Interactive program guide system providing an application program interface for non-program guide applications
View Patent ↗A system is provided in which an interactive television program guide application and non-program-guide applications are at least partially implemented on user television equipment. A program guide program application interface is provided that is used to maintain a consistent user interface between the program guide application and the non-program-guide applications. The user may select certain non-program-guide applications as favorites and may set parental controls for certain non-program-guide applications. While the non-program-guide application operates, the program guide may check for events that require immediate attention. When such an event is detected, operation of the non-program-guide application may be suspended and the user may be asked whether the detected event should take place or whether operation of the non-program-guide application should be resumed. The program application interface may perform authentication and access rights determination functions. Reminders may be set for the content of non-program-guide applications.
1. A method for using an interactive program guide system in which an interactive program guide application is at least partially implemented on user equipment of a user, comprising:
implementing a plurality of non-program-guide applications that each provides an interactive component, wherein each of the non-program-guide applications runs on a processor of the user equipment separately from the interactive program guide application;
storing an application program interface that allows the plurality of non-program-guide applications to use program guide functions of the interactive program guide application when providing the interactive component to the user;
activating an option within the interactive program guide application to schedule a reminder to access the interactive component from at least one of the non-program-guide applications;
launching the at least one of the non-program-guide applications with the interactive program guide application; and
calling the application program interface from the at least one of the non-program-guide applications to provide the interactive component using one of the program guide functions.
2. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the launching comprises generating a display of an on-screen option on the user equipment with the interactive program guide application.
3. The method defined in claim 2 further comprising including video-on-demand program listings as part of a program guide display screen generated for display on the user equipment by the interactive program guide application.
4. The method defined in claim 3 further comprising generating a display of the video-on-demand program listings in a list of program listings generated for display on the user equipment by the interactive program guide application.
5. The method defined in claim 2 wherein the generating a display of the on-screen option further comprises using the interactive program guide application to generate for display a menu option on a program guide display screen.
6. The method defined in claim 2 wherein the generating a display of the on-screen option further comprises generating a display of the on-screen option in a program guide display screen containing program listings devoted to a specific type of content with the interactive program guide application.
7. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the launching further comprises launching the non-program-guide application with the interactive program guide application using a hot link.
8. The method defined in claim 7 wherein the hot link relates to a web browser application, the method further comprising:
launching the web browser application from the interactive program guide application; and
directing the web browser application to access a web page with content related to the content of the interactive program guide application.
9. The method defined in claim 7 wherein the hot link relates to an electronic mail application, the method comprising:
launching the electronic mail application from the interactive program guide application; and
directing the electronic mail application to address electronic mail to an address related to the content of the interactive program guide application.
10. The method defined in claim 7 wherein the hot link relates to a home shopping application, the method comprising:
launching the home shopping application from the interactive program guide application; and
directing the home shopping application to present products related to the content of the interactive program guide application.
11. The method defined in claim 7 wherein the hot link relates to a chat application, the method comprising:
launching the chat application from the interactive program guide application; and
directing the chat application to perform functions based on the content of the interactive program guide application.
12. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising using the application program interface to allow the user to access the non-program-guide application while maintaining a consistent user interface.
13. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising using the application program interface to coordinate access to platform resources by the interactive program guide application and the non-program-guide applications.
14. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the interactive program guide application has a number of program guide resources, and wherein the method further comprises using the application program interface to provide the non-program-guide applications with access to the program guide resources.
15. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the interactive program guide application is also partially implemented on a server.
16. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the interactive program guide application is implemented only on the user equipment.
17. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising embedding non-program-guide application content in a program guide display screen provided by the interactive program guide application.
18. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the program guide functions comprise at least one of the group of: tuning, parental control, favorites, user profiles, drawing, highlighting and on-screen navigation, database access, and purchasing.
19. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the application program interface that authenticates and authorizes the plurality of non-program-guide applications provides different access rights for each of the program guide functions and resources for each of the plurality of non-program guide applications.
20. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
using the application program interface to coordinate access to a plurality of platform resources among the interactive program guide application and the plurality of non-program-guide applications when the at least one of the plurality of non-program-guide applications operates as a foreground application, and another application from among the plurality of non-program-guide applications and the interactive guide application operate as background applications.
21. The method of claim 1 , further comprising monitoring the interactive program guide application for the occurrence of events while the non-program-guide application is providing the interactive component.
22. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the non-program-guide applications is implemented on a device remote from the user equipment.
23. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
determining, using the application program interface, whether a desired function, to provide the interactive component, required by at least one of the plurality of non-program guide applications is consistent with one of the program guide functions; and
allowing, based on the determining, access of the interactive program guide application to the at least one of the plurality of non-program guide applications.
24. An interactive program guide system comprising:
user equipment on which an interactive program guide application and a plurality of non-program-guide applications that each provides an interactive component are at least partially implemented, wherein each of the non-program-guide applications runs on a processor of the user equipment separately from the interactive program guide application,
the interactive program guide application having an application program interface that allows the plurality of non-program-guide applications to use program guide functions of the interactive program guide application when providing the interactive component to the user,
wherein the application program interface activates an option within the interactive program guide application to schedule a reminder to access the interactive component from at least one of the non-program guide applications,
wherein the interactive program guide application launches the at least one of the non-program-guide applications, and wherein the at least one of the non-program-guide application calls the application program interface to provide the interactive component using one of the program guide functions.
25. The system defined in claim 24 wherein the interactive program guide application generates a display of an on-screen option on the user equipment for the user to launch the non-program-guide application.
26. The system defined in claim 25 wherein the interactive program guide application generates a display of a program guide display screen containing video-on-demand program listings.
27. The system defined in claim 25 wherein the interactive program guide application generates a display of the video-on-demand program listings in a list of program listings on the user equipment.
28. The system defined in claim 25 wherein the interactive program guide application generates a display of the on-screen option as a menu option on a program guide display screen.
29. The system defined in claim 25 wherein the interactive program guide application generates a display of the on-screen option in a program guide display screen containing program listings devoted to a specific type of content.
30. The system defined in claim 24 wherein the interactive program guide application launches the non-program-guide application using a hot link.
31. The system defined in claim 30 wherein:
the hot link relates to a web browser application;
the web browser application is launched from the interactive program guide application; and
the web browser application is directed to access a web page with content related to the content of the interactive program guide application when the web browser application is launched.
32. The system defined in claim 30 wherein:
the hot link relates to an electronic mail application;
the electronic mail application is launched from the interactive program guide application; and
the electronic mail application is directed to address electronic mail to an address related to the content of the interactive program guide application when the electronic mail application is launched.
33. The system defined in claim 30 wherein:
the hot link relates to a home shopping application;
the home shopping application is launched from the interactive program guide application; and
the home shopping application is directed to present products related to the interactive program guide application when the home shopping application is launched.
34. The system defined in claim 30 wherein:
the hot link relates to a chat application;
the chat application is launched from the interactive program guide application; and
the chat application is directed to perform functions related to the content of the interactive program guide application when the chat application is launched.
35. The system defined in claim 24 wherein the application program interface allows the user to access the non-program-guide application while maintaining a consistent user interface.
36. The system defined in claim 24 wherein the application program interface coordinates access to platform resources among the interactive program guide application and the non-program-guide applications.
37. The system defined in claim 24 wherein the interactive program guide application has a number of program guide resources and wherein the application program interface provides the non-program-guide applications with access to the program guide resources.
38. The system defined in claim 24 wherein the interactive program guide application is also partially implemented on a server.
39. The system defined in claim 24 wherein the interactive program guide application is implemented only on the user equipment.
40. The system defined in claim 24 wherein the interactive program guide application embeds non-program-guide application content in at least one program guide display screen.
41. The system defined in claim 24 wherein the program guide functions comprise at least one of the group of: tuning, parental control, favorites, user profiles, drawing, highlighting and on-screen navigation, database access, and purchasing.
42. The system defined in claim 24 wherein the application program interface that authenticates and authorizes the plurality of non-program-guide applications provides different access rights for each of the program guide functions and resources for each of the plurality of non-program guide applications.
43. The system of claim 24 , wherein at least one of the non-program-guide applications is implemented on a device remote from the user equipment.
44. The system of claim 24 wherein the application program interface determines whether a desired function, to provide the interactive component, required by at least one of the plurality of non-program guide applications is consistent with one of the program guide functions; and
wherein the application program interface, based on the determination, allows access of the interactive program guide application to the at least one of the plurality of non-program guide applications.
45. A method for using an interactive video guide system in which an interactive video guide application is at least partially implemented on user equipment of a user, comprising:
implementing a plurality of non-video-guide applications that each provides an interactive component, wherein each of the non-video-guide applications runs on a processor of the user equipment separately from the interactive video guide application;
storing an application program interface that allows the plurality of non-video-guide applications to use video guide functions of the interactive video guide application when providing the interactive component to the user;
activating an option within the interactive video guide application to schedule a reminder to access the interactive component from at least one of the non-video-guide applications;
launching the at least one of the non-video-guide applications with the interactive video guide application; and
calling the application program interface from the at least one of the of non-video-guide applications to provide the interactive component using one of the video guide functions.
46. The method of claim 45 , further comprising suspending the operation of the non-video-guide application in response to an event which occurs in the interactive video guide application.
47. The method of claim 45 , wherein at least one of the non-video-guide applications is implemented on a device remote from the user equipment.
48. The method of claim 45 further comprising:
determining, using the application program interface, whether a desired function, to provide the interactive component, required by at least one of the plurality of non-video-guide applications is consistent with one of the video guide functions; and
allowing, based on the determining, access of the interactive video guide application to the at least one of the plurality of non-video-guide applications.