Systems and methods for providing a transport control interface

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9843839-B2
Application number	US-201715453461-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 8, 2017
Priority date	Mar 18, 2003
Publication date	Dec 12, 2017
Grant date	Dec 12, 2017

Abstract

A transport control interface may be provided by an interactive television program guide application to provide information, control or both for live and recorded video programming. The transport control interface may indicate to the user the time duration of live or recorded program and any time segments of the program that have been recorded. The transport control interface may automatically adjust the start and end time shown to accommodate various factors such as continuous viewing on a particular channel, multiple recorded segments, buffer size, etc. Various information associated with the live or recorded video programming may be displayed in the transport control interface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for providing information about video programs, the method comprising:
generating for display, using control circuitry, a first video program;
generating for display, using the control circuitry, a first transport control interface that has a first size and indicates a first time length of the first program and indicates at least one buffered time segment of the first time length of the first video program;
receiving, using the control circuitry, an instruction to record a second video program;
based on receiving the instruction to record the second video program:
recording the second video program;
generating for display, using the control circuitry, a second transport control interface that has a second size and indicates a second time length of the second video program and indicates at least one recorded time segment of the second time length of the second video program, wherein the first transport control interface and the second transport control interface are displayed simultaneously, wherein the second size of the second transport control interface is smaller than the first size of the first transport control interface;

receiving, using the control circuitry, an instruction to toggle from the first video program to the second video program;
based on receiving the instruction to toggle from the first video program to the second video program:
buffering the first video program;
generating for display, using the control circuitry, the second video program to replace the first video program;
adjusting the first size of the transport control interface and the second size of the transport control interface such that the first size is smaller than the second size.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving a first change in running time of the first video program, and modifying the first transport control interface to indicate an updated first time length of the first video program based on the first change in running time.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving a second change in running time of the second video program, and modifying the or the second transport control interface to indicate an updated second time length of the second video program based on the second change in running time.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the first video program is a first currently broadcasting program and the second video program is a second currently broadcasting program.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein generating for display the first transport control interface comprises generating for display a first transport control bar; and
wherein generating for display the second transport control interface comprises generating for display a second transport control bar.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the at least one recorded time segment represents at least one portion of the second currently broadcasting program that has been recorded in response to a specific user command to record the second currently broadcasting program.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein displaying the first transport control bar comprises displaying a first start time on one end of the first transport control bar and a first end time on a first opposite end of the first transport control bar; and
wherein displaying the second transport control bar comprises displaying a second start time on one end of the second transport control bar and a second end time on a second opposite end of the second transport control bar.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein at least one region of the first transport control bar is visually distinguishable from at least one other region of the first transport control bar that is associated with buffered content.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein the at least one recorded time segment is represented by at least one region of the second transport control bar.

10. The method of claim 5 wherein at least one region of the second transport control bar is visually distinguishable from at least one other region of the second transport control bar that is associated with recorded content.

11. A system for providing information about video programs, the system comprising:
control circuitry configured to:
generate for display a first video program;
generate for display a first transport control interface that has a first size and indicates a first time length of the first program and indicates at least one buffered time segment of the first time length of the first video program;
receive an instruction to record a second video program;
based on receiving the instruction to record the second video program:
record the second video program;
generate for display a second transport control interface that has a second size and indicates a second time length of the second video program and indicates at least one recorded time segment of the second time length of the second video program, wherein the first transport control interface and the second transport control interface are displayed simultaneously, wherein the second size of the second transport control interface is smaller than the first size of the first transport control interface;

receive an instruction to toggle from the first video program to the second video program;
based on receiving the instruction to toggle from the first video program to the second video program:
buffer the first video program;
generate for display the second video program to replace the first video program;
adjust the first size of the transport control interface and the second size of the transport control interface such that the first size is smaller than the second size.

12. The system of claim 11 , the control circuitry further configured to receive a first change in running time of the first video program, and modify the first transport control interface to indicate an updated first time length of the first video program based on the first change in running time.

13. The system of claim 11 , the control circuitry further configured to receive a second change in running time of the second video program, and modify the second transport control interface to indicate an updated second time length of the second video program based on the second change in running time.

14. The system of claim 11 wherein the first video program is a first currently broadcasting program and the second video program is a second currently broadcasting program.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein generating for display the first transport control interface comprises generating for display a first transport control bar; and
wherein generating for display the second transport control interface comprises generating for display a second transport control bar.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the at least one recorded time segment represents at least one portion of the second currently broadcasting program that has been recorded in response to a specific user command to record the second currently broadcasting program.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein displaying the first transport control bar comprises displaying a first start time on one end of the first transport control bar and a first end time on a first opposite end of the first transport control bar; and
wherein displaying the second transport control bar comprises displaying a second start time on one end of the second transport control bar and a second end time on a second opposite end of the second transport control bar.

18. The system of claim 15 wherein at least one region of the first transport control bar is visu

Assignees

• Rovi Guides Inc

Inventors

• Gaydou Ii Danny R
• Reichardt M Scott
• Ellis Michael D
• Day Thomas

Classifications

• H04N21/4333

  Processing operations in response to a pause request · CPC title

• H04N21/4312

  involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations · CPC title

• H04N21/4821

  using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time · CPC title

• H04N21/4334

  Recording operations (recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27) · CPC title

• H04N21/47214 Primary

  for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market (stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224) · CPC title