Near real-time multiple thumbnail guide with single tuner
Contents
1. and 3 3 have been designated purely as an indication that they may not be in numerical order In accord with certain embodiments consistent with the present invention when the menu is invoked and for example favorites is selected the initial view will display either icons or virtual channel listings in text and may further dis play other information about the content Referring now to FIG 2 it is desirable in accord with embodiments consistent with the present invention to begin populating the windows 12 18 20 22 and 24 with video clips or trailers to provide a more dynamic environment from which the viewer can select content Hence it is desirable to retrieve clips of content with which to fill the windows 12 18 20 22 and 24 Since only one tuner may be available this can be achieved by first tuning and receiving channel C which by virtue of default status should be of high likelihood of interest This clip is shown in window 12 and retrieved for a suitable period of time N e g 10 to 20 seconds After this point the clip is repeated in this window 12 while clips for the other windows are sequentially retrieved Since the user might logi cally select highly preferred channels at window locations C 1 and C 1 windows 18 and 22 it follows that these channels might be retrieved sequentially next for a period of time M which might be a shorter period of time e g 5 to 15 seconds Finally the channels C 2 and C 2 can b2. channels that reside on a plurality of separate transport streams with a principal focus channel comprising a selected channel having a highest sorting priority and other channels being arranged in pairs of equivalent sorting priority in a hierarchy relative to the selected channel from highest sorting priority to lowest sorting priority of the other channel pairs where the sorting priority is determined by a selected cat egory of channels displaying a plurality of windows representing a plurality of the channels in a cross media bar menu arrangement with the principal focus channel being represented at a window appearing at an intersection of horizontal and vertical bars in the cross media bar menu arrangement and the pairs of channels arranged on either side of the selected channel in the cross media bar menu arrange ment with windows representing the pairs of channels situated opposite each other relative to the intersection of the horizontal and vertical bars and with the windows representing the pairs of channels having lower sorting priority being equivalently situated progressively fur ther from the principal focus channel window relative to the respective equivalent sorting priority of the pair of channels sequentially retrieving sample clips of the plurality of tele vision channels that reside on the plurality of separate transport streams in the selected category in order of the sorting priority starting at the highest s
3. for the next show to watch he can only see one active channel at a time A common solution is to have a single live playback in the corner of the screen based upon the highlighted entry in the on screen text display BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Certain illustrative embodiments illustrating organization and method of operation together with objects and advan tages may be best understood by reference detailed descrip tion that follows taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which FIG 1 is an exemplary depiction ofa cross media bar menu consistent with certain embodiments of the present invention FIG 2 is another exemplary depiction of a cross media bar menu having video icons consistent with certain embodi ments of the present invention FIG 3 is another exemplary depiction of a cross media bar menu having video icons and text overlay consistent with certain embodiments of the present invention FIG 4 is another exemplary depiction of a cross media bar menu having video icons after channel scrolling consistent with certain embodiments of the present invention FIG 5 is a flow chart depicting an example operation of populating the menu bar with video clips in a manner consis tent with certain embodiments of the present invention FIG 6 is a flow chart depicting another example operation of populating the menu bar with video clips in a manner consistent with certain embodiments of the present invention F
4. channel displaying a plurality of windows representing a plurality of the channels in a cross media bar menu arrangement with the principal focus channel being represented at a window appearing at an intersection of horizontal and vertical bars in the cross media bar menu arrangement and the pairs of channels arranged on either side of the selected channel in the cross media bar menu arrangement and retrieving sample clips of the channels in focus section of the sort order and presenting the clips as repeating clips in their respective windows wherein each sample clip has a clip time and wherein the clip time of the principal focus channel s clip is longer than the clip time of other clips in the sort and wherein the clip time of each clip decreases with increasing distance from the principal focus clip In certain embodiments repeating the retrieving and pre senting can be carried out at a prioritized periodic rate In certain embodiments if any two or more channels are received over the same transport stream the order of retrieval of the two or more channels is modified from strictly distance order and the clips that are received over the same transport stream are retrieved substantially simultaneously In certain embodiments the method further involves checking each channel to determine if its content currently contains a com mercial spot and ifso skipping the retrieval and presenting of any channel currently containing a commer
5. similar in configuration to that currently in use with Sony Electronics Inc s and Sony Corporation s Bravia series television sets In such an arrangement horizontal icons may be used to represent sources of content or collections of television channels e g sports news favorites movies etc When the user navigates to a desired source or collection a vertical bar appears pro viding a listing of members of the collection or television channels In this example three of the series of horizontal channel selections are shown as sports 10 favorites 12 and news 14 In this example assume that the user selects favor ites 12 by navigation using navigation controls after invok ing the menu system It is also assumed that only one tuner is available in the present application but embodiments may also utilize multiple tuners In certain embodiments upon invoking the menu and selecting favorites normally an array of television program titles will appear vertically Alternatively a set of icons rep resenting networks or the like may be presented However the user may wish to see clips of programming content when this selection is made In any case it is assumed that an order has been established either manually or by a sorting algorithm 20 25 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 forming a part of the Electronic Program Guide EPG or menu system that defines the order in which the programs appear in the text gra
6. 4 A1 6 2005 Fogg uo P 2005 0273838 A1 12 2005 Witheiler ii 2006 0031880 A1 2 2006 Stark etal oe 725 45 CATEGORY E G FAVORITES TUNE TUNER TO CENTER CHANNEL CIN CATEGORY C C 1 C 2 C 2 ARE IN SAME TS CACHE N SECOND CLIP OF CENTER OTHER CHANNELS CHANNEL AND MOR P SECOND CLIP OF InterVideo Home Theater 2 Platinum InterVideo Corel website 2008 Time Warner Cable Mobile TV Time Warner Cable website 2008 Win TV Celebrity Digital Video Board Win TV Celebrity Haup pauge Computer Works Inc 1995 Robotfunk Flowmotion 2 0 User Manual 2000 2003 cited by examiner Primary Examiner Scott Beliveau Assistant Examiner Patrick A Ryan 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Miller Patent Services Jerry A Miller 57 ABSTRACT A method of presenting a video electronic program guide EPG consistent with certain embodiments involves estab lishing a sorting of television channels with a selected chan nel having a highest sorting priority and other channels being arranged in pairs in a hierarchy below the selected channel displaying a plurality of windows representing a plurality of the channels in a cross media bar menu arrangement with the principal focus channel being represented at a window appearing at an intersection of horizontal and vertical bars in the cross media bar menu arrangement and the pairs of chan nels arranged on either si
7. IG 7 is a flow chart depicting a channel scroll decision in a manner consistent with certain embodiments of the present invention FIG 8 is another flow chart depicting a channel scroll operation in a manner consistent with certain embodiments of the present invention FIG 9 is a flow chart depicting a commercial check deci sion consistent with certain embodiments of the present invention DETAILED DESCRIPTION While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms there is shown in the drawings and will herein 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 be described in detail specific embodiments with the under standing that the present disclosure of such embodiments is to be considered as an example of the principles and not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments shown and described In the description below like reference numerals are used to describe the same similar or corre sponding parts in the several views of the drawings The terms a or an as used herein are defined as one or more than one The term plurality as used herein is defined as two or more than two The term another as used herein is defined as at least a second or more The terms including and or having as used herein are defined as comprising i e open language The term coupled as used herein is defined as connected although not necessarily direc
8. L C RETURN TO A U S Patent Aug 21 2012 Sheet 9 of 9 US 8 250 604 B2 254 258 TUNE CHANNEL COMMERCIAL CHECK 266 COMMERCIAL SKIP CHANNEL AND RETURN LATER WHEN COMMERCIAL ENDED NO oi oO 262 FIG 9 276 270 US 8 250 604 B2 1 NEAR REAL TIME MULTIPLE THUMBNAIL GUIDE WITH SINGLE TUNER COPYRIGHT AND TRADEMARK NOTICE A portion of the disclosure of this patent document con tains material which is subject to copyright protection The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduc tion of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatso ever Trademarks are the property of their respective owners BACKGROUND It is commonplace for electronic program guides EPGs used to navigate a multitude of television channels to provide a listing including text descriptions of titles of programs Sometimes text descriptions may not sufficient for a viewer to make an informed selection of what to watch on TV Hence channel surfing is a popular means for finding a program When two or more tuners are available a clip or trailer can be provided by using the secondary tuner to surf while a primary tuner continues to provide a primary program But generally when only one tuner is available only one show can be viewed at a time If the user is surfing
9. OND CLIP 42 OF CHANNEL C 2 44 62 BEGIN REPEATING a S BEGIN REPEATING DISPLAY OF CHANNEL C 2 46 TUNE TUNER TO CHANNEL C 1 TUNE TUNER TO CHANNEL C 2 64 CACHE M SECOND CLIP OF CHANNEL C 1 CACHE P SECOND CLIP OF CHANNEL C 2 48 66 BEGIN REPEATING DISPLAY OF CHANNEL C 1 BEGIN REPEATING DISPLAY OF CHANNEL C 2 50 68 FIG 5 U S Patent Aug 21 2012 Sheet 6 of 9 US 8 250 604 B2 USER INVOKES MENU AND SELECTS CHANNEL CATEGORY E G FAVORITES 104 FIG 6 TUNE TUNER TO CENTER CHANNEL C IN CATEGORY an CHECK IF ANY OF C 1 C 1 C 2 C 2 ARE IN SAME TS 114 CACHE N SECOND CLIP OF CENTER CHANNEL AND M OR P SECOND CLIP OF OTHER CHANNELS IN TS BEGIN REPEATING CACHE N M OR P DISPLAY OF CENTER SECOND CLIP OF CHANNEL CLIP AND ANY OF C 1 C 1 ANY OTHER CACHED C 2 C 2 CHANNELS CLIPS INTS 130 TUNE TO TS FOR ONE OF REMAINING UNCACHED CHANNELS ANY OF C 1 C 1 C 2 C 2 REMAIN UNCACHED 126 U S Patent Aug 21 2012 Sheet 7 of 9 US 8 250 604 B2 162 RETURN TO FULL DISPLAY OF SELECTED CHANNEL 166 NEW CENTER CHANNEL C RETURN TO A FIG 7 U S Patent Aug 21 2012 Sheet 8 of 9 US 8 250 604 B2 IND O RETURN TOFULL 162 DISPLAY OF SELECTED CHANNEL 166 208 CACHE CLIP FOR NEWLY EXPOSED CHANNEL WINDOW AND DISPLAY IN FIG 8 NEWLY EXPOSED WINDOW NEW CENTER CHANNE
10. US008250604B2 az United States Patent 10 Patent No US 8 250 604 B2 Unger et al 45 Date of Patent Aug 21 2012 54 NEAR REAL TIME MULTIPLE THUMBNAIL 2006 0039481 A1 2 2006 Shen etal s 375 240 25 2006 0256782 AL 11 2006 Shimizu s s s 370 360 GUIDE WIEN SINGER TUNER 2007 0050813 Al 3 2007 Lee 75 Inventors Robert Allan Unger El Cajon CA FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS US James Amendolagine San wo WO 9607270 Al 3 1996 Marcos CA US OTHER PUBLICATIONS 73 Assignees Sony Corporation Tokyo JP Sony Electronics Inc Park Ridge NJ US Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by 749 days 21 Appl No 12 012 766 22 Filed Feb 5 2008 65 Prior Publication Data US 2009 0199241 A1 Aug 6 2009 51 Int CL G06F 3 00 G06F 13 00 2006 01 HOAN 5 455 2006 01 52 USS Ck reiia 725 44 725 41 715 838 58 Field of Classification Search 0 00 00 None See application file for complete search history 2006 01 56 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 6 419 137 Bl 7 2002 Marshall et al 6 445 306 B1 9 2002 Trovato et al 340 825 24 6 934 964 Bl 8 2005 Schaffer et al 7 743 343 B2 6 2010 Fong etal we 715 841 2002 0171686 Al 11 2002 Kamen et al 2003 0016304 Al 1 2003 Norsworthy et al 348 565 2003 0018972 Al 1 2003 Arora 2003 0221192 A1 11 2003 Rappaport et al 725 41 2005 013856
11. a window size for the principal focus channel is larger than a window size for others of the channels 7 The method according to claim 1 further comprising overlaying the sample clips with identifying information relating to at least one of a network a program or a channel being displayed 8 The method according to claim 1 further comprising receiving a user command for selection of a channel and responsive thereto removing display of the cross media bar menu arrangement and displaying the selected channel in a normal viewing mode 9 The method according to claim 1 carried out using a single television receiver 10 A non transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions which when executed on one or more programmed processors carry out a process according to claim 1 11 A method of presenting a video electronic program guide EPG comprising in combination establishing a sorting priority of a plurality of television channels that reside on a plurality of separate transport streams with a principal focus channel comprising a selected channel having a highest sorting priority and other channels being arranged in pairs of equivalent sorting priority in a hierarchy relative to the selected channel from highest sorting priority to lowest sorting priority of the other channel pairs where the sorting priority is determined by a selected cat egory of channels displaying a plurality of windows representing a plur
12. ality of the channels in a cross media bar menu arrangement with the principal focus channel being represented at a window appearing at an intersection of horizontal and vertical bars in the cross media bar menu arrangement and the pairs of channels arranged on either side of the selected channel in the cross media bar menu arrange ment with windows representing the pairs of channels situated opposite each other relative to the intersection of the horizontal and vertical bars and with the windows representing the pairs of channels having lower sorting priority being situated progressively further from the principal focus channel window relative to the respec tive equivalent sorting priority of the pair of channels sequentially retrieving sample clips of the plurality of tele vision channels that reside on the plurality of separate transport streams in the selected category in order ofthe sorting priority starting at the highest sorting priority and proceeding in order to the lowest sorting priority by tuning to in order of the sorting priority each transport stream carrying each channel except that where a lower or equal sorting priority channel in the selected category of channels is carried in the same transport stream as a channel that is currently being retrieved then the lower or equal sorting priority channel is retrieved along with the channel that is currently being retrieved by selecting packet identifiers of the lower or equal so
13. alterna tive equivalent embodiments Certain embodiments described herein may be imple mented using one or more programmed processors executing programming instructions that are broadly described above in flow chart form that can be stored on any suitable electronic or computer readable storage medium However those skilledin US 8 250 604 B2 9 the art will appreciate upon consideration of the present teaching that the processes described above can be imple mented in any number of variations and in many suitable programming languages without departing from embodi ments of the present invention For example the order of certain operations carried out can often be varied additional operations can be added or operations can be deleted without departing from certain embodiments of the invention Error trapping can be added and or enhanced and variations can be made in user interface and information presentation without departing from certain embodiments of the present invention Such variations are contemplated and considered equivalent While certain illustrative embodiments have been described it is evident that many alternatives modifications permutations and variations will become apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing description What is claimed is 1 A method of presenting a video electronic program guide EPG comprising in combination establishing a sorting priority of a plurality of television
14. center channel win dow would provide a clip of longest duration the windows closest to center would be somewhat shorter in duration and the duration of the clips farther from the center would be of decreasing duration This permits more rapid population of the windows and places emphasis on the windows closest to center FIG 2 depicts the fully populated windows with moving video playing in each window In certain embodiments sev eral features can be added to enhance the quality of the chan nel selection experience In one enhancement once all win dows are populated the process repeats so that a more recent clip continually repopulates the various windows In another embodiment commercial detection can be used to avoid showing repeated clips of commercial spots rather than tele vision programming Several processes will be described later and this enhancement can be added in the manner depicted In the event two tuners are available one tuner can con tinuously show the real time broadcast of channel C in win dow 12 while the second tuner retrieves the clips used to populate windows 18 20 22 and 24 Moreover if trailers are available from another source available to the receiver e g set top box such as the Internet these trailers can be retrieved to populate the various windows instead of or as a supplement to caching clips from live broadcast FIG 3 depicts the EPG as shown in FIG 2 supplemented by overlay of channel and n
15. cial spot until such time as the commercial spot has ended In certain embodiments the window size for the principal focus chan nel is larger than the window size for others of the channels In certain embodiments the process further involves overlay ing the video clips with identifying information relating to at least one of the network program or the channel being dis played In certain embodiments the method further involves receiving a user command for selection of a channel and responsive thereto removing display of the cross media bar menu and displaying the selected channel in a normal view ing mode A computer readable storage medium can store instructions which when executed on one or more pro grammed processors carry out any of the above processes Those skilled in the art will recognize upon consideration of the above teachings that certain of the above exemplary embodiments can be based upon use of one or more pro grammed processors computers or other programmable devices However the invention is not limited to such exem plary embodiments since other embodiments could be implemented using hardware component equivalents such as special purpose hardware and or dedicated processors Simi larly general purpose computers microprocessor based com puters micro controllers optical computers analog comput ers dedicated processors application specific circuits and or dedicated hard wired logic may be used to construct
16. d and sort based on past use etc Applications using XMB provide a good example as shown in the descriptions below At any point in time there will be a finite number of channels of interest Snapshot clips of these channels are captured in a rotating sequence with the primary thumbnail alternating with the other six Each snap shot will cover a short span of time e g up to about 30 seconds or so An example sequence might be C for the center channel C 1 C C 1 C C 2 C C 2 C C 3 C C 3 C repeating until the primary is rotated to another selection or the current primary focus is selected to be watched While embodiments consistent with this invention make use of a single tuner to obtain the thumbnails TVs with an internet connection can probably get thumbnails online as well In the case of the Internet the caching system can be more elaborate Instead of caching a live video stream using the tuner the TV can send a request for meta data to a host on the Internet e g using Sony s Bravia Internet Video Link BIVL protocol Meta data can include a preview video clip highlighting the channels current show Since this would be a canned video clip it can potentially show off the focus program better than a cached clip of the live video channel Other meta data can also be passed including text descrip tions related shows etc Turning now to FIG 1 this figure illustrates an exemplary cross media bar XMB menu system
17. de of the selected channel in the cross media bar menu arrangement and retrieving sample clips of the channels in focus section of the sort order and presenting the clips as repeating clips in their respective win dows This abstract is not to be considered limiting since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract 18 Claims 9 Drawing Sheets BEGIN REPEATING 126 ANY OF C 1 C 1 C 2 C 2 CHANNELS INTS TUNE TO TS FOR ONE OF REMAINING UNCACHED CHANNELS U S Patent Aug 21 2012 Sheet 1 of 9 US 8 250 604 B2 CHANNEL 7 1 C 2 20 CHANNEL 2 4 C 1 10 14 FAVORITES 00o SPORTS DEFAULT CHANNEL 3 2 NEWS 00o C CHANNEL 2 3 C 1 22 FIG 1 24 CHANNEL 3 3 C 2 U S Patent Aug 21 2012 Sheet 2 of 9 US 8 250 604 B2 10 ooo SPORTS NEWS eoo 14 FIG 2 U S Patent Aug 21 2012 Sheet 3 of 9 US 8 250 604 B2 eoo SPORTS NEWS eco 14 FIG 3 U S Patent Aug 21 2012 Sheet 4 of 9 US 8 250 604 B2 eee SPORTS NEWS eee FIG 4 U S Patent Aug 21 2012 Sheet 5 of 9 US 8 250 604 B2 START TUNE TUNER TO CHANNEL C 1 x USER INVOKES 36 54 52 MENU AND SELECTS CHANNEL CACHE M SECOND CLIP CATEGORY E G OF CHANNEL C 1 FAVORITES 56 BEGIN REPEATING DISPLAY TUNE TUNER TO OF CHANNEL C 1 CENTER CHANNEL C IN CATEGORY 58 TUNE TUNER TO CHANNEL C 2 CACHE N SECOND 60 CLIP OF CENTER CHANNEL CACHE P SEC
18. e retrieved sequentially to place repeating clips in windows 20 and 24 These clips might also be shorter e g 5 to 15 or 5 to 10 seconds Initially it may be desirable to populate the various windows with text or icons from the system information available until video clips can be captured and then overlay the image with text and or logos Or alternatively the splice point between videos could be occupied with a network logo program title other text from the meta data etc Hence preferably the center channel C will display the longest repeating clip while the channels farther from the center might display the same or shorter length clips or pro gressively shorter clips as the window gets farther away from center Also recall that for convenience the present example shows only five such windows but seven or nine or more or US 8 250 604 B2 5 less may also be present In such case the general procedure is the same It is also noted that for digital content a single receiver may be able to effectively retrieve more than one channel simultaneously if they are a part of the same transport stream by simply filtering more than one set of content for caching based on the packet identifiers for the channels occu pying the same transport stream In such case the actual proximity of the window to the center position would play a secondary role in favor of more rapid population of the win dows In one preferred implementation the
19. e retrieved substantially simultaneously In certain embodiments the process further involves checking each channel to determine if its content currently contains a commercial spot and if so skipping the retrieval and presenting of any channel currently containing a commercial spot until such time as the commer cial spot has ended In certain embodiments the window size for the principal focus channel is larger than the window size for others of the channels In certain embodiments the method further involves overlaying the video clips with iden tifying information relating to at least one of the network program or the channel being displayed In certain embodi ments the method further involves receiving a user command for selection of a channel and responsive thereto removing an 0 20 40 45 50 55 65 8 display of the cross media bar menu and displaying the selected channel in a normal viewing mode In certain embodiments the method can be carried out using a single television receiver A computer readable storage medium can store instructions which when executed on one or more pro grammed processors carry out any of the above processes In another embodiment a method of presenting a video electronic program guide EPG involves establishing a sort ing of television channels with a selected channel having a highest sorting priority and other channels being arranged in pairs in a hierarchy below the selected
20. ective time designated for the window position at 122 When all of the windows have been cached at 126 the process can return to 40 where updating of the windows can begin If any windows remain to be populated at 126 the tuner tunes to an un cached channel at 130 and caches any channels in that transport stream at 134 and con trol returns to 122 In this manner the windows can poten tially be populated with clips more rapidly In another embodiment further speed enhancement can be achieved by populating each of the windows with a short clip and live video can be presented in the C channel window until a channel is changed Many other variations are possible and will occur to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the present teachings When the user scrolls to a new channel or selects a channel for viewing the operations 150 of FIG 7 can be carried out starting at 154 Ifa channel is selected at 158 the system exits the menu display and begins to display the selected channel on the full screen or other normal viewing mode at 162 and the menu process ends at 166 until re invoked by the user If a channel is scrolled up or down at 170 the position of the images within the windows and possibly the relative size of the image with C being largest are shifted to the next US 8 250 604 B2 7 position The tuner then sets a new channel C at 174 The process can then return to 40 in process 30 in one embodi ment or to 40 in proc
21. el in a normal viewing mode 17 The method according to claim 11 carried out using a single television receiver 18 A non transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions which when executed on one or more programmed processors carry out a process according to claim 11
22. ess 100 in another embodiment at 178 Other variations are also possible Another variant is depicted as process 200 starting at 204 in FIG 8 which is similar process 150 except that the tuning capturing and repeat display process e g as in 64 66 and 68 of process 30 are carried out at 208 for the newly exposed channel resulting from the scrolling operation prior to reset ting and tuning to the channel now occupying the C position This rapidly populates the vacant channel position before proceeding back to a process similar to that of process 30 or 100 A variant in any of the above process is depicted as process 250 of FIG 9 starting at 250 In this variant each tuning process at 258 is followed by a check to see if the channel is currently playing a commercial spot at 262 If not the process proceeds as normal at 270 If a commercial spot is currently playing the channel is skipped at 276 and the process e g similar to 30 or 100 then proceeds to the next channel and returns at a later time to capture the clip for the channel after the commercial spot is completed Many variations are possible without departing from the scope of embodiments consistent with the present invention By way of example although the XMB interface was depicted with the video windows arranged vertically they could equally well be arranged horizontally Thus a method of presenting a video electronic program guide EPG consistent with certain embodime
23. etwork information Any variety of information can be presented in this manner as an overlay including program name virtual channel network network logo description etc Referring now to FIG 4 the EPG absent the text or icon overlay for ease of viewing in these diagrams is depicted after the user utilizes the remote controller or other control mechanism to scroll down the channels by one channel In this case clips continue playing for those channels that have been captured while a new clip is cached for the new channel in the window or windows that are revealed The clips already playing may be truncated e g the clip from channel C moves to C 1 and may be reduced in length according to the established time for positions adjacent the center Simi larly at the next opportunity the length of the clips moving into positions closer to or at the center are updated to increase their length Moreover clips from channels not yet exposed can be pre fetched for immediate use when the user scrolls to a new center channel Many variations will be apparent upon consideration of the present teachings One elementary example of the basic process 30 is depicted in FIG 5 for populating the menu with video clips starting at 32 In this embodiment channel windows are populated using the order C C 1 C 1 C 2 C 2 but other orderings can be easily adapted e g C C 1 C 1 C 2 C 2 or C C 1 C C 1 C C 2 C C 2 etc The user invokes t
24. hannel can take approximately 1 second up to five seconds can be consumed in this process plus the actual time for download of the sample clip Hence clip length should be balanced with user friendliness of the interface Several example times for display of the samples without intent of limitation for a five channel interface include 20 15 7 15 10 5 or 20 10 10 or 15 5 5 seconds starting at the channel C and moving outward Thus P can be shorter or equal to M or all channel time clips can be weighted equally to produce 10 10 10 etc It is also noted that the virtual channel information or broadcaster logo may be displayed as an overlay for reference in these windows 12 18 20 22 and 24 along with the video clips The process speed can be potentially enhanced by use of a process 100 depicted in FIG 6 starting at 104 At 36 the user invokes the menu and selects a channel category as described previously The tuner then tunes to the center channel in the category as before at 40 However it is noted that if any of channels C 1 18 C 2 20 C 1 22 and C 2 24 are carried on the same transport stream at 114 from the source since several channels are often accommodated by a single transport stream it is possible to speed up the process In this case the caching and populating of the window of several programs can be carried out simultaneously at 118 Those cached programs can then be repeated in their respective windows for the resp
25. he menu system and selects a category e g favorites sports news weather local channels etc at 36 At 40 the receiver is directed to begin reception of channel C and displays the content in the window 12 simultaneously with caching a 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 segment of the content at 42 so that the user can immediately begin taking advantage of the preview ofthe content When N seconds of content have been displayed those N seconds are cached and begin repeating at 44 The tuner then moves on to tune channel C 1 at 46 while preferably simultaneously showing the real time content at window 18 while caching M seconds of the content at 48 Once M seconds are cached the M second clip may begin repeated play at 50 A similar process is repeated to tune to channel C 1 at 52 while dis playing the content in window 22 caching M seconds of channel C 1 and repeating play of the clip at 52 54 and 56 respectively N M and P are referred to as the clip times and can vary in a number of ways as will be discussed A similar process is carried out to capture and repeatedly display clips of length P at 58 60 and 62 for channel C 2 and at 64 66 and 68 for channel C 2 The process can be similarly incremented for additional channels if more than five are to be shown in the EPG It is noted that the tuning time plus time for capture of the cache should be optimized for a given system since acquisition of a new c
26. me If the user is surfing for the next show to watch he can only see one active channel at a time In certain embodiments this invention captures short clips from multiple channels on both sides of the highlighted US 8 250 604 B2 3 channel as well as the highlighted channel As used herein the highlighted channel is considered the channel of primary focus whereas other channels appearing on the video menu system may be considered to be of secondary or peripheral focus A single tuner can scan a group of channels and cache thumb nail video clips to play in repeat mode This way the surfer can browse the channel list viewing cached thumb nail video clips ofthe recently captured channels These clips can play alongside the program s text description as a clip based Cross Media Bar XMB display or other formats as desired for the user interface In embodiments consistent with the present invention a cache of short clips is captured from multiple channels Any or all of the cached clips can be displayed simulta neously The channel navigation system can pre fetch chan nels to be cached based on location of the neighboring chan nels in the sort order Any suitable sorting algorithm can be used to calculate the proximity of channels based on current sort mode genre title station ID Network favorite list auto favorite list could keep track of the amount of time a given program genre is viewe
27. nnection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention Thus the appearances of such phrases or in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment Furthermore the particular features structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments without limitation The term or as used herein is to be interpreted as an inclusive or meaning any one or any combination Therefore A B or C means any of the following A B C A and B A and C B and C A B and C An exception to this definition will occur only when a combination of elements functions steps or acts are in some way inherently mutually exclusive The term processor controller CPU Computer and the like as used herein encompasses both hard pro grammed special purpose general purpose and program mable devices and may encompass a plurality of such devices or a single device in either a distributed or centralized con figuration without limitation In certain embodiments the present invention provides a method to provide near real time thumbnail clips of real time content for navigation and selection Since sometimes text descriptions are suitably informative to make an informed selection of what to watch on TV The equivalent of a movie trailer is desired With only one tuner only one show can be viewed at a ti
28. nts involves establishing a sorting of television channels with a selected channel having a highest sorting priority and other channels being arranged in pairs in a hierarchy below the selected channel displaying a plurality of windows representing a plurality of the channels in a cross media bar menu arrange ment with the principal focus channel being represented at a window appearing at an intersection of horizontal and vertical bars in the cross media bar menu arrangement and the pairs of channels arranged on either side of the selected channel in the cross media bar menu arrangement and retrieving sample clips of the channels in focus section of the sort order and presenting the clips as repeating clips in their respective win dows In certain embodiments each sample clip has a clip time and wherein the clip time of the principal focus channel s clip is longer than the clip time of other clips in the sort In certain embodiments the clip time of each clip decreases with increasing distance from the principal focus clip In certain embodiments each sample clip has an equal clip time In certain embodiments the retrieving and presenting are repeated at a prioritized periodic rate In certain embodi ments if any two or more channels are received over the same transport stream the order of retrieval of the two or more channels is modified from strictly distance order and the clips that are received over the same transport stream ar
29. orting priority and proceeding in order to the lowest sorting priority by tuning to in order of the sorting priority each transport stream carrying each channel except that where a lower or equal sorting priority channel in the selected category of channels is carried in the same transport stream as a channel that is currently being retrieved then the lower or equal sorting priority channel is retrieved along with the channel that is currently being retrieved by selecting packet identifiers of the lower or equal sorting priority channel and presenting the sample clips as repeating clips in their respective windows 2 The method according to claim 1 wherein each sample clip has a clip time and wherein the clip time of the sample clip of the principal focus channel is longer than the clip time of other sample clips in the sort 3 The method according to claim 1 wherein each sample clip has an equal clip time 0 an 5 20 25 30 40 45 65 10 4 The method according to claim 1 further comprising repeating the retrieving and presenting at a prioritized peri odic rate 5 The method according to claim 1 further comprising checking each channel to determine if its content currently contains a commercial spot and if so skipping the retrieval and presenting of any channel currently containing a com mercial spot until such time as the commercial spot has ended 6 The method according to claim 1 wherein
30. phical or in the case of embodiments consistent with the present invention video depictions This ordering if automated can use any suitable algorithm includ ing fixed placement order of frequency time of viewing proximity in the transport stream or manual selection by the viewer In any event the program guide or menu system establishes a sorting of television channels with a selected channel having a highest sorting priority and other channels being arranged in pairs in a hierarchy below the selected channel In the example shown a total of five channels may be presented as menu selections for ease of explanation but more or fewer may be presented without departing from embodiments consistent with the present invention In this example the default channel that appears in the center is referred to as channel C The channel may be default by virtue of any desired mechanism e g last viewed channel on the favorites list or default as designated by the viewer Above and below default channel C are other channels in this cat egory which may be numerically arranged arranged accord ing to proximity in the transport stream TS or manually arranged by the user or as determined by some other algo rithm It is illustrative to note that a random sequence of high definition HD virtual channel numbers have been affixed to these channels which are designated C 1 18 C 2 20 C 1 22 and C 2 24 The channel numbers of 7 1 2 4 3 2 2 3
31. rting priority channel and US 8 250 604 B2 11 presenting the sample clips as repeating clips in their respective windows wherein each sample clip has a clip time and wherein the clip time of the sample clip of the principal focus chan nel is longer than the clip time of other sample clips in the sort and wherein the clip time of each sample clip decreases with increasing distance from the sample clip of the principal focus channel 12 The method according to claim 11 further comprising repeating the retrieving and presenting at a prioritized peri odic rate 13 The method according to claim 11 further comprising checking each channel to determine if its content currently contains a commercial spot and if so skipping the retrieval and presenting of any channel currently containing a com mercial spot until such time as the commercial spot has ended 5 10 12 14 The method according to claim 11 wherein a window size for the principal focus channel is larger than a window size for others of the channels 15 The method according to claim 11 further comprising overlaying the sample clips with identifying information relating to at least one of a network a program or a channel being displayed 16 The method according to claim 11 further comprising receiving a user command for selection of a channel and responsive thereto removing display of the cross media bar menu arrangement and displaying the selected chann
32. tly and not necessarily mechanically The term program or com puter program or similar terms as used herein is defined as a sequence of instructions designed for execution on a com puter system A program or computer program may include a subroutine a function a procedure an object method an object implementation in an executable applica tion an applet a servlet a source code an object code a shared library dynamic load library and or other sequence of instructions designed for execution on a computer system The term program as used herein may also be used in a second context the above definition being for the first con text In the second context the term is used in the sense ofa television program In this context the term is used to mean any coherent sequence of audio video content such as those which would be interpreted as and reported in an electronic program guide EPG as a single television program without regard for whether the content is a movie sporting event segment of a multi part series news broadcast etc The term may also be interpreted to encompass commercial spots and other program like content which may not be reported as a program in an electronic program guide Reference throughout this document to one embodi ment certain embodiments an embodiment or similar terms means that a particular feature structure or character istic described in co
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