Apparatus and methods for providing access to viewer-orderable television events
AssigneeEchoStar Technologies L.L.C.
InventorsMark John Sokald, Daniel Mark Overbaugh
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of providing access to an orderable television event is presented. An orderable television event may be, for example, a pay-per-view television event or a video-on-demand television event. In the method, preview video content for the orderable television event is received and stored. The event is associated with one of a plurality of channel identifiers not associated with a television broadcast channel. A channel selection of the channel identifier associated with the orderable television event is received. In response to receiving the channel selection, the preview video content for the orderable television event is output for presentation to the user as a full-screen display.
Claims22
A method of providing access to a viewer-orderable television event, the method comprising:
- receiving and storing preview video content for the orderable television event, wherein the orderable television event is associated with one of a plurality of channel identifiers not associated with a television broadcast channel;
- receiving from a user a channel selection of the channel identifier associated with the orderable television event;
- and
- in response to receiving the channel selection, outputting for presentation to the user the preview video content for the orderable television event as a full-screen display.
A video content receiver, comprising:
- a content input interface configured to receive at least one of multiple television channels of video content, wherein each of the television channels is associated with a television channel identifier;
- data storage configured to store the video content;
- a content output interface configured to output the video content for presentation to a user;
- a user interface configured to receive user input;
- and
- control circuitry configured to:
- receive preview video content for each of a plurality of viewer-orderable television events via the content input interface;
- store the received preview video content for each of the orderable television events in the data storage, wherein each of the orderable television events is associated with a television channel identifier not associated with a broadcast channel;
- receive a channel selection via the user interface of a television channel identifier associated with at least one of the orderable television events;
- in response to receiving the channel selection, output via the content output interface the preview video content for one of the orderable television events associated with the channel selection as a full-screen display.
A television content receiver, comprising:
- a television input interface configured to receive video content for each of a plurality of broadcast television channels, and to receive preview video content and primary video content for each of a plurality of orderable television events, wherein each of the broadcast channels and each of the orderable television events is mapped to a television channel identifier;
- a television output interface configured to output the received video content and the received preview video content for presentation to a user;
- a user interface;
- and
- control circuitry configured to:
- receive via the user interface a channel identifier viewing selection;
- if the selected channel identifier is associated with one of the broadcast television channels, output via the television output interface the video content for the one of the broadcast television channels for presentation to the user as a full-screen display;
- and
- if the selected channel identifier is associated with one of the orderable television events, output via the television output interface the preview video content for a first of the orderable television events associated with the selected channel identifier as a full-screen display, and output via the television output interface an indication that the one of the orderable television events may be ordered for viewing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.