Method and apparatus for displaying an interactive television program guide

We claim:

1. A method for providing an interactive electronic program guide for a plurality of programming services available via an information network, comprising the steps of:

transmitting a trickle data stream at a first data rate with schedule data of at least one of said programming services for a current time period over said information network to a decoder;

providing a guide display area on a primary display area of a display device associated with said decoder which comprises a limited portion of said primary display area and provides information from said schedule data regarding the attributes of at least one of said programming services;

thereby allowing a user to access the guide while continuing to view the programming displayed on the primary display area;

storing said schedule data in a memory at the decoder;

providing said schedule data stored in said memory to said display device for use in said guide display area; and

transmitting a demand data stream at a second data rate which is higher than said first data rate over said information network to the decoder;

wherein said demand data represents schedule data for a future time period which follows said current time period;

and a portion of said demand data stream which corresponds to a subset of said future time period is adapted to be selectively recovered from said transmitted demand data stream at said decoder according to a user command to view schedule data from said subset of said future time period.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said current time period extends approximately from the current time to approximately twenty-four hours in the future.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said demand data represents schedule data for a predetermined time period extending approximately from the twenty-four hours in the future to approximately seven days in the future.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein a user provided command switchably selects between said guide display area comprising said limited portion of said primary display area and a guide display area comprising substantially all of said primary display area.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the program or service being displayed on the primary display area is resized to allow a user to view said program or service in a reduced size while also viewing said guide display area.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

said trickle data stream and said demand data stream are substantially continuously broadcast over said information network.

7. Decoder apparatus for providing an interactive electronic program guide on a video display in response to signals received from an information network, comprising:

means for recovering trickle data from said received signals at a first data rate, said trickle data comprising current schedule data for a current time period and being adapted for storage in a decoder memory and substantially instantaneous display at any time during a current time period;

means for selectively retrieving demand data from said received signals at a second data rate that is faster than said first data rate, said demand data being provided in pages and comprising future schedule data representing a future time period which follows said current time period, each of said pages containing demand data for different future time slots; and

means for storing selectively retrieved pages of said demand data which corresponds to a subset of said future time period for display after the retrieval thereof from said information network;

said storing means being responsive to a user command to view schedule data corresponding to said subset of said future time period;

said video display comprising a primary display area and a guide display area, said guide display area comprising a limited portion of said primary display area;

wherein said guide display area provides information from at least one of said current and future schedule data;

thereby allowing a user to access the guide while continuing to view the programming displayed on the primary display area.

8. The decoder apparatus of claim 7 wherein the program or service being displayed on the primary display area is resizable to allow a user to concurrently view said program or service in a reduced size while also viewing said guide display area.

9. The decoder apparatus of claim 7 wherein a user provided command switchably selects between said guide display area comprising said limited portion of said primary display area and a guide display area comprising substantially all of said primary display area.

10. The decoder apparatus of claim 7 wherein said guide display area is blended with the portion of said primary display area collocated with said guide display area to allow a user to concurrently view both of said guide display area and said primary display area.

11. The decoder apparatus of claim 7, wherein:

a plurality of programming services are available from said information network; and

said guide display area provides information on the attributes of at least one of the programming services, including a first program which is available during a first time slot, and a second program which is available in a second time slot which is adjacent to said first time slot.

12. The decoder apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

said first and second time slots are both part of said current schedule data.

13. The decoder apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

said guide display area is controllable in response to a user command to provide information on the attributes of at least one other of said programming services.

14. The decoder apparatus of claim 7, wherein:

said limited portion is between approximately one-fourth and approximately one-half of the primary display area.

15. The decoder apparatus of claim 7, wherein:

said information network is one of a cable television network and satellite television network.

16. The decoder apparatus of claim 7, wherein:

said current time period extends approximately from the present time to approximately twenty-four hours in the future.

17. The decoder apparatus of claim 7, wherein:

said future time slots extend approximately from twenty-four hours in the future to approximately seven days in the future.

18. The decoder apparatus of claim 7, wherein:

a user provided command switchably selects between said guide display area comprising said limited portion of said primary display area and a guide display area comprising substantially all of said primary display area.

19. The decoder apparatus of claim 7, wherein:

said guide display area is blended with a portion of said primary display area collocated with said guide display area to allow a user to concurrently view both of said guide display area and said primary display area.

20. The decoder apparatus of claim 19, wherein:

the blending between said guide display area and said collocated portion of said primary display area is in a proportion of approximately 50%.

21. The decoder apparatus of claim 7, wherein:

said means for selectively acquiring demand data is responsive to a user command to display schedule data of said future time slots.

22. The decoder apparatus of claim 7, wherein:

said trickle data and said demand data are substantially continuously broadcast over said information network.

Description Submit all comments and votes

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for allowing a user to obtain information and enter commands relating to the provision of services over a communication network. More particularly, the invention relates to an on-screen visual program guide that guides a user through a menu of individual events which are available via an information network.

The invention has particular applicability to the provision of an interactive program guide (IPG) for events such as television programs, movies, concerts, sporting events, interactive services, and the like which are available over a digital broadcast satellite (DBS) system or a cable television network (CATV). The program guide can be easily switched by a user between a partial screen guide and a full-screen guide so that the guide can be used while a current program is continuously viewed. In this way, attributes of other programming services available on other channels are determined while continuity of viewing is maintained.

The availability of digital networks for the transmission of games, information services, television programming (including movies and special events), shop at home services, and the like, has vastly increased the number and variety of such services available to consumers. Systems with 500 or more programming channels are contemplated and are expected to be in operation in the near future. One challenge that has emerged in the development and design of such systems is how to keep consumers informed as to the scheduling of the many different events that are offered. Additionally, there is a need for a convenient way to allow consumers to communicate via the television, for example, to order pay programming from a service provider, order goods or services from a shopping channel, and participate in contests, opinion polls, or other interactive activities.

In the past, where cable and satellite television systems have generally provided less than 100 channels, weekly or monthly program guides have been printed and distributed by mail. Periodical publications, such as TV Guide, have been available for purchase at newsstands or by subscription. However, any schedule changes made after the printing of the program guides render such printed guides inaccurate. Further, for the contemplated systems of 500 or more channels, the sheer volume of entries renders the use of printed program guides expensive and inconvenient. The indexing of the large number of programs is a complex task and a consumer's search for a desired program may be extremely laborious and inconvenient.

A logical solution to the problem of providing an accurate, up-to-date guide for a large number of events is to provide the guide via an electronic medium. Some CATV systems provide a dedicated channel which displays current programming. However, this is unsatisfactory in that only about one to three hours of programming is displayed and the information is usually scrolled slowly so that the user must wait to view a particular listing. Moreover, these systems lack any user interface capability and cannot be customized to suit the user's needs.

The communication industry is working toward the development of program guides that are downloaded to a subscriber terminal, such as a "set-top box" connected to a subscriber's television, in order to provide program schedule information. One stumbling block in implementing such an electronic program guide is the amount of bandwidth required to carry the large amount of scheduling information over a communication channel. Another obstacle is the amount of memory required to store scheduling data for a week or more within the set-top box. Such random access memory (RAM) is currently expensive. This conflicts with the requirement that a consumer set-top box be a relatively inexpensive item.

Another problem faced by developers of electronic guides to events available over a communication network is the provision of the schedule information in a timely manner. Subscribers would grow impatient if the response time for providing scheduling information in answer to a query for such information for a particular time slot takes too long. In an ideal system, a subscriber would receive an immediate answer to a request for scheduling information pertaining to a particular time period. After obtaining scheduling information, a subscriber may desire further details about a particular program. Again, it would be inconvenient to wait for more than a few seconds in order to obtain descriptive information about a program. Ideally, the description information should be provided almost instantaneously.

It would be advantageous to provide an interface for allowing a user to interact with a television program guide to events that is economical in terms of both communication bandwidth and cost. Such an interactive guide should respond to user inquiries and commands on an instantaneous or near instantaneous basis. The interactive service guide should be received by a relatively inexpensive set-top box, and adapt to the amount of RAM available in a particular set-top box. The interactive service guide should enable more advanced set-top boxes having more memory to respond to requests for schedule and description information even more rapidly than boxes having less memory.

It would be further advantageous to provide an interactive television program guide to events that is easily invoked and does not interfere with the viewing of a current program. The guide should be easily switched to a partial or full screen format or returned to a non-display status as desired by a user.

Additionally, the guide should be relatively easy to use. The guide should be easily navigated, for example, using a user interface device such as a hand held remote control. The guide should provide various options for display, including full or partial overlay of a program being viewed, blending of the program guide and the current programming, and reformatting of the existing program. Blending refers to the electronic mixing of video and graphics, where the graphics may be locally or remotely generated. Reformatting refers to the resizing of the video in either or both of the vertical and horizontal directions. Such reformatting would allow display of both the guide and the full existing program in a reduced size. In particular, it is desirable to provide reformatting of a program when the program guide is displayed in a partial screen mode, thereby allowing the viewer to continue to view a primary program in whole while also accessing the guide.

The guide should allow a user to directly tune to programs, obtain specific detailed program information (e.g., movie ratings and reviews), set program timers of a television and associated recording or playback device (e.g., a video cassette recorder--VCR), and add specific channels to a favorite channel list. The guide should allow presentation of information in a list or grid format and provide displays covering programming over varying time periods.

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for allowing a user to interface with an electronic television program guide which enjoys the above and other advantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, a method and apparatus for displaying an interactive electronic television program guide are provided. The invention is an interactive guide to events which are received from an information network such as a CATV or DBS system. The guide works in conjunction with program data which is provided on the same network on which the programming is available. Additionally, a partial screen guide, or "mini-guide", can be displayed in an overlaid or blended fashion with the current program, thereby making the guide less obtrusive yet still visible. With the present system, an existing program can be reformatted when the program guide is displayed in a partial screen mode, thereby allowing the viewer to continue to view a primary program while also accessing the guide. The guide allows a user to determine the attributes of programming available on different programming services (i.e., channels) while maintaining continuity of viewing with a current primary channel.

The guide is easily invoked and minimizes interference with the viewing of a current program. The guide can be easily switched by a user to a partial or full screen format or returned to a non-display status. The guide can be easily navigated using a hand held remote control and provides various options for display, including full or partial overlay of existing programming, and blending of the program guide and the current programming.

The guide allows a user to directly tune to programs, obtain specific detailed program information, set program timers of a television and associated recording or playback device, and add specific channels to a favorite channel list. The guide provides presentation of information in a list or grid format and provides displays covering programming over varying time periods.

Moreover, the guide can be configured to provide a variety of informational displays and interactive capabilities. For example, the guide may contain the month, day and time slot of the program information being viewed. Typically, this will default to the current date and time when the guide is invoked. Channel call letters (e.g., MTV, CNN, ESPN, HBO, VH1, Cinemax) and channel numbers can be displayed. A particular channel can be highlighted upon entry into the guide, including the last channel viewed or a default channel. Start times of programs will be displayed, including odd start times (e.g., times that are not on the hour or half hour). Program titles and a description of the programming can be displayed. Provision is made to truncate text that does not fit within the display of a particular time span. Various icons (symbols) or colors can be used to indicate program attributes such as closed captioning (CC), colorization, black-and-white, stereo, surround sound, or Dolby.RTM. stereo, or to indicate whether the program is broadcast live, is one part of a multi-part series, contains dialogue in an alternate language, or is a repeat presentation.

Additionally, the guide may display ratings of program, including Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) ratings (e.g., G, PG, R), a critic's rating (e.g., "3 stars" or "good"), or other rating indicating, for example, violence, nudity, or adult content. The guide may further display whether a program belongs to a specific class of programming such as movies, news, children's programming or comedy. Moreover, further subclasses may be defined (e.g., action movies).

The guide may display the start time, end time, and duration of a program. For pay programming, the guide may display the purchase price. The guide can require the user to provide authorization to view specific programs or channels, for example, by use of a password entered via the remote control. This feature is valuable for parents who want to prevent children from watching certain types of programming.

The guide may further allow the service provider to communicate with specific individuals or groups of users. See, for example, commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,260,778 (Apparatus for Selective Distribution of Messages Over a Communications Network). In this manner, specific messages, advertisements and promotions may be directed at targeted groups. Groups may be defined by geographical area, distribution hub, or by common interests (e.g., boxing fans, comedy fans and so forth). Additionally, the guide allows individuals to order new programming services or change the level of service received.

A plurality of database "pages" is provided for communication over the information network. Each page corresponds to a particular time slot, and includes data defining the titles and descriptions of events offered during the time slot to which that page pertains. The database pages are transmitted via the information network at a transmission rate selected to enable the recovery of a particular database page within a predetermined acquisition time limit, to obtain schedule data for the time slot represented by that page.

The schedule data represents information services and messages identifying events provided by particular information services at particular times, and is transmitted in a preformatted form to facilitate the display of schedules by time slot at a decoder without performing the sorting at the decoder.

The database pages can be transmitted in a packetized transport stream wherein different categories of data are carried in different packet streams and each packet stream has a unique packet identifier (PID). For example, each of the database pages can be carried in a separate packet stream having an unique PID for that page. Foundation data necessary to decode the schedule data carried in the database pages can be provided in an additional data stream which has its own PID.

The database pages contain schedule data for time periods beyond a current period, for example, for a week or more beyond the current day. A separate stream of data is provided with schedule information for the current time period, e.g., the current day or a two day, forty-eight hour period. The separate stream has its own PID and provides the schedule information for the current time period at a rate which is slower than the rate at which the schedule data carried in the database pages are provided. In particular, the data for the current time period is provided in a low-rate "trickle data stream" and stored in the RAM of a subscriber set top box or the like. The data for future time periods is carried in a "demand data stream" which carries the data at a much higher rate and can be acquired on a real time basis in response to a subscriber's request for future scheduling information. Since the RAM available at the subscriber location will typically be less than that available to store all of the future schedule information, the provision of a separate high rate demand data stream allows timely acquisition of desired scheduling data. Moreover, the current scheduling data stored in RAM can be retrieved and displayed immediately.

In an example illustrated embodiment, a method and apparatus are provided for displaying an interactive electronic program guide to a plurality of programming services available via an information network from a service provider. A guide display area is provided on a primary display area of a device associated with said network in response to a user command, wherein the guide display area comprises a portion of the primary display area. The guide display area provides information on the attributes of the programming of at least one of the programming services (i.e., channels)