Method and apparatus for displaying an electronic program guide
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
InventorAstrid M. F. Dobbelaar
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Abstract
The invention relates to a method of and apparatus for displaying an electronic program guide. The method includes the step of displaying an axis (21) on the screen (20) which corresponds to a particular program attribute (e.g. channel name, broadcast time, program category, program title). The user may select a value from the axis, causing a pictogram (27) to be displayed, showing information about programs corresponding to the selected value. The pictogram's position corresponds to the position of the selected value. A new value may be selected by dragging the pictogram and/or shifting the axis.
Claims14
A method of displaying an electronic program guide, comprising the step of receiving attribute values relating to program attributes, wherein the method further comprises the steps of:
- displaying values relating to a selected program attribute on a display screen along a coordinate axis;
- user-operably selecting a value of said program attribute;
- and
- displaying a pictogram representative of a program which corresponds with the currently selected value, the pictogram's position having a coordinate along said coordinate axis which corresponds to the currently selected attribute value;
- wherein the step of selecting a value comprises dragging the pictogram to a new position on the display screen, the new position's coordinate along said coordinate axis determining a newly selected value.
A method of displaying an electronic program guide, comprising the step of receiving attribute values relating to program attributes, wherein the method further comprises the steps of:
- displaying values relating to a selected program attribute on a display screen along a coordinate axis;
- user-operably selecting a value of said program attribute;
- and
- displaying a pictogram representative of a program which corresponds with the currently selected value, the pictogram's position having a coordinate along said coordinate axis which corresponds to the currently selected attribute value;
- wherein the step of selecting a value comprises shifting said coordinate axis, the pictogram's coordinate determining a newly selected value.
A method of displaying an electronic program guide, comprising the step of receiving attribute values relating to program attributes, wherein the method further comprises the steps of:
- displaying values relating to a selected program attribute on a display screen along a coordinate axis;
- user-operably selecting a value of said program attribute;
- and
- displaying a pictogram representative of a program which corresponds with the currently selected value, the pictogram's position having a coordinate along said coordinate axis which corresponds to the currently selected attribute value;
- wherein the method further comprises the step of receiving data to indicate a program of particular interest, and the step of displaying a symbol representing such a program at a position having a coordinate in accordance with the program's value relating to the selected program attribute.
An apparatus for receiving a plurality of programs, comprising decoding means for receiving and decoding attribute values relating to program attributes, wherein the apparatus further comprises display means for displaying values relating to a selected program attribute on a display screen along a coordinate axis, and selection means for user-operably selecting a value of said program attribute, the display means being adapted to display a pictogram representative of a program which corresponds with the currently selected value, the pictogram's position having a coordinate along said coordinate axis which corresponds to the currently selected attribute value,
- wherein the selection means comprise dragging means for dragging the pictogram to a new position on the display screen, the new position's coordinate along said coordinate axis determining a newly selected value.
An apparatus for receiving a plurality of programs, comprising decoding means for receiving and decoding attribute values relating to program attributes, wherein the apparatus further comprises display means for displaying values relating to a selected program attribute on a display screen along a coordinate axis, and selection means for user-operably selecting a value of said program attribute, the display means being adapted to display a pictogram representative of a program which corresponds with the currently selected value, the pictogram's position having a coordinate along said coordinate axis which corresponds to the currently selected attribute value,
- wherein the selection means comprise shifting means for shifting said coordinate axis, the pictogram's coordinate determining a newly selected value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.