Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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INTERACTIVE TELEVISION PROGRAM GUIDE
WITH SELECTABLE LANGUAGES
Background of the Invention
This invention relates to interactive
television program guide systems, and more
particularly, to interactive television program guide
systems in which users may select a desired language
for playing television programming and displaying
program guide display screen text.
Cable, satellite, and broadcast television
systems provide viewers with a large number of
television channels. Users have traditionally
consulted printed television program schedules to
determine the programs being broadcast at a particular
time. More recently, interactive television program
guides have been developed that allow television
program information to be displayed on a user's
television.
Interactive television program guides allow
the user to navigate through television program
listings using a remote control. In a typical program
guide, various groups of television program listings
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are displayed in predefined or user-defined categories.
Listings are typically displayed in a list, grid, or
table. interactive television program guides aie
typically implemented on set-top boxes located in the
homes of users. A typical set-top box is connected to
the user's television and videocassette recorder.
Program guides that run on personal computers or that
allow program guide information to be obtained using
the Internet are also available.
Current television programming service
providers typically provide television programing to
customers that may live across a wide geographical
area. It is not uncommon for a television programming
service provider to provide television programming to a
number of viewers who may not speak the same language,
or who prefer speaking in - language different from the
primary language of the geographical area in which the
viewers live.
Some current interactive television program
guides provide users with the ability to select
languages for television programming from digital audio
tracks on a digital channel. These interactive
television program guides provide the user with the
opportunity to select a language. The interactive
program guide informs firmware in the user's set-top
box of the selected language. A digital component
selector in the set-top box then instructs a packet
filter to filter out unwanted digital audio tracks
based on unique packet identifiers ("PIDs") that
identify each of the tracks. The audio track with the
PID that corresponds to the selected language is played
by the set-top box on to user's televisicn.
Current program guides do not provide fo:
activation and deactivation of a secondary audio
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program (SAP) based on the language of the audio
carried on the SAP. Current program guides also do not
allow user to designate a single language for both
displaying program guide display screen text (e.g.,
help text, program listings grid text, button labels,
etc.), and for playing audio.
Nagai U.S. patent No. 4,486,897, issued December
4, 1984, discloses a circuit for providing audio from
one of two sound signals in different languages..using a
specialized. FM demodulation. circuit. Lawler et al.
U.S. patent No. 5,585,838, issued December 17., 1996,
describes an interactive television program guide that
provides program listings for, among other things,
digital video signals. Patent Abstracts of Japan vol.
1995, no. 04, May 31, 1995 and JP 07 030814 A (NEC
CORP), published January 31, 1995 and European Patent
Application EP-A-0 744 866 A2, published November 27,
1996 describe systems for selecting sub-titles from a
plurality of different languages.
It would therefore be desirable to provide an
interactive television program guide. that allows a user
to select a language for playing analog program audio
and for displaying program guide display screen text.
It would also be desirable to provide a program guide
that allows a user-to select a language in which both
audio is played and program guide text is displayed.
It would also: be desirable to coordinate the language
in which program guide display screen text is displayed
with languages that are available to the user for
playing television programming. For example, it would
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be desirable to have television program listings for a
particular program displayed in a user selected
language if the program, when actually broadcasted, has
audio available in the selected language. Otherwise,
the program listing for that program may be displayed
and the program played in a default language.
It is therefore an object of some embodiments of the present
invention to provide an interactive television program
guide system that allows a user to select a language in
which both programming audio is played and proqram
guide display screen text is displayed.
It is another object of some embodiments of the present invention to
provide an interactive television program guide that
allows a user to select languages for playing
television program audio provided on analog tracks.
It is another object of some embodiments of the present invention to
provide an interactive television program guide that
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coordinates the language in which program guide display
screen text is displayed with languages available for
television programming when the television programming
is broadcasted.
It is another object of some embodiments of the present invention
to provide an interactive television program guide
system in which program guide display screen text in a
selected language is downloadable by the program guide.
Summary of the Invention
These and other objects of some embodiments of the present
invention are accomplished in accordance with the
principles of the present invention by providing an
interactive television program guide system having a
main facility (e.g., a satellite uplink facility) that
provides program guide data from a data source to a
number of television distribution facilities (e.g.,
cable system headends, broadcast distribution
facilities, satellite television distribution
facilities, or any other suitable television
distribution facilities). The program guide data
transmitted by the main facility to the television
distribution facilities includes television programming
data (e.g., titles, channels, descriptions and content
information, rating information, or any other
information associated. with television programming),
and additional data for services other than. television
program listings (e.g., help text, weather information;
sports information, associated Internet web links,
etc.). The television distribution facilities
distribute the program guide data to the interactive
television program guides of a number of users.
The interactive television program guide of
the present invention is implemented on interactive
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program guide equipment that may include user
television equipment (e.g., a set-top box and
television combination) located at the user's home.
The interactive program guide equipment may also
include program guide distribution equipment located at
a television distribution facility.
Program guide display screens may be used to
provide a user with the opportunity to select the
language in which television programming is played by
the user's television equipment and in which program
guide display 'screen text is displayed using the
interactive television program guide. Displaying
program guide display screen text in a selected
language may also include displaying text in a date
15' format, time format, currency format, parental rating
format or other format particular to a selected
language or country that uses a selected language. The
interactive television program guide may store a
language attribute identifying the selected language.
A default program guide language attribute may also be
stored by the program guide. The default program guide
language attribute may, for example, be preprogrammed
into the program guide or supplied as program guide
data. Default program languages for individual
2S programs may also be supplied as program guide data.
The program guide may also provide users with
an opportunity to select an alternate language in which
program guide display screen text is displayed and
programming audio played. For example, the user may
select Spanish as a primary language and English as an
alternate language. In another suitable approach, the
program guide may pick an alternate language based on
the primary language selected by the user. If the user
selects Canadian English for the primary language, for
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example, the program guide may select U.S. English as
an alternate language. As used herein, "selected
language" is intended to include a primary language
selected by the user, a secondary language selected by
the user or the program guide, or any suitable
combination thereof.
In practice, the languages available for
playing programming audio may not be the same as the
languages available for displaying program guide
display screen text. When programming audio is not
available in the selected language but program guide
display screen text is, the program guide may play
programming audio in a related language. For example,
if a user selects Canadian English as the user's
primary language, the program guide may display program
guide display screen text in Canadian English and play
programming audio in U.S. English when there is nc
Canadian English audio track available for the program.
The interactive program guide informs
hardware in the user's television equipment of the
selected language or languages. The user's television
equipment plays television programs with audio from
digital or analog audio tracks that contain audio in
the selected languages. If audio in the primary or
alternate language is not available on any provided
digital or analog audio track, the user television
equipment plays the television programs in the default
program guide language or, if applicable, the default
program languages. Data or other information that is
provided, for example subtitles, may also be displayed
in the selected language.
The interactive television program guide of
the present invention may provide a user with the
opportunity to request television programs such as in,
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for example, a video-on-demand (VOD) system. The
interactive television program guide may inform
equipment at the television distribution facility of
the primary, alternate and default languages (or any
suitable combination thereof) when, for example, a
request is made by the program guide to the television
distribution facility for a program. The television
distribution facility may respond by providing the
requested television program to the user's television
equipment with only a single audio track containing
audio in the selected language. Eliminating
unnecessary audio tracks may lessen the bandwidth
requirements for transmitting programming signals from
the television distribution facility to a user's
television equipment.
The interactive television program guide of
the present invention may also provide program guide
display screen text to the user in the selected
language. As used herein, interactive program guide
display screen text may include help text, program
guide data text, program guide text, or any suitable
combination thereof. Help text is displayed in
response to the user selection of a help feature. Help
text may be downloaded as part of the program guide
data provided by the main facility or may be part of
the program guide.
Program guide data text is text included in
the downloaded program guide data and included in
program guide display screens. Program guide data text
may include, for example, programming information
(e.g., titles, channels, descriptions and content
information, rating information, or any other text
based information associated with television
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programming), text for advertisements, or any other
suitable text-based information.
Program guide text is text that is programmed
into the program guide and that is generally not
provided as part of the program guide data. Program
guide text may be downloaded when, for example,
changing languages of the program guide. Program guide
text may include, for example, screen titles, screen
element labels (e.g., button labels, program list
labels, program grid labels, etc.), text that indicates
or otherwise describes program guide functionality, or
any other text that may be considered part of the
program guide itself and displayed in program guide
display screens.
The interactive program guide may filter help
text and program guide data text from the program guide
data based on the language attributes. Help text and
program guide data text in the selected and default
program guide languages may be provided to the
interactive television program guide by the television
distribution facilities using any suitable approach.
The text may, for example, be provided continuously by
the television distribution facilities in different
languages and filtered by the program guide, may be
downloaded by the program guide on request (e.g., in a
suitable client-server approach), or may be obtained
using any other suitable approach.
Program guide text may be changed in any
suitable fashion. Program guide text for all available
languages may, for example, be compressed using any
suitable compression method and stored as part of the
program guide application. When a different language
is selected by the user, the program guide may, for
example, decompress the appropriate program guide text
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and display it accordingly. Alternatively, the program
guide may, for example, download program guide text on
demand from the television distribution facility (e.g.,
as in a suitable client-server approach) using the
stored language attribute. Program guide text may also
be provided as part of a continuous data stream and
filtered locally. Any suitable combination of these
methods may also be used. For example, the program
guide may store program guide text in popular languages
and may download program guide text when a less popular
language is selected. For similar languages, (e.g.,
Canadian English and U.S. English), the program guide
may download program guide text in one language as a
reference, and the differences in the second language.
Making program guide text downloadable via a continuous
data stream, periodic stream, server, or any other
source, may allow a single version of the program guide
to be distributed over a wide geographical area (e.g.,
nationally) and the language of the guide to be
localized (e.g., apropos to the languages of local
residents).
If desired, only portions of the program
guide display screen text may be changed by
coordinating the language in which program guide
display screen text is displayed with the languages
available for television programming available to the
user. For example, a particular program may not have
an audio data track for the selected language. The
program may be played and its associated program
listings may be displayed, for example, in a default
program guide language or default program language,
while programs and associated program listings that
have audio or data tracks with content in the selected
language may be played and displayed in the selected
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language. The same may be true for subtitles, music
information, programming information, other information
included in a digital track, or any other program guide data
text or program guide text that be played by the user's
television equipment. The same may be true for television
program audio. Programs, their audio, and any associated
program data or programming guide data may be recorded in a
selected or default language.
Accordingly, in one aspect of the present
invention, there is provided a method for providing access
to media programs with content distributed by a server in
multiple languages using an interactive program guide, the
method comprising: providing a user with a first selection
opportunity to select a language using the interactive
program guide; communicating to the server the language
selected by the user; providing the user with a second
selection opportunity to select a program for viewing using
the interactive program guide, wherein the program has a
plurality of associated tracks having content in at least
two different languages, wherein each track is associated
with a single language, and wherein the first and the second
selection opportunities are separate selection
opportunities; and. in response to the second selection
opportunity, receiving from the server a transmission
including only a track associated with the selected program
having content in a language selected by the user.
In another aspect of the present invention, there
is provided a system for providing access to media programs
with content distributed by a server in multiple languages,
the system comprising: interactive program guide equipment
having user television equipment; an interactive program
guide implemented on the interactive program guide
equipment, wherein the interactive program guide equipment
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is configured to: provide a user with a first selection
opportunity to select a language using the interactive
program guide; communicate to the server the language
selected by the user; provide the user with a second
selection opportunity to select a program for viewing using
the interactive program guide, wherein the program has a
plurality of associated tracks having content in at least
two different languages, wherein each track is associated
with a single language, and wherein the first and the second
selection opportunities are separate selection
opportunities; and in response to the second selection
opportunity, receive from the server a transmission
including only a track associated with the selected program
having content in a language selected by the user.
In a further aspect of the invention, there is
provided a method implemented at a set top box for enabling
access to media programs with content distributed by a
server in multiple languages, the method comprising:
receiving a first user input to select a language for
interacting with the set top box; receiving program guide
data associated with the language selected by the user;
sending the program guide data associated with the language
selected by the user to a display; receiving a second user
input to select a program for receiving from the server,
wherein the program has a plurality of associated tracks
having content in at least two different languages, wherein
each track is associated with a single language, and wherein
the first and the second selection opportunities are
separate selection opportunities; receiving from the server
a transmission including the selected program; and in
response to the second selection opportunity, sending only a
track associated with the language selected by the first
user input to the display.
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In yet another aspect of the invention, there is
provided a set top box device for enabling access to media
programs with content distributed by a server in multiple
languages comprising: a user interface for i) receiving a
first user input to select a language for interacting with
the set top box and ii) receiving a second user input to
select a program for receiving from the server, wherein the
program has a plurality of associated tracks having content
in at least two different languages, wherein each track is
associated with a single language, and wherein the first and
the second selection opportunities are separate selection
opportunities; a first data interface for i) receiving
program guide data associated with the language selected by
the user and ii) receiving from the server a transmission
including the selected program; and a second data interface
for i) sending the program guide data associated with the
language selected by the user to a display and ii) in
response to the second selection opportunity, sending only a
track associated with the language selected by the first
user input to the display.
According to another aspect of the present
invention, there is provided an interactive program guide
device comprising: means for receiving program guide
display screen text in at least two languages and a
broadcast program; means for selecting one or more tracks
having content in a language by a user interacting with the
interactive program guide device and for playing the
broadcast program on a display; and means for filtering
audio tracks based on unique packet identifiers based on a
language selected by a user interacting with the interactive
program guide device, wherein the device is configured to:
provide a user with an opportunity to select a language;
display program guide display screen text in the language
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selected by the user; filter the received user input based
on the language selected by the user to filter out at least
one language that is not the language selected by the user;
and select one or more tracks having content in the language
selected by the user for playing by the display.
According to still another aspect of the present
invention, there is provided a method for viewing a
broadcast program comprising: receiving, at an interactive
program guide device, program guide display screen text in
at least two languages and the broadcast program; providing
a user with the opportunity to select a language; displaying
program guide display screen text in the language selected
by the user; filtering the received user input based on the
language selected by the user to filter out at least one
language that is not the language selected by the user; and
selecting one or more tracks having content in a language
selected by the user for playing the broadcast program on a
display in communication with the interactive program guide
device.
Further features of the invention, its nature and
various advantages will be more apparent from the
accompanying drawings and the following detailed description
of the preferred embodiments.
Brief Description of the Drawings
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an
illustrative system in accordance with the present
invention.
FIGS. 2a and 2b show illustrative arrangements for
the interactive program guide equipment of FIG. 1 in
accordance with the principles of the present invention.
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FIG. 3 is an illustrative schematic block diagram
of the user television equipment of FIGS. 2a and 2b in
accordance with the principles of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a generalized schematic block diagram of
portions of the illustrative user television equipment of
FIG. 3 in accordance with the principles of the present
invention.
FIGS. 5-11 are illustrative program guide display
screens in accordance with the principles of the present
invention.
FIG. 12 shows an illustrative hierarchy that may
be used by the program guide to determine the
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language in which program guide display screen text is
displayed and audio played.
FIGS. 13-16 are flowcharts of illustrative
steps involved in providing an interactive program
guide with selectable languages in accordance with the
principles of the present invention.
Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments
An illustrative system 10 in accordance with
the present invention is shown in FIG. 1. Main
facility 12 provides program guide data from program
guide data source 14 to interactive program guide
equipment 17 via communications link 18. There are
preferably numerous pieces or installations of
interactive program guide equipment 17, although only
one is shown in FIG. 1 to avoid over-complicating the
drawing.
Link 18 may be a satellite link, a telephone
network link, a cable or fiber optic link, a microwave
link, an Internet link, a combination of such links, or
any other suitable communications link. If it is
desired to transmit video signals over link 18 in
addition to data signals, a relatively high bandwidth
link such as a satellite link may generally be
preferred to a relatively low bandwidth link such as a
telephone line.
The program guide data transmitted by main
facility 12 to interactive program guide equipment 17
may include television programming data (e.g., program
times, channels, titles, and descriptions) and other
data for services other than television program
listings (e.g., help text, pay-per-view information,
weather information, sports information, associated
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Internet web links, etc.). The program guide data may
be compressed if desired.
An interactive television program guide is
implemented on interactive program guide equipment 17.
Two illustrative arrangements for interactive program
guide equipment 17 are shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b.
Interactive program guide equipment 17 may include
program guide distribution equipment 21 located at
television distribution facility 16, and user
television equipment 22.
The interactive television program guide may
run totally on user television equipment 22 as shown in
FIG. 2a, or may run partially on user television
equipment 22 and partially on program guide
distribution equipment 17 using a suitable client-
server or distributed processing approach as shown in
FIG. 2b. Television distribution facility 16 may be
any suitable distribution facility (e.g., a cable
system headend, a broadcast distribution facility, a
satellite television distribution facility, or any
other suitable type of television distribution
facility). Television distribution facility 16 may
have program guide distribution equipment 21. Program
guide distribution equipment 21 may distribute program
guide data that television distribution facility 16
received from main facility 12 to multiple users via
communications paths 20.
Program guide distribution equipment 21 of
FIGS. 2a and 2b may be any equipment suitable for
providing program guide data to user television
equipment 22. Program guide distribution equipment 21
may include, for example, suitable transmission
hardware for distributing program guide data on a
television channel sideband, in the vertical blanking
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interval of a television channel, using an in-band
digital channel, using an out-of-band digital signal,
or by any other suitable data transmission technique.
Analog or digital video signals (e.g., television
programs) may also be provided by program guide
distribution equipment 21 to user television equipment
22 over communications paths 20 on multiple television
channels.
Communications path 20 preferably has
sufficient bandwidth to allow television distribution
facility 16 to-distribute television programming to
user television equipment 22. There are typically
multiple pieces of user television equipment 22 and
multiple associated communications paths 20, although
only one piece'of user television equipment 22 and
communications path 20 are shown-in FIGS. 2a and 2b to
avoid over complicating the drawing. If desired,
television programming may be provided over, separate
communications paths (not shown).
FIG. 2b shows an illustrative arrangement for
interactive program guide equipment 17 in a client- .
server based or distributed interactive program guide
system. As shown in FIG. 2b, program guide
distribution equipment 21 may include program guide
server 25. Program guide server 25 may be any suitable
software, hardware, or combination thereof for
providing a client-server based program guide. Program,
guide server 25 may, for example, generate requested
program guide display screens as digital frames and
distribute the frames to user television equipment 22
for display by an interactive program guide client
implemented on user television equipment 22.
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Alternatively, program guide server 25 may run a suitable
database engine (e.g., SQL Server by Microsoft) and provide
program guide data in response to queries generated by a
program guide client implemented on user television
equipment 22. If desired, program guide server 25 may be
located at main facility 12 (not shown).
In still another embodiment, program guide
distribution equipment 21 may include suitable hardware
(not shown) on which a first portion or version of the
interactive television program guide is implemented. A
second portion or version of the program guide may be
implemented on user television equipment 22. The two
versions or portions of the interactive program guide
may communicate using any suitable peer-to-peer
communications scheme (e.g., messaging, remote
procedure calls, etc.) and perform interactive program
guide functions distributively between television'
distribution facility 16 and user television
equipment 22.
Television distribution facility 16 may
supply programs to user television equipment 22 in
response to demands made'by the user using user
television equipment 22. Any suitable video-on-demand
(VOD) approach may be used. Program guide server 25
may receive, along with video demands from user
television equipment 22, identifiers that identify the
selected language and the default program guide
language of the interactive television program guide.
Program guide distribution equipment 21 of
FIG. 2b may include digital component selector 61 and
*Trade-mark
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analog audio selector 63. Digital component
selector 61 may be any hardware, software, or
combination thereof suitable for determining which
digital audio,, data, or other tracks contain audio,
data, or other information in the language selected by
the user or, alternatively, in the default language of
the interactive program guide. Analog audio
selector 63 may be any hardware, software, or
combination thereof suitable for determining which
analog audio track contains audio in the selected
language or, alternatively, in the default program
guide language.
Program guide distribution equipment 21 may
distribute programs to user television equipment 22
with only an analog audio track (if distributed on an
analog channel), or with only digital audio, data, or
other information tracks (if distributed on a digital
channel), that have audio, data, or other information
in the selected or default languages as determined by
analog audio selector 63 or digital component
selector 61, respectively. Sending audio, data, or
other information in only one language requires less
bandwidth than would sending the audio, data, or other
information in multiple languages and having unwanted
languages filtered at user television equipment 22.
This approach is especially useful in systems, such as
VOD systems, where many users request video over
multiple communication paths 20.
Each user has user television equipment 22
for displaying, for example, television programming and
program guide display screens using the interactive
television program guide. Program guide data may be
distributed by program guide distribution equipment 21
to user television equipment 22 using any suitable
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scheme. For example, program guide data may be
provided in a continuous stream, or may be transmitted
periodically at a suitable time interval (e.g., once
per hour). If transmitted continuously, it may not be
necessary to store the data locally at user television
equipment 22. Rather, user television equipment 22 may
extract data "on the fly" as it is needed. If desired,
television distribution facility 16 may poll user
television equipment 22 periodically for certain
information (e.g., pay program account information or
information regarding programs that have been purchased
and viewed using locally-generated authorization
techniques). Program guide data provided by program
guide server 2.5 may also be distributed to user
television equipment 22 by program guide distribution
equipment 21. If desired, the program guide data may
be compressed by main facility 12 or television
distribution or facility 16, and uncompressed by the
program guide.
For clarity, the present invention will be
illustrated in connection with a system arrangement in
which program guide data is distributed from a main
facility to an interactive television program guide
implemented on user television equipment via a
television distribution facility. Other suitable
systems involve arrangements in which data is
distributed to a program guide on user television
equipment using other suitable distribution schemes,
such as schemes involving data transmission over the
Internet or the like. If desired, the interactive
television program guide application may be implemented
using a client-server architecture in which the primary
processing power for the application is provided by a
server located at, for example, the television
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distribution facility or the main facility (e.g.,
program guide server 25), and user television
equipment 22 acts as a client processor, as in, for
example, the system shown in FIG. 2b. A suitable
distributed approach may also be used.
An illustrative arrangement for user
television equipment 22 is shown in FIG. 3. User
television equipment 22 of FIG. 3 receives video, audio
and data from, television distribution facility 16
(FIG. 1) at input 26. During normal television
viewing, tuner-51 of set-top box 28 tunes to a desired
television channel based on inputs from the user on
remote control 40. The signal for that television
channel is then provided at video output 30. The
signal supplied at output 30 is typically either a
radio-frequency (RF) signal on a predefined channel
(e.g., channel 3 or 4), or a analog demodulated video
signal, but may also be a digital signal provided to
television 36 on an appropriate digital bus (e.g., a
bus using the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE) 1394 standard, (not shown)). The
video signal at output 30 is received by optional
secondary storage device 32. Set-top box 28 may also
have digital component selector 53, packet filter 55,
MPEG-2 decoder 57, and analog audio selector 59 (or any
suitable combination thereof) for obtaining digital or
analog audio from the signal received at input 26.
Secondary storage device 32 can be any
suitable type of analog or digital program storage
device or player (e.g., a videocassette recorder, a
digital versatile disc (DVD) player, etc.). Program
recording and other functions may be controlled by
set-top box 28 using control path 34. If secondary
storage device 32 is a videocassette recorder, for
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example, a typical control path 34 involves the use of
an infrared transmitter coupled to the infrared
receiver in the videocassette recorder that no.-mally
accepts commands from a remote control such as remote
control 40. Remote control 40 may be used to control
set-top box 28, secondary storage device 32, and
television 36. Programs and their associated audio may
be stored in a selected or default language if desired.
The interactive television program guide may
run on set-top box 28, on television 36 (if television
36 has suitable processing circuitry and memory), or on
a suitable analog or digital receiver connected to
television 36. The interactive television program
guide may also run cooperatively on both television 36
and set-top box 28. Interactive television application
systems in which a cooperative interactive television
program guide application runs on multiple devices are
described, for example, in PCT Publication No. WO 00/05885,
published February 3, 2000.
If desired, the user may record programs,
associated program data, program guide data, or any
suitable combination thereof in digital form on
optional digital storage device 31. The programs,
audio, associated program data, or program guide data
may be stored in a selected or default language.
Digital storage device 31 may be a writable optical
storage device (such as a DVD player capable of
handling recordable DVD discs), a magnetic storage
device (such as a disk drive or digital tape), or any
other digital storage device. Interactive television
program guide systems that have digital storage devices
are described, for example, in PCT Publication No.
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WO 00/16548, published March 23, 2000.
Digital storage device 31 can be contained in
set-top box 28 or it can be an external device
connected to set-top box 28 via an output port and
appropriate interface. If necessary, processing
circuitry in set-top box 28 formats the received video,
audio, and data signals into a digital file format.
Preferably, the file format is an open file format such
as the Motion Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) MPEG-2
standard. The resulting data is streamed to digital
storage device 31 via an appropriate bus (e.g., a bus
using the Institute Electrical and Electronics
=15 Engineers (IEEE) 1394 standard), and is stored on
digital storage device 31.
Television 36 receives video and audio
signals from secondary storage device 32 via-
communications path 38. The signals on communications
path 38 may either be generated by secondary storage
device 32 when playing back a prerecorded storage
medium (e.g., a videocassette or a recordable digital
versatile disc), by digital storage device 31 when
playing back a pre-recorded digital medium, may be
passed through from set-top box 28, may be provided
directly to television 36 from-set-top box 28 if
secondary storage device 32 is not included in user
television equipment 22, or may be received directly by
television 36. During normal television viewing, the
signals provided to television 36 correspond to the
desired channel to which the user has tuned with
set-top box 28. The signals may also be provided to
television 36 by set-top box 28 when set-top box 28 is
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used to play back information stored on digital storage
device 31.
A more generalized embodiment of user
television equipment 22 of FIG. 3 is shown in FIG. 4.
As shown in FIG. 4, program guide data from television
distribution facility 16 (FIG. 1) is received by
control circuitry 42 of user television equipment 22.
Control circuitry 42 may include circuitry suitable for
tuning to digital or analog television signals as
indicated by tuner 51. Control circuitry 42 may also
include circuitry suitable for selecting different
audio tracks from digital audio television channels, as
is indicated by digital component selector 53, packet
filter 55, and analog audio selector 59. Decoding
circuitry for generating digital video may also be
included, as is indicated by MPEG-2 decoder 57. The
functions of control circuitry 42 may be provided using
the set-top box arrangement of FIG. 3. Alternatively,
these functions may be integrated into an advanced
television receiver, personal computer television
(PC/TV), or any other suitable arrangement. If
desired, a combination of such arrangements may be
used.
User television equipment 22 may also have
secondary storage device 47 and digital storage device
49 for recording programming. Secondary storage device
47 can be any suitable type of analog or digital
program storage device (e.g., a videocassette recorder,
a digital versatile disc (DVD), etc.). Program
recording and other functions may be controlled by
control circuitry 42. Digital storage device 49 can
be, for example, a writable optical storage device
(such as a DVD player capable of handling recordable
DVD discs) , a magnetic storage device (such as a disk
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drive or digital tape), or any other digital storage
device. If desired, programs may be recorded remotely
at television distribution facility 16 or some other
facility, making secondary storage device 47 and
digital storage device 49 unnecessary. Systems in
which programs are remotely recorded and played back
are described, for example, in PCT Publication No.
WO 00/004706, published January 27, 2000. Programs, audio,
associated program data, program guide data, or any suitable
combination thereof, may be recorded by secondary storage
device 47, digital storage device 49, or a remote server in
a selected or default language if desired.
The user controls the operation of user
television equipment 22 with user interface 46. User
interface 46 may be a pointing device, wireless remote
control, keyboard, touch-pad, voice recognition system,
or any other suitable user input device. To watch
television, the user instructs control circuitry 42 to
display a desired television channel on display device
45. To access the functions of the program guide, the
user instructs the program guide implemented on
interactive program guide equipment 17 to generate a
main menu or other desired program guide display screen
for display on display device 45.
When a user indicates a desire to access the
interactive television program guide implemented on
interactive program guide equipment 17 (e.g., by using
a "menu" key on remote control 40), the program guide
generates an appropriate program guide display screen
for display on monitor 45. A main menu screen, for
example, such as illustrative main menu screen 100 of
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FIG. 5, may be generated that provides the user with
access to various program guide functions. Main menu
screens may also display any suitable graphic or other
display screen entity.
Illustrative main menu screen 100 of FIG. 5,
for example, may include menu 102 of selectable program
guide features 106. If desired, the program guide
features 106 may be organized according to feature
type. Menu 102, for example, organizes program guide
features 106 into three columns wherein the column
labeled "TV GUIDE" is for listings related features,
the column labeled "MSO SHOWCASE" is for multiple
system operator (MSO) related features, and the column
labeled "VIEWER SERVICE" is for viewer related
.15 features. The interactive television program guide may
generate a suitable display screen for a particular
program guide feature in response to the user selection
of any selectable program guide feature 106.
Main menu screen 100 may also include one or
more selectable advertisement graphics 108. Selectable
advertisement graphics 108 may, for example, advertise
pay-per-view programs. In response to the user
selection of a selectable advertisement graphic 108,
the program guide may display information (e.g., pay-
per-view information) for what is advertised by the
graphic. Pure text advertisements may be presented
using selectable advertisement graphics 108 if desired,
or may be more suitably presented using selectable
advertisement banner 110.
Main menu screen 100 may also include other
graphics. The brand of the program guide product may
be indicated, for example, using a product brand logo
graphic such as product brand logo graphic 112. The
service provider may be indicated, for example, using a
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service provider logo graphic such as service provider
logo graphic 114. The current time may be displayed
using clock 116. In addition, a suitable indicator
such as indicator graphic 118 may be used to indicate
to the user that a message is waiting for the user if
the program guide provides messaging or a TV-Mail
feature.
The interactive program guide may provide the
user with the opportunity to view television program
listings. A user may indicate a desire to view
program listings by, for example, positioning highlight
region 120 over a desired prografn guide feature.
Alternatively, the program guide may present program
listing in response to the user pressing a key (e.g., a
.15 "guide" key) on remote control 40. In response to the
user indicating a desire to view television programming
information, the program guide may generate an
appropriate program listings screen for display on
monitor 45. A program listings screen may contain one
or more-lists of programs organized according to
multiple organization criteria and sorted in various
ways.
The program listings screen may be overlaid
over a program being viewed by the user or overlaid
over a portion of the program in a "browse" mode. The
program guide may, for example, provide the user with
the opportunity to view listings by time, by channel,
according to a number of themes (e.g., movies, sports,
children, etc.), or may allow the user to search for a
listing by title. Program listings may be displayed
using any suitable list, table, grid, or other suitable
display construct. If desired, program listings
display screens may also include selectable
advertisement graphics, selectable advertisement
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banners, product brand logo graphics, service provider
brand graphics, clocks, or any other suitable indicator
or graphic.
FIGS. 6a and 6b illustrate the display of
program listings by time and by channel, respectively.
The program listings display screens 130 and 135 of
FIGS. 5a and 5b may include highlight region 151, which
highlights the current listing 150. The user may
position highlight region 151 by entering appropriate
commands with user interface device 52. For example,
if user input interface device 52 has a keypad, the
user can position highlight region 151 using "up" and
"down" keys. Alternatively, a touch sensitive screen,
trackball, voice commands, or other suitable device may
be used to move highlight region 151 or to select
program listings without the use of highlight region
151. In still another approach, the user may speak a
television program listing into a voice request
recognition system. Any other suitable approach may be
used.
The program guide may also provide the user
with the opportunity to view listings for other times
or channels. The user may indicate a desire to access
listings for other times or channels by, for example,
pressing "left" and "right" arrows on remote control 40
to change time slots (when listings are presented by
time as shown in FIG. 6a), or to change channels (when
listings are presented by channel as shown in FIG. 6b)
In response to such an indication, the program guide
may display listings for a different time slot or
channel. The user may also indicate a desire to see
additional program listings for a particular time slot
(when listings are presented by time as shown in
FIG. 6a) or for a particular channel (when listings are
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displayed by channel as shown in FIG. 6b) by, for
example, pressing."up" and "down" arrow keys on remote
control 40. In response to such an indication, the
program guide may, for example, scroll or page the
5 program listings to display additional program
listings.
After a user selects a program listing (e.g.,
by position highlight region 151 and pressing an "OK"
key on remote control 40), the interactive program
10 guide may provide the user with the opportunity'to
access a number of program guide. functions'associated
with the listing. For example, the user may access
additional information (typically text or graphics, but
possibly video and other information) about the
15 listing, set a reminder, schedule an associated. program
for recording, set parental control features, set and.
navigate through favorite channels, or any access other
suitable program guide function.
FIG. 7a shows an illustrative full
20 information screen 161 that may be displayed when a
user indicates a-desire to view information for a
program. Full information screen 161 may be displayed,
for example, when the user presses an "info" key.on
remote control 40 after highlighting a program listing
25 in a program listings display screen (e.g., program
listings display screens 130 and 135 of FIGS. _Sa and
Sb), while watching a program, or at any other suitable
time. Information screens that provide users with an
opportunity to access various program guide functions
are described, for example, in PCT Publication No.
WO 00/20734, published May 18, 2000.
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Full information screen 161 may include
information window 162 in which a brief description of
a program may be displayed. Information window 162 may
also list the languages available for a program in
response to a user indicating a desire to see such a
list (e.g., by selecting language option 157).
FIG. 7b, for example, shows information window 162 with
available languages for "Mad About You."
Alternatively, the available languages may be displayed
as part of an information window without requiring a
user to indicate a desire to access them.
Users may be unfamiliar with some of the
functions of the program guide. The interactive
program guide may, for example, provide the user with
.15 the opportunity to access help information for a
function by, for example, pressing a "help" key on
remote control 40 while in the display screen of a
particular function. FIG. 8 shows illustrative help
display screen 200 that may be generated by the program
guide in response to a user indication to do so. Help
display screen 200 may contain selectable advertisement
graphics, advertisement banners, product brand logo
graphics, service provider logo graphics, clocks, or
any other suitable indicator or graphic. Help display
screen 200 may also contain help text panel 202 in
which help text 205 is displayed. Help text panel 202
may include other non-help text, such as text 204 that
indicates to'the user to press HELP to exit.
The program guide of the present invention
may provide a user with the opportunity to select a
language from a list of languages. The user may, for
example, access a list of languages initially by
indicating a desire to access a setup function of the
program guide by selecting "SETUP" from main menu 102
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of FIG. S. In response to such an indication, the
program guide may display a setup display screen, such
as illustrative setup display screen 300 of FIG. 9.
The setup display screen of FIG. 9 may, for example,
provide a user with the opportunity to select a
"language" setup option from a list of on-screen
features.
In response to the user selection of the
"language" setup option the program guide may display,
for example, illustrative language setup display screen
310 of FIG. 10.. Language setup display screen 310 of
FIG. 10 may, for example, display a list of selectable
languages that the program guide may use for playing
television programming and displaying program guide
display screen text. The language listings may be
displayed in their respective languages if desired.
The program guide may provide the user with an
opportunity to select a language and in response to
such a selection, the program guide may display
illustrative language confirmation screen 320 shown in
FIG. 11. Language confirmation screen 320 of FIG. 11
may provide a user with an opportunity to confirm the
selected language. If desired, language confirmation
screen 320 may be displayed in the selected language
before the language is set.
Illustrative language confirmation screen 320
of FIG. 11 indicates to users that there may be a delay
of a few minutes to update the guide. Whether or not
there is any delay may depend on the chosen approach
for providing program guide display screen text in
different languages. The message displayed in language
confirmation screen 320 may be changed accordingly.
Language setup display screen 310 of FIG. 10
and language confirmation screen 320 of FIG. 11 may
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also be displayed by the program guide to provide the
user with an opportunity to select an alternate
language. The program guide may display program guide
display screen text and play audio in the alternate
language when text or audio in the primary language
(i.e., the language first selected by the user) is not
available. In another suitable approach, the program
guide may pick an alternate language based on the
primary language selected by the user. If the user
selects Canadian English, for example, the program
guide may select U.S. English as an alternate language.
As used herein, "selected language" is intended to
include a primary language selected by the user, a
secondary language selected by the user or the program
guide, or any suitable combination thereof.
In practice, the languages available for
playing programming audio may not be the same as the
languages available for displaying program guide
display screen text. When programming audio is not
available in the selected language but program guide
display screen text is, the program guide may play
programming audio in a related language. For example,
if a user selects Canadian English as the user's
primary language, the program guide may display program
guide display screen text in Canadian English and play
programming audio in U.S. English when there is no
Canadian English audio track available.
The program guide may store a language
attribute identifying the selected language. The
program guide may also store a default program guide
language attribute identifying a default program guide
language. The default program guide language attribute
may, for example, be preprogrammed into the program
guide or supplied as part of the program guide data,
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and may be customized based on a user's location. For
example, users in the United States may have their
default program guide language set to U.S. English, and
users in Mexico may have their default program guide
language set to Spanish.
Program guide display screen text may be
displayed using the interactive television program
guide according to the language attributes. If program
guide display screen text in the selected language is
not available, text in the default program guide
language may be used to display program guide display
screen text in the default program guide language. The
display of program guide display screen text may
include displaying times, dates, currencies, or
parental ratings in formats particular to a selected
language or country that uses a selected language.
Program guide display screen text may include help
text, program guide data text, and program guide text,
or any suitable combination thereof. Help text is
displayed in response to the user selection of a help
feature such as text 205 of FIG. B. Help text may be
provided as part of the program guide data provided by
the main facility, as part of the application, or using
a suitable combination of approaches. Help text may,
for example, be initially provided as part of the
program guide and later downloaded when the user
selects a language.
Program guide data text is text included in
the program guide data that is read by the program
guide and included in program guide display screens.
Program guide data text may include, for example,
programming information (e.g., titles, channels,
descriptions and content information, rating
information, or any other text based information
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associated with television programming), text for
advertisements, or any other suitable text based
information. An example of program guide data text may
be the program listings of listings 150 shown in FIGS.
6a and 6b, and the program information displayed on
information window 162 of FIG. 7a.
Program guide text is text that is programmed
into the program guide and that is generally not
provided as part of the program guide data. Program
guide text may be downloaded, however, when the user
changes languages. Program guide text may include, for
example, screen. titles, screen element labels (e.g.,
button labels, program list labels, program grid
labels, etc.), text that indicates or otherwise
describes program guide functionality, or any other
text that may be considered part of the program guide
itself for display in program guide display screens.
An example of program guide text may be the text of
selectable features 106 of main menu 102 (FIG. 5).
The interactive program guide may obtain
program guide data containing text that is in the
selected or default program guide languages. In one
suitable approach, program guide help and data text may
be provided continuously by television distribution
facility 16 to user television equipment 22 in
different languages and filtered by the interactive
program guide. The program guide may, for example,
filter out data. in the data stream containing text that
is not in a desired language (e.g., undesirable help or
program guide data text) by, for example, comparing a
stored language attribute with language attributes
contained in a program guide data stream. This
comparison and filtering may also be performed by
suitable circuitry in control circuitry 42 without
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requiring the program guide to do the comparison. In
another suitable approach, program guide data in the
desired language (e.g., help text and programming video
data text) may be downloaded by the program guide by a
specific request (e.g., in a suitable client-server
approach).
In still another suitable approach, the
interactive program guide may indicate the selected and
default program guide languages to television
distribution facility 16 using any suitable approach.
Television distribution facility 16, in turn, may
provide program guide data only in the indicated
languages. In this approach, television distribution
facility 16 may have suitable memory and processing
circuitry to store language attributes for a large
number of users. Alternatively, the program guide may
indicate the selected and default languages with every
request.
Program guide text may be changed by the
interactive program guide using any suitable approach.
Program guide text for all available languages may, for
example, be compressed using any suitable compression
method, and stored as part of the program guide
application. When a user selects a different language,
the program guide may, for example, decompress program
guide text in the selected language and display it
accordingly. Alternatively, the program guide may, for
example, download program guide text on demand from the
television distribution facility (e.g., as in a
suitable client-server approach), or download program
guide text from a periodic or continuous data stream.
Television program audio may be provided to
user television equipment 22 by television distribution
facility 16 on analog audio tracks of analog television
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channels. Different audio tracks may be used to
provide different languages for television program
audio. One suitable analog approach involves using a
secondary audio program ("SAP"). SAP track
identification may be provided to the interactive
television program guide as part of the program guide
data stream by main facility 12 or television
distribution facility 16. The program guide data
stream may, for example, contain a SAP track map
database that maps or defines the primary and secondary
language types of the SAP for a particular programming
entity (e.g., by using a unique source identifier
("ID") to identify NBC', ABC FOX-, etc.), for each
channel, or for each program. The SAP track map
database may be generated by main facility 12 or
television distribution facility 16 and transmitted to
user television equipment 22 using any suitable analog
or digital in-band or out-of-band approach. The SAP
track map database may be included in the program guide
data if desired.
The SAP track map database may be stored by
the interactive program guide, downloaded on demand,
periodically, continuously or using any other suitable
approach. When necessary, the interactive program
guide may pass track identifiers to analog audio
selector 59 (FIG. 4). The program guide may, for
example, pass track identifiers to analog audio
selector 59 each time the user changes channels, each
time a new program is broadcast, or after any other
suitable event that may require analog audio selector
59 to select a different audio track. Alternatively,
the program guide may pass the SAP track map database
and track identifiers to analog audio selector 59.
Analog audio selector 59 may in turn dynamically choose
*Trade-mark
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between the SAP audio tracks based on the language
identifiers and the SAP map, without requiring activity
by the program guide.
Television program audio, data, and other
information may be provided to user television
equipment 22 on digital tracks that are provided as
part of digital television channels. A digital channel
may include, for example, a video track, a number of
audio tracks, and a number of data or other suitable
text tracks (e.g., a subtitle track, digital music
information track (e.g., title, artist, and track
information), etc.). If desired, data may be
transmitted out-of-band and not included as an
additional track. Digital video, audio, and data are
transmitted in packets on the digital television
channel. The packets also contain packet identifiers
("PIDs") identifying the track that each packet
belongs to.
A PID map database may be provided by main
facility 12 to television distribution facility 16 as
part of the program guide data. Alternatively,
television distribution facility 16 may insert a PID
map database into the program guide data that was
generated by television distribution facility 16 or
another source. If desired, the PID map database may
be distributed by television distribution facility 16
to user television equipment 22 separate from the
program guide data. The PID map database defines which
languages correspond to the digital tracks of the
digital channels. The PID map database may define, for
example, which languages correspond to which tracks for
each television program, for each channel, or for each
television distribution facility 16.
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The interactive television program guide
implemented on interactive program guide equipment 17
may receive the PID map database. The PID map database
may be used by the interactive program guide to
determine which audio, data, or other track has audio,
data, or other information in the selected, default
program guide, and default program languages. This may
be determined, for example, each time the user changes
the selected language, each time new television
programming is broadcasted, each time the channel is
changed, in any suitable combination thereof, or after
any other event that may require selecting different
digital tracks to obtain audio, data, or other
information in the applicable languages. The PIDs for
the tracks on which the selected or default language
audio, data, or other information is provided are
passed by the interactive program guide to packet
filter 55 located in user television equipment 22.
Packets without the passed IDs are filtered out by
packet filter 55. The remaining packets, along with
the digital video signal of the channel, may be passed
from tuner 51 to decoder 57 for decoding, and all are
played for the user by user television equipment 22.
The PID map database may also be forwarded to
digital component selector 53. The interactive
television program guide may pass the stored language
attributes to digital component selector each time the
user selects a different language using the program
guide. Digital component selector 55 may in turn pass
PIDs to the packet filter for audio, data, and other
tracks that contain audio, data, and other information
in the selected or default languages, based on the PID
map. Packets without the indicated IDs are filtered
out by packet filter. The remaining audio and data
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packets, along with the digital video signal on the
channel, may be passed from tuner 51 to decoder 57 for
decoding, and are all played for the user by user
television equipment 22. In this approach, the
interactive program guide may "sleep" and allow digital
component selector 53 to detect events which would
require sending different PIDs to packet filter 55
(e.g., the user flipping a channel).
If desired, only portions of the program
guide display screen text may change by coordinating
the language in which program guide display screen text
is displayed with the languages available for
television programming available to the user. A
particular program may, for example, not have an audio
track (digital or analog) for a primary selected
language (e.g., U.S. English). The program may be
played and its associated program listings and other
information may be displayed, for example, in any other
applicable language (e.g., an alternate, the default
program language, or the default program guide
language), while programs and associated program
listings that have the desired audio track may be
displayed in the primary selected language. The same
may be true for subtitles, music information,
programming information, other data or information
included in digital tracks, or any other program guide
display screen text that is presented to the user by
the program guide.
A particular program may not, for example,
have an audio track in the selected language. When the
user indicates to the interactive program guide a
desire to access a program guide function that
involves, for example, displaying program guide data
text (e.g., previewing program listings, program
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information, ordering pay-per-view programs, etc.), the
program guide determines if the program guide data text
displayed as part of the function includes tel-vision
programming information (e.g., titles, broadcast times,
descriptions and content information, rating
information, etc.). As the program guide generates
program guide display screens containing the television
program information, the program guide determines if
the television program associated with the television
program information has audio, data, or other
information in the selected language, based on the PID
map database or the SAP map database. If so, the
program guide displays program guide display screen
text associated with the program in the selected
language. If, however, the television program audio,
data, or other informatir' is not available in the
selected language, the program guide may display the
program guide display screen text in the default
language.
In still another suitable approach, main
facility 12 may provide program guide display screen
text in those languages in which audio for related
programming is available. If a program has audio in
only one language, main facility 12 may only provide
program guide display screen text in that language.
This may simplify the selection process that may take
place at television distribution facility 12 when, for
example, the program guide requests program guide data
text.
One example of when the program guide may
coordinate the language in which program guide display
screen text is displayed with languages available for
television programming is when a user indicates a
desire to view program listings. The program guide may
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also coordinate languages, for example, when a user
indicates a desire to access other program information,
pay-per-view ordering information, or any other
information related to television programs.
An illustrative hierarchy of the language in
which program guide display screen text is displayed
and audio played is shown in FIG. 12. Preferably, the
program guide uses the primary language selected by the
user. Program, guide text and help text may normally be
displayed in the primary language unless, for example,
the text cannot be downloaded by the program guide
after a user changes the primary language. If audio is
not available, it may be played in an alternate
language selected either by the user or by the program
guide. If program guide data text is not available in
the primary selected language, the program guide may
obtain program guide data text in an alternate language
selected by the user or by the program guide. Program
guide data text for particular programs may be
coordinated with the language in which audio will be
played according, for example, to the hierarchy of FIG.
12.
Programs may have default program languages.
A default program language may be set by, for example,
main facility 12 or television distribution facility
16, and distributed to user television equipment 22 as
part of the program guide data. If programming audio
is not available in the primary or alternate language,
it may be played in the default program language.
Program guide data text for programs may be coordinated
accordingly and displayed in the default program
language. If none of the above languages are
available, programming audio may be played and related
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program guide data text displayed in the default
program guide language.
FIGS. 13-16 are flowcharts of illustrative
steps involved in providing a program guide with
selectable languages in accordance with the principles
of the present invention. The steps illustrated in the
flowcharts are illustrative and may be performed in any
suitable order. FIG. 13 shows illustrative steps
involved in operating an interactive television program
guide system that provides a user with the opportunity
to select languages in which program guide display
screen text is displayed.
At step 400, the interactive program guide
implemented on interactive program guide equipment 17
may provide the user with the opportunity to select a
language. Step 400 may include substeps 405, 410, and
415 as shown. At substep 405, a setup screen, such as
illustrative setup display screen 300 of FIG. 8, may be
provided to the user to provide the user with the
opportunity to access the language selection feature of
the program guide. At substep 410, the program guide
may provide the user with a language setup display
screen, such as illustrative language setup display
screen 410 of FIG. 10, to provide the user with the
opportunity to select a language from a list of
languages. At substep 415, the program guide may
provide the user with the opportunity to confirm the
language selection by, for example, providing the user
with language confirmation screen 320 of FIG. 11. Step
400 may be repeated to provide the user with an
opportunity to select an alternate language.
Alternately, the program guide may select an alternate
language according to the primary language (step 417).
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The program guide may store language
attributes for the selected languages at step 420. A
language attribute for the default program guide
language may have been pre-programmed into the program
guide, or may also be stored at step 420 (e.g., by
downloading it from a data stream or server) . At step
430, the program guide may ready program guide display
screen text for display in the selected or default
languages. More specifically, help text, program guide
data text, and program guide text may be readied by the
program guide at steps 440, 450, and 460, respectively.
Program guide display screen text may be
readied by the program guide using any suitable
approach. In practice, however, the way in which
program guide display screen text is readied by the
program guide may depend on the type of text and how
the text is provided to the program guide. Help text
and program guide data text may, for example, be
continuously provided in multiple languages by
television distribution facility 16 to user television
equipment 22. Alternatively, help text and program
guide data text in different languages may be provided
on demand. In either of these approaches, the program
guide may filter out unwanted help text or program
guide data text at steps 442 and 452, respectively.
Help text and program guide data text may also be
downloaded in only the selected, default program guide,
or default program languages by the program guide, as
indicated by steps 444 and 454. In still another
approach, the program guide may indicate the selected
or default program guide language to television
distribution facility 16. Television distribution
facility 16 may in turn provide help text or program
guide data text or any suitable combination of these
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approaches, continuously in the indicated language
(steps 446 and 456). Help text and program guide text
may, for example, be stored initially as par, of the
program guide and updated using a suitable client-
server based approach.
In still another suitable approach, main
facility 12 may provide program guide data text in
those languages in which audio for related programming
is available. If a program has audio in only one
language, main facility 12 may only provide program
guide data text in that language. This may simplify
the selection process that may take place at television
distribution facility 12 when, for example, the program
guide requests program guide data text. Any other
suitable approach for readying help text or program
guide data text or any suitable combination of these
approaches, may be used.
The program guide may ready program guide
text at step 460. On suitable approach may involve
extracting program guide text in the selected or
default program guide language that is normally stored
by the program guide (step 462). Another suitable
approach may involve downloading program guide text
from television distribution facility 16 on demand at
step 460 using, for example, any suitable client-server
or peer-to-peer approach (step 464). Any other
suitable approach for readying program guide text may
be used. At step 468, the display screen text may be
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decompressed. Providing display screen text in
compressed form may tend to minimize the bandwidth
requirements of link and 20 and the memory requirements
of user television equipment 22.
At step 470, the program guide displays the
program guide display screen text in the selected, the
default program guide, or the default program language
using use-. television equipment 22. Displaying program
guide display screen text in a selected language may
also include displaying text in a date format, time
format, currency format, parental rating format or
other format particular to a selected language or
country that uses a selected language.
FIG. 14 is a flowchart of illustrative steps
involved in providing analog audio on different analog
audio tracks using the program guide of the present
invention. Initially, the program guide may provide
the user with an opportunity to select a language in
which the user would like television program audio
played by user television equipment 22. This
opportunity may be provided to the user by the program
guide at 400-415. At step 420, the program guide may
store language attributes for the selected or default
languages. Steps 400-420 were discussed with respect
to FIG. 13 and for brevity will not be re-explained
here.
An analog audio track is selected using the
program guide (step 500). At step 502, the program
guide may determine which analog track carries audio in
a desirable language (e.g., the primary, alternate,
default program guide, or default program language)
using, for example, an analog audio track map such as a
SAP map. At step 510, the program guide may pass an
analog track identifier for the desired track to analog
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audio selector 59 (FIG. 4). This step may occur with
any suitable frequency. The program guide may pass an
analog track identifier to analog audio selector 59,
for example, each time the user changes channels, each
time a programming change occurs, or with any other
suitable frequency. At step 512, the identified audio
track is selected by analog audio selector 59. The
selected audio track is played for the user by user
television equipment 22 at step 515.
It may be desirable, however, to select
analog audio tracks without activity from the program
guide, as performed at step 505. This may involve, for
example, passing an analog track map and language
identifiers for the selected and default languages to
analog audio selector 59 using the program guide (step
507) . Analog audio selector 59 may determine which
analog track is desirable based on the analog track map
and the language identifiers. In a system in which SAP
is used, for example, only one language identifier need
be included in the SAP map sent to analog audio
selector because there are only two available tracks.
If audio in the selected language is not available on
the indicated track, then the other track may
automatically be used. Alternatively, the SAP map may
include the languages of both tracks.
At step 509, analog audio selector 59 selects
the desirable analog audio track without any further
activity by the program guide directed towards
selecting analog audio. Step 509 may be performed, for
example, each time the user changes channels, each time
programming changes on a channel, or with any other
suitable frequency. Analog audio from the selected
track is played by user television equipment 22 at step
515.
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FIG. 15 is a flowchart of illustrative steps
involved in providing digital audio, data, or other
information using the program guide of the present
invention. Initially, the program guide may provide
the user with an opportunity to select a language.
This opportunity may be provided to the user by the
program guide at steps 400-415. At step 417, the
program guide may select an alternate language based on
the primary language. At step 420, the program guide
may store language attributes for the selected and
default program guide languages. Steps 400-420 were
discussed with respect to FIG. 13 and for brevity will
not be re-explained here.
A digital audio, data, or other information
'track is selected using the program guide at step 550.
At step 552, the program guide determines which digital
tracks carry audio, data, or other information in a
desirable (the selected or default) language using, for
example, a PID map. At step 555, PIDs for the
desirable tracks may be passed to packet filter 55
(FIG. 4) using the program guide. This step may be
performed with any suitable frequency. The program
guide may pass PIDs to packet filter 55, for example,
each time the user changes channels, each time a
programming change occurs, or with any other suitable
frequency. At step 557, packet filter 55 filters out
unwanted packets and the contents of the selected
tracks are played by user television equipment 22 at
step 560.
It may be desirable, however, to select
digital tracks without activity from the program guide
directed towards digital track selection, as performed
at step 540. This may involve, for example, passing a
PID map and language identifiers for the selected and
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default languages to digital component selector 53
(FIG. 4) using the program guide (step 545). Digital
component selector 53 may determine which tracts are
desirable based on the PID map and the language
identifiers, and may select the desirable tracks at
step 547. Selecting desirable tracks may involve, for
example, passing PIDs to packet filter 55 which, in
turn, filters out undesirable packets. The contents of
the selected digital tracks are played by user
television equipment 22 at step 560.
FIG. 16 is a flowchart. of illustrative steps
involved in coordinating the language in which program
guide display screen text is displayed with languages
available for television programming when the
television programming is broadcasted. Initially, the
program guide may provide: the user with an opportunity
to select a language. This opportunity may be provided
to the user by the program guide at steps 400-415. At
step 417, the program guide may select an alternate
language based. on the primary language. At step 420,
the program guide may store language attributes for the
selected and default languages. Steps 400-420 were
discussed with respect to FIG. 13 and for brevity will
not be re-explained here.
Coordinating display screen text with
available languages may involve any suitable scheme for
providing display screen text in one or more languages
(step 603). Main facility 12 may only provide program
guide display screen text in languages in wh=ich audio
is available for programs (step 605). For example,
main facility 12 may only provide program listings in
the languages in which their associated programs have
audio. Alternatively, distribution equipment 21 or
program guide server 25 of television distribution
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facility 16 may only store program guide display screen
text in languages available for programs (step 607).
In still another approach, user television equipment 22
may only store program guide display screen text in
languages available for programs (step 609).
At step 600, the program guide provides the
user with an opportunity to access a program guide
function. This may involve, for example, displaying
main menu screen 100 of FIG. 5 and providing the user
with the opportunity to select one of selectable
features 106 (FIG. 5). Once the user indicates a
desire to access a particular function (by, for
example, selecting a feature 106), the program guide
determines if providing the function to the user
.15 involves displaying program guide display screen text
that is related to a television program (step 610).
This may be accomplished, for example, by programming
the program guide to recognize that certain fields in
which program guide data text is displayed involve
displaying television program related information, such
as by examining an attribute associated with each
field. Television program related information may
include, for example, program listing information,
additional program information, music information, pay-
per-view ordering information, or any other information
related to basic, premium, pay-per-view, music, or
other types of programs. If the program guide function
does not involve displaying program guide display
screen text that is related to a television program,
the program guide may display the program guide display
screen text in the selected language at step 620. If
program guide display screen text is not available in
the selected language, then the program guide may
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display the text, for example, in accordance with the
illustrative hierarchy shown in FIG. 13.
If the program guide determines at step 610
that the program guide function does involve displaying
program guide display screen text that is related to a
television program, the program guide may then
determine if a selected (primary or alternate) language
is a language that is associated with the television
program; that is, the program guide determines if the
selected language is one of the languages that the
audio, data, or other information for a television
program will be broadcasted in. This may be
accomplished, for example, by examining a track map
database that is provided as part of the program guide
data stream (e.g., a SAP track map database, a PID map
database, etc.).
How the program guide determines whether a
television program will be broadcasted with audio,
data, or other information in a selected language may
depend on how the track map database is structured.
If, for example, the track map database associates
available languages with channel numbers, the program
guide may cross-reference the channel number for the
television program as indicated in the program guide
data stream with the channel numbers in the track map
database. Alternatively, if the track map database
associates available languages with individual
programs, the program guide may cross-reference the
program name (or other program identifier) with the
program names (or identifiers) in the track map
database.
A particular program guide function may
include displaying program guide display screen text
that relates to a number of television programs.
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Providing the user with program listings information,
such as is displayed in program listings screens 130
and 135 of FIGS. 6a and 6b, is an example of such a
function. When generating screens 130 or 135, for
example, the program guide may perform step 615 for
each listing and determine that each listing 150 is a
field in which program guide display screen text is
displayed that relates to a television program. The
program guide may determine if each program that is
associated with each listing 150 will be broadcasted
with audio, data, or other information in the selected
language by, for example, cross referencing each
listing with the contents of the track map database.
If the program guide determines that a
television program will be broadcasted with audio,
data, or other information in a selected language, the
program guide may display the program guide display
screen text that is related to that television program
in the selected language, as indicated by step 620.
If, however, the program guide determines that the
= television program will not be broadcasted with audio,
data, or other information in one of the selected
languages, the program guide will display the program
guide display screen text related to the television
program in the default program language, or the default
program guide language as indicated by step 625.
Steps 620 and 625 may be performed for each
program guide display screen display element such as,
for example, each listing 150 of program listings
screens 130 and 135 of FIGS. 6a and 6b. It should be
further noted that displaying program guide display
screen text in the selected or the default languages
may require first readying the program guide display
screen text, as discussed with respect to FIG. 13.
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The foregoing is merely illustrative o= the
principles of this invention and various modifications
can be made by those skilled in the art without
departing from the scope and spirit of the present
invention.
