Image-oriented electronic programming guide

摘要

An image-oriented electronic programming guide system is provided in which programming choices are represented as reduced video images of real-time programming displayed in individual image areas comprising one or more independent or geometric surfaces. The reduced video images may be snapshots captured from a standard video channel and updated at regular intervals or after detecting a scene change in the real-time programming. The most presentable snapshot may be further filtered to represent the real-time programming in the best manner. The reduced video images may also be thumbnail video streams selected from an enhanced preview channel.