System and method for providing fast channel surfing
View Patent ↗A system and method for enabling television watchers to “channel surf” faster and reduce the amount of bandwidth used over a network to communicate television channels to end-users. Electronic programming guide information and images associated therewith may be communicated to an end-user. An image associated with a video program may be displayed on an electronic display (e.g., television) in response to an end-user selecting a channel prior to video programming being displayed. By displaying an image prior to the video programming, the end-user may determine whether he or she wants to watch the video program prior to the video programming being displayed, which improves the speed of “channel surfing.” Because end-users can view the image when selecting a channel, a network can be configured to distribute the channels that are currently being watched rather than distributing many on a continuous basis, thereby preserving bandwidth.
1. A system for displaying video programming to an end-user, said system comprising:
memory configured to store electronic programming guide information and images associated with the electronic programming guide information;
an I/O module configured to communicate with an electronic display and a network; and
a processor in communication with said memory and I/O module, said processor being configured to:
receive a request to display a selected channel;
access a locally stored image on said memory, the accessed image being associated with the selected channel; and
display the locally stored image on the display unit until one of a request to switch channels is received or until the video programming associated with the selected channel is requested via the network and received after a dynamic request time delay between the time the channel is selected and the time video programming associated with the selected channel is requested via the network and displayed on the display unit.
2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is housed within a set top box.
3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the processor, memory and I/O module are housed within a set top box.
4. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the locally stored image comprises a still image.
5. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the locally stored image comprises a frame of video.
6. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said processor is configured to display the image associated with video programming on the selected channel prior to displaying the video programming.
7. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said processor is further configured to periodically request updated electronic programming guide information and associated images.
8. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the request to display a selected channel is received by a set top box via a remote control.
9. The system according to claim 1 wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive a request to display a second channel;
access a locally stored image on said memory, the accessed image being associated with the second channel; and
display the locally stored image associated with the second channel on the display unit until one of a request to switch channels is received or until the video programming associated with the second selected channel is requested via the network and received after a dynamic request time delay between the time the second channel is selected and the time video programming associated with the second selected channel is requested via the network and displayed on the display unit.
10. The system according to claim 9 wherein the processor, memory and I/O module are housed within a set top box.
11. The system according to claim 9 wherein said processor is further configured to periodically request updated electronic programming guide information and images.
12. A method for displaying video programming to an end-unit, said method comprising:
storing electronic programming guide information descriptive of video programming available to be viewed on respective channels;
storing one or more images associated with the video programming; and
in response to receiving a channel selection request:
displaying a stored image associated with the selected channel on the display unit until one of a request to switch channels is received or until the video programming associated with the selected channel is requested via the network and received after a dynamic request time delay between the time the channel is selected and the time video programming associated with the selected channel is requested via the network and displayed on the display unit.
13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising storing the images associated with the selected channel in a memory of a set top box.
14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the image associated with the selected channel comprises a still image.
15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the image associated with the selected channel a frame of video.
16. The method of claim 12 , further comprising displaying the image associated with the video programming on the selected channel prior to displaying the video programming.
17. The method of claim 12 , further comprising periodically requesting updated electronic programming guide information and images.
18. The method of claim 12 , further comprising requesting the selected channel with a remote control.
19. The method of claim 12 further comprising:
receiving a request to display a second channel;
accessing a second locally stored image, the second accessed image being associated with the second channel; and
displaying the second locally stored image associated with the second channel on the display unit until one of a request to switch channels is received or until the video programming associated with the second selected channel is requested via the network and received after a dynamic request time delay between the time the second channel is selected and the time video programming associated with the second selected channel is requested via the network and displayed on the display unit.
20. The method of claim 19 further periodically requesting updated electronic programming guide information and images.