Intelligent television

Abstract

An intelligent television and methods for displaying content are disclosed. Specifically, a user may cause a global panel or application panel to be displayed; the global panel is independent of the currently viewed content and provides functionality at a system level. The application panel displays content based on the content being actively displayed on the intelligent television; that is, the layout, information, and content depends on the content being displayed by the intelligent television. For example, upon receiving a selection from the user, the intelligent television may display one or more items of information that are associated with the content currently being displayed in an active content window. Moreover, as the global and application panels are used to navigate through various screens in the intelligent television, the global panels themselves do not obstruct the user from viewing content displayed on the screen of the intelligent television.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of displaying content on a television, comprising:
 receiving an indication associated with a selection by a user;   determining, based on the received indication, a content panel to display via the television;   retrieving from memory, a first content information for display in the content panel; and   displaying, via the television, the retrieved content information in the specified content panel.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 identifying a user associated with the received indication;   retrieving one or more settings associated with the identified user;   retrieving, from memory, content information associated with the identified user; and   displaying, via the television, the retrieved content information in the specified content panel.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 identifying a user associated with the received indication;   retrieving, from memory, one or more settings associated with the identified user;   retrieving, from memory, content information associated with the identified user and the one or more settings associated with the user; and   displaying, via the television, the retrieved content information in the specified content panel.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a second indication associated with a selection by a user;   determining, based on the second indication, a source of content information to be displayed in the content panel based;   retrieving at least a portion of content information from the determined source; and   displaying, via the television, the content information associated with the determined source.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the content panel is a global panel. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 identifying at least one of a content source and a content information currently being displayed via a television;   selecting a panel type based on the identified at least one of content source and content information currently being displayed via the television;   retrieving, from memory, content information based on the selected panel type; and   displaying, via the television, the retrieved content information in the content panel based on the selected panel type.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 receiving a second indication associated with a selection by a user;   selecting a panel type based on the second indication;   retrieving, from memory, content information based on the selected panel type and the second indication; and   displaying, via the television, the retrieved content information in the content panel.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the retrieved content information comprises information associated with content information marked as favorite. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the retrieved content information comprises information associated with content information recently viewed. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the content panel is an application panel. 
     
     
         11 . A non-transitory computer readable information storage medium having stored thereon instructions that cause a computing system to execute a method of displaying content on a television, comprising:
 receiving an indication associated with a selection by a user;   determining, based on the received indication, a content panel to display via the television;   retrieving from memory, a first content information for display in the content panel; and   displaying, via the television, the retrieved content information in the specified content panel.   
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the instructions further comprise:
 identifying a user associated with the received indication;   retrieving one or more settings associated with the identified user;   retrieving, from memory, content information associated with the identified user; and   displaying, via the television, the retrieved content information in the specified content panel.   
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the instructions further comprise:
 identifying a user associated with the received indication;   retrieving, from memory, one or more settings associated with the identified user;   retrieving, from memory, content information associated with the identified user and the one or more settings associated with the user; and   displaying, via the television, the retrieved content information in the specified content panel.   
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the instructions further comprise:
 receiving a second indication associated with a selection by a user;   determining, based on the second indication, a source of content information to be displayed in the content panel based;   retrieving at least a portion of content information from the determined source; and   displaying, via the television, the content information associated with the determined source.   
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the content panel is a global panel. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 identifying at least one of a content source and a content information currently being displayed via a television;   selecting a panel type based on the identified at least one of content source and content information currently being displayed via the television;   retrieving, from memory, content information based on the selected panel type; and   displaying, via the television, the retrieved content information in the content panel based on the selected panel type.   
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 16 , wherein the instructions further comprise:
 receiving a second indication associated with a selection by a user;   selecting a panel type based on the second indication;   retrieving, from memory, content information based on the selected panel type and the second indication; and   displaying, via the television, the retrieved content information in the content panel.   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein the retrieved content information comprises information associated with content information marked as favorite. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein the retrieved content information comprises information associated with content information recently viewed. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein the content panel is an application panel. 
     
     
         21 . A system for displaying content on a television, comprising:
 an input device associated with the television;   a memory; and   a microprocessor operable to:   receive an indication associated with a selection by a user;   determine, based on the received indication, a content panel to display via the television;   retrieve from the memory, a first content information for display in the content panel; and   display, via the television, the retrieved content information in the specified content panel.   
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the microprocessor is further operable to:
 identify at least one of a content source and a content information currently being displayed via a television;   select a panel type based on the identified at least one of content source and content information currently being displayed via the television;   retrieve, from the memory, content information based on the selected panel type; and   display, via the television, the retrieved content information in the content panel based on the selected panel type.