(19) United States
`(12) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub. No.: US 2014/0229992 A1
`Ellis et al.
`(43) Pub. Date:
`Aug. 14, 2014
`
`US 20140229992A1
`
`(54) SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING
`ENHANCED SPORTS WATCHING MEDIA
`GUIDANCE
`
`(71) Applicant: Rovi Guides, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US)
`
`(72) Inventors: Michael D. Ellis, Boulder, CO (US); Jon
`P. Radloff, Castle Rock, CO (US)
`O
`r
`(73) Assignee: Rovi Guides, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US)
`
`(21) Appl. No.: 14/258,974
`(22) Filed:
`Apr. 22, 2014
`
`Related U.S. Application Data
`(63) Continuation of application No. 1 1/888.675, filed on
`Jul. 31, 2007, now Pat. No. 8,745,661.
`(60) Provisional application No. 60/903,808, filed on Feb.
`26, 2007, provisional application No. 60/834,605,
`filed on Jul. 31, 2006.
`
`Publication Classification
`
`(51) Int. Cl.
`H4N2L/472
`HO)4N 7/173
`H4N2L/8
`
`(2006.01)
`(2006.01)
`(2006.01)
`
`
`
`(2006.01)
`(2006.01)
`(2006.01)
`(2006.01)
`(2006.01)
`
`H4N2L/243
`H4N2L/2458
`H4N2L/2482
`H04N 5/445
`H4N2L/254
`52) U.S. C.
`(52) CPC ......... H04N 2 1/472 (2013.01); H04N 5/44543
`(2013.01); H04N 7/17318 (2013.01); H04N
`2 1/254 (2013.01); H04N 2 1/431 (2013.01);
`H04N2L/458 (2013.01); H04N21/.4821
`(2013.01); H04N 2 1/8126 (2013.01); H04N
`2005/44556 (2013.01)
`USPC ............................................................ T25/47
`
`ABSTRACT
`(57)
`Systems and methods for enhanced sports-related media con
`tent access and display are provided. An intelligent tuning
`module for multi-tuner systems may designate one sporting
`event as a primary sporting event and another sporting event
`as a secondary sporting event. A primary tuner may tune the
`primary event whenever possible and a secondary tuner may
`tune the secondary event whenever possible. Sporting events
`may be assigned user profile scores and tuned away from in
`reverse priority order. An interactive scoreboard may also be
`displayed with various game status and alerticons. The inter
`active scoreboard may allow a viewer to quickly tune between
`high-interest sporting events. Sports-specific features, such
`as wagering and fantasy league Support, are also provided.
`
`to seA7 Pito
`fe Asu 14 usc 16
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`sports watcher quick Menu
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`Home-tv Gaide Main Menu
`
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`US 2014/0229992 A1
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`Aug. 14, 2014
`
`SYSTEMIS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING
`ENHANCED SPORTS WATCHING MEDIA
`GUIDANCE
`
`CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED
`APPLICATIONS
`0001. This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provi
`sional Application Nos. 60/834,605, filed Jul. 31, 2006 and
`60/903,808, filed Feb. 26, 2007, both of which are hereby
`incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.
`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`0002 This invention relates generally to media systems
`and, more particularly, to media systems with sports-specific
`viewing and tuning enhancements.
`0003. An interactive media guidance application, such as
`an interactive television program guide, allows a user to tune
`to and display a wide array of media content that is available
`within a media system. It also facilitates the display of addi
`tional information (e.g., program Schedule and Summary
`information) about the media content. This additional infor
`mation may be accessed from a variety of data sources and
`data feeds and may include, for example, content Summaries,
`genre classifications, and ratings information. The interactive
`media guidance application may also Support advanced fea
`tures, such as content searching and filtering, channel scan
`ning, and access to other interactive applications, such as a
`home shopping application.
`0004 Such media guidance applications are typically gen
`eralized applications that Support basic media guidance func
`tionality for a wide array of media content of a variety of
`different genres and Subgenres. These applications, however,
`typically fail to provide a custom set of features and function
`ality for specific types of media content, such as sporting
`events and other sports-related content.
`0005. In addition, some media guidance applications fail
`to take full advantage of today's high-end user equipment
`devices. For example, current user equipment devices may
`Support multiple digital or analog tuners, allowing for more
`than one channel or media content to be tuned, displayed,
`and/or recorded simultaneously. Current media guidance
`applications fail to efficiently manage and leverage the capa
`bilities of multiple tuners to better match how certain types of
`viewers (e.g., sports viewers) commonly watch and interact
`with sporting events displayed on the user equipment device.
`As a result, idle tuners are often untuned or tuned to content
`that is not of particular interest to the viewer. In addition,
`traditional tuner management schemes for multi-tuner sys
`tems are not optimized for certain types of viewing, Such as
`sports viewing.
`0006 For example, in order to tune and display a digital
`television channel, many steps typically are performed. The
`digital content may first be demodulated from a digital carrier
`frequency and then FEC decoded from the demodulated
`transport stream (TS). The digital content may then be demul
`tiplexed from the demodulated transport stream. After the
`digital contentis demultiplexed from the transport stream, the
`content may be extracted from a particular packet identifier
`(PID) stream. In addition, decryption and decoding (e.g.,
`MPEG-2 or H.264 decoding) may be required. These digital
`tuning and decoding processes may take an appreciable
`amount of time, during which a blank or black screen is
`typically displayed to the viewer. This idle time is particularly
`
`noticeable to users who switchback and forth between a small
`number of content selections, like the way sports viewers
`switch back and forth between a small number of televised
`sporting events.
`0007. In addition, a viewer is unable to efficiently switch
`between sporting events of interest to the viewer at any given
`time. For example, although some user equipment devices
`Support last channel recall or similar functionality, last chan
`nel recall functions are typically limited to Switching back
`only to the most recently accessed television channel. The
`ability to efficiently switch between multiple high-interest
`content selections is severely limited. Real-time buffering
`and immediate video control (e.g., pause and rewind func
`tions) after Switching to a sporting event of interest are also
`severely limited because of idle tuners or tuners tuned to
`arbitrary content.
`
`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`0008. In accordance with principles of the present inven
`tion, systems and methods for providing enhanced informa
`tion access and viewing functionality for sports-related pro
`gramming are provided. An interactive “sports watcher”
`application may execute at least partially on a local user
`equipment device to Support the enhanced access and viewing
`functionality. In some embodiments, the interactive sports
`watcher application is integrated as a mode of another inter
`active application already resident on the user equipment
`device. For example, the sports watcher application may be
`integrated with an interactive media guidance application,
`Such as an interactive television program guide. In other
`embodiments, a separate interactive sports watcher applica
`tion or module is provided. This application or module may
`be automatically invoked by the interactive media guidance
`application when certain pre-determined conditions are met
`(e.g., when sports-related programming or information is
`requested, accessed, or displayed).
`0009. A user may designate a first sporting event as a
`primary sporting event and up to N-1 additional sporting
`events as secondary sporting events, where N is the number of
`available tuners in the user equipment device. One tuner may
`be designated as the primary tuner that, whenever possible, is
`tuned to the primary sporting event. The other N-1 tuners
`may be designated secondary tuners, each of which may be
`assigned a lower priority than the primary tuner. After receiv
`ing a request to change channels or access content that
`requires an available tuner, the secondary tuner with the low
`est priority may be used to tune to the requested channel or
`access the requested content. In this way, the primary sporting
`event may be tuned on the primary tuner whenever possible.
`Sporting events designated as primary or secondary sporting
`events may be manually selected by the user, or the interactive
`sports watcher application may automatically designate cer
`tain events as primary or secondary sporting events. This
`designation may be based, at least in part, on user profile
`information, user preferences, active user monitoring, user
`history information, network viewing statistics, third-party
`ratings information (e.g., Nielson ratings), or any other Suit
`able criterion or combination of criteria.
`0010. The interactive sports watcher application may
`maintain a dynamic, real-time buffer for each tuned sporting
`event. The user may have full control over each real-time
`buffer, including pause, instant replay, and slow motion
`replay control. In some embodiments, the characteristics of
`the buffers (e.g., buffer size, buffer window, and/or buffer
`
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`resolution) may differ depending on the type of sport,
`whether the buffered sporting eventis designated as a primary
`sporting event, secondary sporting event, or otherwise
`matches the user's predefined sports viewing event prefer
`ences. For example, a high-speed basketball game may be
`buffered at the highest available resolution (e.g., in high
`definition, if available), while a golf tournament may be buff
`ered in a lower resolution (e.g., standard definition). In addi
`tion, the buffer window (i.e., the length of time buffered) may
`be longer for the basketball game than the golf tournament,
`depending on user preferences.
`0011. In some embodiments, the interactive sports
`watcher application may monitor all media content access
`requests on the user equipment device. When sports-related
`content is accessed, an interactive scoreboard may be auto
`matically displayed in one area of the display Screen while the
`requested sports-related content (e.g., a sporting event, sports
`news, or sports commentary) is displayed in another area of
`the screen. The interactive scoreboard may include an iden
`tification of a plurality of sporting events that are in progress,
`recently ended, or match user-defined preference criteria. The
`current score of each sporting event may be provided within
`the interactive scoreboard. A user may interact with the score
`board to obtain more detailed information about a sporting
`event, automatically tune a sporting event, or automatically
`designate a sporting event as a primary or secondary sporting
`event.
`0012. The interactive scoreboard may also feature a vari
`ety of icons that indicate the status of sporting events associ
`ated with scores displayed in the scoreboard. For example,
`one icon may indicate that the sporting event is currently
`tuned by a tuner in the user equipment device. Another icon
`may indicate that the event is currently displayed in the main
`screen or active window. Game status icons may also be
`included in the interactive scoreboard. These game status
`icons may indicate that a sporting event has returned from a
`commercial break (e.g., a live action notification), is almost
`over (e.g., a time remaining notification), currently has excit
`ing action taking place, or any other Suitable content charac
`teristic. Through these icons in the scoreboard, a user may be
`presented with additional information about sporting events
`of interest.
`0013. In some embodiments, value-added features, such
`as sports wagering and fantasy leagues, are provided by the
`interactive sports watcher application. Users may be credited
`with electronic wagering points or dollars that may be
`redeemable for sports-related merchandise (e.g., team cloth
`ing), on-demand content, sports package Subscriptions, pre
`mium channels and services, or cash. Various incentives may
`be offered to encourage participation in the wagering and/or
`the fantasy league features of the present invention.
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`0014. The above and other features of the present inven
`tion, its nature and various advantages will be more apparent
`upon consideration of the following detailed description,
`taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and in
`which:
`0015 FIG. 1 is an illustrative block diagram of a media
`system in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;
`0016 FIG. 2A is an illustrative block diagram of the con
`trol circuitry shown in FIG. 1 in accordance with one embodi
`ment of the invention;
`
`0017 FIG. 2B shows illustrative tuner data tables inaccor
`dance with one embodiment of the invention;
`0018 FIG. 3 is an illustrative display screen with an inter
`active scoreboard in accordance with one embodiment of the
`invention;
`0019 FIG. 4 is an illustrative display screen with an inter
`active scoreboard and flip panel in accordance with one
`embodiment of the invention;
`0020 FIG. 5 is an illustrative display screen with an inter
`active scoreboard and informational status icons in accor
`dance with one embodiment of the invention;
`0021
`FIG. 6 is an illustrative full-screen game informa
`tion display screen in accordance with one embodiment of the
`invention;
`0022 FIG. 7 is an illustrative sports watcher main menu
`display screen in accordance with one embodiment of the
`invention;
`0023 FIG. 8 is another illustrative sports watcher main
`menu display screen in accordance with another embodiment
`of the invention;
`0024 FIG. 9 is an illustrative display screen for searching
`for sports-related content and programming in accordance
`with one embodiment of the invention;
`(0025 FIGS. 10-13 are illustrative display screens for set
`ting user favorites in accordance with one embodiment of the
`invention;
`0026 FIG. 14 is an illustrative parental control display
`screen in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;
`0027 FIG. 15 is an illustrative display screen for wagering
`on sporting events in accordance with one embodiment of the
`invention;
`0028 FIGS. 16-21 are illustrative fantasy league display
`screens in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;
`0029 FIG. 22 is an illustrative display screen for setting
`sports-related reminders in accordance with one embodiment
`of the invention;
`0030 FIG. 23 is an illustrative display screen for schedul
`ing recordings in accordance with one embodiment of the
`invention;
`0031
`FIG. 24 is an illustrative display screen for schedul
`ing category recordings in accordance with one embodiment
`of the invention;
`0032 FIG. 25 is an illustrative display screen for viewing
`sports commentary from a variety of difference sources in
`accordance with one embodiment of the invention;
`0033 FIGS. 26-28 show illustrative sports watcher setup
`display screens for customizing sports watcher features in
`accordance with one embodiment of the invention;
`0034 FIG. 29 shows an illustrative sports watcher prefer
`ences display screen in accordance with one embodiment of
`the invention; and
`0035 FIGS. 30, 31A, 31B, 32, and 33 are flow charts
`showing illustrative processes for providing the enhanced
`sports watcher features and functionality in accordance with
`various embodiments of the invention.
`
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION
`0036. The interactive sports watcher application described
`herein may be implemented as a stand-alone application
`executing at least partially on a user equipment device, or the
`application may be implemented as a module or mode of an
`existing interactive application. If implemented as a module
`or mode of an existing interactive application, Such as an
`interactive media guidance application, all the display
`
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`screens, prompts, and overlays shown herein may be inte
`grated with the display Screens, prompts, and overlays of the
`existing application. For example, fonts, colors, and overall
`layouts may be changed from those depicted to better match
`the fonts, colors, and overall layouts of the already existing
`application. In addition, features of an existing interactive
`media guidance application (or any other interactive applica
`tion) may be incorporated into the sports watcher application
`in order to provide added flexibility and functionality without
`leaving the sports watcher application, if desired.
`0037. The interactive sports watcher application may
`monitor all media content access requests, including televi
`sion channel requests, Internet webpage requests, requests for
`on-demand and pay-per-view content, and requests for
`locally-recorded content. The sports watcher application may
`automatically launch after a request for a sporting event or
`sports-related content is received or after Such content is
`displayed. Alternatively, a user may manually launch the
`sports watcher application by issuing a suitable command to
`the user equipment device. For example, a user may press a
`button on a remote control to launch the sports watcher appli
`cation in some embodiments.
`0038 Although the terms “sporting event and “sports
`related content are sometimes used interchangeably herein,
`both of these terms include content, Such as television pro
`gramming, on-demand movies, and Internet websites, that is
`accessible from a user equipment device and is related to, or
`affiliated with, a sport, sports team, or athlete. In addition to
`traditional television programming, these terms may include
`webpages, online discussion boards, chat rooms, web logs
`(blogs), interactive games, and digital music. For example, in
`Some embodiments, an online sports commentary or sports
`blog may be considered a sporting event or sports-related
`content by the interactive sports watcher application. As
`another example, sports-themed movies and sports news may
`also be considered sports-related content by the interactive
`sports watcher application. As described below, accessing
`this content may automatically launch the sports watcher
`application (and automatically display any of the sports
`watcher display screens described herein).
`0039 FIG. 1 shows illustrative interactive media system
`100 that may be used with the sports watcher application in
`accordance with one embodiment of the invention. User
`equipment device 102 receives content in the form of signals
`from content source 130 and/or supplemental content source
`120 over communications paths 150 and 152, respectively.
`Any Suitable number of users may have one or more user
`equipment devices, such as user equipment 102, coupled to
`content source 130, data sources 140, and Supplemental con
`tent source 120. For the clarity of the figure, however, only a
`single user equipment device is shown. In addition, although
`in practice there may be numerous instances of content Source
`130 and supplemental content source 120, for clarity only one
`instance of each source has been shown in the example of
`FIG 1.
`0040 Content source 130 may be any suitable source of
`media content, Such as, for example, a cable system headend,
`satellite television distribution facility, television broadcast
`facility, on-demand server (e.g., video-on-demand (VOD)
`server), Internet or network media/web server, or any other
`Suitable facility or system for originating or distributing pas
`sive or interactive content to user equipment 102. Media
`content that may be provided by content source 130 to user
`equipment 102 includes broadcast programming, VOD pro
`
`gramming, digital music, news, interactive applications (e.g.,
`interactive games), Internet resources and web services (e.g.,
`websites, newsgroups, and chat rooms), and any other content
`capable of being displayed by, presented to, recorded, or
`interacted with, using user equipment 102.
`0041 Supplemental content source 120 may be any suit
`able content source configured to provide real-time sports
`scores and game Summary information, tournament brackets
`and tournament information, sports commentary, athlete
`biographies, spread and wagering data, and any other sports
`related information to user equipment 102. In some embodi
`ments, this sports-related information is provided to user
`equipment 102 as a plurality of real-time data feeds. Each
`data feed may be individually accessed or subscribed to by
`user equipment 102. For example, sports score and game
`status information may be included in one real-time data feed,
`while sports commentary may be included in another feed.
`The sporting events with associated data available from
`Supplemental content Source 120 may include events in
`progress or events that have recently ended. In addition,
`Supplemental content source 120 may include information
`relating to sporting events not available for viewing in media
`system 100. For example, a non-televised game may never
`theless have associated sports-related information available
`on Supplemental content source 120.
`0042 Some or all of this sports-related information may
`be stored in database 122 and provided to content source 130
`or directly to user equipment 120 over communications paths
`154 and 152, respectively. Supplemental content source 120
`may include any third-party application provider, data man
`ager, content manager, content aggregator, or intermediate
`content provider. Supplemental content source 120 may also
`be contracted to provide enhanced parental control services
`on behalf of user equipment 102. For example, supplemental
`content source 120 may provide ratings information for
`media types that traditionally are not associated with ratings
`information. Supplemental content source 120 may provide
`sports news ratings, website ratings, interactive application
`and sports games ratings, as well as ratings information for
`any other type of content accessible by user equipment 102.
`The ratings information may be derived, at least in part, from
`government agencies and public or private ratings bureaus
`(e.g., the TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board, the Fed
`eral Communications Commission (FCC), the Motion Pic
`ture Association of America (MPAA), and the Entertainment
`Software Ratings Board (ESRB)).
`0043 Database 122 may also store network viewing sta
`tistics and editor picks of sporting events. By accessing net
`work viewing statistics, user equipment 102 may determine
`which sporting events are currently being watched by a large
`number of viewers. This may be used as an indication of the
`popularity of the sporting event. The sports watcher applica
`tion may then advertise these games to the user, as discussed
`in more detail with regard to FIG. 5 below.
`0044) Database 122 may also store the interactive sports
`watcher application itself. Upon receiving a request from user
`equipment 102, Supplemental content source 120 may trans
`mit the interactive sports watcher application directly to user
`equipment 102 via communications path 152 (or Supplemen
`tal content source 120 may transmit the interactive content
`control application to content source 130 for transmission to
`user equipment 120, if desired). In one embodiment, the
`interactive sports watcher application is a self-executing
`OpenCable Applications Platform (“OCAP) application
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`downloaded by middleware to user equipment 102. User
`equipment 102 (or a proxy acting on behalf of the user equip
`ment) may periodically query Supplemental content Source
`120 for application updates, or Supplemental content source
`120 may push application updates to user equipment 102
`automatically as updates become available. Database 122
`may also store data generated by the interactive sports
`watcher application. By providing centralized storage of such
`data, it may allow a user to access these features from multiple
`locations. It may also allow for collation of the data from
`multiple users. Data stored in database 122 may include user
`preferences, setup options, active and recent wa