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US 2001/0044855 A1Published application
System for accessing content
AssigneeNOWavision, LLC
InventorsBrian Christopher Vermeire, Jim Sasso, Lewis Andrew Kurfist
Life of this patent
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AssigneeNOWavision, LLC
InventorsBrian Christopher Vermeire, Jim Sasso, Lewis Andrew Kurfist
Estimating the term…
A system for accessing content over a network of computers. The system includes a database system, a content provider interface, a viewer interface, and a virtual remote control. The database system maps channels codes to network addresses as well as to content descriptions. The network address identifies a unit of information or entertainment content. The channel codes include a genre code and a numerical code. The content provider interface assists content providers in entering the network addresses and the content descriptions for their information and entertainment content into the database system. The viewer interface includes a guide (which may be printed or electronic) and a network browser. The viewer interface displays the content descriptions and allows the user to select and view the unit of content on a channel. The virtual remote control is software implemented and allows the viewer to access the channels or to surf through the channels for a given genre. In some embodiments, the viewer can use a microphone, game pad, infra red controller, mouse, keyboard or other computer peripheral to control the virtual remote control or the viewer interface. In one embodiment, a speech recognition module and speech synthesizer module are included. In some embodiments, only channels associated to units of content are accessible while the viewer surfs through channels. In some embodiments, the viewer can assign channels associated to units of content to the viewer's favorites list.
A system for accessing content over a network of computers, the system comprising:
A virtual remote control for a system for accessing content over a network of computers, wherein the virtual remote control is software run by one of the computers on the network of computers, and wherein the virtual remote control comprises a channel scan function that allows a user to cycle through channels within a genre.
A remote control for a system for accessing content over a network of computers, wherein the remote control is adapted to accept channel codes consisting of a genre code and a numerical code.
A virtual remote control for a system for accessing content over a network of computers, wherein the virtual remote control is software in one of the computers from the network of computers;
A system for accessing content over a network of computers, the system comprising a plurality of favorites lists on one of the computers, wherein each user of the computer is assigned one of the plurality of favorites lists, and wherein each user can associate units of content to the favorites list of that user;
A virtual remote control for a system for accessing content over a network of computers, wherein the virtual remote control is software in one of the computers from the network of computers;
A content player for a computer from a network of computers for accessing units of content with spoken commands from a user, the content player comprising:
A system for organizing on-line content from a network of computers, the system comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.