User interface for television schedule system

Abstract

Screen () for a user interface of a television schedule system and process consists of an array () of irregular cells (), which vary in length, corresponding to different television program lengths of one half hour to one-and-one half hours or more. The array is arranged as three columns () of one-half hour in duration, and twelve rows () of program listings. Some of the program listings overlap two or more of the columns () because of their length. Because of the widely varying length of the cells (), if a conventional cursor used to select a cell location were to simply step from one cell to another, the result would be abrupt changes in the screen () as the cursor moved from a cell () of several hours length to an adjacent cell in the same row. An effective way of taming the motion is to assume that behind every array () is an underlying array of regular cells. By restricting cursor movements to the regular cells, abrupt screen changes will be avoided. With the cursor (), the entire cell () is 3-D highlighted, using a conventional offset shadow (). The offset shadow () is a black bar that underlines the entire cell and wraps around the right edge of the cell. To tag the underlying position—which defines where the cursor () is and thus, where it will move next—portions () of the black bar outside the current underlying position are segmented, while the current position is painted solid.