An interesting patent was awarded Gemstar's Starsight division today.
You would need to research the patent in its entirety for a better understanding.
United States Patent 6,002,394
Schein , et al. December 14, 1999
Systems and methods for linking television viewers with advertisers and broadcasters
Abstract
The present invention provides systems and methods for providing television schedule information to a viewer, and for allowing the viewer to link, search, select and interact with information in a remote database, e.g., a database on the internet. The television schedule information can be displayed on a variety of viewer interfaces, such as televisions screens, computer monitors, PCTV screens and the like. The television schedule information may be stored on the viewer's computer, television, PCTV, or a remote server (e.g., a website), or the television schedule information may be downloaded from a remote database to the viewer's computer, television or PCTV.
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Inventors: Schein; Steven M. (Menlo Park, CA); O'Brien; Sean A. (San Jose, CA); Leftwich; James Jay (Palo Alto, CA); Broughton; Susan (Tracy, CA)
Assignee: StarSight Telecast, Inc. (Fremont, CA)
Appl. No.: 837078
Filed: April 11, 1997
U.S. Class: 345/327; 348/13; 348/12; 348/10; 348/6
Intern'l Class: H04N 007/10; H04N 007/14
Field of Search: 348/13,12,10,6,7,2,906 455/6.3,5.1,3.1,2
In one example of this embodiment, a Jerry Seinfeld fan can browse through a list of previously played Jerry Seinfeld episodes. The episodes can be arranged chronologically, by subject matter, or other convenient methods. Upon reaching one of the episodes in the list, the user may then find out more information about the episode, such as a brief abstract on the episode, when it was first made available to the public, etc. Alternatively, the user may contextually link with other databases, such as the Internet or World Wide Web, to find out more information about the program (e.g., chat with other Jerry Seinfeld fans, read reviews on that particular episode, etc) If the user wishes to play or record the episode, the user may do so by the methods described above.
Regards
Stew |
