Patents by Inventor Nicholas Ashton

Nicholas Ashton 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).

  • Patent number: 8069466
    Abstract: A system for displaying electronic program guide information about a plurality of video items on a screen, the system including a display module to display a plurality of pages layering into the screen, each of the pages including a plurality of graphical panels associated with the video items, and a user input module to receive a user input to turn at least one of the pages such that the at least one page is peeled away from other ones of the pages in order to bring the graphical panels of the at least one page in or out of view, wherein the display module is operative to show the turning of the at least one page bringing the at least one page in or out of view. Related apparatus and methods are also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2011
    Assignee: NDS Limited
    Inventors: Ian Shelton, James Geoffrey Walker, Kevin Murray, Michael Costello, Nicholas Ashton Hall
  • Publication number: 20100225742
    Abstract: An interactive method includes receiving background video including a multiplicity of video frames, at least one of the multiplicity of video frames include a plurality of sub-pictures, each of the plurality of sub-pictures representing an alternative background (1200), and switching between a first sub-picture of the plurality of sub-pictures and a second sub-picture of the plurality of sub-pictures (1210).
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 17, 2010
    Publication date: September 9, 2010
    Inventors: Ian R. SHELTON, Michael B. Costello, Ronnie Israel Dan, Nicholas Thexton, Nicholas Ashton Hall, James Geoffrey Walker, Stuart P. Ashby, Neil Cormican, Rahul Chakkara
  • Patent number: 7752648
    Abstract: An interactive method includes receiving, at a display device, background video including a multiplicity of video frames, at least one of the multiplicity of video frames including a plurality of sub-pictures, each of the plurality of sub-pictures representing an alternative background, and switching, at the display device, between a first sub-picture of the plurality of sub-pictures and a second sub-picture of the plurality of sub-pictures. Related apparatus and methods are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2010
    Assignee: NDS Limited
    Inventors: Ian R Shelton, Michael B Costello, Ronnie Dan, Nicholas Thexton, Nicholas Ashton Hall, James Geoffrey Walker, Stuart P Ashby, Neil Cormican, Rahul Chakkara
  • Publication number: 20090300673
    Abstract: A content sharing system, for implementation in a requesting peer, to receive at least a part of a chunk from a serving peer, the chunk being part of a content item, the requesting peer being operationally connected to a plurality of peers including the serving peer via a communications network, the content item being media content originally broadcast in a media stream by a Headend to at least some of the peers, the system including a metadata module to receive chunk metadata identifying the location of the chunk based on an identifier in the media stream originally broadcast by the Headend, a content transfer module to request the at least part of the chunk from the serving peer based on the chunk metadata, and receive the at least part of the chunk from the serving peer. Related apparatus and methods are also described.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2007
    Publication date: December 3, 2009
    Applicant: NDS Limited
    Inventors: Franck Bachet, Alex Ashley, Trevor Smith, James Geoffrey Walker, Nicholas Ashton Hall, David Poupon, Nigel Smith
  • Publication number: 20090249393
    Abstract: A system for displaying electronic program guide information about a plurality of video items on a screen, the system including a display module to display a plurality of pages layering into the screen, each of the pages including a plurality of graphical panels associated with the video items, and a user input module to receive a user input to turn at least one of the pages such that the at least one page is peeled away from other ones of the pages in order to bring the graphical panels of the at least one page in or out of view, wherein the display module is operative to show the turning of the at least one page bringing the at least one page in or out of view. Related apparatus and methods are also described.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 3, 2006
    Publication date: October 1, 2009
    Applicant: NDS Limited
    Inventors: Ian Shelton, James Geoffrey Walker, Kevin Murray, Michael Costello, Neil Cormican, Anita Chandra, Nicholas Ashton Hall