Provider-defined live multichannel viewing events
AssigneeDISH Technologies L.L.C.
InventorMark Templeman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Various arrangements for providing a multichannel viewing event are presented. A definition of the multichannel viewing event may be transmitted to multiple television receivers. A television receiver may, as part of an electronic programming guide, provide a single-selection option to activate the multichannel viewing event based on the definition. In response to receiving user input that selects the single-selection option, the definition of the multichannel viewing event is accessed. The television receiver may output the television channels defined in the definition of the multichannel viewing event. A video stream that includes live feeds of multiple television channels may then be output to a display device for simultaneous presentation.
Claims20
A method for creating and watching a multichannel viewing event, the method comprising:
- receiving, by a television service provider system, a multichannel viewing event definition from an end user of a television receiver, the multichannel viewing event definition defining a plurality of television channels to be included as part of the multichannel viewing event provided to the television receiver;
- transmitting, by the television service provider system, the multichannel viewing event definition to the television receiver;
- storing, by the television receiver, the definition of the multichannel viewing event;
- providing, by the television receiver, as part of an electronic programming guide (EPG), a single-selection option to activate the multichannel viewing event based on the multichannel viewing event definition;
- receiving, by the television receiver, user input that selects the single-selection option;
- in response to receiving the user input that selects the single-selection option, accessing, by the television receiver, the stored definition of the multichannel viewing event;
- in response to the user input and the accessed stored definition of the multichannel viewing event, tuning one or more tuners of the television receiver based on the plurality of television channels defined in the definition of the multichannel viewing event;
- and
- output a video stream that comprises live feeds of multiple television channels from the plurality of television channels, and, when presented by a display device, the video stream results in the live feeds of the multiple television channels being presented simultaneously.
A system for creating and watching a multichannel viewing event, the system comprising:
- a television service provider system, configured to:
- receive a multichannel viewing event definition from an end user of a television receiver, the multichannel viewing event definition defining a plurality of television channels to be included as part of the multichannel viewing event provided to the television receiver;
- transmit the multichannel viewing event definition to the television receiver;
- and
- the television receiver, comprising:
- a plurality of tuners;
- one or more processors;
- and
- a memory communicatively coupled with and readable by the one or more processors and having stored therein processor-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
- receive the multichannel viewing event from the television service provider system;
- store the definition of the multichannel viewing event;
- provide, as part of an electronic programming guide (EPG), a single-selection option to activate the multichannel viewing event based on the multichannel viewing event definition;
- receive user input that selects the single-selection option;
- and
- in response to the user input, output a video stream that comprises live feeds of multiple television channels from the plurality of television channels, and, when presented by a display device, the video stream results in the live feeds of the multiple television channels being presented simultaneously.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.