BROWSER FOR USE IN NAVIGATING A BODY OF INFORMATION, WITH PARTICULAR APPLICATION TO BROWSING INFORMATION REPRESENTED BY AUDIOVISUAL DATA

The invention facilitates and enhances review of a body of information (that can be represented by a set of audio data, video data, text data or some combination of the three), enabling the body of information to be quickly reviewed to obtain an overview of the content of the body of information and allowing flexibility in the manner in which the body of information is reviewed. In a particular application of the invention, the content of audiovisual news programs is acquired from a first set of one or more information sources (e.g., television news programs) and text news stories are acquired from a second set of one or more information sources (e.g., on-line news services or news wire services). In such a particular application, the invention can enable the user to access the news stories of audiovisual news programs in a random manner so that the user can move quickly among news stories or news programs. The invention can also enable the user to quickly locate news stories pertaining to a particular subject. Additionally, when the user is observing a particular news story in a news program, the invention can identify and display related news stories. The invention can also enable the user to control the display of the news programs by, for example, speeding up the display, causing a summary of one or more news stories to be displayed, or pausing the display of the news stories. Additionally, the invention can indicate to the user which news story is currently being viewed, as well as which news stories have previously been viewed. L'examen d'un bloc d'information effectué grâce aux techniques de cette invention est facilité et amélioré, ces informations pouvant être des données audio ou vidéo, des données textuelles ou bien une combinaison des trois types. Cette invention, qui permet de passer rapidement en revue le bloc d'information, renforce la souplesse de la procédure d'examen. Dans un mode de réalisation, le contenu d'émissions de nouvelles audiovisuelles est acquis à partir d'un premier jeu de sources d'information (des programmes télévisés, par exemple) et celui de magazines de nouvelles textuelles à partir d'un second jeu de sources d'information (des journaux électroniques ou des services câblés, par exemple). Dans ce mode de réalisation, l'utilisateur a accès aux magazines de nouvelles textuelles des émissions de nouvelles audiovisuelles de manière aléatoire, de sorte qu'il lui est possible de se déplacer rapidement dans ces programmes, textu