Generating a genre-based video mosaic in a cable services network

A system for dynamically generating a genre-based video mosaic from a plurality of video sources in a cable services network, comprising:

• a head-end operative to periodically search a database for video data related to currently airing video programming matching genre descriptors defined by a cable services operator, the defined genre descriptors identifying types of programming broadcast in the cable services network, to compile a list of video data related to the currently airing video programming matching the defined genre descriptors for inclusion in video mosaics, to transform the list of video data related to the currently airing video programming matching the defined genre descriptors to genre-based mosaic video streams for each of the defined genre descriptors and to transmit, from the headend to a subscriber, the genre-based mosaic video streams to a set-top box of the subscriber for presentation on a mosaic video channel of the cable services network, to periodically update the genre-based mosaic video streams to include the currently airing video programming found during periodically searching the database by the server in the cable services head-end for video data related to currently airing video programming matching genre descriptors defined by the cable services operator;
• and a set-top box for receiving a selection signal from the subscriber for tuning to a program guide channel, displaying, on the selected program guide channel, a channel description of a currently tuned genre-based video mosaic channel, a scaled video window of the currently tuned genre-based video mosaic channel and a program guide listing presenting a list of genre-based video mosaic channels according to transmitted genre-based mosaic video streams selectable by a subscriber, receiving a selection for one of the genre-based video mosaic channels from the list of genre-based video mosaic channels and displaying the genre-based video mosaic channel selected from the list of genre-based video mosaic channels to simultaneously present video windows in a video mosaic corresponding to currently airing video programming matching a defined genre descriptor associated with the genre-based video mosaic channel selected from the list of genre-based video mosaic channels, wherein the video windows display the currently airing video programming in a scaled format having a reduced number of colors compared to an initial format of the currently airing video programming.

An application server to dynamically generate a genre-based video mosaic from a plurality of video sources in a cable services network by:

• periodically searching a database in a cable services head-end for video data related to currently airing video programming matching genre descriptors defined by a cable services operator, the searching including searching a program guide database for metadata identifying the type of programming broadcast in the cable services network, the defined genre descriptors identifying types of programming broadcast in the cable services network;
• compiling a list of video data related to the currently airing video programming matching defined genre descriptors for inclusion in video mosaics;
• transforming, from the headend to a subscriber, the list of video data related to the currently airing video programming matching the defined genre descriptors to genre-based mosaic video streams for each of the defined genre descriptors on a mosaic video channel of the cable services network by multiplexing a plurality of video sources associated with the defined genre descriptors;
• transmitting the genre-based mosaic video streams to the subscriber for presentation on a mosaic video channel of the cable services network;
• automatically updating the genre-based mosaic video streams to include the currently airing video programming found during periodically searching the database by the server in the cable services head-end for video data related to currently airing video programming matching genre descriptors defined by the cable services operator;
• receiving a selection signal from the subscriber for tuning to a program guide channel;
• displaying, on the selected program guide channel, a channel description of a currently tuned genre-based video mosaic channel, a scaled video window of the currently tuned genre-based video mosaic channel and a program guide listing presenting a list of genre-based video mosaic channels according to transmitted genre-based mosaic video streams selectable by a subscriber;
• receiving a selection for one of the genre-based video mosaic channels from the list of genre-based video mosaic channels;
• and
• displaying the genre-based video mosaic channel selected from the list of genre-based video mosaic channels to simultaneously present video windows in a video mosaic corresponding to currently airing video programming matching a defined genre descriptor associated with the genre-based video mosaic channel selected from the list of genre-based video mosaic channels, wherein the video windows display the currently airing video programming in a scaled format having a reduced number of colors compared to an initial format of the currently airing video programming.