The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.

The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.

Date of Patent:
Mar. 27, 2007

Filed:

May. 14, 2001
Applicants:

Peter T. Barrett, San Francisco, CA (US);

Daniel Danker, Hercules, CA (US);

Jeffrey D. Yaksick, Sunnyvale, CA (US);

Inventors:

Peter T. Barrett, San Francisco, CA (US);

Daniel Danker, Hercules, CA (US);

Jeffrey D. Yaksick, Sunnyvale, CA (US);

Assignee:

WebTV Networks, Inc., Mountain View, CA (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 3/00 (2006.01); G06F 13/00 (2006.01); H04N 5/445 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract

A method for displaying an electronic program guide (EPG) to a viewer. The method includes displaying one or more data slices representative of broadcast programming to a viewer. In response to input from the viewer, the displayed number of data slices is increased, for example, from one slice to two slices. In browser mode the viewer can scroll through multiple EPG data slices without selecting to view full mode EPG, while in full mode the EPG can expand from a single column of data slices to multiple columns of data slices based upon viewer selections. The EPGs of the present invention can display programming that a viewer is more likely to watch at a particular time than other programming. A data slice representing the predicted programming can be inserted into the EPG so that the viewer can identify programming that is likely to be of interest.


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