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Electronic program guide with related-program search feature

Electronic program guide with related-program search feature description/claims

This application is a continuation of pending prior application Ser. No. 10/852,913, filed May 24, 2004, which is a continuation of patent application Ser. No. 09/451,612, filed Nov. 30, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,865,746, which claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application No. 60/110,989, filed Dec. 3, 1998. All of these prior patent applications are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

This invention relates to interactive television systems such as interactive television program guide systems, and more particularly, to techniques for program searching in these systems.

Cable, satellite, and broadcast television systems provide a large number of television channels. Typically, the number of channels provided by cable and satellite systems is over a hundred and ever increasing. Television viewers have traditionally consulted printed television program schedules to obtain programming information. More recently, interactive electronic television program guides have been developed to allow television program information to be displayed on viewer television equipment.

Interactive electronic television program guides (“program guides”) typically provide program listings for all channels available in the television system. Some program guides include features for allowing users to search for programs. Such search features are often complex, time-consuming, and cumbersome. For example, such search features may require that a user select search parameters such as preferred programming genres before searching for programs, that a user navigate through several display screens before being allowed to initiate a search, that the user enter at least a portion of a program title to initiate a search, etc.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a television system that includes an improved program searching feature.

These and other objects of the invention are accomplished in accordance with the principles of the present invention by providing a system for searching for programs. The system may provide the user with an opportunity to indicate an interest in a given program. The system may provide the user with an opportunity to request that the system locate programs that are related to the given program in which the user indicated an interest. The system may locate program listings that are related to the given program. The located program listings may be related to the given program based on attributes of the given program.

The system may display a list of the located program listings. The system may provide the user with an opportunity to select from the list of related programs. The system may tune to a program selected from the list, may display an information display screen for a program selected from the list, etc.

The system may provide the user with an opportunity to configure search parameters. For example, The system may present the user with a list of attributes for the given program and may allow the user to select one or more attributes and may allow the user to select which logical operations (e.g., and/or operations) are to be performed on the attributes. The system may search television program listings and may display a list of related programs based on the selected attributes.

The system may sort related program listings based on the attributes of the given program. The system may provide the user with an opportunity to save search parameters for use at a later time. The system may display a list of previously saved searches and may provide the user with an opportunity to direct the system to locate currently available program listings based on a saved search from the list. The system may locate currently available listings based on the user-selected search parameters from the saved search when the saved search is retrieved. The system may allow the user to delete a saved search. The system may automatically display a notification based on user-selected search parameters from a saved search. The system may provide the user with an opportunity to view the user-selected search parameters for a saved search.

Further features of the invention, its nature and various advantages will be more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an illustrative interactive television program guide system in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of illustrative steps involved in providing program searching in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3a is a flow chart of illustrative steps involved in providing an opportunity to request that the system locate programs related to a given program in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3b is a diagram of an illustrative sequence of illustrative display screens for providing an opportunity to request that the system locate programs that are related to a given program in accordance with the present invention.

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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