Television schedule system

Abstract

Screen (10) for a user interface of a television schedule system and process consists of an array (24) of irregular cells (26), which vary in length, corresponding to different television program lengths of one half hour to one-and-one half hours or more. The array is arranged as three columns (28) of one-half hour in duration, and twelve rows (30) of program listings. Some of the program listings overlap two or more of the columns (28) because of their length. Because of the widely varying length of the cells (26), if a conventional cursor used to select a cell location were to simply step from one cell to another, the result would be abrupt changes in the screen (10) as the cursor moved from a cell (26) of several hours length to an adjacent cell in the same row. An effective way of taming the motion is to assume that behind every array (24) is an underlying array of regular cells. By restricting cursor movements to the regular cells, abrupt screen changes will be avoided. With the cursor (32), the entire cell (26) is 3-D highlighted, using a conventional offset shadow (34). The offset shadow (34) is a black bar that underlines the entire cell and wraps around the right edge of the cell. To tag the underlying position—which defines where the cursor (32) is and thus, where it will move next—portions (36) of the black bar outside the current underlying position are segmented, while the current position is painted solid.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION One aspect of the present invention relates generally to a system and process that allows a television viewer to access on screen television program listings and use the program listings in an easy and convenient way to control operation of a video cassette recorder (VCR) or other recording device. In particular, it relates to a system and process that displays on a television screen, overlaying a primary television display or program, a small background schedule guide that can be easily accessed by a user during lulls in the primary television display or program. Another aspect of the present invention relates to such a system and process that creates a directory of recorded program by title for easy retrieval and program playback. More particularly, it relates to such a system and process in which the VCR or other recording device is controlled by a simple selection of program title and a record command, even for recording at a future date and time. M...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides a system and method for automatically recording cable television programs. The system includes a television receiver, a remote controllable cable decoder, and a remote controllable video recorder. A user interface is provided for displaying the television schedule and allowing user selection of desired channels. The system automatically transmits channel tuning commands to the cable decoder at the broadcast times of the selected programs. The video recording machine is controlled by a controller and a display generator provides display images relating to the operation of the video recording machine. The invention simplifies user control of the television and allows for unattended recording of cable television programs.

Problems solved by technology

The difficulty of setting a VCR for automatic recording at a future date is notorious.

Even users who are technically sophisticated will often make mistakes in the VCR programming procedure that cause them to record the wrong program or not to record anything at all.

This difficulty has even resulted in a substantial body of humor dedicated to the subject of programming VCRs.

Such a user interface removes a great deal of the mystery from VCR programming, but users still have difficulty with such a command-based interface and encounter problems carrying out the programming without making mistakes that cause them to miss recording programs they would like to watch at a different time than when they are broadcast.

However, the provision of a highly intuitive user interface that makes such a system and process easy and convenient to operate is a difficult task.

If this array is navigated by a cursor that goes from cell to cell, a single cursor command can produce violent screen changes.

Not only is this unsettling, but may take considerable effort to recover.

When using a television set as a display for a schedule system, the size and resolution of the television display limit the amount of text that can be displayed with the grid.

Programming a VCR for unattended recording becomes even more problematic when it is desired to record cable programs.

This presents problems for unattended recording, in that not all of the advanced features available on state-of-the-art VCRs can be used while the VCR is under control of the decoder.

However, this remote controller does not coordinate channel selection for such devices as television schedule systems, such as disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,121, issued Nov. 10, 1987, nor does it support unique features of more advanced VCRs.

For example, this controller does not support on-screen VCR programming, even if that feature is otherwise available on a VCR.

However, the MP alternative requires new TV or VCR equipment and is not compatible with the existing installed base of cable decoders.

This method has not been well-received at this time.

Such a scheme would be awkward when more than one TV or VCR competes for control of the single descrambler.

The VCR interface may be implemented using retrofitted decoders, but the overall cost may be prohibitive for the average home.

None of the existing interfaces both provides a complete solution to the problem of unattended recording and is compatible with already installed equipment.

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