Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for providing program oriented information in a multiple station broadcast system

US5596373A · kind A · utility

489Cited by
8References
26Claims
0Family size

Assignees

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJan 4, 1995
Grant dateJan 21, 1997
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 4, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04N21/47
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An innovative but easy to use on-line program list is provided to provide the user of a multiple channel television broadcast system a wealth of programming information in a simple format that is easy to understand. The guide enables the user to easily select a particular program to watch or to watch in the future. Unlike prior art television guides, the present invention presents a program list that is oriented according to the program instead of the channel. In particular, the program list provides program information and the times the program is broadcasted the displayed timeframe. This is particularly useful for viewing in one simple and easy-to-read format the start times of a pay-per-view program, which may, for example, be broadcasted every 1/2 hour over a variety of channels.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.