US 6,388,714 · Granted 2002-05-14

The Patent That Turned TV Guides Into Interactive Databases

Before your phone could tell you what's on TV, someone had to patent the idea of putting interactive TV schedules on your computer or television screen. This patent lets you search, link to, and interact with TV listings stored either on your own device or on a remote server online—basically the foundation for how we browse what to watch today.

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The plain-English version

What it protects

The claim covers the core system and method for displaying television schedule and listing information on multiple types of screens (TVs, computer monitors, PCTV devices) and allowing viewers to search, select, and interact with that data. What's protected here is the ability to store schedule data either locally on the viewer's device or remotely on a server, and then download or display it so a user can link to and search through television listings.

Why it matters

Filed in 1997 and granted in 2002, this patent staked out early territorial claims on interactive TV guide technology at a time when most people still flipped through printed TV guides or used basic on-screen cable menus. By protecting the integration of remote databases with home viewing devices, it helped establish one of the first digital bridges between the internet and living-room entertainment—a foundational concept for streaming guides and recommendation systems that followed.

Real-world use

When you open an on-screen guide on your cable box or pull up a TV schedule website on your phone to see what's playing tonight, you're using technology built on this patent's core ideas.

Original USPTO abstract

The present invention provides systems and methods for providing television schedule and/or listing information to a viewer, and for allowing the viewer to link, search, select and interact with information in a remote database, e.g., a database on the internet. The television schedule and/or listing information can be displayed on a variety of viewer interfaces, such as televisions screens, computer monitors, PCTV screens and the like. The television schedule and/or listing information may be stored on the viewer's computer, television, PCTV, or a remote server (e.g., a website), or the television schedule and/or listing information may be downloaded from a remote database to the viewer's computer, television or PCTV.

Patent details

Publication number: US 6,388,714
Filing date: 1997-04-11
Grant date: 2002-05-14
Assignee: Starsight Telecast Inc
Inventor(s): SCHEIN STEVEN M., O'BRIEN SEAN A., KLOSTERMAN BRIAN L., MILNES KENNETH A.
CPC class: H04N5/782

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