Graphical electronic programming guide

摘要

Disclosed systems and methods present a graphics based electronic programming guide (EPG) that organizes available content in radial fashion on a display. Which content appears on a screen shot of the EPG may be determined using rating data, user preferences or collaborative filtering. Through collaborative filtering, disclosed embodiments may predict which programs a user may like according to group member ratings. Some disclosed EPGs include a mosaic with graphical indications of an overall rating and graphical indications of which of a plurality of characteristics (e.g., genres) apply to multimedia programs.

主权项

1. A method of presenting electronic programming guide information for selecting a multimedia program, the method comprising:
responsive to a first input from a user, displaying a first electronic programming guide interface, the first electronic programming guide interface including:
a first primary node, wherein the first primary node represents the user;a first set of secondary nodes positioned along a first axis extending radially from the first primary node, wherein each of the first set of secondary nodes identifies a corresponding multimedia program available for selection by the user; anda second set of secondary nodes positioned along a second axis extending radially from the first primary node, wherein each of the second set of secondary nodes identifies a corresponding category of multimedia programs; responsive to a second input indicating a selected secondary node in the first set of secondary nodes, displaying a second electronic programming guide interface, the second electronic programming guide interface including a second primary node identifying a multimedia program corresponding to the selected secondary node and a set of subordinate nodes positioned on different radii extending from the second primary node; and responsive to a second input indicating a selected secondary node in the second set of secondary nodes, displaying a third electronic programming guide interface, the third electronic programming guide interface identifying multimedia programs belonging to the category corresponding to the selected secondary node; wherein at least one of the first set of secondary nodes and the second set of secondary nodes is displayed as a compact mosaic and further wherein the compact mosaic comprises a rectangular table including a plurality of graphical classification elements, each graphical classification element comprising a column of the rectangular table, each column representing a corresponding multimedia program and wherein each global classification element includes a plurality of blocks, each block within a graphical classification element corresponding to a different genre, wherein a first dimension of each block conveys a rating of the corresponding multimedia program and a second dimension of each block conveys a degree to which the corresponding multimedia program belongs to the corresponding genre.