Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080209465 | Systems and methods for supplementing on-demand media - Systems and methods for providing supplemental content with on-demand media in an interactive television application are described. | 08-28-2008 |
20080216120 | PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM FOR RECORDING TELEVISION PROGRAMS - An interactive program guide system is provided. The system facilitates recording of programs selected from the program guide. The system handles the recording and viewing of pay programs, parentally-controlled programs, consecutive programs on different television channels, and programs with and without copy protection. Programs may be recorded using combination television videocassette recorder (TV/VCR) units. | 09-04-2008 |
20080282285 | INTERACTIVE MEDIA SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRESENTING PAUSE-TIME CONTENT - Interactive media systems and methods are provided for substituting pause-time content in place of media that has been paused. The user may pause media such as real-time media, video-on-demand media, near video-on-demand, or recorded media. If the user pauses real-time media or near video-on-demand media, the interactive media application may store the media. The interactive media application may also provide the user with the ability to rewind, resume play of, and fast-forward the media. The pause-time content may be audio or video media and may be an advertisement, trivia, program summaries or any other suitable pause-time content. The interactive media application may provide customized pause-time content specific to the user or specific to the media paused by using media data associated with the media. The interactive media application may also prevent the user from accessing features (e.g., fast-forward) of the system. | 11-13-2008 |
20090013348 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR EXPORTING DIGITAL CONTENT USING AN INTERACTIVE TELEVISION APPLICATION - The present invention relates to methods and systems for extracting digital content using an interactive television application. The interactive television application may allow the user to record programs on a set-top box. The interactive television application may also allow the user to extract the audio from one of the recorded programs and transfer the extracted audio to removable media (e.g., a CD-R). The interactive television application also be configured to perform a future transfer of digital content to removable media. The future transfer may occur without requiring any further user interaction. | 01-08-2009 |
20090044226 | Interactive Television Program Guide System Having Multiple Devices Within A Household - An interactive television program guide system based on multiple user television equipment devices in a single household is provided. The system provides a user with an opportunity to adjust program guide settings with a given one of the interactive television program guides. The system coordinates the operation of the interactive television program guides so that the program guide settings that were adjusted with the given interactive television program guide are used by the other interactive television program guides. Program guide setting include features related to setting program reminders, profiles, program recording features, messaging features, favorites features, parental control features, program guide set up features (e.g., audio and video and language settings), etc. The operation of applications such as web browser applications, home shopping applications, home banking applications, game applications, etc. may also be coordinated. | 02-12-2009 |
20090138922 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING STORAGE OF DATA ON SERVERS IN AN ON-DEMAND MEDIA DELIVERY SYSTEM - A system and method may be provided that allows users to store, retrieve, and manipulate on-demand media content and data stored on a remote server network in an on-demand media delivery system. More particularly, the system may allow a user to access his or her on-demand media account from user equipment in different locations as long as the current user equipment can communicate with a remote server that stores user-specific information. The system upon user selection may freeze the delivery of on-demand media at a particular point and allow the user to resume the media at a later time from some other network location in system. Users may upload personal images or files to an on-demand delivery server for later retrieval and display. Users may be permitted to assign access rights to the uploaded files. | 05-28-2009 |
20090150937 | CLIENT-SERVER BASED INTERACTIVE TELEVISION PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM WITH REMOTE SERVER RECORDING - An interactive television program guide system is provided. An interactive television program guide provides users with an opportunity to select programs for recording on a remote media server. Programs may also be recorded on a local media server. The program guide provides users with VCR-like control over programs that are played back from the media servers and over real-time cached copies of the programs. The program guide also provides users with an opportunity to designate gift recipients for whom programs may be recorded. | 06-11-2009 |
20090310937 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR INTERACTIVE PROGRAM GUIDES WITH PERSONAL VIDEO RECORDING FEATURES - Methods and systems that provide enhanced personal video recorder (“PVR”) and interactive television program guide (“IPG”) functionality are provided. An interactive television application (“application”) may be implemented to provide such functionality. The application may be used to display a list of PVR recordings, to schedule recordings to a PVR, to configure recordings, to view a list of scheduled recordings, to configure recording settings, or to select delete priority settings for recordings. The application may integrate pay-per-view and PVR functionality. The application may send user notifications for changes that are to be made to the recording content of a PVR. Live programming may be buffered by the application using a straight buffers that are created for each new program. Parallel buffers for concurrent programs may be implemented using multiple tuners. Straight buffers may be used in managing or controlling the flow of programming. Television content may be automatically paused when a user is engaged in using the application. Multiple IPGs for different users of a PVR may be implemented. Other PVR related features are also provided. | 12-17-2009 |
20090320071 | PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM WITH COMBINATION CATEGORY SEARCH - An interactive television program guide system is provided in which the program guide may provide the user with a selectable list of combination categories. Combination categories are composed of multiple simple categories such as sports, news, comedy, movies, children, etc. Program listings are supplied to the program guide. At least some of the program listings are associated with combination categories. A combination category build process may be used to assign combination categories to program listings. The user is able to use the selectable categories list to quickly identify programming of interest. | 12-24-2009 |
20100154001 | INTERACTIVE TELEVISION PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM WITH OPERATOR SHOWCASE - A system is provided in which an interactive television program guide is implemented on user television equipment such as a set-top box. The program guide provides an operator showcase in the form of one or more operator showcase television listings screens, each of which contains a set of television listings information. The sets of television listings information are generated by querying a database of television listings data in a database in the set-top box. Each database query is based on content criteria previously selected by the cable system operator or other service provider. The service provider is also able to define the format with which the television listings information is displayed in the television listings screens. A title and logos may also be selected by the service provider for each screen. The operator showcase television listings screens may therefore by customized and branded by the service provider. The user may access multiple operator showcase television listings screens using a centralized operator showcase menu. | 06-17-2010 |
20100175081 | PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM WITH TARGETED ADVERTISEMENTS BASED ON FUNCTION BUTTONS AND NON-PROGRAMMING OPTIONS - An interactive television program guide is provided in which targeted advertisements may be displayed on program guide screens and actions may be taken in the program guide based on which program guide function buttons and non-programming options are selected by the user. Advertisements may contain text, graphics, and video. Advertisements may also be selectable. | 07-08-2010 |
20100186025 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MANAGING THE DISTRIBUTION OF ON-DEMAND MEDIA - Systems and methods for managing the distribution of on-demand media in an interactive television application are provided. An interactive television application may receive a request for on-demand media from a user. The interactive television application may provide an option to the user for the transmission of the on-demand media. Such options may include, for example, an option to request a reduced-bandwidth version of the on-demand media, an option to schedule a future time for presentation of the on-demand media, an option to download the on-demand media to a recording device, and an option to check the availability of the on-demand media. A reduced price for transmission of the on-demand media may be provided to the user. | 07-22-2010 |
20100186038 | MEDIA LIBRARY IN AN INTERACTIVE MEDIA GUIDANCE APPLICATION - Systems and methods for selecting content for a media library using an interactive media guidance application are provided. The user may search for content to select by entering search terms in a search page and selecting content from search results in a search results page. The user may also select content by directly entering identification for the content, selecting content from a message suggesting content, or by selecting content from interactive media guidance application pages. The content may include content that is currently available and bookmarks for content that is not yet available. For such bookmarks, when the content becomes available, the interactive media guidance application may notify the user and/or add the actual content to the media library. The user may access the media library from any user device and perform any suitable operation with the content of the media library (e.g., download content to a user device or playback content). | 07-22-2010 |
20100192172 | PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM WITH MONITORING OF ADVERTISEMENT USAGE AND USER ACTIVITIES - A program guide system is provided in which interactive television program guide advertisement usage is monitored. Advertisement usage may be monitored by monitoring when advertisements are transmitted from a television distribution facility to user television equipment. Advertisement usage information may also be monitored by monitoring when advertisements are received by the user television equipment. Advertisement usage information may also be monitored at the time at which advertisements are displayed by a program guide. Less important data may be filtered from the collected advertisement usage data. Other activities that may be monitored include the viewing activities of the user, which program guide screens are displayed, and which non-program-guide applications are used. Real-time ratings information (e.g., real-time ratings of the popularity of certain television programs, video games, or other applications) may be provided to users in real time. | 07-29-2010 |
20100192177 | INTERACTIVE MEDIA SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRESENTING PAUSE-TIME CONTENT - Interactive media systems and methods are provided for substituting pause-time content in place of media that has been paused. The user may pause media such as real-time media, video-on-demand media, near video-on-demand, or recorded media. If the user pauses real-time media or near video-on-demand media, the interactive media application may store the media. The interactive media application may also provide the user with the ability to rewind, resume play of, and fast-forward the media. The pause-time content may be audio or video media and may be an advertisement, trivia, program summaries or any other suitable pause-time content. The interactive media application may provide customized pause-time content specific to the user or specific to the media paused by using media data associated with the media. The interactive media application may also prevent the user from accessing features (e.g., fast-forward) of the system. | 07-29-2010 |
20100192192 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR EXPORTING DIGITAL CONTENT USING AN INTERACTIVE TELEVISION APPLICATION - The present invention relates to methods and systems for extracting digital content using an interactive television application. The interactive television application may allow the user to record programs on a set-top box. The interactive television application may also allow the user to extract the audio from one of the recorded programs and transfer the extracted audio to removable media (e.g., a CD-R). The interactive television application also be configured to perform a future transfer of digital content to removable media. The future transfer may occur without requiring any further user interaction. | 07-29-2010 |
20100251284 | CLIENT-SERVER BASED INTERACTIVE TELEVISION PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM WITH REMOTE SERVER RECORDING - An interactive television program guide system is provided. An interactive television program guide provides users with an opportunity to select programs for recording on a remote media server. Programs may also be recorded on a local media server. The program guide provides users with VCR-like control over programs that are played back from the media servers and over real-time cached copies of the programs. The program guide also provides users with an opportunity to designate gift recipients for whom programs may be recorded. | 09-30-2010 |
20100251301 | CLIENT-SERVER BASED INTERACTIVE TELEVISION PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM WITH REMOTE SERVER RECORDING - An interactive television program guide system is provided. An interactive television program guide provides users with an opportunity to select programs for recording on a remote media server. Programs may also be recorded on a local media server. The program guide provides users with VCR-like control over programs that are played back from the media servers and over real-time cached copies of the programs. The program guide also provides users with an opportunity to designate gift recipients for whom programs may be recorded. | 09-30-2010 |
20100251303 | INTERACTIVE TELEVISION PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM HAVING MULTIPLE DEVICES WITHIN A HOUSEHOLD - An interactive television program guide system based on multiple user television equipment devices in a single household is provided. The system provides a user with an opportunity to adjust program guide settings with a given one of the interactive television program guides. The system coordinates the operation of the interactive television program guides so that the program guide settings that were adjusted with the given interactive television program guide are used by the other interactive television program guides. Program guide setting include features related to setting program reminders, profiles, program recording features, messaging features, favorites features, parental control features, program guide set up features (e.g., audio and video and language settings); etc. The operation of applications such as web browser applications; home shopping applications, home banking applications, game applications, etc. may also be coordinated. | 09-30-2010 |
20100310230 | CLIENT-SERVER BASED INTERACTIVE TELEVISION PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM WITH REMOTE SERVER RECORDING - An interactive television program guide system is provided. An interactive television program guide provides users with an opportunity to select programs for recording on a remote media server. Programs may also be recorded on a local media server. The program guide provides users with VCR-like control over programs that are played back from the media servers and over real-time cached copies of the programs. The program guide also provides users with an opportunity to designate gift recipients for whom programs may be recorded. | 12-09-2010 |
20100313221 | CLIENT-SERVER BASED INTERACTIVE TELEVISION PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM WITH REMOTE SERVER RECORDING - An interactive television program guide system is provided. An interactive television program guide provides users with an opportunity to select programs for recording on a remote media server. Programs may also be recorded on a local media server. The program guide provides users with VCR-like control over programs that are played back from the media servers and over real-time cached copies of the programs. The program guide also provides users with an opportunity to designate gift recipients for whom programs may be recorded. | 12-09-2010 |
20100313224 | CLIENT-SERVER BASED INTERACTIVE TELEVISION PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM WITH REMOTE SERVER RECORDING - An interactive television program guide system is provided. An interactive television program guide provides users with an opportunity to select programs for recording on a remote media server. Programs may also be recorded on a local media server. The program guide provides users with VCR-like control over programs that are played back from the media servers and over real-time cached copies of the programs. The program guide also provides users with an opportunity to designate gift recipients for whom programs may be recorded. | 12-09-2010 |
20100319026 | CLIENT SERVER BASED INTERACTIVE TELEVISION PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM WITH REMOTE SERVER RECORDING - An interactive television program guide system is provided. An interactive television program guide provides users with an opportunity to select programs for recording on a remote media server. Programs may also be recorded on a local media server. The program guide provides users with VCR-like control over programs that are played back from the media servers and over real-time cached copies of the programs. The program guide also provides users with an opportunity to designate gift recipients for whom programs may be recorded. | 12-16-2010 |
20100319032 | PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM WITH COMBINATION CATEGORY SEARCH - An interactive television program guide system is provided in which the program guide may provide the user with a selectable list of combination categories. Combination categories are composed of multiple simple categories such as sports, news, comedy, movies, children, etc. Program listings are supplied to the program guide. At least some of the program listings are associated with combination categories. A combination category build process may be used to assign combination categories to program listings. The user is able to use the selectable categories list to quickly identify programming of interest. | 12-16-2010 |
20100325673 | INTERACTIVE TELEVISION PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM WITH PAY PROGRAM PACKAGE PROMOTION - A system is provided that allows a user to select a pay program for purchase from a program guide. The program guide determines whether the selected program is part of a package of pay programs. If the selected program is part of a package, information regarding the package is provided to the user so that the user may decide whether to purchase the package. If the selected program is part of several packages, information for all packages is provided. The system automatically sets reminders for packages containing repetitive programming. The system monitors whether the user has watched any of the programs in such packages. When the user watches a program from the package, the remaining reminders are cancelled. If a user does not watch any programs in a package of any type, purchase of the package is cancelled and the user is provided with the opportunity to reschedule. | 12-23-2010 |
20110131607 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR RELOCATING MEDIA - A system and method may be provided that allows users to store, retrieve, and manipulate on-demand media content and data stored on a remote server network in an on-demand media delivery system. More particularly, the system may allow a user to access his or her on-demand media account from user equipment in different locations as long as the current user equipment can communicate with a remote server that stores user-specific information. The system upon user selection may freeze the delivery of on-demand media at a particular point and allow the user to resume the media at a later time from some other network location in system. Users may upload personal images or files to an on-demand delivery server for later retrieval and display. Users may be permitted to assign access rights to the uploaded files. | 06-02-2011 |
20110167446 | PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM WITH ADVERTISEMENTS - An interactive television program guide is provided in which advertisements may be displayed on program guide screens. Banner advertisements may be displayed above and below program listings. Panel advertisements may be provided adjacent to program listings. The advertisements may contain video. The advertisements may be used to promote television programs and conventional goods and services. When a user selects an advertisement, the program guide provides the user with an opportunity to order products or services, request information, set reminders for upcoming programs, view program descriptions, record programs, or take other such actions. Embedded advertisements may be provided within the program listings region and may be automatically displayed immediately adjacent to related program listings. | 07-07-2011 |
20110173657 | INTERACTIVE MEDIA GUIDE WITH MEDIA GUIDANCE INTERFACE - Systems and methods for providing guidance to users for finding media are described. Such systems and methods may be provided in interactive media guides such as program guides, web browsers, or other suitable interactive media guides. | 07-14-2011 |
20110191806 | PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM WITH COMBINATION CATEGORY SEARCH - An interactive television program guide system is provided in which the program guide may provide the user with a selectable list of combination categories. Combination categories are composed of multiple simple categories such as sports, news, comedy, movies, children, etc. Program listings are supplied to the program guide. At least some of the program listings are associated with combination categories. A combination category build process may be used to assign combination categories to program listings. The user is able to use the selectable categories list to quickly identify programming of interest. | 08-04-2011 |
20110209180 | INTERACTIVE TELEVISION PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM THAT SERVES AS A PORTAL - A system is provided in which an interactive television program guide application and non-program-guide applications are at least partially implemented on user television equipment. A program guide program application interface is provided that is used to maintain a consistent user interface between the program guide application and the non-program-guide applications. Non-program-guide applications may be launched by the program guide application. The user may select certain non-program-guide applications as favorites and may set parental controls for certain non-program-guide applications. The program guide application may run in the background while a non-program-guide application operates. While the non-program-guide application operates, the program guide may check for events that require immediate attention. When such an event is detected, operation of the non-program-guide application may be suspended and the user may be asked whether the detected event should take place or whether operation of the non-program-guide application should be resumed. The applications may be located at a remote location such as on a server at a cable system headend or on a server on the Internet. The program application interface may perform authentication and access rights determination functions. Reminders may be set for the content of non-program-guide applications. | 08-25-2011 |
20110243534 | INTERACTIVE MEDIA SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRESENTING PAUSE-TIME CONTENT - Interactive media systems and methods are provided for substituting pause-time content in place of media that has been paused. The user may pause media such as real-time media, video-on-demand media, near video-on-demand, or recorded media. If the user pauses real-time media or near video-on-demand media, the interactive media application may store the media. The interactive media application may also provide the user with the ability to rewind, resume play of, and fast-forward the media. The pause-time content may be audio or video media and may be an advertisement, trivia, program summaries or any other suitable pause-time content. The interactive media application may provide customized pause-time content specific to the user or specific to the media paused by using media data associated with the media. The interactive media application may also prevent the user from accessing features (e.g., fast-forward) of the system. | 10-06-2011 |
20120036532 | INTERACTIVE TELEVISION PROGRAM GUIDE WITH REMOTE ACCESS - An interactive television program guide with remote access is provided. The interactive television program guide is implemented on interactive television program guide equipment. A remote program guide access device is connected to the interactive television program guide equipment by a remote access link to provide a user with remote access to program guide functions. An interactive television program guide system based on multiple user television equipment devices in a single household is provided. The system provides a user with an opportunity to adjust program guide settings with a given one of the interactive television program guides. Program guide setting include features related to setting program reminders, profiles, program recording features, messaging features, favorites features, parental control features, program guide set up features (e.g., audio and video and language settings), etc. | 02-09-2012 |
20120036533 | INTERACTIVE TELEVISION PROGRAM GUIDE WITH REMOTE ACCESS - An interactive television program guide with remote access is provided. The interactive television program guide is implemented on interactive television program guide equipment. A remote program guide access device is connected to the interactive television program guide equipment by a remote access link to provide a user with remote access to program guide functions. An interactive television program guide system based on multiple user television equipment devices in a single household is provided. The system provides a user with an opportunity to adjust program guide settings with a given one of the interactive television program guides. Program guide setting include features related to setting program reminders, profiles, program recording features, messaging features, favorites features, parental control features, program guide set up features (e.g., audio and video and language settings), etc. | 02-09-2012 |
20120060189 | INTERACTIVE TELEVISION PROGRAM GUIDE WITH REMOTE ACCESS - An interactive television program guide with remote access is provided. The interactive television program guide is implemented on interactive television program guide equipment. A remote program guide access device is connected to the interactive television program guide equipment by a remote access link to provide a user with remote access to program guide functions. An interactive television program guide system based on multiple user television equipment devices in a single household is provided. The system provides a user with an opportunity to adjust program guide settings with a given one of the interactive television program guides. Program guide setting include features related to setting program reminders, profiles, program recording features, messaging features, favorites features, parental control features, program guide set up features (e.g., audio and video and language settings), etc. | 03-08-2012 |
20120066719 | INTERACTIVE TELEVISION PROGRAM GUIDE WITH REMOTE ACCESS - An interactive television program guide with remote access is provided. The interactive television program guide is implemented on interactive television program guide equipment. A remote program guide access device is connected to the interactive television program guide equipment by a remote access link to provide a user with remote access to program guide functions. An interactive television program guide system based on multiple user television equipment devices in a single household is provided. The system provides a user with an opportunity to adjust program guide settings with a given one of the interactive television program guides. Program guide setting include features related to setting program reminders, profiles, program recording features, messaging features, favorites features, parental control features, program guide set up features (e.g., audio and video and language settings), etc. | 03-15-2012 |
20120072956 | INTERACTIVE MEDIA SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRESENTING PAUSE-TIME CONTENT - Interactive media systems and methods are provided for substituting pause-time content in place of media that has been paused. The user may pause media such as real-time media, video-on-demand media, near video-on-demand, or recorded media. If the user pauses real-time media or near video-on-demand media, the interactive media application may store the media. The interactive media application may also provide the user with the ability to rewind, resume play of, and fast-forward the media. The pause-time content may be audio or video media and may be an advertisement, trivia, program summaries or any other suitable pause-time content. The interactive media application may provide customized pause-time content specific to the user or specific to the media paused by using media data associated with the media. The interactive media application may also prevent the user from accessing features (e.g., fast-forward) of the system. | 03-22-2012 |
20120079525 | INTERACTIVE TELEVISION PROGRAM GUIDE WITH REMOTE ACCESS - An interactive television program guide with remote access is provided. The interactive television program guide is implemented on interactive television program guide equipment. A remote program guide access device is connected to the interactive television program guide equipment by a remote access link to provide a user with remote access to program guide functions. An interactive television program guide system based on multiple user television equipment devices in a single household is provided. The system provides a user with an opportunity to adjust program guide settings with a given one of the interactive television program guides. Program guide setting include features related to setting program reminders, profiles, program recording features, messaging features, favorites features, parental control features, program guide set up features (e.g., audio and video and language settings), etc. | 03-29-2012 |
20120093488 | CLIENT-SERVER BASED INTERACTIVE TELEVISION GUIDE WITH SERVER RECORDING - An interactive television program guide system is provided. An interactive television program guide provides users with an opportunity to select programs for recording on a remote media server. Programs may also be recorded on a local media server. The program guide provides users with VCR like control over programs that are played back from the media servers and over real-time cached copies of the programs. The program guide also provides users with an opportunity to designate gift recipients for whom programs may be recorded. | 04-19-2012 |
20120131613 | CLIENT-SERVER BASED INTERACTIVE TELEVISION GUIDE WITH SERVER RECORDING - An interactive television program guide system is provided. An interactive television program guide provides users with an opportunity to select programs for recording on a remote media server. Programs may also be recorded on a local media server. The program guide provides users with VCR-like control over programs that are played back from the media servers and over real-time cached copies of the programs. The program guide also provides users with an opportunity to designate gift recipients for whom programs may be recorded. | 05-24-2012 |
20120141096 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR INTERACTIVE PROGRAM GUIDES WITH PERSONAL VIDEO RECORDING FEATURES - Methods and systems that provide enhanced personal video recorder (“PVR”) and interactive television program guide (“IPG”) functionality are provided. An interactive television application (“application”) may be implemented to provide such functionality. The application may be used to display a list of PVR recordings, to schedule recordings to a PVR, to configure recordings, to view a list of scheduled recordings, to configure recording settings, or to select delete priority settings for recordings. The application may integrate pay-per-view and PVR functionality. The application may send user notifications for changes that are to be made to the recording content of a PVR. Live programming may be buffered by the application using a straight buffers that are created for each new program. Parallel buffers for concurrent programs may be implemented using multiple tuners. Straight buffers may be used in managing or controlling the flow of programming. | 06-07-2012 |
20120148217 | CLIENT-SERVER ELECTRONIC PROGRAM GUIDE - A client-server interactive television program guide system is provided. An interactive television program guide client is implemented on user television equipment. The interactive television program guide provides users with an opportunity to define expressions that are processed by the program guide server. The program guide server may provide program guide data, schedules reminders, schedules program recordings, and parentally locks programs based on the expressions. Users' viewing histories may be tracked. The program guide server may analyze the viewing histories and generates viewing recommendations, targets advertising, and collects program ratings information based on the viewing histories. | 06-14-2012 |
20120224830 | PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM FOR RECORDING TELEVISION PROGRAMS - An interactive program guide system is provided. The system facilitates recording of programs selected from the program guide. The system handles the recording and viewing of pay programs, parentally-controlled programs, consecutive programs on different television channels, and programs with and without copy protection. Programs may be recorded using combination television videocassette recorder (TV/VCR) units. | 09-06-2012 |
20120224831 | PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM FOR RECORDING TELEVISION PROGRAMS - An interactive program guide system is provided. The system facilitates recording of programs selected from the program guide. The system handles the recording and viewing of pay programs, parentally-controlled programs, consecutive programs on different television channels, and programs with and without copy protection. Programs may be recorded using combination television videocassette recorder (TV/VCR) units. | 09-06-2012 |
20130014186 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MANAGING THE DISTRIBUTION OF ON-DEMAND MEDIA - Systems and methods for managing the distribution of on-demand media in an interactive television application are provided. An interactive television application may receive a request for on-demand media from a user. The interactive television application may provide an option to the user for the transmission of the on-demand media. Such options may include, for example, an option to request a reduced-bandwidth version of the on-demand media, an option to schedule a future time for presentation of the on-demand media, an option to download the on-demand media to a recording device, and an option to check the availability of the on-demand media. A reduced price for transmission of the on-demand media may be provided to the user. | 01-10-2013 |
20130024893 | CLIENT-SERVER BASED INTERACTIVE TELEVISION GUIDE WITH SERVER RECORDING - An interactive television program guide system is provided. An interactive television program guide provides users with an opportunity to select programs for recording on a remote media server. Programs may also be recorded on a local media server. The program guide provides users with VCR-like control over programs that are played back from the media servers and over real-time cached copies of the programs. The program guide also provides users with an opportunity to designate gift recipients for whom programs may be recorded. | 01-24-2013 |
20130219430 | INTERACTIVE MEDIA GUIDE WITH MEDIA GUIDANCE INTERFACE - Systems and methods for providing guidance to users for finding media are described. Such systems and methods may be provided in interactive media guides such as program guides, web browsers, or other suitable interactive media guides. | 08-22-2013 |
20130332957 | TELEVISION CHAT SYSTEM - A television chat system is provided that allows television viewers to engage in real-time communications in chat groups with other television viewers while watching television. Users of the television chat system may engage in real-time communications with other users who are currently watching the same television program or channel. | 12-12-2013 |
20140068669 | PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM WITH FLIP AND BROWSE ADVERTISEMENTS - An interactive television program guide is provided in which advertisements may be displayed in program listings display regions on program guide screens. The program listings display regions may be browse displays or flip displays. The program guide screens contain video for the current channel to which the user is tuned. The program listings display regions containing the advertisements may be overlaid on top of the current channel. Alternatively, the video for the current channel may be provided in a reduced-size video window. The advertisements may contain video. The advertisements may be used to promote television programs and conventional goods and services. Advertisements may be selectable. When a user selects an advertisement, the program guide provides the user with an opportunity to order products or services, request information, set reminders for upcoming programs, view program descriptions, record programs, or take other such actions. | 03-06-2014 |
20140082668 | TELEVISION MESSAGE SYSTEM - A television message system is provided that allows users at user television equipment devices that are connected to a television distribution facility to transmit messages to each other relating to a television program or other suitable subject. The television message system permits users to participate in evaluations, contests, promotions, and surveys related to a television program while watching that television program. The television message system also permits users to compose and send a message to a television program entity. The television message system also allows a user to purchase a gift related to television programming for a recipient. The gift may be an electronic gift certificate for pay-per-view programming. The television message system may be based on an interactive television program guide or a set-top box application implemented on a set-top box. | 03-20-2014 |