1. One or more nontransitory computer-readable media having embodied thereon computer-useable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more computing devices to perform a method for presenting a group of available broadcast channels utilizing a wireless network when a channel-viewing graphical user interface (GUI) is initiated on a mobile device, wherein the group comprises channels that can be broadcast most efficiently to the mobile device, the method comprising:
initiating the channel-viewing GUI on the mobile device;
communicating a first request to a proxy server in a first access service network currently providing access to the mobile device, wherein the first access service network is one of a plurality of access service networks in the wireless network, and wherein the first request is to retrieve a list of currently broadcast channels that are currently being broadcast within the first access service network;
receiving the list of currently broadcast channels that are currently being broadcast within the first access service network;
communicating a second request to a broadcast management server that manages broadcast channels within the plurality of access service networks throughout the wireless network, wherein the second request is to retrieve a list of currently viewed channels that are currently being viewed within the plurality of access service networks throughout the wireless network;
receiving the list of currently viewed channels that are currently being viewed within the plurality of access service networks throughout the wireless network;
retrieving a list of recently viewed channels on the mobile device;
presenting on the channel-viewing GUI at least a portion of the list of currently broadcast channels in the first access service network;
presenting on the channel-viewing GUI at least a portion of the list of currently viewed channels that are currently being viewed within the plurality of access service networks throughout the wireless network; and
presenting on the channel-viewing GUI at least a portion of the list of recently viewed channels on the mobile device;
wherein one or more indications are presented on the channel-viewing GUI that distinguish between the currently broadcast channels in the first access service network, the currently viewed channels that are currently being viewed within the plurality of access service networks throughout the wireless network, and the recently viewed channels on the mobile device.
2. The media of claim 1, wherein each portion presented on the channel-viewing GUI displays the most-viewed channels of the portion’s respective list.
3. The media of claim 2, further comprising presenting a list of least-viewed content throughout the wireless network.
4. The media of claim 3, wherein the at least a portion of the list of currently broadcast channels in the first access service network is presented first.
5. The media of claim 4, wherein the at least a portion of the list of currently viewed channels throughout the wireless network is presented second.
6. The media of claim 5, wherein the at least a portion of the list of recently viewed channels on the mobile device is presented third.
7. The media of claim 6, wherein each portion presented does not include the channels shown in the portion presented above it.
8. The media of claim 7, wherein each portion is separated by a respective visual indicator.
9. The media of claim 1, wherein each indication is at least one of a color, an icon, a pattern, or a focus indicator.
10. One or more nontransitory computer-storage media with computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of broadcasting channels of streaming media content in a telecommunications network, the method comprising:
streaming channel-based content to a first video media proxy (VMP) server located on a first access service network within the telecommunications network, wherein the first access service network is configured to provide access services to a plurality of mobile devices within the first access service network, wherein the first access service network is one of a plurality of access service networks within the first network, wherein the first VMP server includes a list of currently broadcast channels in the access service network a and a number of mobile devices accessing the currently broadcast channels;
streaming channel-based content to one or more additional VMP servers located on additional access service networks within the telecommunications network, wherein the one or more additional VMP servers include lists of currently broadcast channels in respective access services areas and a number of devices in the plurality accessing the currently broadcast channels;
communicating the lists and numbers associated with the first VMP server and the additional VMP servers to a broadcast management server (BMS) located on a network configured to provide connectivity services;
in response to a first request from a mobile device in the plurality of mobile devices, communicating from the first VMP server to the mobile device at least a portion of the list of currently broadcast channels in the first access services network; and
in response to a second request from the mobile device, communicating from the BMS to the mobile device at least a portion of a list of channels that are currently being viewed in access service networks throughout the telecommunications network.
11. The media of claim 10, wherein the portion of a list of channels currently being viewed is a portion of a list of most-viewed channels that are currently being viewed in access service networks throughout the telecommunications network.
12. The media of claim 10, wherein the at least a portion of a list of channels that are currently being viewed filters out the channels communicated in the list of currently broadcast channels in the first access service network.
13. The media of claim 12, wherein said communicating from the VMP server to the mobile device and said communicating from the BMS to the mobile device occurs only when the mobile device activates a channel-selection user interface (UI) located on the mobile device.
14. A system for presenting a list of available broadcast channels to a mobile device in a wireless network, wherein the system promotes efficient requests for broadcast channels, the system comprising:
a first video media proxy (VMP) server located at a first base transceiver station (BTS), wherein the first VMP server receives media content through channels from a server configured to stream media content and controls which channels are broadcast by the first BTS within a first access service network in the wireless network, wherein the first VMP is configured to receive a first request from the mobile device in the first access service network for a first list of channels that are currently being broadcast within the access service network, and wherein the first VMP is configured to send to the mobile device the first list of channels that are currently being broadcast by the BTS within the access service network and which can be viewed without requiring additional streaming of programming;
one or more additional VMP servers configured similarly to the first VMP server and associated with one or more respective BTSs; and
a broadcast management server (BMS) located at a central location on the wireless network, which collects information regarding each VMP on the wireless network and communicates that information to other devices on the network, wherein the BMS is configured to receive a second request from the mobile device for a second list of channels that are currently being viewed within access service networks throughout the wireless network, and wherein the BMS is configured to send to the mobile device the second list of channels that are currently being viewed within access service networks throughout the wireless network.
15. The system of claim 14, wherein the first list is sorted from the most to fewest users that are accessing the currently broadcast channels.
16. The system of claim 14, wherein the second list is sorted by popularity.
17. The system of claim 14, wherein the first list of channels that are currently being broadcast within the access service network includes at least a portion of a list of most-accessed channels from the first VMP.
18. The system of claim 14, wherein the second list of channels that are currently being viewed within access service networks throughout the wireless network includes at least a portion of a list of most-accessed channels from the BMS.
19. The system of claim 14, wherein the second list does not include channels that are included in the first list.
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. A display (1) comprising:
a display device (2); and
a transflector (7);
wherein the transflector (7) comprises a plurality of discrete portions and is configured so that the transmittance and reflectance properties of at least one of said portions can be tuned independently of other portions.
2. A display (1) according to claim 1, wherein the transflector (7) is a bistable device.
3. A display (1) according to claim 1, wherein the transflector (7) is a suspended particle device.
4. A display (1) according to claim 3, wherein said portions include cells containing separate particle suspensions (8a, 8b, 8c).
5. A display (1) according to claim 4, wherein said portions include spatial regions within a compartment containing a particle suspension.
6. A display (1) according to claim 3, wherein the suspended particle device (7) is configured to apply one or more electric fields to a particle suspension (8a, 8b, 8c).
7. A display (1) according to claim 6, wherein at least one of the one or more electric fields is inhomogeneous.
8. A display (1) according to claim 6, wherein at least one of the one or more electric fields is an AC field.
9. A display (1) according to claim 6, wherein at least one of the one or more electric fields is a DC field.
10. A display (1) according to claim 6, wherein the suspended particle device (7) is configured to apply to the particle suspension (8a, 8b, 8c) two electric fields with mutually orthogonal orientations.
11. A display (1) according to claim 6, wherein the suspended particle device (7) is configured so that, following application to the particle suspension (8a, 8b, 8c) of a first electric field in order to cause the particles within the particle suspension (8a, 8b, 8c) to adopt a first particle alignment, a second electric field may be applied to the particle suspension (8a, 8b, 8c) in order to accelerate relaxation of said first particle alignment.
12. A display (1) according to claim 6, further comprising an active matrix of electrodes for selectively applying an electric field to one or more particle suspensions (8a, 8b, 8c).
13. A display (1) according to claim 6, wherein the suspended particle device (7) is configured to apply an electric field to a particle suspension (8a, 8b, 8c) intermittently.
14. A display (1) according to claim 1, wherein physical dimensions of the discrete portions are non-identical.
15. A display (1) according to claim 1, wherein the display device is a liquid crystal cell (2).
16. A display (1) according to claim 15, further comprising a quarter-wave plate.
17. A display (1) according to claim 1, wherein the display device comprises:
an electrophoretic display;
an electrochromic display;
an electro-wetting display; or
a micromechanical display.
18. A display (1) according to claim 1, wherein the transflector is one of:
a switchable mirror display;
an electrochromic display;
an electro-wetting display; and
a roll-blind display.
19. A display (1) according to claim 1, further comprising a light sensor (22).
20. A display (1) according to claim 1, further comprising a touch screen arrangement (25).
21. A user interface (24) comprising a transflective display (1) according to claim 1 and a touch screen arrangement (25).
22. A method of displaying an image (23) on a transflective display (1), which includes a display device (2) and a transflector (7), comprising:
tuning the transmittance and reflectance properties of at least one of a plurality of discrete portions of the transflector (7) independently of other portions.
23. A method according to claim 22, wherein the transflector (7) is a suspended particle device and the step of tuning comprises applying one or more electric fields to a particle suspension (8a, 8b, 8c).
24. A method according to claim 23, wherein said step of tuning comprises applying one or more electric fields to a plurality of separate particle suspensions (8a, 8b, 8c).
25. A method according to claim 23, wherein at least one of said one or more electric fields is an inhomogeneous AC electric field.
26. A method according to claim 23, wherein at least one of said one or more electric fields is an AC field.
27. A method according to claim 23, wherein at least one of said one or more electric fields is a DC field.
28. A method according to claim 23, wherein said step of tuning comprises applying one or more electric fields to the particle suspension (8a) intermittently.
29. A method according to claim 23, wherein at least one of said electric fields has a potential less than a saturation potential of the particle suspension (8a, 8b, 8c).
30. A method according to claim 23, further comprising, following the application of a first electric field in order to cause particles within a particle suspension (8a, 8b, 8c) to adopt a given alignment, applying a second electric field in order to accelerate relaxation of said alignment.
31. A method according to claim 22, wherein the step of tuning the transflector (7) comprises tuning the transmittance and reflectance values of at least one portion in accordance with a level of ambient light (10) detected by a light sensor (22).