WO2014029965A1

WO2014029965A1 - Television receiver

Info

Publication number: WO2014029965A1
Application number: PCT/GB2013/052071
Authority: WO
Inventors: Emma SCOTT; Dan CHRONNELL
Original assignee: Freesat (Uk) Limited
Priority date: 2012-08-22
Filing date: 2013-08-01
Publication date: 2014-02-27
Also published as: GB2522350A; GB201504111D0; EP2888887A1; GB201214970D0

Abstract

There is disclosed a television receiver, and corresponding methods, arranged to present television programs and a user interface to a user. The user interface comprises a plurality of interactive interface subsections, each interface subsection providing an interactive interface to a corresponding grouping of said television programs, and a home interface display comprising a home menu interface element enabling the user to select any one of the interface subsections, and enabling the user to instruct transition from the home interface display to the selected interface subsection. The home interface display further comprises an interactive preview interface presented to the user at the same time as the home interface display, the preview interface element providing an interactive interface to a subset of the grouping of television programs corresponding to the selected interface subsection.

Description

Television receiver

The present invention relates to a television receiver which implements a user interface.

In the past, television receivers, whether implemented in full television sets or as set top boxes or similar, were constructed to receive broadcast television programs over a single medium, such as cable, satellite or terrestrial UHF transmissions, and typically provided relatively simple user interfaces providing a user with visual information about the television programs being currently broadcast and which would be broadcast in the future.

Developing technology has led to the increasing popularity of television receivers which are also capable of recording received broadcast content for future use, and/or of receiving and displaying and/or recording on demand content from service providers, for example over the Internet.

The increasing complexity and options available in such television receivers has made them more difficult for users to operate, and it would be desirable to provide user interfaces in such receivers which make operation and obtaining information about viewable television programs more intuitive, straightforward and convenient.

The invention addresses these and other problems of the related prior art.

Summary of the Invention

Accordingly, the invention provides a television receiver arranged to present to a user, using a video output, television programs and a user interface for providing the user with information about and access to said television programs, the user interface comprising: a plurality of interface subsections, each interface subsection providing an interface to a corresponding grouping of said television programs; a home interface display comprising a home menu interface element enabling the user to select any one of the interface subsections, and enabling the user to instruct transition from the home interface display to the selected interface subsection, the home interface display further comprising an preview interface presented using the video output at the same time as the home interface display, the preview interface element providing an interactive interface to a subset of the grouping of television programs corresponding to the selected interface subsection.

The interface subsections and the preview interface are interactive, in the sense of a user being able to navigate to a particular item in the interface, such as a particular television program or other entity, and select such an entity and/or launch a user interface action in respect of such an entity, using suitable user interface controls.

The television receiver of the invention may be provided with, or comprise, or be arranged to communicate with a remote control or other input device or arrangement, with the various interface controls and interactive functions mentioned herein being arranged to respond to controls or keys of the input device to effect the user interface. Such an input device could be dedicated to the receiver, or could be provided by programmed functionality of another device such as a mobile telephone or tablet computer. The input device, or aspects of such a device, may be implemented alternatively or additionally in other ways and using other sensors, such as by identification and interpretation of user gestures which could be detected by a camera, inertial or orientation sensors, a touch sensitive screen and in other ways.

Generally, where controls of the user interface are discussed herein, such controls may be implemented for example by a particular key press, gesture or other interface operation which is coupled to the particular interface control functionality at the appropriate time, for example to a particular operation within a section of the interface, or to a particular operation in respect of a focussed or highlighted element within the user interface. Such an element could, for example be a graphical image, or representation of a television program, channel or other entity. In this context, user interface controls may be provided to enable a user to navigate the interface, for example using arrow keys, such that different particular interface elements such as graphical images, programs, channels and so forth are highlighted or made a focus of the interface, followed by an interface operation (such as pressing an "ok" key, or a more specific function such as pressing a "play" or "record" key) which causes an action to be carried out in respect of the selected, highlighted or focussed element.

Examples of interface subsections which may be provided by the user interface include a broadcast guide subsection arranged to display to the user interactive broadcast schedules of said television programs available by broadcast to said television receiver, a recordings subsection arranged to display interactive listings of recordings of said television programs available at said television receiver, and a showcase subsection 101 arranged to display interactive information units describing editorially selected ones of said television programs. Such a broadcast guide subsection may for example also provide a guide and interactive access to television programs available on-demand from a service provider, for example over a network, or a separate interface subsection could be provided for this purpose.

Typically, the interface subsections will be displayed separately to each other and to the home interface display, so that none of these are displayed to the user at the same time, although some graphical effects may be used on transition between displays such as fade or merge effects.

Each interface subsection, and the preview interface element, is arranged to provide a user with interactive access to the programs displayed, for example enabling a user to carry out at least one of the following actions in respect of separate ones of the corresponding grouping of television programs: play a program; schedule playing of a program; schedule recording of a program; and display further information relating to a program. Of course, different actions may be appropriate depending on the nature and intended use of a particular interface subsection and the corresponding presentation of the preview interface element.

The preview interface element presents live information about the corresponding subset of a grouping of television programs, in the sense that the information is relevant to the current grouping and changes as the grouping changes, for example as the television broadcast schedules develop over time. To this end, the television receiver is arranged to automatically update the grouping of television programs and the subset of the grouping of television programs corresponding to at least some of the interface subsections according to information received from a service provider. This information may include, for example, one or more of: television program broadcast schedule information; and editorial information relating to selected ones of said television programs. The grouping and subset of grouping of television programs in respect of one or more interface subsections may also or instead be updated in response to activity at the receiver, for example updating a grouping of available recorded television programs at the receiver in response to new recordings being made or recordings being watched or deleted.

The television receiver may be a satellite television receiver, for example being incorporated into a television set or provided as a separate satellite television receiver unit such as a "set top box". The television receiver may also or instead function as a receiver of television broadcasts over other interfaces such as a cable television interface and a terrestrial UHF broadcast interface.

The television receiver may comprise a television program recording function, for example to record received broadcast television programs, and may comprise an on demand function for requesting and receiving television programs on demand from a service provider, which may also be recorded at the receiver if required. Television programs available on demand may include such television programs which are available subject to a purchase or some other contractual arrangement or user action being completed, and such a purchase or contractual arrangement may apply, for example, to a group or series of related television programs, as well as to an individual television program.

The invention also provides methods corresponding to the above apparatus, including for example a method of operating a television receiver providing a user interface and arranged to present television programs to a user, comprising: establishing, receiving or generating for each of a plurality of interactive interface subsections of the user interface, a corresponding grouping of the television programs, each interface subsection providing an interactive interface to said corresponding grouping of the television programs; presenting to a user a home interface display comprising a home menu interface element enabling the user to select any one of the interface subsections, and enabling the user to instruct transition from the home interface display to the selected interface subsection; and providing in the home interface display an interactive preview interface element presented to the user at the same time as the home menu interface element, the interactive preview interface element providing an interactive interface to a subset of the grouping of television programs

corresponding to the currently selected interface subsection.

The invention also provides corresponding computer programs, for example arranged or comprising computer program code to put the methods and apparatus of the invention into effect on a suitable television receiver or computer apparatus, and one or more computer readable media carrying such computer programs.

Brief description of the drawings

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

figure 1 shows an example television system within which embodiments of the invention may be implemented;

figure 2 illustrates a television receiver according to the invention, implementing a graphical user interface;

figure 3 shows a home interface display of the user interface of figure 2 including an interactive preview interface element providing a preview to a selectable broadcast guide subsection of the user interface;

figure 4 shows the broadcast guide subsection selectable from the home interface display of figure 3;

figure 5 shows the home interface display of figure 3 including an interactive preview interface providing a preview to a selectable recordings subsection of the user interface; and

figure 6 shows the home interface display of figure 3 including an interactive preview interface providing a preview to a selectable showcase subsection of the user interface.

Detailed description of embodiments Referring now to figure 1 there is illustrated schematically an example television system within which embodiments of the invention may be

implemented. A television receiver 10 is adapted to receive television programs broadcast over a plurality of broadcast channels. In figure 1 , the receiver receives the broadcast channels over a satellite broadcast interface, and may therefore be described as a satellite television receiver unit. The receiver 10 could also or alternatively receive over one or more other interfaces such as cable and terrestrial UHF broadcast interfaces (not shown). The television programs originate from one or more service providers 12, which may include one or more aggregators or distributors of content from others of the service providers, and are delivered via broadcast head end and other apparatus as appropriate. A second connection between the receiver 10 and the service provider(s) 12 which can be used to broadcast television programs to the receiver 10 if required, as well as providing other data transfers, is provided by a data network 14 such as the Internet.

Television programs received at the television receiver 10 can be displayed on a television 16 or other display device or unit. Of course, the display unit may be incorporated in the same unit as the receiver 10 if required. Typically, one or more remote control units 18 are used to control functionality of the receiver 10 and display 16. Such remote control units may provide user input to the receiver for example in response to remote control unit button presses, user gestures detected using a camera, a touch screen or other detector

arrangements, and/or other input mechanisms.

As well as providing broadcast television programs, a service provider 12 may provide the receiver 10 with on-demand access to television programs and other content, for example by receiving requests from the receiver 10 over the network 14 and transmitting the requested content to the receiver over the network 14 or another route such as via a cable television connection. In this way, a receiver 10 can receive, for example, television programs which have been broadcast in the recent past, and/or television programs which have not been recently broadcast. Other content provided by the service provider(s) 12 includes electronic program guide content, for example including schedules of television programs to be broadcast over the next few days or weeks, details of television programs which have been broadcast, and which may or may not be available to the receiver using on-demand access, and editorial content such as viewing recommendations, associations between groups of television programs such as television series, and the like. The service provider(s) 12 may also make available to the receiver digital rights management and/or conditional access data, in order to control the extent to which the receiver 10, and other receivers operating in the television system, can use the broadcast television programs and on-demand content, for example by limiting access to certain channels and/or programs, restricting recording and future playback, and so on.

Figure 2 illustrates schematically some of the functionality which may typically be found in the receiver 10. A decoder 20 receives broadcast signals from a satellite dish, or other signal source 21 , and outputs one or more data streams including for example television audio visual data streams and electronic program guide data. A network interface 22 transmits requests for data to the service provider(s) 12 and receives for example television programs, other content, electronic program guide data, and other data from the service provider(s) 12. Depending on digital rights management control, television programs received by broadcast or on-demand over the network 14 and other content may be stored in memory 24 for future access. The memory 24 may also be used to store electronic program guide data, other content, and other data and computer software used for operation of the receiver 10. The memory 24 may include for example one or more of solid state memory and hard disk memory. A processor 25 may control operation of the receiver, for example in conjunction with programs stored in the memory 24.

A remote control unit interface 26 provides input from a remote control unit 18 for control of the receiver 10. A display interface 28 provides a video or audio- visual output of television programs and other content, as well as user interface output, to a display such as a television 16. Other interfaces such as a separate audio interface, other video interfaces and so on may be provided. The receiver is provided with a control function 30 which enables a user to control the receiver 10, for example to select decoding of a currently broadcast television program for output to the display 16, for requesting on-demand content from a service provider 12, and any other required function. The control function typically implements a graphical user interface 32 which is presented using the audio visual output on the display 16 and controlled using the remote control unit 18. The control function 30 and user interface 32 are typically implemented in software in the receiver 10, for example using the central processing unit 25 in combination with other hardware and software elements as required, such as those shown in figure 2 including memory 24. Software or parts of the software implementing the user interface 32, and other aspects of the control function 30, may be provided to the receiver 10 over a network connection or by broadcast, for example update software, and may exist as software on one or more computer readable media.

The graphical user interface 32 includes a home interface display 40, from which the user may navigate to any of a plurality of interface subsections such as a broadcast guide subsection 60, a recordings subsection 91 and a showcase subsection 101 , as described in more detail below.

A home interface display 40 of the user interface, as presented to a user on display 16, is illustrated in figure 3. This home interface display 40 could be presented to a user when the receiver 10 is started, or on pressing a "home" button of the remote control unit 18 while viewing a television program, for example. The home interface display comprises a home menu interface element 44 enabling the user to select any one of a plurality of interactive interface subsections, listed in figure 3 as "TV Guide", "Showcase" and "Recordings".

Other options are also available from the home menu interface element 44, including a "search" function, an "on-demand" function, a "help" function and a "settings" function.

The home interface display 40 also includes an interactive preview interface element 48 presented at the same time as the home menu interface element 44. The interactive preview interface element will be described in more detail below. Each interactive interface subsection available from the home menu interface element 44 may be arranged to provide an interactive interface to a corresponding grouping of the television programs which can be sent to the video output and the display device 16 by the receiver 10. Such groupings could be, for example: a grouping of broadcast television programs available now and in the future and optionally also on-demand having been broadcast in the past;

editorially recommended television programs; and television programs available as recordings at the receiver 10. Other possible groupings will be apparent to the person skilled in the art, and the groupings need not be mutually exclusive, so that television programs from one grouping may appear in another grouping. One grouping may be a subset of another grouping. Preferably, however, each grouping contains at least a different overall combination of television programs.

Each interactive interface subsection provides suitable interactive functions to a user in respect of, for example, television programs and other entities. For example, a broadcast guide subsection 60 providing a guide to broadcast programs which can be received now and for some time in the future, or a showcase subsection 101 providing a more limited editorial list of

recommendations of available programs or programs to become available, may provide user interface controls for actions including playing, recording and providing further information on such programs. Similarly, a recordings

subsection 91 relating to programs already recorded and still available at the receiver 10 may provide user interface controls for actions including playing, deleting, and providing further information on such programs. Any interface subsection providing an interactive interface to a grouping of television programs including programs available on-demand may similarly provide interface controls for actions including downloading and recording, downloading and playing, providing further information on programs and similar.

The home menu interface element 44 enables a user to select one of the interface subsections from the home menu interface element 44, for example by using arrow keys on the remote control unit 18. In figure 3 the "TV Guide" interface subsection has been selected by a user and is therefore graphically highlighted. As indicated in the instruction "For the full TV Guide, press OK now" at the bottom of the home interface display, the user can instruct the user interface to transition from presentation of the home interface display 40 to presentation of the selected interface subsection, in this case a broadcast guide subsection 60, an example of which is shown in figure 4. The broadcast guide subsection shown in figure 4 is one example of such a subsection, and a variety of other ways of presenting a broadcast guide subsection may be used.

A plurality of broadcast television channels are available for decoding and display using the receiver 10, and some of these channels are represented in the view of the broadcast guide subsection 60 of figure 4. In particular, the broadcast guide subsection 60 shows a first list 62 of television programs currently being broadcast on each of those channels, under the heading "now", and a second list 64 of television programs which will be broadcast next on each of those channels, under the heading "next". No other lists of television programs which have been, are currently being, or will be broadcast on those channels are shown in the interface display of figure 4. Within the first list 62 and second list 64, each item is identified by a start time and a program name 66 (no actual text for these names is shown in the figure). The first and second lists are shown side by side so that the programs on "now" and "next" for each channel are adjacent. To one side of the first and second lists are further lists of the corresponding channel numbers 68 and channel names 70, although these further lists could be placed elsewhere such as between the first and second lists. The first and second lists, and optionally the further lists 68, 70, therefore form a tabular display of broadcast television programs tabulated in one axis by channel and in the other axis by whether the program is currently being broadcast, or will be broadcast after, and in particular immediately after the program currently being broadcast.

The display of the broadcast guide subsection 60 shown in figure 4 identifies a currently selected one of the television channels and/or programs, shown in the figure by the stippled table entries corresponding to channel 104. The currently selected channel and/or program can be changed by a user, for example by scrolling the channel lists or using direction controls to move up and down the channel lists and left and right between table entries. One or more interface controls are provided to enable the user to launch an action in respect of the currently selected channel, for example to watch in full screen video the currently broadcast program on that channel, or to provide further information about that program.

In the display of the broadcast guide subsection 60 of figure 4 a video box 72 shows the currently viewed television program, or in another mode of operation or embodiment, it may show video content of the selected broadcast channel. A program information area 74 shows more information relating to the currently selected program, such as the full channel name, the full name of the program, and how much time remains before the program finishes or how long the program is.

Various other functionality may be provided in association with the broadcast guide subsection 60, for example an earlier interface control with an associated graphic 76, causing the broadcast guide subsection to transition from the display shown in figure 4 to a display of earlier broadcast programs, for example programs which are available on demand over the network 14 or as recordings in the receiver 10, and a later interface control with an associated graphic 78, causing the interface to transition the broadcast guide subsection to a view of programs to be broadcast on a more extended timescale, for example as a time based graph.

A home interface control with an associated graphic 80 allows a user to instruct transition from the broadcast guide subsection of the user interface 32 to the home interface display 40. Returning therefore to figure 3, the home interface display 40 also includes an interactive preview interface element 48 presented at the same time, that is in the same screen view, as the home menu interface element 44. The interactive preview interface element 48 provides an interactive interface to a subset of the grouping of television programs corresponding to the interface subsection currently selected by the user on the home menu interface element 44. In figure 3, the broadcast guide subsection has been selected ("TV Guide"), so that a subset of the television programs detailed in the broadcast guide subsection is provided in the preview interface element 48.

Although not necessary in all embodiments and/or for all interface subsections, in figure 3 the preview interface element 48 is closely based on the format of the corresponding selected broadcast guide subsection interface of figure 4, with programs being broadcast now and next shown in adjacent columns of the preview interface element 48. A first column 50 of the preview interface element 48 shows the start times and names of programs currently being broadcast, and a second column 52 shows the start times and names of programs which will be broadcast next. Alongside these columns a further column shows the channel names.

In the broadcast guide section related preview interface element 48 of figure 3, programs from three broadcast channels are shown, but other numbers of channels such as two or four could be used. In figure 3, consecutive broadcast channels are shown, but other schemes for example showing the most recently or most frequently watched channels could be used. In the example of figure 3, the top channel in the preview interface is the currently tuned or last tuned channel or channel currently selected for broadcast reception and/or viewing. In figure 3, in order to maintain simplicity of the preview interface element the list of channels cannot be scrolled to earlier or later times, nor can it be scrolled to show other channels, but this functionality could be added if desired.

The preview interface as shown in figure 3 is interactive in a manner similar to the full broadcast guide subsection of figure 4, in that programs shown can be selected for actions including playing, recording, and further information display, although the number of available interactive options or actions may be reduced when compared with the full broadcast guide subsection.

Other features of the home interface display include a reduced size version 56 of the currently viewed television program, which may for example be from a currently received broadcast channel, a recording, or an on-demand program.

As mentioned above, the home menu interface element 44 enables a user to select any one of the interface subsections from the home menu interface element. In figure 5 the "Recordings" interface subsection is selected and graphically highlighted. As indicated in the instruction "For all your recordings, press OK now" at the bottom of the home interface display, the user can instruct the user interface to transition from the home interface display 40 to the selected interface subsection, in this case a recordings subsection 91 , shown briefly in figure 2. A recordings subsection 91 may provide a user with interactive access to all the television programs recorded in the receiver 10, for example providing playback, deletion and further information functions in respect of these recordings. The interactive preview interface as shown in figure 5 provides an interactive interface to a subset of the grouping of television programs detailed in the recordings subsection 91 .

In figure 5 the preview interface corresponding to the recordings subsection 91 option lists the most recent three recordings made at the receiver 10, in a tabulated form, with columns 90, 92, 94, 96 showing respectively, for each recording, the channel on which the recorded program was broadcast, the name of the broadcast program, a designator of the episode number of the program within a series (if any), and the duration of the recording.

In figure 5, three latest recorded programs are shown, but other numbers of recordings such as two or four could be used, and other display criteria, such as the most recent unwatched or the oldest recordings could be used to decide which recordings to display. In figure 5, in order to maintain simplicity of the preview interface element, the list of recordings cannot be scrolled to show other recordings, but this functionality could be added if desired.

The preview interface as shown in figure 5 is interactive in a manner similar to the full recordings subsection 91 , in that programs shown can be selected for actions such as playing, deleting, and further information display, although the number of different actions may be less than in the full recordings subsection 91 .

In figure 6 the "Showcase" interface subsection is selected by a user and graphically highlighted in the home menu interface element 44. As indicated in the instruction "For the full Showcase, press OK now" at the bottom of the home interface display 40, the user can instruct the user interface to transition from the home interface display 40 to the selected interface subsection, in this case a showcase subsection 101 , which is shown briefly in the figure 2. A showcase subsection 101 may provide a user with an interactive interface to a selection of editorially chosen television programs, for example from six to twelve programs, or a best selected program in respect of each channel. The showcase subsection may provide the user with access to, for example, scheduled recording, scheduled tuning and viewing, and further information functions in respect of these programs. The interactive preview interface 48 as shown in figure 6 provides an interactive interface to a subset of the grouping of television programs detailed in the showcase subsection. As for the broadcast guide subsection, data defining the grouping of television programs used at any one time in the showcase subsection, information about these programs, the subset of programs for use in the preview interface element, are received from the service provider(s), for example over one or both of the satellite broadcast interface and the network 14.

In figure 6 the preview interface element 48 is configured to correspond to the showcase subsection 101 option in the adjacent menu and provides showcase information units 100 relating to three of the editorially selected television programs. In the example of figure 6, a selection referred to as

"tonight's top picks" is shown, but any other selection could be presented in the preview interface element, for example being based on the most popular programs being viewed or viewed over a recent period by customers of a service provider or group of service providers. The selection of programs shown both in the full showcase subsection and in the preview interface element 48 will typically be transmitted to the receiver 10 by the service provider(s) 12 either over a broadcast channel or through the internet 14, and may change regularly, for example every day or several times a day, although local criteria for choosing which programs from the full showcase selection to show in the preview interface element could be used such as the present time of day, the most frequently tuned channel, and other aspects of recent user behaviour .

In figure 6 three selected showcase programs are shown in the preview interface element, each showcase information unit 100 including a representative picture image, the channel name, the program name, and the program start time. Other numbers of showcase information units 100 such as two or four could be used. In figure 6, in order to maintain simplicity of the preview interface element 48 the display of showcase information units and corresponding programs cannot be scrolled to show other programs, but this functionality could be added if desired.

The preview interface element as shown in figure 6 is interactive in a manner similar to the full showcase subsection, in that programs shown can be selected for actions such as scheduled recording, scheduled tuning and viewing, and further information display in respect of these programs.

Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described, it will be apparent to the skilled person that various modifications can be made to the described embodiments without departing from the scope of the claims. For example, although the figures show particular numbers and arrangements of programs and other subjects of the user interface at any one time, different numbers and arrangements may be used. Although particular orientations and directions of lists, menus and tables have been presented in the figures, other orientations and directions may be used where appropriate or desirable, for example for use in different parts of the World. The figures show three examples of interface subsections, but different and/or additional interface subsections may be provided by the user interface, with corresponding interactive preview interfaces as discussed herein.

For example, another preview interface element could contain programs identified in searches recently made by a user using the user interface 32.

Another preview interface element or a variation or addition to the showcase preview interface element could provide automated recommendations of programs similar to programs which have already been watched by the user or using the same receiver, for example over a recent period of time. Another preview interface element could contain lists of and direct access to on demand content, for example listed according to most frequent demand from a service provider over a recent period, or otherwise most frequently used on demand service.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1 . A television receiver arranged to present to a user, using a video output, television programs and a user interface, the user interface comprising:

a plurality of interactive interface subsections, each interface subsection providing an interactive interface to a corresponding grouping of said television programs;

a home interface display comprising a home menu interface element enabling the user to select any one of the interface subsections, and enabling the user to instruct transition from the home interface display to the selected interface subsection,

the home interface display further comprising an interactive preview interface presented to the user at the same time as the home interface display, the preview interface element providing an interactive interface to a subset of the grouping of television programs corresponding to the selected interface subsection.

2. The television receiver of claim 1 wherein the receiver is arranged to automatically update the grouping of television programs and the subset of the grouping of television programs corresponding to one or more of the interface subsections according to information received from a service provider.

3. The television receiver of claim 1 or 2 wherein each interface subsection enables a user to carry out at least one of the following actions in respect of separate ones of the corresponding grouping of television programs: play a program; schedule playing of a program; schedule recording of a program; and display further information relating to a program.

4. The television receiver of claim 1 , 2 or 3 wherein the preview interface element enables a user to carry out at least one of the following actions in respect of separate ones of the subset of the grouping of television programs corresponding to the selected interface subsection: play a program; schedule playing of a program; schedule recording of a program; and display further information relating to a program.

5. The television receiver of any preceding claim wherein at least one of the interface subsections is a broadcast guide subsection arranged to display interactive broadcast schedules of said television programs available by broadcast to said television receiver.

6. The television receiver of any preceding claim wherein at least one of the interface subsections is a recordings subsection arranged to display interactive listings of recordings of said television programs available at said television receiver.

7. The television receiver of any preceding claim wherein at least one of the interface subsections is a showcase subsection arranged to display interactive information units describing editorially selected ones of said television programs.

8. The television receiver of any preceding claim wherein the television receiver is a satellite television receiver.

9. The television receiver of any preceding claim further comprising a television program recording function.

10. The television receiver of any preceding claim further comprising a remote control input device, the user interface being arranged to respond to controls of the remote control input device.

1 1 . A method of operating a television receiver providing a user interface and arranged to present television programs to a user, comprising:

establishing, for each of a plurality of interactive interface subsections of the user interface, a corresponding grouping of the television programs, each interface subsection providing an interactive interface to said corresponding grouping of the television programs;

presenting to a user a home interface display comprising a home menu interface element enabling the user to select any one of the interface

subsections, and enabling the user to instruct transition from the home interface display to the selected interface subsection;

providing in the home interface display an interactive preview interface element presented to the user at the same time as the home menu interface element, the interactive preview interface element providing an interactive interface to a subset of the grouping of television programs corresponding to the currently selected interface subsection.

12. The method of claim 1 1 further comprising the receiver periodically receiving information from a service provider and automatically updating the grouping of television programs and/or the subset of the grouping of television programs corresponding to one or more of the interface subsections according to the information.

13. The method of claim 1 1 or 12 further comprising the receiver automatically updating the grouping of television programs and/or the subset of the grouping of television programs corresponding to one or more of the interface subsections according to the activity at the receiver.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the information includes one or more of: television program broadcast schedule information; and editorial information relating to selected ones of said television programs.

15. A computer program comprising computer program code operable to put into effect the method of any of claims 1 1 to 14 when executed on a suitable television receiver or computer apparatus.

16. A computer readable medium comprising the computer program code of claim 15.

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