Patents by Inventor Hugh Boyd Morrison

Hugh Boyd Morrison has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Scheduler apparatus employing a gopher agent
    Patent number: 6216264
    Abstract: In a television system in which at least program title information for programs which are to be transmitted in the future is transmitted in advance to form a channel guide listing, apparatus is provided for searching the listing for specific user-entered information, and upon successful conclusion to the search, the apparatus schedules the tuning of the desired program, or in the alternative, notifies the viewer of the availability of the program. In those instances where descriptive text accompanies the program listing, apparatus of the invention performs a search of the text for a particular text string which may relate to the title, the star, the director, or the context of the program, among other search criteria.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 1996
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2001
    Assignee: Thomson Licensing S.A.
    Inventors: Kenneth Wayne Maze, Jeffrey Philip Reavis, Robert Howard Miller, Sheila Renee Crosby, Keith Reynolds Wehmeyer, Hugh Boyd Morrison, Megan Louise Brown
  • HD to SD guide converter for electronic television schedule system
    Patent number: 5900915
    Abstract: An Electronic Program Guide (EPG) system is disclosed which accommodates a mix of high definition television (HDTV) and standard definition television (SDTV) EPG display formats. Viewers can toggle from cell to cell of an EPG display using a navigation system such as a remote control highlighting programs of interest. Channels which show a mix of HDTV and SDTV programming have the cells of the grid remain separate for the time period of SDTV programming but join those cells into a single cell when an HDTV program is to be aired.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 4, 1999
    Assignee: Thomson Consumer Electronics, Inc.
    Inventor: Hugh Boyd Morrison
  • Scheduler employing a predictive agent for use in a television receiver
    Patent number: 5867226
    Abstract: In a television system in which at least program title information for programs which are to be transmitted in the future is transmitted in advance to form a channel guide listing, apparatus is provided for searching for specific television programs which satisfy certain criteria concerning a user's viewing preferences, and upon successful conclusion to the search, the apparatus generates a list of such television programs in order to predict for the viewer certain programs which may be of interest. In a first embodiment of the invention the apparatus stores information about the particular television shows which the user watches, as search criteria. In a second embodiment of the invention the search criteria is editable by the viewer to further refine the searches.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 1995
    Date of Patent: February 2, 1999
    Assignee: Thomson Consumer Electronics, Inc.
    Inventors: Keith Reynolds Wehmeyer, Jeffrey Philip Reavis, Robert Howard Miller, Sheila Renee Crosby, Hugh Boyd Morrison, Megan Louise Brown