Expanded playlist for TV video player
View Patent ↗An Internet TV video guide shows thumbnails of video assets available from one or more providers, and one or more of the assets may represent a playlist with two or more associated video clips. When a viewer selects a playlist asset, the thumbnail is expanded to show the individual clips so that a viewer can select a desired clip for play on the TV.
1. A method comprising:
receiving, at a TV, signals from the Internet; and
based at least in part on the signals, presenting on the TV a video guide, the video guide including plural graphic entities each associated with a respective video asset provided over the Internet, at least one video asset being a playlist comprising at least two video clips, the graphic entity associated with the playlist displaying at least titles of the clips, wherein the method further includes:
scanning video header information in a list of video assets for title fields;
determining that two or more title fields exist for an asset;
returning, responsive to determining that two or more title fields exist for an asset, that the asset is a playlist; and
indicating that the titles are names of the clips in the playlist.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the titles are displayed when a viewer selects the graphic entity associated with the playlist.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the titles are displayed when a viewer hovers a screen cursor over the graphic entity associated with the playlist.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the graphic entities include thumbnail images derived from the respective video assets.
5. The method of claim 1 , comprising receiving a user selection of a graphic entity and in response downloading the respective video asset from the Internet and playing the respective video asset.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the graphic entities are arranged in a single row in a bottom portion of a TV display.
7. The method of claim 1 , comprising receiving a user selection of a clip on the graphic entity representing the playlist and in response downloading the clip from the Internet and playing the clip.