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| United States Patent | 6263501 |
| Link to this page | http://www.wikipatents.com/6263501.html |
| Inventor(s) | Schein; Steven M. (Menlo Park, CA), O'Brien; Sean A. (Pleasanton, CA), Leftwich; James Jay (Palo Alto, CA), Broughton; Susan (Tracy, CA) |
| Abstract | The present invention provides systems and methods for providing television
schedule information to a viewer, and for allowing the viewer to link,
search, select and interact with information in a remote database, e.g., a
database on the internet. The television schedule information can be
displayed on a variety of viewer interfaces, such as television screens,
computer monitors, PCTV screens and the like. The television schedule
information may be stored on the viewer's computer, television, PCTV, or a
remote server (e.g., a website), or the television schedule information
may be downloaded from a remote database to the viewer's computer,
television or PCTV. |
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Title Information  |
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Drawing from US Patent 6263501 |
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Systems and methods for linking television viewers with advertisers and
broadcasters |
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| Publication Date |
July 17, 2001 |
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| Filing Date |
October 11, 1999 |
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| Parent Case |
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/837,078,filed
Apr. 11, 1997, which is a continuation-in-part of Provisional Patent
Application Ser. No. 60/022,826, filed on Jul. 26, 1996, and 60/015,648,
filed on Apr. 19, 1996, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/537,650,
filed on Oct. 2, 1995, now abandoned, the complete disclosures of which
are incorporated herein by reference. This application is also related to
U.S. patent application Ser. No. unassigned, filed Apr. 11, 1997 , and its
Appendices A, B, and C, the complete disclosure which is also incorporated
herein by reference. |
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Title Information |
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References |
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U.S. References |
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| | Reference | Relevancy | Comments | Reference | Relevancy | Comments | 6098065
Skillen et al.
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Wachob
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Market Review |
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Technical Review |
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Claims |
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What is claimed is:
1. An interactive program guide having a display screen comprising:
a database for storing television schedule information including television program titles;
a display controller electrically coupled to the database for displaying some of the schedule information including television program titles on the screen;
an input device for selecting one of the displayed program titles;
a processor for searching the Internet and identifying data contextually related to the selected program;
a communication device for receiving the identified data contextually related to the selected program; and
a controller for displaying the received data contextually related to the selected program on the screen.
2. The program guide of claim 1 wherein the database resides on one or more remote file servers accessible through a communication link.
3. The program guide of claim 2 wherein the communication link is Internet.
4. The program guide of claim 1 further comprising:
means for monitoring and storing user's selections of television programs;
means for heuristically learning a user's preference according to the user's selections of television programs; and
means for activating the program guide responsive to the stored user-preference.
5. The program guide of claim 4 wherein means for learning a user-preference comprises means for storing a user-preference responsive to a user input.
6. The program guide of claim 4 wherein the user-preference is a television program.
7. The program guide of claim 4 wherein the user-preference is a theme for a plurality of television programs.
8. The program guide of claim 6 wherein the activating means comprises means for reminding the user to view the preferred television program.
9. The program guide of claim 6 wherein the activating means comprises means for recording the preferred television program.
10. The program guide of claim 6 wherein the activating means comprises means for downloading a copy of the preferred television program to a digital storage medium.
11. The program guide of claim 7 wherein the activating means comprises means for searching the schedule information; means for matching television programs having the same theme as the stored theme; and means for recording the matched
television programs.
12. The program guide of claim 7 wherein the activating means comprises means for searching the schedule information; means for matching television programs having the same theme as the stored theme; and means for downloading a copy of the
matched television program to a digital storage medium.
13. The program guide of claim 4 wherein the activating means comprises of means for adapting the schedule information displayed on the screen according to the user-preference.
14. The program guide of claim 1, further comprising:
means for displaying preview programming for a future-scheduled television program;
means for identifying a plurality of on-line services, databases, websites, or other sources of information having data contextually related to the future-scheduled television program;
means for selecting an on-line service, database, website, or another source of information having data contextually related to the future-scheduled television programs from the identified plurality of on-line services, databases, websites, or
other sources of information having data contextually related to the future-scheduled television program;
means responsive to the on-line service selecting means for establishing a link to the selected on-line service; and
means for displaying data from the linked on-line service on the screen.
15. The program guide of claim 1, further comprising means for storing and displaying advertisement data.
16. A method for managing and displaying information in an interactive television system having a display screen comprising the steps of:
storing television schedule information including television program titles;
displaying some of the schedule information including television program titles on the screen;
selecting one of the displayed program titles;
searching the Internet and identifying data contextually related to the selected program;
receiving the identified data contextually related to the selected program; and
displaying the received data contextually related to the selected program on the screen.
17. The method of claim 16 wherein the storing step comprises storing television schedule information in a database residing on one or more remote file servers accessible through a communication link.
18. The method of claim 17 wherein the communication link is Internet.
19. The method of claim 16 further comprising the steps of:
monitoring and storing user's selections of television programs;
heuristically learning a user's preference according to the user's selections of television programs; and
activating the program guide responsive to the stored user-preference.
20. The method of claim 19 wherein learning a user-preference comprises storing a user-preference responsive to a user input.
21. The method of claim 19 wherein the user-preference is a television program.
22. The method of claim 19 wherein the user-preference is a theme for a plurality of television programs.
23. The method of claim 21 wherein the activating step comprises reminding the user to view the preferred television program.
24. The method of claim 21 wherein the activating step comprises recording the preferred television program.
25. The method of claim 21 wherein the activating step comprises downloading a copy of the preferred television program to a digital storage medium.
26. The method of claim 22 wherein the activating step comprises searching the schedule information; matching television programs having the same theme as the stored theme; and recording the matched television programs.
27. The method of claim 22 wherein the activating step comprises searching the schedule information; matching television programs having the same theme as the stored theme; and downloading a copy of the matched television program to a digital
storage medium.
28. The method of claim 16 wherein the contextually related data is advertisement data.
29. The method of claim 19 wherein the activating step comprises adapting the schedule information displayed on the screen according to the user-preference.
30. The method of claim 16, further comprising:
displaying preview programming for a future-scheduled television program;
identifying a plurality of on-line services, databases, websites, or other sources of information having data contextually related to the future-scheduled television program;
selecting an on-line service, database, website, or another source of information having data contextually related to the future-scheduled television programs from the identified plurality of on-line services, databases, websites, or other
sources of information having data contextually related to the future-scheduled television program;
responsive to the on-line service selecting step, establishing a link to the selected on-line service; and
displaying data from the linked on-line service on the screen.
31. The method of claim 16, further comprising storing and displaying advertisement data.
32. The method of claim 16 wherein the contextually related data is one or more of selected television program actors, actresses, theme, other broadcast times, other broadcast sources, associated available products, and promotions.
33. The program guide of claim 1 wherein the contextually related data is advertisement.
34. The program guide of claim 1 wherein the contextually related data is promotions.
35. The program guide of claim 1 wherein the contextually related data is one or more of selected television program actors, actresses, theme, other broadcast times, other broadcast sources, and associated available products. |
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Claims |
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Description |
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to systems and methods for providing information to television viewers, and more particularly to systems and methods for allowing the viewer to retrieve, search, select and interact with television schedule
information located in a remote database, computer network or on-line service, e.g., a network server on the Internet or World Wide Web.
As the number of television stations in a metropolitan area or on a cable network has increased, the number of programs of potential interest that are presented to a viewer has risen dramatically. With the use of dish antennas capable of
receiving direct satellite signals, the multitude of programs available to the viewer has further increased. Consequently, television schedule systems that are provided directly on the viewer's television screen have been developed to assist the viewer
in sorting through these various programs and determining which programs to watch or record. One such television schedule system is disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,121 (Young et al.), the complete disclosure of which is hereby
incorporated by reference. In one embodiment of Young, the television schedule includes a series of menu screens having an array of cells corresponding to different television programs. The viewer may scroll through the cells to view which television
programs are being presented on various channels at various times. In addition, the viewer may select certain cells to obtain more information on the associated program or to pull up other submenus with additional options.
The recent development of television schedule systems, such as the above described patent to Young, have created many new challenges and opportunities. One such challenge and opportunity is to provide viewers with additional information
associated with a particular program in the television guide. As a television viewer is browsing through the television programs, he or she may wish to obtain more information relating to specific areas of interest or concerns associated with the show,
such as the actors, actresses, other movies released during the same time period, or travel packages or promotions that may be available through primary, secondary or third party vendors. Offering this type of information to the television viewer can be
difficult, however, because there are hundreds of different programs broadcast every day. In addition, the available information changes at a rapid pace, which makes it even more difficult to provide this information in present television schedule
guides.
In television broadcasting, it may also be desirable to interact with the viewer. There are many commercials and programs which request viewer action such as purchasing an advertised product, making a monetary contribution, responding to a
survey, answering a question, or participating in contests with other viewers, for example. One problem with this existing system is that it is often difficult to motivate a viewer to request information or send in a contribution after the broadcast of
the commercial or program. Viewers will often forget the advertisement or simply lose motivation to spend money or request information after the commercial or program is over. Another problem is that companies sponsoring these commercials or programs
would often like to provide their viewers with further information, if the viewers could be identified or if the viewer requests the additional information. Thus, it would be desirable to provide a ready and efficient method to facilitate an exchange of
information between television viewers and producers, promoters and advertisers during the broadcast of the commercial or program.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides systems and methods for providing television schedule information on a visual interface, and for allowing the viewer to retrieve, search, select and interact with information located in a remote database, computer
network or on-line service, such as a network server on the Internet or World Wide Web. The television schedule information can be displayed on a variety of visual interfaces, such as television screens, computer monitors, PCTV screens and the like.
The television schedule information may be stored on the viewer's computer, television, PCTV, or a remote server (e.g., a website), or the television schedule information may be downloaded from a remote database or computer network to the viewer's
computer, television or PCTV. The present invention also provides systems and methods for allowing the viewer to navigate and interact with a program guide that is displayed, for example, on the viewer's television screen. The program guide will
usually include a schedule information area that depicts the programs that are being presented on each channel at each time during the day, week or month. With an input device, such as a remote control device, pointing device, mouse, keyboard,
microphone or the like, the viewer can browse through the schedule information area and/or obtain more information about programs of particular interest.
In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a system and method is provided for directly linking television viewers with broadcasters and advertisers during the real-time broadcast or non-real-time internet broadcast of a commercial or
program. In this embodiment, the system includes a viewer interface, such as a television, computer, PCTV or a television coupled to a computer system, and a communication device for coupling the viewer interface with a computer network, such as the
Internet or World Wide Web. A television guide database or network server is coupled to the computer network, or directly to the viewer interface for providing the television schedule and/or listing information to the viewer. The viewer interface will
have a memory and a processor with appropriate software (not shown) for searching, is retrieving, initiating a subscription to and interacting with information from the television guide database, or the commercial databases coupled to the computer
network. Alternatively, this function may be provided through the computer network by allowing the viewer to access, download, and/or automatically upgrade an application or applet (e.g., a JAVA.TM. applet) h | | |
