Sony Corporation

Sony Electronics Inc

Other

Sony Corporation of America

Sony Corporation/sony Electronic Inc.

Andrew M Proehl

Eduardo Sciammarella

Franklin Servan-Schreiber

Brant L Candelore

Peter Rae Shintani

Mark Eyer

Eduardo A Sciammarella

Keiichi Totsuka

Kenneth Herndon

Matthew Chang

Tadamasa Kitsukawa

Nicholas James Colsey

Dayan Golden

Aditya Krishnan

David K L Yang

Gong Szedo

Hisato Shima

Ryuichi Iwamura

Scott D Smyers

Bruce Alan Fairman

Frederick J Zustak

Yutaka Hasegawa

Harold Aaron Ludtke

Chenchu Lakshmi Chilamakuri

Jan-Christoph Zoels

Rich Gioscia

Fred Zustak

Yoshizumi Mano

Anne Hyan Jin Kim

Anne Kim

Kimberly Mingo

Franklin Servan-Scheiber

Ken Herndon

Electronic coupons are provided for items comprising products and services. The coupon information is received along with broadcasts of associated television programs. Selected coupon modes alert a viewer when coupon information is available for an item. The viewer alert comprises displayed marks superimposed over the broadcast of the television program. The displayed marks comprise indicators for each item for which coupon data is available, and the indicators may be representative of the items to which the indicators correspond. The coupon information for a particular item is selected when the viewer selects the indicator corresponding to the item in which the viewer is interested. Upon selection, the coupon information is displayed along with the broadcast of the currently selected television program. Coupon information may be selected for storage on a removable recording medium along with data corresponding to the television program with which the coupon information is associated. The coupon information is redeemed by the viewer by a merchandise retailer or dealer.

Method and apparatus for providing electronic coupons

A data sharing methodology and structure for communication between users of digital Internet-accessible devices, such as set-top boxes, is described. Users of Internet-accessible devices can establish connections between trusted users of other Internet-accessible devices and transfer personal information using either the Internet or the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Some examples of the type of information that may be transferred include IP addresses, e-mail, multimedia objects, and voice data. Once personal identification information has been exchanged, future communications may be easily re-established and maintained.

Data sharing and linkage for IP telephony set-top boxes

A method and structure that allows a user who has access to an audio/visual object to cause an interactive control element of an interactive multimedia system to grab and store off for future retrieval the audio/visual object by simply activating a selection mechanism of the interactive multimedia system.

Selective capture and storage of A/V objects in an interactive multimedia system

The efficient and intuitive presentation, navigation, and selection of AV information in a graphical user interface (GUI) displayed on a display apparatus of an AV system. Related AV information is organized as items within lists that correspond to various navigable fields of a status bar of the GUI during the GUI interactive mode. A highlighted navigable field of the status bar displays its list of related AV information and the items of the list are scrolled through the navigable field by a user causing a scrolling cylinder of a navigation and selection device to move in a scroll. A different field of the status bar may be selected by the user moving the scrolling cylinder in a lateral movement. Activation of the selection mechanism of the navigation and selection device will cause an AV device to be controlled in accordance with the currently displayed AV options.

Modal display, smooth scroll graphic user interface and remote command device suitable for efficient navigation and selection of dynamic data/options presented within an audio/visual system

A format to be used with the MPEG-4 standard alters the way video content is displayed on a screen based on whether the content is played in a normal playback mode or a fast playback mode by &ldquo;watermarking&rdquo; different or additional visual content onto the original video data stream. Metadata is included in the format to instruct a server to change the video display during fast playback by, for example, adding advertising information, closed captioning, scene summaries, help data, or station identification to the original image, either in a separate section of the screen or superimposed on the original image.

Method for watermarking a video display based on viewing mode

A method and apparatus for adjusting font size in an electronic program guide display are provided. A multiple channel broadcasting system generates an electronic program guide identifying channels and corresponding programs in a broadcasting system. The broadcast system determines a number of characters to be displayed in an area of an electronic program guide. The broadcast system determines a number of display pixels available for display of the characters. The broadcast system adjusts the font size of the characters to display the number of characters within the number of pixels available.

Method and apparatus for displaying an electronic program guide

Channel information is displayed for a user in improved fashion by adjusting the amount of information according to the rate with which the user previews channels. For example, at a first rate of preview, the channel number, channel logo, program name and video could be displayed for each previewed channel, while at a faster rate, the channel number and logo could be displayed, and at a still faster rate the channel number alone could be displayed for each previewed channel. The rate of preview can be dictated by remote control signals, such as those produced by a remote control jog dial. The user can rotate the jog dial to preview channels at various rates and receive corresponding amounts of information for each previewed channel dependent upon the rate that the channels are previewed.

Channel preview with rate dependent channel information

Self-describing information is included within a device and contains information relating to a graphical representation of the device, the controls available on the device and the interface required to access those controls. The self-describing information is preferably embedded within a ROM within the device and is read by other devices coupled to the device for presenting a graphical user interface through which the device can be remotely controlled by a user. The self-describing information can also include an address from which additional information about the device and upgrades are automatically obtained. This address is either an internet address or points to a location within a network of devices. The address can also be modifiable. Alternatively, the self-describing information also includes driving software for enhancing the graphical user interface and controlling the operation of the device through another system. This driving software is written either in the native language of the device on which it is uploaded and executed or in a platform neutral language such as Java&trade;. The graphical user interface is presented on a television, computer or other appropriate system for controlling multiple devices through the system. The controlling system obtains the self-describing information from each device within the configuration. The graphical user interface includes a graphical representation of the devices and specific control features available to the user presented in a graphical orientation. Alternatively, a three-dimensional representation of the device is presented with controls represented on the device. If no controlling system is available, a graphical user interface is controlled by an application within the device and presented on an available display.

Method and apparatus for including self-describing information within devices

On-demand electronic advertising information is provided for items used in scenes of television programs. The advertising information is received along with broadcasts of associated television programs. Selected advertisement modes alert a viewer when advertising information is available for an item displayed in a scene of the television program broadcast. The viewer alert comprises displayed marks superimposed over the broadcast of the television program. The displayed marks comprise indicators for each item for which advertising data is available, and the indicators may be representative of the items to which the indicators correspond. The advertising information for a particular item is selected when the viewer selects the indicator corresponding to the item in which the viewer is interested. Upon selection, the advertising information is displayed along with the broadcast of the currently selected television program. The advertising information may be used to electronically order the associated item.

Method and apparatus for providing on-demand electronic advertising

An improved electronic programming guide (EPG) having time blocks capable of selectively expanding and contracting in size, according to a mode of the EPG, in order to facilitate fast and efficient time navigation through available programming by a viewer of multiple channel broadcast system. In one implementation, when a navigation element remains stationary over a time block for a period of time, a multiple program display mode is initiated, and the time block increases in size relative to other displayed time blocks. Responsive to the navigation element moving outside the time block, a navigation mode is initiated, wherein the time block as well as other displayed time blocks become equal in size, and display only the channel information for a particular channel segment.

Electronic program guide having different modes for viewing

A graphic user interface for use with a multi-recording media storage apparatus includes a determiner for determining the identity of at least one of a plurality of recording media retained within the apparatus and an accumulator for accumulating statistical information regarding the identity of that medium. Additional information is obtained from an external database based upon the identity of the recording medium, and further additional information is obtained from an external information source in accordance with the accumulated statistical information. The graphic user interface allows a user to view and manipulate the additional information and the further additional information in order to select a particular recording medium for playing, or to perform various other operations.

Graphic user interface that is usable as a PC interface and an A/V

Multiple items forming a menu are displayed on a screen in a computer system. As the user refers to a menu item via an input device, that particular item is displayed in increased size. As soon as the user moves to another menu item, this newly referenced item becomes larger than the other menu items, while the previously referenced item is reduced to its original size. If the user-referenced item has a sub-menu associated with it, then the size of that sub-menu increases--while the menu size is decreased--as the user moves from the menu to the sub-menu.

Display of menu items on a computer screen

Advertisments are displayed in zoomable content data by fading in and then fading out advertisements between respective zoom levels at which different content data are provided. When first content data is displayed at a first zoom level and a zoom request is received from a user, a portion of the first content data is zoomed in on at which time an advertisement is faded in. As the advertisement fully fades in, the first content data fully fades out and upon continued receipt of the zoom request, the adverisement is zoomed in on at which time second content data fades in. Advertisements also are provided during panning of pannable content data in which an advertisement fades in and then fades out at particular panning levels of the content data.

Apparatus and method for advertising in zoomable content

Data items are arranged into groups and each group is represented by a graphical object (a so-called landmark) for easily identifying each group and its corresponding data items on a screen display. The landmark may have display attributes (such as shape, color, size, function, animation, etc.) which are different from the display attributes of another landmark. Each landmark has two non-parallel lines (grid lines) associated therewith and is positioned at the intersection of the two lines providing directional orientation when the landmark is displaced on the screen display.

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New York, NY, United States of America

Andrew M Proehl