Keen Personal Media, Inc.

Other

Western Digital Corporation

Vizio, Inc.

Western Digital Technologies, Inc.

Keen Personal Technologies, Inc.

Timothy J Elliott

William Pat Price

L Jeffrey Kapner, Iii

Peter Jay Schwartz

William Bernard Boyle

Robert W Herman

Marcus P Apitz

Raffi Codilian

Russell M Krapf

William L Cooper

Robert S Smith

Brian Kenneth Tanner

Ara W Nazarian

R Gregory Kalsow

Steven M Reiser

Cuong Quach

Jeffrey Briller

A personal video recorder is provided for displaying a targeted advertisement on a display in conjunction with displaying of a broadcast stream on the display. A viewer profile of a viewer of the display is defined based on signals received by a controller indicating usage of a viewer control interface by the viewer, for example based on viewer reactions to a broadcast stream or to an advertisement. A targeted advertisement is selected from stored advertisements based on the viewer profile of the viewer of the display. The targeted advertisement is displayed on the display. The viewer profile is updated based on subsequent signals received by the controller indicating usage of the viewer control interface. The signals indicate viewer reactions, for example, a viewer reaction to a broadcast stream or a viewer reaction to an advertisement or a viewer purchase.

Personal video recorder for inserting a stored advertisement into a displayed broadcast stream

Advertisers specify the size of an ad in pixels or in physical units such as inches or millimeters. The physical square area of an ad specified in pixels will change as the physical size of the television screen or computer display screen varies. The number of pixels of an ad specified in inches or millimeters will also change as the physical size of the television screen or computer display screen varies. The present invention manages the issue of keeping the physical area size of an image constant across television display screens regardless of the physical size of the screen.

Displaying still and moving images of a constant size or images that occupy a specified percentage of a screen across different size display screens

A client terminal to provide a video program on demand to a client is connected to a video distribution system and a display device. The video distribution system (VDS) broadcasts a video program to the client terminal including an initial program segment (IPS) and a remaining program segment (RPS). The IPS is broadcast during a first broadcast time interval (FBTI) and the RPS is repetetively broadcast during a second broadcast time interval (SBTI). A terminal controller of the client terminal is responsive to a video control program. During the FBTI, the terminal controller records the IPS in a local memory. During the SBTI, the terminal controller selects the video program in response to a user input and displays the recorded IPS. Further, the terminal controller receives the RPS from the VDS and records it in the local memory. After displaying the recorded IPS, the terminal controller displays the recorded RPS.

Client terminal for storing an initial program segment and appending a remaining program segment to provide a video program on demand

Scroll wheels have simplified the movement of cursors and changes in focus as a users navigate their way through menus, lists, tables, and other objects typically found in graphical user interfaces. Also typical of navigation schemes driven by scroll wheels is the ability of the user to accelerate the rate of movement of the cursor or focus by spinning the scroll wheel faster. One issue with this behavior is that a user who over accelerates the scroll wheel will often wind up overshooting his intended target and reversing the direction of the scroll wheel several times. The embodiment addresses this problem by giving control of the speed of the cursor or focus movement to the object being navigated. If the granularity of the list, table, menu, or other objects become smaller, the object has the ability to filter the speed input of the scroll wheel.

Metadata driven control of navigational speed through a user interface

A method of transmitting programs from a source of programs to a user location divides a program into a plurality of program streams, wherein each program stream represents a temporal segment of the program. The method adds identification data to the plurality of program streams and multiplexes the plurality of program streams comprising the identification data into a transport stream. The transport stream is transmitted to a user location. The program represented by the plurality of program streams is transmitted in a reduced amount of time. The amount of time decreases with the number of program streams used.

System and a method for transmitting and receiving a program with improved efficiency

The present invention may be regarded as personal video recorder and a method of displaying a targeted advertisement on a display in conjunction with displaying of a broadcast stream on the display. The method defines a viewer profile of a viewer of the display based on signals received by a controller indicating usage of a viewer control interface by the viewer, for example based on viewer reactions to a broadcast stream or to an advertisement. A targeted advertisement is selected from stored advertisements based on the viewer profile of the viewer of the display. The targeted advertisement is displayed on the display. The viewer profile is updated based on subsequent signals received by the controller indicating usage of the viewer control interface. The signals indicate viewer reactions, for example, a viewer reaction to a broadcast stream or a viewer reaction to an advertisement or a viewer purchase.

Personal video recorder and method for inserting a stored advertisement into a displayed broadcast stream

The present invention may be regarded as personal video recorder and a method of selecting a pay per view program to be transmitted to a personal video recorder having a program receiver. A schedule of pay per view programs is obtained. Each of the pay per view programs has a title and at least one transmission time and an associated transmission channel for each transmission time. A title list comprising the titles of at least one pay per view program is generated based on the schedule. The title list is provided to a display device for display to a user. A selection by title of the pay per view program to be received by the program receiver is received from the user. A potential transmission time of the pay per view program to be received by the program receiver is determined based on the at least one transmission time. Alternatively, selection of the pay per view program to be received by the program receiver may be based on user's preferences or a pre-selected list of titles.

System and method for selecting a pay per view program to be transmitted to a program receiver

A client terminal providing an on-screen program guide that allows a user to easily navigate through program guide information within a pop-up for different programs on a selected channel. A head end provides program guide information (PGI) to the client terminal. The PGI includes first program data (FPD) associated with a first program and second program data (SPD) associated with a second program. The client terminal includes a terminal controller responsive to an on-screen display control program that causes: the display of channel identifiers, the selection of one of the channel identifiers in response to a first input, and the display of a pop-up for the selected channel identifier. The pop-up displays the FPD associated with the first program in response to the first input. In response to a second input, the pop-up displays the SPD associated with the second program.

Client terminal for displaying program guide information associated with different programs within a pop-up

Memory card with contact exposing openings

A digital video recorder (DVR) is disclosed for use with a monitor and a set top box (STB), the STB for demodulating program data from a program signal received over a communication channel and for generating a STB graphical user interface (GUI). The DVR comprises a local memory for storing the program data received from the STB and a plurality of program identifiers. The DVR further comprises a DVR controller for maintaining the plurality of program identifiers, and for communicating to the STB the plurality of program identifiers independent of when the STB demodulates the program data identified by the program identifiers. The STB is responsive to the plurality of program identifiers to modify at least one selected operation of the STB.

Communicating program identifiers from a digital video recorder (DVR) to a set top box (STB) independent of when the STB demodulates the associated program data

A system for receiving and presenting content at a user location includes a profiling agent that creates a user profile based upon a plurality of inputs by a user. The user profile represents preference characteristics of the user. A storage device is coupled to the profiling agent and stores the user profile. A receiver is configured to receive a set of parameters defined for at least one content. The set of parameters originates from a source of contents. A processing module is coupled to the receiver and the storage device and correlates the user profile with the set of parameters to determine whether parameters in the set of parameters match preference characteristics in the user profile. The processing module further generates a match signal when a sufficient number of the parameters match preference characteristics in the user profile. A transmitter is coupled to the processing module and sends the match signal to the source of contents which stores the content defined by the set of parameters for sending to the user location upon receipt of the match signal.

System and method for selecting content to be presented to a user

A set-top box is connectable to a digital video recorder that includes at least one recorder interface that supports connection of the digital video recorder to the set-top box, and a disk that stores a selected video segment. The digital video recorder has a video data stream manager that, in response to a real-time video signal, provides a first video stream to store the selected video segment on the disk, and that, in response to a command from the set-top box that initiates a playback interval, receives a second video stream based on the selected video segment stored on the disk to generate a recorded video signal. The digital video recorder is configured to (a) continuously receive the real-time video signal from the set-top box, and (b) provide the recorded video signal to the set-top box during the playback interval. The set-top box includes a video input interface that receives a broadcast signal to generate the real-time video signal, and a video output interface that provides an output video data stream to a display device. The set-top box further includes a microprocessor that recognizes connection of the digital video recorder to the set-top box, and that, in response to user input, generates the command that initiates the playback interval. The set-top box further includes at least one auxiliary interface that supports connection of the set-top box to the recorder interface of the digital video recorder, the auxiliary interface continuously providing the real-time video signal to the digital video recorder subsequent to the microprocessor recognizing connection of the digital video recorder to the set-top box. The set-top box further includes a multiplexer, coupled to the video output interface and the microprocessor. The multiplexer selects the real-time video signal during a real-time interval and selects the recorded video signal during the playback interval to generate the output video data stream that is provided to the display device.

SET-TOP BOX CONNECTABLE TO A DIGITAL VIDEO RECORDER VIA AN AUXILIARY INTERFACE AND SELECTS BETWEEN A RECORDED VIDEO SIGNAL RECEIVED FROM THE DIGITAL VIDEO RECORDER AND A REAL-TIME VIDEO SIGNAL TO PROVIDE VIDEO DATA STREAM TO A DISPLAY DEVICE

An efficient, time saving, cost-effective method of using a servo track writer (STW) for continuously recording servo information along one, continuous, single helix spiral path on the surface of a magnetic disk in a disk drive. The write transducer is guided along the single-helix spiral path by moving the write transducer at a constant radial velocity while the disk is rotating. The STW moves the write transducer less than a head's width per revolution such that the strokes of each spiral revolution overlaps the stroke of a prior spiral revolution. The resulting servo track centerlines are formed as spiral servo segments that are written quickly and relatively smoothly, but are separate or disjointed from one another. A disk drive incorporating such uniquely written servo information uses suitable offset information as a function of servo wedge number so that the drive may track follow any one of a plurality of circular data tracks or one long spiral data track.

Method of continuously recording servo bursts along one continuous, single helix spiral

The present invention may be regarded as a digital video recorder connectable to a set-top box. The digital video recorder receives a real-time video signal from the set-top box and provides a recorded video signal to the set-top box during a playback interval. The digital video recorder includes a disk and a video data stream manager that in response to the real-time video signal provides a first video stream to store a selected video segment on the disk. The video data stream manager, in response to commands from a microprocessor in the set-top box, receives a second video stream based on the selected video segment stored on the disk to generate the recorded video signal. The set-top box includes a multiplexer that selects the real-time video signal during a real-time interval and selects the recorded video signal during the playback interval to generate an output video data stream to a display device.

Digital video recorder connectable to an auxiliary interface of a set-top box that provides video data stream to a display device based on selection between recorded video signal received from the dig

Growing community of inventors

Fountain Valley, CA, United States of America

Timothy J Elliott