US 11,683,564 B2
Network-connected television devices with knowledge-based media content recommendations and unified user interfaces
Cory Mitchell O'Connor, Menlo Park, CA (US); Leo Baghdassarian, Sunnyvale, CA (US); Dmitri Plotnikov, Palo Alto, CA (US); Matt Sheets, San Francisco, CA (US); Kalyan Ganapathisubramanian, Redwood City, CA (US); Austin Quaid Walker, San Francisco, CA (US); Bryan David Cassell, Scotts Valley, CA (US); Yehuda Arie Koren, Zichron Yaakov (IS); and Sailesh Nepal, Fremont, CA (US)
Assigned to Google LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed by GOOGLE LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed on Jul. 2, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/919,970.
Application 16/919,970 is a continuation of application No. PCT/US2020/022787, filed on Mar. 13, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2021/0289262 A1, Sep. 16, 2021
Int. Cl. H04N 21/466 (2011.01); H04N 21/25 (2011.01); H04N 21/2543 (2011.01); H04N 21/472 (2011.01)
CPC H04N 21/4668 (2013.01) [H04N 21/251 (2013.01); H04N 21/2543 (2013.01); H04N 21/4667 (2013.01); H04N 21/47202 (2013.01); H04N 21/47217 (2013.01)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A content-based program presentation method, comprising:
at a network-connected television (TV) device having one or more processors and memory storing instructions for execution by the one or more processors, wherein the TV device is linked to a user account in a virtual user domain hosted by a server system:
executing a unified TV application to display a unified user interface;
obtaining from the server system a media recommendation stream including an ordered sequence of selectable information items that corresponds to an ordered set of unique media content items or programs, wherein for each selectable information item, the media recommendation stream includes a respective command to be executed in response to a user selection of the respective selectable information item at the network-connected TV device;
displaying a focus area having one or more focus items that are presented sequentially in a temporal order while concurrently displaying a non-focus area having a plurality of clusters on the unified user interface, wherein each cluster includes a subset of the ordered sequence of selectable information items, and a first cluster includes a first selectable information item and a second selectable information item, including:
concurrently displaying the first and second selectable information items of the first cluster on the unified user interface;
in response to a first user selection of the first selectable information item from the non-focus area, displaying information of a first media content item including a first affordance corresponding to a first content provider and a second affordance corresponding to a second content provider that provide the first media content item in a first list of content providers that provide the first media content item, wherein the user account associated with the unified TV application has subscribed to at least the first content provider in the first list of content providers, wherein selection of the first affordance causes the network-connected TV device to execute a first media player application associated with the first content provider and initiate playback of the first media content item, wherein selection of the second affordance causes the network-connected TV device to execute a content casting application to playback the first media content item, and wherein the first affordance corresponding to the first content provider has priority over the second affordance corresponding to the second content provider as the first media player application has priority over the content casting application; and
in response to a second user selection of the second selectable information item from the non-focus area, displaying information of a second media content item including a third affordance corresponding to a third content provider that provides the second media content item in a second list of content providers that provide the second media content item, the second content provider being distinct from the first content provider, wherein the user account associated with the unified TV application has subscribed to at least the second content provider in the second list of content providers, wherein selection of the third affordance causes the network-connected TV device to execute a second media player application associated with the third content provider and initiate playback of the second media content item.