494 results about "Interactive media" patented technology

An interactive television application is used to provide search results to a user. The user is provided with an opportunity to indicate a desire to search for programs. In response, the interactive television application generates search criteria and searches for programs. The search results that are displayed to the user include mosaic listings associated with programs that match the search criteria. In some embodiments, the interactive television application displays the mosaic listings in a manner that accentuates the different levels of relevance of the search results to the search criteria.

Systems and methods for monitoring a user's viewing progress of media in a series are provided. The user may setup a media profile containing a list of program series to be monitored. The interactive media monitoring application may track the user's viewing progress of programs in the program series on the user equipment and update the user's media profile. The user may request and watch programs in the series at the user's leisure while peripheral media content may be filtered to be consistent with the user's viewing progress in the series.

A method and system for providing flexible subscriber VCR control of an interactive media system that limits the consumption of bandwidth capacity, the method comprising establishing a viewing time window during which a subscriber can watch an ordered program, enabling the subscriber to freely pause, rewind, and fast-forward the program so long as the end of the program does not exceed the end of the window, automatically tracking the remaining program running time against the time remaining in the window, deactivating the pause and rewind features if the remaining program running time equals the time remaining in the window, and reactivating the pause and rewind features if the program is fast-forwarded such that the time remaining in the window exceeds the remaining program running time. The system of the present invention is any interactive media system that delivers video streams such as an interactive television system that supports services such as pay-per-view and video-on-demand, or an internet-based interactive media system that downloads video streams through the internet to be played on a subscriber's personal computer or other viewing device.

Included is a method for an interactive media services system to provide a screen saver utility to a user through an interactive media services client device. The client device may be coupled to a programmable media services server device. The method may include the steps of providing a system operator with an interface to the programmable media services server; and providing control options within the interface to allow the system operator to dictate media to be presented in the screen saver utility, a plurality of parameters that result in activation of the screen saver utility, and a procedure to be followed in exiting the screen saver utility.

Methods and systems are disclosed that allow a user to efficiently navigate media selections in an interactive media guidance application and easily identify media for viewing. The disclosed methods and systems provide an environment wherein video assets are displayed according to a user preference on a mosaic page with multiple cells. A subset of the assets appropriate for display in a particular cell is determined based on the user preference. Relevance scores of the assets meeting the user preference are computed, and the asset having the greatest relevance for the user is selected and displayed the corresponding cell. The relevance scores can be computed based on the user's historic viewing habits, user interaction with a media guidance application, or on specific user input.

When selecting a television program for recording, a user may configure the delivery of the selected television program and associated data and interactive applications to different user equipment devices in a home network, which may have different capabilities. Because the user equipment devices in the home network may have different capabilities, the user may wish to deliver different types and amount of content, different amounts of data, and different versions of interactive applications to the user equipment devices in the home network.

When selecting a television program for recording, a user may configure the delivery of the selected television program and associated data and interactive applications to different user equipment devices in a home network, which may have different capabilities. Because the user equipment devices in the home network may have different capabilities, the user may wish to deliver different types and amount of content, different amounts of data, and different versions of interactive applications to the user equipment devices in the home network.

A system is described for linking traditional media works, such as print and broadcast media for example, to a more interactive media conduit, such as the Internet. The system avoids the need to modify the media work in anyway. Instead, it employs a passive recognition system that uniquely identifies the specific work, such as a particular television or radio broadcast or printed commercial. The identification may be based in intra-work and / or extra-work information. Several different embodiments / environments are described. The best embodiment may depend, at least in part, on costs of hardware and communication. These costs can change over time. In one embodiment, all of the databases and computation are performed at the user's premises. In another embodiment, all of the databases and computation occur at remote sites that user premise equipment can query using uniquely identifying extra-work information, such as the time, place and station on which the work was broadcast. This second embodiment is most suitable for content that is published, e.g. magazines, newspapers, etc., or broadcasted, e.g. cable, satellite and terrestrial television and radio. Alternative embodiments, in which various operations are performed at both the user's premises and remote locations are also possible.

Users of interactive media guidance applications may access media content and seek media guidance on a plurality of user equipment devices. A user profile server may be used for the management of a user's profile information. The user profile server may store a user's profile information including information about the user's media network and about user equipment devices associated with the user's media network. The user's profile information may be used to provide functionality to record media content on the most suitable user equipment device of a user's media network. The user's profile information may also be used to provide recommendations of media content based on a user's monitored interactions with a plurality of user equipment devices. The user's profile information may also be provided to user equipment devices of the media network not having the user profile information.

Systems and method are provided for providing a playlist transport bar. The playlist transport bar provides an overlay which graphically represents assets (e.g., programs) of a playlist in a manner that enables a user to simultaneously ascertain a playback position within the playlist and a particular asset. The playlist transport may include asset regions which each correspond to an asset in a playlist and a position indication region which may provide information relating to a playback position.

A system is described for linking traditional media works, such as print and broadcast media for example, to a more interactive media conduit, such as the Internet. The system avoids the need to modify the media work in anyway. Instead, it employs a passive recognition system that uniquely identifies the specific work, such as a particular television or radio broadcast or printed commercial. The identification may be based in intra-work and / or extra-work information. Several different embodiments / environments are described. The best embodiment may depend, at least in part, on costs of hardware and communication. These costs can change over time. In one embodiment, all of the databases and computation are performed at the user's premises. In another embodiment, all of the databases and computation occur at remote sites that user premise equipment can query using uniquely identifying extra-work information, such as the time, place and station on which the work was broadcast. This second embodiment is most suitable for content that is published, e.g. magazines, newspapers, etc., or broadcasted, e.g. cable, satellite and terrestrial television and radio. Alternative embodiments, in which various operations are performed at both the user's premises and remote locations are also possible.

Systems and methods for selecting content for a media library using an interactive media guidance application are provided. The user may search for content to select by entering search terms in a search page and selecting content from search results in a search results page. The user may also select content by directly entering identification for the content, selecting content from a message suggesting content, or by selecting content from interactive media guidance application pages. The content may include content that is currently available and bookmarks for content that is not yet available. For such bookmarks, when the content becomes available, the interactive media guidance application may notify the user and / or add the actual content to the media library. The user may access the media library from any user device and perform any suitable operation with the content of the media library (e.g., download content to a user device or playback content).

When selecting a television program for recording, a user may configure the delivery of the selected television program and associated data and interactive applications to different user equipment devices in a home network, which may have different capabilities. Because the user equipment devices in the home network may have different capabilities, the user may wish to deliver different types and amount of content, different amounts of data, and different versions of interactive applications to the user equipment devices in the home network.

Systems and methods are discussed for providing guidance for Internet-delivered media. In some embodiments, information on available media on the Internet is gathered. The information is associated with existing media guidance data. The associations enable a media guidance application to identify relevant online media and to display listings in a user-friendly way. A user interface for an online media guidance application is also provided. The user interface allows a user to narrow down the large amount of Internet-delivered media in a systematic way according to criteria that interests a user.

The present invention provides a method for an interactive media services system to provide media to a user through an interactive media services client device. The client device is coupled to a programmable media services server device. The method includes the step of implementing an interactive media guide. Additionally, the client device is implemented to present the interactive media guide to the user. A system operator is provided an interface to the programmable media services server. Control options are provided within the interface to allow the system operator to configure a plurality of rental options available to the user. Finally the interactive media service system is implemented such that the plurality of rental options can be executed by the user in a requested active media session.

Systems and methods for skipping advertisements while playing back a video that includes at least one advertisement are provided. When a user reaches the advertisement, the user may select to skip the advertisement. In response to the skip instruction, the interactive media guidance application may identify and display substitute media instead of the advertisement. The substitute media may be an image, a video frame, a video clip, a graphic, or any other suitable media. The interactive media guidance application may identify the substitute media to display from advertisement data associated with the skipped advertisement. The substitute media may be displayed for a designated length of time (e.g., less than the time it would take to fast forward past the advertisement). Once the time for displaying the substitute media has lapsed, the interactive media guidance application may resume playback of the video following the end of the advertisement.

A “New To Me” feature is provided for an interactive media guidance system implemented as a home network having multiple user equipment devices. Functionally speaking, the “New To Me” feature of the interactive media guidance system identifies programs or advertisements that have been previously viewed by an individual user or a user equipment device within the home network, or even by a household. The interactive media guidance system may use the information gathered regarding the programs and / or advertisements that have already been seen by a user, device or household to, for example, remove the programs or advertisements from future displays of recommendations, search results or listings of available programming.

A “New To Me” feature is provided for an interactive media guidance system implemented as a home network having multiple user equipment devices. Functionally speaking, the “New To Me” feature of the interactive media guidance system identifies programs or advertisements that have been previously viewed by an individual user or a user equipment device within the home network, or even by a household. The interactive media guidance system may use the information gathered regarding the programs and / or advertisements that have already been seen by a user, device or household to, for example, remove the programs or advertisements from future displays of recommendations, search results or listings of available programming.

Systems and methods for monitoring a user's viewing progress of media in a series are provided. The user may setup a media profile containing a list of program series to be monitored. The interactive media monitoring application may track the user's viewing progress of programs in the program series on the user equipment and update the user's media profile. The user may request and watch programs in the series at the user's leisure while peripheral media content may be filtered to be consistent with the user's viewing progress in the series.

Systems and methods are discussed for providing guidance for Internet-delivered media. In some embodiments, information on available media on the Internet is gathered. The information is associated with existing media guidance data. The associations enable a media guidance application to identify relevant online media and to display listings in a user-friendly way. A user interface for an online media guidance application is also provided. The user interface allows a user to narrow down the large amount of Internet-delivered media in a systematic way according to criteria that interests a user.

A method and system for presenting interactive and non-interactive media content to a client computer over a computer network. The system can combine discrete, continuous and interactive media into a single scene that is presented to the client computer. The system allows the presentation to be highly configurable and may therefore customize the presentation for a specific user. User profile information may be stored in an repository associated with the system. This information may be used to customize the presentation to suit the specific needs of a user or to notify the user when a presentation of interest to the user is available. Furthermore, information about a user's interaction with a particular presentation may be stored in the repository so that a presentation can adapt “on-the-fly” to suit the specific needs of a user. In addition, information regarding web services that are available on the Internet may be integrated with other interactive content in a presentation that is provided to a user. The system and method may also utilize an open-source computing platform so that presentations can be transmitted and displayed on a wide variety of client terminals.

Systems and methods for identifying audio using a media guidance application where a video program that includes one or more audio assets is received by user equipment. The user initiates a request to identify an audio asset playing within the video program and the audio asset is identified by processing data associated with the audio asset and data within a database of audio asset information associated with a plurality of known audio assets. The audio asset information associated with the identified audio asset is then provided to a user interface for display.

Methods and systems for remotely accessing user equipment implementing an interactive media guidance application are provided. In particular, a method includes the steps of receiving user equipment identification information and receiving a user request from a user device indicating instructions for the user equipment. The user request is cross-referenced with an action request in a user equipment format selected from a plurality of formats to be compatible with the user equipment. The action request is transmitted for receipt by the user equipment for enabling execution of the indicated instructions.

The present invention allows users to interact with people, who have interacted with other people, and obtain media files and recommendations from those having common interests, thereby creating interactive media communities and spawning electronic social networks based on media and other types of electronic entertainment.

The present invention allows users to interact with people, who have interacted with other people, and obtain media files and recommendations from those having common interests, thereby creating interactive media communities and spawning electronic social networks based on media and other types of electronic entertainment.

Users of interactive media guidance applications may access media content and seek media guidance on a plurality of user equipment devices. A user profile server may be used for the management of a user's profile information. The user profile server may store a user's profile information including information about the user's media network and about user equipment devices associated with the user's media network. The user's profile information may be used to provide functionality to record media content on the most suitable user equipment device of a user's media network. The user's profile information may also be used to provide recommendations of media content based on a user's monitored interactions with a plurality of user equipment devices. The user's profile information may also be provided to user equipment devices of the media network not having the user profile information.

Systems and methods for presenting user-generated content in an easily accessible manner using an interactive media guide are provided. In particular, a user may be able to peruse user-generated content through an interactive media guide which is also used to access non-user-generated media content such as linear programming (e.g., over-the-air broadcast, cable, and satellite scheduled programming) and on-demand media. The interactive media guide may include a provider of user-generated content populated with user-generated content according to the user's interests or most recently added to the provider.

The invention can be viewed as a system for providing media information to a user via an interactive media services client device coupled to a programmable television services server device. A method of the preferred embodiment of the present invention includes receiving user input and excluding one or more media titles from a media title list based on the user input.

A method for providing media to a user via an interactive media services client device coupled to a programmable media services server device includes receiving user input requesting on-screen comments to be provided with a media presentation and providing the user with a media presentation along with comments related to the media presentation.

Systems and methods for displaying substitute media while fast forwarding past advertisements are provided. When a user reaches the advertisement, the interactive media guidance application may receive an instruction to fast forward the advertisement. In response to the fast forward instruction, the interactive media guidance application may identify and display substitute media instead of the advertisement. The substitute media may be an image, a video frame / clip, a graphic, an animated graphic, or any other suitable media. The substitute media may be distributed in the advertisement using any suitable method. For example, the substitute media may be incorporated in the video frames of the advertisement (e.g., overlaid in the video frames of the advertisement), added as hidden video frames distributed in the advertisement, or any other suitable approach. An advertisement tool for creating advertisements that include substitute media, and for previewing advertisements as they are fast forwarded is also provided.