Television scheduling system for displaying a grid representing scheduled layout and selecting a programming parameter for display or recording

A computer system for selecting and displaying a television program from among a plurality of television programs, comprising:

• a display;
• an input device through which the selected television program is selected from a user;
• and
• a computer coupled to the display and to the input device, comprising
• an input unit for obtaining the selected television program from the input device,
• a memory for storing a program name and a time of broadcast of each of the plurality of television programs, and
• a processor four obtaining the selected television program from the input unit, for reading the program name and time of broadcast for each of the plurality of television programs from the memory, for displaying on the display the read program names and times of broadcast, and, when the selected television program is currently being broadcast, for displaying the selected television program concurrently with the program name and time of broadcast of the plurality of television programs.

A method in a computer system for displaying television information about a plurality of television programs on a display device, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving the television information for each of the plurality of television programs, the television information include a name and a time of broadcast, and a graphics information or the television program;
• for each of the plurality of television programs, displaying on the display device the name of the television program and an indication of the time of broadcast of the television program;
• receiving from a user of the computer system a selection of a television program;
• and
• in response to receiving the selection, displaying on the display device the graphics information of the selected television program simultaneously with the displayed names and indications of time and channel of broadcast of the television programs.

A method in a computer system for displaying television information about a plurality of television programs on a display device, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving the television information for each of the plurality of television programs, the television information include a name and a time of broadcast;
• for each of the plurality of television programs, displaying on the display device the name of the television program and an indication of the time of broadcast of the television program;
• receiving from a user of the computer system a selection of a television program;
• and
• in response to receiving the selection and when the selected television program is currently being broadcast, displaying the broadcast of the selected television program simultaneously with the displayed names and indications of the time of broadcast of the television programs.

A method in a computer system for displaying television information about a plurality of television programs on a television screen, the television information for each television program including a name and a time of broadcast, the method comprising:

• for each of the plurality of television programs, displaying on the television screen the name of the television program and an indication of the time of broadcast of the television program;
• receiving from a user of the computer system a selection of a television program whose information is currently displayed on the television screen;
• and
• in response to receiving the selection of the television program,
• determining whether the television program is currently being broadcast;
• when it is determined that the selected television program is currently being broadcast, displaying the broadcast of the selected television program on the television screen simultaneously with the displayed names and indications of the time of broadcast of the television programs;
• and
• when it is determined that the selected television program is not currently being broadcast, displaying additional information about the television program on the television screen.

A computer-readable medium containing instructions for causing a computer system to display a schedule for a plurality of television programs on a television screen by:

• displaying the schedule on the television screen;
• receiving from a user of the computer system a selection of a television program from the displayed schedule;
• and
• in response to receiving the selection of the television program,
• determining whether the television program is currently being broadcast;
• when it is determined that the selected television program is currently being broadcast, displaying the broadcast of the selected television program on the television screen simultaneously with the displayed schedule;
• and
• when it is determined that the selected television program is not currently being broadcast, displaying additional information about the television program on the television screen simultaneously with the displayed schedule.