Starsight Telecast Incorporated

Rovi Solutions Corporation

Alan R Ebright

John H Roop

Patrick E Young

Michael William Faber

David Anderson

David P Warden

Jeffrey J Kochy

Konstantine Sokolik

Giambattista A Alegiani

John Avi Roop

Screen () for a user interface of a television schedule system and process consists of an array () of irregular cells (), 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 () of one-half hour in duration, and twelve rows () of program listings. Some of the program listings overlap two or more of the columns () because of their length. Because of the widely varying length of the cells (), 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 () as the cursor moved from a cell () 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 () is an underlying array of regular cells. By restricting cursor movements to the regular cells, abrupt screen changes will be avoided. With the cursor (), the entire cell () is 3-D highlighted, using a conventional offset shadow (). The offset shadow () is a black bar that underlines the entire cell and wraps around the right edge of the cell. To tag the underlying position&#x2014;which defines where the cursor () is and thus, where it will move next&#x2014;portions () of the black bar outside the current underlying position are segmented, while the current position is painted solid.

User interface for television schedule system

Television schedule information transmission and utilization systems transmit TV schedule data and associated network control messages provided by computer as packets via the Video Blanking Interval (VBI) lines in the TV signal from various television program providers. This data is acquired by regional data processing systems and forwarded by the regional data processing systems to subscriber units and used to construct an internal database. This internal database can be accessed by the subscriber unit to display a TV schedule for the channels that are received by the user's TV.

System and method for transmitting and utilizing electronic programs guide information

Screen ( ) for a user interface of a television schedule system and process consists of an array ( ) of irregular cells ( ), 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 ( ) of one-half hour in duration, and twelve rows ( ) of program listings. Some of the program listings overlap two or more of the columns ( ) because of their length. Because of the widely varying length of the cells ( ), 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 ( ) as the cursor moved from a cell ( ) 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 ( ) is an underlying array of regular cells. By restricting cursor movements to the regular cells, abrupt screen changes will be avoided. With the cursor ( ), the entire cell ( ) is 3-D highlighted, using a conventional offset shadow ( ). The offset shadow ( ) is a black bar that underlines the entire cell and wraps around the right edge of the cell. To tag the underlying position&mdash;which defines where the cursor ( ) is and thus, where it will move next&mdash;portions ( ) of the black bar outside the current underlying position are segmented, while the current position is painted solid.

Television schedule information transmission and utilization systems (,A-,D) transmit TV schedule data and associated network control messages provided by computer (,) as packets via the Video Blanking Interval (VBI) lines in the TV signal from various television program providers (,). This data is acquired by regional data processing systems and forwarded by the regional data processing systems to subscriber units (,) and used to construct an internal database. This intern database can be accessed by the subscriber unit (,) to display a TV schedule for the channels that are received by the user's TV.

System and method for transmitting and utilizing electronic program guide information

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.

System and process for control of recording and reproducing apparatus

Television schedule information transmission and utilization systems (50A-50D) transmit TV schedule data and associated network control messages provided by computer (54) as packets via the Video Blanking Interval (VBI) lines in the TV signal from various television program providers (51). This data is acquired by regional data processing systems and forwarded by the regional data processing systems to subscriber units (52) and used to construct an internal database. This internal database can be accessed by the subscriber unit (52) to display a TV schedule for the channels that are received by the user's TV.

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Los Gatos, CA, United States of America

Alan R Ebright