Electronic program guide displaying relevant field based on time of day

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11025983-B2
Application number	US-201515533059-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 30, 2015
Priority date	Dec 4, 2014
Publication date	Jun 1, 2021
Grant date	Jun 1, 2021

Abstract

A method for programming an electronic program guide (EPG) grid guide is disclosed herein. The method includes determining EPG metadata from a database, sorting metadata based on a time and a metadata field, determining the metadata field to be displayed, and rendering the EPG grid guide based on the time and the metadata field. A method for programming a set top box (STB) is also disclosed herein. The method includes providing a time of day, receiving a user's viewing preferences, adjusting information based on the user's viewing preferences in at least one application, wherein the user's viewing preferences are a function of the time of day, and transmitting the adjusted information to a display device.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for programming a set top box (STB), the method comprising:
providing a time of day;
receiving a user's viewing preferences;
receiving a user's specified conditions for showing fields in an electronic program guide (EPG);
adjusting information based on the user's viewing preferences in at least one application, wherein the user's viewing preferences are a function of the time of day and determining which of the fields should be shown in the EPG based on the user's specified conditions; and
transmitting the adjusted information and the EPG with the specified fields shown based on the user's specified conditions to a display device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the adjusted information is minimized at a specific time of day.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the adjusted information is maximized at a specific time of day.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the adjusted information is selected from the group consisting of: title, actor, genre, guests, and episode number.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one application is selected from the group consisting of: Netflix and Hulu.

6. A set top box (STB) comprising:
a clock configured to provide a time of day;
a receiver configured to receive a user's viewing preferences and to receive a user's specified conditions for showing fields in an electronic program guide (EPG);
a processor configured to adjust information based on the user's viewing preferences in at least one application, wherein the user's viewing preferences are a function of the time of day and to determine which of the fields should be shown in the EPG based on the user's specified conditions; and
a transmitter configured to transmit the adjusted information and the EPG with the specified fields shown based on the user's specified conditions to a display device.

7. The STB of claim 6 , wherein the adjusted information is minimized at a specific time of day.

8. The STB claim 6 , wherein the adjusted information is maximized at a specific time of day.

Assignees

• Interdigital Madison Patent Holdings Sas

Inventors

• Coburn Matthew Joseph

Classifications

• H04N21/8173

  End-user applications, e.g. Web browser, game · CPC title

• H04N21/4755

  for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre (retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306) · CPC title

• H04N5/445

  for displaying additional information (H04N5/50 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04N21/4314 Primary

  for fitting data in a restricted space on the screen, e.g. EPG data in a rectangular grid · CPC title

• H04N21/845

  Structuring of content, e.g. decomposing content into time segments · CPC title