Thomson Licensing

Thomson Licensing S.a.

Thomson Consumer Electronics Inc.

Sheila Renee Crosby

Keith Reynolds Wehmeyer

Hugh Boyd Morrison

Robert H Miller

Megan Louise Brown

Jeffrey Philip Reavis

Robert Joseph Logan

Kenneth Wayne Maze

Robert Skipworth Comer

James Edwin Hailey

Michael Wayne Johnson

Steven Todd Barlow

Robert Strong

In a television system in which at least program title information for programs which are to be transmitted in the future is transmitted in advance to form a channel guide listing, apparatus is provided for searching the listing for specific user-entered information, and upon successful conclusion to the search, the apparatus schedules the tuning of the desired program, or in the alternative, notifies the viewer of the availability of the program. In those instances where descriptive text accompanies the program listing, apparatus of the invention performs a search of the text for a particular text string which may relate to the title, the star, the director, or the context of the program, among other search criteria.

Scheduler apparatus employing a gopher agent for use in a television receiver

Scheduler apparatus employing a gopher recording agent for use in a television receiver

A video decoder system collates program guide information acquired from a variety of local and remote sources. Program guide information is received from a first source and a selectable program guide menu icon is displayed. A category of program guide information items from the first source is collated by a display attribute in response to selection of the menu icon and the collated program guide information items are displayed. The display attribute allocated to the category of program guide information items is common to both the category of items and to the menu icon. Codes identifying program categories may be converted to other codes using equivalence mapping information for classifying programs according to a master set of program categories. Composite program map information may be formed including new data identifiers allocated to program guide information items for use in retrieving the items from a second source.

System for collating data from multiple sources to form a composite program guide for display

A video decoder system automatically acquires program guide information from local and remote peripheral devices to form a composite program guide. Program guide information is received from a first source and access data is retrieved from memory. The access data is used to initiate communication automatically between the video decoder and a second source external to the video decoder. Program guide information retrieved from the second source together with program guide information provided by the first source is incorporated into a composite program guide for display. The communication may be initiated upon different conditions and a peripheral device and associated communication protocol may be identified from various sources of configuration information.

System for automatically forming a program guide from information derived from multiple sources

A system and a method for navigating within a display having one or more display sections are disclosed. A section from the one or more display sections is selected. In response to the selection, a navigational symbol is displayed on a border of the selected section, the symbol corresponding to a direction in which a highlight may be moved. In one embodiment, the highlight is moved in the corresponding direction in response to the selection of the symbol. In another embodiment, the symbol indicates an availability of an adjacent section in the corresponding direction.

System and method for navigating within a display having different display sections

A disclosed processing device, including an on-screen User interface display, incorporates a means for generating a display of a plurality of hierarchically ordered menus. The menus include a current menu) and a preceding parent menu showing a selection path from the parent menu to the current menu. Also a menu selection item within the hierarchical menu display provides a User at least one of, a) a display of control information for the device, and b) control parameter data entry capability. The processing device also incorporates a means for updating the on-screen display in response to User menu item selection. The processing device may also include a means for altering the device operation in response to an updated operating parameter value. Also, the selection path may indicate menu entry and exit points separated by at least one intervening menu item.

Hierarchical menu graphical user interface

A system and method for automatically adjusting characteristics of a television receiver, such as the video and audio settings, based on characteristics of the program being viewed. The system accesses a pre-defined list of program topics and themes stored in a television database. For each topic and theme, settings for picture quality such as contrast, color and brightness and settings for audio such as audio processor type, bass, and treble are stored. When the system is able to match the currently viewed program with one from the database the audio and video settings are automatically adjusted for that program. If the viewer switches to another program or if one program ends and another begins then the acquisition and adjustment process is repeated. The system can be disabled by the viewer if desired.

System and method for automatic audio and video control settings for television programs

Scheduler apparatus employing a gopher agent

In a television system in which at least program title information for programs which are to be transmitted in the future is transmitted in advance to form a channel guide listing, apparatus is provided for searching for specific television programs which satisfy certain criteria concerning a user's viewing preferences, and upon successful conclusion to the search, the apparatus generates a list of such television programs in order to predict for the viewer certain programs which may be of interest. In a first embodiment of the invention the apparatus stores information about the particular television shows which the user watches, as search criteria. In a second embodiment of the invention the search criteria is editable by the viewer to further refine the searches.

Growing community of inventors

Carmel, IN, United States of America

Sheila Renee Crosby