What is claimed is:
1. A display interface having a group of channels for tuning a television receiver, said display interface comprising:
a channel matrix having n columns and m rows for displaying a plurality of definable channel indicators for at most nm channels, where n and m are positive integers greater than 2, each definable channel indicator corresponding to a respectively different position in the matrix, wherein channels having programs with viewer selected features are highlighted;
a cursor configured to be moved to positions along the rows and columns of the matrix;
a channel status section which displays status information on a television channel corresponding to the indicator at the position of the cursor on the matrix; and
a channel selector which selects and tunes the channel corresponding to the definable channel indicator at the position of the cursor on the matrix.
2. A display interface in accordance with claim 1, wherein the channels represented by the channel matrix are one group of channels among a plurality of channel groups and the channel matrix further includes a channel group selector configured to be activated to switch the channel matrix among the groups of channels to select a current group of channels.
3. A display interface in accordance with claim 1, wherein the viewer selected features include a plurality of program types and the display interface further includes means for selecting one of the program types as the viewer selected feature.
4. A display interface in accordance with claim 3, wherein the program types are predetermined program types.
5. A display interface in accordance with claim 3, wherein the program types are defined by the viewer.
6. A display interface in accordance with claim 1, wherein the viewer selected features include at least one program transmission characteristic.
7. A display interface in accordance with claim 1, wherein n and m equal 10 such that each group of channels includes at most 100 channels, and the channel group selector displays a category indicator for the current group of channels.
8. A display interface in accordance with claim 1, wherein each definable channel indicator in said channel matrix is color-coded to indicate the status information of the corresponding channel.
9. A display interface in accordance with claim 1 further including a remote control device, including at least one cursor navigation key for moving the cursor along the rows and columns of the matrix, wherein the channel selector is a further key on the remote control device.
10. A display interface in accordance with claim 1 further including a voice recognition system that recognizes voiced direction commands to move the cursor along the rows and columns of the matrix and recognizes a voiced selection command to act as the channel selector.
12. A user interface method for controlling a television receiver to select television programs that are transmitted through the channels for display, wherein the television receiver is configured to receive C channels, where C is an integer, the method comprising the steps of:
displaying a channel matrix having n columns and m rows for displaying channel indicators for at most nm channels, where n and m are positive integers greater than 2 and nm is less than C, each definable channel indicator corresponding to a respectively different position in the matrix, wherein channels having programs with viewer selected features are highlighted;
moving a cursor over the channel indicators in the matrix to indicate a possible selection of a channel corresponding to one of the definable channel indicators;
displaying status information concerning the possibly selected channel; and
responsive to the displayed status information, selecting the channel indicator to cause the television receiver to display the television program corresponding to the channel indicator.
13. A method in accordance with claim 12, wherein the channels represented by the channel matrix are one group of channels among a plurality of channel groups and the method further includes the steps of:
prompting a viewer to select the features of the programs;
displaying a channel group selector representing the one group of channels in which all channel indicators in the one group of channels that have at least one of the selected features are highlighted.
14. A method in accordance with claim 13 further wherein the step of highlighting the channel indicators for the programs having the viewer selected features includes the step of displaying the highlighted channel indicators in a different color than other channel indicators in the channel matrix.
15. A method in accordance with claim 14 further including the steps of:
displaying a feature selection portion including a plurality of features representing respectively different types of programs and at least one feature representing a function that may be performed on the channels represented by the channel matrix and prompting a viewer to select at least one program type or at least one function as the selected features; and
highlighting the channels having the programs with the selected program types and displaying, in the status information, results of applying the at least one selected function to the possibly selected channel.
16. A method in accordance with claim 15 where the at least one function includes determining a V-Chip rating for the possibly selected channel.
17. Apparatus for implementing a display interface having a group of channels for tuning a television receiver, said display interface comprising:
means for displaying a channel matrix having n columns and m rows for displaying definable channel indicators for at most nm channels, where n and m are positive integers greater than 2, each definable channel indicator corresponding to a respectively different position in the matrix wherein channels having programs with viewer selected features are highlighted;
means for moving a cursor over the definable channel indicators in the matrix to indicate a possible selection of a channel corresponding to one of the definable channel indicators;
means for displaying status information concerning the possibly selected channel; and
means, responsive to the displayed status information, for indicating a selection of the channel indicator corresponding to the possibly selected channel to tune the television receiver to receive the program corresponding to the selected channel indicator.
18. A computer readable carrier including a computer program that controls a computer to implement a display interface having a group of channels for tuning a television receiver, the computer program causing the computer to perform the steps of:
displaying a channel matrix having n columns and m rows for displaying definable channel indicators for at most nm channels, where n and m are positive integers greater than 2, each definable channel indicator corresponding to a respectively different position in the matrix, wherein channels having programs with viewer selected features are highlighted;
moving a cursor over the channel indicators in the matrix to indicate a possible selection of a channel corresponding to one of the channel indicators;
displaying status information concerning the possibly selected channel; and
responsive to the displayed status information, selecting the channel indicator corresponding to the possibly selected channel to cause the television receiver to display the television program corresponding to the selected channel indicator.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An apparatus comprising:
a processor; and
memory storing at least one program that, when executed by the processor, causes the apparatus to:
instantiate multimedia structures in a directory, the multimedia structures comprising at least one of messages, data, and commands;
download the multimedia structures contained in the directory; and
instantiate a voice-recognition and speech-synthesis system that comprises modules for reading files in XML format, for associating the files with an XSL processing module, and for mapping the XML files into the XSL processing module to obtain files in a format that is configured to be interpreted by the voice-recognition and speech-synthesis system.
2. The apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to connect to at least one telephone set via a telephone network.
3. The apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein the multimedia structures comprise at least one voice prompt to provide options for accessing the at least one of messages, data and commands in the multimedia structures.
4. The apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein the apparatus further comprises a speech synthesis module configured to synthesize prompts and messages.
5. The apparatus defined in claim 4, wherein the multimedia structures comprise messages that are configured to be interpreted by the speech synthesis module and provide options for accessing the at least one of messages, data and commands in the multimedia structures.
6. The apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein the at least one program, when executed by the processor, causes the apparatus to:
instantiate the multimedia structures via an interconnection network comprising the internet.
7. The apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein the multimedia structures comprise at least one element having an address for instantiating further devices configured to store multimedia structures.
8. The apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein the multimedia structures comprise at least one element having a telephone number for activating telephone calls with at least one telephone set via an interconnection network.
9. The apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein the multimedia structures comprise at least one element having a set of commands that are configured to be activated by at least one telephone set in order to conduct e-commerce or respond to questionnaires.
10. The apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein the at least one program, when executed by the processor, causes the apparatus to:
identify a network address of a remote hosting site in a look-up table based on a received number specific to the remote hosting site; and
instantiate, using the identified network address, a service provider directory at the remote hosting site in which the multimedia structures are stored.
11. A method comprising:
instantiating multimedia structures in a directory through an interconnection network by determining a network address of a remote hosting site in which a device configured to store the multimedia structures is located using a received number, wherein the multimedia structures comprise at least one of messages, data, and commands;
downloading the multimedia structures contained in the directory; and
instantiating, at a server, a voice-recognition and speech-synthesis system that reads files in XML format, associates the read XML files with an XSL processing module, and maps the XML files into the XSL processing module.
12. The method defined in claim 11, further comprising:
receiving an indication that at least one key on a telephone set is actuated; and
instantiating at least one element of the multimedia structures through the server responsive to the indication.
13. The method defined in claim 11, further comprising:
receiving an indication that a voice message is sent through a telephone set; and
instantiating at least one element of the multimedia structures through the server responsive to the indication.
14. The method defined in claim 11, further comprising:
receiving from a telephone set an indication that a call is complete; and
responsive to receiving the indication that the call is complete, terminating the instantiation of the multimedia structures at the server.
15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:
identifying a network address of a remote hosting site in a look-up table based on a received number specific to the remote hosting site; and
instantiating, using the identified network address, a service provider directory at the remote hosting site in which the multimedia structures are stored.
16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:
identifying the service provider directory in the look-up table based on the received number.