Thomson Licensing

Thomson Licensing Dtv

Darrel Wayne Randall

Thomas Anthony Stahl

Steven Charles Rhoads

Michael Joseph McLane

Wanda Green Thompson

Chunzhi Wang

Carolynn Rae Johnson

Daniel Richard Schneidewend

Megan Louise Brown

Mark Sheridan Westlake

Robert Andrew Rhodes

Douglas Strachota

Suresh Vishwanath Leley

Thanabalan Thavittupitchai Paul

Benjamin Vondersaar

Aaron Michael Smith

Marc Aaron Kiefer

Michael Joseph Mc Lane

A user interface for a content distribution system is disclosed which allows a manager of an environment of TV sets to view which content is playing on individual TV sets, and to change, track and otherwise adjust the content. The invention advantageously provides these features without interfering with other TV sets' programming when another TV set is being adjusted, changes or tracked by the manager. The invention provides auto-tuning of program guides.

Method and apparatus for auto-tuning program guides

A mobile content distribution system in an airplane, a train, or a bus is capable of receiving wireless broadcast channels from a wireless service provider. The system offers a user purchase of wireless services including one or more broadcast channels provided by the wireless service provider, receives information indicative of a route from an originating location to a destination location, and determines if the content distribution system is authorized to receive services from the wireless service provider according to the information; and if the content distribution system is not authorized to receive services from the wireless service provider according to the information, the system provide a refund to the user. If the system is within an authorized area, the system determines if the system is authorized to provide full service from the wireless service provider according to the information and if the system is not authorized to provide full service, the system provides a partial refund to the user.

System and method for managing out of coverage broadcasts

An apparatus and method for providing an electronic program guide (EPG) to an end user are provided. The includes a audio video streaming device, content scheduler, and program guide generator provide for includes providing a program guide, the program guide containing a start time and end time for the display of a first program, providing the first program for display at the start time, determining if the first program has been paused during the display of the first program, adjusting the end time for the display of the first program if the program has been paused, and providing an updated program guide containing the adjusted end time.

System and method for synchronizing an electronic program guide with paused programs

The present invention relates to electronic program guides. Program guide state information is stored in a remote control which generates and delivers a pseudo-interactive guide to end users with the system state information (guide information to channel mapping maintained in the remote control device.

Remote control based interactive program guide

A digital consumer product having a menu system includes an audit trail system having an audit trail management system that removes screens from an audit trail triggered by the addition of a new screen to the audit trail. Menu screens and/or video screens are added to the audit trail as navigated by the user and, accordingly, certain screens are removed from the audit trail. The audit trail management system also provides the ability to store two or more instances of full-screen video and all intervening screens, the ability to provide all data and temporary state information for all screens stored in the audit trail and the ability to restore and refresh them, the ability to retain partial screens and screen objects and the ability to restore and refresh them, and the ability to remove any or all stored screens.

Audit trail management for a menu system in a digital consumer product

A television program selection system and method for selecting television programs for viewing or recording utilizing a guide schedule list which is received from a cable or satellite broadcaster for example, and comprises characteristics such as topic-theme, relevancy, and broadcast time data. The user can select a time period and optionally in addition a selection mode, which corresponds to one of the alternative algorithms used to sort the programs in the schedule and generate a list of suggested television programs to be displayed for the user to select a program. The default selection mode can use a conventional selection algorithm, and the optional selection mode can eliminate all programs which have any characteristics having a zero weighting.

Television program selection apparatus and method

A system and method for generating a list of suggested scheduled television programs wherein television schedule guide data which comprises characteristics of scheduled programs and optionally relevancy of those characteristics is obtained from broadcast information. User profiles comprising characteristics of television programs previously viewed, the cumulative amount of time programs having those characteristics has been previously viewed, and optionally the relevancy of the previously viewed characteristics is stored. The user is allowed to manually adjust the weights assigned to characteristics so as to override the system assigned weight values. The system calculates the suggested program list from the schedules it receives from broadcast or other means, using the characteristic weights in the user profiles. The user interface displays percentage values currently assigned to characteristics in that user's profile, but smoothes the percentage values by calculating them based on a ratio of characteristic weights to the greater of a preset value such as 500 or the actual weight of the highest weighted characteristic in that user's profile.

Method and apparatus for generating a list of suggested scheduled television programs

An apparatus and a method for processing programs indicated by the associated program description to be audio-only programs, including the following. A respective program description for programs is received. Upon user selection of a program, a determination is made as to whether the selected program is an audio-only program. If the selected program is an audio-only program, then preprogrammed on-screen display information is displayed while the selected audio-only program is played to provide additional visual entertainment for users.

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Danville, IN, United States of America

Darrel Wayne Randall