Interactive Program Guide Dual Menu Hierarchies
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Solution Overview
Problem
Digital television receivers face challenges in navigating and displaying program information due to limited functionality, number of keys on remote controls, low data processor capacity, and growing program density, leading to user confusion and difficulty in finding specific programs across multiple channels and days.
Innovation Solution
An interactive program guide device with a menu generator that creates two menu hierarchies for user interfaces, allowing users to select program sources and view timelines, with dynamic panel spacing and graphical indicators for available data, enhancing navigation and clarity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If program data for multiple channels and days is stored in non-volatile memory, then program information availability is improved, but navigation and display complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The program guide is divided into multiple displayable panels, each showing a specific day's program schedule. Users can navigate between panels for different days, transforming the complex information set into manageable, segmented views that reduce cognitive load while maintaining full information availability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a temporal dimension to the display interface by organizing program data across multiple day-based panels. This dimensional organization allows comprehensive program information to be presented in a structured, navigable format that transforms complex data into an intuitive chronological journey through the program guide.
2Adaptability or versatility
If remote control has more keys for better program selection, then program selection capability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The displayable panel structure serves multiple functions: it displays program information, provides navigation cues through panel identifiers, and enables day selection through systematic panel traversal. This multi-functional design allows comprehensive program selection capability to be achieved through a simplified interface that uses the same display mechanism for multiple purposes.
3Productivity
If data processor capacity is increased to handle more program data, then program data processing capability is improved, but device cost and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The program data is segmented into daily panels that are processed and displayed sequentially rather than all at once. This segmentation allows the data processor to handle information in manageable chunks, reducing the instantaneous processing burden while maintaining the ability to access and display comprehensive program data across multiple days.
Data Source
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Figure 1b
Figure 1c
AI summary
The interactive program guiding device has a local menu generator unit for generating a user interface, where the local menu generator unit is comprised of two menu hierarchies for simultaneous display on a display screen. A program source list (4) is represented as a part of the sources with the source names (5) in a display area (1) of the display screen.