Devices and method for providing remote control hints on a display

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12301948-B2
Application number	US-202217657913-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 4, 2022
Priority date	Dec 18, 2012
Publication date	May 13, 2025
Grant date	May 13, 2025

Abstract

Systems and methods for a media content user interface. A media content provider includes storage for storing and serving video content to subscribers. The media content provider records and or otherwise stores video content from around the world. Subscribers are provided a user interface to the system that includes a side bar. The user interface provides context sensitive hints to assist the viewer. The system also tracks a viewer's viewing history in a manner that allows the viewer to review and directly access any part of that history. Finally, magnetic points are created for use during video scrubbing to intelligently select relocation points for the current playback position.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
at an electronic device in communication with a display device and one or more input devices:
while displaying, via the display device, a media content item, displaying a representation of a timeline corresponding to the media content item including first one or more points of the media content item;
while displaying, via the display device, the representation of the timeline, receiving, via the one or more input devices, a user input modifying a current playback position in the media content item, wherein the user input corresponds to a request to modify the current playback position to be a respective playback position in the media content item; and
in response to receiving the user input:
in accordance with a determination that respective playback position is a first playback position in the media content item, and that the first playback position meets one or more criteria with respect to a first point of the first one or more points of the media content item, wherein the first playback position is different from the first point of the media content item, initiating a process to resume playback of the media content item at the first point of the media content item;
in accordance with a determination that the respective playback position is a second playback position in the media content item, and that the second playback position meets one or more criteria with respect to the first point of the first one or more points of the media content item, wherein the second playback position is different from the first point of the media content item and is different from the first playback position, initiating the process to resume playback of the media content item at the first point of the media content item; and
in accordance with a determination that the respective playback position is a third playback position, different from the first playback position and the second playback position, that does not meet the one or more criteria with respect to the first point of the media content item, initiating a process to resume playback of the media content item at the third playback position in the media content item.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to receiving the user input:
in accordance with a determination that the respective playback position meets the one or more criteria with respect to a second point of the first one or more points of the media content item, different from the first point, wherein the respective playback position is different from the second point of the media content item, initiating a process to resume playback of the media content item at the second point of the media content item.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the representation of the timeline includes one or more respective representations corresponding to the first one or more points of the media content item, and
the one or more respective representations are displayed at one or more respective positions along the representation of the timeline corresponding to the one or more respective positions of the first one or more points within the media content item.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the representation of the timeline corresponds to a plurality of media content items, including the media content item, and the first one or more points correspond to a beginning or and ending point of a respective media content item of the plurality of media content items.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first one or more points correspond to a beginning or an ending point of an advertisement in the media content item.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the respective playback position meets a criterion of the one or more criteria with respect to a respective point of the first one or more points when the respective playback position is within a respective region of the representation of the timeline corresponding to the respective point of the media content item.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the process to resume playback of the media content item at the first point of the media content item includes:
modifying the current playback position to correspond to the first point of the media content item; and
resuming the playback of the media content item from the first point of the media content item.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first one or more points include a first group of one or more points and a second group of one or more points, different from the first group of one or more points, the method further comprising:
in accordance with a determination that the user input corresponds to a request to modify the current playback position at a first speed, activating the first group of one or more points without activating the second group of one or more points; and
in accordance with a determination that the user input corresponds to a request to modify the current playback position at a second, speed, different from the first speed, activating the second group of one or more points without activating the first group of one or more points.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first group of one or more points correspond to first respective portions of the media content item, and the second group of one or more points correspond to second respective portions of the media content item, different from the first respective portions of the media content item.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first one or more points include a first group of one or more points corresponding to a first user setting and a second group of one or more points, different from the first group of one or more points, corresponding to a second user setting, different from the first user setting, further comprising:
in accordance with a determination that the first user setting is enabled, activating the first group of one or more points without activating the second group of one or more points; and
in accordance with a determination that the second user setting is enabled, activating the second group of one or more points without activating the first group of one or more points.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to receiving the user input, in accordance with a determination that the request to modify the current playback position includes a plurality of seeking operations traversing a region of the representation of the timeline in different directions, activating a respective point of the first one or more points of the media content item that corresponds to the region of the representation of the timeline.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the activating of the respective point of the first one or more points of the media content item is temporary.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
while displaying, via the display device, the media content item, receiving, via the one or more input devices, a second user input to initiate display of information associated with the first one or more points of the media content item, wherein the information includes a description of respective one or more locations of the first one or more points in the media content item; and
in response to the second user input, displaying, via the display device, the information associated with the first one or more points of the media content item.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
while displaying, via the display device, the media content item, receiving, via the one or more input devices, a second user input to add a second point to the first one or more points of the media content item; and
in response to the second user input, adding t

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Christie Gregory N
• Sabatelli Alessandro
• Bachman William M
• Chaudhri Imran
• Robbin Jeffrey
• Young Jim
• Howard Joe
• Van Os Marcel
• Coffman Patrick L
• Lemay Stephen O
• Ma Jeffrey
• Kress Lynne

Classifications

• H04N21/431

  Generation of visual interfaces {for content selection or interaction}; Content or additional data rendering · CPC title

• H04N21/6547

  comprising parameters, e.g. for client setup · CPC title

• H04N21/47

  End-user applications · CPC title

• G06F3/04855

  Interaction with scrollbars · CPC title

• G06F3/04847

  Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials · CPC title