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1. controller functions to combine said main menu of said program guide with said navigation menus such that said navigation menus over write only a portion of said main menu of said program guide 4 An apparatus for generating an on screen television program guide said apparatus comprising means for generating a main menu of a program guide said main menu comprising program source informa tion and program event information for a plurality of program sources and means for generating navigation menus for allowing a viewer to modify the program guide said navigation menus generated so as to over write only a portion of said main menu of said program guide wherein said navigation menus allow the viewer to select specific categories of programming to be included in the program guide 5 The apparatus for generating an on screen television program guide according to claim 4 wherein said means for generating said main menu and said navigation menu com prises a system controller said system controller operative for combining said main menu of said program guide with said navigation menus such that said navigation menus over write only a portion of said main menu of said program guide 6 The apparatus for generating an on screen television program guide according to claim 4 wherein at least one of said navigation menus comprises a plurality of categories of programming 7 The apparatus for generating an on screen television program2. guide according to claim 4 said apparatus further comprising means for receiving a signal said signal containing pro gram source information and program event informa tion for a plurality of program sources and 5 694 176 7 memory means coupled to said receiving means said program source information and program event infor mation for a plurality of program sources being stored in said memory means said memory means also stor ing data representing said navigation menus 8 The apparatus for generating an on screen television program guide according to claim 4 wherein said system controller is a microprocessor 9 A method of generating an on screen television pro gram guide said method comprising the steps of receiving a signal comprising program source information and program event information for a plurality of pro gram sources said program event information com prising a plurality of classification tags each of said program events having at least one corresponding clas sification tag storing said program source information and said program event information in memory providing a user input means with predefined buttons each of which corresponds to one of said plurality of classification tags generating a main menu of a program guide said main menu comprising program source information and pro gram event information for a plurality of program sources generating a navigation menu for allowing a viewer
3. to select using said user input means specific categories of programming to be included in a category specific program guide said navigation menu generated so as to over write only a portion of said main menu and generating a category specific on screen television pro gram guide in response to depression of one of said predefined buttons on said user input means said category specific on screen television program guide comprising only program events having a classification tag corresponding to the classification tag associated with the selected predefined button 10 The method of generating an on screen television program guide according to claim 9 wherein the user input means comprises a remote control 11 The method of generating an on screen television program guide according to claim 16 wherein said remote control comprises a separate button for each classification tag included in said program event information 12 The method of generating an on screen television program guide according to claim 9 wherein said classifi cation tags identify event categories comprising movies news and sports 13 The method of generating an on screen television program guide according to claim 9 wherein said step of generating a category specific on screen television program guide in response to depression of one of said predefined buttons on said user input means comprises determining the classification tag associated with the pre defined butt
4. 0 includes receiving means 11 comprising tuner 12 demodulator 13 and FEC decoder 14 The receiving means 11 is controlled by microprocessor 15 and operates to receive a signal which includes program guide information and video and audio information for all channels available on the given system In the embodiment of FIG 1 an antenna 8 and low noise filter 9 function to receive the signal from a satellite source and to couple the signal to the receiving means 11 of the terminal device 10 However it is noted that the present invention is not limited to system providers which utilize satellite transmissions to broadcast signals The novel sys 5 694 176 3 tem of the present invention could be readily used with system providers who supply signals via for example cable or telephone lines Upon receipt of the signal tuner 12 functions to down convert the received signal to an intermediate frequency IF The IF signal is then converted to a digital equivalent by the demodulator 13 and coupled to decoder 14 which provides forward error correction on the received signal Apparatus 10 also comprises a transport chip 11 The transport chip 11 preferably comprises a channel demulti plexer 16 a decryption unit 17 and an access card interface 18 The output of the decoder 14 is coupled to the channel demultiplexer 16 which functions to separate the audio and video information of each channel and also separates the program guide i
5. N GUIDE FRI NOV 10 11 19AM COMPLETE ALL CHANNELS CATEGORIES EER 4 CRAZY TIMES A FEVER IN THE BLOOD N N 4 278 N TRAIN PSTY SINS OF THE NIGHT Ne eed N THE BROWNING YERSION THE BROWNING N N VERSION y FIG 3 a PROGRAM GUIDE COMPLETE ALL CHANNELS MAIN MENU GUIDES CURRENT vV 34 0 HRS 40 0 HRS FRI NOV 10 11 31AM 49 0 HRS ah ra m PRERA 5 o a PINNALL CAPITAL GANG INSIDE POLITICS SATURDAY WEEKEND CRT PRIME TIME JUSTICE CNN NEWS Ss aw oO nw gt ot W Sar az ANLAN o wd bd PET ei 4 DIRECTV SPECIAL EVENTS 205 N SPECIAL EVEN CALENDAR FIG 3 b U S Patent Dec 2 1997 Sheet 4 of 4 5 694 176 PROGRAM GUIDE WED NOV 23 12 33PM COMPLETE NORMAL ow m o A a SUBSCRPTN ak 202 MULTIPLEX 44 CRTI VERDICTS amp A INSTANT JUSTICE HITE ATTA mK SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER 20N Ma BULLITT La C SPAN C SPAN C SPAN 55 DAYS AT PEKING 256 FIG 3 c PROGRAM GUIDE WED NOV 23 12 33PM COMPLETE NORMAL TH coamner ists YUE too vaso v A CWA CAPITOL GANG thie 20 Cm TI VERDICTS amp VZ IN Cwm 203 JUSTICE S m I SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER N CR 21 BULLITT 83 CSPN C SPAN C SPAN 242 55 DAYS AT PEKING 256 FIG 3 d 5 694 176 1 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING TELEVISION PROGRAM GUIDES WITH CATEGORY SELECTION OVERLAY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of th
6. Residential Entertain ment Service A Case Study GTE Laboratories Inc 13th International Symposium Human Factors In Telecommuni cations Torino Italy Sep 10 14 1990 Primary Examiner John K Peng Assistant Examiner Nathan J Flynn Attorney Agent or Firm John T Whelan Wanda Denson Low 57 An apparatus for generating an on screen television program guide The apparatus generates a main menu of a program guide which includes program source information and program event information for a plurality of program sources and further generates navigation menus for allow ing a viewer to modify the program guide The navigation menus are generated so as to over write only a portion of the main menu of the program guide ABSTRACT 18 Claims 4 Drawing Sheets 44 FRI NOV 10 11 19AM CATEGORIES THE BROWNING N VERSION y US Patent Dec 2 1997 Sheet 1 of 4 5 694 176 DECRYPTION FIG 1 U S Patent Dec 2 1997 Sheet 2 of 4 5 694 176 PROGRAM GUIDE MON FEB 5 2 17PM COMPLETE FAY C l A 2 30 PM 3 00 PM COLUMBO COLUMBO SOUTH BANK NATIONAL ARTS MACBETH SHOW CALENDAR DAYTIME SESSION DIRECT TICKET PREVIEWS ECORATING AWESOME ROOMS FOR ITH STYLE INTERIORS IMPROVEMENT CURLY SUE REGARDING HENRY NBCI MAURY POVICH SALLY JESSE 284 RAPHAEL FIG 2 aw NZIS ZT N D awd U S Patent Dec 2 1997 Sheet 3 of 4 5 694 176 44 PROGRA
7. US0056941 76A United States Patent m9 u1 Patent Number 5 694 176 Bruette et al 45 Date of Patent Dec 2 1997 54 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR 5 253 066 10 1993 Vogel ccscssccsssessusssesssseesese 348 906 X 75 73 21 22 51 52 58 56 GENERATING TELEVISION PROGRAM GUIDES WITH CATEGORY SELECTION OVERLAY Inventors Jeff Bruette Germantown Matthew Mohebbi North Potomac Ellen Martz Gaithersburg all of Md Assignee Hughes Electronics Los Angeles Calif Appl No 610 096 Filed Feb 29 1996 Dii CES a Rts ee ee HOAN 5 445 WLS Cl oessssesesssseoseecseee 348 563 348 569 348 906 Field of Search o u cccccsscscsssssseeese 348 6 7 12 13 348 906 563 8 10 460 461 467 468 473 476 477 478 479 552 553 564 567 570 406 455 4 1 4 2 6 1 6 2 6 3 HO4N 5 445 5 50 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 4 751 578 6 1988 Reiter et al ccccsscssssesesees 348 906 X PROGRAM GUIDE COMPLETE ALL CHANNELS TODAY WSTN 273 27 ACTN 215 TRUE 216 218 V MOVIES SPORTS SPECIALS CRAZY TIMES LADY ON A TRAIN SINS OF THE HIGHT THE BROWNING VERSION Fa Pa Fa aN A FEVER IN THE BLOOD i TWO ON A BEACH 5 343 121 8 1994 Young et al s 348 563 5 526 034 6 1996 Hoarty et ab ecsecccsssssseseeesers 348 7 OTHER PUBLICATIONS VideoGuide User s Manual VideoGuide Inc pp 9 20 1995 James Sorce Designing a Broadband
8. e Invention The present invention relates generally to a subscription television system and more particularly to a method and apparatus for generating a user interface for television program guides 2 Description of the Prior Art As the subscription television industry has grown pro viders of subscription television continually offer more and more channels to the individual subscriber Typical systems offer more than 100 different channels Such systems also typically provide a myriad of menus which allow the viewer to customize the program guide in accordance with the viewer s personal preference For example viewers may be allowed to customize the guide to display only movies and then be allowed to further program customize the guide to display only certain types of movies e g westerns comedies etc Additional menus are also provided to allow the viewer to select to display such things as favorite channel lists and pay per view events In known systems for example the system described in U S Pat No 5 353 121 the 121 patent which is herein incorporated by reference the various menus provided for customizing the program guide appear as individual or separate menus In other words as the viewer toggles between the menus as each menu is displayed the display screen is completely rewritten FIGS 2 and 14 of the 121 patent illustrate typical prior art systems FIG 2 illustrates the main menu for displaying tele
9. e line comprising multiple cells of varying length The first cell in each line indicates the program source and the channel number assigned to the source In order to view additional program information the viewer simply presses a designated key for example a page down key i e scroll down key and the foregoing process is repeated for the new program data to be displayed In accordance with the present invention the apparatus 10 generates navigation menus for customizing the program guide The navigation menus appear as drop down menus More specifically referring to FIGS 2 and Xa when customizing the program guide the viewer first maneuvers a cursor to highlight the CATEGORIES button found on the main menu of the program guide The viewer then depresses a designated control key for example a SELECT key which commands the microprocessor 15 to generate and display a list of possible categories The microprocessor 15 generates the CATEGORIES list such that it appears as a navigation menu 44 suspended from the CATEGORIES button on the main menu Upon selection of a specific category the microprocessor 15 proceeds to generate additional naviga tion menus 44 which allow the viewer to further customize the program guide as shown for example in FIGS 3 b 3 d While various methods of generating the navigation menus 44 are possible one such method entails command ing the microprocessor 15 to rewrite a portion of the data repr
10. emultiplexer 16 Under control of the micropro cessor 15 the program guide is stored in random access memory RAM 20 which is coupled to the channel demultiplexer 16 The system RAM 20 also functions to buffer the digital data associated with the audio and video data of a given channel The microprocessor 15 operates to periodically update the program guide stored in the system RAM 20 In the present embodiment the program guide is updated one of two ways First the microprocessor 15 periodically analyzes the pro gram guide transmitted by the provider to determine if the program guide has been updated This can be accomplished for example by utilizing a fiag bit which indicates that the program guide has been modified If the program guide has been modified the microprocessor 15 stores the updated guide in the system RAM 20 Second as an independent process the microprocessor 15 monitors an expiration date time transmitted along with the program guide Upon reach ing the expiration date time the microprocessor 15 updates the program guide stored in system RAM 20 with the program guide currently being transmitted Returning to FIG 1 the terminal device of the present invention further comprises a MPEG chip 22 for example Part No 64002 manufactured by LSI Logic The MPEG chip 22 comprises a video decoder and on screen display 10 15 35 45 55 4 generator 24 and an audio decoder 25 The MPEG chip 22 functi
11. esenting the main program guide prior to converting the program guide into displayable font data The rewritten portion of the program guide corresponds to the navigation menu 44 to be displayed The resulting modified program guide i e the rewritten portion and the unmodified portion is converted into displayable font data by microprocessor 15 and then forwarded to the MPEG chip 22 so as to be displayed at the start of the next available frame Various methods also exist for initially selecting the CATEGORIES button For example one method entails maneuvering a cursor on the program guide so as to high light the button Once highlighted the viewer depresses a 5 694 176 5 SELECT key provided on an IR remote 40 The IR remote 40 includes a switch array which provides means for viewers to issue instructions to the microprocessor 15 The IR remote 40 communicates with the microprocessor 15 via IR receiver 42 As stated above depression of the SELECT key com mands the microprocessor 15 to rewrite a portion of the data representing the program guide with data representing the navigation menu 44 so as to generate a modified program guide and to convert the modified program guide to dis playable font data The modified program guide is then displayed Alternatively the IR remote 40 could be provided with a designated key which corresponds to the CATEGORIES button Accordingly upon depression of the designated key the microproce
12. gram guide said navigation menu generated so as to over write only a portion of said main menu and a system controller coupled to said memory means and said user input means said system controller operative for generating a category specific on screen television program guide in response to depression of one of said predefined buttons on said user input means said category specific on screen television program guide comprising only events having a classification tag corresponding to the classification tag associated with the selected predefined button 15 The apparatus for generating an on screen television program guide according to claim 14 wherein said user input means comprises a remote control 16 The apparatus for generating an on screen television program guide according to claim 15 wherein said remote control comprises a separate button for each classification tag included in said program event information 17 The apparatus for generating an on screen television program guide according to claim 14 wherein said classi fication tags identify event categories comprising movies news and sports 18 The apparatus for generating an on screen television program guide according to claim 14 wherein in response to depression of one of said predefined buttons on said user input means said system controller determines the classifi cation tag associated with the pre defined button depressed on said user input means searches said pr
13. nformation Under control of the micropro cessor 15 the channel demultiplexer 16 provides at its output port the audio and video information of a selected channel or the program guide information Transport chip 11 further comprises an access card reader 19 which is coupled to the decryption unit 17 and the access card interface 18 The access card reader 19 operates in conjunction with the decryption unit 17 and the access card interface 18 to provide a means of preventing for example unauthorized pay per view movies from being ordered by children Apparatus 10 further comprises a modem 31 which allows the microprocessor 15 to be coupled to for example the public telephone network The apparatus also includes microprocessor peripherals 33 such as serial and or parallel data ports and a power supply 35 for supplying power In the satellite system illustrated in FIG 1 multiple transponders located in a satellite not shown are utilized to transmit channel information e g audio video to the terminal device 10 Each transponder transmits information regarding multiple channels i e multiple program sources such as ABC CBS etc However each tranSponder also transmits the program guide for every channel provided by the system provider on one of the frequencies available within the given transponder As such regardless of which transponder the tuner 12 is tuned to the program guide is available at the output of the channel d
14. ogram source information and said program event information stored in said memory so as to identify each program event having a classification tag identical to the classification tag associated with the selected pre defined button and retrieves and displays only program events having a classification tag identical to the classification tag associated with the selected pre defined button
15. on depressed on said remote searching said program source information and said pro gram event information stored in said memory so as to identify each program event having a classification tag identical to the classification tag associated with the selected pre defined button and 5 10 15 35 45 55 60 8 retrieving and displaying only program events having a classification tag identical to the classification tag asso ciated with the selected pre defined button 14 An apparatus for generating an on screen television program guide said apparatus comprising means for receiving a signal comprising program source information and program event information for a plu rality of program sources said program event informa tion comprising a plurality of classification tags each of said program events having at least one correspond ing classification tag memory means for storing said program source informa tion and said program event information user input means comprising predefined buttons each of which corresponds to one of said plurality of classifi cation tags means for generating a main menu of a program guide said main menu comprising program source informa tion and program event information for a plurality of program sources means for generating a navigation menu for allowing a viewer to select using said user input means specific categories of programming to be included in a category specific pro
16. ons to decompress the audio and video data output by the channel demultiplexer 16 which is transmitted by the provider in a compressed format The NTSC encoder 26 and audio subsystem 27 format the decompressed audio and video data respectively for display on for example a television receiver The output drivers 28 function to trans mit the audio and video information of a selected channel to the display screen of the television receiver In the event the subscriber selects to display the program guide which can be accomplished by selecting the pre defined channel associated with the program guide via front panel 30 or a remote control not shown the microproces sor 15 retrieves the program guide from system RAM 20 and then accesses a font table stored in memory The microprocessor 15 then converts the program guide stored in memory 26 into a displayable font data The displayable font data is then coupled to the MPEG chip 22 As described above the MPEG chip 22 in combination with NTSC encoder 26 and the output drivers 28 functions tow rite the program guide to the television receiver at the start of the next available frame FIG 2 illustrates an exemplary program guide produced in accordance with the present invention As shown in FIG 2 each screen of the program guide comprises approxi mately seven program sources and the corresponding pro grams The program source and the programs being shown thereon are displayed on a singl
17. predefined buttons on the user input means The resulting category specific on screen television program guide comprises only program events having a classification tag corresponding to the classification tag associated with the selected predefined button As described in detail below the method and apparatus of the present invention provide important advantages over the prior art Most importantly the present invention minimizes the possibility of the viewer becoming lost within the guide because during customization of the program guide a sub stantial portion of the guide remains visible at all times Furthermore the present invention allows the viewer to easily and readily traverse or modify the program guide The invention itself together with further objects and attendant advantages will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is a functional block diagram of one embodiment of the terminal device of the present invention FIG 2 illustrates an exemplary program guide produced in accordance with the present invention FIGS Xa 3 d illustrate exemplary navigation menus produced in accordance with the present invention DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is a functional block diagram of one embodiment of the terminal device 10 of the present invention As shown in FIG 1 the terminal device 1
18. ssor 15 would proceed as detailed above to generate the navigation menu 44 illustrated in FIG 3 2 Similar to the foregoing embodiment upon selection of a category the microprocessor 15 will automatically generate a navigation menu i c TYPE menu allowing the viewer to further customize the program guide Variations of the foregoing embodiment are possible For example the remaining customization options provided for in the main program guide e g LISTS GUIDES CLASSES can also be provided with a corresponding pre designated key on the IR remote 40 Upon depression of any of the pre designated keys the microprocessor 15 functions to generate the associated navigation menu 44 in the same manner as explained above in conjunction with the CATEGORY key In another embodiment of the present invention the IR remote 40 is provided with pre defined keys which when depressed function to customize the guide More specifically the IR remote 40 can be provided with for example a NEWS key a SPORTS key and a MOVIE key Upon depression of any one of these keys the micro Processor 15 functions to retrieve only program guide entries corresponding to the selected category Thus if the viewer depresses the SPORTS key the microprocessor 15 will function to generate and display a program guide containing only sports related events With regard to the retrieval of related events upon depres sion of a pre defined ke
19. the viewer to easily and readily traverse or modify the program guide Of course it should be understood that a wide range of changes and modifications can be made to the preferred embodiment described above For example the navigation menus of the present invention are utilized with various other menus contained within the program guide It is therefore intended that the foregoing detailed description be regarded as illustrative rather than limiting and that it be understood that it is the following claims including all equivalents which are intended to define the scope of the invention What is claimed is 1 A method of generating an on screen television pro gram guide said method comprising the steps of generating a main menu of a program guide said main menu comprising program source information and pro gram event information for a plurality of program sources and generating navigation menus for allowing a viewer to modify the program guide said navigation menus generated so as to overwrite only a portion of said main menu of said program guide wherein said navigation menus allow the viewer to select specific categories of programming 2 The method of generating an on screen television program guide according to claim 1 wherein at least one of said navigation menus comprises a plurality of categories of programming 3 The method of generating an on screen television program guide according to claim 1 wherein a system
20. vision programming information In order to customize the program guide the viewer selects channel customiza tion which causes the system to display the menu illustrated in FIG 14 In order to display the menu of FIG 14 which allows the viewer to select a specific type of movie the display screen is completely rewritten FIGS 15 17 illus trate similar customization menus which occupy the entire screen As a result of rewriting the entire screen when displaying a customization menu a substantial problem arises for the viewer in that the viewer easily becomes lost within the Program guide More specifically due to the myriad of possible menus the viewer may access it is often an extremely difficult task for the viewer to toggle between various menus or to return to a particular menu such as the main menu This is due to the fact that once the screen is rewritten the viewer loses all reference to the other menus and features of the program guide Accordingly there exists a need for a program guide which allows the viewer to easily and readily traverse the multitude of menus without losing reference such that the viewer does not become lost within the program guide SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a program guide which satisfies the aforementioned needs Specifically the present invention provides a program guide which provides navi gation menus such that the viewer is provided with a
21. visual reference to the previously selected features or menus of the program guide 10 15 35 45 50 35 65 2 The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for generating an on screen television program guide The appa ratus comprises means for generating a main menu of a Program guide which includes program source information and program event information for a plurality of program sources and means for generating navigation menus for allowing a viewer to modify the program guide The navi gation menus are generated so as to overwrite only a portion of the main menu of the program guide In a second embodiment of the present invention the apparatus comprises means for receiving a signal compris ing program source information and program event infor mation for a plurality of program sources The program event information comprises a plurality of classification tags wherein each of the program events has at least one corresponding classification tag The apparatus further com prises memory means for storing the program source infor mation and the program event information user input means comprising predefined buttons each of which corresponds to one of the plurality of classification tags and a system controller coupled to the memory means and the user input means The system controller functions to generate a cat egory specific on screen television program guide in response to depression of one of the
22. y on the IR remote 49 the instruction forwarded to the microprocessor 15 comprises a classifica tion tag e g news sports movies etc which identifies the events to be retrieved from the complete program guide information stored in RAM 20 The microprocessor 15 then searches the complete program guide and identifies each event having a classification tag matching the classification tag selected by the viewer It is noted that program guide information forwarded by the system provider contains a separate classification tag for each event Once identified the relative event information is retrieved and converted to displayable font data and displayed as described above The use of the pre defined category keys further simplifies the process of customizing the program guide Indeed by utilizing the pre defined category keys the viewer eliminates the need to navigate on screen menus to customize the program guide Of course other pre defined keys could be included on the IR remote 40 to provide additional custom izing options The method and apparatus of the present invention pro vides important advantages over the prior art Most importantly the present invention minimizes the possibility of the viewer becoming lost within the guide because during customization of the program guide a substantial portion of 5 10 15 35 45 55 65 6 the guide remains visible at all times Furthermore the present invention allows
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