MEDIA CENTER PANELS FOR AN INTELLIGENT TELEVISION
An Intelligent TV can organize metadata about media items for display in a variety of contextual panels. The panels may be interactive or informational and may provide recommendations of other media items to the user. The Intelligent TV can receive a request to activate a panel through the reception of signals from a remote control or a user interface. Based on the request, the Intelligent TV can determine the type of panel requested by the user. The layout, information, and content of a panel may depend on the context and content of the media item with focus when a user activates the panel. The Intelligent TV can retrieve metadata for the requested panel and can then transition to the desired panel and provide the retrieved metadata.
1 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that cause a processor to execute a method of displaying a media center panel on a television display, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving a request to activate the media center panel;
determining a type of media center panel requested;
retrieving, from memory, metadata based on the type of media center panel requested; and
displaying on the television display the retrieved metadata in the media center panel.
2 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the type of media center panel comprises at least one of:
an information panel; a favorite panel; a last viewed panel; a most viewed panel; a search panel; and a new panel.
3 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the metadata comprises at least one of:
a thumbnail; a title; a description; a rating; and a run time.
4 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a selection of a media item from one or more media items displayed in the media center panel; and
presenting content associated with the selected media item.
5 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a request to activate a second media center panel;
determining the type of media center panel requested;
retrieving, from memory, metadata based on the type of the second media center panel; and
displaying on the television display the retrieved metadata in the second media center panel.
6 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 5 , further comprising:
receiving a selection of a media item from one or more media items displayed in the second media center panel; and
presenting content associated with the selected media item.
7 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the media center panel includes a list of one or more related media items.
8 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 7 , further comprising:
receiving a selection of a media item displayed in the list;
determining if the selected media item is stored on a connected storage medium or available to purchase or rent from a content provider;
if the selected media item is stored on the connected storage medium, presenting content associated with the selected media item;
if the selected media item is available to purchase or rent,
connecting to the content provider to purchase or rent the selected media item; and
presenting content associated with the selected media item.
9 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , further including retrieving, from a data subservice, metadata based on the type of media center panel requested.
10 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , further comprising after receiving the request to activate the media center panel:
identifying a user associated with the request; and
retrieving metadata associated with the identified user from memory for display by the media center panel.
11 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , further comprising after receiving the request:
determining whether the request is a first request to activate a media center panel from a current user interface or if the request is not the first request to activate the media center panel from the current user interface;
if the request is a first request:
determining the type of media center panel requested;
retrieving, from memory, metadata based on the type of media center panel requested; and
displaying on the television display the retrieved metadata in the media center panel;
if the request is not the first request:
determining the type of media center panel last displayed in the current user interface;
retrieving, from memory, metadata based on the type of media center panel last displayed in the current user interface; and
displaying on the television display the retrieved metadata in the media center panel.
12 . A television system, comprising:
a display;
a memory;
a processor in communication with the memory and the display, the processor operable to:
receive a request to activate a media center panel;
determine the type of media center panel requested;
retrieve, from memory, metadata based on the type of media center panel requested; and
display, on the television display, the retrieved metadata in the media center panel,
wherein the metadata comprises at least one of a thumbnail, a title, a description, a rating, and a run time.
13 . The television system of claim 12 , wherein the processor is further operable to:
receive a selection of a media item from one or more media items displayed in the media center panel; and
present content associated with the selected media item.
14 . The television system of claim 12 , wherein the media center panel includes a list of one or more related media items.
15 . The television system of claim 12 , wherein the processor is further operable to:
receive a second request to launch a second media center panel based on a media item selected from one or more media items displayed in the media center panel;
determine the type of media center panel requested;
retrieve, from memory, metadata based on the type of the second media center panel; and
display on the television display the retrieved metadata in the second media center panel.
16 . The television system of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further operable to:
receive a selection of a media item from one or more media items displayed in the second media center panel; and
present content associated with the selected media item.
17 . A method for organizing media item metadata on a television, the method comprising:
receiving a request to activate a media center panel;
determining the type of media center panel requested;
retrieving, from memory, metadata based on the type of media center panel requested; and
displaying on the television display the retrieved metadata in the media center panel.
18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
receiving a second request to launch a second media center panel based on a media item selected from one or more media items displayed in the media center panel;
determining the type of media center panel requested;
retrieving, from memory, metadata based on the type of the second media center panel; and
displaying on the television display the retrieved metadata in the second media center panel.
19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein
the media center panel includes a first list of one or more related media items; and
the second media center panel includes a second list of one or more related media items.
20 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
receiving a selection of a media item from one or more media items displayed in the media center panel; and
presenting content associated with the selected media item.