Time-based graphical user interface for television program information

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 includes information presented simultaneously using at least first and second time scales, such as to provide relatively detailed information for content corresponding to a shorter time scale (e.g., to display television program listings with details about programs that are available during a time period at the shorter time scale) and to provide relatively limited information for content corresponding to a longer time scale (e.g., indications of other programs of potential interest at times outside the time period of the shorter time scale). In addition, in some situations the relatively limited information for content corresponding to the longer time scale may be selectable by the user to provide various functionality related to that 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 each of a plurality of indicated television programs that are each available for presentation at an associated presentation time;    determining a plurality of the indicated television programs that have associated presentation times that occur during a selected period of time, and identifying one or more other of the indicated television programs that have associated presentation times that do not occur during the selected period of time; and    displaying to a user of the computing device a graphical user interface having information about television programs available for presentation, the displayed graphical user interface including at least some of the received metadata information for each of the determined plurality of television programs, the displayed graphical user interface further including a first timebar that includes indications of times outside the selected period of time and that includes a graphical indicator for each of at least one of the identified one or more other television programs, each graphical indicator for an identified television program being displayed on the first timebar at an indicated time that corresponds to the associated presentation time of the identified television program,    so that metadata information is displayed for programs that occur during the selected period of time and so that indications are displayed for at least some programs that occur outside the selected period of time.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the associated presentation time of an indicated television program is a start time for a period during which the indicated television program may be presented, wherein the indicated television programs include programs on a plurality of channels with a plurality of scheduled start times, wherein the received metadata information includes electronic programming guide information for each of the television programs that includes a title and genre and one or more people associated with the television program, wherein the indicated times for the first timebar represent a first time period and wherein the selected time period is a second distinct time period that is selected as a subset of the first time period, wherein the displayed graphical user interface further includes a second timebar that is displayed simultaneously with the first timebar and that indicates a plurality of segments of time within the second time period, wherein the displayed graphical user interface further includes a region associated with the second timebar that includes indications of a plurality of channels, wherein the determined plurality of television programs include television programs on the plurality of channels whose start times are within one of the plurality of segments of time, and wherein the at least some metadata information about the determined plurality of television programs that is included in the displayed graphical user interface is displayed in a grid format within the region associated with the second timebar and includes detail information for each of the determined plurality of television programs.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising receiving one or more indications from the user of one or more criteria related to television programs of interest, and wherein the identifying of the one or more other indicated television programs is performed such that the identified one or more television programs each satisfy the indicated criteria, so that the graphical indicators displayed in the first timebar reflect programs that satisfy the indicated criteria.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 3  wherein the indicated criteria include one or more of a specified title value, a specified date value, a specified genre value, a specified actor value, and a specified rating value, and wherein the identifying of the one or more other indicated television programs includes determining that the received metadata for the identified one or more television programs includes the specified values.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 3  wherein the indicated criteria are part of a search performed by the user, and wherein the graphical indicators displayed in the first timebar are at least part of search results for the search.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the identifying of the one or more other indicated television programs is performed so as to identify television programs that have an associated status, so that the graphical indicators displayed in the first timebar reflect programs with the associated status.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein the associated presentation time of each of the identified one or more television programs is a future time, and wherein the associated status of each of the identified one or more television programs is related to whether the television program will be recorded at the associated future presentation time for the television program.  
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 6  wherein the associated status of each of the identified one or more television programs includes being previously designated by the user in a specified manner.  
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 6  wherein the associated status of each of the identified one or more television programs includes being associated with a specified device that controls presentation of television programs and/or that presents television programs.  
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the graphical indicators included in the first timebar are displayed in such a manner as to have differing appearances, the appearance of each graphical indicator for an identified television program being specified so as to indicate a status of the identified television program relative to one or more statuses of other identified television programs.  
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 1  wherein at least some of the indications in the first timebar of the times outside the selected period of time are each user-selectable, and further comprising: 
 receiving an indication of a selection by the user of one of the user-selectable indications of time in the first timebar;    selecting a new period of time based on the selected time indication; and    updating the displayed graphical user interface to include at least some of the received metadata information for each indicated television program whose associated presentation time occurs during the selected new period of time.    
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 1  wherein a plurality of devices are available to control presentation of television programs and/or to present television programs, and wherein the first timebar further includes indications of at least two of the plurality of devices such that the graphical indicators included in the first timebar are each associated with one of the indicated devices.  
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising receiving an indication of one of a plurality of visual skins that each provide a distinct visual appearance of the first timebar and/or of the graphical indicators included in the first timebar, and wherein the displaying of the graphical user interface to the user is performed in a manner based on the indicated one visual skin.  
   
   
       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; and    presenting a user interface to provide information regarding the television programming-related content, by 
 rendering a first timebar on the user interface that corresponds to a first time period;  
 rendering a second region on the user interface that corresponds to a second time period that is a subset of the first time period;  
 populating the second region with the received information for pieces of the television programming-related content that have associated times corresponding to the second time period; and  
 adding one or more indicators to the rendered first timebar that correspond to pieces of the television programming-related content that have associated times corresponding to portions of the first time period that are not in the second time period.  
   
   
   
       15 . 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.  
   
   
       16 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14  wherein the contents are instructions that when executed cause the computing device to perform the method.  
   
   
       17 . A computing system configured to present information about television programming, comprising: 
 a display; and    a content management system configured to present on the display a graphical user interface with information about television program listings, the presented graphical user interface including a first timebar that corresponds to a first time period and including detail information for each of a plurality of television programs associated with a second time period, the first timebar including one or more graphical indicators corresponding to one or more television programs that are each associated with a portion of the first time period that is not part of the second time period.    
   
   
       18 . The computing system of  claim 17  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.  
   
   
       19 . The computing system of  claim 17  wherein the content management system includes software executing in memory of the computing system.  
   
   
       20 . The computing system of  claim 17  wherein the content management system consists of a means for presenting on the display a graphical user interface with information about television program listings, the presented graphical user interface including a first timebar that corresponds to a first time period and including detail information for each of a plurality of television programs associated with a second time period, the first timebar including one or more graphical indicators corresponding to one or more television programs that are each associated with a portion of the first time period that is not part of the second time period.