KR20010080982A - Method of and apparatus for displaying information units - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for displaying an electronic program guide. Program data, such as titles, are displayed in the detail view along one or more coordinate axes, for example representing TV channels and broadcast time. Also, the area of the screen shows a zoom out view that includes abbreviated representations of the programs. It indicates that the shorthand representations correspond to the programs displayed in the detail view. The user will be able to scroll both the information in the detail view and the zoom out view.

Description

Method and apparatus for displaying information units

Such methods and apparatus are well known. For example, as is well known, television sets and set-top boxes include an electronic program guide (EPG) capable of receiving and decoding program data such as channel numbers and broadcast times associated with programs to be transmitted in the near future. In general, such an EPG represents a list of program titles and clock times indicating at which time the program will be sent on which channel. For example, U. S. Patent No. 5808608 discloses a television receiver capable of presenting such data in a so-called grid TV guide having an array of cells each containing program data relating to a separate program.

However, a disadvantage of known methods and apparatus is that a large amount of information is provided in a particularly textual format, which makes it difficult for the user to quickly obtain an overview of programs of interest to the user. In general, there are a number of programs and a number of receivable channels scheduled for each of the receivable channels. With known methods and apparatus, only a fraction of the available information can be displayed, and other portions must be selected by scrolling through all of the information. This is inconvenient and time-consuming.

The present invention relates to a method of displaying information units such as receivable programs in an electronic program guide (EPG),

Obtaining attribute values relating to attributes of the information units such as, for example, channel number, broadcast time, program category, and program title of the receivable programs;

Defining at least one coordinate axis representing one of the attributes, such as for example broadcast time or channel,

Associating a coordinate position along the coordinate axis for each of the information units according to their attribute values;

And displaying an attribute value such as, for example, a program title, on at least some of the information units related to a coordinate position on the visible portion of the coordinate axis.

The present invention also provides an apparatus for receiving a plurality of programs, comprising: decoding means for receiving and decoding attribute values relating to attributes of the programs (e.g., channel number, broadcast time, program category, or program title);

According to their attribute values, one of the attributes for each of the programs is associated with a coordinate position along a coordinate axis representing a time or channel, for example, and for at least a few programs associated with the coordinate position on the visible portion of the coordinate axis. A program receiving apparatus comprising display means for displaying a value, for example, a program title.

The invention also relates to a data carrier and an information processing apparatus.

1 shows a television receiver as an embodiment of a device according to the invention.

2 shows an example of a screen showing an EPG according to an embodiment of the method according to the invention.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus of the type defined at the outset which allows a user to easily obtain all of the usable information units. To this end, the method according to the invention further comprises the step of displaying abbreviated representations of the attribute values of the information units with respect to coordinate positions of another part of the coordinate axis, for example a point or a line, wherein the another part is said A barbed portion and substantially larger than the barbed portion. In this way, in addition to the detailed view of the small parts of the available information units, the user can see all the larger information units without feeling uncomfortable by the details of the larger part of the information units. Thus, the user is provided with a detail zoomed-in view of the information, similar to the prior art methods, for example by abbreviated representations such as points representing each information unit or in the same reduced seal. A zoom out view of the same information may be provided. Certain parameters of the abbreviated representations, such as size or color, for example, may correspond to different attribute values of information units, such as the time width of the receivable program, genre.

Both views can be provided simultaneously or at one time. If the views are provided at one time, several transitions are possible. That is, for example, an operation of simply replacing one view with another view, zooming in and zooming out, blending, sliding, and the like is possible. The zoom out view may represent a significant portion of the entire information space, and preferably represents the entire information space, allowing the user to see the whole at a glance. The zoom-out view preferably comprises an indication of which part of the view corresponds to the selected unit or zoom-in view in the zoomed-in view by highlighting or approximating a portion corresponding to the zoomed-in view, for example. This indication can be used to change the portion of information provided by the zoomed in view. Navigation in zoom in view automatically means navigation in zoom out view. Position feedback (eg, highlight) can be moved around the perimeter in the zoomed in view. If performing a second position feedback (eg another highlight) moves around the periphery in the zoom out view, ensure the movement of the first position feedback. In this way, the two views are linked directly.

Other ways are also possible. That is, navigating in the zoom-out view means navigating in the zoom-in view automatically. Position feedback (eg, highlight) may be moved around the perimeter in the zoom out view. When performing a second position feedback (e.g., another highlight), the movement of the first position feedback results in a circumference around the zoomed-in view. In this way the two views are likewise linked directly.

If two views are not provided at the same time, the same principle can be applied, so the two views are also linked directly. The difference is that only one position feedback will be visible but it moves its visible position feedback, and the visible position feedback is in the zoomed in or zoomed out view and also outside the zoomed in or zoomed out view as the first visualized position feedback moves. This results in a shift in the visualization feedback. In switching between the views, the two position feedbacks point to the same position, helping the user not to get lost in the content space.

The position feedback may, for example, incrementally move from item to item or onto some other grid, or move in a continuous manner such as a mouse pointer. In this way, the method according to the invention makes it possible to locate the information space at any time and to easily find the information of interest in the information space.

The method according to the invention is particularly advantageous for displaying filtered information units. A disadvantage of the known method is that information filtering creates an empty space in the display information. For example, in a grid or matrix EPG, only programs that belong to a particular genre can be filtered. This means that the matrix is only partially filled to have empty spaces at locations corresponding to programs that do not belong to the required genre. The user may be lost if such empty space is larger than the perceivable space (eg, larger than the available screen space). A preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention is characterized in that such rejected programs are represented in the zoom-out view, for example, by faint colors or translucent representations. Alternatively, rejected programs are likewise represented by empty spaces in the zoom out view. Since the zoom-out view represents a large part of the information space, the empty space does not cause the user to get lost in his way. Conversely, the user can be able to quickly locate a cluster of information units that meet the requirements. Utilization can be further improved by further reducing groups of such faint or transparent representations related to information units that have been rejected to allocate more space to short representations associated with selected information units. The screen space available in this way can be utilized more efficiently. This can be achieved by applying a non-linear coordinate distribution to the zoom out view, i.e. a small zoom factor where the rejected units are located and a larger zoom factor where the selected units are located.

These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from the embodiments described below and will be described by way of non-limiting example with reference to the embodiments.

1 is a block diagram of a digital television receiver as one embodiment of an apparatus according to the present invention. Digital broadcast streams that are modulated for radio frequency (RF) signals are received by the antenna 1 from the ether or alternatively from a cable network. The broadcast streams may for example be formatted according to the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) standard. The tuner 2 comprises a standard analog RF receiver which can receive the RF signals and select one of them to be output to the demodulator 3. Which signal is selected by the tuner 2 depends on the control data received from the CPU (central processing unit) 5. The demodulator 3 converts the analog signal into a digital packet stream based on the control signals received from the CPU 5. This packet stream is output to the demultiplexer 4, which selects packets belonging to a particular program according to control data received from the CPU 5 and converts the packet streams into basic video, audio or data streams. Disassemble.

In addition to broadcast signals, a television receiver may be suitable for receiving signals from other sources, such as a digital video recorder or DVD, or the Internet, or a digital subscriber line. Programs and program attributes do not need to be obtained from the same source. For example, attributes and attribute values relating to broadcast programs can be obtained from an internet site.

The video processor 8 decodes the video stream received from the demultiplexer 4 or the CPU 5. The decoded video data is then sent to the display screen 9. The audio processor 6 decodes the audio stream received from the demultiplexer 4. The decoded audio data is then sent to the speaker system 7.

The demultiplexer 4 outputs the basic data stream to the CPU 5. The basic data stream has two types of data: control data and content data. The content relates to interactive programs, for example, and the control relates to tables in the multiplex, such as the structure of the multiplex, the (RF) frequencies at which channels are modulated, various content components and other in the multiplex. Specifies the addresses from which other tables can be searched. The CPU 5 includes one or more microprocessors that can execute program instructions stored in read-only memory (ROM) 12. These program instructions include some of the software modules, including command module 13 and EPG module 14. Data processed by the software modules, such as DVB-SI data and user profile information, may be stored in the nonvolatile memory 11. The command module 13 may control the functions of the TV set, such as tuning and demultiplexing selection, and send data to the video processor 8 for display on the screen 9. The user command unit 10 receives user commands, for example via a remote control (not shown) and sends them to the command module 13 to be processed. For example, when the user enters a channel number, the command module 13 controls the tuner 2 and the demultiplexer 4 to select the corresponding broadcast stream and the data packets therein, and to transmit the graphic data to the video processor. (8) to provide feedback on screen (9). For example, the channel name and current number are displayed for several seconds. The EPG module 14 is configured to collect information about the channels available in the received broadcast streams ('service' in DVB terminology) and the programs scheduled for the channels ('event' in DVB terminology). The DVB-SI data received from the demultiplexer 4 is analyzed.

2 shows an example of a screen representation of an EPG according to an embodiment of the method according to the invention. After a suitable user command, the time base 26 is displayed with a number of clock times, for example in the range 19:00 to 21:00. Below the time axis 26, a detail " zoomed-in " view 25 is provided, wherein the zoomed-in view 25 is the clock time indicated by the TV channels shown to the left of the view 25. Program titles of programs that are broadcast to them. Instead of or in addition to program titles, attribute values such as graphic pictograms or program genres representing scenes from a program may be provided. Highlight 27 indicates that one of the programs is selected. The selected program can be programmed for recording or reminding, or additional information can be requested for it. In the detail view 25, only five channels and five hours and thirty minutes are shown. The command module 13 allows users to scroll the view 925 to show the date or other times of the week and the program data of other channels. Since the displayed information is only a fraction of the entire information space, the user is likely to lose his way. In addition, the programs may be filtered according to the user profile to create free space in the view 25. View 25 may occur where no program data can be viewed at all because all programs corresponding to channels and clock times on the screen are rejected by the user profile. In such a case, the user is likely to get lost. These problems are solved by the method of the present invention, for example by providing a zoom out view 21 which is located at the top of the screen. It shows a significantly larger portion of the information space, such as all receivable channels and all-day or weekly filtered programs. The programs are represented by abbreviated expressions such as dots instead of program names. Alternatively, programs can be represented by small lines, the length of which corresponds to the time period of the program. The color of the abbreviated expressions may reflect the category or genre of the program. The area 23 in the view 21 is highlighted to indicate that the area 23 corresponds to the detail view 25. In addition, one of the abbreviated expressions may be something larger than others to indicate that it corresponds to the selected program 27. In this way, it is achieved for the user to provide the user with a detail view of the small portion of the information space and the entire view of the large portion of the information space. In addition, the relationship between the two views is always clear because of the visible indications 23, 24 in the zoom out view 21. Therefore, although the detail view 25 cannot show any program data due to the filtering effect of the user profile, it is unlikely that the user will be lost in his way. The user is able to reposition the indications 23 and / or 24 to another part of the view 21 so that the view 25 is broadcast in the morning, for example by another set of TV channels. Allows you to display another section of information space about. If multiple programs are rejected by the user profile, the view 21 can facilitate the user finding the programs allowed by the user profile and quickly moving the detail view 25 to those allowed programs. have.

In another embodiment, the user may be able to select a time-span, such as one day or one week, represented by the view 21. Thus, the parameters of the abbreviated representation, such as shape, size or color, can be changed. Alternatively, multiple zoom out views may be displayed simultaneously, each representing a different time span. In addition, the user will be able to scroll the view 21 in a manner similar to scrolling the view 25. View 21 may include another time axis (not shown) in addition to time axis 26 of view 25.

Some of the views 21 may not show any abbreviated representations of the programs due to the filtering effect of the user profile or simply because there are no programs broadcast at the corresponding clock time. For example, area 22 may represent a time period in the range from 3:00 to 6:00, during which the program (according to the user profile) is not broadcast. In order to utilize the screen space efficiently, the area 22 can be partially reduced in size or skied, resulting in nonlinearities or interruptions in the time axis of the view 21, respectively. Alternatively, the user may indicate that a particular day or week is skipped anyway, regardless of whether the desired program is broadcast at that time, for example, the user only sees program data of programs broadcast in the evening and on the weekend. Would want to.

In summary, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for displaying an electronic program guide. Program data, such as a title, is displayed in the detail view, for example, in the direction of one or more coordinate axes representing TV channels and broadcast time. In addition, the area of the screen shows a zoom out view that includes a shortened representation of the program. It indicates which abbreviated representation corresponds to the programs displayed in the detail view. The user will be able to scroll both the information in the detail view and the zoom out view.

Although the present invention has been described in connection with specific embodiments, variations and modifications are possible within the scope of the inventive concept. Thus, for example, instead of the two axes used to display information units in a matrix as shown in the above embodiments, the present invention uses only one axis or three axes visualized in a three-dimensional manner. It can be applied to the system. For example, a one-axis system may be a document processing system that includes scrollbars suitable for representing abbreviated representations of elements consisting of documents of sentences or paragraphs, for example. Abbreviated expressions can be small lines in the scrollbar, the length of which reflects the length of the corresponding paragraph.

The term 'comprising' does not exclude the presence of elements or steps other than those listed in a claim. In the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim. The invention can be implemented by means of hardware comprising a number of individual elements and by means of a suitably programmed computer. In the device claim enumerating several means, several means may be embodied by one of the hardware and by the same item of hardware.

Claims (18)

A method of displaying information units which are for example receivable programs in an electronic program guide (EPG), Obtaining attribute values relating to attributes of the information units such as, for example, channel number, broadcast time, program category, and program title of the receivable programs; Defining at least one coordinate axis representing one of the attributes, such as for example broadcast time or channel, Associating a coordinate position along the coordinate axis for each of the information units according to their attribute values; Displaying an attribute value such as, for example, a program title, on at least some of the information units related to a coordinate position on a visible portion of the coordinate axis, Displaying abbreviated representations of attribute values of information units relating to coordinate positions of another part of the coordinate axis, such as points or lines, wherein the another part comprises the visible part and is substantially more than the visible part. Information unit display method, characterized in that larger. The method of claim 1, And said another portion of said coordinate axis includes an entire coordinate axis. The method according to claim 1 or 2, And the attribute values and the abbreviated representations are displayed simultaneously. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, And other parameters such as, for example, size or color of the abbreviated representations, corresponding to different attribute values of the information units such as, for example, the time width of the receivable program, the genre. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, And indicating which part of said another part of said coordinate axis corresponds to said visible part of said coordinate axis. The method of claim 5, Selecting a different portion of the coordinate axis as the visible portion, wherein the selection is performed by repositioning the display along the another portion of the coordinate axis. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, Selecting or rejecting the information units in an EPG according to a filter such as, for example, a user profile, And indicating the rejected information units by a parameter of a reduced representation relating to the rejected information units, such as translucent or faint color, or none at all. The method of claim 7, wherein And further reducing groups of abbreviated representations associated with information units rejected to allocate more space to the abbreviated representations associated with the selected information units. A data carrier storing a computer program for carrying out the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8. An information processing apparatus for performing the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8. An apparatus for receiving a plurality of programs, the apparatus comprising: Decoding means for receiving and decoding attribute values relating to attributes of said programs (eg, channel number, broadcast time, program category, or program title); According to their attribute values, one of the attributes for each of the programs is associated with a coordinate position along a coordinate axis representing a time or channel, for example, and for at least a few programs associated with the coordinate position on the visible portion of the coordinate axis. Display means for displaying a value such as a program title, The display means is suitable for displaying abbreviated representations of the attribute values of the programs relating to the coordinate positions of another part of the coordinate axis, such as points or lines, wherein the another part comprises the visible part and is substantially more than the visible part. Program receiving device, characterized in that larger. The method of claim 11, And said another portion of said coordinate axis comprises an entire coordinate axis. The method according to claim 11 or 12, And the attribute values and the abbreviated representations are displayed at the same time. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 13, Other parameters such as size or color of the shortened representations, for example, corresponding to different attribute values of the programs such as time width, genre. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 14, And said display means is also suitable for indicating which part of said another portion of said coordinate axis corresponds to said visible portion of said coordinate axis. The method of claim 15, Selection means for operatively selecting a different portion of the coordinate axis as the visible portion, wherein the selection means is suitable for performing the selection by repositioning the display along the another portion of the coordinate axis. Program receiving device. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 16, A filter, for example filtering means for selecting or rejecting the programs according to a user profile, And more suited for indicating said rejected programs by a parameter of abbreviated representations relating to said rejected programs, such as translucent or faint color, or none. The method of claim 17, And said displaying means is suitable for further reducing groups of abbreviated representations relating to programs that have been rejected to allocate more space to abbreviated representations associated with selected programs.