Back to results
US 6,172,674 B2Granted
Smart filtering
AssigneeLiberate Technologies
InventorRobert C. Etheredge
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method for implementing an electronic programming guide that allows a television viewer to access and interact with television scheduling information. The electronic programming guide provides the viewer with a grid which lists channels, titles and show times. To help the viewer locate information about shows the viewer is interested in, the guide can filter the data prior to display. Only the data that meets certain filter criteria will be displayed. The filter criteria are set by the viewer. The filter criteria can be changed by manipulating a variable selection element such as a slider.
Claims38
A method for presenting scheduling information with an electronic program guide, comprising the steps of:
- providing a variable selection element on a graphical user interface, said variable selection element includes a plurality of selection levels, each selection level being associated with a set of selection criteria;
- accessing program scheduling data residing in a program guide database;
- filtering said accessed program scheduling data by applying selection criteria associated with a selected selection level of said variable selection element to said accessed program scheduling data;
- and
- displaying said filtered program scheduling data, in which different selection levels can vary an amount and content of said filtered program scheduling data.
2 more elements
A processor readable storage medium, comprising:
- processor readable program code embodied on said processor readable storage medium, said processor readable program code for programming a processor to perform a method for presenting scheduling information, the method comprising the steps of:
- determining a selected selection level from a variable selection element on a graphical user interface, said variable selection element includes a plurality of selection levels, each selection level being associated with a set of selection criteria;
- accessing program scheduling data residing in a program guide database;
- filtering said accessed program scheduling data by applying selection criteria associated with said selected selection level of said variable selection element to said accessed program scheduling data;
- and
- displaying said filtered program scheduling data, in which different selection levels can vary an amount and content of said filtered program scheduling data.
3 more elements
A processor readable storage medium, comprising:
- processor readable program code embodied on said processor readable storage medium, said processor readable program code for programming a processor to perform a method for presenting scheduling information, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a variable selection element on a graphical user interface, said variable selection element includes a plurality of selection levels, each selection level being associated with a set of selection criteria, said plurality of selection levels including a first selection level and a second selection level;
- accessing program scheduling data residing in a program guide database;
- sensing said first selection level selected with said variable selection element;
- filtering said program scheduling data by applying said first selection criteria associated with said first selection level to said accessed program scheduling data to produce a first set of filtered program scheduling data;
- displaying said first set of filtered program scheduling data;
- sensing said second selection level selected with said variable selection element, said step of sensing said second selection level being performed after said step of displaying said first set of filtered program scheduling data;
- filtering said program scheduling data by applying said second selection criteria associated with said second selection level to said accessed program scheduling data to produce a second set of filtered program scheduling data;
- and
- displaying said second set of filtered program scheduling data, in which said first and second selection levels can vary an amount and content of said first and second sets of filtered program scheduling data.
7 more elements
An apparatus for presenting television scheduling information, comprising:
- means for providing a variable selection element on a graphical user interface, said variable selection element includes a plurality of selection levels, each selection level being associated with a set of selection criteria;
- means for accessing program scheduling data residing in a program guide database;
- means for filtering said accessed program scheduling data by applying selection criteria associated with a selected selection level of said variable selection element to said accessed program scheduling data;
- and
- means for displaying said filtered program scheduling data, in which different selection levels can vary an amount and content of said filtered program scheduling data.
2 more elements
An apparatus for presenting television scheduling information, comprising:
- a memory, said memory adapted to store program code;
- and
- a processor in communication with said memory, said program code capable of programming said processor to perform a method for presenting scheduling information, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a variable selection element on a graphical user interface, said variable selection element includes a plurality of selection levels, each selection level being associated with a set of selection criteria;
- accessing program scheduling data residing in a program guide database;
- filtering said accessed program scheduling data by applying selection criteria associated with a selected selection level of said variable selection element to said accessed program scheduling data;
- and
- displaying said filtered program scheduling data, in which different selection levels can vary an amount and content of said filtered program scheduling data.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.