Television Display

Abstract

Display features of an interactive user interface for a TV environment allow a user to interact with objects and/or information within a display space. In an embodiment, an interactive user interface is provided for a television display, having a display space including a data content region and a video data display region, wherein the data content region includes a plurality of user selectable entities each representing a viewable content item, wherein at least one viewable content item is part of a group of viewable content items, and wherein in response to a user command to perform recording of a selected viewable content item, a menu is displayed to the user including an option to record only the selected viewable content item and an option to record the group of viewable content items. The group of viewable content items is recorded in response to a user command to select the option to record the group of viewable content items.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of providing an interactive user interface for a television display, the method comprising:
 providing a display space including a data content region and a video data display region, wherein the data content region includes a plurality of user selectable entities each representing a viewable content item, wherein at least one viewable content item is part of a group of viewable content items, and wherein in response to a user command to perform recording of a selected viewable content item, a menu is displayed to the user including an option to record only the selected viewable content item and an option to record the group of viewable content items; and   recording the group of viewable content items in response to a user command to select the option to record the group of viewable content items.   
     
     
         2 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein each viewable content item in the group has the same title. 
     
     
         3 . A method according to  claim 2 , wherein each viewable content item is further associated with a channel, and wherein each viewable content item in a group of viewable content items has the same title and is associated with the same channel. 
     
     
         4 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the display space further includes a second data content region comprising a plurality of user selectable entities, each representing a recorded viewable content item stored in a hard disk, and an indication of available memory in the hard disk, wherein in response to a user command to delete a selected entity, the selected entity is removed from the data content region but the associated viewable content item is not deleted from the hard disk. 
     
     
         5 . A method according to  claim 4 , wherein the deleted entity representing a recorded viewable content item stored in a hard disk is removed from the data content region and stored in list of deleted entities. 
     
     
         6 . A method according to  claim 5 , wherein in response to a command to clear the list of deleted entities, each viewable content item represented by an entity in the list of deleted entities is deleted from the hard disk. 
     
     
         7 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the display space further includes a video data display region and a second data content region comprising a plurality of user selectable menu entities each associated with a respective display section providing a different category of information and being selectable by a user independently of the other sections, wherein one of said plurality of user selectable menu entities is associated with a planner screen providing a list of user selectable entities each representing a recorded viewable content item, wherein:
 in response to a user command to play back a selected entity, the recorded viewable content item is displayed in the video data display region and user play back control is enabled; and   in response to a user command to select a different one of said plurality of user selectable menu entities associated with different display section, play back of the recorded viewable content continues in the video data display region but user play back control is disabled.   
     
     
         8 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein in response to a first user selection of an entity, the selected entity is displayed in the video data display region of the display space, and in response to a successive second user selection of the entity, the selected entity is displayed to fill the television display. 
     
     
         9 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the display space further includes an inhibitable video data display region, wherein the data content region displays a greater amount of information when the video data display region is inhibited. 
     
     
         10 . A method according to  claim 9 , wherein a user configurable setting indicates when the video data display region is inhibited. 
     
     
         11 . A method according to  claim 9 , wherein the video data display region is inhibited or displayed in response to a user command. 
     
     
         12 . A method according to  claim 1 , further comprising receiving a continuous command from a user to navigate through information displayed in a display screen and increasing a navigation speed in dependence upon the length of time of said continuous command. 
     
     
         13 . A method according to  claim 12 , wherein the displayed information includes a plurality of user selectable entities each representing a viewable content item, and wherein a continuous command is received from a user to navigate through the user selectable entries. 
     
     
         14 . A method according to  claim 13 , wherein the displayed information includes a plurality of user selectable menu items, and wherein a continuous command is received from a user to navigate through the user selectable menu items. 
     
     
         15 . A method according to  claim 1 , further comprising providing a display space having a layout for a first aspect ratio and providing a display space having a different layout for a second aspect ratio. 
     
     
         16 . A method according to  claim 15 , wherein the first aspect ratio is 4:3 and wherein the second aspect ratio is 16:9. 
     
     
         17 . A method according to  claim 1 , further comprising providing at least three levels of information in the display space, wherein a first level provides a plurality of user selectable first level entities each associated with a respective display section providing a different category of information and being selectable by a user independently of the other sections, wherein each first level entity is associated with a plurality of user selectable second level entities each associated with a respective data content sub-section of the display section of the associated first level entity, each respective data content sub-section being provided in a third level. 
     
     
         18 . Apparatus arranged to perform the method of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         19 . A non-transitory computer program comprising program code arranged to perform the method of  claim 1 .