US 2003/0115607 A1 · Device and method for displaying TV listings

Abstract

A television signal of a certain TV program is captured for a specified period and memorized in an image memory as a representative image of that TV program. The representative image is read from the image memory when, for example, the same kind of the TV program is found in a TV listing (list of scheduled programs). The representative image is then attached to the program title in the TV listing. Since the representative image presents visual information, a user can learn more about a scheduled program from the TV listing.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A TV listing display device for displaying a TV listing of scheduled programs which are scheduled to be broadcast from TV stations, comprising:

a reception unit for receiving broadcast data from said TV stations and demodulating the broadcast data to obtain television signals representing currently broadcast programs;
an acquisition unit for obtaining program information representing program titles of said scheduled programs;
a capture unit for capturing a signal having a specified length from said television signals, and storing the signal as program image data in an image memory;
a read unit for reading said program image data corresponding to said scheduled programs respectively from said image memory to prepare program images;
and
a display unit for displaying said program titles together with said program images respectively in the TV listing.

3 more elements

A TV listing displaying method for displaying a TV listing of scheduled programs which are scheduled to be broadcast from TV stations on a screen of a display device, comprising the steps of:

A) capturing a signal having a specified length from a television signal representing each of programs broadcast from said TV stations to store the signal as program image data in an image memory;
B) acquiring program information representing program titles of said scheduled programs respectively;
C) reading said program image data from said image memory based on said scheduled programs to prepare program images;
and
D) displaying said program titles together with said program images respectively in the TV listing.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application

10/316,018Filed 11 Dec 2002

Priority

JP 2001-38140814 Dec 2001

Published

19 Jun 2003

Term ends

Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification11 codes

H04N 5/4448
Receiver circuitry for the reception of television signals according to analogue transmission standards: for frame-grabbing
H04N 21/4147
Specialised client platforms, e.g. receiver in car or embedded in a mobile appliance: pVR [Personal Video Recorder]
H04N 21/4314
Involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations: for fitting data in…
H04N 21/432
Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g.…:…

Device and method for displaying TV listings

Life of this patent

Device and method for displaying TV listings

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims12