Patent Application
20100333133
The present invention relates to interactive media guidance application systems and methods that provide for improved browsing and display of video-on-demand (VOD) listings or offerings, e.g., on-demand movies, television programs, video clips, audio clips, or any other suitable type of media.
It is therefore an object of the present disclosure to provide improved browsing and displaying of VOD listings or offerings. This and other objects of the present invention are accomplished in accordance with principles of the present invention that relate to interactive media guidance application systems and methods that provide for the browsing and displaying of video-on-demand (VOD) listings. While embodiments will be described herein with reference to interactive media guidance applications, the systems and methods described herein may be applicable to any media viewing system providing for the display of media listings related to media content based on a user's selection of the media content.
The media guidance application systems and methods described herein in various embodiments allow a user interacting with an interactive media guidance application implemented on media guidance equipment to select or highlight a cell in the program listings grid guide, then to view, browse, and select video-on-demand listings that relate to the selected cell on the program listing grid display. In an embodiment, the interactive media guidance application may be configured to receive a user selection of a cell in a program listings grid in a first region of the interactive display, and to generate video-on-demand listings related to the selected cell based on the received user input. The metadata associated with the available video-on-demand listings, and the metadata associated with the selected cell, may be stored in data structures in one or more storage devices on the media guidance equipment. In an embodiment, the video-on-demand listings may be generated by correlating metadata related to the selected cell in a selected cell data structure stored in a storage device in the media guidance equipment to metadata in a video-on-demand listings data structure stored in a storage device in the media guidance equipment. This association may be performed by using a pointer from the selected cell data structure to the video-on-demand listings data structure.
In an embodiment, the generated video-on-demand listings may include one or more video-on-demand listings for the channel corresponding to the selected cell. The generated video-on-demand listings may include the highest rated or most popular video-on-demand listings related to the content of the program listing in the selected cell. In certain embodiments, the generated video-on-demand listings include the most viewed video-on-demand listings related to the content of the program listing in the selected cell. The metadata associated with the video-on-demand content related to a program listing, and the metadata associated with the program listing itself, may be stored in data structures in one or more storage devices on the media guidance equipment.
In an embodiment, user preferences for the interactive media guidance application may be retrieved from media guidance equipment, and the video-on-demand listings may be generated based in part on the retrieved user preferences. The user preferences may include at least one of displaying video-on-demand listings related to a channel corresponding to the selected cell, displaying video-on-demand listings related to the content of a program listing in the selected cell, displaying the highest rated video-on-demand listings related to the content of a program listing in the selected cell, and displaying the most viewed video-on-demand listings related to the content of a program listing in the selected cell. The user may select these preferences by interacting with a user preference display on the interactive media guidance application.
In an embodiment, the user preferences are stored on the media guidance equipment by allowing the user to input the user preferences when interacting with the media guidance application. In an embodiment, the user preferences are stored on the media guidance equipment by having the media guidance application monitor the user interactions with the interactive media guidance application to determine one or more of the user preferences.
In an embodiment, the generated video-on-demand listings are displayed in a second region of the interactive display, from which the user may select one of the video-on-demand listings for viewing. The selected video-on-demand listing may be displayed on the interactive display.
The detailed description of certain illustrative embodiments of the present invention below refers to the accompanying drawings, of which:
The amount of media available to users in any given media delivery system can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire a form of media guidance through an interface that allows users to efficiently navigate media selections and easily identify media that they may desire. An application which provides such guidance is referred to herein as an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, a media guidance application or a guidance application.
Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms depending on the media for which they provide guidance. One typical media guidance application is an interactive television program guide. Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to as electronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that, among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many types of media content including conventional television programming (provided via traditional broadcast, cable, satellite, Internet, or other means), as well as pay-per-view programs, media-on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand (VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming media, downloadable media, Webcasts, etc.), and other types of media or video content. Guidance applications also allow users to navigate among and locate content related to the video content including, for example, video clips, articles, advertisements, chat sessions, games, etc.
The interactive media guidance application may provide a display screen with media information organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in cells in a program listings grid, by time, by channel, by media type, by category (e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories of programming) in a program listings grid, or other predefined, user-defined, or other organization criteria. The media guidance application may be implemented on media guidance equipment.
With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speed wireless networks, users are accessing media on personal computers (PCs) and other devices on which they traditionally did not, such as hand-held computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile telephones, or other mobile devices. On these devices users are able to navigate among and locate the same media available through a set-top box based electronic programmable guide. Consequently, media guidance is necessary on these devices, as well. The guidance provided may be for media content available through a television, for media content available through one or more of these devices, or both. The media guidance applications may be provided as on-line applications (i.e., provided on a web-site), or as stand-alone applications or clients on hand-held computers, PDAs, mobile telephones, or other mobile devices.
One of the functions of an interactive media guidance application is to provide media listings and media information to users. The various devices and platforms that may implement media guidance applications are described in more detail below.
In addition to providing access to linear programming provided according to a schedule, the media guidance application also provides access to non-linear programming which is not provided according to a schedule. Non-linear programming may include content from different media sources including on-demand media content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g., streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored media content (e.g., video content stored on a digital video recorder (DVR), digital video disc (DVD), video cassette, compact disc (CD), etc.), or other time-insensitive media content. On-demand content may include both movies and original media content provided by a particular media provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time Warner Company L.P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM are trademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Systems and methods for displaying on-demand listings, including video-on-demand offerings, are described further in McCoy et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/892,002, filed Jul. 22, 2004, the contents of which are incorporated herein in their entirety. Internet content may include web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or content available on-demand as streaming media or downloadable media through an Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g. FTP). Non-linear programming is described further in relation to
Grid 102 may provide listings for non-linear programming including on-demand listing 114, recorded media listing 116, and Internet content listing 118. A display combining listings for content from different types of media sources is sometimes referred to as a “mixed-media” display. The various permutations of the types of listings that may be displayed that are different than display 100 may be based on user selection or guidance application definition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings, only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings 114, 116, and 118 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayed in grid 102 to indicate that selection of these listings may provide access to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings, or Internet listings, respectively. In an embodiment, listings for these media types may be included directly in grid 102. Additional listings may be displayed in response to the user selecting one of the navigational icons 120. (Pressing an arrow key on a user input device may affect the display in a similar manner as selecting navigational icons 120.)
Display 100 may also include video (or any other suitable media) region 122, advertisement region 124, and options region 126. Video region 122 may allow the user to view and/or preview programs that are currently available, will be available, or were available to the user. The content of video region 122 may correspond to, or be independent from, one of the listings displayed in grid 102. Grid displays including a video region are sometimes referred to as picture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and their functionalities are described in greater detail in Satterfield et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,794, issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. PIG displays may be included in other media guidance application display screens of the present invention.
Advertisement region 124 may provide an advertisement for media content that, depending on a viewer's access rights (e.g., for subscription programming), is currently available for viewing, will be available for viewing in the future, or may never become available for viewing. For example, a viewer may have access to media content related to a news program in grid 102, and these media content may be displayed in advertisement region 124. Further, a viewer may not have access to an “HBO” special that is displayed in advertisement region 124. A viewer may or may not have access to this HBO special depending on their subscription programming access rights. In an embodiment, the media content may be related to unrelated to one or more of the media listings in grid 102, e.g., an advertisement for men's razor blades may be displayed if one of the media listings in grid 102 is titled “Monday Night Football at Gillette Stadium”. Advertisement 124 may also be for products or services related or unrelated to the media content displayed in grid 102. Advertisement 124 may be selectable and provide further information about media content, provide information about a product or a service, enable purchasing of media content, a product, or a service, provide media content relating to the advertisement, etc. Advertisement 124 may be targeted based on user profile/preferences, monitored user activity, the type of display provided, or on other suitable targeted advertisement bases.
While advertisement 124 is shown as rectangular or banner shaped, advertisements may be provided in any suitable size, shape, and location in a guidance application display. For example, advertisement 124 may be provided as a rectangular shape that is horizontally adjacent to grid 102. This is sometimes referred to as a panel advertisement. In addition, advertisements may be overlaid over media content or a guidance application display or embedded within a display. Advertisements may also include text, images, rotating images, video clips, or other types of media content. Advertisements may be stored in the user equipment with the guidance application, in a database connected to the user equipment, in a remote location (including streaming media servers), or on other storage means or a combination of these locations. Providing advertisements in a media guidance application is discussed in greater detail in, for example, Knudson et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/347,673, filed Jan. 17, 2003, Ward, III et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,756,997, issued Jun. 29, 2004, and Schein et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,388,714, issued May 14, 2002, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. It will be appreciated that advertisements may be included in other media guidance application display screens of the present invention.
Options region 126 may allow the user to access different types of media content, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidance application features. Options region 126 may be part of display 100 (and other display screens of the present invention), or may be invoked by a user by selecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignable button on a user input device. The selectable options within options region 126 may concern features related to program listings in grid 102 or may include options available from a main menu display. Features related to program listings may include searching for other air times or ways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling series recording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite, purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a main menu display may include search options, VOD options, parental control options, access to various types of listing displays, subscribe to a premium service, edit a user profile, edit user preferences, access a browse overlay, or other options.
The media guidance application may be personalized based on user preferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user to customize displays and features to create a personalized “experience” with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may be created by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by the media guidance application monitoring user activity to determine various user preferences. Users may access their personalized guidance application by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to the guidance application. Customization of the media guidance application may be made in accordance with a user profile, which may be customized for each user who will be interacting with the media guidance application. The customizations may include varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays, font size of text, etc.), aspects of media content listings displayed (e.g., only HDTV programming, user-specified broadcast channels based on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display of channels, recommended media content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g., recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality, etc.), parental control settings, and other desired customizations. For instance, a user may be able to select the type of display 150 that is to be generated by the media guidance application. This selection may be made in terms of features of the display 150, e.g., number of advertisements, number of rows of grid 102, number of columns of grid 102, content that should or should not be displayed in regions 121, 122, and 123 of the display 150, the size of the text and/or media displayed in display 100, or any other suitable feature of display 100.
The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profile information or may automatically compile user profile information. The media guidance application may, for example, monitor the media the user accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with the media guidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application may obtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to a particular user (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the user accesses, such as www.tvguide.com, from other media guidance applications the user accesses, from other interactive applications the user accesses, from a handheld device of the user, etc.), and/or obtain information about the user from other sources that the media guidance application may access. As a result, a user can be provided with a unified guidance application experience across the user's different devices. This type of user experience is described in greater detail below in connection with
Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown in
The listings in display 200 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 206 is larger than listings 208, 210, and 212), but if desired, all the listings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes or graphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user or to emphasize certain content, as desired by the media provider or based on user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphically accentuating media listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/324,202, filed Dec. 29, 2005, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Control circuitry 304 may be based on any suitable processing circuitry 306 such as processing circuitry based on one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, programmable logic devices, etc. In an embodiment, control circuitry 304 executes instructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e., storage 308). In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 304 may include communications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidance application server or other networks or servers. Communications circuitry may include a cable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, a digital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment. Such communications may involve the Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths (which is described in more detail in connection with
Memory (e.g., random-access memory, read-only memory, or any other suitable memory), hard drives, optical drives, or any other suitable fixed or removable storage devices (e.g., DVD recorder, CD recorder, video cassette recorder, or other suitable recording device) may be provided as storage 308 that is part of control circuitry 304. Storage 308 may include one or more of the above types of storage devices. For example, user equipment device 300 may include a hard drive for a DVR (sometimes called a personal video recorder, or PVR) and a DVD recorder as a secondary storage device. Storage 308 may be used to store various types of media described herein and guidance application data, including program information, guidance application settings, a user's preferences or user's profile information, or other data used in operating the guidance application. Nonvolatile memory may also be used (e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions). Storage 308 may be used to store various types of information on the user preferences and VOD listings discussed with respect to
Control circuitry 304 may include video generating circuitry and tuning circuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2 decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, or any other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of such circuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog, or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided. Control circuitry 304 may also include scaler circuitry for upconverting and downconverting media into the preferred output format of the user equipment 300. Circuitry 304 may also include digital-to-analog converter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry for converting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encoding circuitry may be used by the user equipment to receive and to display, to play, or to record media content. The tuning and encoding circuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitry described herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating, encoding, decoding, scaler, and analog/digital circuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or more general purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may be provided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and record functions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording, etc.). If storage 308 is provided as a separate device from user equipment 300, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multiple tuners) may be associated with storage 308.
A user may control the control circuitry 304 using user input interface or device 310. User input interface 310 may be any suitable user interface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard, touch screen, touch pad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognition interface, or other user input interfaces. Display 312 may be provided as a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of user equipment device 300. Display 312 may be one or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD) for a mobile device, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images. In an embodiment, display 312 may be HDTV-capable. Speakers 314 may be provided as integrated with other elements of user equipment device 300 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component of videos and other media content displayed on display 312 may be played through speakers 314. In an embodiment, the audio may be distributed to a receiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers 314.
The guidance application may be implemented using any suitable architecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone application wholly implemented on user equipment device 300. In such an approach, instructions of the application are stored locally, and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodic basis (e.g., from the VBI of a television channel, from an out-of-band feed, or using another suitable approach). In another embodiment, the media guidance application is a client-server based application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented on user equipment device 300 is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests to a server remote to the user equipment device 300. In one example of a client-server based guidance application, control circuitry 304 runs a web browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server.
In yet another embodiment, the media guidance application is downloaded and interpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (run by control circuitry 304). In an embodiment, the guidance application may be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received by control circuitry 304 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by a user agent running on control circuitry 304. For example, the guidance application may be a EBIF widget. In an embodiment, the guidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files that are received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitable middleware executed by control circuitry 304. In some of such embodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital media encoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encoded and transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio and video packets of a program.
User equipment device 300 of
User television equipment 402 may include a set-top box, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellite television, a television set, a digital storage device, a DVD recorder, a video-cassette recorder (VCR), a local media server, or other user television equipment. One or more of these devices may be integrated to be a single device, if desired. User computer equipment 404 may include a PC, a laptop, a tablet, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PC media server, a PC media center, or other user computer equipment. WEBTV is a trademark owned by Microsoft Corp. Wireless user communications device 406 may include PDAs, a mobile telephone, a portable video player, a portable music player, a portable gaming machine, or other wireless devices.
It should be noted that with the advent of television tuner cards for PC's, WebTV, and the integration of video into other user equipment devices, the lines have become blurred when trying to classify a device as one of the above devices. In fact, each of user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, and wireless user communications device 406 may utilize at least some of the system features described above in connection with
In system 400, there is typically more than one of each type of user equipment device but only one of each is shown in
The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent media guidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices. Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and program favorites, programming preferences that the guidance application utilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, and other desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channel as a favorite on, for example, the web site www.tvguide.com on their personal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as a favorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipment and user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, if desired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can change the guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless of whether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device. In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user, as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.
The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 414. Namely, user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, and wireless user communications device 406 are coupled to communications network 414 via communications paths 408, 410, and 412, respectively. Communications network 414 may be one or more networks including the Internet, a mobile phone network, mobile device (e.g., Blackberry) network, cable network, public switched telephone network, or other types of communications network or combinations of communications networks. BLACKBERRY is a service mark owned by Research In Motion Limited Corp. Paths 408, 410, and 412 may separately or together include one or more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-optic path, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g., IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wireless signals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path or combination of such paths. Path 412 is drawn with dotted lines to indicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown in
Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipment devices, these devices may communicate directly with each other via communication paths, such as those described above in connection with paths 408, 410, and 412, as well other short-range point-to-point communication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wireless paths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or other short-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is a certification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipment devices may also communicate with each other directly through an indirect path via communications network 414.
System 400 includes media content source 416 and media guidance data source 418 coupled to communications network 414 via communication paths 420 and 422, respectively. Paths 420 and 422 may include any of the communication paths described above in connection with paths 408, 410, and 412. Communications with the media content source 416 and media guidance data source 418 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths, but are shown as a single path in
Media content source 416 may include one or more types of media distribution equipment including a television distribution facility, cable system headend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g., television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediate distribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demand media servers, and other media content providers. NBC is a trademark owned by the National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by the ABC, INC., and HBO is a trademark owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Media content source 416 may be the originator of media content (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) or may not be the originator of media content (e.g., an on-demand media content provider, an Internet provider of video content of broadcast programs for downloading, etc.). Media content source 416 may include cable sources, satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers, or other providers of media content. Media content source 416 may also include a remote media server used to store different types of media content (including video content selected by a user), in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems and methods for remote storage of media content, and providing remotely stored media content to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connection with Ellis et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/332,244, filed Jun. 11, 1999, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Media guidance data source 418 may provide media guidance data, such as media listings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcast channels, media titles, media descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parental control ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category information, actor information, logo data for broadcasters' or providers' logos, etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition, high definition, etc.), advertisement information (e.g., text, images, media clips, etc.), on-demand information, and any other type of guidance data that is helpful for a user to navigate among and locate desired media selections.
Media guidance application data may be provided to the user equipment devices using any suitable approach. In an embodiment, the guidance application may be a stand-alone interactive television program guide that receives program guide data via a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed, trickle feed, or data in the vertical blanking interval of a channel).
Program schedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the user equipment on a television channel sideband, in the vertical blanking interval of a television channel, using an in-band digital signal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitable data transmission technique. Program schedule data and other guidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog or digital television channels. Program schedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the user equipment with any suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specified period of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to a request from user equipment, etc.). In some approaches, guidance data from media guidance data source 418 may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. For example, a guidance application client residing on the user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 418 to obtain guidance data when needed. Media guidance data source 418 may provide user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 the media guidance application itself or software updates for the media guidance application.
Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-alone applications implemented on user equipment devices. In an embodiment, media guidance applications may be client-server applications where only the client resides on the user equipment device. For example, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as a client application on control circuitry 304 of user equipment device 300 and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., media guidance data source 418). The guidance application displays may be generated by the media guidance data source 418 and transmitted to the user equipment devices. The media guidance data source 418 may also transmit data for storage on the user equipment, which then generates the guidance application displays based on instructions processed by control circuitry.
Media guidance system 400 is intended to illustrate a number of approaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devices and sources of media content and guidance data may communicate with each other for the purpose of accessing media and providing media guidance. The present invention may be applied in any one or a subset of these approaches, or in a system employing other approaches for delivering media and providing media guidance. The following three approaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example of
In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each other within a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with each other directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemes describe above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similar device provided on a home network, or via communications network 414. Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate different user equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may be desirable for various media guidance information or settings to be communicated between the different user equipment devices. For example, it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidance application settings on different user equipment devices within a home network, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/179,410, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types of user equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with each other to transmit media content. For example, a user may transmit media content from user computer equipment to a portable video player or portable music player.
In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment by which they access media content and obtain media guidance. For example, some users may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobile devices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidance application implemented on a remote device. For example, users may access an online media guidance application on a website via a personal computer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA or web-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g., recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidance application to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guide may control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with a media guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Various systems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where the user equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, is discussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/927,814, filed Aug. 26, 2004, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outside a home can use their media guidance application to communicate directly with media content source 416 to access media content. Specifically, within a home, users of user television equipment 404 and user computer equipment 406 may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locate desirable media content. Users may also access the media guidance application outside of the home using wireless user communications devices 406 to navigate among and locate desirable media content.
Users may access media content and the media guidance application (and its display screens described in reference to
Illustrative embodiments of the present invention will be described further in relation to
In addition to providing access to linear programming provided according to a schedule, the media guidance application also provides access to non-linear programming which is not provided according to a schedule. For instance, grid 502 may provide listings for non-linear programming including on-demand listing 514, recorded media listing 516, and Internet content listing 518. As illustrated, listings 514, 516, and 518 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayed in grid 502 to indicate that selection of these listings may provide access to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings, or Internet listings, respectively. In an embodiment, listings for these media types may be included directly in grid 502, or may be displayed as text and/or images and/or video in regions 521 and/or 523 of display 500. Additional listings may be displayed in response to the user selecting one of the navigational icons 520 using a user interface or device.
Display 500 may also include regions 521, 522 and 523 for displaying video, and/or text, and/or image data, advertisement region 524, and options region 526. Regions 522 and 523 may allow the user to view and/or preview programs that are currently available, will be available, or were available to the user. The size, shape, and location of regions 522 and 523 shown in display 500 are for illustrative purposes only. Any suitable size, shape, or location on display 500 may be used for the regions 522 and 523.
The content of regions 522 and 523 may correspond to, or be independent from, one of the listings displayed in grid 502, e.g., region 522 may contain information corresponding to the listing for “The Simpsons” 508 in highlighted or selected region 510. The region 510 may be highlighted or selected because a user interacting with the interactive display has selected the cell containing the “The Simpsons” listing. As will be described further in relation to
Data structure 600 may be provided by media content source 416. Additionally, or alternatively, data structure 600 may be generated as required by processing circuitry 306 (
Cell data structure 600 may include alphanumeric identifiers 610 and 612. For example, for the episode of “The Simpsons” in the selected cell 510 in display 500 (
Cell data structure 600 may include pointers P_615, P_616, . . . , P_620 associated with metadata locations 615-620, respectively. Each of pointers P_615, P_616, . . . , and P_620 may be associated with (or point to) other metadata locations within cell data structure 600, or be associated with or point to other pointers within cell data structure 600, or be associated with or point to metadata or pointers in other data structures. For instance, pointer P_615 may be associated with a video-on-demand listings structure that stores the available video-on-demand listings the correspond to the “FOX” channel associated with “The Simpsons” listing in a selected cell 510 (
Alternatively, pointer P_616 may be associated with the most viewed video-on-demand listings that are related to the title of “The Simpsons” episode, i.e., “Kamp Krusty”, e.g., video-on-demand listings PBS Sesame Street “Barney is a Clown”, and A&E 48 Hours “The Secret Town of Clownsville”. Pointer P_617 may be associated with or point to available video-on-demand listings for the day corresponding to the listing in selected cell 510 (
In general, pointers P_615 through P_620 may point to other suitable video-on-demand listings data structures, or to any suitable program grid listing cell data structures. In this manner, by accessing pointers P_615 through P_620, one may begin to construct a linked-list, e.g., of video-on-demand listings. The linked-list constructed in this manner would be related to the metadata in the cell data structure 600.
It will be evident to those skilled in the art that additional and/or alternative metadata and/or pointers corresponding to the selected program grid listing cell or an associated video-on-demand listing may be included in cell data structure 600.
As with data structure 600, data structure 700 may be provided by media content source 416. Additionally, or alternatively, data structure 700 may be generated as required by processing circuitry 306 (
Data structure 700 includes alphanumeric identifiers 710 and 712. For example, for an available video-on-demand listing for the PBS children's program “Word World”, the identifier 710 may be “Word World”, while the identifier 712 may be the number 61273576, or any other suitable alphanumeric identifier. In an embodiment, identifier 712 is unique such that the metadata in data structure 700 may be uniquely identified and uniquely associated with an available video-on-demand listing, while identifier 710 may not be unique. The user of a unique identifier 712 allows for the differentiation between different video-on-demand listings. Data structure 700 also includes metadata locations 715-719 corresponding to the channel, title, actor, cumulative user rating for users who have viewed the video-on-demand program, and the number of views for the video-on-demand program across all video-on-demand users, all for the video-on-demand listing 710. Continuing with the “Word World” example, metadata location 715 may correspond to the channel, e.g., “PBS”, associated with “Word World”, metadata location 716 may correspond to the title of the “Word World” episode, e.g., “D is for Duck”, and metadata location 717 may correspond to an actor or voice in “Word World”.
Metadata location 718 in data structure 700 may correspond to the cumulative or aggregate user rating for users who have viewed the video-on-demand listing. For instance, if each user who views the “Word World” video-on-demand listing rates the listing on a scale of 1-5, metadata 718 may include an average, median, or mode of the cumulative, i.e., current total of the ratings. Metadata location 719 may correspond to the total number of users who have viewed the video-on-demand listing. For instance, if 700 users have viewed this video-on-demand listing, then metadata location 718 would include the number 700. Metadata location 718 may correspond to the cumulative user rating for users who have viewed the video-on-demand program. For instance, if 700 users have viewed this video-on-demand program, then metadata location 718 would include the number 700.
Video-on-demand listings data structure 600 may also include pointers P_715, P_716, . . . , P_720 corresponding to metadata locations 715-720, respectively. Each of pointers P_715, P_716, . . . , and P_720 may be associated with (or point to) other metadata locations within VOD listings structure 700, or be associated with or point to other pointers within VOD listings structure 700, or be associated with or point to metadata or pointers in other data structures, e.g., cell data structure 600. For instance, pointer P_715 may be associated with a video-on-demand listings structure that stores the available video-on-demand listings that correspond to the “PBS” channel associated with “Word World”.
In general, pointers P_715 through P_720 may point to any suitable video-on-demand listings data structures, or to any suitable program grid listing cell data structures. In this manner, by accessing pointers P_715 through P_720, one may begin to construct a linked-list, e.g., of video-on-demand listings. The linked-list constructed in this manner would be related to the metadata in the VOD listings data structure 700.
It will be evident to those skilled in the art that additional and/or alternative metadata corresponding to the selected program grid listing cell may be included in VOD listings structure 700.
In order to display video-on-demand listings based on the metadata stored in data structures such as 600 (
Display 800 presents a user with the opportunity to uniquely identify themselves using a pre-selected username 820 and password 830. The username and password may include any suitable alphanumeric characters. As there may be multiple users of a media guidance application in a particular location, this identification allows a user to select and save only their video-on-demand display preferences in a storage device on the media guidance equipment, e.g., storage 308 (
Display 850 includes selection opportunities 870, 880, 890, and 892. In an embodiment, selection 870 may allow a user to select if they would like to view video-on-demand listings when they select a cell in a program grid listing. If a user selects “Yes” as shown in display 850, video-on-demand listings will be displayed each time the user selects a cell in a program grid listing. This selection may be changed by the user providing an appropriate input from a user interface device, e.g., device 310 in
Once the user has completed their selections, they may save their preferences by selecting save and return button 894, or by pressing a button on a user interface device, e.g., device 310 in
In an embodiment, a user may not provide their preferences for displaying video-on-demand listings. The media guidance application may then use a “default” user preference, e.g., displaying VOD listings for the channel of the selected cell in the program grid listing, or any other suitable default preference.
In an embodiment, once a user has been authenticated through user logon 800, the interactive media guidance application may monitor user viewing of video-on-demand programs. This may allow the interactive media guidance application to build and store metadata associated with user viewing information, from which user preferences may be determined by the interactive media guidance application automatically.
In an embodiment, the interactive media guidance application may monitor user viewing of video-on-demand programs, without requiring a user logon and/or authentication. The video-on-demand viewing for all users that interact with the media guidance application may be monitored and aggregated to determine the user preferences for the display of video-on-demand listings.
Embodiments of video-on-demand listings displays will now be discussed with reference to
Display 900 may also include regions 910 and 922, advertisement region 924, and options region 926, as discussed in reference to
In an embodiment, the interactive media guidance application used to create display 900 may also provide access to non-linear programming, e.g., video-on-demand listings. Video-on-demand listings may be displayed in grid 902, or in regions 922 and/or 910 of display 900 as described below in reference to
In an embodiment, a user interacting with display 900 may initiate the generation and display of video-on-demand listings. For instance, processing circuitry 306 (
If a user has specified their preferences for displaying VOD listings, these preferences may then be retrieved from a storage device in the media guidance equipment, e.g., storage 308 (
Processing circuitry 306 (
Alternatively, or additionally, the correlation itself may be performed by processing circuitry 306 (
Processing circuitry 306 (
The user may then select one of the displayed VOD listings using user interface device 310 to get more information about the selected VOD listing and/or view the selected VOD listing. In an embodiment, information related to the selected VOD listing may be displayed in regions 912 and/or 922 of display 900. The display of the information about a specific VOD listing may be enabled by the user navigating the display 900 with controls 920, or by the user using one or more of the selectable options in options region 926, e.g., an option for selecting to have more information displayed about a selectable VOD listing.
The display of VOD listings, e.g., VOD listings in region 910 of display 900, in this manner is advantageous in many respects. A user interacting with the media guidance application display 900 is able to not only view a particular channel while browsing the listings in grid 902, but also view the available VOD listings for that channel. Existing electronic program guides or other media guidance applications do not allow concurrent viewing of a program listings grid 902 and a VOD listings region 910 corresponding to a selected cell 904 in the grid. The display of
Further illustrative embodiments for displaying video-on-demand listings will be described further in relation to
Displays 1000 and 1050 may also include regions 1010 or 1060, region 1022, advertisement 1024, and options region 1026, as described above in relation to
In an embodiment, the interactive media guidance application used to create display 1000 may also provide access to non-linear programming, e.g., video-on-demand listings. Video-on-demand listings may be displayed in grid 1002, or in regions 1022 and/or 1010 or 1060 of displays 1000 and 1050 as described below in reference to
In an embodiment, a user interacting with display 1000 (or 1050) may initiate the generation and display of video-on-demand listings. For instance, processing circuitry 306 (
Processing circuitry 306 (
If a user has specified their preferences for displaying VOD listings, these preferences may then be retrieved from a storage device in the media guidance equipment, e.g., device 308. These preferences may include whether to display VOD listings, how many listings to display, and what type of listings to display, as described above in relation to
In the embodiment of
Processing circuitry 306 (
Alternatively, or additionally, the correlation itself may be performed by processing circuitry 306 (
In an embodiment, processing circuitry 306 (
Processing circuitry 306 (
The display of VOD listings, e.g., VOD listings in region 1010 of display 1000 or region 1050 of display 1050, in this manner is advantageous in many respects. Existing electronic program guides or other media guidance applications do not display VOD listings that are related to the content of the selected cell. The displays of
The following flow charts serve to illustrate processes involved in some embodiments of this invention. The flow charts describe processes primarily in the context of displaying video-on-demand listings based at least in part on user preferences and/or based at least in part on the user's selection of a cell in the display of an interactive media guidance application. It will be understood that each step in these flow charts may be carried out by the interactive media guidance application by executing instructions on processing circuitry 306 (
With reference to
As described above with relation to
With reference to
With reference to
For each retrieved pointer in the cell data structure, a VOD listing data structure, or candidate VOD listing, is retrieved and stored in storage 308 (
Processing circuitry 306 (
The above described embodiments are presented for purposes of illustration and not of limitation, and the present invention is limited only by the claims which follow. For example, it will be appreciated that while the discussion of media content has focused on video content, the principles of media guidance can be applied to other types of media content, such as music, images, etc.
