USER INTERFACE FEATURES FOR INFORMATION MANIPULATION AND DISPLAY DEVICES

1 . A method for altering the presentation of a plurality of multimedia objects that are displayed by an information manipulation and/or display device (IMDD) as a function of characteristics of a user interface element of the IMDD, the method comprising:

receiving a video comprising the plurality of multimedia objects from a video source, the plurality containing a first multimedia object and a second multimedia object, the first multimedia object at a depth that is different than the depth of the second multimedia object from the perspective of a potential viewer of the IMDD;

invoking a user interface element that is part of a user interface of the IMDD and not in the video, which user interface element is at a depth that is different than the depths of the first and second multimedia objects; and

calculating first and second shadowing effects corresponding to the first and second multimedia objects, wherein the shadowing effects are applied differently to the first multimedia object and the second multimedia object and each shadowing effect is at least a function of the depths of the user interface element and the first and second multimedia objects.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each shadowing effect is at least a function of the luminance or chrominance attributes of the first and second multimedia objects.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each shadowing effect is at least a function of the luminance or chrominance attributes of the user interface element.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first and second multimedia objects is a video object.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the IMDD is a digital settop box and the user interface is an electronic program guide.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the depth of the user interface element is between the depths of the first and second multimedia objects.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the perspective of the potential viewer of the IMDD is estimated.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the potential viewer of the IMDD is an actual viewer of the IMDD and the position of the actual viewer is sensed.

9 . A method for altering the trajectory of a multimedia object that is displayed by an information manipulation and/or display device (IMDD) as a function of characteristics of a user interface element of the IMDD, the method comprising:

receiving a video comprising a multimedia object with an associated initial trajectory over time;

invoking a user interface element that is part of a user interface of the IMDD and not in the video, which user interface element is at a position proximate to one or more positions along the initial trajectory of the multimedia object; and

altering the initial trajectory of the multimedia object over time as at least a function of the invoking of the user interface element, the initial trajectory of the multimedia object, and the position of the user interface element.

10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising altering a shadowing effect applied to the multimedia object over time as at least a function of the invoking of the user interface element, the initial trajectory of the multimedia object, and the position of the user interface element.

11 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising altering the luminance or chrominance of the multimedia object as at least a function of the invoking of the user interface element, the initial trajectory of the multimedia object, and the position of the user interface element.

12 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the multimedia object is a video object.

13 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the IMDD is a digital settop box and the user interface is an electronic program guide.

14 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the initial trajectory of the multimedia object would intersect a region occupied by user interface element and the altering the initial trajectory of the multimedia object comprises calculating a trajectory which avoids the region occupied by the user interface element.

15 . The method of claim 9 , wherein a perspective of a potential viewer of the IMDD is considered when altering the initial trajectory of the multimedia object.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the potential viewer of the IMDD is an actual viewer of the IMDD and the position of the actual viewer is sensed.

17 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the multimedia object is a video sequence and altering the initial trajectory over time of the multimedia object comprises warping the video sequence as at least a function of the position of the user interface element.

18 . A method for altering the look of a multimedia object that is displayed by an information manipulation and/or display device (IMDD) as a function of characteristics of a user interface element of the IMDD, the method comprising:

receiving a video comprising a multimedia object with an associated initial texture characteristic and a position at a point in time;

invoking a user interface element that is part of a user interface for the IMDD and not in the video, which user interface element is at a position proximate to the position of the multimedia object at the point in time; and

altering the initial texture characteristic of the multimedia object as at least a function of the invoking of the user interface element, the position of the multimedia object, the position of the user interface element and texture characteristics of both the user interface element and the multimedia object.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein altering the initial texture characteristic of the multimedia object comprises:

approximating the propagation of light from the user interface element to the multimedia object;

approximating the reflection of the propagated light from the multimedia object to an estimated location of a potential viewer of the IMDD; and wherein,

altering the initial texture characteristic is at least a function of the two approximations.