Maintaining a graphical user interface state that is based on a selected type of content

Abstract

A graphical user interface (“GUI”) for a content management system is provided, such as to present television program information and/or information associated with other forms of multimedia content. In some situations, the GUI displays various types of information about multiple pieces of content that are currently appropriate for display, and one or more users may make various types of selections that affect the information being displayed. In addition, in some situations various techniques are employed to maintain a state of the GUI that is focused on one or more current selections as changes occur, such as to coordinate information display between multiple distinct information panes or other view areas of the GUI, to alter the information to be displayed in the GUI based on a selected piece of content, and/or to enable identification of a selected piece of content from within a large number of pieces of content.

1 . A method for a computing device to present information about television programs via a graphical user interface, the method comprising: 
 receiving metadata information for a plurality of television programs;    identifying a group of the television programs for a graphical user interface such that received metadata information for those television programs will be included in the graphical user interface, the group including a plurality of television programs;    displaying to a user of the computing device a graphical window that includes the graphical user interface, the graphical user interface having a state based at least in part on the identified group such that metadata information for the television programs in the identified group is included in the displayed graphical user interface;    receiving one or more indications from the user via the graphical user interface related to new television programs to include in the graphical user interface, identifying a new group having a plurality of the television programs for the graphical user interface based at least in part on the one or more indications, and updating the state of the displayed graphical user interface to reflect the new group; and    automatically maintaining the state of the graphical user interface so as to reflect the new group of television programs by, when the graphical user interface is to be updated such that at least some new metadata information is to be displayed in the graphical user interface, automatically performing the updating of the displayed graphical user interface in such a manner as to display the new metadata information and to include one or more indications of the new group of television programs,    so that a state of the graphical user interface that is based at least in part on a selected group of television programs is maintained when information in the graphical user interface is updated.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the received metadata information includes electronic programming guide information for each of the television programs, wherein the new group of the television programs includes television programs on multiple channels having start times within a period of time, wherein the displayed graphical user interface has a plurality of distinct display areas that include a view display area with indications of multiple channels and with one or more indications of the period of time, wherein metadata information for the television programs in the new group is displayed in the displayed graphical user interface in a grid format within the view display area and includes detail information for each of the television programs in the new group, wherein the updating of the state of the displayed graphical user interface to reflect the new group includes displaying in a coordinated manner in one or more other display areas of the displayed graphical user interface additional detail information for one or more of the television programs of the new group, and wherein the maintaining of the state of the graphical user interface so as to reflect the new group includes maintaining coordination of information displayed in the plurality of distinct display areas.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the metadata information for the television programs in the identified group that is included in the displayed graphical user interface is displayed in a view area of the displayed graphical user interface in the displayed graphical window, and wherein the updating of the state of the graphical user interface to reflect the new group includes displaying additional information about at least one of the television programs of the new group in a distinct area of the displayed graphical user interface in the displayed graphical window.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the updating of the state of the graphical user interface to reflect the new group includes displaying distinct information about one or more of the television programs of the new group in a coordinated manner in a plurality of distinct display areas of the displayed graphical user interface in the displayed graphical window, and wherein the maintaining of the state of the graphical user interface so as to reflect the new group includes maintaining coordination of information displayed in the plurality of distinct display areas.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the updating of the displayed graphical user interface to include the one or more indications of the new group of television programs includes modifying the new metadata information to be displayed to include metadata for one or more of the television programs of the new group, so that the updated displayed graphical user interface includes metadata information for at least a portion of the television programs of the new group.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the updating of the displayed graphical user interface to include the one or more indications of the new group includes providing in the displayed graphical user interface a user-selectable control that when selected updates the displayed graphical user interface to include metadata information for the television programs of the new group.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the received one or more indications from the user specify criteria related to television programs, and wherein the identifying of the new group of the television programs for the graphical user interface is based at least in part on selecting television programs that match the specified criteria.  
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 7  wherein the specified criteria relates to indicated metadata of the television programs, and wherein the identifying of the new group of the television programs includes searching for television programs whose metadata matches the indicated metadata and/or includes filtering the television programs to reflect television programs whose metadata matches the indicated metadata.  
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 7  wherein the specified criteria relates to one or more genres and/or categories of television programming.  
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1  including, after the maintaining of the state of the graphical user interface so as to reflect the new group, receiving an indication by the user of one or more other groups of the television programs and modifying the state of the displayed graphical user interface to reflect the indicated one or more other groups.  
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 1  including, after the maintaining of the state of the graphical user interface so as to reflect the new group, receiving an instruction from the user to initiate current presentation of a selected one television program of the new group on at least one television display device, and initiating the current presentation of the selected one television program on the at least one television display device in response to the instruction.  
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the maintaining of the state of the graphical user interface so as to reflect the new group includes maintaining one or more of color coding and highlighting used to indicate at least portions of the new group.  
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the maintaining of the state of the graphical user interface when the graphical user interface is to be updated is based at least in part on modifying a type of view of metadata information for at least some of the television programs of the new group.  
   
   
       14 . A computer-readable medium whose contents enable a computing device to present information about television programming-related content via a user interface, by performing a method comprising: 
 receiving information related to a plurality of pieces of television programming-related content;    presenting a user interface that includes the received information for at least some of the pieces of television programming-related content;    receiving an indication of a selection of a group of related pieces of television programming-related content; and    when information included in the user interface is updated, maintaining a state of the user interface so as to reflect the selection of the group of related pieces of television programming-related content.    
   
   
       15 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14  wherein the selection of the group of related pieces of television programming-related content is based on one or more indications from a user, wherein the presented user interface is a graphical user interface that supports a plurality of types of views of information for pieces of content, and wherein updating of the information included in the user interface is based on a change in the type of view of the included information.  
   
   
       16 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14  wherein the computer-readable medium is a memory of the computing device and/or is a data transmission medium transmitting to the computing device a generated data signal containing the contents.  
   
   
       17 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14  wherein the contents are instructions that when executed cause the computing device to perform the method.  
   
   
       18 . A computing system configured to present information about pieces of television programming content via a graphical user interface, comprising: 
 a display; and    a content management system configured to present on the display a graphical user interface whose information reflects a state that is based at least in part on a selected group of multiple pieces of content and to automatically maintain the state of the information of the graphical user interface as being based at least in part on that selected group of pieces of content when the graphical user interface is updated.    
   
   
       19 . The computing system of  claim 18  wherein the one or more pieces of content of the selected group are each a television program, wherein the graphical user interface includes metadata information for a plurality of television programs and includes one or more indications related to the television programs of the selected group, and wherein updating of the graphical user interface includes modifying television programs whose metadata information is included in the displayed graphical user interface.  
   
   
       20 . The computing system of  claim 19  wherein the computing system further comprises a device for controlling presentation of television programs on one or more television display devices, and wherein the presented graphical user interface further includes user-selectable controls to allow a user to control the presentation of the television programs on the one or more television display devices via instructions sent to the device, the device being one of a group of devices that includes a set-top box, a digital video recorder device and a media center device.  
   
   
       21 . The computing system of  claim 18  wherein the content management system includes software executing in memory of the computing system.  
   
   
       22 . The computing system of  claim 18  wherein the content management system consists of a means for presenting on the display a graphical user interface whose information reflects a state that is based at least in part on a selected group of multiple pieces of content and to automatically maintain the state of the information of the graphical user interface as being based at least in part on that selected group of pieces of content when the graphical user interface is updated.