Sony Corporation

Tomoko Shudo

Akira Yamazaki

Yukiko Ohkura

Kazumasa Okumura

Hiroyuki Hanaya

Noriko Kotabe

Takashi Otani

A television reception controller enables the viewer to choose a favorite program from among many broadcasting channels easily and swiftly. The controller displays labels of categories that are NEWS, MOVIE, SPORTS, POLITICS and MUSIC on the top row of the display screen and displays pictures of broadcasting channels of the leftmost category, which have been received in the last four weeks, in small frames in the leftmost column of the screen downwardly in the order of the frequency of reception. The controller responds to the horizontal movement of the cursor to rotate the category labels horizontally and responds to the vertical movement of the cursor on the small-frame pictures and the action of selection to display the picture of the selected broadcasting channel in the main frame of the screen.

Image reception controller and method with ordered display of previously

A television signal receiver equipped with a picture display controller and adapted for selecting a desired program quickly from a multiplicity of broadcast programs. In response to designation of a browsing mode, many subsidiary pictures are displayed successively under a main picture in a manner to be scrollable in any of predetermined directions. When a desired subsidiary picture is displayed within a cursor, the program being displayed on the relevant subsidiary screen is registered in a bookmark list by actuating a bookmark button switch incorporated in a remote commander. A bookmark is additionally displayed relative to the picture of the program registered in the bookmark list. Then the program thus registered is received and displayed as a main picture in response to an actuation of a jump button switch, whereby any desired one of many broadcast channels can be selectively received with rapidity and certainty. It thus becomes possible for a user to find the contents of programs in many other broadcast channels.

Television signal receiver and broadcast channel selecting method

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Tomoko Shudo