Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N5/00—Details of television systems
  • H04N5/44—Receiver circuitry for the reception of television signals according to analogue transmission standards
  • H04N5/445—Receiver circuitry for the reception of television signals according to analogue transmission standards for displaying additional information
  • H04N5/45—Picture in picture, e.g. displaying simultaneously another television channel in a region of the screen
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/41—Structure of client; Structure of client peripherals
  • H04N21/422—Input-only peripherals, i.e. input devices connected to specially adapted client devices, e.g. global positioning system [GPS]
  • H04N21/42204—User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
  • H04N21/431—Generation of visual interfaces for content selection or interaction; Content or additional data rendering
  • H04N21/4312—Generation of visual interfaces for content selection or interaction; Content or additional data rendering involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
  • H04N21/4316—Generation of visual interfaces for content selection or interaction; Content or additional data rendering involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/47—End-user applications
  • H04N21/472—End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/47—End-user applications
  • H04N21/478—Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
  • H04N21/4781—Games
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/47—End-user applications
  • H04N21/482—End-user interface for programme selection
  • H04N21/4821—End-user interface for programme selection using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/80—Generation or processing of content or additional data by content creator independently of the distribution process; Content per se
  • H04N21/81—Monomedia components thereof
  • H04N21/812—Monomedia components thereof involving advertisement data
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N7/00—Television systems
  • H04N7/08—Systems for the simultaneous or sequential transmission of more than one television signal, e.g. additional information signals, the signals occupying wholly or partially the same frequency band, e.g. by time division
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/41—Structure of client; Structure of client peripherals
  • H04N21/426—Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof
  • H04N21/42653—Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof for processing graphics

Definitions

• the present invention relates to an electronic program guide
• EPG Electronic Program Guide
• An Electronic Program Guide is an interactive, on-screen analog to TV listings found in local newspapers or other print media.
• the information contained in an EPG includes programming characteristics such as channel number, program title, start time, end time, elapsed time, time remaining, rating (if available), topic, theme, and a brief description of the program's content.
• EPGs are usually arranged in a two-dimensional table or grid format with time on one axis and channels on the other axis. Unlike non-interactive guides that reside on a dedicated channel and merely scroll through the current programming on the other channels, EPGs allow viewers to select, in advance, any channel at any time. Further EPG features include the ability to highlight individual cells of the grid containing program information.
• VCR video cassette recording
• StarSight® system provides by StarSight Telecast, Inc. Aspects of the StarSight® system are described in US Pat. Nos. 5,353,121, 5,479,268, and 5,479,266 issued to Young et al. and assigned to StarSight Telecast, Inc.
• EPG may occupy the complete screen and prevent a viewer from seeing any video programming while the EPG is active.
• a user may spend a significant amount of time searching through the EPG to find a program of interest. Therefore, a user may miss a significant portion of a currently selected program while using an EPG.
• One solution is to provide an EPG display having a small window in which the currently selected video program is displayed. Displaying an image having one portion representing one video source and another portion representing another video source is well known. Examples are picture-in-picture and picture-outside-picture systems, i.e., PIP and POP systems, respectively.
• a problem associated with merely providing a PIP image in an EPG display is that while the user can see the video, the user may not recognize how to return to the channel being watched. For example, a user may search the EPG, find nothing of interest and wish to return to viewing the currently selected program.
• a video signal processing apparatus for providing a Picture-in-Guide feature (referred to herein as PiG).
• the appratus comprises means for generating a signal suitable for coupling to a display device for producing a displayed image having a first image region and a second image region on the display.
• the first image region displays an electronic program guide having a plurality of display areas or screen elements, each of the display areas being selectable for selecting a respective program.
• the second image region displays a video image correspponding to a selected one of the display areas or screen elements of the first image region.
• the appratus further comprises means for selecting one of the second image region and one of the display areas of the first image region.
• the signal generating means responds to the selection said second image region by the selection means for replacing the first and second image regions with a third image region displaying said video image previously displayed in the second image region.
• a method of processing an electronic program guide comprising the steps of: displaying the electronic program guide containing a plurality of screen elements or display areas in a first region of a display, each of the screen elements representing a selectable program; displaying a viewing window in a second region of the display when the electronic program guide is displayed in the first region of the display, providing a user-selection device for selection of one of the screen elements in the electronic program guide and the window in the second region; displaying in the window the program corresponding to the screen element selected by the user-selection device; replacing the first and second regions of the display with a third region displaying the selected program being displayed in the window when the window is selected by the user-selection device.
• an EPG display having a PiG feature when an EPG display having a PiG feature is active, video is displayed in a window portion of the EPG.
• the system includes means for moving a cursor within the EPG display.
• Suitable user-selection devices include a mouse or direction/selection keys on a remote control.
• a user selects the video window by first navigating the cursor such that the window is "highlighted" or such that the cursor indicates the window. The user then completes the selection process by clicking a mouse button or activating a selection button on a remote control.
• the EPG is replaced by a full screen image of the video that was being displayed in the small window
• the window included in the EPG display could display video other than that associated with a particular television channel.
• the video displayed in the small window could be associated with a particular advertiser such as a pay-per-view promotion.
• the video could be associated with a video game. In each case, selecting the small window would replace the EPG with a full screen display of the video content of the small window.
• FIG. 1 shows a flow chart illustrating operation of a system incorporating principles of the invention
• FIG. 2 is a sample EPG display including windows displaying video
• FIG. 3 shows a television receiver embodying aspects of the invention.
• FIG. 1 shows a flow chart illustrating the operation of an EPG system such as that shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 and described below.
• an EPG is started at step 110 by, for example, pressing a particular key on a remote control.
• the EPG display appears in one image region of the display as shown in FIG. 2.
• a program guide portion 200 of the EPG display indicates programs, channels, and program durations.
• a video window portion 210 shows video representing, for example, the currently selected program.
• a cursor represented by arrow 220 and/or highlighting represented by border 230 indicate that video window 210 is selected when positioned as shown in FIG. 2.
• step 110 is followed by step 120 which tests the current location of the cursor to determine if the cursor is positioned to indicate selection of the video window portion of an EPG display, e.g., by being in close proximity to and pointing to the video window as in FIG. 2 or by being superimposed on the video window. If so, step 120 produces a "yes” result. Alternatively, or in conjunction with testing the cursor position, step 120 can test the location of highlighting such as highlighting the border 230 in FIG. 2. If the video window is highlighted, a "yes" result is produced at step 120. A “yes” result at step 120 causes step 120 to be followed by step 140. If the result of the test at step 120 is "no", i.e., the cursor and/or highlighting does not indicate the selection of the video window, display of the EPG continues as shown by step 130.
• step 120 tests the current location of the cursor to determine if the cursor is positioned to indicate selection of the video window portion of an EPG display, e.g., by being in close
• step 140 the system tests to determine whether the user has activated a selection key, e.g., on a remote control. If not, EPG display continues at step 150. If the result at step 140 is "yes", the video window has been selected and step 140 is followed by step 160. At step 160, the television receiver is tuned to the channel shown in the video window. A third region, for example, the full screen, may display the tuned video signal, replacing both the EPG and the small window on the display
• FIG. 3 shows a television receiver suitable for providing the features illustrated in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2.
• the system shown in FIG. 3 has a first input 300 for receiving television signal RF_IN at RF frequencies and a second input 302 for receiving baseband television signal VIDEO IN.
• Signal RF-JN may be supplied from a source such as an antenna or cable system while signal VIDEO IN may be supplied, for example, by a video cassette recorder (VCR).
• Tuner 305 and IF processor 330 operate in a conventional manner for tuning and demodulating a particular television signal that is included in signal RF_IN.
• IF processor 330 produces baseband video signal VIDEO representing the video program portion of the tuned television signal.
• IF processor 330 also produces a baseband audio signal that is coupled to an audio processing section (not shown in FIG. 3) for further audio processing.
• FIG. 3 shows input 302 as a baseband signal
• the television receiver could include a second tuner and IF processor similar to units 305 and 330 for producing a second baseband video signal from either signal RF_IN or from a second RF signal source.
• the system shown in FIG. 3 also includes a main microprocessor ( ⁇ P) 310 for controlling components of the television receiver such as tuner 305, picture-in-picture processing unit 340, video signal processor 355, and StarSight® data processing module 360.
• ⁇ P main microprocessor
• microprocessor represents various devices including, but not limited to, microprocessors, microcomputers, microcontrollers and controllers.
• Microprocessor 310 controls the system by sending and receiving both commands and data via serial data bus I ⁇ C BUS which utilizes the well-known I ⁇ C serial data bus protocol.
• central processing unit (CPU) 312 within ⁇ P 310 executes control programs contained within memory, such as EEPROM 327 shown in FIG.
• a control program stored in EEPROM 327 is software for implementing the operations shown in FIG. 1.
• CPU 312 controls functions included within ⁇ P 310 via bus 319 within ⁇ P 310.
• CPU 312 controls auxiliary data processor 315 and on-screen display (OSD) processor 317.
• Auxiliary data processor 315 extracts auxiliary data such as StarSight® data from video signal PIPV.
• StarSight® data is typically received only on a particular television channel and the television receiver must tune that channel to extract StarSight® data.
• CPU 312 initiates StarSight® data extraction by tuning the particular channel only during a time period when the television receiver is usually not in use (e.g., 2:00 AM). At that time, CPU 312 configures decoder 315 such that auxiliary data is extracted from horizontal line intervals such as line 16 that are used for StarSight® data.
• CPU 312 controls the transfer of extracted StarSight® data from decoder 315 via I 2 C BUS to StarSight® module 360.
• a processor internal to the module formats and stores the data in memory within the module.
• CPU 312 transfers formatted StarSight® EPG display data from StarSight® module 360 via I 2 C BUS to OSD processor 317.
• OSD processor 317 operates in a conventional manner to produce R, G, and B video signals OSD_RGB that, when coupled to a display device, will produce a displayed image representing on-screen display information such as graphics and/or text comprising an EPG.
• OSD processor 317 also produces control signal FSW which is intended to control a fast switch for inserting signals OSD_RGB into the system's video output signal at times when an on-screen display is to be displayed. For example, when a user enables an EPG, e.g., by activating a particular switch on remote control 325, CPU 312 enables processors 315 and 317 so that processor 315 extracts the closed caption data from line 21 intervals of video signal PIPV.
• Processor 317 produces signals OSD_RGB representing the closed caption data.
• Processor 317 also produces signal FSW indicating when the caption is to be displayed.
• Video signal processor (VSP) 355 performs conventional video signal processing functions, such as luma and chroma processing. Output signals produced by VSP 355 are suitable for coupling to a display device, e.g., a kinescope or LCD device (not shown in FIG. 3), for producing a displayed image. VSP 355 also includes a fast switch for coupling signals produced by OSD processor 317 to the output video signal path at times when graphics and/or text is to be included in the displayed image. The fast switch is controlled by control signal FSW which is generated by OSD processor 317 in main microprocessor 310 at times when text and/or graphics are to be displayed.
• FSW control signal
• the input signal for VSP 355 is signal PIPV that is output by picture-in-picture (PIP) unit 340.
• PIP picture-in-picture
• PIP mode When a user activates PIP mode, signal PIPV represents a large picture (large pix) into which a small picture (small pix) is inset.
• PIP mode When PIP mode is inactive, signal PIPV represents just the large pix, i.e., no small pix signal is included in signal PIPV.
• the described operation of PIP unit 340 is provided by features of PIP unit 340 including video switch 342, I 2 C interface 341, PIP processor 344 and RAM 345.
• Switch 342 operates under user control for determining the coupling of the two input video signals VIDEO and VIDEO IN to the large and small pix signals LPIXV and SPIXV within PIP unit 340.
• switch 342 couples signal VIDEO to signal LPIXV and couples signal VIDEO IN to signal SPIXV, but switch 342 can swap the connections or couple one input signal to both the large and small picture signal lines.
• I 2 C interface 341 provides a bi-directional control and data interface between the I 2 C BUS and the functions within PIP unit 340.
• main ⁇ P 310 can control the operation of switch 342 and PIP processor 344 via the I 2 C BUS.
• PIP processor 344 When PIP processing is activated, PIP processor 344 implements the PIP function in a conventional manner. Briefly, PIP processor 344 converts signal SPLXV to digital data via analog-to-digital converters (ADC) that are included in PIP processor 344. The digital data is subsampled to reduce the amount of data and to reduce the size of the small picture image that is displayed. The subsampled data is stored in RAM 345 until the small picture display interval at which time the stored small-picture data is read from RAM 345 and converted into an analog small picture signal via digital-to-analog converters (DAC) that are included in PIP processor 344. A switch included in PIP processor 344 includes the analog small picture signal in signal PIPV during the small picture display interval.
• ADC analog-to-digital converters
• the small picture generation capabilities of PIP processor 344 are also used to generate the small video image included in the EPG display, e.g., video image 210 in FIG. 2.
• the main or large picture is produced by OSD processor 317 and included in the output signal by VSP 355 in response to fast switch signal FSW, rather than including the large picture video signal LPIXV.
• controller 310 detects activation of the EPG display, e.g., when a user presses the appropriate key on remote control 325
• controller 310 causes OSD processor 317 to produce the EPG display using StarSight® EPG data from StarSight® module 360.
• Controller 310 also causes PIP processor 340 to produce a small video image from the currently selected main video signal.
• VSP 355 combines the EPG display data and the small video image signal in response to signal FSW to produce the display in FIG. 2.
• controller 310 executes a control program stored in EEPROM 327.
• the control program monitors the location of a position indicator, such as a cursor and/or highlighting, in the EPG display in accordance with the flowchart in FIG. 1.
• a user controls the location of the position indicator using direction and selection keys of remote control 325.
• the system could include a mouse device.
• Suitable components for implemeting the features of the system shown in FIG. 3 that have been described thus far comprises an ST9296 microprocessor produced by SGS-Thomson Microelectronics for providing the features associated with ⁇ P 310; an M65616 picture-in- picture processor produced by Mitsubishi for providing the described basic PIP functionality associated with PIP processor 340; and an LA7612 video signal processor produced by Sanyo or providing the functions of VSP 355.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Multimedia (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Human Computer Interaction (AREA)
• Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
• Marketing (AREA)
• Databases & Information Systems (AREA)
• User Interface Of Digital Computer (AREA)
• Two-Way Televisions, Distribution Of Moving Picture Or The Like (AREA)
• Television Systems (AREA)
• Studio Circuits (AREA)

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• 1997
  • 1997-12-15 EP EP97953180A patent/EP0968604A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 1997-12-15 KR KR1019997007863A patent/KR20000075790A/ko not_active Withdrawn
  • 1997-12-15 JP JP54326598A patent/JP2001517408A/ja active Pending
  • 1997-12-15 WO PCT/US1997/022842 patent/WO1998043419A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 1997-12-15 CN CN97182047A patent/CN1249104A/zh active Pending
  • 1997-12-15 BR BR9714593-9A patent/BR9714593A/pt not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1997-12-15 AU AU56984/98A patent/AU5698498A/en not_active Abandoned

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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