front periodically or upon user selection. In other embodiments, a list of media content is displayed instead of an image of the media content. Images of the media content may also be displayed in a grid so that a user may view all of the related media content at once. Other types of data may also be displayed, such as, but not limited to, program counts that match the tags. The display of the placement and selection of the data may vary from case to case. In another embodiment, the placement and selection of data may be defined by the user.
Fig. 11 shows an example of information shown when an option 1102 for searching YouTube is highlighted by the user. If this option is selected, a search of the video website YouTube is performed, using the search terms entered by the user in the search box and displaying the results from YouTube to the user. The user may then select one of the YouTube results for download and viewing. In FIG. 11, the search in YouTube will be performed with the search term "HOW" and return a result list to the user that is based on the search term "HOW". On the right side, an image 1102 indicating a YouTube search is displayed. A textual description 1104 (i.e., searching for video) is displayed that matches "HOW". A graphical prompt 1106 may also be displayed to indicate sites that may be searched. Thus, other sites may be searched in addition to YouTube. The display of the placement and selection of the data may vary from case to case. In another embodiment, the placement and selection of data may be defined by the user.
Fig. 12 shows an example of information shown when wish list (Wishlist) option 1202 is highlighted by the user. The wish list allows the user to select specific media content, movies, entire series, or specific episodes of a series that cannot currently be downloaded or played. When the media content on the wish list is available in the future, the media content will be recorded or downloaded and made available to the user. The image 1204 displayed on the right side of the screen is a graphic associated with the start wish list. Text 1206 may describe the operation to be started (by selecting the particular operation to start). In this case, the search for the wish list of "HOW" will start. The display of the placement and selection of the data may vary from case to case. In another embodiment, the placement and selection of data may be defined by the user.
FIG. 13 is an example of a DVR-generated screen if a user wishes to enter a particular search option 1302 for searching. The user may adjust various criteria depending on the type of search desired and in order to obtain the best results. For example, the user may wish to sort through a variety of criteria, such as best matches, most recent matches, length of media content, and any of a variety of additional methods. The search results may also be filtered based on the quality, source, and cost of the media content 1306. The search results may also be filtered based on the category 1308 of the media content. A user may include and exclude particular media content if the media content belongs to a certain category. Any other criteria may be used to filter or sort the search results, and the options shown are merely illustrative of possible criteria that may be used. Once selected, the user has the option 1304 to confirm or cancel any changes made.
Upon selection of the media content, the retrievable information to be displayed changes based on the type of media content. Fig. 14-19 show examples of information types displayed for a diversity television show. The information categories that can be selected are displayed on the left side of the screen as shown in fig. 14. Some of these categories are Detail (Detail), Upcoming (for Upcoming episodes), episode guide (episodier guide), etc. 1404. When a category is highlighted, additional information related to the selected category is displayed on the right side of the screen. At the top of the screen, the name of the media content, in this case "howmetyourr moter" 1402, is shown along with the thumb rating of the series (which may be from the user himself) and star rating (third party topical content). The thumb rating based on responses from the community of users may also be displayed in another area of the screen.
Number of season and congregation
For the series "howmetyourr moter," the user may highlight the selection for the episode guide 1406. In one embodiment, the numbering of the seasons and the numbering of the sets of the diversity series are displayed. The season number and the collection number may be from a content provider or a third party provider of electronic program guide information. The season number and the collection number can be clearly displayed in the information sent to the service provider. The numbering of the seasons and the numbering of the congregation may also be obtained based on information provided by a third party. If the information from the providers conflicts, the calculation of the season congregation may need to be done manually.
The numbering of the seasons and the numbering of the sets allows the user to perform specific actions for a specific season or a specific set. For example, a user may wish to record only a particular season of a program. This may occur when the user has an interest in a television show that is already in the third season, but has not yet viewed any episode of the program. The user may wish to view the program from the beginning and thus request that all episodes be recorded or downloaded starting from the first season of the program. When the user ends all episodes for the first season, the user may then request all episodes beginning from the second season of the program. These operations are only available if data about the season and the episode is available for a particular series.
Fig. 14 shows an example of numbering of seasons and congregations. The user may select to view each episode 1408 in the season. The user may choose from the first season to the fifth season. The user may also choose to purchase all episodes for a particular season or purchase individual episodes. In fig. 14, the first set of the first season is named "Pilot" 1410. The second set of the first season is named "PurpleGiraffe" 1412, and the third set of the first season is named "SweetTasteofliberty" 1414. For further information about a particular episode, the user may select any episode shown.
Other information for diversity series
Fig. 15 shows a screen generated by the DVR when the user has highlighted the category "actor (Cast)" 1502 of the series "howmetyourr moter". Each member of the actor may have an image 1504 shown with text showing the name of the actor and the name of the character in the series. When the actor member is highlighted, more detailed information is displayed on the right side of the screen. For example, NeilPatrickHarris 1506 is selected to display a larger image of the actor on the right side of the screen, with more personal information displayed, including birthday, hometown, and the media content in which it plays a role.
Fig. 16 shows a screen generated by the DVR when the user has highlighted the category "Cast" 1502 of the series "howietyourr moter". In this case, the user still sees the image of the actor, but has moved further down the screen to show the passenger string of actors. In another embodiment, the user may simply select to view the passenger string actors of the series instead of regular actor members. Each guest string actor may have an image 1604 showing text with names of actors and angular characters in a series. When the passenger string actor is highlighted, more detailed information is displayed on the right side of the screen. For example, Sarahchk 1606 is selected to show a larger image of the actress on the right side of the screen, with more personal information being displayed, including birthday, hometown, and the media content in which it plays a role. The title of the episode in which the passenger string actor is playing, or the number of the episode and the number of the season, are also displayed.
Fig. 17 shows a screen generated by the DVR when the user has highlighted the category "ifyouiketthis" 1702 of the series "howmetyourmother". Under this selection, some media content 1704 is displayed in the middle of the screen. These may be other series that are related to "howmetyourr moter", match genre, show relevance of user ratings, or have similar subject matter. Any other type of criteria may also be used to display the association between media content. From this screen, the user can select other similar series for recording or viewing. In another embodiment, the list of related content may be displayed as a text list or a grid with thumbnail images. The user may select the type of program. In another embodiment, the viewing categories are controlled by the service provider and vary from case to case.
Fig. 18 shows a screen that the DVR generates when the user has highlighted a category special listings (BonusFeatures) 1802 of the series "howmetyourr movie". Under this selection, some of the images 1804 of the media content are displayed on the right side of the screen. These may be music, books, DVDs, or other downloadable material 1804 related to a series. In this screen, the user may select one of the options and log on to a third party site (e.g., amazon. Other types of media content (e.g., the formation of a program, or news stories about a series or actors in a series) may also be used to join the menu. A special listing may also include a video clip or YouTube segment that is somewhat program related. These may include movie production material or content from content providers.
Fig. 19 shows a screen that the DVR generates when the user has highlighted a series "howmetyormother" category "tab (Tags)" 1902. Under this selection, a column 1904 of tags associated with the series is shown. In this case, 5 different tags are associated with "howmetyourr moter". The numbers next to the labels may indicate different information according to the specific situation. The number may indicate the amount of media content associated with the particular tag. The number may also indicate the number of users who selected the ticket for the series. For example, 44 different users may select the label "rating" related to "howmetyormother". Thus, the number may indicate how popular a particular mark is with respect to a particular series.
In another embodiment, "feature music" is also displayed on the left side, which includes songs and music in a particular series. This may include movie music or songs that have appeared in a series. Music may be available for download or streaming. The user may be given the option to purchase or rent music. Com, for example, may provide the entire movie music from amazon for transfer for purchase. Music may also be downloaded for future listening.
Recording conflicts
A recording conflict occurs when a user chooses to record more media content than the DVR can record simultaneously. For example, a DVR may have fewer tuners than the number of media content scheduled to be recorded at the same time. In another example, the number of decoding units may not be sufficient to record the scheduled media content. In another example, disk bandwidth constraints may also limit the number of records that can be recorded simultaneously. Any type of hardware or software limitation (limiting the number of records that can be executed at a particular time) may also cause a record conflict. For example, a recording conflict may occur when a DVR has a single tuner and the user has selected to record more than one media at the same time. Because there is only a single tuner, only one media content can be recorded at a time. A recording conflict may also occur in the case of a DVR with two tuners while having three scheduled recordings. For example, a DVR may include two separate tuners. If the user decides to record two different programs, both of which are broadcast at 8:00 PM on Tuesdays, the DVR should be able to record both programs. If the user wishes to record the third program that is broadcast at 8:00 pm on tuesdays, a recording conflict will occur such that the user or DVR has to select which two of the three programs should be recorded. Collisions may occur on DVRs with any number and are not limited to the examples described above. In another example, the multimedia device may only support pay-per-view viewing. A recording conflict would occur if there was only a single tuner and the user had also scheduled recordings on different channels at the same time.
A recording conflict may arise from any type of hardware or software limitation (limiting the amount of recordings that may be performed at a particular time) and is not limited to the examples described herein. For example, the resolution of the recording conflict may be extended to multiple real-time events. In this case, two users in a particular household may wish to have their DVRs arranged to remind them when to watch a live broadcast of a simultaneously airing athletic sporting event. The DVR may have a sufficient number of tuners to record both sporting events, but the user has selected to watch a live broadcast of the sporting event. Since the DVR has only a single output to the display device, there is a recording conflict. In another example, there are a sufficient number of tuners available to record two television programs. However, both programs can be encoded at ultra-high bit rates (e.g., for 3-D television). There may be only enough disk/bus bandwidth to record one of the television programs.
In one embodiment, the user may select the program he wishes to record when there is a recording conflict at a particular time. In an embodiment, the user may be presented with a graphical user interface that allows the user to select which program or programs should be recorded by the DVR and which recordings are to be cancelled. FIG. 20 shows an example of a recording conflict named "recording conflicts (RecodingConflicts)" 2002. The user has selected to record a new program "howmetyourr moter". Unfortunately, two programs have been scheduled for recording on a DVR with two tuners. The DVR displays the two programs "howimeteyourmother" and "Friends" 2004 to be recorded, as well as the other selected program "bosombuggies" 2006 that will not be recorded. The user has the option to cancel one of the recordings already scheduled or not to record the newly requested program. In one embodiment, the user may establish a program-based recording priority. For example, the user may give a high priority to the series "howmetyormother" so that "howmetyormother" is always recorded when a conflict occurs. In another example, the user may give a series a low priority. In this case, if a conflict occurs, the series record of low priority will be cancelled for another record.
The recording conflict may persist for the entire length of the media content or only for a portion of the length. Fig. 21 shows an example in which a recording collision occurs over a partial length. In fig. 21, the series "howimeteyourmother" and "Friends" 2102 will be recorded. "bosombuggies" starts at 8:30 and "howmetyourr moter" ends at 8:32 (assuming additionally that the second tuner is still making another recording). "BosomBuddies" 2104 conflicts only with the series "HowIMetYourMother" (30 minutes out of total) for 2 minutes. The user may choose so that the recording is only clipped for the 2 minutes of the conflict. In one embodiment, the program may be clipped for a total of 5 minutes. Thus, the series "bosombuggies" will start recording 2 minutes after the program starts (once "howmetyourr moter" ends).
In one embodiment, the program may be cancelled for a specified time and then continue to be recorded after the conflicting recording is completed. For example, a user may wish to record an entire day of olympic programming from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm on a DVR with a single tuner. The user may wish to record another program from 2:00 pm to 2:30 pm on the same day. In one embodiment, the user may choose to stop the olympic recording from 2:00 to 2:30 for other programs and continue starting from 2:30 until the end of the 6:00 pm schedule. In another embodiment, when a program is cut out (recording stops early to record another program), the DVR does not continue recording of that program when the recording of the other program is complete.
Fig. 22 shows an example in which a recording conflict of season tickets may occur. In fig. 22, the user has a season ticket for the series "howietyourr moter". The DVR is arranged to record 13 episodes 2202 of a series. However, some sets of scheduled records conflict with other previously scheduled records. For example, set "SluttyPumpkin" 2204 conflicts with a record previously scheduled for "Friends", while set "Matchmaker" 2206 overlaps with a record previously scheduled for "That 70 sShow". The user may choose to keep a season ticket and not record all episodes of the season ticket, so that all episodes are recorded with the season ticket and the season ticket is completely cancelled. The user may also select particular episodes that conflict and select the programs that should be recorded episode by episode.
The recording conflict may persist for the entire length of the media content or only for a portion of the length. Fig. 23 shows an example of season pass conflicts, where the conflict duration part length is recorded. An episode in which the entire episode would not be recorded and conflicting records are shown as 2302. In fig. 23, the set "puplegiraffe" 2304 conflicts only with the series "TwoandaHalfMen" for 2 minutes (30 minutes in total). The user may choose so that recordings are only clipped by conflicting recordings for 2 minutes. Thus, the set "PurpleGiraffe" will start recording 2 minutes after the start (once "TwoandahalfMen" ends). Additional conflicts that cannot be displayed on the display screen can also be seen based on user command input, i.e. using channel up/DOWN (CHANUP/DOWN).
Fig. 24A shows an example of a display screen when the user selects to record all episodes in the season ticket. All episodes in the series selected for the season ticket are recorded and the screen displays the previously scheduled recording 2402 (which conflicts and is no longer recorded).
The user may also have a wish list that records media content containing a particular persona. FIG. 24B illustrates an example of a possible conflict with wish list records. In fig. 24B, actor "TomHanks" is selected and the user is scheduled to record all media content including TomHanks. The DVR displays the media content to be recorded, e.g., "Big" 2404 and "You' veGotMail" 2406. The DVR also displays conflicting media content (e.g., "BosomBuddies" and "Friends" 2408) and does not record it. The user may select to record the media content shown, to record all recordings of the wish list (above previously scheduled recordings) or to cancel the recording for the wish list.
In an embodiment, conflict resolution may also be performed graphically. It may be graphically displayed to the user which scheduled recording conflicts with another scheduled recording. Fig. 25A shows an example of clipping, in which one program clips only the end of another program. In fig. 25A, the MLB baseball begins recording on a single tuner at 7: 25. However, Jeopardy also schedules recordings from 7:00 to 7: 30. The user may choose to cut off the last 5 minutes of Jeopardy from 7:25 to 7:30, as shown at 2502, and record as planned. The user may also choose not to record the MLB to keep recording the full episode of Jeopardy. In one embodiment, the user may also decide to cut off the first 5 minutes of recording with a complete recording of the program scheduled earlier. In this case, the user would choose to record the complete episode of Jeopardy, cutting off the first 5 minutes of the MLB baseball.
In an embodiment, conflict resolution may also be performed on a dual-tuner DVR. Fig. 25B shows an example. In this example, there are 3 separate programs scheduled to be recorded from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM. MLB baseball 2504, Jeopardy2506, and Extra2508 are all scheduled to be recorded at the same time. Currently, the MLB baseball 2504 and Jeopardy2506 are scheduled to be recorded, which is indicated by the graphical indication of the check box, and no Extra2508, which is indicated by the graphical indication "x".
The user may then choose to record a program that was not originally intended to be recorded. This is shown in fig. 25C. In FIG. 25C, the user has selected to record That70sShow 2510. Thus, no WheelofFortune2512 is recorded. In one embodiment, when the user selects to record a different program in a recording conflict, the determination of what program to not record may be based on similar length. Because WheelofFortunee 2512 is as long as That of That70sShow2510, WheelofFortunee 2512 is no longer recorded. In another embodiment, the program with the lowest user rating is not recorded. The rating is determined according to the number of thumbs given by the user. Regardless of the length, the program with 3 thumbs remains above the program with 2 thumbs, and so on. The user may also indicate that a particular program is always recorded. The graphical cue (here "+") may also indicate that the program is to be played one or more times at different times. In this example, the That70 shhow 2511 will play different 3 times at different times. The user may consider this information when selecting which program to record and which program not to record.
Recording conflicts may also occur in more than one non-contiguous time period. As shown in fig. 25D, the conflict occurs from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm and again from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm. OlympicGames2514, Jeopardy2516 and Oprah2518 are all scheduled at 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM. Records for OlympicGames2514 and Jeopardy2516 are scheduled, while Oprah2518 records are not scheduled. In FIG. 25E, the user has selected to record Oprah2518, and not record Jeopardy2516 and Extra 2520. In FIG. 25F, the user has selected to record That70sShow2522, so That WheelofFortunee 2524 is no longer recorded. The user may also choose not to record OlympicGames2526, which will remove all recording conflicts during these periods.
In one embodiment, the user may also cut off lengthy programs and record the long program next after the conflicting recording is complete. For example, the example of OlympicGames, the user may wish to record WheelofFortunene 2524 and That70sShow between 7:00 and 7:30, but not OlympicGames 2514. In this case, OlympicGames would be split into two records. The first segment was recorded from 1:00 to 7:00 (before being occupied by WheelofFortunee and That70 sShow), while the second segment was recorded from 7:30 to 10:00 PM (after being occupied).
3.3 discovery Bar for multimedia content
In one embodiment, a "discovery bar" display of multimedia content, all multimedia content on the user interface screen allows the user to conveniently select additional or new media content for viewing. The user may browse through the bars and move through the presented content selections. An "entry" as used herein is the individual content in a discovery bar. The independent content may be sent from the server to the client for display to the user. To display the discovery bar, a connection is established from the server to the client. The user may move to the edge of the visible bar and display additional content recommendations. In addition to content recommendations, the bar may present advertisements and other content types. Other multimedia content types include, but are not limited to, display of new features, advertisements, providers (provider shortcuts, e.g., amazon. com), channels (shortcuts to specific collections) channels (shortcuts to show channels on live television), people (shortcuts to actors, directors, etc.), categories (shortcuts to categories), video content, or content provided by content providers (e.g., web video, streaming, broadcast, Netflix new releases, CNN trending news, CNBC financial news). In an embodiment, the content may include these entries (but is not limited to): the most popular season ticket shows, high definition quality content, news, weather, entertainment weekly magazine picks, daily forum pick, collaborative filtering based recommendations, currently recorded content that has not yet been played at a certain time, top news, release of new features, tricks and tips for DVRs, advertisements, release of new movies/content for partners, new photos of friends, YouTube content recommended by friends, television shows recommended by friends, "collect" (i.e., oscar awarder, johnny german, suggestions by Netflix), topical recommendations, popular searches, weather/news toolsets (widgets), currently recorded shows, season tickets that have not yet been played at a certain time (but will be played immediately), my wish list searches, content that has just been recorded, shows at the moment, and bookmarks. In one embodiment, the multimedia content bar appears at the top of all user program screens.
In one embodiment, the user may choose to disable the discovery bar for multimedia if he or she highly desires. The user may also indicate which categories of content are displayed on the bar. For example, a user may request that more of the most popular season shows and less of the daily forum newspaper selections be displayed. In one embodiment, the user may indicate all categories that are not displayed on the bar. For example, display of all new photo edits from friends is prohibited. The service provider may also not allow the user to disable all categories, such as advertisements.
In one embodiment, the discovery bar contains a collection of recommended content that is organized into a set of items. The set of entries in the discovery bar may have a minimum number of entries and a maximum number of entries. The minimum and maximum number of entries may vary from case to case. As an example, a group of entries may have a minimum of 15 entries and a maximum of 25 entries. The items are displayed as views of the visual items. In one embodiment, each view is 4 to 10 items visible to the user at any given time. Although at any one time the number of items seen may vary depending on the width of each item and the space available on the screen. Each entry is located in a "slot" of the discovery bar. The entries are numbered starting with 1 until the number of available empty bits in the group. The first "view" as used herein is the starting group of content on the bar that is visible to the user for a particular screen. The view includes a subset of the items in the set of items, which is displayed to the user at a single point in time. The second view and the third view are additional groups of content on the bar that is visible to the particular screen. The second view and the third view may be seen by waiting for the strip to move automatically. Because a specified amount of remote control deactivation time ends before the content on the bar moves, automatic movement may occur to display a new group or view of content. The specified amount of remote control deactivation time may vary from case to case and may also be specified explicitly.
Fig. 26 shows an example of a discovery bar view. In fig. 26, each image is an image of media content presented to the user. These images constitute a long conveyor belt or continuous loop (represented by lines and arrows) with image 2602 in the next set of images after image 2618. The images form a continuous loop in such a way that when the loop is moved, the first image follows the last image. The images are shown in the view, grouped by dot lines. The first view 2650 displays images 2602, 2604, 2606, 2608, and 2610. The second view 2652 displays images 2604, 2606, 2608, 2610, and 2612. The third view 2654 displays images 2606, 2608, 2610, 2612, and 2614. Thus, the first view 2650 may be displayed until automatic movement occurs. Each image in the view may also be a blank space for an item. This is illustrated by marking image 2602 as blank 1, image 2604 as blank 2, and so on. Furthermore, more than 3 views may appear in a conveyor or continuous loop of images. In one embodiment, when the user highlights a specified location in a content bar, the highlighted portion remains fixed while the content of the bar begins to move one after another under the highlight. The specified location may be, for example, the 2 nd or3 rd through the last entry in the bar. Thus, if the user initiates a move, a long list of images or a carousel is displayed to the user.
In one embodiment, the discovery bar settings may be populated in a particular order of content categories. For example, the items of a business requirement (advertisements, topics, etc.) may be considered first. The most relevant item to the current content is next determined. Next, consider the items (collections, categories, people, etc.) of the second relevant level. If more entries are needed or there is no available content, entries that may be relevant to the user or community are populated. The client will make a request to fill in the discovery bar from the server. In an embodiment, the request may include an exclusion list so that the bar is not populated with entries that have appeared in previously determined view numbers.
In an embodiment, the filling of the bars may be based on the frequency of the receivers (bins) and individual entries. As used herein, a sink is a group of content sources as a whole, and the user can control how often the entire group applies to the group of items. A bucket is the source of content in the sink. The user can control the weight of the bucket which affects the frequency with which items from the source are placed in the sink. For example, the content sources may include: advertisements, service provider topics, content provider topics, partner recommendations, and skills and tips. Each receiver contains one or more content sources and may be context dependent (conntextual) or context independent (non-conntextual). For example, one receiver may be used for context-dependent advertisements, while another receiver is used for context-independent advertisements. Each receiver has an associated frequency of a single entry that reflects the frequency with which the entry is part of the group. For example, an advertisement exists in each group and has a frequency of 1/1. A context-relevant dealer may have a frequency of 1/5, while a partner's context-free recommendation may have an entry frequency of 1/10. These entry frequencies may vary from case to case. The user may then suggest preferences to change the recommendations in the discovery bar. For example, the user may specify "more," "standard," or "less" skills and tips. This will reduce the frequency of trick and trick receivers. The user may also explicitly specify "more," "standard," or "fewer" characters, which may affect the buckets "associated with the characters" in each corresponding receiver. There may also be a balance of entries. For example, the user may affect how many items in the group are available for rental or purchase, or the proportion of television, movies, sports programs, or network videos in the group. In an embodiment, the checking of a single entry may also be performed. For example, if the screen has a background context for a child program, any content with adult tags or not within the child rating range should be displayed. In another example, content that is not currently available or that has been scheduled to be recorded may also be undisplayed.
In one embodiment, a variety of policies may be used to govern how content pieces are populated with content. In other embodiments, the policy is not used in any way. In other embodiments, the policy is optional and not required. Policies may also be given a specified weight, so that policies with a greater weight are given a higher priority than policies with a lesser weight.
Policies may vary and may include, but are not limited to: placing most of the content categories in the view of the bar is random. The advertisements may always appear in fixed locations or randomly distributed in the view. The same piece of content should not appear in two consecutive views in the bar. This includes a loop within a bar (first view to second view of the same bar on the screen) and does not include a screen transition (bar on first screen to bar on second screen). The advertisement may be limited to one in each view and only to every other view of the bar in the screen. The advertisement may not be placed in a moving position of the bar (edge-darkened items, which represent movable) and should always appear as a "fully displayed" item. After determining where in the view of the bar the advertisement appears, the rest of the bar is filled in with a random mix of the content categories remaining on the screen.
Other possible strategies are that an ongoing program (e.g., the eimeria prize being shown) may be displayed. Content that may be downloaded may also be included in the discovery bar. Where the device is an IPTV compatible device or the device simply obtains content from the network, the content may be considered available and a selection may be made for the discovery bar. There may be policies that relate only to downloadable content. For example, the available content may only include programs that may be downloaded during a certain time period (the content is independent of bandwidth speed and size of the content file). No content that has been played out should be displayed (e.g., if the eimeria prize has just ended, the eimeria prize is not displayed in the bar). In addition, content that the client has scheduled for recording may be performed in a weighted manner. Items that are similar to the current program but already scheduled may be given a lower weight (alternatively referred to as level 2). These entries with lower weights are only displayed if there are not enough other (or level 1) content to fill the entry. The presented items should be available on the received channel in the user area. In general, a preference is given to display content that is available within the next 7 days. The entry should not be displayed twice in the carousel.
In one embodiment, the height of the entries is limited, but the width of the entries may vary. The number of items in the view may change because of the change in width of the items. Each screen contains a set of items that can be replaced after a period of time. The period of replacement can be changed. For example, the period of time may be 24 hours. In one embodiment, the set of items is logically divided into views. A view as used herein is any grouping of 4 to 6 items that can be automatically presented to a user in a group. In one embodiment, each set of entries contains a minimum of 2 views and a maximum of 5 views. The actual number of views may vary from case to case.
The change of the image depends on the type of content displayed in the multimedia content piece. Types of content that may appear on the discovery bar include, but are not limited to, television shows, episode previews, movies or non-diverse programming, characters (actors, authors or directors, musicians, etc.), show window promotions (perhaps third party advertisements), electronic program guide advertisements, broadband previews, music videos, music albums, various applications that may be running on a DVR, content providers, and collections of recommended content. In one embodiment, if the presented item is currently being displayed, a graphical indication (live display content) is superimposed on the image. The selection of media content displayed on the discovery bar may be based on related content (context-related selection) or displaying the most popular media content (context-independent selection). The context-dependent selection may occur when there is available content based on the user's interests. For example, the user may have selected particular media content. The background environment may also be obtained using a less straightforward method. The user may have selected a person, tag, or content group. The path traveled by the user may even be used to obtain the content. The very beginning of a task (i.e., searching, browsing menus, etc.) may have little or no content, and as the path proceeds further (whether or not a particular piece of content is selected), the context may be determined. For example, if the user navigates to a browse menu and then browses a comedy movie, the background context may be obtained for the user.
The user may select an entry by selecting the entry when the highlighted entry is above the preferred entry. By moving the highlighted bar to the item of interest, the user can browse the items in the discovery bar. If the discovery bar is at the top of the screen, the user may browse the discovery bar by moving the highlighted bar from the menu item in the bottom region of the screen to the discovery bar. When an entry is selected, an area of the display, or rollout area, displays data for that type of content to the user. For example, the user may select an entry that is an episode of a television series. In this case, an option specific to a episode of the diversity series is displayed in the roll-out presentation area. In another example, the user may select an entry that is content of an advertisement for a third party. In this case, the user goes to the destination, which is defined by the promotion based on the selection of the item. Both text and image data may be displayed when the presentation area is rolled out, or the video may begin playing upon user input. The user command may change the video to a full screen display (as compared to just the display area being rolled out).
In one embodiment, the discovery bars are populated based on specific rules, which may vary from case to case. The following are rules that may be used, and each rule may be combined with other rules to determine the placement of content in a discovery bar. The order may be determined by sorting the programs based on availability. For example, content that is available in the next 7 days may appear prior to content that is available only after 7 days.
Other criteria may also be used to decide what is displayed in the bar. Demographic and geographic data may be considered. For example, for the content of a sporting event, the distant north emphasizes hockey and the south emphasizes football. Furthermore, the time of day or day of the week may also be considered. For example, movies may appear more in weekend nights, while soap operas may appear more in the afternoon of a weekday.
In one embodiment, the background dependent screen displays different content than the background independent screen. For example, a user may enter a command input to browse the DVR's main menu. Because the user has not yet selected content in the DVR menu and the user stays at the main menu, the user is presented with a screen that is unrelated to the context of the find bar. Once the context is obtained based on the user operation, a context-dependent screen is displayed. This may be based on a search performed by the user or simply on the path the user is traveling to find a historian movie. The discovery bar may display content related to the obtained context. In another embodiment, a context-dependent screen may appear if the user is already watching a particular media content and then enters a command input to watch a DVR-generated menu. The media content being viewed will be considered the background environment with respect to the discovery bar.
Programs relevant to the context selection may be determined on the basis of aggregating data from many different users (via a topical service originating from a service provider), or on the basis of any criteria that may be used to determine relevant programs. The context-free selection may be limited to the most scheduled media content for the next week.
In an embodiment, the content displayed in the bar may also be affected by the time of year, the time of day, or the day of the week. For example, during friday evening hours, the user will likely watch the movie, whereby more movies may be displayed on the bar. In another embodiment, the user may be accustomed to viewing content that has been recently recorded. For example, the user may watch the television program "news-girl (gosspgirl)" (once the recording of the program is completed). Based on this operation, the bar can be filled with the latest record of "crickey girl" (if the program has not been viewed yet) so that the user can easily select the content.
In one embodiment, the discovery bar only displays a specified number of advertisements or third party content in each view. For example, the specified number may be 1. Rules may be executed to display advertisements in the discovery bar. The same promotion may not be displayed in adjacent views in the screen setting. For a view, the advertising content should appear in its entirety. Thus, if the system rotates the view without interacting with the user, no advertisements will be turned off. Advertisements from third party advertisers are inserted every other view, and promotions from the electronic program guide are also inserted every other view.
In an embodiment, the discovery bar may be displayed when the client disconnects from the central server. Under such conditions, the client may have cached content that allows the client to display the bar to the user in the disconnected state. In another embodiment, the discovery bar is not displayed whenever the client disconnects from the central server. In this case, the bar may be replaced by a large icon and a message stating that the network connection cannot be acquired, and should be fixed so that the discovery bar is displayed again.
Fig. 27 shows an example of a drop-down screen for a diversity series. The user may select the series 2702 from the discovery bar. It can be seen that the series "roman" image 2704 is displayed once the selection is highlighted. The image may be stored on a database and updated to reflect the current episode. If an image for the series cannot be acquired, a related image, such as an image of the entire actor, may be displayed. In fig. 27, an operation related to the series may be performed. For example, the user may wish to record or download all episodes of the series or only certain episodes. Information specific to the series is shown. Rating 2706 is for the entire series (not a separate episode), and the text will describe the index (premise) of the entire series. In addition, ratings, genre, and broadcast date 2708 may be displayed. Graphical prompts for high definition may also be displayed, whether the media content is downloadable or playing. In one embodiment, availability may include a variety of forms including, but not limited to, watch now, record, rent, purchase, subscribe, or free download. In another embodiment, the graphical cue indicates that the content may come from multiple sources, including broadband partners or via network television. Other types of data may also be displayed, such as, but not limited to, metadata for the content (including program description, duration, tags, etc.). The display of the placement and selection of the data may vary from case to case. In another embodiment, the placement and selection of data may be defined by the user. Also, 2710 displays the reason for selecting the series.
Fig. 28 shows an example of a drop-down screen for a diversity series. In contrast to FIG. 27, the drop-down screen for "Lost" (Lost) is for a specific set. As can be seen in the figure, an image 2804 (a series from the collection) is displayed for the collection. If an image for the series cannot be acquired, a related image, such as an image of the entire actor, may be displayed. The user may wish to record or download the particular episode. Information specific to the episode in the series is shown. If information is available, the title, the episode title, and the season number and episode number 2806 are displayed. The season number indicates the season of the series. The number of sets indicates the number of sets in a particular season. Thus, the total 25 th episode of consecutive episodes is the 1 st episode of season 2. In the present case, the collection "the' sNoPlaceLikeHome" is the 13 th collection of season 4.
A graphical cue may also be displayed indicating that the collection has not been previously played. An example may be the graph "new" 2810 in fig. 28. The episode description, the rating of the episode (e.g., TV-MA, TV-14, etc.) 2812, the thumb rating (1 thumb up, 2 thumbs up, 1 thumb down, etc.), and the original show time of the episode may also be displayed, if available. In one embodiment, availability may be displayed to include a variety of forms including, but not limited to, watch now, record, rent, purchase, subscribe, or free download. In another embodiment, the graphical cue indicates that the content may come from multiple sources, including broadband partners or via network television. Other types of data may also be displayed, such as, but not limited to, metadata for the content (including program description, duration, tags, etc.). The display of the placement and selection of the data may vary from case to case. In another embodiment, the placement and selection of data may be defined by the user. Further, 2814 displays a reason for selecting the series.
Fig. 29 shows an example of a screen for a movie or non-diversity program. The information shown may be for movies only or non-diversity programs. The information shown may include, but is not limited to, program name, year of release, program duration (shown in hours and minutes or minutes only) 2902, program rating (which may include a star rating system from 1 star to 4 stars) 2904, MPAA rating, and release date 2906. An image 2908, such as a movie poster or production image of a movie, may be displayed. A description 2910 of how the content may be obtained (purchased or downloaded) is also displayed. A graphical prompt may also be displayed indicating that the media content is high definition. In one embodiment, availability may include a variety of forms including, but not limited to, watch now, record, rent, purchase, subscribe, or free download. In another embodiment, the graphical cue indicates that the content may come from multiple sources, including broadband partners or via network television. Other types of data may also be displayed, such as, but not limited to, metadata for the content (including program description, duration, tags, etc.). The display of the placement and selection of the data may vary from case to case. In another embodiment, the placement and selection of data may be defined by the user.
Fig. 30 shows an example of a screen for a character. The information shown may be for a person only. The information shown may include, but is not limited to, a person name 3002, role of the person (actor, musician, author, etc.), credits list 3004, and credits list of program titles. A person image 3006, which may display an image of a person or an image of a role played by the person, may also be displayed. The reason 3008 for recommending the person is also displayed. Other types of data may also be displayed, such as, but not limited to, date and place of birth, biographical stories, constellations, links to movie clubs, and the like. The display of the placement and selection of the data may vary from case to case. In another embodiment, the placement and selection of data may be defined by the user.
Fig. 31 shows a screen example for promotion preview. Among these information displayed may include, but is not limited to, grid banner 3102, descriptions that may be included in the banner, and any screen-related operations 3104 performed by the user. One of the possible actions is to go to the destination indicated by the advertisement. In other embodiments, a small video may be displayed instead of a banner. In another embodiment, the graphical cue indicates that the content may come from multiple sources, including broadband partners or via network television. Other types of data may also be displayed, such as, but not limited to, metadata for the content (including program description, duration, tags, etc.). The display of the placement and selection of the data may vary from case to case. In another embodiment, the placement and selection of data may be defined by the user.
Fig. 32 shows an example of information displayed when a song is highlighted. The information shown may include, but is not limited to, song name 3202 and the band, song genre, and release date 3204. The song images 3206 may also display images of a band, or images of single-song or album covers. The reason 3208 for recommending songs is also displayed. The graphical prompt 3210 may also display the song source or publisher. In another embodiment, images of bands, albums, records, etc. may be displayed instead of or in addition to the image 3210. In one embodiment, availability may include a variety of forms including, but not limited to, watch now, record, rent, purchase, subscribe, or free download. In another embodiment, the graphical prompt indicates that the content may come from multiple sources, including broadband buddies. Other types of data may also be displayed, such as, but not limited to, metadata for the song (including program description, duration, tags, etc.). The display of the placement and selection of the data may vary from case to case. In another embodiment, the placement and selection of data may be defined by the user.
Browsing
The user may also decide to browse based on a number of categories including, but not limited to: top level culling, favorites, collections, movies, television, sports, content from a particular provider and category (genre). This is also a graphical interface with multiple boxes. Fig. 33 shows an example. In FIG. 33, the user may select among the categories 3302 shown on the left to be displayed in the grid 3304 on the right side of the screen. The number of entries in the grid may vary based on the size of each box in the grid and the screen size used.
The items in the browse menu may be sorted or grouped in a variety of ways. In one embodiment, the listed items are media content that is available for free via download or streaming, or media content that is about to be shown. Thus, items are displayed with a meaning regarding immediacy and usability. In another grouping, the presented media content may be displayed or available for purchase at some time during the next day.
3.4 additional features
Quality of service of data
In one embodiment, the data that the DVR sends and receives to the central server is priority-based. As the amount of data transferred between a DVR and a central server increases significantly, the performance of the DVR may be affected because the data cannot be received or transferred quickly enough. Thus, data relating to the currently performed operation (search) may be given higher priority over less time sensitive data (daily guideline updates). Thus, higher priority data will be transmitted in preference to lower priority data. This ensures that data that affects the user experience is more likely to reach the DVR in a timely manner.
Caching data in a DVR
As more data is needed to support a more robust user interface, more data related to multiple features may be cached by the DVR in order to improve the user experience. This eliminates the need for the DVR to request data each time the screen changes, or to display a discovery bar. In one embodiment, the DVR may cache expected data that the user is going to view. Thus, the data for the discovery bar (displayed on each screen) is cached by the DVR. The DVR no longer needs to transmit large amounts of data and the user experience is improved.
Privacy in search
In one embodiment, privacy may be maintained for the user by letting the user choose whether to save and record his or her entered information by the service provider. If the user decides that all information is recorded by the service provider, then all functions of the search are available to the user. If the user chooses not to join (keep the user's data private and not shared), the user may continue to use the search, but not all of the functionality is available. For example, certain information may need to be saved to provide search features. In this case, the search features that require the saved data would not be available to the un-joined user. The user may choose to add some information that allows some features of the search to be used while not allowing other features of the search to be used.
Remote application access to a DVR
In one embodiment, a service provider can access a DVR to determine the status of the DVR to improve searching and user interfaces. For example, a discovery bar contains content to be displayed to a user, but should not contain content that has been scheduled for recording. The only way to determine this information is to access the DVR to obtain a scheduled recording list. Previously, service providers were unable to access DVRs and thus were unable to use all search results, and the user interface was unable to incorporate status data for a single DVR into a search or user interface application. In one embodiment, the service provider remotely executes the application process on the server and remotely invokes the DVR to determine any necessary state information. In another example, a recording conflict cannot be determined by the service provider. By obtaining status information of the DVR, a recording conflict can be immediately presented to the user.
Content retrievable via recorded video
In one embodiment, a user may be presented with a selection of available content while viewing recorded media content. The retrievable content may be from content presented in the content item or may be obtained independently based on a number of factors. For example, the available content may be related to the media content the user is viewing, or may be determined by previous operations by the user. The determination of the available content may be based on policies and criteria described earlier with respect to the content piece. In one embodiment, the user is presented with the retrievable content (as a bar on the video) at the end of the recording or when the user has paused the recording. By displaying the relevant acquirable content while the user is viewing, the user is likely to see or have an interest in the acquirable content.
Application program
With high-speed internet connectivity, DVRs also have the ability to allow users to play games or run applications. In one embodiment, applications available via high-speed internet connections are displayed in the menu screen regardless of whether high-speed internet connections are available. This allows the user to see which applications will be available if a high speed internet connection is available. To indicate that the application is not active, the name of the application in the screen may be a different color, e.g. grey. In another embodiment, only the active applications are displayed in the menu screen.
In one embodiment, the application may also be associated with a tag. The tab allows an application to appear in another menu that has content that can be used with the application. For example, a photo application may have a tag that associates the application with arbitrary photo content. In this case, the user may store the photo under a particular menu in the DVR. The tag associates the photo application with the photo content and the shortcut of the photo application will appear in the menu with the photo. The tag may be associated with any third party application and, therefore, any third party photo application may also appear in the menu.
Specifying a source
In an embodiment, the user may specify from which sources the search results may come. Com, for example, the user may dislike the content of amazon. The user may restrict from which sources results are displayed. In one embodiment, the user may perform this operation by positively identifying which websites or sources are preferred, and then only display content from those sources as search results. Fig. 34 shows an example. In fig. 34, a list of different video providers 3404 is shown. The user can select a checkbox 3402 near each video provider to cause content from those video providers to appear in the search results. In another embodiment, the user may specify a particular source that the user does not wish to receive results, and thus, the search results setting excludes all content from that particular specified source.
In one embodiment, a user may be provided with a list of content providers from which to obtain particular media content. For example, recently-released movies may be downloaded from multiple providers (e.g., amazon. com, Netflix, and Blockbuster). These providers may change the fee charged for that particular movie and its performance (e.g., high definition or standard definition). Thus, the user can select from whom to obtain the most recently shown movie and whether the movie is high definition. Fig. 35 shows an example. In fig. 35, a selection for the movie love infinite spectrum (nickan dnorah's infinitieplayist) is shown. The movie may be obtained from different providers (Amazon, Blockbuster, Netflix, cinemaNow). The user has many options, including renting movie 3502 in high definition format from Amazon, renting movie 3504 in standard definition format from Amazon, and purchasing the movie 3506 from Amazon. Below the dashed line are some other options 3508 available that may indicate that the movie is also available through other providers, but that the user is not currently counting to subscribers of the service provider or has no access to the service provider.
Picture in figure
When viewing a particular menu (or graphic), the currently viewed television program or recording is displayed in a video zoom window (or picture in graphic "PIG"). The PIG may be displayed on any portion of the screen, as the case may be. The user may wish to remove the view of the PIG so as not to miss any of the programs being viewed. For example, the viewer may see a destroyer in a football game (e.g., a touchdown in a football game) on a small-sized video and prefer to view the football game only in a full-screen manner. The user may choose to turn off the PIG with a single command from the remote control. The user may then open the PIG when he or she wishes.
In an embodiment, the display of the PIG may also be based on user operation with a remote control. For example, if the user returns to the menu from live tv (at which time a remote operation is found within a specified time limit), the PIG is displayed using the menu. In another example, if the user returns to the menu from live television (where no remote operation is found within a specified time limit), the PIG is not displayed.
4.0 execution mechanisms-hardware overview
FIG. 36 is a block diagram that illustrates a computer system 3600 upon which an embodiment of the invention may be implemented. Computer system 3600 includes a bus 3602 or other communication mechanism for communicating information, and a processor 3604 coupled with bus 3602 for processing information. Computer system 3600 also includes a main memory 3606, such as a Random Access Memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device, that main memory 3606 coupled to bus 3602 for storing information and instructions to be executed by processor 3604. Main memory 3606 also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions to be executed by processor 3604. Computer system 3600 further includes a Read Only Memory (ROM)3608 or other static storage device coupled to bus 3602 for storing static information and instructions for processor 3604. A storage device 3610 (e.g., a magnetic or optical disk) is provided and coupled to bus 3602 for storing information and instructions.
Computer system 3600 may be coupled via bus 3602 to a display 3612, such as a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT), for displaying information to a computer user. An input device 3614, including alphanumeric and other keys, is coupled to bus 3602 for communicating information and command selections to processor 3604. Another type of user input device is cursor control 3616, such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys for communicating direction information and command selections to processor 3604 and for controlling cursor movement on display 3612. The input device typically has two degrees of freedom in two axes, a first axis (e.g., x) and a second axis (e.g., y), which allows the device to specify positions in a plane.
The invention is related to the use of computer system 3600 for performing the techniques described herein. According to one embodiment of the invention, computer system 3600 performs these techniques in response to processor 3604 executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in main memory 3606. Such instructions may be read into main memory 3606 from another computer-readable medium, such as storage device 3610. Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in main memory 3606 causes processor 3604 to perform the process steps described herein. In alternative embodiments, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions to implement the invention. Thus, embodiments of the invention are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software.
The term "computer-readable medium" as used herein refers to any medium that participates in providing data that causes a machine to operation in a specific fashion. In an embodiment implemented using computer system 3600, various computer readable media are included, for example, to provide instructions to processor 3604 for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to storage media and transmission media. Storage media includes both non-volatile media and volatile media. Non-volatile media includes, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as storage device 3610. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as main memory 3606. Transmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise bus 3602. Transmission media can also take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during acoustic and infrared data communications. All such media must be tangible to enable the instructions carried by the media to be detected by a physical mechanism that reads the instructions into a machine.
Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk (floppy disk), a flexible disk (flexible disk), hard disk, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a flash EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any other medium from which a computer can read.
Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions to processor 3604 for execution. For example, the instructions may initially be carried on a magnetic disk of a remote computer. The remote computer can load the instructions into its dynamic memory and send the instructions over a telephone line using a modem. A modem local to computer system 3600 can receive the data on the telephone line and use an infra-red transmitter to convert the data to an infra-red signal. An infra-red detector can receive the data carried in the infra-red signal and appropriate circuitry can place the data on bus 3602. The bus 3602 transfers data to the main memory 3606, and the processor 3604 retrieves instructions from the main memory 3606 and executes the instructions. The instructions received by main memory 3606 may optionally be stored on storage device 3610 either before or after execution by processor 3604.
Computer system 3600 also includes a communication interface 3618 coupled to bus 3602. Communication interface 3618 provides a two-way data communication coupling to a network link 3620, and network link 3620 couples to a local network 3622. For example, communication interface 3618 may be an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) card or a modem to provide a data communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line. As another example, communication interface 3618 may be a Local Area Network (LAN) card to provide a data communication connection to a compatible LAN. Wireless links may also be implemented. In any such implementation, communication interface 3618 sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams representing various types of information.
Network link 3620 typically provides data communication through one or more networks to other data devices. For example, network link 3620 may provide a connection through local network 3622 to a host computer 3624 or to data equipment operated by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) 3626. ISP3626 in turn provides data communication services through a worldwide packet-switched data communication network, now commonly referred to as the "internet" 3628. Local network 3622 and internet 3628 both use electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams. The signals through the various networks and the signals on network connection 3620 and through communication interface 3618, which carry the digital data to computer system 3600 or from computer system 3600, are exemplary forms of carrier waves transporting the information.
Computer system 3600 can send messages and receive data, including program code, through the network(s), network link 3620 and communication interface 3618. In the Internet example, a server 3630 might transmit a requested code for an application program through Internet 3628, ISP3626, local network 3622 and communication interface 3618.
The received code may be executed by processor 3604 as it is received, and/or stored in storage device 3610 or other non-volatile storage for later execution. In this manner, computer system 3600 may obtain application code in the form of a carrier wave.
In the foregoing specification, embodiments of the invention have been described with reference to numerous specific details that may vary from implementation to implementation. Thus, the sole and exclusive indicator of what is the invention, and is intended by the applicants to be the invention, is the set of claims that issue from this application, in the specific form in which such claims issue, including any subsequent correction. Any definitions expressly set forth herein for terms contained in such claims shall govern the meaning of such terms as used in the claims. Hence, no limitation, element, property, feature, advantage or attribute that is not expressly recited in a claim should limit the scope of such claim in any way. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.
5.0 example
In one embodiment, a method comprises the following steps, or one or more storage media storing instructions that when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of the following steps: generating a graphical user interface comprising a set of items displayed as a continuous loop of items, each item comprising a link to media content, the set of items comprising a plurality of views of the items, the views comprising a subset of the items, the subset being displayed to a user at a point in time, each view changing as the continuous loop of items is moved, generating the graphical user interface further comprising: determining a number of items in a group of items, i.e., one or more content sources from each particular group of one or more content sources from a plurality of groups, until all items in the group of items are considered; populating the group of entries with entries from the one or more content sources of each particular group based on the number of entries until a number of the one or more content sources for each particular group is satisfied; displaying a menu page to a user at a multimedia device; displaying the graphical user interface to a user in a particular area of the menu page.
In an embodiment, a method or one or more storage media storing instructions, wherein generating further comprises determining a probability that a particular group of one or more content sources will appear in a group of items, and determining a number of items that will come from the particular group of one or more content sources is based at least in part on the probability.
In one embodiment, a method or one or more storage media storing instructions, wherein a particular order in which to populate the graphical user interface is based on a content type.
In an embodiment, a method or one or more storage media storing instructions, wherein the specific order comprises first populating a set of items with commercially required items.
In one embodiment, a method or one or more storage media storing instructions, wherein a content source comprises a context-dependent and context-independent content source.
In an embodiment, a method or one or more storage media storing instructions, wherein the determined number of entries is based at least in part on a received user command input indicating a preference for a group of one or more content sources.
In an embodiment, a method or one or more storage media storing instructions, wherein an item includes an image corresponding to media content linked to the item.
In one embodiment, a method or one or more storage media storing instructions, wherein each item in a set of items is determined to be in a background environment of a currently displayed screen.
In an embodiment, a method or one or more storage media storing instructions, wherein a link to media content comprises a link to a provision of media content.
In an embodiment, a method or one or more storage media storing instructions, wherein a link to media content comprises a link to a collection of media content.
In an embodiment, a method or one or more storage media storing instructions further comprises receiving, at a server, a request from a multimedia device to generate the graphical user interface, and the server transmitting the graphical user interface to the multimedia device for display.
In an embodiment, the apparatus comprises a graphical user interface generation subsystem that generates a graphical user interface comprising a set of items displayed as a continuous loop of items, each item comprising a link to media content, the set of items comprising a plurality of views of the items, the views comprising a subset of the items, the subset being displayed to the user at a point in time, each view changing as the continuous loop of items is moved, the generating further comprising: a determination subsystem that determines a number of items in a group of items that are to be added to one or more content sources from each particular group of one or more content sources from the plurality of groups until all items in the group of items are considered; a population subsystem that populates the groups of entries with entries from the one or more content sources of each particular group based on the number of entries until a number of the one or more content sources for each particular group is satisfied; a display subsystem that displays menu pages to a user at a multimedia device; the display subsystem displays the graphical user interface to a user in a particular area of the menu page.
In an embodiment, the apparatus wherein the generating further comprises a percentage determination subsystem that determines a probability that a particular group of one or more content sources will appear in the set of items, and the determining the number of items that will come from the particular group of one or more content sources is based at least in part on the probability.
In an embodiment, the specific order in which the graphical user interface is populated is based on the content type.
In one embodiment, the apparatus wherein the specific order comprises first populating the set of items with the items of the business requirement.
In an embodiment, the apparatus wherein the content sources comprise context-dependent and context-independent content sources.
In an embodiment, the apparatus, wherein the determined number of entries is based at least in part on a received user command input indicating a preference for a group of one or more content sources.
In an embodiment, an apparatus, wherein an entry comprises an image, the image corresponding to media content linked to the entry.
In an embodiment, the apparatus wherein each item in the set of items is determined to be in the background environment of the currently displayed screen.
In an embodiment, the apparatus, wherein the link to the media content comprises a link to a provision of the media content.
In an embodiment, the apparatus, wherein the link to the media content comprises a link to a collection of media content.
In an embodiment, the apparatus further comprises a receiving subsystem that receives a request from a multimedia device at a server to generate the graphical user interface and a transmitting subsystem that transmits the graphical user interface from the server to the multimedia device for display.
Claims (15)
1. A method for enhancing a user interface screen, comprising:
receiving a request to determine a set of items to include in a dynamically generated discovery bar area to be placed in an interactive screen of a multimedia device;
causing generation of the discovery bar area, the discovery bar area being a graphical user interface comprising the set of items displayed as a continuous loop of items, each item comprising a link to media content, the set of items comprising a plurality of views of items, a view comprising a subset of items, the subset being displayed to a user at a point in time, each view changing as the continuous loop of items is moved;
wherein the generating of the discovery bar region further comprises:
obtaining a background environment to be displayed on the multimedia device by the discovery bar region;
determining a number of items in the set of items that are to be sourced from one or more content sources of each particular one of the plurality of groups until all of the items in the set of items are considered;
based on the number of items and the obtained context, populating the group of items with items from the one or more content sources of each particular group until the number of one or more content sources for each particular group is satisfied;
causing display of the discovery bar region to a user in a particular region of the menu page on the multimedia device while the multimedia device displays the menu page to the user.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating further comprises determining a probability that a particular group of one or more content sources will appear in the set of items, and determining the number of items that will come from the particular group of one or more content sources is based at least in part on the probability.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein a specific order in which the discovery bar regions are populated is based on content type.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the specific order comprises first populating the set of items with items of a business requirement.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of one or more content sources comprises a context-dependent content source and a context-independent content source, wherein the context-dependent content source comprises a context-dependent selection, wherein the context-independent content source does not comprise any context-dependent selection, wherein the context-dependent selection is content related to one or more of a particular media content selected at the multimedia device, a person selected at the multimedia device, a tag selected at the multimedia device, or the menu page displayed at the multimedia device.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined number of entries is based at least in part on a received user command input indicating a preference for a group of one or more content sources.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein an item comprises an image corresponding to media content linked to the item.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more items in the set of items are selected based on a context of a screen currently displayed at the multimedia device.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the link to media content comprises a link to a provision of media content.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the link to media content comprises a link to a collection of media content.
11. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, at a server, a request from a multimedia device to generate the discovery bar region, and the server transmitting the discovery bar region to the multimedia device for display.
12. The method of claim 1, further comprising: the multimedia equipment sends state information to a server; the server selects the set of items based on the state information.
13. The method of claim 11 or 12, further comprising: the multimedia device caches the set of entries and/or the discovery bar region.
14. An apparatus for augmenting a user interface screen, comprising one or more processors configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1-13.
15. A system for enhancing a user interface screen, comprising a server and at least one multimedia device corresponding to the multimedia device of claim 1, the system being generally configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1-13.
Applications Claiming Priority (3)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
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US14219308P | 2008-12-31 | 2008-12-31 | |
US61/142,193 | 2008-12-31 | ||
PCT/US2009/069966 WO2010078525A1 (en) | 2008-12-31 | 2009-12-31 | Adaptive search result user interface |
Publications (2)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
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HK1162716A1 HK1162716A1 (en) | 2012-08-31 |
HK1162716B true HK1162716B (en) | 2017-03-24 |
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