US20100262931A1 - Systems and methods for searching a media guidance application with multiple perspective views - Google Patents

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for navigating a media guidance application with multiple perspective views. A first of a plurality of media guidance objects may be displayed in a first perspective view that appears flat on the screen. A second media guidance object may be displayed in a second perspective view that appears to be going into the screen creating the appearance of a fold between the first and second media guidance application objects at a location where the first perspective view changes into the second perspective view. The second media guidance object in the second perspective view may be caused to slide through the fold into the first perspective view. The second media guidance object displayed in the first perspective view may be selected. An action may be performed for a media asset corresponding to the selected media guidance object.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
• This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/212,414, filed Apr. 10, 2009, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
• Due to the overwhelming volume of media content (e.g., video and audio) available to the average person (e.g., via the Internet, cable and satellite television and radio), interactive media guidance applications, such as interactive program guides, have gained widespread popularity. Typically, interactive program guides present guide listings in a single perspective view grid indexed by time and program source (e.g., a television channel). In particular, the guide listings appear flat on the screen. These guidance applications also present other guide related data (e.g., user profiles, recommendations) in a single perspective view.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
• In view of the foregoing, systems and methods for navigating a media guidance application with multiple perspective views in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention are provided.
• In some embodiments, a first media guidance application object may be displayed in a first perspective view. The first media guidance application object that is displayed in the first perspective view may be the media guidance application object that is in focus. The first perspective view may be a view that is similar to the two dimensional representation of objects in a typical program guide. More specifically, media guidance application objects displayed in the first perspective view may appear flat on the screen.
• A second media guidance application object may be displayed in a second perspective view different from the first perspective view. In some implementations, the second perspective view may be a view that appears to go into the screen. In particular, media guidance objects displayed in the second perspective view may appear to go into the screen where media guidance application objects gradually decrease in size. A fold or crease may appear between the first and second media guidance application objects at a point where the first perspective view changes into the second perspective view.
• In some embodiments, media guidance application objects may include user profile representations, media asset representations, one or more program guide listings, widgets, websites, one or more menus of selectable items, visual keypads, search results, or any combination of the same. In some implementations, the media guidance application objects may be arranged in a particular predefined order. In particular, media guidance objects may be arranged in alphabetical order, numerical order, user defined order, an order according to size of a corresponding media asset, an order according to length of a corresponding media asset, an order based on last access to a corresponding media asset, an order based on type of a corresponding media assets, chronological order, an order based on time intervals associated with corresponding media assets, or some other suitable order such as in order of relevance to the user.
• In some embodiments, the user may input a command to cause the second media guidance application object displayed in the second perspective view to slide through a fold or crease from the second perspective view into the first perspective view. In some implementations, the user may press a right arrow key, to shift media guidance application objects from the second perspective view into the first perspective view and shift out of the first perspective view the media guidance application object that was in focus. More specifically, the user may navigate to earlier or later media guidance application objects by pressing a right/left arrow key to bring those media guidance application objects into the first perspective view and thereby into focus.
• In some embodiments, the media guidance application object that is displayed in the first perspective view (e.g., the media guidance application object that is in focus) may be selected by the user. In some implementations, the user may press a confirm key to select the media guidance application object that is in focus. In some implementations, selecting the media guidance application object that is in focus may allow the user to login, access, playback, schedule for recording, schedule a reminder, receive detailed information or otherwise perform an action relative to a media asset associated with the media guidance application object in focus.
• In some embodiments, additional perspective views may be provided for other media guidance application objects. In particular, media guidance application objects that come earlier in an order or sequence than the first media guidance application object that is in focus, may appear in a third perspective view. In some implementations, the media guidance application objects that are in the third perspective view may appear to come out of the screen towards the user. Media guidance application objects that come earlier in the order or sequence than the media guidance application object that is in focus may appear to be gradually increasing in size in the third perspective view. A second fold or crease may appear between the first media guidance application object and the media guidance application objects in the third perspective view at a point where the first perspective view changes into the third perspective view. In some implementations, the second and third perspective views include media guidance objects on opposite sides of the first media guidance object displayed in the first perspective view.
• In some embodiments, media guidance objects displayed in the third perspective view may be static. In particular, as the user slides media guidance objects from the second perspective view into the first perspective view through the fold or crease, media guidance objects in the third perspective view may remain unchanged or static and thereby not be moved. More specifically, the first media guidance object may be removed from display instead of sliding from the first perspective view through another crease into the third perspective view when the second media guidance object slides from the second perspective view into the first perspective view.
• In some embodiments, at least two of the media guidance application objects may be displayed adjacent or next to the first media guidance application object. When taken together, the first media guidance application object and the at least two of the media guidance application objects may appear to form an array of media guidance application objects with a crease in the point of adjacency between the first media guidance application object and one of the at least two media guidance application objects. In some implementations, the array of media guidance application objects may be continuous such that no other data or objects separates any two media guidance objects.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:
• FIGS. 1 and 2 show illustrative display screens that may be used to provide media guidance application listings in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 3 shows an illustrative user equipment device in accordance with another embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 4 is a diagram of an illustrative cross-platform interactive media system in accordance with another embodiment of the invention;
• FIGS. 5a-cshow an illustrative display screens of media guidance objects displayed in different perspectives in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 5dshows an illustrative display screen of user profile representations displayed in different perspectives in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 6 shows an illustrative display screen of media asset representations displayed in different perspectives in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 7 shows an illustrative display screen of a main menu displayed in a menu bar of the media guidance application in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 8 shows a display screen of menu bar and submenu bar in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 9 shows an illustrative display screen of program scheduling information displayed in different perspectives in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 10 shows an illustrative display screen of functions corresponding to a selected program listing displayed accordance with an embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 11 shows an illustrative display screen of information corresponding to an option or item selected from a region on a screen in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 12 shows an illustrative display screen of detailed information about a media asset in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 13 shows an illustrative display screen of a search function that allows the user to search for media assets in different perspective views in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 14 shows an illustrative display screen of a search operation that allows the user to search for media assets in different perspective views in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 15 shows an illustrative display screen of accessing an online video vendor with perspective views in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 16 shows an illustrative display screen of accessing a personal photo library using perspective views in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 17 shows an illustrative display screen of a media asset overlaid with widgets in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 18 shows an illustrative display screen of an information overlay displayed with a media asset in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; and
• FIGS. 19-27 are illustrative flow diagrams for using a media guidance application with perspective views in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
• This invention generally relates to navigating a media guidance application with multiple perspective views. In particular, an object of a plurality which is in focus (e.g., a user profile, media asset, or program schedule information) is displayed in a first perspective view and the remaining objects in the plurality are displayed in a different second perspective view. More specifically, the object in focus may be displayed to appear flat on the screen and other objects may be displayed to appear as though they are coming out or going into the screen. As defined herein, an asset or media asset refers to any type of media (or data file) that may be played, accessed, recorded and/or viewed. As referred to herein, the term “focus” or being into focus should be understood to mean to change the appearance of a displayed item or object to make the item or object more visually prominent than other items or objects.
• The amount of media available to users in any given media delivery system can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire a form of media guidance through an interface that allows users to efficiently navigate media selections and easily identify media that they may desire. An application which provides such guidance is referred to herein as an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, a media guidance application or a guidance application.
• Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms depending on the media for which they provide guidance. One typical type of media guidance application is an interactive television program guide. Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to as electronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that, among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many types of media content including conventional television programming (provided via traditional broadcast, cable, satellite, Internet, or other means), as well as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand (VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming media, downloadable media, Webcasts, etc.), and other types of media or video content. Guidance applications also allow users to navigate among and locate content related to the video content including, for example, video clips, articles, advertisements, chat sessions, games, etc. Guidance applications also allow users to navigate among and locate multimedia content. The term multimedia is defined herein as media and content that utilizes at least two different content forms, such as text, audio, still images, animation, video, and interactivity content forms. Multimedia content may be recorded and played, displayed or accessed by information content processing devices, such as computerized and electronic devices, but can also be part of a live performance. It should be understood that the invention embodiments that are discussed in relation to media content are also applicable to other types of content, such as video, audio and/or multimedia.
• With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speed wireless networks, users are accessing media on personal computers (PCs) and other devices on which they traditionally did not, such as hand-held computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile telephones, or other mobile devices. On these devices users are able to navigate among and locate the same media available through a television. Consequently, media guidance is necessary on these devices, as well. The guidance provided may be for media content available only through a television, for media content available only through one or more of these devices, or for media content available both through a television and one or more of these devices. The media guidance applications may be provided as on-line applications (i.e., provided on a web-site), or as stand-alone applications or clients on hand-held computers, PDAs, mobile telephones, or other mobile devices. The various devices and platforms that may implement media guidance applications are described in more detail below.
• One of the functions of the media guidance application is to provide media listings and media information to users.FIGS. 1-2 show illustrative display screens that may be used to provide media guidance, and in particular media listings. The display screens shown inFIGS. 1-2 and5-18 may be implemented on any suitable device or platform. While the displays ofFIGS. 1-2 and5-18 are illustrated as full screen displays, they may also be fully or partially overlaid over media content being displayed. A user may indicate a desire to access media information by selecting a selectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menu option, a listings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicated button (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or other user input interface or device. In response to the user's indication, the media guidance application may provide a display screen with media information organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in a grid, by time, by channel, by media type, by category (e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories of programming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organization criteria.
• FIG. 1 shows illustrative grid program listings display100 arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different types of media content in a single display.Display100 may includegrid102 with: (1) a column of channel/media type identifiers104, where each channel/media type identifier (which is a cell in the column) identifies a different channel or media type available; and (2) a row oftime identifiers106, where each time identifier (which is a cell in the row) identifies a time block of programming.Grid102 also includes cells of program listings, such asprogram listing108, where each listing provides the title of the program provided on the listing's associated channel and time. With a user input device, a user can select program listings by movinghighlight region110. Information relating to the program listing selected byhighlight region110 may be provided inprogram information region112.Region112 may include, for example, the program title, the program description, the time the program is provided (if applicable), the channel the program is on (if applicable), the program's rating, and other desired information.
• In addition to providing access to linear programming provided according to a schedule, the media guidance application also provides access to non-linear programming which is not provided according to a schedule. Non-linear programming may include content from different media sources including on-demand media content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g., streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored media content (e.g., video content stored on a digital video recorder (DVR), digital video disc (DVD), video cassette, compact disc (CD), etc.), or other time-insensitive media content. On-demand content may include both movies and original media content provided by a particular media provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time Warner Company L.P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM are trademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content may include web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or content available on-demand as streaming media or downloadable media through an Internet web site (e.g., HULU or YOUTUBE) or other Internet access (e.g., FTP).
• Grid102 may provide listings for non-linear programming including on-demand listing114, recordedmedia listing116, andInternet content listing118. A display combining listings for content from different types of media sources is sometimes referred to as a “mixed-media” display. The various permutations of the types of listings that may be displayed that are different thandisplay100 may be based on user selection or guidance application definition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings, only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated,listings114,116, and118 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayed ingrid102 to indicate that selection of these listings may provide access to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings, or Internet listings, respectively. In other embodiments, listings for these media types may be included directly ingrid102. Additional listings may be displayed in response to the user selecting one of thenavigational icons120. (Pressing an arrow key on a user input device may affect the display in a similar manner as selectingnavigational icons120.)
• Display100 may also includevideo region122,advertisement124, andoptions region126.Video region122 may allow the user to view and/or preview programs that are currently available, will be available, or were available to the user. The content ofvideo region122 may correspond to, or be independent from, one of the listings displayed ingrid102. Grid displays including a video region are sometimes referred to as picture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and their functionalities are described in greater detail in Satterfield et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,794, issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. PIG displays may be included in other media guidance application display screens of the present invention.
• Advertisement124 may provide an advertisement for media content that, depending on a viewer's access rights (e.g., for subscription programming), is currently available for viewing, will be available for viewing in the future, or may never become available for viewing, and may correspond to (i.e., be related to) or be unrelated to one or more of the media listings ingrid102.Advertisement124 may also be for products or services related or unrelated to the media content displayed ingrid102.Advertisement124 may be selectable and provide further information about media content, provide information about a product or a service, enable purchasing of media content, a product, or a service, provide media content relating to the advertisement, etc.Advertisement124 may be targeted based on a user's profile/preferences, monitored user activity, the type of display provided, or on other suitable targeted advertisement bases.
• Whileadvertisement124 is shown as rectangular or banner shaped, advertisements may be provided in any suitable size, shape, and location in a guidance application display. For example,advertisement124 may be provided as a rectangular shape that is horizontally adjacent togrid102. This is sometimes referred to as a panel advertisement. In addition, advertisements may be overlaid over media content or a guidance application display or embedded within a display. Advertisements may also include text, images, rotating images, video clips, or other types of media content. Advertisements may be stored in the user equipment with the guidance application, in a database connected to the user equipment, in a remote location (including streaming media servers), or on other storage means or a combination of these locations. Providing advertisements in a media guidance application is discussed in greater detail in, for example, Knudson et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/347,673, filed Jan. 17, 2003, Ward, III et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,756,997, issued Jun. 29, 2004, and Schein et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,388,714, issued May 14, 2002, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. It will be appreciated that advertisements may be included in other media guidance application display screens of the present invention.
• Options region126 may allow the user to access different types of media content, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidance application features.Options region126 may be part of display100 (and other display screens of the present invention), or may be invoked by a user by selecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignable button on a user input device. The selectable options withinoptions region126 may concern features related to program listings ingrid102 or may include options available from a main menu display. Features related to program listings may include searching for other air times or ways of receiving a program, recording a program, scheduling a reminder for a program, ordering a program, enabling series recording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite, purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a main menu display may include search options, VOD options, parental control options, access to various types of listing displays, subscribe to a premium service, edit a user's profile, access a browse overlay, or other options.
• The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user's preferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user to customize displays and features to create a personalized “experience” with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may be created by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by the media guidance application monitoring user activity to determine various user preferences. Users may access their personalized guidance application by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to the guidance application. Customization of the media guidance application may be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations may include varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays, font size of text, etc.), aspects of media content listings displayed (e.g., only HDTV programming, user-specified broadcast channels based on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display of channels, recommended media content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g., recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality, etc.), parental control settings, and other desired customizations.
• The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profile information or may automatically compile user profile information. The media guidance application may, for example, monitor the media the user accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with the guidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application may obtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to a particular user (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the user accesses, such as www.tvguide.com, from other media guidance applications the user accesses, from other interactive applications the user accesses, from a handheld device of the user, etc.), and/or obtain information about the user from other sources that the media guidance application may access. As a result, a user can be provided with a unified guidance application experience across the user's different devices. This type of user experience is described in greater detail below in connection withFIG. 4. Additional personalized media guidance application features are described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/179,410, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/105,128, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.
• Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown inFIG. 2.Video mosaic display200 includesselectable options202 for media content information organized based on media type, genre, and/or other organization criteria. Indisplay200,television listings option204 is selected, thus providinglistings206,208,210, and212 as broadcast program listings. Unlike the listings fromFIG. 1, the listings indisplay200 are not limited to simple text (e.g., the program title) and icons to describe media. Rather, indisplay200 the listings may provide graphical images including cover art, still images from the media content, still frames of a video associated with the listing, video clip previews, live video from the media content, or other types of media that indicate to a user the media content being described by the listing. Each of the graphical listings may also be accompanied by text to provide further information about the media content associated with the listing. For example, listing208 may include more than one portion, includingmedia portion214 andtext portion216.Media portion214 and/ortext portion216 may be selectable to view video in full-screen or to view program listings related to the video displayed in media portion214 (e.g., to view listings for the channel that the video is displayed on).
• The listings indisplay200 are of different sizes (i.e., listing206 is larger thanlistings208,210, and212), but if desired, all the listings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes or graphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user or to emphasize certain content, as desired by the media provider or based on user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphically accentuating media listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/324,202, filed Dec. 29, 2005, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
• Users may access media content and the media guidance application (and its display screens described above and below) from one or more of their user equipment devices.FIG. 3 shows a generalized embodiment of illustrativeuser equipment device300. More specific implementations of user equipment devices are discussed below in connection withFIG. 4.User equipment device300 may receive media content and data via input/output (hereinafter “I/O”)path302. I/O path302 may provide media content (e.g., broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, and other video or audio) and data to controlcircuitry304, which includesprocessing circuitry306 andstorage308.Control circuitry304 may be used to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable data using I/O path302. I/O path302 may connect control circuitry304 (and specifically processing circuitry306) to one or more communications paths (described below). I/O functions may be provided by one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a single path inFIG. 3 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.
• Control circuitry304 may be based on anysuitable processing circuitry306 such as processing circuitry based on one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, programmable logic devices, etc. In some embodiments,control circuitry304 executes instructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e., storage308). In client-server based embodiments,control circuitry304 may include communications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidance application server or other networks or servers. Communications circuitry may include a cable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, a digital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment. Such communications may involve the Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths (which is described in more detail in connection withFIG. 4). In addition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enables peer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communication of user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (described in more detail below).
• Memory (e.g., random-access memory, read-only memory, or any other suitable memory), hard drives, optical drives, or any other suitable fixed or removable storage devices (e.g., DVD recorder, CD recorder, video cassette recorder, or other suitable recording device) may be provided asstorage308 that is part ofcontrol circuitry304.Storage308 may include one or more of the above types of storage devices. For example,user equipment device300 may include a hard drive for a DVR (sometimes called a personal video recorder, or PVR) and a DVD recorder as a secondary storage device.Storage308 may be used to store various types of media described herein and guidance application data, including program information, guidance application settings, user preferences or profile information, or other data used in operating the guidance application. Nonvolatile memory may also be used (e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions).
• Control circuitry304 may include video generating circuitry and tuning circuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2 decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, or any other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of such circuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog, or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry304 may also include scaler circuitry for upconverting and downconverting media into the preferred output format of theuser equipment300.Circuitry304 may also include digital-to-analog converter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry for converting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encoding circuitry may be used by the user equipment to receive and to display, to play, or to record media content. The tuning and encoding circuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitry described herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating, encoding, decoding, scaler, and analog/digital circuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or more general purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may be provided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and record functions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording, etc.). Ifstorage308 is provided as a separate device fromuser equipment300, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multiple tuners) may be associated withstorage308.
• A user may control thecontrol circuitry304 usinguser input interface310.User input interface310 may be any suitable user interface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard, touch screen, touch pad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognition interface, or other user input interfaces.Display312 may be provided as a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements ofuser equipment device300.Display312 may be one or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD) for a mobile device, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images. In some embodiments,display312 may be HDTV-capable.Speakers314 may be provided as integrated with other elements ofuser equipment device300 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component of videos and other media content displayed ondisplay312 may be played throughspeakers314. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to a receiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio viaspeakers314.
• The guidance application may be implemented using any suitable architecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone application wholly implemented onuser equipment device300. In such an approach, instructions of the application are stored locally, and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodic basis (e.g., from the VBI of a television channel, from an out-of-band feed, or using another suitable approach). In another embodiment, the media guidance application is a client-server based application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented onuser equipment device300 is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests to a server remote to theuser equipment device300. In one example of a client-server based guidance application,control circuitry304 runs a web browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server.
• In yet other embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded and interpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (run by control circuitry304). In some embodiments, the guidance application may be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received bycontrol circuitry304 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by a user agent running oncontrol circuitry304. For example, the guidance application may be a EBIF widget. In other embodiments, the guidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files that are received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitable middleware executed bycontrol circuitry304. In some of such embodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital media encoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encoded and transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio and video packets of a program.
• User equipment device300 ofFIG. 3 can be implemented insystem400 ofFIG. 4 asuser television equipment402,user computer equipment404, wirelessuser communications device406, or any other type of user equipment suitable for accessing media, such as a non-portable gaming machine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to herein collectively as user equipment or user equipment devices. User equipment devices, on which a media guidance application is implemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of a network of devices. Various network configurations of devices may be implemented and are discussed in more detail below.
• User television equipment402 may include a set-top box, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellite television, a television set, a digital storage device, a DVD recorder, a video-cassette recorder (VCR), a local media server, or other user television equipment. One or more of these devices may be integrated to be a single device, if desired.User computer equipment404 may include a PC, a laptop, a tablet, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PC media server, a PC media center, or other user computer equipment. WEBTV is a trademark owned by Microsoft Corp. Wirelessuser communications device406 may include PDAs, a mobile telephone, a portable video player, a portable music player, a portable gaming machine, or other wireless devices.
• It should be noted that with the advent of television tuner cards for PC's, WebTV, and the integration of video into other user equipment devices, the lines have become blurred when trying to classify a device as one of the above devices. In fact, each ofuser television equipment402,user computer equipment404, and wirelessuser communications device406 may utilize at least some of the system features described above in connection withFIG. 3 and, as a result, include flexibility with respect to the type of media content available on the device. For example,user television equipment402 may be Internet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, whileuser computer equipment404 may include a tuner allowing for access to television programming. The media guidance application may also have the same layout on the various different types of user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of the user equipment. For example, on user computer equipment, the guidance application may be provided as a web site accessed by a web browser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled down for wireless user communications devices.
• Insystem400, there is typically more than one of each type of user equipment device but only one of each is shown inFIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize more than one type of user equipment device (e.g., a user may have a television set and a computer) and also more than one of each type of user equipment device (e.g., a user may have a PDA and a mobile telephone and/or multiple television sets).
• The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent media guidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices. Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and program favorites, programming preferences that the guidance application utilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, and other desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channel as a favorite on, for example, the web site www.tvguide.com on their personal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as a favorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipment and user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, if desired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can change the guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless of whether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device. In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user, as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.
• The user equipment devices may be coupled tocommunications network414. Namely,user television equipment402,user computer equipment404, and wirelessuser communications device406 are coupled tocommunications network414 viacommunications paths408,410, and412, respectively.Communications network414 may be one or more networks including the Internet, a mobile phone network, mobile device (e.g., Blackberry) network, cable network, public switched telephone network, or other types of communications network or combinations of communications networks. BLACKBERRY is a service mark owned by Research In Motion Limited Corp.Paths408,410, and412 may separately or together include one or more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-optic path, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g., IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wireless signals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path or combination of such paths.Path412 is drawn with dotted lines to indicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown inFIG. 4 it is a wireless path andpaths408 and410 are drawn as solid lines to indicate they are wired paths (although these paths may be wireless paths, if desired). Communications with the user equipment devices may be provided by one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a single path inFIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.
• Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipment devices, these devices may communicate directly with each other via communication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths408,410, and412, as well other short-range point-to-point communication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE1394 cables, wireless paths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or other short-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is a certification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipment devices may also communicate with each other directly through an indirect path viacommunications network414.
• System400 includesmedia content source416 and mediaguidance data source418 coupled tocommunications network414 viacommunication paths420 and422, respectively.Paths420 and422 may include any of the communication paths described above in connection withpaths408,410, and412. Communications with themedia content source416 and mediaguidance data source418 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths, but are shown as a single path inFIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each ofmedia content source416 and mediaguidance data source418, but only one of each is shown inFIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The different types of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired,media content source416 and mediaguidance data source418 may be integrated as one source device. Although communications betweensources416 and418 withuser equipment devices402,404, and406 are shown as throughcommunications network414, in some embodiments,sources416 and418 may communicate directly withuser equipment devices402,404, and406 via communication paths (not shown) such as those described above in connection withpaths408,410, and412.
• Media content source416 may include one or more types of media distribution equipment including a television distribution facility, cable system headend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g., television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediate distribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demand media servers, and other media content providers. NBC is a trademark owned by the National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by the ABC, INC., and HBO is a trademark owned by the Home Box Office, Inc.Media content source416 may be the originator of media content (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) or may not be the originator of media content (e.g., an on-demand media content provider, an Internet provider of video content of broadcast programs for downloading, etc.).Media content source416 may include cable sources, satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers, or other providers of media content.Media content source416 may also include a remote media server used to store different types of media content (including video content selected by a user), in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems and methods for remote storage of media content, and providing remotely stored media content to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connection with Ellis et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/332,244, filed Jun. 11, 1999, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
• Mediaguidance data source418 may provide media guidance data, such as media listings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcast channels, media titles, media descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parental control ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category information, actor information, logo data for broadcasters' or providers' logos, etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition, high definition, etc.), advertisement information (e.g., text, images, media clips, etc.), on-demand information, and any other type of guidance data that is helpful for a user to navigate among and locate desired media selections.
• Media guidance application data may be provided to the user equipment devices using any suitable approach. In some embodiments, the guidance application may be a stand-alone interactive television program guide that receives program guide data via a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed, trickle feed, or data in the vertical blanking interval of a channel). Program schedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the user equipment on a television channel sideband, in the vertical blanking interval of a television channel, using an in-band digital signal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitable data transmission technique. Program schedule data and other guidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog or digital television channels. Program schedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the user equipment with any suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specified period of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to a request from user equipment, etc.). In some approaches, guidance data from mediaguidance data source418 may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. For example, a guidance application client residing on the user's equipment may initiate sessions withsource418 to obtain guidance data when needed. Mediaguidance data source418 may provideuser equipment devices402,404, and406 the media guidance application itself or software updates for the media guidance application.
• Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-alone applications implemented on user equipment devices. In other embodiments, media guidance applications may be client-server applications where only the client resides on the user equipment device. For example, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as a client application oncontrol circuitry304 ofuser equipment device300 and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., media guidance data source418). The guidance application displays may be generated by the mediaguidance data source418 and transmitted to the user equipment devices. The mediaguidance data source418 may also transmit data for storage on the user equipment, which then generates the guidance application displays based on instructions processed by control circuitry.
• Media guidance system400 is intended to illustrate a number of approaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devices and sources of media content and guidance data may communicate with each other for the purpose of accessing media and providing media guidance. The present invention may be applied in any one or a subset of these approaches, or in a system employing other approaches for delivering media and providing media guidance. The following three approaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example ofFIG. 4.
• In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each other within a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with each other directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemes describe above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similar device provided on a home network, or viacommunications network414. Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate different user equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may be desirable for various media guidance information or settings to be communicated between the different user equipment devices. For example, it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidance application settings on different user equipment devices within a home network, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/179,410, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types of user equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with each other to transmit media content or scheduled media asset events (e.g., reminders for media assets). For example, a user may transmit media content from user computer equipment to a portable video player or portable music player.
• In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment by which they access media content and obtain media guidance. For example, some users may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobile devices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidance application implemented on a remote device. For example, users may access an online media guidance application on a website via a personal computer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA or web-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g., recordings, reminders, program orders, or other settings) on the online guidance application to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guide may control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with a media guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Various systems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where the user equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, is discussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/927,814, filed Aug. 26, 2004, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
• In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outside a home can use their media guidance application to communicate directly withmedia content source416 to access media content. Specifically, within a home, users ofuser television equipment404 anduser computer equipment406 may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locate desirable media content. Users may also access the media guidance application outside of the home using wirelessuser communications devices406 to navigate among and locate desirable media content.
• It will be appreciated that while the discussion of media content has focused on video content, the principles of media guidance can be applied to other types of media content, such as music, images, etc.
• In some embodiments, media guidance application objects or media guidance objects may be displayed in different perspective views. In particular, one of the media guidance objects may be displayed in a first perspective view (e.g., the media guidance object appears flat on the screen) and other media guidance objects may be displayed in a second perspective view (e.g., the media guidance objects appear as though they are going into the screen or coming out of the screen). As referred to above and below a fold or crease is the point, line, position, place or location at which one perspective view changes into another perspective view.
• It should be understood that, in accordance with the present invention, media guidance objects within a certain perspective view have lines converging at the same vanishing point. More specifically, the a line drawn between two points of one media guidance object within a certain perspective view converges at the same vanishing point as the line drawn between the same two points of another media guidance object within the perspective view. For example, when two media guidance objects resemble substantially the same square shape, the line drawn between the top corners of one of the squares converges at the same vanishing point as the line drawn between the top corners of a second one of the squares. Similarly, when media guidance objects in the same perspective view are of different types/shapes, a line drawn between two reference points of the media guidance object (e.g., the line drawn between the center point of one eye of a face and the center point of the second eye of the face) converge at the same vanishing points as the line drawn, when the media guidance object is displayed elsewhere in the same perspective view, between the same two reference points of the media guidance object (e.g., the center points of the eyes of the face).
• For example, a media guidance application object displayed in a first perspective view has lines converging at one vanishing point and a media guidance application object displayed in a second perspective view has lines converging at a different second vanishing point. In some implementations, the media guidance application object may be displayed in a first perspective view such that it appears to be flat on the screen. In such a perspective view, the media guidance application object lines may never converge as the object appears flat on the screen and all lines are parallel.
• Although the description above and below relates to the appearance of media guidance objects on a flat surface (e.g., a two-dimensional display screen), it should be understood that the same teaching may be applied to a display device that provides hologram representations of the media guidance objects (e.g., a holographic television or display apparatus). Holographic display devices are described in greater detail in Teacherson U.S. Pat. No. 4,359,758, filed Apr. 5, 1979, and Brown et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,376,950, filed Sep. 29, 1990, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. In particular, in a hologram implementation, all media guidance objects within a certain perspective view, as shown in the two-dimensional display, may be positioned within a respective plane in the hologram. Additionally, in the hologram implementation, each respective plane may have its own perspective views within the plane such that multiple media guidance objects in the plane of the hologram may be displayed similarly to the two-dimensional display.
• The media guidance objects displayed in a first perspective view may be moved into a second perspective view for selection by sliding the media guidance object through a fold or crease into the first perspective view. The media guidance object displayed in the first perspective view may be selected by the user.
• As defined herein, the term media guidance object or media guidance application object means any website, live video feed, or recorded video feed playback or visual representation of media guidance application data such as a visual representation of a user profile, a media asset, previously recorded media asset, media asset recommendation, email message, notification, reminder, scheduled recording, favorite channel, photograph, icon, sketch, Short Message Service (SMS) message, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) message, service provider message, new media asset release, media category, a queue that includes media assets to be viewed at a future time, a playlist of media assets, or home video, or any combination of the same.
• FIG. 5ashows anillustrative display screen500aof media guidance objects displayed in different perspectives in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. In particular,screen500amay include a firstmedia guidance object514a, a secondmedia guidance object510a, a thirdmedia guidance object512c, a fourthmedia guidance object516a, afirst perspective view580a, asecond perspective view582aand athird perspective view584a. Although four media guidance objects are shown inscreen500a, any number of media guidance objects may be displayed in any of the different perspectives. Also, although three different perspective views are shown inscreen500a, any number of perspective views may be provided.
• Firstmedia guidance object514amay be displayed infirst perspective view580a. Firstmedia guidance object514amay be for example a user profile representation, a media asset representation, a program guide listing, or any other media guidance object discussed above and below or combination of the same. Firstmedia guidance object514amay be displayed such thatlines524aconverge at a first vanishingpoint520a. All lines that emerge from media guidance objects displayed infirst perspective view580amay converge at first vanishingpoint520a. Firstmedia guidance object514aappears to be coming out ofscreen500a.
• Secondmedia guidance object510amay be displayed insecond perspective view582a.Second perspective view582amay be different fromfirst perspective view580a. Secondmedia guidance object510amay be for example a user profile representation, a media asset representation, a program guide listing, or any other media guidance object discussed above and below or combination of the same. Secondmedia guidance object510amay be of the same type as firstmedia guidance object514aor of a different type.
• Secondmedia guidance object510amay be displayed such thatlines526aare parallel and may never converge at a vanishing point. All lines that emerge from media guidance objects displayed insecond perspective view582amay be parallel and never converge at a vanishing point. Secondmedia guidance object510aappears to be flat onscreen500a.
• Third and fourth media guidance objects512aand516amay be displayed inthird perspective view584a. Third and fourth media guidance objects512aand516amay be for example user profile representations, media asset representations, program guide listings, or any other media guidance objects discussed above and below or combination of the same. Third and fourth media guidance objects512aand516amay be of the same type as first and/or second media guidance objects514aand510aor of a different type. In some implementations, third and fourth media guidance objects512aand516amay be of the same type (e.g., program listings) as secondmedia guidance object510aand of a different type than firstmedia guidance object514a.
• Third and fourth media guidance objects512aand516amay be displayed such thatlines528aconverge at a second vanishingpoint522athat is at a different location than first vanishingpoint520a. All lines that emerge from media guidance objects displayed inthird perspective view584amay converge at second vanishingpoint522a. Third and fourth media guidance objects512aand516aappear to be going intoscreen500a.
• Although media guidance objects are displayed in different perspective views, it should be understood that the media guidance objects are clearly visually distinguishable by the user. However, some media guidance objects that are displayed very far into a particular perspective may become distorted and hard to visually distinguish. For example, media guidance objects may be images or videos such that most of the images or videos displayed in any perspective view are ascertainable and clearly viewable by the user. In particular, an image or video displayed in a perspective view that appears to go into or come out of the screen is substantially as clear as when the image or video is displayed in a perspective view that appears flat on the screen.
• The media guidance objects that are displayed infirst perspective view580amay be adjacent or next to media guidance objects displayed insecond perspective view582a. For example, firstmedia guidance object514amay be displayed adjacent secondmedia guidance object510asuch that firstmedia guidance object514aand secondmedia guidance object510aconnect at afirst side570aof secondmedia guidance object510a.
• The media guidance objects that are displayed inthird perspective view584amay be adjacent or next to the media guidance object displayed insecond perspective view582a. In some implementations, media guidance objects that are displayed inthird perspective view584amay be adjacent to a side of the media guidance object displayed insecond perspective view582athat is opposite a side of the media guidance object displayed insecond perspective view582athat is adjacent to the media guidance objects that are displayed infirst perspective view580a. For example, thirdmedia guidance object512amay be displayed adjacent secondmedia guidance object510asuch that thirdmedia guidance object512aand secondmedia guidance object510aconnect at asecond side572aof secondmedia guidance object510athat is oppositefirst side570a.
• The point of adjacency between a media guidance object displayed in one perspective view and a media guidance object displayed in another perspective view is referred to herein a “fold” or a “folding point.” It should be understood that the media guidance objects may not be immediately adjacent such that they are touching and in such circumstances the point of adjacency refers to the point at which one perspective view changes into another perspective view. For example, the media guidance objects inscreen500aare displayed in different perspectives to create two folding points. There may be one, two or any other suitable number of folding points in various embodiments. The folding points create the appearance of a crease in the screen that occurs between two displayed media guidance objects.
• In some implementations, as a media guidance object slides through the folding point from one perspective view into another perspective view, the folding point may create the appearance of a crease in the screen that occurs within different segments of the media guidance object. More specifically, the media guidance object may appear to slide through the folding point or crease from a first perspective view to a second perspective view until the media guidance object is completely within the second perspective view. In particular, as shownFIG. 5b, asmedia guidance object512aslides fromthird perspective view584aintosecond perspective view582a, one portion ofmedia guidance object512amay appear inthird perspective view584awhile another portion ofmedia guidance object512amay appear insecond perspective view582aand the fold orcrease572amay appear between the two portions ofmedia guidance object512athat are displayed in the different perspective views.
• Connecting the media guidance objects from each of the perspectives at the points of adjacency creates the appearance of an array (which may be continuous) of displayed media guidance objects. The array of media guidance objects may appear to have folds at the points of adjacency. In particular, the array may appear to have a crease atside570aand atside572a.
• In some implementations,second perspective view582amay be adapted to display only one media guidance object at a time. In particular, in some implementations, only one media guidance object may appear flat on the screen at a time. This may enable the system to focus the user's attention on a particular media guidance object. Alternatively, any number of suitable media guidance objects may be displayed to appear flat on the screen at a time.
• In some embodiments, the folds or creases and the different perspective views in the array of media guidance objects may be generated by displaying on the screen a row of first, second and third media guidance objects that may appear flat on the screen. The screen may have a surface normal (e.g., a line that is perpendicular to the surface of the screen). The first media guidance object may be positioned between the second and third media guidance objects.Processing circuitry306 may rotate, in a clockwise direction towards the surface normal, a first portion of the row that includes the second media guidance object while a second portion of the row that includes the first media guidance object remains stationary. For example, the first media guidance object may bemedia guidance object510aand the second media guidance object may bemedia guidance object512a. The first portion of the row may include the media guidance objects inscreen500athat are shown to the right ofmedia guidance object510a(includingmedia guidance object512a). The second portion may be the center section of the row betweenlines570aand572a. Rotating the first portion of the row in a clockwise direction towards the surface normal while keeping the second portion stationary makes the media guidance objects included in the first portion appear as going into the screen. In some implementations, the first portion is rotated to an angle having a value greater than zero degrees but less than ninety degrees relative to a line that is perpendicular to the surface normal of the screen and that intersects the first portion.
• In some embodiments, media guidance objects within each of the threeperspective views580a,582aand584amay appear to unfold onto the display screen. For example,processing circuitry306 may first generate a display in which only media guidance objects withinfirst perspective view580aappear to unfold onto the screen from one side of the screen (e.g., the left side of the screen) towards the opposite side of the screen (e.g., the right side of the screen). In particular, media guidance objects may appear to rotate clockwise from the left side of the screen towards the right side of the screen until they appear to be in the desired perspective view (e.g., coming out of the screen). In some implementations, these media guidance objects may be rotated clockwise towards the inside of the display screen to a position between 180 and 270 degrees relative to the surface of the display screen. After the media guidance objects withinfirst perspective view580aare generated in the display,processing circuitry306 may generate a display in which media guidance objects unfold fromfirst perspective view580aintosecond perspective view582a. For example, media guidance objects withinsecond perspective view582amay appear to come out of the media guidance objects withinfirst perspective view580aand be rotated from the first perspective view objects clockwise towards the inside of the screen until they appear to be insecond perspective view582a(e.g., flat on the display screen). Finally, after the media guidance objects within first and second perspective views580aand582aare generated in the display,processing circuitry306 may generate a display in which media guidance objects unfold fromsecond perspective view582aintothird perspective view584a. For example, media guidance objects withinthird perspective view584amay appear to come out of the media guidance objects withinsecond perspective view582aand be rotated from the second perspective view objects clockwise towards the inside of the screen until they appear to be inthird perspective view584a(e.g., going into the display screen).
• In some embodiments,processing circuitry306 may rotate, in a clockwise direction towards the surface normal of the screen, a third portion of the row that includes the third media guidance object while the second portion of the row that includes the first media guidance object remains stationary. For example, the third media guidance object may bemedia guidance object514a. The third portion of the row may include the media guidance objects inscreen500athat are shown to the left ofmedia guidance object510a(includingmedia guidance object514a). Rotating the third portion of the row in a clockwise direction towards the surface normal while keeping the second portion stationary makes the media guidance objects included in the third portion appear as coming out of the screen. In some implementations, the third portion is rotated to an angle having a value greater than 180 degrees but less than 270 degrees relative to a line that is perpendicular to the surface normal of the screen and that intersects the third portion.
• The media guidance objects displayed in each of the different perspective views may appear to lie along or within planes oriented in different directions. For example,media guidance object514ainfirst perspective view580amay appear to lie along or within a first plane having a normal that intersects a first portion of a normal of the display screen, where the first portion of the normal of the display screen extends out of the screen towards a user. The first plane may be oriented such that a line within the first plane is perpendicular to the normal of the first plane and parallel to the surface of the display screen.
• Media guidance object510ainsecond perspective view582amay lie along or within a second plane where the face of the second plane is parallel to the surface of the display screen. Media guidance object514ainthird perspective view580amay appear to lie along or within a third plane having a normal that intersects a second portion of the normal of the display screen, where the second portion of the normal of the display screen goes into the display screen away from the user. The third plane may be oriented such that a line within the third plane is perpendicular to the normal of the third plane and parallel to the surface of the display screen.
• The second plane may intersect the first plane and theline570aformed by the intersection of the first and second planes may create the appearance of a first fold or crease in the display screen. The second plane may intersect the third plane and theline572aformed by the intersection of the second and third planes may create the appearance of a second fold or crease in the display screen. In some implementations, the first and third planes may be parallel to each other and may be spaced apart from each other at a distance equal to the distance betweenlines570aand572acreated by their intersections with the second plane. In some implementations, the first plane may form a first angle with the second plane and the third plane may form a different second angle with the second plane such that at some point the first and third planes intersect each other.
• In some implementations, the media objects that are displayed to appear flat on the screen (e.g., insecond perspective view582a), may be selected by the user.Processing circuitry306 may be programmed to only allow selections of a media guidance object that is displayed insecond perspective view582a. In particular, in order to select a desired media guidance object displayed in any perspective view other thansecond perspective view582a, the user may instruct processing circuitry306 (e.g., by pressing a suitable control button) to slide or otherwise bring the desired media guidance object intosecond perspective view582a.
• For example, when a user desires to selectmedia guidance object512a, the user may press a right direction key (e.g., a right arrow button) once to instructprocessing circuitry306 to slidemedia guidance object510aout ofsecond perspective view582aintofirst perspective view580a(or removemedia guidance object510afrom the display (not shown)) and slidemedia guidance object512aintosecond perspective view582a.FIG. 5bprovides ascreen500billustrating a snapshot of the movement of media guidance objects when the user presses a right direction key to instructprocessing circuitry306 to slide the media guidance objects towards the left. For example, as shown inscreen500b,media guidance object516bmay appear to gradually be getting larger (compared to the same media guidance object when in the previous position, shown asmedia guidance object516a) and thereby closer withinthird perspective view584a. In particular,media guidance object516bgradually is moved to a new position wheremedia guidance object512awas displayed withinthird perspective view584aasmedia guidance object512ais gradually moved intosecond perspective view582ashown asmedia guidance object512b.Media guidance object512bappears to slide throughfold572aintosecond perspective view582awhilemedia guidance object510bappears to slide throughfold570aintofirst perspective view580a. At the end of the slide operation,media guidance object510amay be displayed in a position withinfirst perspective view580a(shown as510c(FIG. 5c)) wheremedia guidance object514awas displayed;media guidance object512amay be displayed in a position withinsecond perspective view582a(shown as512c(FIG. 5c)) wheremedia guidance object510awas displayed; andmedia guidance object516amay be displayed in a position withinthird perspective view584a(shown as516c(FIG. 5c)) wheremedia guidance object512awas displayed. In some implementations,first perspective view580amay be static such that during a slide operation,media guidance object514aremains stationary whilemedia guidance object510ais removed from the display andmedia guidance object512aslides fromthird perspective view584athroughfold572aintosecond perspective view582a.
• The user may then select (e.g., by pressing an OK button)media guidance object512athat is now displayed insecond perspective view582a. Similarly, when the user desires to selectmedia guidance object516a, the user may press the right arrow button twice to slide media guidance objects510aand512ainto different perspectives (or remove them from the display) and slide intosecond perspective view582amedia guidance object516a.
• As defined herein, the term “slide” or “sliding” refers to the visual appearance of contiguous portions of a media guidance object being moved from a first perspective view into a second perspective view at a particular speed such at a given point in time one portion of the media guidance object is displayed in the first perspective view and another portion of the media guidance object is displayed in the second perspective view. The speed at which the contiguous portions of media guidance object are moved from one perspective view into another may be reflect how long in time it takes to move all the portions of the media guidance object from one perspective view into another perspective view. In particular, a media guidance object may not be moved instantaneously from one perspective view into another but may appear to slide at a constant or dynamic speed (or rate) over time.
• For example, when the user instructsprocessing circuitry306 to slide a media guidance object into another perspective view, the media guidance object may be moved to the another perspective view during a one second time interval (i.e., it may take one second to move all the portions of the media guidance object from one perspective view into another). The speed at which the portions of the media guidance objects are moved between perspective views may be pre-configured or adjustable (e.g., manually or automatically).
• Similarly, the user may selectmedia guidance object514aby pressing a left direction key (e.g., a left arrow button) to instructprocessing circuitry306 to slidemedia guidance object514atowards the right and intosecond perspective view582aand at the same time slidemedia guidance object510aintothird perspective view584a(or remove the media guidance object from the display). The other media guidance objects512aand516ainthird perspective view584amay be shifted towards the right to make visual room formedia guidance object510ainthird perspective view584a. In some situations,media guidance object516amay disappear from the display or be difficult to read when the media guidance objects in third perspective view584 are shifted since it would appear smaller after being shifted.
• In some implementations,processing circuitry306 may be instructed to slide a media guidance object fromthird perspective view584aintosecond perspective view582aand at the same time a media guidance object displayed insecond perspective view582ainto a fourth perspective view (not shown) instead of intofirst perspective view580a. In particular, instead of sliding the media guidance objects along the array,media guidance object510awhich is displayed in the middle perspective view of the array, may be removed from the array in a sliding manner into a fourth perspective view.
• The fourth perspective view may have objects with lines that have a vanishing point at a location on the screen opposite the location of vanishingpoint522a. More specifically, the media guidance objects displayed in the fourth perspective view may appear to be going into a portion of the screen opposite that of the media guidance objects displayed inthird perspective view584a. In particular, the media guidance objects displayed in the fourth perspective view may appear as though they are behind objects displayed infirst perspective view580a. In addition, the media guidance objects displayed infirst perspective view580amay be or may become partially transparent to allow the user to see both the media guidance objects displayed infirst perspective view580aand the media guidance object that slides into the fourth perspective view behind the media guidance object displayed in thefirst perspective view580a.
• Alternatively, selections of media guidance objects displayed in other perspective views may be performed without sliding those media guidance objects intosecond perspective view582a. For example, a cursor may be moved within any of the perspective views to select any media guidance object displayed in the screen. In particular, when the cursor is moved within a perspective view that appears to go into the screen, the cursor may gradually appear to decrease in size and highlight the various media guidance objects displayed in that particular perspective view.
• In some implementations, the media guidance object may instantaneously be moved by way of a jump operation from one perspective view into another instead of sliding. In particular, in such scenarios, the user may instructprocessing circuitry306 to shift or move the media guidance objects left or right such that a media guidance object from a first perspective view instantaneously appears in a second perspective view and the media guidance object that was displayed in the second perspective view instantaneously disappears. In some implementations, a combination of a slide and jump operations may be provided. For example, a media guidance object may jump from a first perspective view into a second perspective view while the media guidance object that was in the second perspective view may slide out of the second perspective view elsewhere (e.g., disappear completely or slide into another perspective view).
• In some implementations, media guidance objects510a,512aand516amay be part of an ordered sequence of media guidance objects. For example, media guidance objects510a,512aand516amay be media asset recommendations that are ordered alphabetically or based on a level of relevance to the user. Accordingly,media guidance object510awhich is displayed insecond perspective view582amay come earlier alphabetically or may be more relevant to the user (i.e., may come earlier in the ordered sequence) than media guidance objects512aand516awhich are displayed inthird perspective view584a. Similarly,media guidance object514awhich is displayed infirst perspective view580amay come earlier alphabetically or may be more relevant to the user (i.e., may come earlier in the ordered sequence) thanmedia guidance object510awhich is displayed insecond perspective view582aand media guidance objects512aand516awhich are displayed inthird perspective view584a.
• In some implementations, media guidance objects510a,512aand516amay be media asset representations that are placed in order based on at least one attribute (e.g., a title, broadcast date/time, release date, runtime, length, content type, subject matter type, critics rating) of the media asset representation. For example, media guidance objects510a,512aand516amay be placed in order such that the media guidance objects that are positioned earlier in the sequence (e.g., to be viewed before other media guidance objects) have a shorter runtime than media guidance objects that are positioned later in the sequence or vice versa. For example, media guidance objects510a,512aand516amay be placed in order such that the media guidance objects that are positioned earlier in the sequence (e.g., to be viewed before other media guidance objects) correspond to a particular subject matter category than media guidance objects that are positioned later in the sequence or vice versa. For example, media guidance objects510a,512aand516amay be placed in order such that the media guidance objects that are positioned earlier in the sequence (e.g., to be viewed before other media guidance objects) have a higher critics rating than media guidance objects that are positioned later in the sequence or vice versa.
• It should be understood that although the media guidance objects are shown as occupying a certain portion of the screen, each media guidance object may occupy a larger or smaller portion of the screen. It should further be understood that although the media guidance objects are represented as rectangular shapes, any other shape (e.g., circle, square, triangle or other polygon) or combination of different shapes may be used for the media guidance objects (e.g., one media guidance object may be circular in shape while another may be triangular in shape). It should also be understood that although the media guidance objects are displayed along the horizontal of the screen from left to right, the media guidance objects may be displayed along the vertical of the screen from top to bottom. For example, a media guidance object may be displayed in a first perspective on the top of the screen and other media guidance objects may be displayed in a second perspective underneath the media guidance object displayed in the first perspective. Accordingly, the line of the fold at the point of adjacency between the media guidance objects of the first and second perspective views would appear as going along the horizontal axis of the screen whereas the line of the folds shown inscreen500aappears as going along the vertical axis of the screen.
• It should be understood that any of the media guidance objects shows and described above and below as being adjacent to each other, whether they are adjacent within a particular perspective view or between two different perspective views, may be immediately adjacent to each other (e.g., appear to be touching or connected to each other), or may have some spacing of suitable amount (or have other data or objects) between the adjacent objects to make it easier to distinguish between any adjacent objects. In some implementations, the media guidance objects may be adjacent to each other at the vertical or horizontal edges or sides of the media guidance objects. For example, two or more media guidance objects that are square or rectangular in shape may be connected to each other and adjacent such the right edge of one square media guidance object touches or substantially touches the left edge of another adjacent square media guidance object.
• In some embodiments, the media guidance objects that are displayed in different perspectives may be user profile representations. In particular, the user may view the various profiles that are stored as an array of media guidance objects and select a desired user profile. The selected user profile representation may be used to retrieve a corresponding user profile to log the user associated with that user profile intouser equipment device300.
• FIG. 5dshows anillustrative display screen500dof user profile representations displayed in different perspectives in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. In particular,screen500dillustrates the implementation where the media guidance objects discussed in connection with screens500a-care user profile representations. For example,screen500dmay include a firstuser profile representation514ddisplayed in a first perspective view, a seconduser profile representation510ddisplayed in a second perspective view and third and fourthuser profile representations512dand516ddisplayed in a third perspective view. Firstuser profile representation514dmay correspond to firstmedia guidance object514a, seconduser profile representation510dmay correspond to secondmedia guidance object510a, thirduser profile representation512dmay correspond to thirdmedia guidance object512a, and fourthuser profile representation516dmay correspond to fourthmedia guidance object516a.
• A user profile representation may be a photograph, a video, an icon, a sketch, or any other visual indicator that is unique to a particular user that allows the user to associate the particular user profile representation with the profile of the user. For example, a picture of the user (e.g., Stewie) may be displayed as the user profile representation indicating to Stewie that the user profile representation is associated with Stewie's user profile. Selection of the user profile representation (as discussed above) may instructprocessing circuitry306 to login the user Stewie intouser equipment device300. In some implementations, each user may have multiple user profiles each including preferences associated with different moods of the user. For example, when the user is sad, the user may have a profile setup with preferences targeted towards cheerful content or media assets (e.g., action or comedies) to counterbalance the sad mood of the user. In another situation, when the user is happy, the user may have a profile setup with preferences targeted towards other type of content or media assets or the same cheerful content or media assets (e.g., romance or drama media assets). In such scenarios, each user profile representation may correspond to a different one of the profiles that are associated with the different moods of the particular user.
• Atextual indicator540dmay be displayed next to each user profile representation.Textual indicator540dmay provide the name of the user associated with a particular user profile representation (not shown). In some implementations,textual indicator540dis only displayed with the user profile representation displayed in the second perspective view (shown).
• The functionality discussed above in connection with the media guidance objects displayed inscreen500aapplies in a similar manner to the user profile representations displayed inscreen500d. For the sake of brevity the functionality of selecting and navigating about the user profile representations displayed inscreen500dis omitted but should be understood to be the same as the functionality of selecting and navigating about media guidance objects discussed in connection withscreen500a(FIG. 5a). In particular, the manner of selecting different user profile representations by, for example, sliding into the second perspective view user profile representations displayed in other perspective views or moving a cursor into the different perspective views to select a user profile representation may be performed in the same manner as discussed above in connection withFIG. 5a.
• As shown inscreen500d, the user profile representations of each different perspective view may be displayed adjacent one another to form acontinuous array530dof user profile representations. As discussed above in connection withFIG. 5a,continuous array530dmay include folds at the points of adjacency between the user profile representations displayed in one perspective view and the user profile representation displayed in another perspective view. For example,continuous array530dmay include afirst fold520dat the point of adjacency betweenuser profile representation514dand a first side (e.g., left side) ofuser profile representation510d.Continuous array530dmay include asecond fold522dat the point of adjacency betweenuser profile representation512dand a second side (e.g., right side) ofuser profile representation510d.
• Folds520dand522dgive the visual appearance of creases between user profile representations at the ends of each perspective view where a user profile representation from one perspective view meets or is adjacent to a user profile representation from another perspective view.
• Screen500dmay also include a background550b.Background550dmay be a currently tuned to television channel, media asset being played, an advertisement, or any other picture or video that can be seen through or as part ofcontinuous array530dof user profile representations. Audio may also be provided as the user navigatesscreen500d.
• In some embodiments, the media guidance objects that are displayed in different perspectives may be media asset representations. In particular, the user may view the various media asset representations that are stored as a continuous array of media guidance objects and select a desired media asset representation. The selected media asset representation may be used to retrieve a corresponding media asset from memory and playback the retrieved media asset onuser equipment device300.
• FIG. 6 shows anillustrative display screen600 of media asset representations displayed in different perspectives in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. In particular,screen600 illustrates the implementation where the media guidance objects discussed in connection with screens500a-care media asset representations. For example,screen600 may include a recent programrecordings menu region610, a programrecommendations menu region620, amessages menu region630 and anadvertisement region640.
• Recent programrecordings menu region610 may display a firstmedia asset representation652 in a first perspective view and second, third and fourthmedia asset representations654,655 and656 in a second perspective view. Firstmedia asset representation652 may correspond to secondmedia guidance object510a(FIG. 5a), secondmedia asset representation654 may correspond to thirdmedia guidance object512aand thirdmedia asset representation655 may correspond to fourthmedia guidance object516a. Although the media asset representations are displayed in only two perspective views, it should be understood that the media asset representations may be displayed in any number of perspective views, for example, in a similar manner as the three perspective view of media guidance objects ofFIG. 5a.
• It should be understood that as referred to above and below, a media asset representation is any photograph, video, icon, sketch, text, or other visual indicator or combination of the same that is unique to a particular media asset that allows the user to associate the particular media asset representation with the media asset. For example, a picture of the label of a show (e.g., TrueBlood) may be displayed as the media asset representation indicating to the user that the media asset representation is associated with the show TrueBlood. Selection of the media asset representation (as discussed above) may instructprocessing circuitry306 to playback or access the media asset associated with the media asset representation onuser equipment device300.
• The media asset representations displayed in recent programrecordings menu region610 may correspond to media assets which are stored onuser equipment device300. In particular, media asset representations may correspond to a previously recorded television program, previously downloaded media asset or television program, previously transferred media asset, or any other suitable media asset that is readily available for access onuser equipment device300. Readily available for access could mean that the media asset was recorded on a remote device, such as, a server computer, and can be downloaded on-demand from that device upon request by the user. In particular, the media asset representations displayed in recent programrecordings menu region610 may correspond to locally stored or remotely stored media assets.
• The user may browse the media asset representations displayed in recent programrecordings menu region610 in the same manner as discussed above in connection withFIG. 5a. For example the user may press a right arrow key to slide into the first perspective view a media asset representation from the second perspective view.
• An indicator may be provided or displayed in recent programrecordings menu region610 indicating to the user the number of total available stored media assets. The indicator may also indicate the number of newly or most recently recorded media assets (e.g., in the past7 days or any other suitable time frame).
• Textual indicators660 and662 may be displayed next to a corresponding media asset representation. In particular,textual indicator660 may provide the name or title of the media asset associated withmedia asset representation654 andtextual indicator662 may provide the name or title of the media asset associated withmedia asset representation656. In addition,textual indicators660 and662 may also provide other information about the media asset corresponding to the media asset representations, such as, a start time, channel, program source, short description or any other suitable information.
• Textual indicators660 and662 may appear in accordance with the perspective view in which the corresponding media asset representation is displayed. In particular,textual indicator660 corresponds tomedia asset representation654 that appears closer thanmedia asset representation662 that corresponds totextual indicator662. Accordingly,textual indicator660 may be larger in size thantextual indicator662 to appear visually closer to the user.
• The functionality discussed above in connection with the media guidance objects displayed inscreen500aapplies in a similar manner to the media asset representations displayed in recent programrecordings menu region610. For the sake of brevity the functionality of selecting and navigating about the media asset representations displayed in recent programrecordings menu region610 is omitted but should be understood to be the same as the functionality of selecting and navigating about media guidance objects discussed in connection withscreen500a(FIG. 5a). In particular, the manner of selecting different media asset representations by, for example, sliding into the first perspective view media asset representations displayed in the second perspective view or moving a cursor into the second perspective view to select a media asset representation may be performed in the same manner as discussed above in connection withFIG. 5a.
• Recent programrecordings menu region610 may display the media asset representations of each different perspective view adjacent one another to form acontinuous array612 of media asset representations. As discussed above in connection withFIG. 5a,continuous array612 may include a fold at the point of adjacency between the media asset representations displayed in one perspective view and the media asset representation displayed in another perspective view. For example,continuous array612 may include afold650 at the point of adjacency betweenmedia asset representation654 and a first side (e.g., right side) ofmedia asset representation652.
• The user may access programrecommendations menu region620 andmessages menu region630 by clicking the corresponding menu bar of those regions or pressing a down arrow key on a remote control. When the user presses the down arrow key while viewing recent program recordings inregion612, the recent programrecordings menu region612 may close (or collapse) leaving only a bar displayed that includes text identifying the type and/or number of media objects displayed in the menu. As a result of the user pressing the down arrow key, while viewing recent program recordings inregion612,program recommendations region620 may open and display media asset representations corresponding to media asset recommendations in a continuous array similar tocontinuous array612. Pressing the down arrow key again, may cause the media asset recommendations region to close, andopen messages region630 to display message representations corresponding to messages of the user in a continuous array similar tocontinuous array612.
• It should be understood, that any other type or number of menu bars may be displayed associated with different types of media guidance objects. It should also be understood that the menu bars may be displayed in any arrangement and order not limited to the exemplary arrangement and order shown inscreen600. For example, the menu bars may be displayed side-by-side or along a diagonal instead of on top of each other as shown. Alternatively, the menu bars may be displayed as tabs with visual indications that identify the type of media guidance objects that correspond to each menu. The media guidance objects may be displayed in the same region but the type of objects may change based on which tab is selected.
• For example, as shown and described below in connection withFIG. 15,menu bars1550 are displayed on the left portion of the screen and the media guidance objects corresponding to a selected menu bar are displayed in the same region of the screen on the right portion. As the user navigates to select different menu bars by, for example, pressing an up/down arrow key or using a movable cursor (e.g., mouse), media guidance objects associated with the selected menu bar are displayed in perspective similar to the manner in which media asset representations are displayed in programrecommendations menu region620.
• Selection of programrecommendations menu region620, by pressing a down arrow key or using some other cursor or navigation tool, may cause media asset representations corresponding to media asset recommendations to be displayed in perspective similar to the manner of display provided in recent programrecordings menu region610. In particular, processingcircuitry306 may search for and find media assets that may be of interest or relevant to a user based on a user profile that is selected in, for example,screen500b. The media assets that are found may be identified to the user as media asset representations using icons, images, videos, clips or any other suitable way in perspective similar to the manner in which media asset representations are displayed inregion610.
• The user may navigate to and select a particular media asset representation that corresponds to a media asset recommendation.Processing circuitry306 may allow the user to tune to, schedule for recording, schedule a reminder, place an order, or otherwise access the media asset associated with a selected media asset recommendation.
• Selection ofmessages menu region630, by pressing a down arrow key or using some other cursor or navigation tool, may cause message representations corresponding to user messages to be displayed in perspective similar to the manner of display provided in recent programrecordings menu region610. In particular, processingcircuitry306 may retrieve from memory or receive another device (e.g., BLACKBERRY, mobile phone or mobile device), the Internet, cable or satellite service provider, server or other suitable message providing service, messages for the user. The messages may be emails, SMS messages, MMS messages, service provider messages, emergency or service alerts or instant messages. The messages that are retrieved or received may be identified to the user as messages representations using icons, images, text or any other suitable way in perspective similar to the manner in which media asset representations are displayed inregion610.
• The user may navigate to and select a particular message representation that corresponds to a message that is retrieved or received.Processing circuitry306 may allow the user to view, respond, forward, delete, or otherwise access the message associated with a selected message representation.
• The user may also select a main menu key or press a left arrow key to navigate to the main menu of the media guidance application.FIG. 7 shows anillustrative display screen700 of amain menu710 displayed in amenu bar740 of the media guidance application in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
• Menu bar740 may be displayed on a side of the screen, such as, the top, left, right or bottom of the screen or in any other suitable location (e.g., the middle of the screen).Menu bar740 may be displayed/accessed while viewing/accessing amedia asset750 by pressing a key (e.g., menu key or right arrow key) on a remote control. Although,media asset750 is shown as a television program, it should be understood thatmedia asset750 may be an audio only program and in such a situation a background video or image may or may not be displayed in place of the television program. Also, althoughmedia asset750 is shown as a television program, it should be understood thatmedia asset750 may be any other type of video such as a home video, live video, video conference and/or on-demand video/audio media.
• It should be understood that although different keys are discussed above and below as being used to navigate through the media guidance application, the same function may be performed by using suitable voice recognition techniques. For example, the user may state a command (e.g., “move right”), and theprocessing circuitry306 may respond in the same manner as a selection of a right arrow key on a remote control.
• Menu bar740 may be displayed simultaneously with amedia asset750 being played. For example,media asset750 may be a television program (live or previously recorded) andmenu bar740 may be overlaid on top of the television program.Menu bar740 may be partially transparent such that themedia asset750 and information (e.g., main menu710) inmenu bar740 are viewable at the same time. In particular, bothmenu bar740 andmedia asset750 may appear in asame region730 of the display.
• Items ofmain menu710 may be displayed in a perspective view. For example, the item in focus (e.g., the item which may be selected using a select command) may be displayed more prominently or larger than other items inmain menu710. In particular, items that are farther away from an item in focus may be smaller in size than the item in focus.
• Items ofmain menu710 may include awidgets item720,photos item722,television item724,music item726,settings item727 andlogout item728. Selection of any of the items ofmain menu710 may bring up a display of options, menus and/or media guidance objects associated with the selected item. For example, selection ofmusic item726 may bring up a display of media guidance objects that represent one or more playlists or media assets of a playlist.
• In addition, selection ofphotos item722 may navigate the user to aphoto browser screen1600 discussed below in connection withFIG. 16. Selection ofmusic item726 may navigate a user to a music browser that is similar tophoto browser1600 but in the context of music. In particular, whereas inphoto browser screen1600, album titles may be displayed on top of each other in a continuous array of pictures displayed in perspective corresponding to an album, the music browser may display each playlist or music album title on top of each other in a continuous array of music asset representations displayed in perspective corresponding to the playlist or music album.
• Selection oflogout item728 may log the current user or users out of the media guidance application and navigate the user back toscreen500d(FIG. 5d) to allow another user to select a user profile representation and log in to the media guidance application. Selection ofsettings item727 may allow the user to change options in the system such as the way media guidance objects are displayed, reminder times, add/remove/edit user profiles, select which types of media guidance objects to display in perspective views and which types not to display in perspective views, or setup an Internet connection (e.g., user passwords, router passwords, or any other account preferences).
• Each displayed item may include a visual indicator,text714 and/oricon742, that identifies the content associated with the item to the user. For example,widgets item720 may include a cloud icon that identifies to the user thatwidgets item720 is associated with Internet delivered content and applications. Similarly,photos item722 may include a camera icon andtelevision item724 may include a television icon. The visual indicators may be displayed in perspective as the items ofmain menu710 are displayed in perspective. In particular, the visual indicators that are further away from an item in focus may be gradually smaller in size.
• Selection ofwidget item720 may display a submenu bar820 (FIG. 8) with items that correspond to the selected widget item. For example, the items displayed insubmenu bar820 may include different types of widgets that are available for the user to select. Some of the widgets may include different webpages, weather applications, sports applications, chat applications, stock applications, social networking applications or any other suitable application that can be provided in the form of a widget. The widgets specifically are modular applications that may be displayed as small graphical elements that may be interactive or static.
• Selection oftelevision item724 may display a submenu bar820 (FIG. 8) with items that correspond to the selected item.Submenu bar820 may be displayed adjacent tomenu bar740 or anywhere else on the screen. In some implementations, after the user selects an item frommenu bar740,processing circuitry306 may shortenmenu bar740 so that it continues to inform the user of the items available inmenu bar740 while occupying a smaller region on the screen.
• FIG. 8 shows adisplay screen800 ofmenu bar810 andsubmenu bar820 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. In particular,menu bar810 may only display one type of visual indicator (e.g., an icon) that identifies each item ofmenu bar740.Menu bar810 may include a visual indicator (e.g., a highlight region) that identifies to the user which item was selected frommenu bar810 for whichsubmenu bar820 displays the corresponding items.
• For example, the user may selecttelevision item814 and a highlight region may be displayed over the television icon indicating that selection.Submenu bar820 may display items corresponding to thetelevision item814 adjacent to themenu bar810. In particular,submenu bar820 may include aprogram guide item830, an onlinemovie vendor item822, program search item, a watch television item, and any other suitable item related to or corresponding to television viewing. The items insubmenu bar820 may displayed in perspective similar to the manner of display of items inmenu bar740.
• The user may navigate to different items insubmenu bar820 by, for example, pressing an up/down arrow key. The user may navigate back tomenu bar810 by, for example, pressing a left arrow key. In some implementations,menu bar810 andsubmenu bar820 may be displayed along the top or bottom of the screen. In such circumstances, the user may navigate to items within one of the menu bars by pressing a right/left arrow key and may navigate to and from the menu bars by pressing an up/down arrow key.
• In some implementations, media guidance objects may each correspond to one or more entries in a program guide (e.g., a television program guide). In particular, different portions of the media guidance object may correspond to different available programs that are broadcast, provided on-demand, provided over pay-per-view sources or otherwise available during a particular time interval. Selection ofprogram guide item830 may causeprocessing circuitry306 to display a program schedule information having perspective views. In particular, selection ofprogram guide item830 may causeprocessing circuitry306 to display, in different perspectives, media guidance objects that correspond to program scheduling information.
• FIG. 9 shows anillustrative display screen900 of program scheduling information displayed in different perspectives in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. In particular,screen900 illustrates the implementation where the media guidance objects discussed in connection with screens500a-crepresent program scheduling information. For example,screen900 may include programsource information region950 displayed in a first perspective view, program schedule information region associated with afirst time interval910 displayed in a second perspective view and program schedule information region associated with second andthird time intervals920 and930 displayed in a third perspective view. Programsource information region950 may correspond to firstmedia guidance object514a, program schedule information region (e.g., program listings display region) associated with thefirst time interval910 may correspond to secondmedia guidance object510a, program schedule information region (e.g., program listings) associated with thesecond time interval920 may correspond to thirdmedia guidance object512a, and program schedule information region (e.g., program listings) associated with thethird time interval930 may correspond to fourthmedia guidance object516a(FIG. 5a).
• Programsource information region950 may include text (e.g., source name), icons (e.g., source logo), or any other visual indicator that is unique to a particular program source that allows the user to associate the program source information with the program source of the programs. Program sources may include any television channels, Internet websites (e.g., HULU.com), user devices, servers, or any other delivery source or device of media assets. In some embodiments, the program sources may be television channels that are provided by cable or satellite or some other transmission source. In particular, some of the program sources that are television channels may be provided by a first transmission source having a first transmission scheme (e.g., satellite) and some of the program sources that are television channels may be provided by a second transmission source having a second transmission scheme that is different from the first transmission scheme (e.g., cable). An identifier may be included in the programsource information region950 with each program source to indicate the transmission source of the program source.
• Although the program source and scheduling information is shown as a full screen display, program source and scheduling information may be displayed in any differently sized smaller portions of the screen.
• When the user first entersscreen900,processing circuitry306 may highlight or bring into focus the program listings corresponding to the currently tuned program or program being currently accessed. The currently tuned or accessed program may also be displayed behind the program schedule information. In particular, program schedule information displayed inscreen900 may be partially transparent such that both the program schedule information and the currently tuned to or accessed program can be seen simultaneously. Information about the currently tuned to or accessed program may also be displayed at, for example, the bottom of the screen. The information may include the title or name of the program or media asset being accessed, the program source of the program or media asset and a short description of the program or media asset.
• The user may navigate within portions of the media guidance objects to select a desired program listing corresponding to a media asset. For example, the user may navigate up/down within programsource information region950 to select a desired program source. The program source information (e.g., channel indicators) displayed within programsource information region950 may appear similar to the manner in which items withinmenu bar740 are displayed (FIG. 7). In particular, program sources that are not in focus and that are further away from the program source in focus may be displayed as text or information that is gradually smaller in size than the text or information that is displayed for the program source in focus. Alternative, program sources that are not in focus and that are further away from the program source in focus may be displayed as text or information that is gradually decreasing in brightness (or less bright) (e.g., with a fading effect) than the brightness of the text or information that is displayed for the program source in focus.
• Program listings associated with the selected program source or the program source that is in focus (e.g., program listings of media assets provided by the selected program source) may be displayed adjacent to the selected program source in a different perspective from the program source. In particular, program listings associated with the selected source may be displayed more prominently than the program listings associated with a different program source. For example, when program source (e.g., NBC) is selected, program listings provided by the program source may be displayed in an expanded view to provide more information than the displayed program listings associated with another program source.
• In some implementations, the program listings associated with a selected program source may include the display of a video, picture, icons, textual descriptions, runtime, broadcast time, episode information or other data in addition to the title of a particular media asset corresponding to the program listing. In particular, while program listings associated with program sources that are not in focus may only display titles of media assets associated with the program listings, program listings associated with the selected program source may include the display of a video, icons, textual descriptions, runtime, broadcast time, episode information or other data in addition to the title of a particular media asset corresponding to the program listing. In some embodiments, the displayed video may be a promotional clip, advertisement or other information associated with the media asset corresponding to the program listing.
• In some implementations, only one program listing corresponding to the selected program source is displayed in the second perspective view while the other program listings corresponding to the selected program source (i.e., the program source in focus) are displayed in the third perspective view. It should be understood, however, that more than one program listing corresponding to the selected program source may be displayed in the second perspective view and the user may navigate to and select the desired program listing.
• In some embodiments, all the program listings displayed in the second perspective view correspond to media assets that are broadcast during a particular time interval. For example, all the program listings displayed in the second perspective may be associated with media assets that are broadcast between 4-5 PM. The program listings displayed in the second perspective view may correspond to any range of time intervals (e.g., one hour, half-hour or any other range). In particular, although the time interval range shown inFIG. 9 is one hour long, any other length may be provided. In some implementations, the program schedule may display a title, video and/or other program identification information of each program broadcast on the television channels or program sources for each time interval that is displayed in the program schedule during which the corresponding program is broadcast.
• In some implementations, some of the program listings displayed in the second or third perspective views may correspond to video-on-demand media assets or previously recorded media assets. In such scenarios, the program listings corresponding to on-demand media may appear through the entire row corresponding to a particular on-demand source. In particular, the display of on-demand media program listings may not be dependent upon time intervals. In some implementations, program sources may represent different genre categories (e.g., comedy or drama). In such circumstances, program listings displayed adjacent to a particular program source that represents a genre category may correspond to media assets that are related to that particular genre category. These program listings may or may not organized according to time intervals depending on whether the program listings correspond to on-demand media or not.
• More than one program listing may be displayed in any particular time interval for a particular program source, when the length of the media assets corresponding to the given time interval is shorter than the length of the time interval. For example, when the time interval length is one hour and program listings correspond to a show that has a half-hour run time (e.g., Judge Judy), more than one program listing may be displayed in the second perspective view for that time interval. More specifically, program schedule information region associated with a first time interval910 (e.g., time interval of 4-5 PM) displayed in a second perspective view may include two program listings for the program source FOX. This may be because each of the two program listings is associated with a media asset, Judge Judy, that has a half-hour run time (e.g., a run-time that is half of the length of time interval910).
• Each program schedule information region may display information (e.g., titles) of media assets that are scheduled for a particular time interval. For example, program schedule information region associated withfirst time interval910 may display the titles of programs that are broadcast between 4-5 PM, program schedule information region associated withsecond time interval920 may display the titles of programs that are broadcast between5-6PM and program schedule information region associated withthird time interval930 may display the titles of programs that are broadcast between 6-7PM. Each of the program schedule information regions may be displayed adjacent to each other in an ordered manner based on the time interval to which they correspond.
• The program listing information (e.g., titles, video, icon, image, caption) displayed within each program listing in the program schedule information regions may appear similar to the manner in which items withinmenu bar740 are displayed (FIG. 7). In particular, the information displayed in program listings that are not in focus and that are further away from the program listing in focus may be displayed as text or information that is gradually smaller in size than the text or information that is displayed for the program listing in focus. Alternatively, information displayed in program listings that are not in focus and that are further away from the program listing in focus may be displayed as text or information that is gradually decreasing in brightness (or less bright) (e.g., with a fading effect) than the brightness of the text or information that is displayed for the program listing in focus.
• The user may press a right/left arrow key to browse through program listings in the time domain. For example, the user may press the right arrow key to bring into focus program listings that correspond to media assets that are broadcast later in time that are provided on the same program source. Similarly, the user may press the left arrow key to bring into focus program listings that correspond to media assets that are broadcast earlier in time that are provided on the same program source in focus. The user may select program listings that are displayed in program schedule information regions in the third perspective by sliding the program listings from the third perspective into the second perspective. For example, as discussed above in connection withFIGS. 5a-c, the user may press a right arrow key while viewing program listing912 (that is displayed in the second perspective view) to causeprogram listing922 that is displayed in the third perspective view to slide through a fold or crease (e.g., between the time interval in focus and later time intervals) into the second perspective view.Program listing912 may be removed from the second perspective view to make room for program listing922 in the second perspective view. It should be understood that program sources displayed in the first perspective view may be static such that as the program listings from later or earlier time intervals are brought into focus (by sliding or jumping), the program source information remains stationary in the display. The user may also select an option to hide the program source information and as a result, processing circuitry may generate the display of program listings corresponding to one time interval (e.g., the present time) displayed in a first perspective view and program listings corresponding to later time intervals displayed in a second perspective view without having the program source information region occupy space on the display screen.
• The user may press up/down arrow keys to navigate to different program listings that are displayed within a program schedule information region that correspond to different program sources. In particular, as the user presses up/down arrow keys, program listings associated with different program sources may be brought into focus (e.g., presented in an expanded view). As the user navigates to the different program listings in the same program schedule information region, the program listings may be shifted down such that the program listings in focus that are displayed in the expanded view (where videos, icons and other program information is provided) are always in the same position (e.g., the center) of the screen. Alternatively, a cursor may be displayed that appears to move up/down through the program listings to allow the user to view and navigate to the program listings in another portion of the program schedule information region. In particular, the expanded view of the program information may appear to move up/down in the screen instead of remaining in the same location. To put it another way, the program listings that are in focus may move relative to the cursor (e.g., a highlight region indicating a selection of a program listing) or the cursor may move relative to the program listings.
• As shown inscreen900, program information may appear as acontinuous array952 that includes the program source information displayed in a first perspective and the program schedule information displayed in second and third perspective views. The continuous array may appear to have a first fold between the program source information and the program schedule information region associated withfirst time interval910. The continuous array may appear to have a second fold between program schedule information region associated withfirst time interval910 and program schedule information region associated withsecond time interval920.
• The user may bring a desired program listing into focus by sliding the immediately adjacent program listings to the program listing in focus through the second fold into the second perspective view from the third perspective. The user may continuously cause the immediately adjacent program listings from the third perspective view to slide into focus until the desired program listing is in focus in the second perspective view. In some implementations, the user may bring into focus the desired program listing by instantaneously causing the immediately adjacent program listing from the third perspective view into the second perspective view. Alternatively, the user may navigate to a desired program listing by moving a cursor through and within the perspective views. For example, the user may move a cursor positioned over a program listing displayed in the second perspective view towards any of the program listings displayed in the third perspective view. Once a desired program listing is highlighted or selected, the user may perform a function for the media asset corresponding to the selected program listing by, for example, pressing a “confirm” key or other suitable key or indicate a confirm action verbally. The function performed may be tuning, scheduling for recording, setting a reminder, ordering, viewing detailed information, adding to playlist or any other suitable function.
• Any of the navigation techniques using directional arrow and action keys (e.g., up/down/left/right and confirm/enter), discussed above and below, may be substituted or supplemented by suitable verbal commands that are interpreted to perform the same actions or cause the same respective set of instructions to be executed. Similarly, the navigation techniques may be substituted or supplemented by, for example, a laser pointing or motion sensitive device that is interpreted to perform the same actions or cause the same respective set of instructions to be executed.
• FIG. 10 shows anillustrative display screen1000 of functions corresponding to a selected program listing displayed accordance with an embodiment of the invention.Screen1000 may include afunctions menu bar1010,function options region1020 and amedia region1030.
• Functions menu bar1010 may display of list of indicators of functions associated with the media asset corresponding to the program listing selected from screen900 (FIG. 9) or a media asset selected in accordance with other embodiments of the invention. Some of the functions that may be associated with a particular media asset may include requests for reviews, a list of the cast members, list of similar media assets, broadcast or schedule information of the media asset (which may include other air times of the media asset), a list of all episodes of the media asset, detailed description of the media asset, watch or access the media asset, set or schedule reminders for the media asset, schedule a recording for the media asset, provide a rating for the media asset.
• Functions menu bar1010 may display the list of functions in perspective relative to each other as shown and described above in connection withmenu bars810 and820 (FIG. 8). For example, indicators that identify each of the functions infunctions menu bar1010 may be displayed in a way that indicators that are further away from the indicator in focus appear smaller or are more faded than the indicator in focus. In particular, the function indicator in focus may be “cast”1012 and may have a first size. The indicator of a function that is not in focus may be “rate”1014 which may have a second size that is different than the first size of the indicator of function “cast”1012.
• The indicators of functions displayed infunctions menu bar1010 may be brought into focus or selected by pressing an up/down key. It should be understood, that functionsmenu bar1010 may be displayed horizontally on the screen (instead of vertically as shown). In such a scenario, functions may be brought into focus or selected by pressing right/left arrow keys.
• Media region1030 may provide a display of an advertisement, a video, a clip, the currently tuned television program, icon, image, text or any other suitable media. For example,media region1030 may provide a video clip or textual description of the media asset corresponding to the program listing selected from screen900 (FIG. 9) or a media asset selected in accordance with other embodiments of the invention.Media region1030 may also be selectable (e.g., using a movable cursor or highlight region). In particular, when an advertisement is displayed inmedia region1030, the user may position or otherwise select the advertisement. As a result of receiving a user selection of the advertisement, the user may be provided with options to place an order for an advertised product (e.g., pay-per-view media asset or some other tangible item), view or access content related to the advertisement.
• Function options region1020 may display a list of options or items relating to the indicator of the function in focus infunctions menu bar1010. As the user brings different indicators into focus, the list of options or items displayed infunction options region1020 may change to correspond to the indicator of the function in focus. In particular, the list of options or items displayed infunction options region1020 may change or be updated as each indicator of the function is brought into focus.
• For example, when the “cast” function indicator is in focus and the user desires to bring the “detailed description” function indicator into focus which may be, for example, three indicators away from the “cast” function indicator, the list of options or items displayed infunction options region1020 may change three times. In particular, to bring the “detailed description” function into focus, the user may press an up arrow key three times. As each of the function indicators between the “cast” function and “detailed description function” is brought into focus, the list of options or items displayed infunction options region1020 may change. In particular, the first time the up arrow key is pressed, the list of options or items displayed infunction options region1020 may change to display options corresponding to “similar assets” function indicator, the second time, the list of options or items displayed infunction options region1020 may change to display options corresponding to “all episodes” function indicator and the third time, the list of options or items displayed infunction options region1020 may change to display options or items corresponding to “detailed description” function indicator.
• For the sake of brevity, the discussion of the options or items provided infunction options region1020 is based on having the request for cast members function selected or placed in focus. However, any other function infunctions menu bar1010 may be selected in a similar manner (e.g., by placing the function focus or selecting the function with a moveable cursor or highlight region) and as a result the list displayed infunction options region1020 may be tailored to the particular function in focus.
• Options or items provided infunction options region1020 when the “cast” function indicator is in focus may include a selectable list of all or most of the cast members that are present in the media asset corresponding to the selected program listing. For example, when the media asset corresponding to the program listing is “Heroes,” a list of the cast members in Heroes may be displayed. The options or items that are provided infunction options region1020 may either be retrieved from local storage or from a remote server or website (e.g., via the Internet). For example, the list of cast members in the Heroes media asset may be retrieved from a local database that includes information about some or all of the media assets provided by a certain program source.
• Alternatively, the list of cast members in the Heroes media asset may be retrieved from a remote server by accessing a link associated with the “cast” function indicator. For example, one or more of the function indicators may be associated with a link to the information for the options to provide inregion1020. As the user browses the different function indicators inbar1010, the links associated with the functions may be accessed to retrieve the necessary information. In some embodiments, the links may be accessed before the user brings a particular function indicator into focus (e.g., the information may be pre-cached) to reduce any possible latency in the display of information inregion1020. This may allow the user to seamlessly browse for information associated with a selected media asset.
• The items or options displayed in the list inregion1020 may be selected. For example, the user may select one of the cast member indicators (e.g., names or pictures) that is displayed in the list by, for example, pressing up/down arrow keys to position ahighlight region1022 over the desired cast member. The user may press an “enter” or “confirm” key to receive a display of information about the selected cast member. For example, the user may highlight or select the actor “Milo Ventimiglia” and as a result a display of information about that actor may be provided as shown in screen1100 (FIG. 11).
• In some embodiments, the information about the selected option or item may be provided inmedia region1030. In some embodiments,media region1030 may provide help information about the selected function indicator or informing the user about how to navigate between the different function indicators. The help information may also inform the user about the various options provided inregion1020.
• In some embodiments, the options or items displayed inregion1020 when set reminder function is selected may allow the user to select when and/or where the reminder is provided. For example, the user may select an option or item to have the reminder provided five minutes before the media asset becomes available. Additionally, the user may select an option to provide the reminder for the media asset on another remote device (e.g., a mobile device) and to allow the user to access or record the media asset on the mobile device. Similarly, the options or items displayed inregion1020 when schedule recording function is selected (not shown) may allow the user to select when and/or where the media asset is to be recorded.
• FIG. 11 shows anillustrative display screen1100 of information corresponding to an option or item selected fromregion1020 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.Screen1100 may include a hierarchy ofidentifiers1110, aninformation region1120 andmedia region1030.
• The identifiers displayed in hierarchy ofidentifiers1110 may correspond to previously selected items that are associated with a media asset. For example, as the user selects (or confirms selections) of items from previous menus, an identifier may be added to hierarchy ofidentifiers1110 to remind the user of the previous selections. In particular, the user may first have selected a program listing corresponding to the media asset “Heroes.” Accordingly, thefirst identifier1114 in hierarchy ofidentifiers1110 may identify the selection of the media asset “Heroes” by providing a picture, video, text or other information that identifies that media asset to the user. After the user selected the media asset, the user may have selected an item corresponding to a function from functions menu bar1010 (FIG. 10) that provided a list of cast members. Accordingly, thesecond identifier1112 in hierarchy ofidentifiers1110 may identify the function “cast” from which the item selection was made by providing a picture, video, text or other information that identifies that function selection to the user.Second identifier1112 may be displayed adjacent to and/or underfirst identifier1114 of the first selection of the media asset.
• The user may browse through prior selections in the hierarchy by, for example, pressing a left arrow key. For example, when “cast” is identified at the bottom of the hierarchy (indicating that items associated with the cast function where last displayed in region1120), the user may press a left arrow key and as a result, the items associated with the cast function may be displayed inregion1120 in the same manner as shown in region1020 (FIG. 10).Second identifier1112 for the cast function may be removed from the hierarchy. A subsequent selection of the left arrow key may bring up a display inregion1120 of information corresponding to the selected media asset since asfirst identifier1114 in the hierarchy may indicate a media asset selection. In some implementations, when only one identifier remains in the hierarchy, the identifier may be omitted from the display and information associated with that identifier may be indicated inregion1020. For example, the only identifier that remains in the hierarchy when the user presses the left arrow key may be the identifier that identifies a media asset. Additionally, the information displayed inregion1020 may include items of information corresponding to the cast as well as information indicating the media asset in which the cast is featured.
• Information about the selected item from the items displayed inregion1020 may be displayed inregion1120. For example, when the actor (e.g., Milo Ventimiglia) is the item that is selected from the items corresponding to the “cast” function indicator, information about the actor may be displayed inregion1120. The information may include a picture of the actor, a short description about the actor and other media assets which feature the selected actor. The information may be retrieved from local storage or from a website or remote source via the Internet.
• The user may navigate between the items of information displayed inregion1120 by, for example, pressing an up/down arrow key. Once an item of information is identified with a highlight region or with a movable cursor, the user may confirm the selection to receive information about the selected item of information. For example, when the selected item of information displayed inregion1120 is other media assets in which the actor was featured, information about the media asset may be provided as shown in screen1200 (FIG. 12).
• For example, as shown inscreen1200, hierarchy ofidentifiers1110 has been updated to include an identifier of the item (e.g., Milo Ventimiglia) corresponding to the menu from which the last selection was made at the bottom of the hierarchy. In particular,screen1200 includes a hierarchy ofidentifiers1210 with afirst identifier1216 at the top of the hierarchy that may identify a similar selection as identifier1114 (FIG. 11), asecond identifier1214 in the middle of the hierarchy that may identify a similar selection asidentifier1112 and athird identifier1212 at the bottom of the hierarchy that identifies the item corresponding to the selection made from the information menu associated with the actor “Milo Ventimiglia.”
• Information region1220 may provide a display of information corresponding to the item selected from region1120 (FIG. 11). For example, when the item selected fromregion1120 is a media asset which featured the selected actor, aclip1222 associated with that media asset may be displayed.Detailed information1224 about the media asset may also be provided ininformation region1220.
• An functions menu bar may be provided to allow the user to select amongst various functions corresponding to the media asset that is identified inregion1120. The functions menu bar may provide the same functionality and function indicators as functions menu bar1010 (FIG. 10). For example, the user may select a “Watch” function to access the media asset. Additionally, when the user selects a particular function, an identifier is added to the bottom ofhierarchy1210 identifying the media asset associated with the selected function. Items or options associated with the selected function may be displayed adjacent tohierarchy1210 as shown inFIGS. 10 and 11.
• Referring back toFIG. 8, the user may select an option to search program listings fromsubmenu bar820. A display screen may be provided for the user to search locally or remote (e.g., the Internet) using perspective views for program listings or particular media assets of interest to the user.
• FIG. 13 shows anillustrative display screen1300 of a search function that allows the user to search for media assets in different perspective views in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. In particular,screen1300 illustrates the implementation where the media guidance objects discussed in connection with screens500a-care search function objects and media asset representations. For example,screen1300 may include avisual keypad1340, a saved searchesregion1310 and a mediaasset results region1320.
• Visual keypad1340 may be displayed in a first perspective view, savedsearches region1310 may be displayed in a second perspective view and mediaasset results region1320 may be displayed in a third perspective view.Visual keypad1340 may correspond to firstmedia guidance object514a(FIG. 5a), saved searchesregion1310 may correspond to secondmedia guidance object510a, a firstmedia asset representation1322 provided in mediaasset results region1320 may correspond to thirdmedia guidance object512aand a second media asset representation provided in mediaasset results region1320 may correspond to fourthmedia guidance object516a. It should be understood thatvisual keypad1340, savedsearches region1310 and media asset representations in mediaasset results region1320 may correspond respectively to any of firstmedia guidance object514a, secondmedia guidance object510aand thirdmedia guidance object512asuch that each is displayed in a perspective view different from what is shown inscreen1300.
• In some implementations,visual keypad1340 may be statically displayed in the first perspective view. In particular, the user may navigate through the media asset representations provided in mediaasset results region1320 by sliding different media asset representations into focus.Visual keypad1340 may remain statically displayed relative to the media asset representations that slide into focus. In some implementations,visual keypad1340 may be moved by the user to another section of the display or a different perspective view that may be more convenient to use. In some implementations,visual keypad1340 may be removed from the display to make more room for displaying the search results and search listings. In particular,visual keypad1340 may be manually removed (e.g., by pressing a suitable key) or automatically removed when a search has been executed. Whenvisual keypad1340 is removed from the display, savedsearches region1310 may be displayed in the perspective view wherevisual keypad1340 was displayed and savedsearches region1310 may be displayed in the perspective view where mediaasset results region1320 was displayed.Visual keypad1340 may be re-displayed to execute a new search when the user instructsprocessing circuitry306 by pressing a suitable key. Whenvisual keypad1340 is re-displayed, the display may be rearranged to appear as the one shown inscreen1300 withvisual keypad1340 in the first perspective view, savedsearches region1310 displayed in the second perspective view and mediaasset results region1320 displayed in the third perspective view.
• As discussed above, each media asset representation displayed in mediaasset results region1320 may be a photograph, a video, an icon, a sketch, or any other visual indicator that is unique to a particular media asset that allows the user to associate the particular media asset representation with the media asset. For example, a picture of the label of a movie (e.g., Casino Royale) may be displayed as the media asset representation indicating to the user that the media asset representation is associated with the movie Casino Royale. Each media asset representation may also include text identifying the media asset associated with the media asset representation. The text may be a title of the media asset, a short description, a custom description provided by the user or any other suitable information that is unique to the media asset. Selection of the media asset representation (as discussed above) may instructprocessing circuitry306 to playback, order or access the media asset associated with the media asset representation onuser equipment device300.
• Visual keypad1340, savedsearches region1310 and mediaasset results region1320 from each of the different perspective views may be adjacent to each other at the edges. For example, a right edge ofvisual keypad1340 may be adjacent to a left edge of savedsearches region1310 and a right edge of savedsearches region1310 may be adjacent to left edge of a first media asset representation displayed in mediaasset results region1320. Connecting thevisual keypad1340, savedsearches region1310 and mediaasset results region1320 from each of the different perspective views at the points of adjacency creates the appearance of a continuous array of search application objects. The continuous array of search application objects may appear to have folds at the points of adjacency.
• Saved searchesregion1310 may displaysearch listings1330 that identify to a user searches that were previously executed by the user. For example,search listings1330 may include the display of one or more criteria elements1312 (e.g., titles, air times, channels, etc.) that were used to execute a particular search. In particular, the user may have previously executed a search for media assets based on textual criteria. For example, the user may have entered the text “007” and as a result theprocessing circuitry306 may have searched local program listings and/or an external source (e.g., the Internet) for media assets that are associated with the text “007”. The media assets that may have been associated with thetext 007 may be any James Bond media asset (e.g., shows, movies, games, etc.). Similarly, alternatively or in addition to the text entered, the user may have input as the criteria a particular title of a media asset. For example, the user may have entered the title “Batman” andprocessing circuitry306 may have searched for media assets having the title “Batman”.
• Search listings1330 may include a time and/ordate stamp1316 to remind or indicate to the user when the search was executed. This way the user may know whether the search is outdated (e.g., because the user may know of media assets that have been released after the time and/or date stamp) or is up-to-date.Search listings1330 may include aresults representation1314 that indicates how may media assets matched the givensearch criteria element1312. Results representation may be, for example, a number.
• The order of thesearch listings1330 displayed in savedsearches region1310 may be based on an alphabetical arrangement of thecriteria elements1312, a date/time stamp1316 or any other suitable order. For example,search listing1330 that is associated with a most recently executed search may be displayed closer to the top portion of savedsearches region1310 whilesearch listing1330 that is associated with a least recently (e.g., oldest) executed search may be displayed closer to the bottom portion of savedsearches region1310.Search listings1330 that are associated with searches performed between the most recently and least recently executed searches may be displayed in a similar manner between the search listings associated with the most and least recently executed searches.Search listings1330 may be similarly arranged based on the alphabetical arrangement of thesearch criteria1312 where the search listing with search criteria that comes earlier in the alphabet is displayed on top of search listings with search criteria that come later in the alphabet.
• The user may navigate among thesearch listings1330 to select one of the search listings.
• The user may navigate among thesearch listings1330 by, for example, pressing up/down arrow keys to position a highlight region or cursor oversearch listing1330 of interest. In some implementations, as the user navigates from one search listing to another (e.g., asdifferent search listings1330 are brought into focus), the search results (e.g., media asset representations) displayed in mediaasset results region1320 associated with that previously executedsearch listing1330 which is brought into focus, may be displayed. For example, when the user navigates between twosearch listings1330 that are separated in savedsearches region1310 by twoother search listings1330, the media asset representations displayed in media search resultsregion1320 may be updated or changed three times. In particular, media asset representations displayed in mediaasset results region1320, may be updated each time the user navigates to adifferent search listing1330 bringing the search listing into focus to reach a desiredsearch listing1330. The media asset representations displayed in mediaasset results region1320 may be displayed in a different perspective view than the perspective view of thesearch listings1330.
• The search results or media asset representations associated with eachsearch listing1330 may be stored in a database as links to the media assets corresponding to the media asset representations. In particular, after a search is executed, the user may select an option to save the search and may in some implementations provide a title for the search.Processing circuitry306 may add an entry to a database with the named search and all the results that are associated with that search. The results may be added to the entry as links or some other identifier that allowsprocessing circuitry306 to identify the media asset associated with the saved search without re-executing (or executed again) the search.
• The user may be provided with the option to delete or remove any ofsearch listings1330 that are stored in the database. For example, as the user navigates a cursor to a search listing of interest, the user may press a delete key or remove key. As a result,processing circuitry306 may remove the entry associated with the search listing from the database. The user may thereafter no longer view media assets associated with that search listing and that search listing may be removed from the saved searchesregion1310. A confirmation screen (not shown) may be provided to allow the user to confirm whether he/she wants to delete or remove the particular search listing before the search listing is permanently removed. For example, after the user presses a remove or delete key for a particular search listing,processing circuitry306 may generate a display of a confirmation screen. The confirmation screen may have a “confirm” option and a “cancel” option. The user may select the confirm option to permanently delete the search listing and the cancel option to cancel the delete operation. The order of the remainingsearch listings1330 may be updated as a result of the user removing or deleting aparticular search listing1330.
• From savedsearches region1310, the user may navigate between different media asset representations displayed in mediaasset results region1320 by, for example, pressing a right arrow key to highlight or position a cursor over a media asset representation of interest to bring the media asset representation into focus. Media asset representations displayed in mediaasset results region1320 that appear further away from the media asset representation in focus may be shifted closer in the same perspective view as the user, for example, presses the right arrow key or some other key that instructsprocessing circuitry306 to bring into focus media asset representations that appear further in the perspective view. As media asset representations that are further away in the perspective view are brought into focus (e.g., made to appear larger and larger in the perspective view), the media asset representation that is closest in the perspective view (e.g., the media asset representation in focus) may be removed from the display.
• For example, media asset representation1322 (e.g., Quantum of Solace) may be the closest media asset representation (e.g., the media asset representation in focus), and accordingly when the user presses, for example, the right arrow key or some other key to bring into focus media asset representations that are further away (e.g., Casino Royale),media asset representation1322 may be removed to make room in the display. This is different from earlier embodiments where media guidance objects that are in the third perspective slide into the second perspective to be brought into focus for selection, as discussed in connection withFIGS. 5b,6 and9. Alternatively, the user my position a moveable cursor (e.g., a mouse) over the media asset representation of interest thereby preventing the closest media asset representation from being removed in order to select a media asset representation that is further in the perspective view.
• When the user selects a particular media asset representation (e.g., by pressing a confirm or enter key while a cursor is positioned over the desired media asset representation),processing circuitry306 may allow the user to view details, access or order the media asset associated with the media asset representation. For example,processing circuitry306 may navigate the user to screen1000 (FIG. 10) with information corresponding to the media asset associated with the selected media asset representation. As discussed above, fromscreen1000, the user may select various functions frommenu1010 to access, set reminders, schedule a recording, order, get detailed information, view cast members, etc. for the selected media asset.
• From savedsearches region1310, the user may navigate from savedsearches region1310 tovisual keypad1340 to execute a new search by, for example, pressing a left arrow key. The user may select between various numerical and alphanumerical symbols to identify criteria whichprocessing circuitry306 may use to execute a search for media assets. Visual keypads are discussed in greater detail in Brian Peterson U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12,466,585, filed May 15, 2009, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
• FIG. 14 shows anillustrative display screen1400 of a search operation that allows the user to search for media assets in different perspective views in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.Screen1400 may includevisual keypad1340, media asset search resultsregion1410 and relatedmedia assets region1450. As shown above inscreen1500,visual keypad1340 may be displayed in a first perspective view as one media guidance object, media asset search resultsregion1410 may be displayed in a second perspective view as a second media guidance object and relatedmedia assets region1450 may be displayed in a third perspective view as a fourth media guidance object or objects. The objects from each of the different perspective views may be adjacent to each other where the points of adjacency are at the edges of the media guidance objects.
• The user may position a cursor or focus region withinvisual keypad1340 to select (e.g., by pressing a “confirm” or “enter” key) a character provided invisual keypad1340. The character that is selected may be used to perform the search for media assets. In some implementations, the results corresponding to the search string may be presented in media asset search resultsregion1410 as the user selects different characters of the search string. For example, the user may wish to search for media assets having a title attribute that begins with the search string “BAT”. Accordingly, the user may first select the ‘B’ character andmedia asset representations1440 and1420 that correspond to media assets that have titles that begin with the letter ‘B’ may be displayed in media asset search resultsregion1410. When the user selects the second letter of the search string (e.g., ‘A’),media asset representation1420 that are displayed in media asset search resultsregion1410 may change to correspond to media assets that have titles that begin with the letters “BA”. In some implementations, the user may instructprocessing circuitry306 to only perform the search once the entire desired search string is provided through1340.
• As discussed above, the media asset representations displayed in mediaasset results region1410 identify to the user the media assets that match a given search string provided throughvisual keypad1340. The media asset representations displayed in mediaasset results region1410 may be displayed in perspective relative to each other. In particular, the media asset representations may be displayed in a similar manner as items in menu region1010 (FIG. 10).Media asset representation1440 that is shown to be further away from themedia asset representation1420 that is in focus may appear smaller thanmedia asset representation1420. More specifically, the media asset representations that are further away (e.g., require more presses of a direction arrow key to be placed in focus) may appear gradually smaller in size.
• The user may select which attributeprocessing circuitry306 should search through when searching for media assets by selecting one or more of theattributes1460.Attributes1460 may be displayed in the same or different perspective asvisual keypad1340. Also, attributes1460 may be displayed adjacentvisual keypad1340 and media assets resultsregion1410 or at any other suitable location on the display screen.Attributes1460 may also be omitted entirely from the display andprocessing circuitry306 may use a default attribute (e.g., title) to perform the search for media assets.
• Attributes1460 may include a television program attribute, an on-demand program attribute, my movies attribute, title, rating, detailed description, commentary, subject matter or any other suitable attribute that can be used to narrow or widen (based on whether the attribute is selected) the scope of media assets through which to search. For example, selection of the television program attribute, may instructprocessing circuitry306 to include television programs in the search for media assets. On the other hand, when the television program attribute is not selected,processing circuitry306 may exclude from the search media assets that are television programs.Attributes1460 may also instructprocessing circuitry306 where to search for media assets that match the search string. For example, attributes1460 may include a local search attribute which, when selected, may causeprocessing circuitry306 to search locally stored data and/or a remote search attribute which, when selected, may causeprocessing circuitry306 to search remotely stored data (e.g., via the Internet).
• In some implementations,processing circuitry306 may search locally stored data. Alternatively or in addition,processing circuitry306 may search a remote database via, for example, a network or the Internet. For example,processing circuitry306 may receive the search string and transmit the search string through a search engine website (e.g., GOOGLE.COM or TVGUIDE.COM) to receive matching media assets.
• When attributes1460 are displayed undervisual keypad1340 in the same perspective view, the user may select between various attributes by, for example, pressing a down arrow key to move the focus region away fromvisual keypad1340 and towardsattributes1460.
• Relatedmedia assets region1450 may display arow1430 of media asset representations that share attributes with each media asset that is represented in media asset search resultsregion1410. Eachrow1430 may include multiplemedia asset representations1442 and1444 where each media asset representation shares an attribute with the media asset representation in mediaasset results region1410 that is next to the row. In particular,row1430 may include multiple media asset representations and may be displayed next tomedia asset representation1420. Similarly,row1432 may include multiple media asset representations and may be displayed next tomedia asset representation1440.
• Each row may be sized to conform to the size of the media asset representation that corresponds to the row. For example,row1432 may include media asset representations that have a size that is substantially identical or similar to the size ofmedia asset representation1440. This aids the user in identifying which row corresponds to which media asset representation displayed in mediaasset results region1410. More specifically, the media asset representations that are displayed in mediaasset results region1410 may be displayed in perspective to one another (as discussed above) and similarly, the media asset representations in each ofrows1432 and1430 may be displayed in perspective to each other. In particular, the media assets displayed inrow1432 may be further away fromrow1430 corresponding to themedia asset representation1420 in focus and thereby may be smaller in size than the media asset representations inrow1430.
• In some implementations, relatedmedia assets region1450 may only display a single row ofmedia asset representations1430 that share attributes with only the media asset that is represented by the media asset representation in focus. In such scenarios, the single row of related media asset representations may appear as media asset results region1320 (FIG. 13). In particular, when multiple rows are displayed, each of the media asset representations may be smaller in size to allow for the larger number of media asset representations to be displayed. Whereas, when only one row is displayed, a larger portion of the screen may be apportioned for displaying the row of media asset representations.
• As discussed above, as the user changes the search criteria (e.g., by adding more characters to the search string), the media asset representations displayed in mediaasset results region1410 also change. Accordingly, the media asset representations displayed in the rows corresponding to the media asset representations displayed in mediaasset results region1410 may also change with each change in search criteria.
• The rows of media asset representations may be related to the media assets represented by the media asset representations in mediaasset results region1410 by an attribute the user selected to search media assets (e.g., title) and by at least one other attribute. For example, all the media asset representations inrow1430 may be part of a series (e.g., episodes or volumes) of media assets associated with themedia asset representation1420. In particular,media asset representation1420 may correspond to the movie “Batman” or a latest one of the series of movies of “Batman” and each media asset representation inrow1430 may correspond to each of the earlier series of the movie “Batman”. In addition, each of the media asset representations inrow1430 may have the same characters of the search string in their title asmedia asset1420 and may belong to the same category (e.g., Family movies) asmedia asset1420. One row in relatedmedia assets region1450 may include a different number of media asset representations than another one of the rows. This is because there may be a different number of media assets that are related to each different media asset representation displayed in mediaasset results region1410.
• Any of the media asset representations in the rows displayed in relatedmedia assets region1450 or mediaasset results region1410 may be selected by bringing the media asset representation into focus. Once the desired media asset representation is brought into focus, the user may press a “confirm” or “enter” key or other suitable key to select the media asset corresponding to the media asset representation. As a result of selecting a particular media asset representation, as discussed above, the user may schedule a recording, schedule a reminder, place an order, retrieve information or any other function may be performed for the media asset. In some implementations, selecting the media asset corresponding to the media asset representation may navigate the user to screen1000 (FIG. 10).
• Referring back toFIG. 8, the user may select an option to access an online video vendor (e.g., Blockbuster or Netflix) fromsubmenu bar820 directly or through a website. A display screen may be provided for the user to search, order, or otherwise interact with the online video vender using perspective views or menus and media assets.
• FIG. 15 shows anillustrative display screen1500 of accessing an online video vendor with perspective views in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. In particular,screen1500 illustrates the implementation where the media guidance objects discussed in connection with screens500a-c(FIGS. 5a-c) are media asset representations corresponding to media assets the user may order from the online video vendor. In particular,media asset representation1510 displayed in a first perspective view may correspond tomedia guidance object510aandmedia asset representations1520 and1530 displayed in a second perspective view may correspond to media guidance objects512aand516a. For example,screen1500 may include a online video vendor menu and a media assets region that displays media assets corresponding to the menu option that is in focus.
• The items in the online video vendor menu may be displayed in perspective relative to one another similar to the way in which options may be displayed in menu740 (FIG. 7). For example, the item that is in focus may be displayed with larger text size than items not in focus. More specifically, the further away in the menu that items are from the item in focus, the smaller they may appear to be (e.g., smaller text size). As shown,item1550 is in focus corresponding to the menu selection of “last week top choices.” Items that are in the menu that are further away, such as “my recommendations” appear smaller thanitem1550.
• The items provided in the online video vendor menu may correspond to various options provided by the online video vendor. For example, the items may correspond to online video vendor options including “my instant queue,” “my recommendations,” “new releases,” “browse genres,” “last week top choices,” “search,” and “sign out.”
• As the user navigates between different items in the online video vendor menu by, for example, bringing each item into focus by pressing the up/down arrow keys, media asset representations or other media guidance objects corresponding to the selected item may be displayed adjacent to the online video vendor menu. The user may interact (e.g., select, bring into focus, or provide input) with the media asset representations or other media guidance objects that are displayed by, for example, pressing the right/left arrow keys.
• The user may bring the item corresponding to “my instant queue” into focus by, for example pressing up/down arrow keys. Alternatively, the user may position a cursor over the particular item and press a select key.Processing circuitry306 may generate a display of media asset representations corresponding to media assets that are in the queue of the online video vendor adjacent to the menu. The queue may include media assets in which the user has an interest and requested to be checked out, mailed, delivered, emailed or downloaded at the next available opportunity. In particular, the user may add or remove media assets from the queue.
• The media asset representations corresponding to the “my instant queue” menu item selection may be arranged in accordance with their order of availability or future mailing date. For example,media asset representation1510, which may be displayed in a first perspective view, may correspond to a media asset that is to be provided to the user (by mail, email or download) next (e.g., when the user returns a media asset that is checked out). Additionally,media asset representations1520 and1530, which may be displayed in a second perspective view different from the first perspective view, may correspond to media assets that are to be provided aftermedia asset representation1510. In some implementations,media asset representation1510 which is displayed in the first perspective view may correspond to a media asset that is currently checked out to the user whilemedia asset representations1520 and1530 may correspond to media assets that will be provided to the user at the next available opportunity (e.g., when the user returns or checks-in the media asset corresponding to media asset representation1510).
• The user may rearrange the order of the media assets in the queue by bringing into focus one of the media asset representations corresponding to the “my instant queue” item of the online video vendor menu. For example, once the media asset representation of interest is in focus, the user may press a “confirm” key and cause that media asset representation to be moved to the front of the queue. Alternatively, in some implementations, pressing the “confirm” key may cause the media asset in focus to be moved to the end of the queue. In some other embodiments, the user may press a suitable key when a media asset representation is in focus and indicate a number within the queue in which to place the corresponding media asset.
• As discussed above in connection withFIG. 6, each media asset representation may include a title or other textual identifier. In particular,media asset representation1520 may correspond to the media asset “Batman Returns” and accordingly such anidentifier1541 of the title may be displayed in close proximity (e.g., underneath or above)media asset representation1520. In some implementations, the identifiers corresponding to the media asset representations that are displayed in close proximity to the media asset representations may also be displayed in perspective to one another. For example, the titles in the second perspective view may gradually appear smaller and smaller for media asset representations that appear further and further away.
• To bring media asset representations into focus, the user may press a right/left arrow key. As a result,processing circuitry306 may slidemedia asset representation1520 from the second perspective view into the first perspective view. Additionally, the media asset representations that are displayed further away frommedia asset representation1520 may be brought into closer view.
• The user may bring the item corresponding to “my recommendations” or “new releases” or “last week top choices” into focus by, for example pressing up/down arrow keys. Alternatively, the user may position a cursor over the particular item and press a select key.Processing circuitry306 may generate a display of media asset representations corresponding to menu item in focus and the user may press left/right arrow keys to bring into focus one of the media asset representations. In particular, when the item corresponding to “my recommendations” is in focus, processingcircuitry306 may generate a display of media asset representations corresponding media assets that the online video vendor recommends for the user based on, for example, a user profile or previous media assets that the user added to the queue or in which the user indicated an interest. When the item corresponding to “new releases” is in focus, processingcircuitry306 may generate a display of media asset representations corresponding media assets that have recently (e.g., within the past week or two) been made available on Bluray, DVD or download. When the item corresponding to “last week top choices” is in focus, processingcircuitry306 may generate a display of media asset representations corresponding media assets that were most rented, checked out or downloaded or were highest rated in the previous week.
• The media asset representation that is in focus may be added to the queue associated with the user by pressing a confirm key or some other suitable key. Additionally, the user may press an info key to bring up a display of detailed information about the media asset corresponding to the media asset representation in focus similar to screen1200 (FIG. 12). The user may also obtain instant access to the media asset corresponding to the media asset representation in focus (e.g., by way of streaming video or download) when available by the online video vendor.
• At any point in the media guidance application (i.e., when in any of the screens discussed above and below), the user may press a menu key or other suitable key to bring up the display of main menu screen700 (FIG. 7). Alternatively, instead of navigating back toscreen700 when the user presses the menu key,main menu bar740 may be displayed on a side of the screen being viewed. In some implementations, whenmain menu bar740 is displayed on a side of the screen being viewed, themain menu bar740 may be displayed in a different perspective than the media guidance objects that are displayed in the screen being viewed.
• When the item corresponding to “search” is in focus, processingcircuitry306 may generate for display adjacent to the online video vendor menu a search screen similar to the one discussed in connection withFIGS. 13 and 14. For example,visual keypad1340 may be displayed in a first perspective view different from the perspective view of the video vendor menu andsearch listings region1310 or1410 may be displayed as the media guidance objects adjacent the visual keypad in a second perspective view. Alternatively, when the item corresponding to “search” is in focus and the confirm key is pressed,processing circuitry306 may navigate the user to search screen1300 (FIG. 13). The user may bring into focus any media asset representations resulting from the search to add corresponding media assets to the video vendor queue or to access the corresponding media assets immediately via direct download, live streaming or email.
• Referring back toFIG. 7, the user may select an option to access a personal photo library frommain menu bar740. A display screen may be provided for the user which presents the user's personal photo library using perspective views.
• FIG. 16 shows anillustrative display screen1600 of accessing a personal photo library using perspective views in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. In particular,screen1600 illustrates the implementation where the media guidance objects discussed in connection with screens500a-c(FIGS. 5a-c) are photo album representation and corresponding photographs. In particular,photo album representation1630 displayed in a first perspective view may correspond tomedia guidance object514a,photograph1610 displayed in a second perspective view may correspond to media guidance objects510aandphotograph1620 displayed in a third perspective view may correspond to media guidance objects512a.
• The photo album that is in focus may be displayed in the center of the screen. As shown inscreen1600, multiple photo albums with their corresponding photographs may be viewed simultaneously in perspective. The photo albums and the corresponding photographs may be retrieved from local storage, from a remote device, a remote server or the Internet.
• Screen1600 may include one or morephoto album arrays1640 that are each displayed in perspective relative to one another. Aphoto album array1640 may includephoto album representation1630 displayed in a first perspective view withphotograph1610 that belongs to the photo album corresponding tophoto album representation1630 being displayed in a different second perspective view adjacent tophoto album representation1630. The remaining photographs that belong to the photo album corresponding tophoto album representation1630 may be displayed adjacent tophotograph1610 in a third perspective view. Althoughphoto album arrays1640 are shown as extending across the screen from left to right, they may be displayed down the screen from top to bottom or bottom to top. In such an implementation, the photo album representation may be displayed at the top or bottom of the screen while the photographs belonging to the photo album corresponding to the photo album representation may be displayed adjacent each other and adjacent to the photo album representation.
• Thephoto album arrays1640 may be displayed adjacent to each other and in perspective relative to the photo album array that is in focus. For example, as shown inscreen1600,photo album array1640 is in focus and the adjacent photo album arrays gradually decrease in size. In particular, the photo album representations and photographs belonging to the photo albums corresponding to the respective photo album representations gradually appear smaller as they increase in distance from the photo album array in focus. This creates the appearance of a pyramid of photographs from all of the albums where the photo album array in focus is displayed at the top of the pyramid and the rest of the photo album arrays are displayed on respective steps of the pyramid with one photo album array being displayed per step of the pyramid.
• The user may bring photo album arrays into focus by, for example pressing an up/down arrow key. In particular, when the user presses an up arrow key,processing circuitry306 may slide onto the top of the pyramid the photo album array corresponding to the photo album representation “Japanese garden” and slide down into the next step of the pyramid the photo album array corresponding to the photo album representation “Muir woods.” Alternatively, the user may simply position a moveable cursor over a desired photo album array and press an action or confirm key to bring the desired photo album array into focus.
• The user may bring into focus different photographs by pressing left/right arrow keys. In particular, the user may press a right arrow key and as aresult processing circuitry306 may slide through a fold from the third perspective view into the secondperspective view photograph1620 and slide out of the secondperspective view photograph1610. In particular, a fold may appear between the photograph in focus in the second perspective view and the rest of the photographs that belong to the album in the third perspective view. When the user presses a right arrow key, the next photograph in the third perspective view immediately adjacent the photograph in focus in the second perspective view may slide through the fold from the third perspective view into the second perspective view. In some other embodiments, instead of sliding from the third perspective view into the second perspective view, the immediately adjacent photograph may instantaneously be moved from the third perspective view into the second perspective view with a jump operation.
• In some implementations, the photo album representations displayed in the first perspective view may be static such that as the user slides different photographs from the third perspective view into the second perspective view through the fold, the photo album representations remain stationary or unchanged. In some implementations, the user may shift the photo album representations displayed in the first perspective view out of the screen. In such scenarios, more room may be provided for displaying the photographs. When the photo album representations are shifted out of the screen, only two perspective views may be provided where the photograph in focus in the second perspective view may be displayed in the first perspective view and the immediately adjacent photographs that belong to the same album may be displayed in the second perspective view. The remaining rows are arranged in a similar manner in the two perspective view scenario when the photo album representations are shifted out of the display.
• In some implementations, the photo album representations may be caused to slide into the second perspective view from the first perspective view through a fold that appears between the photo album representations and the photographs that are displayed in the second perspective view. This may allow more photo album representations to be displayed at once and may enable the user to see and select more photo album representations. For example, when the photo album representations are caused to slide into the second perspective view from the first perspective view, the photographs displayed in the second perspective view may be caused to slide into the third perspective view and additional photo album representations may be brought into view in the first perspective view. When the user selects a particular photo album representation, the screen may return to display the photo album representations in the first perspective view and the corresponding photographs in the second and third perspective views as shown.
• The user may edit, rotate, print, access, playback or otherwise execute a desirable action on any photograph that is in focus. For example, the user may press a confirm key and cause the photograph that is in focus to be displayed on a full screen. Alternatively, the user may press a confirm key or some other suitable key to have the photographs of the photo album array that is in focus be displayed in a full screen slideshow.
• Althoughscreen1600 has been shown and described in the context of a photo album and corresponding photographs, it should be understood that the teaching applies to any other type of personal media. For example, in some embodiments,screen1600 may display user playlists in a similar multiple playlist arrays arrangement as the photo album arrays arrangement. In particular, each playlist array may include a playlist representation (e.g., name of the playlist) in place of thephoto album representation1630 and the media assets belonging to the playlist in place ofphotographs1610 and1620. The media assets of the playlists may be digital audio assets or video assets or a combination thereof.
• In some other embodiments,screen1600 may display favorite websites of the user in a similar multiple favorite website arrays arrangement as the photo album arrays arrangement. In particular, each favorite websites array may include a favorite websites category representation (e.g., news websites or email websites) in place of thephoto album representation1630 and images of home pages of the websites belonging to the favorite websites category in place ofphotographs1610 and1620. The website home pages may be locally cached or accessed as they are needed (e.g., as a favorite websites array is brought into view when the user changes which favorite websites array is in focus). As discussed with reference toscreen1600 displaying photo album arrays, the user may press a confirm key or other suitable key when a favorite websites array is in focus andprocessing circuitry306 may create a full screen slideshow of each of the websites belonging to the favorite websites array. The user may configure the length of time each website belonging to the favorites website array is displayed on the screen before the next website is displayed. Additionally, each website may be configured to be displayed for a different length of time even though it belongs to the same favorites website array.
• Referring back toFIG. 7, the user may select an option to add a widget to the screen frommain menu bar740. A display screen may be provided that includes a media asset (e.g., a television program) and overlaid on the media asset may be one or more widgets that the user has added.
• FIG. 17 shows anillustrative display screen1700 of a media asset overlaid with widgets in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. In particular,screen1700 may include the display of avideo asset1720 and one ormore widgets1710,1730 and1720. The widgets may be various modular type applications that the user can interact with while accessing or viewing a media asset.
• One or more ofwidgets1710,1730 and1720 may be partially transparent to allow the user to view both the widget content and the media asset content in the same portion of the display. Some of the widgets may be interactive while other widgets that are displayed may present static information (e.g., sports scores). In order to change which widget is in focus (i.e., the widget with which the user may interact with), the user may toggle the widgets in focus by pressing a left/right arrow key.
• For example,widget1710 may present stock quotes. The stock quotes presented bywidget1710 may be in real-time (i.e., may update as the public is buying/selling a particular stock) or may provide last sale information and ticker symbol information (e.g., graphs and detailed description). Whenwidget1710 is in focus, the user may change which stock quote is being provided by entering in a new ticker symbol or pressing a suitable key to toggle between ticker symbols stored in a stock portfolio associated with the user.
• After the user has selected the desired stock quote, the user may accesswidget1730 by, for example, pressing a left/right arrow key. In particular, the user may press a right arrow key to bringwidget1730 into focus and may press a left arrow key to return to theprevious widget1710 that was in focus.Widget1730 may be a social networking application that allows a user to view a status of other people and update the user's own status (e.g., Facebook or Twitter). Whenwidget1730 is in focus, the user may input a text string indicating what he/she is doing right now. The user may also navigate withinwidget1730 to find out what his/her friends are doing right now by viewing their status.
• Other applications that may be provided similar towidget1730 are chat applications that allow the user to interact with other people around the world (e.g., by using video chat, text chat or voice chat using for example, Skype). In some embodiments, theprocessing circuitry306 may monitor what the user is communicating (e.g., typing, saying, looking at) and provide recommendations based on that information. For example,processing circuitry306 may monitor a chat session the user is having with a friend using one or more of the widgets or may monitor a status update associated with the user from one or more of the widgets. Based on the content being discussed during the chat session or status update,processing circuitry306 may provide future media asset recommendations. In particular, the user may be chatting with a friend about a future episode of the show “Family Guy.”Processing circuitry306 may remind the user at a later time (e.g., five minutes before the show is broadcast) about the chat session and inform the user that the show that was discussed in the chat session is about to begin. Alternatively,processing circuitry306 may automatically record the corresponding media assets.
• The user may also select the position in which the widgets are displayed on the screen. This feature may be desirable to avoid obstructing a particular region of the screen. For example, the user may have an interest in obstructing or not obstructing different regions of the screen for different programming. Accordingly, the user may pressing an up/down arrow key when a particular widget is in focus to move that widget around the screen to a desirable location. It should be noted that other keys besides the up/down arrow keys may be used to move a widget around the screen. Also, the widget may be positioned anywhere on the screen not limited to the corners as shown inscreen1700. In some implementations, the user may use a movable cursor to select a widget to bring into focus and/or to move a selected widget to a particular location on the screen.
• In some embodiments,processing circuitry306 may store the location that the user selected for a particular widget.Processing circuitry306 may also store the media asset that was being accessed when the widget was moved to a particular location. When the user views or accesses the same media asset or some episode of the media asset at a later time or date,processing circuitry306 may retrieve the stored location and automatically display the widget in the previously selected location. This may reduce a burden on the user to move the widget again to the previously selected location when accessing the same or similar media asset.
• The user may remove widgets from the display by bringing a widget into focus and pressing a suitable key such as a delete key. The user may add more widgets onto the display by, for example, pressing a menu key. Pressing the menu key may bring up the display of main menu740 (FIG. 7) with thewidgets item720 in focus. The user may select a new widget frommain menu740 and as a result the selected widget may appear on the display screen. The default location of the newly displayed widget may be in a corner of the screen but the location may be changed either manually by the user (as discussed above) or automatically by processingcircuitry306 based on a previously stored location for the selected widget.
• Widget1720 may present the user with scores for sports games in which the user indicates an interest. For example, the user may select various teams or games in which they have an interest and when those teams/games are playing,widget1720 may provide up-to-date score reports in real-time. In some implementations,widget1720 may provide a video feed of the live game or clips of highlights of a particular score made by a team. The video feed provided bywidget1720 may be received over the Internet from a website or by tuning to a channel on a tuner (when multiple tuners are available) in the media equipment device.
• In some embodiments, the user may store favorite teams or sports to a profile. When one of the teams or sports are being played,processing circuitry306 may automatically displaywidget1720 with the score report of the favorite team or sport. Accordingly, when the user forgets about a particular game or team in which the user has an interest or when a time change is made to the favorite game unknown to the user, the user may nevertheless be reminded and informed about the score of the favorite team or game with the automatic display ofwidget1720.
• While the user is viewing or accessingmedia asset1720, the user may press a confirm key or info key to view a detailed information overlay corresponding tomedia asset1720. The information overlay may include a summary aboutmedia asset1720, time and channel information, runtime, time left in the program, related media assets, a list of friends associated with the user that have an interest in the media asset or any other suitable information. The overlay may present similar information about any other media asset not limited tomedia asset1720 being accessed. In particular, the overlay may be changed to see what is on a different program source or channel now or at a later or earlier time/date.
• FIG. 18 shows an illustrative display screen1800 of an information overlay1810 displayed with a media asset in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Overlay1810 may include an information region and a menu region1820. Menu region1820 may include items that are displayed in perspective relative to each other. The items of the menu may correspond to actions the user may select to perform for the media asset corresponding to the information being displayed in overlay1810.
• Items of menu region1820 may include “what's next,” “record,” “close,” “more info,” “similar shows” and/or any other suitable option (e.g., set reminder, other airtimes, etc.). Anther item that is not shown that may be included in menu region1820 may be an “add to playlist” item which adds the media asset corresponding to the information in menu region1820 to a playlist of media assets.
• The user may navigate or bring into focus different items of menu region1820 by, for example, pressing an up/down arrow key. The items of menu1820 may be displayed in a similar manner as the items of main menu740 (FIG. 7). For example, the item in focus may be more prominently displayed (e.g., larger in size) than other items of menu region1820. In particular, items of menu region1820 that are further away from the item in focus may be displayed in gradually decreasing sizes with the item furthest away being smallest in size.
• The user may select the item in focus by, for example, pressing a confirm key. In particular, when the “close” item is in focus, selection of the confirm key may close overlay1810 and make the overlay disappear. Selection of the “record” item may schedule for recording the media asset corresponding to the information being displayed. Selection of “more info” item may bring up a display similar to screen1000 (FIG. 10). The user may then interact with the display in a similar manner as discussed above in connection withscreen1000 to perform actions and view detailed information about the media asset corresponding to the information being displayed in overlay1810.
• FIG. 19 is an illustrative flow diagram1900 for using a media guidance application with perspective views in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. Atstep1910, a first media guidance application object is displayed in a first perspective view. For example, firstmedia asset representation652 may be displayed in a first perspective view (FIG. 6). Additionally, the media asset representations may be arranged in alphabetical order or some other suitable order such as in order of relevance to the user. In another embodiment, first program listing912 may be displayed in a first perspective view (FIG. 9). Additionally, the program listings may be placed in an order corresponding to the broadcast time or time interval of the corresponding programs. In some implementations, the first media guidance application object that is displayed in the first perspective view may include all of the displayed program listings that correspond to a particular time interval.
• Atstep1920, a second media guidance application object is displayed in a second perspective view different from the first perspective view. A fold appears between the first and second media guidance application objects where the first perspective view changes into the second perspective view. For example, second and thirdmedia asset representations654 and655 may be displayed in a second perspective view (FIG. 6). In another embodiment, second andthird program listings922 and932 may be displayed in a second perspective view (FIG. 9). In some implementations, the second and third media guidance application objects that are displayed in the second perspective view may include all of the displayed program listings that correspond to a particular time interval that is later in time than the time interval of the program listings that are in focus (i.e., the program listings displayed in the first perspective view).
• Atstep1930, the second media guidance application object is made to slide from the second perspective view into the first perspective view through the fold. For example, when the user presses a right arrow key,processing circuitry306 slidesmedia asset representation654 from the second perspective view into the first perspective view.Media asset representation652 is removed from the first perspective view andmedia asset representation654 becomes in focus. Similarly, in another embodiment, when the user presses a right arrow key,processing circuitry306 slides program listing922 from the second perspective view into the first perspective view and updates the time interval displayed in the first perspective view to correspond to the time interval associated withprogram listing922.Program listing912 is removed from the first perspective view andprogram listing922 becomes in focus. In some implementations, when the user presses a right arrow key, all of the program listings associated with thenext time interval920 slide into the first perspective view from the second perspective view and all of the program listings associated with the currently viewedtime interval90 are removed from the first perspective view.
• Atstep1940, the second media guidance application object that is displayed in the first perspective view is selected. For example, secondmedia asset representation654 or program listing922 that is now in focus in the first perspective view may be selected. When the media asset representation or program listing is selected the media asset corresponding to the selected media asset representation or program listing may be accessed or played back or the user may be navigated to a detailed description screen1000 (FIG. 10) corresponding to the media asset.
• FIG. 20 is an illustrative flow diagram2000 for using a media guidance application with perspective views in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. Atstep2010, a plurality of media asset search listings are displayed in a first perspective view. For example, saved searches region1310 (FIG. 13) may display a plurality of mediaasset search listings1330 that each represent a previously executed search for media assets. Similarly, media asset search results region1410 (FIG. 14) may display a plurality of mediaasset search listings1440 and1420 that each represent a media asset associated with a search string provided withvisual keypad1340.
• Atstep2020, a plurality of media guidance application objects that are associated with one of the media asset search listings are displayed in a second perspective view that is different from the first perspective view. For example, mediaasset results region1320 may displaymedia asset representations1322 that each represent media assets that correspond to a search listing that is in focus (FIG. 13). Similarly, relatedmedia assets region1450 may display arow1430 of media asset representations for each mediaasset search listing1440 and1420 that is displayed in media asset search resultsregion1410 where eachrow1430 include media asset representations of media assets related to thecorresponding search listing1440 and1420 (FIG. 14).
• Atstep2030, one of the plurality of media guidance application objects that are displayed in the second perspective view is selected. For example, the user may press a right/left arrow key to bring into focus one of the media asset representations. The media asset representation that is in focus may be selected. When the media asset representation is selected the media asset corresponding to the selected media asset representation may be accessed or played back or the user may be navigated to a detailed description screen1000 (FIG. 10) corresponding to the media asset.
• FIG. 21 is an illustrative flow diagram2100 for generating a display of media guidance objects in perspective views in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. Atstep2110, a determination is made as to the number of perspective views that are to be generated for display. When it is determined that two perspective views are needed, the process proceeds to step2130. When it is determined that three perspective views are needed, the process proceeds to step2112. For example,processing circuitry306 may determine that a three perspective view display is necessary when a user needs to login to the system (e.g.,FIG. 5b), when a display of program schedule is necessary (e.g.,FIG. 9) or when a search function is to be performed (e.g.,FIGS. 13 and 14).Processing circuitry306 may determine that a two perspective view display is necessary when presenting media assets for selection (e.g., previously recoded media assets, email messages, or assets in an online video vendor queue) (FIGS. 6 and 15).
• Atstep2130, storage locations of media guidance objects are retrieved from memory. For example, media guidance objects such as media asset representations, user profile representations, scheduling information, search functions, photo album and photograph representations may be stored in a memory as a single or double linked list, data structures, databases, or any other type of organizational storage object.Processing circuitry306 may determine where media guidance objects are stored and generate a pointer to the first of the media guidance objects in the memory.Processing circuitry306 may retrieve the first two media guidance objects from the memory.
• Atstep2132, one of the media guidance objects from a first storage location is displayed in a first perspective view. For example,processing circuitry306 may generate a display that includesmedia guidance object510afrom the first storage location in a first perspective view (e.g.,perspective view582a(FIG. 5a)). Media guidance objects in the first perspective view may appear flat on the display screen.
• Atstep2134, another one of the media guidance objects from a next or subsequent storage location is displayed in a second perspective view. For example,processing circuitry306 may advance by one storage location the pointer past the last storage location from which media objects were retrieved and retrieve from that storage locationmedia guidance object512aand generate a display that includesmedia guidance object512afrom the next storage location in a second perspective view (e.g.,perspective view584a(FIG. 5a)). Media guidance objects in the first perspective view may as though they are going into the display screen and gradually decreasing in size.
• Atstep2136, a determine is made as to whether there is enough room in the display screen for clearly presenting or displaying more media guidance objects. When it is determined that there is available room on the display screen, the process returns to step2134 to display another media guidance object. When it is determined that there is no available room on the display screen, the process proceeds to step2138. For example,processing circuitry306 may determine whether displaying another media guidance object in a particular perspective view may cause the media guidance object to be too distorted (e.g., because the media guidance object would appear too small or too large) such that it cannot be clearly identified. When such a determination is madeprocessing circuitry306 may determine that there is not enough room to clearly display another media guidance object.
• Atstep2138, a determination is made as to whether a user input was received. When the received user input is a left command (e.g., a left direction arrow key is pressed), the process proceeds to step2610 in flow diagram2600 (FIG. 26). When the received user input is a right command (e.g., a right direction arrow key is pressed), the process proceeds to step2710 in flow diagram2700 (FIG. 27). When the received user input is a keypad request or menu command, the process proceeds to step2118. When the received user input is a confirm command (e.g., an enter key or confirm key is pressed), the process proceeds to step2140. As discussed, above, the commands may be received through any input means such as a remote controller, voice activation, voice recognition, wireless or wired device, vision analysis (e.g., where the eyes are positioned and looking at), optical scan, infrared devices, one or more laser pointers, or other suitable means.
• Atstep2140, an action associated with the media guidance object displayed in the first perspective view is performed. For example, when a user profile representation is the media guidance object displayed in the first perspective view,processing circuitry306 may login a user associated with the particular profile representation as the action that is performed. When a media asset representation is the media guidance object displayed in the first perspective view,processing circuitry306 may access, order or playback the media asset associated with the media asset representation as the action that is performed. The process then returns to step2110.
• Atstep2610, a determination is made as to whether a jump setting is enabled or whether the command issued is a jump command. When it is determined that the jump setting is enabled or jump command is issued, the process proceeds to step2612, otherwise the process proceeds to step2614.
• Atstep2612, the media guidance object displayed in the first perspective view adjacent the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view is instantaneously moved from the first perspective view into the second perspective view.
• Atstep2614, the media guidance object displayed in the first perspective view adjacent the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view is caused to slide from the first perspective view into the second perspective view.
• Atstep2616, media guidance objects within the second perspective view are shifted over one media guidance object space to the right.
• Atstep2618, a determination is made as to whether there is a media guidance object in a storage location that precedes the media guidance object displayed in the first perspective view before the user input was received. When it is determined that there is such a media guidance object, the process proceeds to step2620, otherwise the process proceeds to step2622.
• Atstep2620, a media guidance object from the storage location that precedes the media guidance object displayed in the first perspective view before the user input was received is displayed in the first perspective view. The process then returns to step2138 (FIG. 21).
• Atstep2622, the media guidance object displayed in the first perspective view is prevented from begin caused to slide or moved insteps2614 and2616. In particular, steps2614 and2616 may be omitted or the operations associated with them may be undone when no media guidance object is available in a storage location that precedes the media guidance object displayed in the first perspective view before the user input was received.
• Atstep2624, a prompt indicating that no media guidance objects that precede the media guidance object displayed in the first perspective view are available may be displayed. The process then returns to step2138 (FIG. 21).
• When the received user input atstep2138 is a right command (e.g., a right direction arrow key is pressed), the process proceeds to step2710 in flow diagram2700 (FIG. 27). Atstep2710, a determination is made as to whether a jump setting is enabled or whether the command issued is a jump command. When it is determined that the jump setting is enabled or jump command is issued, the process proceeds to step2712, otherwise the process proceeds to step2716.
• Atstep2712, the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view adjacent the media guidance object displayed in the first perspective view is instantaneously moved from the second perspective view into the first perspective view.
• Atstep2714, the media guidance object in the first perspective view is removed from the display.
• Atstep2716, the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view adjacent the media guidance object displayed in the first perspective view is caused to slide from the second perspective view into the first perspective view.
• Atstep2718, the media guidance object displayed in the first perspective view is caused to slide out of the first perspective view off the display.
• Atstep2720, media guidance objects displayed within the second perspective view are shifted over one media guidance object space to the left.
• Atstep2722, a determination is made as to whether there exists a media guidance object in a storage location that follows the storage location of the last media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view before the user input was received. When it is determined that such a media guidance object exists, the process proceeds to step2724, otherwise the process returns to step2138 (FIG. 21).
• Atstep2724, the media guidance object from the storage location that follows the storage location of the last media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view before the user input was received is displayed in the second perspective view. The process then proceeds to step2138 (FIG. 21).
• Referring back to step2110 (FIG. 21), when it is determined that three perspective views are needed, the process proceeds to step2112. Atstep2112, storage locations of media guidance objects are retrieved from memory. For example, media guidance objects such as media asset representations, user profile representations, scheduling information, search functions, photo album and photograph representations may be stored in a memory as a single or double linked list, data structures, databases, or any other type of organizational storage object.Processing circuitry306 may determine where media guidance objects are stored and generate a pointer to the first of the media guidance objects in the memory.Processing circuitry306 may retrieve the first three media guidance objects from the memory.
• Atstep2114, one of the media guidance objects from a first storage location is displayed in a first perspective view. For example,processing circuitry306 may generate a display that includesmedia guidance object514afrom the first storage location in afirst perspective view580a(FIG. 5a).
• Atstep2116, a second one of the media guidance objects from a second storage location is displayed in a second perspective view. For example,processing circuitry306 may generate a display that includesmedia guidance object510afrom the first storage location in asecond perspective view582a(FIG. 5a).
• Atstep2118, another one of the media guidance objects from a next or subsequent storage location is displayed in a third perspective view. For example,processing circuitry306 may advance by one storage location the pointer past the last storage location from which media objects were retrieved and retrieve from that storage locationmedia guidance object512aand generate a display that includesmedia guidance object512afrom the next storage location in athird perspective view584a(FIG. 5a).
• Atstep2120, a determine is made as to whether there is enough room in the display screen for clearly presenting or displaying more media guidance objects. When it is determined that there is available room on the display screen, the process returns to step2118 to display another media guidance object. When it is determined that there is no available room on the display screen, the process proceeds to step2122. For example,processing circuitry306 may determine whether displaying another media guidance object in a particular perspective view may cause the media guidance object to be too distorted (e.g., because the media guidance object would appear too small or too large) such that it cannot be clearly identified. When such a determination is madeprocessing circuitry306 may determine that there is not enough room to clearly display another media guidance object.
• Atstep2122, a determination is made as to whether a user input was received. When the received user input is a left command (e.g., a left direction arrow key is pressed), the process proceeds to step2124. When the received user input is a right command (e.g., a right direction arrow key is pressed), the process proceeds to step2128. When the received user input is a toggle keypad view command, the process modifies the display to a two perspective display type by removing media guidance objects from the first perspective view and proceeds to step2138. When the received user input is a confirm command (e.g., an enter key or confirm key is pressed), the process proceeds to step2126. As discussed, above, the commands may be received through any input means such as a remote controller, voice activation, voice recognition, wireless or wired device, vision analysis (e.g., where the eyes are positioned and looking at), optical scan, infrared devices, one or more laser pointers, or other suitable means.
• Atstep2126, an action associated with the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view is performed. For example, when a user profile representation is the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view,processing circuitry306 may login a user associated with the particular profile representation as the action that is performed. When a media asset representation is the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view,processing circuitry306 may access, order or playback the media asset associated with the media asset representation as the action that is performed. When a search listing is the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view,processing circuitry306 may retrieve search results associated with the search listing as the action that is performed. The process then returns to step2101.
• Atstep2124, a determination is made as to whether the first perspective view is static. When it is determined that the first perspective view is static, the process proceeds to step2210 of flow diagram2200 (FIG. 22), otherwise the process proceeds to step2310 of flow diagram2300 (FIG. 23).Processing circuitry306 may determine that the first perspective view is static when, for example, a visual keypad (FIG. 13), album identifiers or playlist identifiers (FIG. 16), or source identifiers (FIG. 9) are the media guidance objects displayed in the first perspective view. In particular, processingcircuitry306 may determine that the first perspective view is static when, for example, media guidance objects displayed in the first perspective view relate to, correspond to, or otherwise identify media guidance objects displayed in other perspective views and as such media guidance objects displayed in the first perspective view may preferably not be moved or changed when the user navigates between the media guidance objects displayed in the other perspective views.
• Atstep2210, a determination is made as to whether a jump setting is enabled or whether the command issued is a jump command. For example, the system may be configured to with jump or slide settings. As a default, the system may be configured to have jump disabled but the user may change this setting. In some implementations, even though the jump setting may be enabled, the user may issue a slide command (e.g., using a suitable key on the remote control or verbal command) and processing circuitry may executeprocess2200 as if the jump were disabled. When it is determined that the jump setting is enabled or jump command is issued, the process proceeds to step2212, otherwise the process proceeds to step2216.
• Atstep2212, the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view adjacent the media guidance object displayed in the third perspective view is instantaneously moved from the second perspective view into the third perspective view. For example,media guidance object510adisplayed insecond perspective view582amay instantaneously be moved into and in place ofmedia guidance object512adisplayed inthird perspective view584a. Alternatively, atstep2216,media guidance object510adisplayed insecond perspective view582amay be caused to slide over time into and in place ofmedia guidance object512adisplayed inthird perspective view584aas shown in the opposite direction ofFIGS. 5band5c.
• Atstep2214, the media guidance objects within the third perspective view are shifted one media guidance object space over to the right. For example, shifting the media guidance objects over by one media guidance object space may make enough room to display clearly the media guidance object that is moved into the third perspective view. Some media guidance objects that are moved to make room may become unclearly displayed and distorted because of their size and orientation and accordingly may be omitted from the display. The media guidance object space is the amount of space (e.g., length or width) a media guidance object takes up in the display. Shifting the media guidance objects over by one space means that each media guidance object is displayed in a position of the immediately adjacent media guidance object to the right or media guidance object that is next to or to the right of a given media guidance object.
• Atstep2216, the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view adjacent the media guidance object displayed in the third perspective view is caused to slide from the second perspective view into the third perspective view.
• Atstep2218, the media guidance objects within the third perspective view are shifted one media guidance object space over to the right.
• Atstep2220, a determination is made as to whether there exists a media guidance object in a storage location that precedes the storage location of the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view before the user input was received. When it is determined that such a media guidance object exists, the process proceeds to step2226, otherwise the process returns to step2222.
• Atstep2226, the media guidance object from the storage location that precedes the storage location of the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view before the user input was received is displayed in the second perspective view. The process then returns to step2122 (FIG. 21).
• Atstep2222, the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view is prevented from being caused to slide or moved insteps2212 and2216. In particular, steps2212 and2216 may be omitted or the operations associated with them may be undone when no media guidance object is available in a storage location that precedes the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view before the user input was received.
• Atstep2224, a prompt indicating that no media guidance objects that precede the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view are available may be displayed. The process then returns to step2122 (FIG. 21).
• Referring back tostep2124, when it is determined that the first perspective view is not static, the process proceeds to step2310 (FIG. 23). Atstep2310, a determination is made as to whether a jump setting is enabled or whether the command issued is a jump command. When it is determined that the jump setting is enabled or jump command is issued, the process proceeds to step2312, otherwise the process proceeds to step2316.
• Atstep2312, the media guidance object displayed in the first perspective view adjacent the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view is instantaneously moved from the first perspective view into the second perspective view. For example,media guidance object514adisplayed infirst perspective view580aadjacentmedia guidance object510amay instantaneously be moved into and in place ofmedia guidance object510adisplayed insecond perspective view582a. Alternatively, atstep2316,media guidance object514adisplayed infirst perspective view580aadjacentmedia guidance object510amay be caused to slide over time into and in place ofmedia guidance object510adisplayed insecond perspective view582aas shown in the opposite direction ofFIGS. 5band5c.
• Atstep2314, the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view adjacent the media guidance object displayed in the third perspective view is instantaneously moved from the second perspective view into the third perspective view. For example,media guidance object510adisplayed insecond perspective view582aadjacentmedia guidance object512amay instantaneously be moved into and in place ofmedia guidance object512adisplayed inthird perspective view584a.
• Alternatively, atstep2318,media guidance object510adisplayed insecond perspective view580aadjacentmedia guidance object512amay be caused to slide over time into and in place ofmedia guidance object512adisplayed inthird perspective view584aas shown in the opposite direction ofFIGS. 5band5c.
• Atstep2316, the media guidance object displayed in the first perspective view adjacent the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view is caused to slide from the first perspective view into the second perspective view.
• Atstep2318, the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view adjacent the media guidance object displayed in the third perspective view is caused to slide from the second perspective view into the third perspective view.
• Atstep2320, the media guidance objects within the first and third perspective views are shifted over by one media guidance space to the right. For example, shifting the media guidance objects over by one media guidance object space may make enough room to display clearly the media guidance object that is moved into the first or third perspective view. Some media guidance objects that are moved to make room may become unclearly displayed and distorted because of their size and orientation and accordingly may be omitted from the display. The media guidance object space is the amount of space (e.g., length or width) a media guidance object takes up in the display. Shifting the media guidance objects over by one space means that each media guidance object is displayed in a position of the immediately adjacent media guidance object to the right or media guidance object that is next to or to the right of a given media guidance object. Shifting media guidance objects over is done within a particular perspective such that the media guidance objects within the perspective are moved to new positions in the perspective view without being displayed or moved to a different perspective view.
• Atstep2322, a determination is made as to whether there exists a media guidance object in a storage location that precedes the storage location of the first media guidance object displayed in the first perspective view before the user input was received. When it is determined that such a media guidance object exists, the process proceeds to step2326, otherwise the process returns to step2324.
• Atstep2326, the media guidance object from the storage location that precedes the storage location of the first media guidance object displayed in the first perspective view before the user input was received is displayed in the first perspective view. The process then returns to step2122 (FIG. 21).
• Atstep2324, the media guidance objects displayed in the first, second and third perspective views are prevented from being caused to slide or moved insteps2312,2314,2316,2318 and2320. In particular, steps2312,2314,2316,2318 and2320 may be omitted or the operations associated with them may be undone when no media guidance object is available in a storage location that precedes the first media guidance object displayed in the first perspective view before the user input was received. The process then returns to step2122 (FIG. 21).
• Referring back to step2122 (FIG. 21), when it is determined that the user input is a right command, atstep2128, a determination is made as to whether the first perspective view is static. When it is determined that the first perspective view is static, the process proceeds to step2410 of flow diagram2400 (FIG. 24), otherwise the process proceeds to step2510 of flow diagram2500 (FIG. 25).Processing circuitry306 may determine that the first perspective view is static when, for example, a visual keypad (FIG. 13), album identifiers or playlist identifiers (FIG. 16), or source identifiers (FIG. 9) are the media guidance objects displayed in the first perspective view. In particular, processingcircuitry306 may determine that the first perspective view is static when, for example, media guidance objects displayed in the first perspective view relate to, correspond to, or otherwise identify media guidance objects displayed in other perspective views and as such media guidance objects displayed in the first perspective view may preferably not be moved or changed when the user navigates between the media guidance objects displayed in the other perspective views.
• Atstep2410, a determination is made as to whether a jump setting is enabled or whether the command issued is a jump command. When it is determined that the jump setting is enabled or jump command is issued, the process proceeds to step2412, otherwise the process proceeds to step2418.
• Atstep2412, the media guidance object displayed in the third perspective view adjacent the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view is instantaneously moved from the third perspective view into the second perspective view.
• Atstep2414, media guidance objects within the third perspective view are shifted one media guidance object space over to the left. For example, shifting the media guidance objects over by one media guidance object space may make enough room to display clearly the media guidance object that is moved into the third perspective view. Some media guidance objects that are moved to make room may become unclearly displayed and distorted because of their size and orientation and accordingly may be omitted from the display. The media guidance object space is the amount of space (e.g., length or width) a media guidance object takes up in the display. Shifting the media guidance objects over by one space means that each media guidance object is displayed in a position of the immediately adjacent media guidance object to the left or media guidance object that is next to or to the left of a given media guidance object. As discussed above and below, shifting media guidance objects over is done within a particular perspective such that the media guidance objects within the perspective are moved to new positions in the perspective view without being displayed or moved to a different perspective view.
• Atstep2416, the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view is removed from the display.
• Atstep2418, the media guidance object displayed in the third perspective view adjacent the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view is caused to slide from the third perspective view into the second perspective view.
• Atstep2420, media guidance objects within the third perspective view are shifted one media guidance object space over to the left.
• Atstep2422, the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view is caused to slide out of the second perspective view and off of the display.
• Atstep2424, a determination is made as to whether there exists a media guidance object in a storage location that follows the storage location of the last media guidance object displayed in the third perspective view before the user input was received. When it is determined that such a media guidance object exists, the process proceeds to step2426, otherwise the process returns to step2122 (FIG. 21).
• Atstep2426, the media guidance object from the storage location that follows the storage location of the last media guidance object displayed in the third perspective view before the user input was received is displayed in the third perspective view. The process then proceeds to step2122 (FIG. 21).
• Referring back to step2428, when it is determined that the first perspective view is not static, the process proceeds to step2510 (FIG. 25). Atstep2510, a determination is made as to whether a jump setting is enabled or whether the command issued is a jump command. When it is determined that the jump setting is enabled or jump command is issued, the process proceeds to step2512, otherwise the process proceeds to step2516.
• Atstep2512, the media guidance object displayed in the third perspective view adjacent the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view is instantaneously moved from the third perspective view into the second perspective view.
• Atstep2514, the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view adjacent the media guidance object displayed in the first perspective view is instantaneously moved from the second perspective view into the first perspective view.
• Atstep2516, the media guidance object displayed in the third perspective view adjacent the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view is caused to slide from the third perspective view into the second perspective view.
• Atstep2518, the media guidance object displayed in the second perspective view adjacent the media guidance object displayed in the first perspective view is caused to slide from the second perspective view into the first perspective view.
• Atstep2520, the media guidance objects within the first and third perspective views are shifted one media guidance object space over to the left. For example, shifting the media guidance objects over by one media guidance object space may make enough room to display clearly the media guidance object that is moved into the first or third perspective view. Some media guidance objects that are moved to make room may become unclearly displayed and distorted because of their size and orientation and accordingly may be omitted from the display. The media guidance object space is the amount of space (e.g., length or width) a media guidance object takes up in the display. Shifting the media guidance objects over by one space means that each media guidance object is displayed in a position of the immediately adjacent media guidance object to the left or media guidance object that is next to or to the left of a given media guidance object.
• Atstep2522, a determination is made as to whether there exists a media guidance object in a storage location that follows the storage location of the last media guidance object displayed in the third perspective view before the user input was received. When it is determined that such a media guidance object exists, the process proceeds to step2524, otherwise the process returns to step2122 (FIG. 21).
• Atstep2524, the media guidance object from the storage location that follows the storage location of the last media guidance object displayed in the third perspective view before the user input was received is displayed in the third perspective view. The process then proceeds to step2122 (FIG. 21).
• It should be understood, that the above steps of the flow diagrams ofFIGS. 19-27 may be executed or performed in any order or sequence no limited to the order and sequence shown and described in the figures. Also, some of the above steps of the flow diagrams ofFIGS. 19-27 may be executed or performed substantially simultaneously where appropriate or in parallel to reduce latency and processing times.
• The above described embodiments of the present invention are presented for purposes of illustration and not of limitation, and the present invention is limited only by the claims which follow.

Claims (24)

1. A method for searching data in an interactive media guidance application, the method comprising:

displaying a plurality of media asset search listings in a first perspective view;

displaying, in a second perspective view different from the first perspective view, a plurality of media guidance application objects that are associated with one of the plurality of media asset search listings; and

selecting, within the second perspective view, one of the plurality of media guidance application objects that is displayed in the second perspective view.

2. The method ofclaim 1 wherein each of the displayed media asset search listings includes information representing timing of when a search was performed corresponding to the media asset search listing.

3. The method ofclaim 2 wherein the information further includes a number that identifies how many media guidance application objects match the media asset search listing.

4. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the media asset search listings correspond to media asset search results, further comprising:

displaying an interactive visual keypad in a third perspective view different from the first and second perspective views.

5. The method ofclaim 4 further comprising:

receiving an input search string with the interactive visual keypad by highlighting and selecting items of the visual keypad; and

modifying the media asset search listings that are displayed in the first perspective view based on the received input.

6. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising displaying a first plurality of the plurality of media guidance application objects adjacent to a first of the media asset search listings, wherein each of the first plurality of the plurality of media guidance application objects include a first attribute in common with the first media asset search listing.

7. The method ofclaim 6 further comprising:

displaying a second plurality of the plurality of media guidance application objects adjacent to a second of the media asset search listings and adjacent to the first plurality of media guidance application objects, wherein:

the second plurality of the plurality of media guidance application objects have a second attribute in common with the second media asset search listing.

8. The method ofclaim 7 wherein the second plurality of the plurality of media guidance application objects are displayed in perspective relative to the first plurality of media guidance application objects.

9. The method ofclaim 8 wherein the second plurality of the plurality of media guidance application appear smaller than the first plurality of media guidance application objects.

10. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the media asset search listings are displayed in perspective relative to each other.

11. The method ofclaim 10 wherein one of the media asset search listings appears smaller than another one of the media asset search listings.

12. The method ofclaim 1 wherein selecting one of the plurality of media guidance application objects that are displayed in the second perspective view comprises:

moving, from a first position in the second perspective view into a second position in the second perspective view, the one of the plurality of media guidance application objects, wherein a media guidance application object displayed in the first position appear further away than a media guidance application object displayed in the second position; and

selecting the media guidance application object that is displayed in the second position in the second perspective view.

13. A system for searching data in an interactive media guidance application, the system comprising:

a display screen; and

processing circuitry configured to:

display on the display screen a plurality of media asset search listings in a first perspective view;

display on the display screen, in a second perspective view different from the first perspective view, a plurality of media guidance application objects that are associated with one of the plurality of media asset search listings; and

select, within the second perspective view, one of the plurality of media guidance application objects that is displayed in the second perspective view.

14. The system ofclaim 13 wherein each of the displayed media asset search listings includes information representing timing of when a search was performed corresponding to the media asset search listing.

15. The system ofclaim 14 wherein the information further includes a number that identifies how many media guidance application objects match the media asset search listing.

16. The system ofclaim 13 wherein the media asset search listings correspond to media asset search results, wherein processing circuitry configured to:

display on the display screen an interactive visual keypad in a third perspective view different from the first and second perspective views.

17. The system ofclaim 16 wherein processing circuitry configured to:

receive an input search string with the interactive visual keypad by highlighting and selecting items of the visual keypad; and

modify the media asset search listings that are displayed in the first perspective view based on the received input.

18. The system ofclaim 13 wherein processing circuitry configured to display on the display screen a first plurality of the plurality of media guidance application objects adjacent to a first of the media asset search listings, wherein each of the first plurality of the plurality of media guidance application objects include a first attribute in common with the first media asset search listing.

19. The system ofclaim 18 wherein processing circuitry configured to:

display on the display screen a second plurality of the plurality of media guidance application objects adjacent to a second of the media asset search listings and adjacent to the first plurality of media guidance application objects, wherein:

the second plurality of the plurality of media guidance application objects have a second attribute in common with the second media asset search listing.

20. The system ofclaim 19 wherein the second plurality of the plurality of media guidance application objects are displayed in perspective relative to the first plurality of media guidance application objects.

21. The system ofclaim 20 wherein the second plurality of the plurality of media guidance application appear smaller than the first plurality of media guidance application objects.

22. The system ofclaim 13 wherein the media asset search listings are displayed in perspective relative to each other.

23. The system ofclaim 22 wherein one of the media asset search listings appears smaller than another one of the media asset search listings.

24. The system ofclaim 13 wherein processing circuitry configured to:

move, from a first position in the second perspective view into a second position in the second perspective view, the one of the plurality of media guidance application objects, wherein a media guidance application object displayed in the first position appear further away than a media guidance application object displayed in the second position; and

select the media guidance application object that is displayed in the second position in the second perspective view.25-36. (canceled)

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