# US 11,115,704 B2 · Media channel navigation user interface systems and methods > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,115,704 B2 - Document ID: US11115704B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 14/675,558 - Filed: 2015-03-31 - Published: 2016-05-05 - Granted: 2021-09-07 - Earliest claimed: 2014-10-30 - Assignees: Verizon Patent and Licensing Inc. - Applicants: Verizon Patent and Licensing Inc. - Inventors: George M. Higa; Brian F. Roberts - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11115704B2 ## CPC - H04N 21/4312: {involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations} - G06F 3/0482: Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus - H04N 21/252: {Processing of multiple end-users' preferences to derive collaborative data} - H04N 21/25891: {being end-user preferences (retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18)} - H04N 21/4316: {for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window} - H04N 21/44218: {Detecting physical presence or behaviour of the user, e.g. using sensors to detect if the user is leaving the room or changes his face expression during a TV programme (methods or arrangements for recognising human body or animal bodies or body parts G06V40/10; methods or arrangements for acquiring or recognising human faces, facial parts, facial sketches, facial expressions G06V40/16; methods or arrangements for recognising movements or behaviour G06V40/20; arrangements for identifying users in broadcast systems H04H60/45)} - H04N 21/44224: {Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing} - H04N 21/4532: {involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences (monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18)} - H04N 21/4586: {Content update operation triggered locally, e.g. by comparing the version of software modules in a DVB carousel to the version stored locally (deployment, distribution, installation, update of software G06F8/65; error detection or correction of the data by redundancy during software upgrading G06F11/1433; arrangements for updating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/25)} - H04N 21/4622: {Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet (web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859)} - H04N 21/4661: {Deriving a combined profile for a plurality of end-users of the same client, e.g. for family members within a home (user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306)} - H04N 21/4667: {Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections} - H04N 21/472: 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 {(end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612)} - H04N 21/47202: {for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand} - H04N 21/47205: {for manipulating displayed content, e.g. interacting with MPEG-4 objects, editing locally} - H04N 21/4725: using interactive regions of the image, e.g. hot spots {(details of information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94)} - H04N 21/4755: {for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre (retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306)} - H04N 21/4788: communicating with other users, e.g. chatting {(arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104)} - H04N 21/4821: {using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time} - H04N 21/4825: {using a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlists} - H04N 21/4826: {using recommendation lists, e.g. of programmes or channels sorted out according to their score} - H04N 21/6582: {Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number (arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38)} - H04N 21/8133: {specifically related to the content, e.g. biography of the actors in a movie, detailed information about an article seen in a video programme} - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract An exemplary method includes a media channel navigation user interface system detecting, while media content distributed on a media channel is being presented for display on a display screen, a user request to launch a media channel navigation user interface, and providing, in response to the detected user request and for concurrent display with the presentation of the media content on the display screen, a media channel navigation user interface pane comprising a set of media channel navigation tools that include at least media content channel navigation tools selectable by a user to launch different types of menus of media channels in the media channel navigation user interface pane. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method comprising: detecting, by a media channel navigation user interface system while media content distributed on a media channel is being presented for display on a display screen, a user request to launch a media channel navigation user interface; selecting, by the media channel navigation user interface system based on a set of predefined similarity-based channel selection factors, a plurality of other media channels each characterized by sharing an attribute of the media channel; selecting, by the media channel navigation user interface system, a media program characterized by sharing an attribute of the media content that is distributed on the media channel; and providing, by the media channel navigation user interface system in response to the detected user request and for concurrent display with the presentation of the media content on the display screen, a media channel navigation user interface pane comprising a set of media channel navigation tools that include a first media channel navigation tool selectable by a user to launch a similarity-based menu of media options in the media channel navigation user interface pane, the media options in the similarity-based menu of media options including a similarity-based combination set of media channels and media programs currently being distributed, the similarity-based combination set of media channels and media programs comprising the selected plurality of other media channels and the selected media program, and a second media channel navigation tool selectable by the user to launch a recency-based menu of media options in the media channel navigation user interface pane, the media options in the recency-based menu of media options including a recency-based combination set of media channels and media programs selected based on recency of access prior to a launch of the recency-based menu. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the set of media channel navigation tools further includes a third media channel navigation tool selectable by the user to launch a third type of menu of media options in the media channel navigation user interface pane, the third type of menu of media options different from the recency-based menu of media options and the similarity-based menu of media options. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the third type of menu of media options comprises an alphabet-based menu of media options. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: detecting, by the media channel navigation user interface system, a selection of the first media channel navigation tool in the media channel navigation user interface pane; and providing, by the media channel navigation user interface system in response to the detected selection of the first media channel navigation tool, the similarity-based menu of media options for concurrent display with the set of media channel navigation tools in the media channel navigation user interface pane. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: detecting, by the media channel navigation user interface system, a selection of the second media channel navigation tool in the media channel navigation user interface pane; and providing, by the media channel navigation user interface system in response to the detected selection of the second media channel navigation tool, the recency-based menu of media options for concurrent display with the set of media channel navigation tools in the media channel navigation user interface pane. ### Claim 6 (depends on 4) The method of claim 4, further comprising: detecting, by the media channel navigation user interface system, a selection of a media channel included in the similarity-based menu of media options; and providing, by the media channel navigation user interface system in response to the detected selection of the media channel, content related to the media channel for display within the similarity-based menu of media options in the media channel navigation user interface pane. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium. ### Claim 8 A method comprising: accessing, by a media content access system, a media channel; providing, by the media content access system for display on a display screen, a presentation of media content distributed on the accessed media channel; and providing, by the media content access system for concurrent display with the presentation of the media content on the display screen, a media channel navigation user interface pane that includes a menu of media channel navigation tools comprising a recent-channel navigation tool selectable by a user to launch, in the media channel navigation user interface pane, a recency-based menu including a recency-based combination set of media channels and media programs currently being distributed, the recency-based combination set of media channels and media programs selected for inclusion in the recency-based menu based on recency of access prior to the launch of the recency-based menu, and a similar-channel navigation tool selectable by the user to launch, in the media channel navigation user interface pane, a similarity-based menu including a similarity-based combination set of media channels and media programs currently being distributed, the similarity-based combination set of media channels and media programs comprising one or more media channels and one or more media programs, the one or more media channels each selected for inclusion in the similarity-based menu based on at least one attribute shared with the accessed media channel and based on a set of predefined similarity-based channel selection factors, and the one or more media programs each selected for inclusion in the similarity-based menu based on at least one attribute shared with media content being distributed on the accessed media channel. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, wherein the set of media channel navigation tools further include an alphabet-based channel navigation tool selectable by the user to launch, in the media channel navigation user interface pane, an alphabet-based menu of one or more media channels selected for inclusion in the alphabet-based menu based on alphabetical similarity to the accessed media channel. ### Claim 10 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, further comprising: detecting, by the media channel navigation user interface system, a selection of the recent-channel navigation tool in the media channel navigation user interface pane; and providing, by the media channel navigation user interface system in response to the detected selection of the recent-channel navigation tool, the recency-based menu including the recency-based combination set of media channels and media programs for concurrent display with the set of media channel navigation tools in the media channel navigation user interface pane. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, further comprising: detecting, by the media channel navigation user interface system, a selection of a media channel included in the recency-based menu; and providing, by the media channel navigation user interface system in response to the detected selection of the media channel and for display in the recency-based menu, informational content about a media program currently being distributed on the selected media channel. ### Claim 12 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium. ### Claim 13 A system comprising: at least one processor; and a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to: detect, while media content distributed on a media channel is being presented for display on a display screen, a user request to launch a media channel navigation user interface; select, based on a set of predefined similarity-based channel selection factors, a plurality of other media channels each characterized by sharing an attribute of the media channel; select a media program characterized by sharing an attribute of the media content that is distributed on the media channel; and provide, in response to the detected user request and for concurrent display with the presentation of the media content on the display screen, a media channel navigation user interface pane comprising a set of media channel navigation tools that include a first media channel navigation tool selectable by a user to launch a similarity-based menu of media options in the media channel navigation user interface pane, the media options in the similarity-based menu of media options including a similarity-based combination set of media channels and media programs currently being distributed, the similarity-based combination set of media channels and media programs comprising the selected plurality of other media channels and the selected media program, and a second media channel navigation tool selectable by the user to launch a recency-based menu of media options in the media channel navigation user interface pane, the media options in the recency-based menu of media options including a recency-based combination set of media channels and media programs selected based on recency of access prior to a launch of the recency-based menu. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The system of claim 13, wherein the set of media channel navigation tools further includes a third media channel navigation tool selectable by the user to launch a third type of menu of media options in the media channel navigation user interface pane, the third type of menu of media options different from the recency-based menu of media options and the similarity-based menu of media options. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the third type of menu of media options comprises an alphabet-based menu of media options. ### Claim 16 (depends on 13) The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the at least one processor to: detect, by the media channel navigation user interface system, a selection of the first media channel navigation tool in the media channel navigation user interface pane; and provide, by the media channel navigation user interface system in response to the detected selection of the first media channel navigation tool, the similarity-based menu of media options for concurrent display with the set of media channel navigation tools in the media channel navigation user interface pane. ### Claim 17 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, wherein the media options in the alphabet-based menu of media options include a combination set of media channels and media programs comprising an additional media channel selected for inclusion in the alphabet-based menu of media options based on alphabetical similarity to the media channel, and an additional media program selected for inclusion in the alphabet-based menu of media options based on alphabetical similarity to the media channel. ### Claim 18 (depends on 15) The system of claim 15, wherein the media options in the alphabet-based menu of media options include a combination set of media channels and media programs comprising an additional media channel selected for inclusion in the alphabet-based menu of media options based on alphabetical similarity to the media channel, and an additional media program selected for inclusion in the alphabet-based menu of media options based on alphabetical similarity to the media channel. ### Claim 19 (depends on 5) The method of claim 5, wherein the providing of the recency-based menu of media options for display comprises selecting one or more media channels, from a history of accessed media channels, for inclusion in the recency-based menu of media options based on a set of predefined recency-based channel selection factors. ### Claim 20 (depends on 13) The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the at least one processor to: detect, by the media channel navigation user interface system, a selection of the second media channel navigation tool in the media channel navigation user interface pane; and provide, by the media channel navigation user interface system in response to the detected selection of the second media channel navigation tool, the recency-based menu of media options for concurrent display with the set of media channel navigation tools in the media channel navigation user interface pane.